Australian PM Scott Morrison urges Facebook to lift its news blockade
Canberra, Feb 19: Australia's prime minister on Friday urged Facebook to lift its blockade of Australian users and return to the negotiating table with news publishing businesses, warning that other countries would follow his government's example in making digital giants pay for journalism.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Facebook's move Thursday to prevent Australians accessing and sharing news as a threat.
The blockade has escalated a fight with the government over whether powerful tech companies should have to pay news organizations for content.
The idea of shutting down the sorts of sites they did yesterday, as some sort of threat well, I know how Australians react to that and I thought that was not a good move on their part, Morrison told reporters.
They should move quickly past that, come back to the table and we'll sort it out, he added.
There was public outrage at how the Facebook blockade was bungled, cutting access at least temporarily to pandemic, public health and emergency services.
Newspaper headlines included: No likes for unsocial network, and Faceblock.
An article about how fake news would replace credible journalism in Australian feeds carried the headline: 'Fakebook' shows all it cares about is profit, not people.
Some non-Australian outlets also appeared affected, with posts disappearing from Facebook pages belonging to Britain's Daily Telegraph and Sky News. Both share names with news outlets in Australia.
The blockade was a response to the House of Representatives on Wednesday night passing a bill that would make Facebook and Google pay Australian media companies fair compensation for the journalism that the platforms link to. The legislation must be passed by the Senate to become law.
Google has responded by quickly working out licensing content deals with major Australian media companies under its own News Showcase model.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has announced a wide-ranging deal with Google covering operations in the United States and Britain as well as Australia. Major Australian media organization Seven West Media also reached a deal earlier in the week. Rival Nine Entertainment is reportedly close to its own pact, and state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp. is in negotiations.
Morrison said he discussed the Facebook dispute with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Morrison was also discussing Australia's proposed law with the leaders of Britain, Canada and France.
There is a lot of world interest in what Australia is doing, Morrison said. That's why I invite, as we did with Google, Facebook to constructively engage because they know that what Australia will do here is likely to be followed by many other Western jurisdictions.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the minister responsible for the proposed News Media Bargaining Code, had a telephone conversation with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg after the blockade began on Thursday and again on Friday.
We talked through their remaining issues & agreed our respective teams would work through them immediately. We'll talk again over the weekend, Frydenberg tweeted on Friday.
I reiterated Australia remains committed to implementing the code, Frydenberg added.
Frydenberg maintains that Facebook had been having constructive negotiations with Australian media on pay deals immediately before the surprise blockade.
Facebook said on Thursday the proposed Australian law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it.
Morrison said his government was happy to listen to them on the technical issues, but remained determined to pass the law.
It's not OK to unfriend Australia because Australia is very friendly, Morrison said. We'd like to remain very friendly and it's time for them to friend us again.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Govt, private hospitals asked to maintain stocks of anti-rabies vaccine at all times
New Delhi (PTI): The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued a public notice directing all government and private hospitals to maintain mandatory stocks of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) at all times.
The Commission referred to the November 7 Supreme Court order which issued stringent and time-bound directions to all states and Union Territories (UTs) and the central government to secure educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands/ depots and railway stations from stray dog ingress.
Major highlights of the order include identification and securing of premises of government and private educational institutions (schools, colleges, hostels), hospitals and medical facilities, sports complexes/ stadiums, bus stands/ lSBT (Inter-State Bus Terminal) and railway stations through fencing, boundary walls, gates and similar structural and administrative measures within eight weeks.
According to the order, each institution must designate a nodal officer responsible for cleanliness, prevent dog ingress, maintain liaison with municipal authorities, display the details of the nodal officer prominently and notify the municipal body.
ALSO READ: Congress and NCP (SP) to contest separately in Nagpur civic polls
It also called for mandated quarterly inspections to ensure no dog habitats exist within or near these premises and to immediately remove any stray dog found inside the institution.
"All government and private hospitals must maintain mandatory stock of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and immunoglobulin (RIG) at all times," the public notice said.
"All medical colleges/ institutions are, therefore, requested to take necessary actions as per the directives of the Supreme Court," the notice stated.
The NMC also enclosed the letter sent by Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava addressed to all secretaries of the government of India and all chief secretaries of states and UTs highlighting the court's order.
