anywhere why not need. when i come here. in the day's headlines a slow news day for australians and an unprecedented move facebook bans news posts on the platform and the country blocking some of the government's websites in the process. also this hour spain is rocked by unrest over the jailing of homeland robber pablo hostile after he was handed a 9 month sentence for slandering the crown and war on terrorism. plus millions of texas residents are left without electricity and heat as authorities struggle to cope with a deadly winter storm sweeping the southern states of america. so this is good.

food so these would be. an under fire for concealing thousands of nursing home deaths new york state assembly members wish to stir governor andrew cuomo of his emergency powers. watching our to international coming to you live from the russian capital this and every hour welcome to the program australians looking to catch up on world affairs on facebook today may be disappointed and then unprecedented move the social media giant blocked people and media outlets in the country from sharing news posts it comes in response to proposed legislation that would force tech platforms to pay for news content and joining us live. in the studio right now it's hard to sofitel

with all the details so what exactly is going on here while a tough day if you are a news junkie. on facebook is your source of news in the morning because on thursday all of a straight to wake up to find that that go to platform has decided to pull the plug on any and all local and international stories now that obviously sparked a lot of shock but also huge now this will happen because mark zucker bugs not a fan of proposed legislation in the country which would fool tech and social media companies to pay news publishers to replace that content facebook says this is on it's not willing to negotiate so it responded with this bold. move which is really infuriated this trading government facebook. sections were unnecessary they way heavy handed and they will damage it's reputation here in australia their decision to block a stray and access to government sites be they have bad support through the

pandemic mental health emergency services the bureau of meteorology were completely unrelated to the media code which is yet to pass through the senate facebook's actions to unfriend australia today cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services were as they were disappointing i am in regular contact with the leaders of other nations on these issues we will not be intimidated by big seeking to pressure our parliaments as he votes on our important news media bargaining code so we just heard that what's really got people turning on facebook now is that it's gone well beyond the media sphere and blocked pages which can and really do affect people's lives so we're talking about the bureau of meteorology which got the boot fire and emergency services which put out obviously warnings of bushfires blocked charities including women's shelters all he calls

services for aboriginal people go on and crucially state health departments which obviously pay a really big role during the pandemic now some of those pages have been restored but it's too little too late facebook showed itself willing to play with people's lives in these really uncertain times. as many countries is preparing it's kind of a 1000 facts a nation rollout many hospitals a war rate about not being able to get information out there are extremely concerning to find this morning that sent vincent's melbourne's facebook page has been blocked these during the pandemic and on the eve of crucial covert vaccine distribution we hope this situation can be rectified very shortly. now a facebook spokesperson said that it was a mistake that no news organizations god banned but the reputational damage has been done for facebook it was clearly more important to be engaged in this power struggle to stand up the public health and safety take a wider look here in recent months we've seen governments and big tech facing off

again and again is this a step off oh well absolutely particularly stateside. it's often called if there's an illness herring's what government officials accuse face of censorship of failing to react to allegations of abuse for failing to take down harmful content facebook often raises it said you know what it's easier said than done it's actually really difficult while this is strange and situations actually show that it is easy but apparently it wasn't so easy to take down stream of the christ church massacre in new zealand so clearly when money is on the line facebook is willing to rally the troops and take decisive action but it's very selective about when it does that and how it does it for many this was the icing on top of the case for so long now we've heard. accusations that big tech wields too much power recently of course the democratically elected president of the united states getting banned from twitter

and for many this was just another latest example of silicon valley overreaching. these actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behavior of big tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them they may be changing the world but that doesn't mean they've done it but what today's events do confirm for all australians is the immense market power. of the made here digital giants these digital giants loom very very large. in our economy. and on the digital landscape so clearly this is a way ignited a long time contentious debate for many facebook finally showing its true colors money if the people turning a blind eye when it wants to and growing a bit too big for its boots it probably wasn't counting on this level of backlash

but sadly it looks like facebook is not making many friends at the moment parties aska taylor thank you for breaking down that story for us. large protests have broken out in spain over the jailing of catalan rapper pablo herself for slandering the crown and glorifying terrorism hundreds of celebrities have spoken out in support of the artists plan this international described his arrest as an excessive restriction on his freedom of expression. it's. heavy clashes erupted in catalonia as hazel was arrested in his hometown of need on

tuesday around 2000 people rallied in barcelona where they were met with a strong police presence handful of protesters set up barricades and set trash cans on fire and threw projectiles at officers and regional police said several people were arrested local journalists have alina was up steam. people are searching like they already started to protest yesterday going out on the streets of mar so long and they want. to be released he basically was criticizing the spanish crowd and she's in his songs in his rap there are a lot of teenagers a protest think mostly young people and not just in barcelona but also in other states in catalonia especially a lay down where. in the end we continue versity king basically barricaded himself and now he says that she just wanted the truth to come out and

he's very happy happy about it they are just like the streets on fire and the plus a couple is the main square in there in barcelona and the police are getting quite angry because it's like the 1st process since many months in the barcelona because of the of course yesterday there was a woman who was injured she was there she's only 19 years old and she got basically like a bullet in hair in her face and now it seems like there are for the star even. bigger than yesterday and they might continue for the next couple days famous for protesting and demand back. there in the iris of well might have just been an excuse because it's been months since the cuts along were protesting this actually among the whole spain like you said have told and and

others think other big and. people are actually also tired of all the restrictions of coverage so they are using you know different excuses such as the iris of pablo as basically also protesting that they want to you know have a normal life again well back to work. 32 year old hazel was taken to prison earlier this week after barricading himself and a catalan university with his supporters it comes in the wake of last weekend's historic showing a pro independence parties and local catalan elections back in 28 pablo has said it was convicted by a spanish court of glorifying terrorism and insulting state institutions he fell foul of legislation covering spaniards rights to freedom of expression the gag law by critics talking about the ruling the supreme court said free speech has its limits on this subject to constitutional demands

a member of the catalan national assembly told us suppressing free speech is inexcusable. spiny over many is quitting the fundamental rights act is their right to free speech and create 3 creation government is they call themselves the most progressive government in the history for spain and so for them the case of problem has been brought up because it is a clear sign that this is not true or not this is one of the reasons why we want independence not because we want to build a new a new contract with a more open and free laws we want more system no system which actually have. killed your creation like the one i sell or others like. so of course we need this

this change so we are fighting for this for a more free. 3. a deadly winter storm sweeping across the southern united states has left millions of americans without power for days texas has seen a record winter freeze with temperatures dropping as low as minus 18 degree celcius for the 1st time in over 30 years this is led to rolling blackouts with many houses destroyed during the storm so this is a very harrowing. it was days for a day. like it is. always gave you a regular period being with here for the birth of. you know all photos circulating

online claim to show texas senator ted cruz flying to cam coon during the disaster cruise hasn't commented on the pictures yet but they have caused a massive backlash on social media and he's not the only politician and hot water that's after a former mayor stirred response to residents pleas for help it's pretty bad that you know it's texans we just can't we're told every other part of the country this would have been a huge issue in the late weeks in march for this action. so i speak. to cold. weather you got all the blankets out which i told sleep together to keep us warm and then today when we got up there was no water we have no real update of when it's going to come on our phones there were no when i was you will your family anything nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you trying times like this sink or swim it's your choice the city and county along with power

provide any other service owes you nothing all 3 days in texas struggled to keep power grids up and running some officials are blaming frozen wind turbines for the disaster many locals however are placing the blame squarely on the local government's doorstep and reports. without electricity texas residents are resorting to some rather desperate measures in the hopes of staying with the war they're firing up the grill and the generators and some of the even tried to use their cars to heat their homes resulting in several deaths and over 300 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning people are dying from carbon monoxide poisoning we have had so many calls in so many incidents that we can't even track them all the major oil refineries of the state has shut down due to freezing weather that bright new future of green energy isn't working out so well in the present the wind turbines that accounted for almost a quarter of texas' energy last year have frozen to a standstill every source of power that the state of texas has has been compromised

whether it be renewable power such as wind or solar but also as i mentioned today. access to coal generated power access to gas generator power also have been compromised alternative energy sources have been a key aspect of the democrats' push for ecofriendly policies a key plank of our build back better recovery plan is building a modern resilient climate infrastructure and clean energy future that will create millions of good paid union jobs critics are blaming joe biden and the democrats saying they pushed climate friendly policies a bit too hard and branding the outcome catastrophic shows how the green new deal would be a deadly deal for the united states of america if the last few days have proven anything it's that we need oil and gas relying solely on renewable energy would be catastrophic many of these sources have proven to be unreliable the united states

may be a global superpower but at home it's a lacking power quite literally all of this critics say are symptoms of america in decline caleb artsy new york. elsewhere in the u.s. thousands. of national guard troops are expected to stay in washington d.c. until mid march over concerns of possible unrest in the coming weeks that story and more after this break. and. join me every thursday on the elec simon shore and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for indication let it be an arms race is off and spearing dramatic development only closely i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. nations human beings to change mentions or think you know this i think is one of those last person to think there's going to make me more uneasy. peace force a good time just because major cities are not. supposed to be in your brain when we could choose the.

comeback the coronavirus pandemic has pushed italy's most vulnerable to the brink with many facing a daily dilemma of whether to feed themselves or take care of their medical needs in 2020 the number of people on the breadline in italy grew by $173000.00 of just under one 3rd of a tie ins are now at risk of poverty that's according to the organization for economic cooperation and development we heard how italians are coping with the pandemic. on several troll boy picture articles on the we are my situation has worsened due to the pandemic i'm a small grass man who worked in fairs and since everything is now closed due to the curve it i don't know how to go on i have to pay for some medicines but without anyone's help i often can't afford them between eating in treating myself i choose the former you don't know what you have to pay for 1st between pain the house bills and medicines you don't really know what to prioritize so i decide not to treat myself. up with the i'm also finding it difficult to purchase drugs but always cost

a lot i can't buy medicines the price of which is increasing more and more we're now talking about different covert variants they're saying there could be a new look down so we don't have a better future to look forward so there is no hope. there were time government is facing growing calls to change its strategy for dealing with the pandemic leading health experts insisting that the current system of regional restrictions is ineffective the government scientific committee on monday urged ministers to follow other european countries and implementing stricter measures is what locals tell us about that. if you weren't that was the norm but this year has definitely been a strange one the global pandemic has brought a number of sectors to their knees and among these is certainly the poorest people who are having the greatest difficulties finding drugs and buying medicine many people can't even afford to buy drugs at a reduced price donating medicines brings

a smile to the faces of people who can be treated the crisis is devastating and there are people who even have to make a choice between eating and treating themselves everywhere or been there. they've been demick has increased poverty and palermo it's quite high in the year before the pandemic were open 3 days a week but now due to comit we have to open 5 days a week people don't work and can't even pay for mad since we collect medicines and then we give them to people who can't afford them people can't pay for them so we do what we want we distribute food for children too we are missing many things and we are also struggling with this. and the u.s. 9 new york state a some way members are pushing for governor andrew cuomo to be stripped of his emergency powers as he faces allegations that he broke the law by concealing covert deaths in nursing homes a scale erupted 2 weeks ago when the new york attorney general accused the cuomo administration of under-counting covert does in nursing homes by 50 percent the

state health department then disclosed over 6000 previously unreported victims despite widespread criticism and requirement has stopped short of an apology apologize look i've said repeatedly. we made a mistake when we didn't provide information it allowed press people cynics politicians to fill the void i just want to make sure people know these are the facts these are the facts. everything that could have been done was done. it's also been reported that the f.b.i. and federal prosecutors are investigating call most crime of arced task force with a particular focus on his administration's handling of nursing homes we spoke to vivian's i us who lost her mother to coded in a new york care home and went on to set up the voices for seniors advocacy group every single time he has

a press conference he always says it's conspiracy theory or he's blaming someone else but what he doesn't understand is that families are not just how heartbroken we have questions and what he's given so far is insufficient my sister and i were the ones trying to find out really what was going on in my mother's facility and we had no idea that this was a statewide nationwide issue so the steps we're taking right now is against the nursing home directly they were the ones in charge of my mom they were the ones who failed to treat her they're the ones who were not prepared for the pandemic they're the ones who had a duty to my mother and to the other now 69 residents to keep them safe so what we're going to keep going is raising our voices and crying out for a statewide independent investigation and a federal investigation into cuomo and his in his administration. after the defeat of nazi germany and 1945 you might think that right wing extremism

would now be limited to the very fringes of society but as art is redfish project discovered this may not be the case it's documentary on the case premieres on you tube today and you can watch it throughout the day here on our to international as well but for now here's a quick taste. also . torture. but aging. fast and short since finished it. at. the for. the fear in the spring of. avoided trying to go about this are.

we supposed to run or office chairman of alternative for germany and linda who claims that the party has been demonized by political rivals and the media. it has become quite common to misuse the term of not system to fight against political enemies and it's not only the a.f.p. which has become the whip him of this we have a very long and complete list of all right extremist parties and also organizations n.g.o.s etc of which it you cannot come and enter the a.f.d. as a member as to now really concerted campaign of the political parties and the media is running to demonize the a.f.d. for things they are not really responsible for if you look at the programmatic.

aims of the party it is the conservative party which even has a strong elements of a left wing party it is quite obvious that the other parties at tack at the a.f.d. as a real opposition and opposition which is feared by everyone because of the other opposition parties of course see that the a.f.d. comes in with a totally new concept the democracy system it will only be complete if you allow also citizens to decide in. a referendum on basic issues concerning the government and the country and this was for many years the basic point in the programme off the green party for example which is to consider to be a left wing party. around $5000.00 national guard troops are expected to remain

in washington until the middle of next month a decision was reportedly made over lingering concerns about unrest as r.t. has her on for us next with more on that story. one of the places that i actually lived in was a news anchor was an el paso texas where you had fort bliss that is the 2nd largest army post in the country when we pulled up to the gates here this morning it looks like i was walking into fort bliss there is a there's a whole street that's blocked off here that goes right into a checkpoint you'll see that these cars they go in they get checked pointed by police by national guard and you see this is all happening literally just you know maybe 2 football fields away from our u.s. capitol you can also see to the left of the capitol here in our life we have almost like these little trailers that have been put on we have a lot of these members where they're actually staying there was 26000 troops here during the inauguration the numbers starting to go down but they want to have 5000

troops here scheduled again like you said till march 4th because you have a lot of cuban members talking underground and sub read it's in you know you have a lot of these different you know social media other outlets and they're going to talking about possibly coming back again on march 4th believing that trump will be reinstated as the president again the fence looks like it goes down for miles now it goes all the way to the reflection pool in front of the capitol you know this is the people's house kids come here on their snow days to slide down the hill and now it's completely occupied by the national guard here i want you to look at the fencing right now normally you have barbed wire fencing you have barbed wire fencing outside of federal prisons this is razor wire this will kill you if you try to breach this fence here ok that fence that goes all the way around the perimeter of the capital $50000000.00 now again there's talks of having the national guard stay here until the early fall it's it's going to cost american taxpayers 2650000 per day to have 5000 troops here. that's

a global news update for this hour but don't forget you can always head to our website are to dot com for the details on all of those stories and many more. the british and american governments have often been accused of destroying lives in their own interest or you see in this these techniques is the state devising

methods to him to essentially destroy the personality of an individual. by scientific means this is how one doctors theories were allegedly used in psychological warfare against prisoners deemed a danger to the state that was the foundation of the method of psychological interrogation psychological court for the cia disseminated within the u.s. intelligence community and worldwide among our allies for the next 30 years and how the victims say they still live with the consequences today. they were the truth that list also. i mean. the anybody. but aging. tends to it can decide that. the.

this isn't on the. left rear in the spring. i'm going to trying to. remove the. chip. that's my to. get that i need. bring down mine and move them into this. line when she's. on i need to go in. knowing mention. the killing of 9.