yes but i will. play a lot of movies but i was reading the way. in the headlines this hour the australian government slams facebook for banning news posts in the country using the tax abusing its power. play. spain is rocked by on rust over the jailing of cattle and rapper a public after he was handed a 9 month sentence for slandering the crown and more like terrorism. also those are millions of texas residents are left without electricity and heat as authorities struggle to cope with the deadly winter storm sweeping the southern states of america. so this is.

these flipping. and under fire for concealing thousands of nursing home dads new york state assembly members push to strip governor andrew cuomo of his emergency powers. welcome to the program this thursday you're watching are to international bring you your live news update this hour. the australian government has accused facebook of an abuse of power after the social media giant blocked people and publishers in the country from sharing news posts for more on the story i spoke to our 2 saw scaler. rough start to the day if you are a news junkie or a millennial and facebook is the open in the morning because on thursday all of

a stray a wake up to find that it's go to news platform had pulled the plug on any and all roekel and international stories not obviously sparked shock but also outrage now this is all because mogs are not a fan of proposed legislation in the country which would force attack and social media companies to pay news publishers to repose that content facebook says this is unfair i'm not willing to negotiate and so on this really bold blanket ban a move which has infuriated the australian government for its book. sections were unnecessary they're 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 what we just heard that and this is what's really got people tugging on facebook now the proposed legislation is about news but facebook has gone beyond the meter and it's blocked pages that really can and do affect people's lives so the bureau of meteorology blocked far and much and the services which post updates about deadly bushfires they've been taken down to charities including women's shelters or legal services for aboriginal people as well as very crucially state health departments which pay a really big role of course in the ongoing pandemic now some of those pages have

been restored but it's too little too late facebook has already showed itself willing to play with the lives of people in these really uncertain times a straight a like this is preparing it's code that 19 facts in roll out and now hospitals are worried that they will not be able to get out information to the people extremely concerning to find this morning that sent vincents 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. the banning of no news organizations was a mistake but some would argue that the reputational damage has been done already facebook has shown that this power struggle this standoff with a straight in government was more important to them than people's health and safety and people find that i think quite hard to forgive on this is just one example we've seen recently over the past few months governments and big tech facing off

again and again but is this just sort of adding fuel to the fire well absolutely particularly stateside how many times have we seen mark zuckerberg being pulled into those endless hearings and facing accusations that his platform doesn't tackle harmful content enough that it's engaged in censorship that it doesn't react quickly to allegations of abuse facebook in these circumstances often raises its hands and says you know what it's easier said than done it's a very difficult almost impossible task while the astray and situation now shows that actually it is that easy whereas apparently removing the live stream of the christ church must occur in new zealand wasn't so pretty when money's on the line facebook can easily rally its troops and be decisive it's just very selective when and how it takes action so many this was the icing on top of the cape for a long time big tech faces allegations that it wields too much power at the banning

of course of the democratically elected president of the united states donald trump being the latest case in point so this latest situation just another example of silicon valley overreach and these are actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behavior of big 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. are what today's events do confer rules strains is the immense market. of these. media digital giants these digital giants loom very very large. in our economy. and on the digital landscape so clearly this has reignited a long running controversial debate for many facebook finally showing its true colors money years of people turning a blind guy when it wants to being too big for its boots the hash tag delete

facebook trending people are asking is it compatible with to look chrissy some thought that facebook was too big to fail but looking at the and for reactions it might well have triggered its own downfall here. large protests have broken out in spain over the jailing of catalan rapper public herself for slandering the crown and glorifying terrorism hundreds of celebrities have spoken out in support of the artist on amnesty international described his arrest as an excessive restriction on his freedom of expression. thanks. thanks.

heavy clashes erupted in catalonia as hersel was arrested in his hometown of it on tuesday around 2000 people rallied in barcelona where they were met with a strong police presence handful of protesters set up barricades set trash cans on fire and threw projectiles at officers and regional police and several people were arrested local journalist evelyn a question was at the scene. people are searching like they already started 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 lots of teenagers as think mostly young people and not just in barcelona but also in other sneakiness in catalonia especially a laid out where. in the end when he's in your city he basically barricaded himself

and now he said that she just wanted the truth to come out and he's very happy happy about it they just looked like the streets on fire and the plus a couple is the main square in the in barcelona and so the police are getting quite angry because it's like the 1st process since many months in the barcelona because of. course yesterday there was a woman who was injured there only 19 years old and she got basically like a bullet spawn in hair in her face. and now it seems like their purpose are even. bigger than yesterday and they might continue for the next couple of things 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 a whole spain like you said. and others other big. banks. actually also tired of all the restrictions. so they are using you know different excuses such as the iris of pablo basically also protests they want to you know have a normal life again and go back to work back in 2018 pablo hersel was convicted by a spanish court over tweets and lyrics that attacked the monarchy of police and allegedly glorified terrorist groups he fell foul of legislation covering a spaniard's rights to freedom of expression the gag law by critics the court ruled that spanish law prohibited such expressions of opinion. but a member of the cattle and national assembly told us suppressing free speech is inexcusable. hispanic over many years encouraging the fundamental rights

narrative is their right to free speech and create 3 creation croom government is they call themselves the most progressive government in the history of the spain on so for them the case of capital has been brought to them because it is a clear sign that this is not true or not this is one of the reasons why we want the independence not because we want to build a new a new contract with a more open and free loss we want to know more when the system no system which accept. the killed and 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 south of the 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 degrees celsius for the 1st time in over 30 years this is like to rolling blackouts and many houses destroyed during the storm. this is this is it. is very this is floating. and that is the other imbra oh it just gave you the total regular pandemic right here for birds america meanwhile photos circulating online claim to show texas senator ted cruz flying to cannes coon during the disaster cruise hasn't commented on the pictures at but they've caused a massive backlash on social media and he's not the only politician in hot water

after a local mayor was forced to step down after his response to residents pleas for help. no when i was you or your family anything nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you joining trying times like this sink or swim it's your choice the city and county along with power providers or any other service owes you nothing it's pretty bad that you know it's texans you just came here for a whole other part of the country this would have been a huge issue in the league we've seen mark for this action. so i see. cold. water you got all the blankets out we try to all 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 bear we were. all 3 days in texas struggled to keep power grids up and running some officials are blaming uprose and inter mines for

the disaster and the locals however are placing the blame squarely on the local government's doorstep and has the details. without electricity texas residents are resorting to some rather desperate measures in the hopes of staying warm they are 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 is 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 bill 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 are seeing new york. staying with the you asked we look at the protracted military. on the capitol hill around $5000.00 national guard troops are expected to remain in washington d.c. until the middle of next month and was reportedly made over lingering concerns of violence here's our t. is far on with more on the 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 in sub right 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

$2650000.00 per day to have $5000.00 troops here. still had the pandemic makes matters worse for at least chorused else on their face the bleak choice to eat or to treat that after this short break.

join me every thursday on the elec simon short and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports this list i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. welcome back 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 well 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 talons are coping on several troll boy picture articles and on their we are my situation has worsened due to the pandemic i'm a small cross 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 eaten and treated 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. 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 so we don't have a better future to look forward so there is no hope. the new italian government is

facing growing calls to change its strategy for dealing with the pandemic but leading health experts and system that the current tiered system of regional restrictions is ineffective the government scientific committee on monday urged ministers to follow other european countries in implementing stricter measures here's what local pharmacist told us about the situation. if you weren't there was the number to go 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 is 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 meds 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. over in the united states 9 new york state assembly 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 scandal erupted 2 weeks ago when the new york attorney general accused the cuomo administration of under-counting covert deaths in nursing homes by 50 percent the state health department then disclosed disclosed over 6000 previously unreported victims despite widespread criticism and our cuomo 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 quot most coronavirus task force but their particular focus on this administration's handling of nursing homes we spoke to vivian say us who lost her mother to coated and 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 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 in raising our voices and crying out for a state wide independent investigation and a federal investigation into cuomo and his in his administration's. following the defeat of nazi germany and 1945 it was hoped that right wing extremism would be consigned to the fringes of society history with the movement gaining ground and virtually every european country in recent years there are fears it's back with a vengeance artie's redfish project focuses on its rise in germany

a documentary on the subject premieres on you tube today and you can watch it throughout the day on art international as well but for now here's a quick taster. also . torture. but aging. fast and short since finished it can decide that. the for. the. left rear. avoided trying to come about. we spoke to rayner office the chairman of alternative for germany in lindau 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 citizen to fight against political enemies and it's not only the f.t. 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.c. 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 also the other opposition parties of course see that the a.f.d. comes in with a totally new concept the democratic 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. that's been a wrap up of the day's top news for now but don't forget you can always find us on the knee of your favorite social media platforms like twitter and instagram robson

there are reports. is your media a reflection of reality. in

a world transformed. what will make you feel safe like. i said nation build community. are you going the right way or are you being so. direct. what is true for display. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us and the death. or i'm a going to shall i say. welcome

to the alex salmond show from scotland where today we look at the long term health impact of the pandemic the impact of individual patients on the health impact on society as a whole our guest today professor humans got money and they did make possession to just is professor out of intensive care at university college london and also practice as a consultant in the whittington hospital today he has some haas words for the u.k. failure in public health even with the national health service reform example a fashion over the cute of the recent success of the vaccination program the scent of you coming up soon but 1st that doesn't mean i was your tweet should e-mails and your messages thank you alex and another 2 mendacious points last week on the storming of the capital in the us and we of course featured professedly davis is out well tonight.