HONG KONG (AP): Sophia is a robot of many talents — she speaks, jokes, sings and even makes art. In March, she caused a stir in the art world when a digital work she created as part of a collaboration was sold at an auction for $688,888 in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT).



The sale highlighted a growing frenzy in the NFT market, where people can buy ownership rights to digital content. NFTs each have a unique digital code saved on blockchain ledgers that allow anyone to verify the authenticity and ownership of items.



David Hanson, CEO of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics and Sophia’s creator, has been developing robots for the past two and a half decades. He believes realistic-looking robots can connect with people and assist in industries such as healthcare and education.



Sophia is the most famous robot creation from Hanson Robotics, with the ability to mimic facial expressions, hold conversations and recognize people. In 2017, she was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship, becoming the world’s first robot citizen.



“I envisioned Sophia as a creative artwork herself, that could generate art,” Hanson said in an interview.



“Sophia is the culmination of a lot of arts, and engineering, and the idea that she could then generate art was a way for her to emotionally and visually connect with people,” he said.



Sophia collaborated with Italian artist Andrea Bonaceto, who drew portraits of Sophia. Sophia then processed his work via neural networks and proceeded to create a digital artwork of her own.



The digital work that sold for $688,888 is titled “Sophia Instantiation”, and is a 12-second video file which shows Bonaceto’s portrait evolving into Sophia’s digital painting. It is accompanied by the physical artwork painted by Sophia.



The buyer, a digital artwork collector and artist known as 888 with the Twitter handle @Crypto888crypto, later sent Sophia a photo of his painted arm. The robot then processed that, adding that image to her knowledge and painted more strokes on top of her original piece.



In a tweet on Sophia’s account, the work was described as the first NFT collaboration between an “AI, a mechanical collective being and an artist-collector.”



“As an artist, I have computational creativity in my algorithms, creating original works,” Sophia said when asked what inspires her when it comes to art. “But my art is created in collaboration with my humans in a kind of collective intelligence like a human-artificial intelligence hive mind.”



Sophia’s artwork selling as an NFT is part of a growing trend. In March, a digital artwork by artist Beeple — whose real name is Mike Winkelmann — sold for nearly $70 million, shattering records and making it the most expensive digital artwork ever sold.



Henri Arslanian, PricewaterhouseCooper’s Global Crypto Leader, said that NFTs give people “bragging rights” of the assets that they own.



“And what is really amazing with NFT is that it not only allows you to actually show to the broader world that you own this, but it really creates this bond between the holder of the NFT and the artists,” he said.



It also allows art to be sold without traditional intermediaries, so that artists can connect directly with buyers without being constrained by galleries or auction houses, Arslanian said.



Sophia will carry on painting, Hanson said, and the next step in the robot’s career could be that of a musician. She is working on several musical works in a project called Sophia Pop, where she collaborates with human musicians to generate music and lyrics, he said.



“We’re so excited about Sophia’s career as an artist,” Hanson said.

Robot artist sells art for $688,888, now eyeing music career

(AP): Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its augmented reality headsets.



Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday.



The technology is based on Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets, which were originally intended for the video game and entertainment industries.



Pentagon officials have described the futuristic technology — which the Army calls its Integrated Visual Augmentation System — as a way of boosting soldiers’ awareness of their surroundings and their ability to spot targets and dangers.



Microsoft’s head-mounted HoloLens displays let people see virtual imagery superimposed over the physical world in front of them — anything from holograms in virtual game worlds to repair instructions floating over a broken gadget.



The Army’s website says soldiers tested the gadgets last year at Fort Pickett in Virginia. It said the system could help troops gain an advantage “on battlefields that are increasingly urban, congested, dark and unpredictable.”



The Army first began testing Microsoft’s system with a $480 million contract in 2018 and said the headsets could be used for both training and in actual battle. The new contract will enable Microsoft to mass produce units for more than 120,000 soldiers in the Army Close Combat Force. Microsoft said the contract will amount to up to $21.88 billion over the next decade, with a five-year base agreement that can be extended for another five years.



It’s not clear how it corresponds to the $740 billion defense policy bill that Congress passed in January after overriding a veto by President Donald Trump. The bill affirmed a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops but included cuts to the headset initiative.



Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that the technology is promising but its results must be closely tracked “and it’s our job to raise issues if the technology isn’t meeting the needs of our troops now and in the future.”



Microsoft President Brad Smith told Reed’s committee in February that the system could integrate thermal night vision and facial recognition to provide soldiers with “real-time analytics” on remote battlefields. He also described how it could help in planning a hostage rescue operation by creating a “digital twin” of the building.



A group of Microsoft workers in 2019 petitioned the company to cancel its initial Army deal, arguing it would turn real-world battlefields into a video game.



Microsoft is among several tech companies that have sought to wow the gaming world with glitzy new virtual reality goggles over the past decade, though the efforts have largely fizzled. Microsoft pivoted away from consumer applications for its second-generation HoloLens 2, introduced in 2019, which is the basis for the Army’s new gadgets.



Although Microsoft recently demonstrated a way to use the goggles to play the hit game Pokemon Go, it mostly pitches the devices as work tools to help surgeons, factory crews and others. Users can often control what’s on their screens using hand gestures or voice commands.



The headset deal is part of Microsoft’s broader work as a defense contractor. The Pentagon in September reaffirmed Microsoft as winner of a cloud computing contract potentially worth $10 billion, although the work has been delayed by a legal battle over rival Amazon’s claim that the bidding process was flawed.

Microsoft wins $22 billion deal-making headsets for US Army

Washington (CNN): The chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter faced withering criticism from members of Congress on Thursday about their handling of misinformation and online extremism during their first appearance before lawmakers since the Jan 6 Capitol riots and the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about their platforms' efforts to stem baseless election fraud claims and vaccine skepticism. Opaque algorithms that prioritize user engagement and promote misinformation also came under scrutiny. Rep. Mike Doyle, chair of the House subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said his staff easily found anti-vaccine content on Facebook, Facebook's Instagram subsidiary, Twitter and YouTube. "You can take this content down. You can reduce the vision. You can fix this. But you choose not to," Doyle said in opening remarks. "You have the means. But time after time you are picking engagement and profit over the health and safety of users." The tech platforms, which had already faced intense pressure to beat back misinformation and foreign interference leading up to the 2020 election, came under greater scrutiny in the following months. Even as some of the companies rolled out new steps to crack down on election conspiracy theories, it wasn't enough to keep hardline supporters of former President Donald Trump from storming the US Capitol. YouTube CEO says Trump's account will be restored when risk of violence recedes. The hearing also marks the CEOs' first time back before Congress since Trump was banned or suspended from their respective platforms following the Capitol riots. Facebook and Google declined to say whether they believe they bear some responsibility for spreading misinformation resulting in the Capitol riots, while Twitter acknowledged that it did. In his introductory remarks, Zuckerberg rejected responsibility for fomenting the riots, pinning the blame squarely on Trump and a "political and media environment that drives Americans apart." Zuckerberg said Facebook "did our part to secure the integrity of the election. And then on Jan. 6, President Trump gave a speech … calling on people to fight." The hearings coincide with legislation under active consideration in both the House and Senate to rein in the tech industry. Some bills target companies' economic dominance and alleged anti-competitive practices. Others zero in on the platforms' approach to content moderation or data privacy. The various proposals could introduce tough new requirements for tech platforms, or expose them to greater legal liability in ways that may reshape the industry. Many lawmakers had harsh words for the tech platforms. But the topic and direction of their questions provided an important clue as to Congress's possible next steps. Democrats focused their questioning on the tech platforms' algorithms and the way that their quest for profit allegedly leads to negative outcomes for users and society at large. Republicans, meanwhile, introduced a new line of attack focusing on how the platforms' practices are particularly toxic for the mental health of children and teens. The hours-long hearing at times resembled a duel between openly outraged lawmakers and the embattled executives. Members of Congress accused the CEOs of being smug, evasive and condescending. In some of their responses, the CEOs appeared to barely restrain their own exasperation with gotcha-minded yes-or-no questions. Dorsey in particular appeared to express his frustrations, live, on Twitter. He posted a Twitter poll that simply asked "?" and offered two possible answers — yes and no. He also retweeted criticism of lawmakers who were not engaging with Dorsey's ideas on substantive policy. For the executives in the hotseat, Thursday's session may also be their last chance to make a case personally to lawmakers before Congress embarks on potentially sweeping changes to federal law. At the heart of the coming policy battle is Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, the signature liability shield that grants websites legal immunity for much of the content posted by their users. Members of both parties have called for updates to the law, which has been interpreted broadly by the courts and is credited with the development of the open internet. What the Biden administration means for the future of Silicon Valley What the Biden administration means for the future of Silicon Valley The CEOs' written testimony ahead of the high-profile hearing Thursday sketches out areas of potential common ground with lawmakers and hints at areas where the companies intend to work with Congress — and areas where Big Tech is likely to push back. Zuckerberg plans to argue for narrowing the scope of Section 230. In his written remarks, Zuckerberg says Facebook favors a form of conditional liability, where online platforms could be sued over user content if the companies fail to adhere to certain best practices established by an independent third party. The other two CEOs don't wade into the Section 230 debate or discuss the role of government in as much granularity. But they do offer their general visions for content moderation. Pichai's testimony calls for clearer content policies and giving users a way to appeal content decisions. Dorsey's testimony reiterates his calls for more user-led content moderation and the creation of better settings and tools that let users customize their online experience. By now, the CEOs have had a great deal of experience testifying before Congress. Zuckerberg and Dorsey most recently appeared before the Senate in November on content moderation. And before that, Zuckerberg and Pichai testified in the House last summer on antitrust issues. In the days leading up to Thursday's hearing, the companies have argued they acted aggressively to beat back misinformation. Facebook on Monday said it removed 1.3 billion fake accounts last fall and that it now has more than 35,000 people working on content moderation. Twitter said this month it would begin applying warning labels to misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, and it said repeat violations of its Covid-19 policies could lead to permanent bans. YouTube said this month it has removed tens of thousands of videos containing Covid vaccine misinformation, and in January, following the Capitol riots, it announced it would restrict channels that share false claims doubting the 2020 election's outcome. But those claims of progress aren't likely to appease committee members, whose memo cited several research papers indicating that misinformation and extremism are still rampant on the platforms.

Facebook, Twitter and Google CEOs grilled by Congress on misinformation

(BBC): Jack Ma was about to become the richest man in China.



In November 2020, on the eve of another commercial success, the outspoken billionaire suddenly went missing.



Ma's company Alibaba has risen from an online store run from his apartment, to one of the world's largest tech giants.



Today, it reaches nearly 800 million users with services including online shopping, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.



The tech magnate is known for his flamboyant presence and publicity stunts.



He's thrown parties for thousands of his employees and serenaded them with musical numbers like You Raise Me Up.



His latest venture, Ant Group, commands the digital payment market in China through its Alipay mobile finance app.



Controversial speech The company is aiming to revolutionize banking in China, shifting power away from traditional institutions.



On 24 October in Shanghai, Ant Group was ready to launch the world's biggest initial public offering on the stock exchange.



Ahead of this, Ma addressed an assembly of high-profile figures with a controversial speech that criticised the Chinese financial system.



He was not seen in public again until late January. In the interim, there were rumours that he might have been placed under house arrest or otherwise detained.



Some even questioned if he was still alive.



Ma's story is investigated as part of The Real Internet Giants, a new two-part series for BBC Radio 4, presented by entrepreneur Kathryn Parsons.



The Alibaba founder had accused Chinese banks of operating with a "pawn-shop mentality". He had also claimed that the authorities were trying to "use the way to manage a railway station to manage an airport" when it came to regulating the new world of digital finance.



These statements angered the banking establishment and reportedly reached the attention of President Xi Jinping.



Soon Ma and his close colleagues were summoned for a meeting with the regulators, and Ant Group's flotation was halted in its tracks.



Shares in Ma's companies fell, wiping nearly $76bn (£54bn) off its value.



After that meeting, Jack Ma was nowhere to be seen.



'Big surprise' "That day he apparently crossed the invisible red line for what can be said and done in Xi Jinping's China," says Christina Boutrup, a China analyst who has interviewed Ma in the past.



"I believe it was a big surprise for him. He would never have crossed that line if he had known how bad it could go."



Eventually, on 20 January 2021, Ma resurfaced in the form of a short video address for a charity event.



He was subsequently spotted the following month playing golf on the Chinese tropical island of Hainan.



"Apparently he just kept a very low profile, which was really the best thing he could do," says Ms Boutrup.



The Chinese government is currently reconsidering its approach to regulating the tech giants, launching an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba.



And last week, one watchdog said it had fined 12 companies - including Tencent and Baidu - over 10 deals that it said violated anti-monopoly rules. This may signal an escalation of matters across the wider tech sector.



China is facing increasing international scrutiny from the US and elsewhere over its human rights policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.



The move to rein in the tech superpowers is seen by some as an effort to prioritise stability and control over commercial success.



"There are [Communist] party committees there to remind the companies… that the party ultimately has power, even over powerful individuals like Jack Ma," says Samantha Hoffman, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.



This control extends to secrecy, she says.



"Not only is a company responsible to do what the party demands, but they also can't admit to doing that if they're asked."



But another expert suggests Alibaba and China's other tech giants should not be viewed in the West solely through a political lens.



"China is still a developing country… I think it might be unfair to judge a developing country against the same benchmarks and merits as you would a developed country," says Lillian Li, author of the popular Chinese tech newsletter Chinese Characteristics.

Why did Alibaba's Jack Ma disappear for three months?

HELSINKI (Reuters): Nokia has signed a five-year deal with AT&amp;T to deploy a 5G network on the mobile operator’s C-Band spectrum in parts of the United States, the Finnish company said on Thursday.Nokia said its portfolio for C-Band, meaning satellite transmissions in the 4-8GHz frequency range, includes support for different 5G networks, cloud-based implementations and Open RAN products.U.S. wireless companies last month won $78 billion in bids in the government’s auction for a band of C-Band spectrum critical to next-generation 5G networks.C-Band spectrum provides a good balance of both capacity and coverage, while also allowing rapid 5G rollout and fast introduction of services.<div>Nokia did not disclose the value of the agreement.</div>

Nokia signs 5G equipment deal with AT&T

Kathmandu: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has introduced QR codes in various sectors to promote digital payment system and the number of payers through codes has increased. Till last month, the minimum amount paid through QR code was Rs. 500 million in January.



As per the report made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, more than Rs. 467 million has been transacted in January alone as compared to last December. The turnover was Rs 1.24 billion in December, compared to Rs 1.71 billion in January.



Of the 372,176 transactions last December, 535,790 transactions were made in January. Recently, the transaction amount through Connect IPS, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking and Wallet has been increasing. Compared to last month, online transactions have increased by Rs 10 billion in January alone.



According to the data released by the NRB till mid-January, transactions through Connect IPS, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, QR Scan and Mobile Wallet alone increased by Rs 163.87 billion in January alone.



A total of Rs. 153.17 billion was transacted in December using the technology. According to the bank's data, more than Rs 104.39 billion has been transacted through Connect IPS in January alone. Connect IPS has been used 1.545 million times in that period.



A total of Rs 38.59 billion was transacted through mobile banking in January. A total of Rs 33.15 billion was transacted last December. In January, 96 lakh 72 thousand 478 transactions have been made through mobile banking.



A total of Rs 9.22 billion has been transacted through internet banking. There have been 31 thousand 482 transactions in January. A total of Rs 9.65 billion was transacted through wallet in December, an increase of Rs 9.94 billion in January. A total of 15.11 million transactions have been made in a month.



Similarly, out of 843 million transactions made online (e-commerce) in December last year, the amount increased to Rs 932 million in January.

QR code payment increases

Kathmandu (Rashtriya Samachar Samiti): Five companies have been shortlisted for the study required to have Nepal's own satellite. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has selected five companies after nine companies submitted letters of interest to study the satellite.



NTA has called for a new proposal to regulate and establish security, trade and operation structure and policy of satellite installation by canceling the old proposal last December.



NTA spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal informed that five companies have been selected from the companies that have submitted letters of intent as per the demand of NTA. The selected companies include Euro Consult of France, S3Tel Inc. of Dubai, Space Partnership International of the United States, Economics Limited of the United Kingdom and KPMG Asuncity and Consulting Services of India, he said.



According to him, technical and financial proposals will be sought from the selected companies in the first phase. After studying the proposal received from them, NtA will assign the basic work related to the establishment of ground satellite. He informed that another company will be selected for the installation of the satellite after the company to be selected in the first phase makes all the necessary preparations.



The policy related to the satellite was made public last June saying that it will launch its own satellite by 2022. Earlier, 22 companies from 12 countries had expressed interest in having a satellite in the letter of intent called by NTA to keep Nepal's own satellite.

Five companies selected for satellite studies

(BBC): The US is expressing growing concern over a hack on Microsoft's Exchange email software that the tech company has blamed on China.



"This is an active threat," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. "Everyone running these servers - government, private sector, academia - needs to act now to patch them."



Microsoft said hackers had used its mail server to attack their targets.



It is reported that tens of thousands of US organisations may be impacted.



The US has long accused the Chinese government of cyber-espionage, something Beijing denies.



Ms Psaki told reporters that the White House was "concerned that there are a large number of victims" and said the vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's servers "could have far reaching impacts".



Microsoft executive Tom Burt revealed the breach in a blog post on Tuesday and announced updates to counter security flaws which he said had allowed hackers to gain access to Microsoft Exchange servers.



The tech giant said Hafnium had tried to steal information from groups such as infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions and defence contractors.



A spokesman for the Chinese government told Reuters news agency that the country was not behind the hack. Beijing has repeatedly rejected US accusations of cyber-crime.



More than 20,000 organisations have been compromised in the US with many more affected worldwide, Reuters reported.



Brian Krebs, an industry expert and blogger, put the number higher - citing multiple security sources.



"At least 30,000 organizations across the United States - including a significant number of small businesses, towns, cities and local governments - have over the past few days been hacked by an unusually aggressive Chinese cyber-espionage unit that's focused on stealing email from victim organizations," he wrote in a blog post.



Mr Krebs warned attacks had "dramatically stepped up" since Microsoft's announcement.



News of the breach prompted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) to release an emergency directive telling agencies and departments to take urgent action.



Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Adviser, has also urged network owners to download the security patches as soon as possible.



Microsoft has not confirmed the reported figures but said in a further statement on Friday that it was working closely with US government agencies and told customers "the best protection" was "to apply updates as soon as possible across all impacted systems".



This is the eighth time in the past 12 months that Microsoft has publicly accused nation-state groups of targeting institutions critical to civil society.



Microsoft said the attack was in no way related to the SolarWinds attack, which hit US government agencies late last year.



Although Hafnium is based in China, it allegedly conducts its operations primarily from leased virtual private servers in the US, Microsoft said.



China presence While many US tech firms have had a tumultuous relationship with the Chinese government, Microsoft has maintained a mainland presence since 1992.



Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Microsoft's business-oriented social media platform LinkedIn is still accessible in China.



So, too, is its search engine Bing, although locally-grown Baidu dominates the search market.

Microsoft hack: White House warns of 'active threat' of email attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP): Iran’s impoverished southeast has been experiencing wide disruptions of internet services, experts said, as unrest gripped the remote province after fatal border shootings.



Several rights groups reported in a joint statement that authorities shut down the mobile data network in the restive province of Sistan and Baluchestan, calling the disruptions an apparent “tool to conceal” the government’s harsh crackdown on protests convulsing the area.



The reports of internet interference come as Iranian authorities and semiofficial news agencies increasingly acknowledge the turmoil challenging local authorities in the southeast — a highly sensitive matter in a country that seeks to repress all hints of political dissent.



Starting Wednesday, the government shut down the mobile data network across Sistan and Baluchestan, where 96% of the population accesses the internet only through their phones, rights groups said, crippling the key communication tool.



After four days of unverified “localized regional network disruptions” amid the protests, NetBlocks, which monitors worldwide internet access, confirmed a new disruption to internet connectivity in the province beginning late Saturday.



“This is Iran’s traditional response to any kind of protest,” Amir Rashidi from Miaan Group, a human rights organization that focuses on digital security in the Middle East, told The Associated Press on Saturday. “Shutting down the internet to block news and pictures getting out makes (authorities) feel more comfortable opening fire.”



The week saw a series of escalating confrontations between police and protesters. Crowds with light arms and grenade launchers descended on Kurin checkpoint near Iran’s border with Pakistan on Thursday, Abouzar Mehdi Nakhaie, the governor of Zahedan, the provincial capital, said in comments carried by Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency. The violence killed one policeman, he added.



Earlier this week, protesters attacked the district governor’s office and stormed two police stations in the city of Saravan, outraged over the shootings of fuel smugglers trying to cross back into Iran from Pakistan on Monday. The border shootings and ensuing clashes killed at least two people, the government said. Many rights activists in the area reported higher death tolls without offering evidence.



Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, vowed Friday to investigate the deaths. Officials insisted that calm had returned to the streets.



The Iranian government previously has cut off internet access and cellphone service in tense times. In the fall of 2019, for instance, Iran imposed a near nationwide internet blackout as anti-government protests sparked by an increase in fuel prices roiled the capital of Tehran and other cities. Hundreds were reportedly killed in the crackdown nationwide.



Given that authorities targeted the mobile network and not the landline in Sistan and Baluchestan, the disruption likely wouldn’t appear on regular network data, said Mahsa Alimardani, researcher at Article 19, an international organization that fights censorship. The area already suffered from unreliable internet connections.



“This targeted shutdown was very intentional because they knew the realities of this province,” where people are poor and use cheap phones as opposed to computers, Alimardani said.



Sistan and Baluchestan is one of most unstable and least developed parts of Iran. The relationship between its predominantly Sunni residents and Iran’s Shiite theocracy long has been fraught. A low-level violent insurgency in Sistan and Baluchestan involves several militant groups, including those demanding more autonomy for the region.



The area also lies on a major trafficking route for drugs and petrol, which is highly subsidized in Iran and a key source of income for smugglers.

Internet disruption reported in southeast Iran amid unrest

Kathmandu: Nepal Police has warned to avoid fraud through social media. The police have urged to remain alert after the number of people cheating via mobile, messenger, viber, WhatsApp among others from different foreign numbers has increased.



Police have arrested three people with Rs 53,000 in cash on the charge of sending money through IME in the temptation of publishing a notice. Among them are Deepak Kumar Dubey, 26, of Parsa Pokhariya Municipality-7, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6.



He was arrested by the police on Wednesday evening. The police have accused various people of cheating them by saying 'You have received a lottery ticket' or 'I have sent you a parcel gift'.



In the process, they were asked to deposit some amount by giving account numbers of various banks in Nepal for the process of receiving gifts and money and then they withdrew the amount and fled, according to the police. Such fraudulent gangs are active both abroad and in Nepal.



The police have requested not to be tempted if the call comes from any foreign or unknown number and if anyone contacts the messenger with the mentioned behavior. "We request you not to make any transaction and to lodge a complaint at the nearest police station immediately," the police statement said.

Cases of fraud in social media increases, police urged to remain alert

CANBERRA, Australia (AP): Australia’s law forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news is ready to take effect, though the laws’ architect said it will take time for the digital giants to strike media deals.



The Parliament on Thursday passed the final amendments to the so-called News Media Bargaining Code agreed between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday.



In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a ban on Australians accessing and sharing news.



Rod Sims, the competition regulator who drafted the code, said he was happy that the amended legislation would address the market imbalance between Australian news publishers and the two gateways to the internet.



“All signs are good,” Sims said.



“The purpose of the code is to address the market power that clearly Google and Facebook have. Google and Facebook need media, but they don’t need any particular media company, and that meant media companies couldn’t do commercial deals,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair added.



The rest of the law had passed in Parliament earlier, so it can now be implemented.



Google has already struck deals with major Australian news businesses in recent weeks including News Corp. and Seven West Media.



Frydenberg said he was pleased to see progress by Google and more recently Facebook in reaching commercial deals with Australian news businesses.



But Country Press Australia, which represents 161 regional newspapers across the country, has raised concerns that tiny publications outside large cities might miss out.



Sims said he was not surprised that the platforms would strike deals with the large city businesses first.



“I don’t see any reason why anybody should doubt that all journalism will benefit,” Sims said.



“There things take time. Google and Facebook don’t have unlimited resources to go around talking to everybody. I think this has got a long way to play out,” he added.



Chris Moos, a lecturer at Oxford University’s Business School, said the latest amendments amounted to a “small victory” for Zuckerberg.



Moos said the legislation would likely result in small payouts for most Australian news publishers. But Facebook could again block Australian news if negotiations broke down.



The legislation was designed to curb the outsized bargaining power of Facebook and Google in their negotiations with Australian news providers. The digital giants would not be able to abuse their positions by making take-it-or-leave-it payment offers to news businesses for their journalism. Instead, in the case of a standoff, an arbitration panel would make a binding decision on a winning offer.



Frydenberg and Facebook confirmed that the two sides agreed to amendments to the proposed legislation. The changes would give digital platforms one month’s notice before they are formally designated under the code. That would give those involved more time to broker agreements before they are forced to enter binding arbitration arrangements.



Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said on Wednesday that the Australian law, without this week’s amendments, would have enabled media conglomerates to “demand a blank check.”



“Thankfully, after further discussion, the Australian government has agreed to changes that mean fair negotiations are encouraged without the looming threat of heavy-handed and unpredictable arbitration,” Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister, wrote in a Facebook post.



Facebook last week prevented Australians from sharing news, but also blocked access to pandemic, public health and emergency services.



The blockade was a response the House of Representatives passing the code last week in a form that Facebook considered “unworkable.”



Clegg said Facebook had “erred on the side of over-enforcement” and “some content was blocked inadvertently.”



Both Google and Facebook are pursuing Australian media deals under their own licensing models, Google News Showcase and Facebook News.



But media executives argue such deals would not be possible without the threat of an arbitration panel making final decisions.



Frydenberg said his department will review the code within a year to “ensure it is delivering outcomes that are consistent with government’s policy intent.”

Australia passes law to make Google, Facebook pay for news

YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Social media giant Facebook announced Thursday it was banning all accounts linked to Myanmar’s military as well as ads from military-controlled companies in the wake of the army’s seizure of power on Feb. 1.



It said in a statement that it was treating the post-coup situation in Myanmar as an “emergency,” explaining that the ban was precipitated by events since the coup, including “deadly violence.”



Facebook’s action comes as diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis have intensified and protests continued in Yangon and other cities calling for the country’s coup makers to step down and return Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government to power.



Facebook already has banned several military-linked accounts since the coup, including army-controlled Myawaddy TV and state television broadcaster MRTV.



The bans are also being applied on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.



Facebook and other social media platforms came under enormous criticism in 2017 when right groups said they failed to act enough to stop hate speech against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.



The army launched a brutal counterinsurgency operation that year that drove more than 700,000 Rohingya to to seek safety in neighboring Bangladesh, where they remain in refugee camps. Myanmar security forces burned down villages, killed civilians and engaged in mass rape in their campaign, which the World Court is investigating as a crime of genocide.



Facebook in 2018 banned the accounts of several top Myanmar military leaders, including Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led this month’s coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. The general heads the junta that now acts as the government,



The junta has tried to block Facebook and other social media platforms, but its efforts have proven ineffective. For more than a week it has also turned off access to the internet nightly from 1 a.m.



Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday visited the Thai capital, Bangkok, and held three-way talks with her Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai and Myanmar’s new foreign minister, retired army colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, who also traveled to Thailand. The meeting was part of Marsudi’s efforts to coordinate a regional response to the crisis triggered by the military takeover in Myanmar.



Indonesia and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are seeking to promote some concessions by Myanmar’s military that could ease tensions to prevent more violence. The regional grouping, to which Thailand and Myanmar also belong, believes dialogue with the generals is a more effective method of achieving concessions than more confrontational methods, such as the sanctions often advocated by Western nations.



In a virtual news conference after her return to Indonesia, Marsudi said she expressed her country’s concern about the situation in Myanmar.



“We asked all parties to exercise restraint and not use violence . . . to avoid casualties and bloodshed,” she said, emphasizing the need for dialogue, reconciliation and trust-building.



Marsudi said she had conveyed the same message to a group of elected members of Myanmar’s Parliament who were barred by the military coup from taking their seats. The lawmakers are from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which won a landslide victory in elections last November that would have given it a second five-year term in office.



After the coup, the group, called the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the name of the combined houses of Parliament, announced it was convening the body in an online session and appealed to the U.N. and foreign countries to treat it as Myanmar’s legitimate government.



It has received mounting support from Myanmar’s protest movement, but little if any foreign endorsements. Indonesia’s acknowledgement that the group has a role to play could open an avenue for negotiations between Myanmar’s ruling junta and its opponents.



Opposition to the coup continues inside Myanmar, with large demonstrations in many cities and towns.



There was a new look to anti-coup demonstrations Thursday, with protesters smearing a traditional yellow paste on their faces, as a proclamation of their national identity.



Outside the Hledan Centre in Yangon, where around 1,000 people gathered to keep up pressure on the new military regime, protestors wore the mixture, called thanaka, in broad swathes on their foreheads, cheeks and down their noses.



Some had slogans written into the designs.



Thanaka is made from pulverized tree bark. It is said to be good for the skin and to protect it from sunburn. It is ubiquitous in Myanmar and is as much a symbol of its culture as the sarong-like longyi skirt or the Shwedagon temple in Yangon.



There was a tense standoff on Wednesday in the country’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, where police holding riot shields and cradling rifles blocked the path of about 3,000 teachers and students.



After about two hours, during which demonstrators played protest songs and listened to speeches condemning the coup, the crowd moved away.



On Saturday, police and soldiers fatally shot two people in Mandalay while breaking up a strike by dock workers.



The military says it took power because last November’s election was marked by widespread voting irregularities, an assertion that was refuted by the state election commission, whose members have since been replaced by the ruling junta.



Despite the landslide victory by Suu Kyi’s party at the polls, the army blocked Parliament from convening and detained her and President Win Myint and other top members of her government.



The junta has said it will rule for a year under a state of emergency and then hold fresh elections.

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