Australia & Pacifics

CANBERRA, May 5 (Xinhua): Australians caught abusing or harassing people online will face up to five years imprisonment under laws proposed by the nation's Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

According to the Guardian Australia, Morrison declared on Sunday that "trolls have no place in Australia," pledging a crackdown on social media bullies if he wins the general election on May 18.

Under current laws, those caught using social media to harass or cause offense to face a maximum of three years of jail time.

SYDNEY, May 4 (Xinhua): Tooth decay levels are three times higher among indigenous children, with consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and irregular brushing of teeth forming major factors behind the global dental condition, according to latest Australian research.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A Turkish man wounded in the Christchurch mosque shootings seven weeks ago died late Thursday in Christchurch Hospital, raising the death toll to 51, authorities in New Zealand and Turkey confirmed.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday the sad news would be felt across both countries.

“This man has been in intensive care since the attack,” Ardern said in a statement. “We have all been hoping for the best, however he has now succumbed to the injuries sustained in the shooting at the Al Noor mosque.”

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s major media organizations pledged Wednesday not to promote white supremacist ideology when covering the trial of the man charged with killing 50 people at two mosques.

The five organizations that signed the agreement said they were aware that accused gunman Brenton Tarrant might try to use the trial as a platform to promote white supremacist or “terrorist” views.

30 Apr 2019; DW: A secretly filmed video dealt a heavy blow to Australia's One Nation party ahead of an election, after the country's Nine Network TV showed a clip of populist leader Steve Dickson groping and propositioning strippers during a US trip in September.

New Zealand police arrested a man in Christchurch on Thursday following reports of a suspicious item at a property in the city, where 50 people at two mosques were killed by a lone gunman in March.

Police said a 33-year-old man was being questioned in relation to the incident in a residential neighborhood of the city.

"Police have located a package containing a suspected explosive device and ammunition at a vacant address," Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price said in a statement. 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A major Australian media company announced on Tuesday it has agreed to sell 170 regional and rural newspapers for 115 million Australian dollars ($81 million).

Nine Entertainment said it signed an agreement to sell the newspapers to shareholder Antony Catalano and Thorney Investment Group. The sale is to be completed by June 30.

Catalano last year took court action in a failed attempt to block the merger of Nine, a television network, with Fairfax Media, Australia’s largest newspaper publisher after News Corp.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A Christchurch businessman has pleaded guilty to sharing a livestream video that was recorded by a gunman last month as he began killing 50 people at two New Zealand mosques.

Philip Arps pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing the mosque video and will remain in jail until he’s sentenced on June 14. He faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

24 Apr 2019; DW: New Zealand and France will host a meeting with tech companies and world leaders to block terrorists from social media. It comes in the wake of the March shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.

New Zealand and France will work together to banish terrorists from social media networks, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister and his political rival said on Wednesday they were not tailoring their political messages to suit Chinese censors as the politicians increasingly use Chinese social media to woo Chinese-speaking voters.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Bill Shorten each have accounts with China’s largest social media platform, WeChat, which they use to target the Chinese diaspora ahead of federal elections on May 18.