In a victory for free-speech advocates, a German court dealt a blow to YouTube with a $118,000 (100,000 euros) fine for removing a video of large protests against COVID-19 restrictions in Switzerland. The Higher Regional Court of Dresden ordered the fine on July 5 after YouTube deleted a German user’s video and did not reinstate it immediately after the court ordered it to do so on April 20. It was not until May 14 that YouTube re-posted the video, resulting in a fine from the court. YouTube had deleted the video in January based on what it said was a…
Author: zenger.news
The United Arab Emirates’ Israeli Embassy was formally inaugurated on July 14 with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by UAE Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja and Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Al Khaja noted that the two countries signed the Abraham Accords in Washington last September “with a vision of dignity, prosperity and peace for the two peoples. It is time for new approaches and thinking to set a new and better path for the future of the region. “It is our hope that the opening of the UAE Embassy in Tel Aviv will mark an important milestone in the growing relationship…
BRISBANE, Australia — The Queensland government says there’s no practical way to means-test Covid-19 fines for the rich, after the executive director of a listed video tech company sailed from Sydney to Gold Coast on a superyacht. Jeromy Young founded Australian Securities Exchange-listed Atomos and until recently was its chief executive officer. He still holds the position of executive director. Last week Young and three others boarded the 34.5-metre superyacht Dreamtime, which costs AU$15,000 ($11159.25) to charter overnight, and sailed North from Sydney to Southport (Gold Coast) in Queensland in defiance of the state’s ban on arrivals from Sydney. The group…
CANBERRA, Australia — Medical professionals who object to voluntary assisted dying on ethical grounds will not have to explain their reasoning under the northeastern Australian state, Queensland’s, proposed laws. A requirement for mandatory training for those participating in the state’s scheme prevents conscientious objectors from being forced to disclose their beliefs, a parliamentary committee has been told. “Being forced to publicly wear those conscientious beliefs on their sleeves may expose them to discrimination, in extreme cases may expose them to violence, and is actually a violation of their right to having a degree of privacy of thought and belief,” said Wendy Bonython,…
SYDNEY — Thousands of southeastern Australian state, New South Wales, students due to begin their Higher Secondary School Certificate trials amid lockdown have been offered reassurance adjustments will be made to ensure they are not disadvantaged. With Premier Gladys Berejiklian announcing a two-week extension of lockdown until July 30, schools in the state capital, Sydney, and its surroundings will continue with online learning. As a result, the New South Wales Education Standards Authority said it is reconsidering requirements around some trial exams. Schools can now postpone trial exams by a few weeks or provide an alternative assessment task suitable to be completed while learning from…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australian burns survivor and motivational speaker Turia Pitt is tired of tokenism. She is renowned for surviving a 2011 grassfire that burnt 65 percent of her body during an ultra-marathon in Western Australia. Nearly a decade on, Pitt is in the business of inspiring people. She has written books, traveled the world, appeared in documentaries and magazine covers, notably Australian Women’s Weekly in 2014. “But I am also just getting tired because it is 2021, and diversity still seems to be an afterthought,” said Pitt. Former political staffer Brittany Higgins speaks to the media as she leaves the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices after…
ADELAIDE, Australia — South Australians have been put on notice to follow Covid-19 rules and regulations or face tougher restrictions in response to a potential local outbreak of the virus. Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says a meeting on July 15 will consider the current situation in South Australia after three exposure sites were identified linked to infected removalists who came into the state from Sydney. “I’m giving people due warning that we are actively considering restrictions for South Australia,” Stevens said. “It is not something we want to do, but given what we are facing in Victoria and NSW, we are…
MELBOURNE, Australia — Western Australian authorities will consider further ramping up border restrictions for the southeastern state, Victoria, if more locally acquired coronavirus cases are detected. A worsening outbreak of the virus in the southeastern state, New South Wales has spread to the capital of Victoria, Melbourne, where a cluster of cases has sent an apartment complex into lockdown. It has prompted Western Australia to reclassify Victoria as a “low risk” jurisdiction under its controlled border regime. Travelers who have been in Victoria must self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival at a suitable premise and get tested twice during that period. The change was…
BRISBANE, Australia — Queensland authorities are racing to avoid another lockdown after three locally acquired cases of Covid-19 emerged in Brisbane, Australia. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the three cases include a 12-year-old boy who flew into the state from Sydney on July 9 and his father. A fully vaccinated Brisbane Airport worker has also tested positive, which is a major concern for authorities. Palaszczuk said a face mask mandate due to end on July 16 for 11 local government areas will be extended for another seven days in a bid to avoid a lockdown. “I am sure everyone is sick and…
MELBOURNE, Australia — Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel — the eponymous founder of luxury fashion brand Chanel — was born poor and illegitimate in central France’s Loire Valley in 1883 and died at the Ritz in Paris in 1971 at the age of 87. In between, she formulated a daring new wardrobe for women in the modern world and founded a fashion house that remains one of France’s most prized luxury brands. She also cultivated a public image that embodied the values of freedom and independence with which she sought to imbue her designs. A new exhibition opening at Melbourne’s National Gallery of…