Social media platform Facebook faced a chorus of voices calling for a boycott after it blocked all news content in Australia amid a legal dispute with the government there.

Backlash to the action grew on Thursday when “Delete Facebook,” “Boycott Zuckerberg” and “Facebook We Need To Talk” trended on other social media websites, according to the New York Post.

Facebook on Wednesday blocked users in Australia from viewing or sharing news content after Australia moved towards enacting a new law that requires social media companies to share advertising revenue they generate from news stories with publishers.

“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” said William Easton, head of Facebook Australia and New Zealand.

“It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”

The Australian government has responded to the move with a vow to not back down.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the government will push ahead with the plan to enforce payment rules on tech giants, which was first announced last April.

“Facebook needs to think very carefully about what this means for its reputation and standing,” he told public broadcaster ABC News.

Facebook's scrubbing of news articles also led to several pages on the website being deleted erroneously, according to the New York Post. They include the Immunization Foundation of Australia, a group that seeks to improve immunization rates among babies, as well as the pages for four Australian health agencies.

Other news outlets that share names with Australian counterparts, such as the British Daily Telegraph, were also removed.

Matt Stoller, the Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project, sharply criticized Facebook's actions, calling it a "threat to democracies worldwide."

"Australia was first to suffer from the explicit wrath of this monopolist, but any other country could be next," Stoller said in a statement.

"In light of Facebook choosing to destroy the distribution of news in Australia, it is now time for policymakers elsewhere to recognize the emergency of big tech authoritarianism, and to act in concert with the scale of the threat. Big tech must be broken up and regulated, as quickly as possible," he added./aa

Despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, a grand library opened in Turkey's capital has received over 340,000 visitors over the past year since its launch.

Inaugurated in Ankara by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February 2020, the Nation's Library received approximately 6,000 visitors daily until March 15, 2020, having to shut its doors due to emergence of COVID-19.

The library, which was visited by more than 15,000 people on the weekends, continues to provide over 4 million printed and 216 million electronic publications in a 125,000-square-meter (1.3 million square feet) area.

The Nation's Library stopped accepting visitors between March 15 and May 31, 2020 due to the pandemic, then limited its capacity to 1,000-people at a time between 9.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. as of June 1, 2020.

Prior to the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions, the library received an average of 2,000 visitors on weekdays and the number of visitors on the weekend was 3,200 people.

Turkey's grand library provides over 2 million books, more than 13,000 periodicals, and at least 18 private collections.

Inspired by Seljuk, Ottoman and contemporary architecture, the library has over 121,000 members.

Aside from its rich printed resources, the library also offers a variety of electronic resources, including 65 databases, 209 million accessible e-resources, over 665,000 e-books, 77,448 e-journals and more than 7 million e-theses./aa

Turkish prosecutors have submitted a summary of proceedings against nine opposition deputies, accusing them of being instigators of terrorism during the 2014 Kobani incidents.

The summary proposes the lifting of immunity of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members. It was submitted to the Justice Ministry by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in capital Ankara, according to judicial sources on Friday.

The deputies are Garo Paylan, Huda Kaya, Sezai Temelli, Pero Dundar, Fatma Kurtulan, Serpil Kemalbay Pekgozegu, deputy chairpersons of the party’s parliamentary group; Meral Danis Bestas and Hakki Saruhan Oluc, along with co-leader Pervin Buldan, said the sources, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The move came after a Turkish penal court approved indictments early January for 108 defendants, including former HDP co-leaders Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, as part of a probe into deadly 2014 terror incidents across the nation.

The indictments filed by the chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara demand 38 aggravated life sentences for the defendants, of whom 27 are in custody. Six have been released on bail and 75 are being actively sought by authorities.

Kobani incidents

In 2014, encouraged by developments in northern Syria, the terrorist group PKK adopted a new strategy in Turkey and sought to weaken the Turkish state by disrupting its unity in an effort to gain territory in line with its separatist agenda.

On Oct. 6-8, 2014, PKK ringleaders and their supporters incited armed violence across the country, instructing militants, terrorists, and ideological supporters to take to the streets and rebel against the Turkish state under the pretext of a Daesh/ISIS attack on the Syrian border city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani).

HDP -- a party Turkey has said is linked to the terrorist PKK -- also made a statement calling on people to take to the streets in protest.

The call to protest led to violent events in 35 provinces and 96 districts, causing the deaths of 37 citizens -- including civilians distributing humanitarian aid during a Muslim holiday -- and injuries to 761 people, including 326 law enforcement officers.

The violence triggered material losses totaling billions of Turkish liras (millions of dollars) as nearly 200 schools were burned down, 268 public buildings were destroyed, and 1,731 houses and workplaces were looted or damaged.

In the face of the violence, the Turkish state took immediate action to reestablish public order.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa

MOGADISHU, Somalia

The African Union Commission chief Friday said he is "deeply concerned" at the deteriorating security and political situation in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, which he said puts at risk all the gains made in Somalia in the last decade.

“We condemn all forms of violence and call on Somali stakeholders to refrain from acts that might jeopardize peace and security in the country, and to work together to find a consensual solution that will break the current political stalemate,” African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement.

He urged the Somali leadership and the entire Somali political class to act in the interests of Somalia as a whole, rather than following narrow partisan political interests.

The people of Somalia have suffered for too long, and the current violence poses a serious threat to the ongoing Somali transition plan, he added.

His remarks came after Somali security forces and opposition leaders’ guards clashed near Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu earlier on Friday.

Security sources told Anadolu Agency that the fighting near the presidential palace killed at least four people, including soldiers, and wounded three others. Paramedic sources told Anadolu Agency that one civilian was injured in the clashes.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Mogadishu issued a security alert, calling on its citizens to avoid crowds and keep a low profile.

The embassy statement, citing unconfirmed reports, said over 20 people were killed or injured in the Mogadishu clashes./aa

A crystal-clear lake in southeastern Turkey could shed light on "exciting" scientific research involving Mars, a senior official said Thursday.

"Lake Salda, which we will carry into the future preserving its natural state, will also shed light on a study has been exciting the science world, in addition to its unique structure and visual beauty," said Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum on Twitter.

Similarities between the lake, found in Burdur province, Turkey, and the Jezero Crater on Mars has captured the interest of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in its research on possible life on the red planet.

Kurum's message came after another tweet by NASA saying: "No one has set foot in the [Jezero] crater, but we have some ideas of what to expect thanks to Lake Salda in Turkey."

"Like NASA, we are looking forward to the results of the study at Jezero Crater," Kurum added./aa

NASA announced Thursday that its Perseverance Mars Rover had touched down safely at the 28-mile wide depression thought to have been home to a large lake -- and perhaps microbial life -- according to the space agency.

Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines have begun being administered to detainees and convicts at penal institutions. 

The General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses (CTE) said in a statement they are protecting the health of detainees, convicts and personnel at the maximum level without disrupting the execution of services in accordance with the advice of the Health Ministry and Scientific Advisory Board.

The statement said the necessary planning and arrangements were made for the vaccination process of the convicts and detainees.

It said contact with the outside and inside was reduced to a minimum at 372 penal institutions thanks to efforts by personnel to apply COVID-19 precautions with maximum care.

The statement added that currently 55 out of 372 penal institutions have a total of 240 positive cases, two of whom are in intensive care, while 33 are being treated at hospitals.

On Jan. 14, Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign starting with health care workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines./aa

Heavy clashes broke out early Friday between security guards of opposition leaders and government forces near Somalia's presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu, with several people feared dead. 

Local sources told Anadolu Agency that the fighting took place at Daljirka Dahson Square, where Somalia's opposition presidential candidates planned to hold an anti-government rally later in the day. 

"The government forces attacked the Maida Hotel, where I and the former president [Sharif Sheikh Ahmed] were staying,” former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a brief statement posted on Twitter after the firefight.

“It is unfortunate that the outgoing president is shedding the blood of citizens who are preparing for a peaceful demonstration to express their views,” he added.

The Maida Hotel is located a short distance away from the presidential palace.

The number of casualties is not yet known. Anadolu Agency contacted the national police, but they did not respond.

The gunfight comes a day after the Somali government announced that it had banned all public gatherings including demonstrations, but opposition leaders defied the order and prepared to hold a massive rally in the morning./aa