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GIVING a statutory body the power to force news outlets to publish an apology smacks of government control, the media union says.

An independent media inquiry, headed by former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein QC, has recommended that a News Media Council be created to regulate news and current affairs coverage in print, online, radio and television.

It would combine the roles of Australian Press Council and relevant functions of the Australian Communications and Media Authority to enforce standards and deal with complaints.

But Christopher Warren, the federal secretary of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said government regulation of the media should be resisted.

"Where the Media Alliance parts company with Mr Finkelstein is this notion that a government can somehow impose self-regulation on the news industry by statute," he said.

"As far as we are concerned, a government-funded body with the power to determine what newspapers should and shouldn't publish smacks of an attempt to impose government control on a free press."

Under Mr Finkelstein's proposal, the News Media Council would be an independent statutory body funded by the government instead of the current arrangement where industry funds the Press Council.

It would have the power to require news outlets to publish an apology, correction, retraction or give a person a right of reply.

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Media union to fight 'government control'

DAMASCUS, Feb. 29 -- Specialized authorities in Syria are still hunting down remnants of armed groups at restive Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs province, said private al-Ekhbaria TV Wednesday amid other reports by Syria's media claiming that the restive neighborhood is almost under Syrian army's control.

The Ekhbaria TV said many armed men were killed as others have turned themselves in to the authorities in Baba Amr.

Meanwhile, the Syria Now website cited what it called "security sources" as saying that army troops carried out mass cleansing operation in the restive neighborhood, adding that the soldiers are searching all the cellars and tunnels in Baba Amr in search of weapons and "terrorists."

"Baba Amr is living the last hours of fighting and cleansing the area completely is around the corner," the report said.

Baba Amr has emerged as the epicenter of armed confrontation between troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and armed rebels comprising partly of army defectors. Activists said the region has been under the army bombardment for nearly a month.

Activists said hundreds of people have been killed in Baba Amr since Feb. 4, when the Syrian army started its assault on "armed groups."

Earlier in the day, Syria's state-run SANA news agency said three gunmen were killed and others were wounded as they tried to cross from Lebanon into Homs, adding that a Syrian soldier was wounded in the clash.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) said that it had evacuated 30 people from Baba Amr.

In a statement carried by SANA, the SARC pointed out that its volunteers in Homs have been working around the clock since Friday in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate the injured form Baba Arm neighborhood.

It added that humanitarian aid was also provided to other restive provinces such as Daraa, Hama, Homs, Deir al-Zour, and some suburbs of the capital such as Madaya and al-Zabadani.

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Eastday-Rebellious Baba Amr area in Syria's Homs largely under control: media reports

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top official in Tibet has urged authorities to tighten their grip on the Internet and mobile phones, state media reported on Thursday, reflecting the government's fears about unrest ahead of its annual parliamentary session.

The move is the latest in a series of measures the government says are intended to maintain stability, and comes after a spate of self-immolations and protests against Chinese control in the country's Tibetan-populated areas.

It is likely to mean phone and online communications will be even more closely monitored and censored than is normal.

Chen Quanguo, who was appointed the Chinese Communist Party chief of Tibet last August, urged authorities at all levels to "further increase their alertness to stability maintenance" ahead of the National People's Congress, the official Tibet Daily newspaper quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

China's rubber-stamp parliament session meets next Monday.

"Mobile phones, Internet and other measures for the management of new media need to be fully implemented to maintain the public's interests and national security," Chen said.

China has tightened security in what it calls the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan parts of the country following several incidents in which people have set fire to themselves, and protests against Chinese rule, mostly in Sichuan and Gansu provinces.

March is a particularly sensitive time for Tibet, as it marks five years since deadly riots erupted across the region.

Twenty-two Tibetans have set themselves alight in protest since March 2011, and at least 15 are believed to have died from their injuries, according to rights groups. Most of them were Buddhist monks.

Chen also vowed to "completely crush hostile forces" that he said were led by the Dalai Lama, suggesting that he will not ease the government's hardline stance towards the region, enforced by his predecessor Zhang Qingli.

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China's top Tibet official orders tighter control of Internet

Jammu, Feb 29 : Jammu and Kashmir media fraternity, who were protesting against Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone's remarks that 'media is under his control', this afternoon called off their boycott against the Assembly proceedings.

The media called off the boycott in the backdrop of Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone saying that he had no intention to hurt media.

The protesting mediapersons were this afternoon invited by the government representatives to attend the House followed by a dialogue with the Speaker.

The scribes including the photo journalists decided to resume the House proceedings tomorrow and called off the boycott after Mr Lone said there was some miscommunication and he has regards for media.

Earlier in the morning, the Assembly and the Legislative Council boycott continued for the third consecutive day.

Carrying placards, 'we are united', 'fighting for rights', the media people staged dharna outside the Legislative Complex.

Advisor to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Devinder Singh Rana, MLA Langate Engineer Rashid and other members of the House also appealed to the media to call off their strike.

However, entire media walked out of the Civil Secretariat and held a meeting at Press Club of Jammu thereafter.

The protest was called off after the government representatives invited media for talks with the Speaker in his chamber, which went fruitful.

Four Legislators of the Bhartiya Janata Party this morning extended their support in favour of media and boycotted the House.

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Media call off Jammu Kashmir Assembly boycott

Illegal online pharmacies are using social media to attract young customers and sell them illicit drugs and medicines, a UN agency warned Tuesday.

"Illegal Internet pharmacies have started to use social media to get customers for their websites," Hamid Ghodse, president of the International Narcotics Control Board, said in the agency's annual report published Tuesday.

This "can put large, and especially young, audiences at risk of dangerous products, given that the World Health Organisation has found that over half of the medicines from illegal Internet pharmacies are counterfeit," he said.

Illegal online pharmacies often pretend to be legal but in fact smuggle illicit products to their customers, the INCB found, urging governments to close them down.

More broadly, the agency called for greater efforts to tackle poverty, violence, organised crime and corruption as these created a climate for drug abuse and trafficking, with young people among the biggest victims.

"Youth of these communities must have similar chances to those in the wider society and have a right to be protected from drug abuse and drug dependence," said Ghodse.

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Social media used to sell illegal drugs to youth, INCB warns