France, New Zealand to launch a call to end online ‘extremism’… Sri Lanka blocks social media after riots… Vietnam intensifies crackdown on online dissent…

France, New Zealand to launch a call to end online extremism

PARIS (AP) — The leaders of France and New Zealand will make a joint push to eliminate acts of violent extremism from being shown online, in a meeting with tech leaders in Paris on Wednesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will launch the “Christchurch call” —named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March 15 attack on mosques.

Sri Lanka blocks social media after anti-Muslim riots

Sri Lanka blocked access to Facebook and WhatsApp on Monday after a posting sparked anti-Muslim riots across several towns in the latest fallout from the Easter Sunday suicide attacks.
Christian groups attacked Muslim-owned shops in the northwestern town of Chilaw on Sunday in anger at a Facebook post by a shopkeeper, police said.

Security forces fired in the air to disperse mobs, but the violence spread to nearby towns where Muslim businesses were also attacked.
Sri Lanka has been on edge since the April 21 attacks by jihadist suicide bombers on three hotels and three churches which left 258 dead.

Vietnam intensifies crackdown on online dissent: Amnesty report

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has stepped up its imprisonment of political activists, Amnesty International said in a report on Monday, intensifying a crackdown that has seen the number of prisoners of conscience increase by almost a third since last year.