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☆ Australia launches ‘landmark’ bill to ban social media for children under 16
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s center-left government on Thursday introduced a bill in Parliament that aims to ban social media for children under 16 and proposed fines of up to $32 million for social media platforms for systemic breaches. Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date. France last year proposed a ban on social media for those under 15, but users were able to avoid the ban with parental consent. The law would force social media platforms, and not parents or young people, to take reasonable steps to ensure the age-verification protections are in place. “Social media has a social responsibility ... that’s why we are making big changes to hold platforms to account for user safety,” she said.

Persons: Anthony Albanese, ByteDance’s TikTok, Elon Musk’s, Snapchat, Albanese, Michelle Rowland, Rowland, ” Organizations: ”, Liberal Party, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Labor, United Locations: SYDNEY, Australia, France, United States

☆ Australia to strip medals from veterans after alleged war crimes
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia will strip military awards from a group of war veterans over allegations that those under their command committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday. As part of delivering the final recommendations of the inquiry, known as the Brereton Report, Marles had written to several officers who served in Afghanistan, to inform them that medals awarded for service would be withdrawn, the defense minister said. “The allegations which are the subject of the Brereton Report are arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history,” Marles told Parliament on Thursday. A former soldier was charged with war crimes last year. More than 39,000 Australian troops served in Afghanistan and 41 were killed.

Persons: Richard Marles, Paul Brereton, Brereton, Marles, ” Marles Organizations: Australia —, Defense, Australian Defence Force, Australia, NATO Locations: SYDNEY, Australia, Australia — Australia, Afghanistan

Magistrate Kathy Crittenden accepted that Baker was remorseful and was unlikely to drive after drinking again. Police reported seeing Baker’s Tesla electric car driving erratically in the fashionable Byron Bay region where he lives at 2:11 a.m. July 20. Crittenden said the outage knocked police systems offline and an electronic breath test could not be completed on Baker. She said police resorted to an “old-fashioned sobriety test.”Police reported Baker was unsteady on his feet and smelled of alcohol. “The court has little difficulty in finding that Mr. Baker is remorseful for his offending and it is unlikely he will offend again,” she said.

Persons: Simon Baker, Patrick Jane, ”, Baker, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Oscar, Kazuo Ishiguro’s “ Klara, Taika, Kathy Crittenden, CrowdStrike, Crittenden, ” Crittenden, “, remorseful Organizations: CBS, of, Police, ” Police Locations: MULLUMBIMBY, Australia, Australian, Mullumbimby, New South Wales, California, Byron Bay

☆ Australia plans minimum age for social media use, angering digital rights advocates
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia plans to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media citing concerns about mental and physical health, drawing a backlash from digital rights advocates who warn the measure could drive dangerous online activity underground. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government would run an age verification trial before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year. The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media. Representatives of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, which has a self-imposed minimum age of 13, YouTube owner Alphabet and TikTok were not immediately available for comment. Australia has one of the world’s most online populations with more than four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media, according to government and tech industry figures.

Persons: Anthony Albanese, Albanese, “, ” Albanese, ”, Daniel Angus, Jordy Kaufman Organizations: Australian Broadcasting Corp, European Union, Meta, Facebook, Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research, Swinburne University, University of Sydney Locations: SYDNEY, Australia

☆ Australian Parliament censures former prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday listed his achievements in government including standing up to a “bullying” China as he unsuccessfully argued against being censured by Parliament for secretly amassing multiple ministerial powers. A censure motion against Morrison, who remains an opposition lawmaker, has no effect other than to tarnish his political legacy. The censure motion said that by failing to inform his Cabinet, Parliament and the Australian people of his additional ministerial powers, Morrison had undermined responsible government and eroded public trust in Australia’s democracy. Morrison’s successor, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, this month held Australia’s first official bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping since Morrison’s predecessor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in 2016. In calling for Morrison’s censure, Albanese said the former prime minister had demonstrated hubris, arrogance and denial but no contrition.

☆ Australia argues against ‘endangered’ status for Great Barrier Reef
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s environment minister said Tuesday her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites. The report, which recommended shifting the Great Barrier Reef to endangered status, followed a 10-day mission in March to the famed reef system off Australia’s northeast coast that was added to the World Heritage list in 1981. “We’ll very clearly make the point to UNESCO that there is no need to single the Great Barrier Reef out in this way” with an endangered listing, Plibersek told reporters. “If the Great Barrier Reef is in danger, then every coral reef in the world is in danger,” Plibersek said. The Great Barrier Reef accounts for around 10% of the world’s coral reef ecosystems.

☆ Australia drops recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia has reversed a previous government’s recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign minister said Tuesday, prompting consternation from Israel. The Cabinet also reaffirmed that Jerusalem’s status must be resolved in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it would summon the Australian ambassador over the issue. She described former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as out of step internationally. Only a handful of countries, including Kosovo and Guatemala, have joined the U.S. in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

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