Australia

Australia


How a wave of antisemitic attacks roiled Australia and provoked claims of foreign influence

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A wave of antisemitic attacks has roiled Australia, with a dozen arrests for vandalizing or setting homes, schools, and synagogues on fire since October and hundreds more charged in just over a year with crimes targeting Jews. The attacks in areas where Jewish people live have provoked an outpouring of […]

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British author Neil Gaiman denies ever engaging in non-consensual sex as more accusers come forward

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Best-selling British author Neil Gaiman released a statement Wednesday denying he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex after a magazine this week published allegations from several women, accusing him of sexual assault. The 64-year-old author of “The Sandman” comic book series and novel “American Gods” was responding to a New York […]

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Australia is banning social media for people under 16. Could this work elsewhere – or even there?

It is an ambitious social experiment of our moment in history — one that experts say could accomplish something that parents, schools and other governments have attempted with varying degrees of success: keeping kids off social media until they turn 16. Australia’s new law, approved by its Parliament last week, is an attempt to swim […]

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Australian father of teen sextortion victim backs banning young children from social media

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Wayne Holdsworth became an advocate for banning Australian children younger than 16 from social media because his son took his own life after falling victim to an online sextortion scam. Mac Holdsworth died last year at his Melbourne family home at the age of 17 after a 47-year-old Sydney man who […]

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Australia rejects Elon Musk’s claim that it plans to control access to the internet

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian Cabinet minister on Friday rejected X Corp. owner Elon Musk’s allegation that the government intended to control all Australians’ access to the internet through legislation that would ban young children from social media. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Musk’s criticism was “unsurprising” after the government introduced to Parliament on Thursday […]

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Australia’s parliament considers legislation banning social media for under 16s

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s communications minister introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children under 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges. Michelle Rowland said TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram were among the platforms that would face fines of up to 50 […]

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Australia’s plan to ban children from social media proves popular and problematic

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — How do you remove children from the harms of social media? Politically the answer appears simple in Australia, but practically the solution could be far more difficult. The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. […]

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Australia won’t force social media users to share their personal details when child ban takes effect

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s communications minister said Wednesday the government won’t force social media users to hand over their personal information to tech companies, as children younger than 16 are set to be banned from the platforms. Michelle Rowland plans to introduce into Parliament on Thursday world-first legislation that would make X, TikTok, Facebook […]

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Australia strips medals from military commanders over Afghanistan war crime allegations

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Several serving and former Australian military commanders have been stripped of medals over allegations of war crimes committed during the Afghanistan war, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday. Holding commanders to account for alleged misconduct of Australian special forces between 2005 and 2016 was recommended by Maj. Gen. Paul Brereton in […]

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Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge sentenced a former army lawyer to almost six years in prison on Tuesday for leaking to the media classified information that exposed allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. David McBride, 60, was sentenced in a court in the capital, Canberra, to five years and eight months in […]

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Australia to ban doxxing after pro-Palestinian activists publish information about hundreds of Jews

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government said on Tuesday it will outlaw doxxing — the malicious release online of personal or identifying information without the subject’s permission — after pro-Palestinian activists published personal details of hundreds of Jewish people in Australia. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the proposed laws, which have yet to be drafted, […]

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A sanction has been imposed on a hacker who released Australian health insurer client data

SYDNEY (AP) — A Russian national has been sanctioned by the Australian government for his role in a cyber attack that compromised the personal information of more than 10 million Australians. In October 2022, client data from Medibank, Australia’s largest health insurer, was released by an extortionist, including details of HIV diagnoses and drug abuse […]

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