Australia’s House of Representatives passes bill that would ban young children from social media

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Australia’s House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years old from social media, leaving it to the Senate to finalize the world-first law. The major parties backed the bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to $33 million for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts. The legislation passed 102 to 13. If the bill becomes law this week, the platforms would have one year to work out how to implement the age restrictions before the penaltiesmore

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 Trump announces picks for economic, health posts

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced a set of economic advisers he wants to appoint for his administration, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as his pick to be the U.S. trade representative. Greer served in Trump’s first administration as the chief of staff to the trade representative, and Trump said Tuesday that Greer played a key role in both imposing tariffs on China and in the creation of a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Trump said Kevin Hassett is his choice to lead the White House National Economic Council. Hassett led the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’smore

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Promise and peril for Southeast Asia in Trump’s tariff talk

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BANGKOK — Southeast Asia could see a new wave of factories moving in from China to evade the soaring tariffs U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has proposed to impose on the world’s second-largest economy, trade experts tell VOA. But the trade surpluses the region has built up with the United States and its heavy use of Chinese inputs for its own exports may blunt the benefits, they add. A number of firms with factories in China, both Chinese and foreign owned, moved their plants to Southeast Asia to skirt the tariffs Trump imposed on the country — as high as 25% onmore

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Google, Meta urge Australia to delay bill on social media ban for children

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SYDNEY — Google and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms urged the Australian government on Tuesday to delay a bill that will ban most forms of social media for children under 16, saying more time was needed to assess its potential impact. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left government wants to pass the bill, which represents some of the toughest controls on children’s social media use imposed by any country, into law by the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday. The bill was introduced in parliament last week and opened for submissions of opinions for only one day. Google and Meta said in theirmore

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Google to build subsea cable linking Australia’s Darwin to Christmas Island

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sydney — Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island will be connected by subsea cable to the northern garrison city of Darwin, a project backed by Alphabet’s Google that Australia says will boost its digital resilience. Christmas Island is 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) west of the Australian mainland, with a small population of 1,250, but strategically located in the Indian Ocean, 350 kilometers (215 miles) from Jakarta. The cable announcement comes as the Australian and U.S. militaries upgrade airfields in Australia’s north, where a rotating force of U.S. Marines will be joined by Japanese troops next year. Google’s vice president ofmore

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Analysis: Trump’s win powered by improved performance across electorate

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Nearly three weeks after the 2024 election, with almost all of the votes counted, it has become clear that Donald Trump won his second term in the White House by orchestrating a nationwide rightward shift in voting patterns that largely persisted across most of the 50 states, whether their electoral votes went to Trump or to his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. The main force behind Trump’s victory was strong support from his base, which is generally made up of white Americans without a college degree. His win would not have been possible, however, had the president-elect not improvedmore

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US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation

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washington — U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.  So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan.  Nearly half of the nation’s approximately 2 million farmworkers lack legal status, according to the Labor and Agriculture departments, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.  Trump, a Republican, vowed to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegallymore

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Democrats plan to elect new party leader days after Trump’s inauguration

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WASHINGTON — The chair of the Democratic National Committee informed party leaders on Monday that the DNC would choose his successor in February, an election that will speak volumes about how the party wants to present itself during four more years of Donald Trump in the White House. Jaime Harrison, in a letter to members of the party’s powerful Rules & Bylaws Committee, outlined the process of how the party would elect its new chair. Harrison said in the letter that the committee would host four candidate forums — some in person and some virtually — in January, with the finalmore

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Biden to attend Trump inauguration, White House says

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U.S. President Joe Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the White House said Monday, calling it a “commitment to our democratic values” despite Trump’s skipping Biden’s own swearing-in. Then-President Trump refused to attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021, after falsely claiming Biden’s election win was fraudulent and whipping up a mob of supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. “The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whoever won the election,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters flying with Biden on Air Force One. “He and the first lady are going to honor that promise and attendmore

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Google’s US antitrust trial over online ad empire winds down

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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge that Google illegally dominated online advertising technology in seeking a second antitrust win against the company.  The closing arguments in Alexandria cap a 15-day trial held in September in which prosecutors sought to show Google monopolized markets for publisher ad servers and advertiser ad networks and tried to dominate the market for ad exchanges, which sit between buyers and sellers.  “Google rigged the rules of the road,” said DOJ lawyer Aaron Teitelbaum, who asked the judge to hold Google accountable for anti-competitive conduct and added that Google is “once, twice,more

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Trump taps America First Policy Institute CEO to be agriculture secretary

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, to be agriculture secretary. “As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” Trump said in a statement. If confirmed by the Senate, Rollins would lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose scope includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending, food safety, rural development, agricultural research, trade and more. It had a budget of $437.2 billion in 2024. Themore

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What to know about Scott Turner, Trump’s pick for housing secretary

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Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term. Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican’s Cabinet. Here are some things to know about him: From professional football to politics Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diegomore

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Trump picks hedge fund manager for treasury secretary

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Scott Bessent as secretary of the treasury, according to a statement released Friday night. Bessent, 62, is the founder of Key Square Capital Management, a hedge fund, and has worked on and off for Soros Fund Managment since 1991. If confirmed, Bessent will be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He is a deficit hawk and has said he would work to lower the U.S. national debt. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sortmore

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Chinese hackers preparing for conflict with US, cyber official says

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Chinese hackers are positioning themselves in U.S. critical infrastructure IT networks for a potential clash with the United States, a top American cybersecurity official said Friday. Morgan Adamski, executive director of U.S. Cyber Command, said Chinese-linked cyber operations are aimed at gaining an advantage in case of a major conflict with the United States. Officials have warned that China-linked hackers have compromised IT networks and taken steps to carry out disruptive attacks in the event of a conflict. Their activities include gaining access to key networks to enable potential disruptions such as manipulating heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in servermore

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Allies ponder NATO’s future with Trump

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NATO allies are preparing for a potentially turbulent transatlantic relationship after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. During his first term, he questioned NATO’s relevance and berated allies for not spending more on defense. But as Henry Ridgwell reports, many European nations are echoing calls to spend more in the face of the threat from Russia. …

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Trump names Pam Bondi as new nominee for US attorney general

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s latest nominee for U.S. attorney general has established herself as a staunch conservative, Trump loyalist and outspoken defender of the president-elect, both personally and professionally.    Trump announced his selection of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, just hours after former Florida U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for the post.    From his Truth Social media account, Trump praised Bondi and what she will bring to the office.     “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore,” Trumpmore

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Trump gets permission to seek dismissal of hush money case

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NEW YORK — A New York judge on Friday granted Donald Trump permission to seek dismissal of the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the November 5 U.S. presidential election. New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan formally delayed the sentencing of Trump, which had been scheduled to take place Tuesday. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office this week asked Merchan to consider deferring all proceedings in the case until after Trump, 78, finishes his four-year presidentialmore

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US agency votes to launch review, update undersea telecommunications cable rules

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WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to propose new rules governing undersea internet cables in the face of growing security concerns, as part of a review of regulations on the links that handle nearly all the world’s online traffic. The FCC voted 5-0 on proposed updates to address the national security concerns over the global network of more than 400 subsea cables that handle more than 98% of international internet traffic. “With the expansion of data centers, rise of cloud computing, and increasing bandwidth demands of new large language models, these facilities are poised to grow even moremore

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Democrat Casey concedes to Republican McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate contest

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HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania conceded his reelection bid to Republican David McCormick on Thursday, as a statewide recount showed no signs of closing the gap, and his campaign suffered repeated blows in court in its effort to get potentially favorable ballots counted. Casey’s concession comes more than two weeks after Election Day, as a grindingly slow ballot-counting process became a spectacle of hourslong election board meetings, social media outrage, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials were openly flouting the law. Republicans had been claiming that Democrats were trying to steal McCormick’s seat by counting “illegalmore

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Dr. Oz nominated to oversee Medicare, Medicaid

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WASHINGTON — Mehmet Oz, a renowned heart surgeon and television host best known for “The Dr. Oz Show,” has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS. If confirmed by the Senate, Oz will oversee two of the nation’s most vital health insurance programs, which provide coverage for elderly and low-income Americans. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1960, Oz is the son of Turkish immigrants — Dr. Mustafa Oz, a thoracic cardiovascular surgeon, and Suna Oz. Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Oz graduated from Harvard University in 1982 with amore

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Gaetz withdraws name as Trump’s attorney general nominee

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Former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz is withdrawing his name from consideration as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. “I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote on social media platform X. The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee failed Wednesday to reach agreement on whether to release findings from its nearly finished investigative report on Gaetz. The panel’s chair, Republican Representative Michaelmore

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