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Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkiye, in a gun attack. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack. The bill will force social media platforms to install age-verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must now accept the bill within 15 days for it to pass into law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need for to mitigate the online risks to children's safety and privacy.
Two men arrested in Bijnor for allegedly being in touch with a Pakistan-linked handler based in Saudi Arabia told police that the Pakistani handler was expanding his network in India via social media. Circle Officer Najibabad, Anjani Kumar Chaturvedi, said on Saturday that police arrested Uvaid Malik and Jalal Haider in Bijnor following a tip-off regarding their alleged links with Aqib, a native of Sathla village in Meerut's Mawana area who is currently staying in West Asia. According to police, Aqib earlier come into the spotlight after a video surfaced on Instagram on November 23, purportedly showing him displaying an AK-47 rifle and explosives. During interrogation, the arrested men allegedly told police that Aqib used to incite youngsters against Hindus and encourage anti-national activities, disseminating radical and inflammatory ideas on Instagram, the officer said. Police said both the arrested men came in contact with Aqib and Maizul (who is based in South Africa) three yea