Page 3 - Australia

Australia Hanukkah shooting: US Jewish groups urge stricter event security

Leading Jewish groups in the United States are urging all Jewish organisations to ratchet up security measures at public events -- including restrictions on access -- following the deadly mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration on a popular Australian beach. The groups -- including three which specialise in security issues -- said Jewish public events in the coming days should be open only to people who had been screened after preregistering. Provide details of location, time, and other information only upon confirmed registration, the groups' advisory said. Have access control (locks and entrance procedures) to only allow known, confirmed registrants/attendees into the facility/event. Coinciding with this urgent appeal for increased precautions, some rabbis said their synagogues would proceed with large-scale celebrations, intended to demonstrate resilience. The mass shooting is the latest reminder of the Jewish community's longstanding reality of having to factor securi

Australian PM Albanese grapples with fallout after Jewish massacre

Last December, offenders broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Victoria, and spread accelerant in what police described as a probable terrorist attack

Sydney attack: Australian intel had probed gunman in 2019 over IS links

Naveed Akram reportedly had close links with Matari, who is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence for planning an IS insurgency in Australian

EAM Jaishankar offers support to Australia after terror attack in Sydney

The attack, which authorities have declared a terrorist incident, targeted Jewish Australians who had gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah

Ex-England cricketer recounts 'terrifying' Bondi Beach attack in Sydney

Former England captain Michael Vaughan described being locked down with his family near Bondi Beach during the terror attack that killed 15 people and shocked Australia

Rubio speaks to Australian FM as US condemns 'heinous' Bondi Beach attack

Rubio had a call with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong to discuss the antisemitic terrorist attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach

Meet Ahmed al Ahmed, the Sydney shopkeeper who stopped Bondi Beach gunman

The 43-year-old Sydney shopkeeper suffered gunshot wounds after wrestling a rifle from one of the attackers during the Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting that left 15 people dead

Sydney's Bondi Beach shooting: Who were the shooters behind deadly attack?

At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured in a mass shooting during a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach. Police identified the attackers as a father-son duo

12 killed in terror attack on Jewish community at Sydney's Bondi Beach

The shooting near a Jewish gathering at Sydney's Bondi Beach killed nine civilians and one attacker, with police warning of a suspected explosive device and urging people to avoid the area

Australia's under-16 gamble: Social media ban's impact may take 10-15 years

The country is running a real-time experiment on a whole generation-the true effects of its social media ban for children won't be clear for 10-15 years

Reddit challenges Australia's law banning under-16s from social media

Global online forum Reddit on Friday filed a court challenge to Australia's world-first law that bans Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world's most popular social media platforms. California-based Reddit Inc's suit filed in the High Court follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project. Both suits claim the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia's implied freedom of political communication. "We believe there are more effective ways for the Australian government to accomplish our shared goal of protecting youth, and the SMMA (Social Media Minimum Age) law carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the internet," Reddit said in a statement. "While we agree with the importance of protecting people under 16, this law has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the .

Australia enforces world-first ban on social media access for teens

Meanwhile chat app Discord Inc., which isn't subject to the ban, said Tuesday it is enhancing safety features for users in Australia

By banning social media, we're giving children a childhood: Australian PM

Highlighting the challenges faced by both parents and children from the impact of social media, Albanese said it was a step towards peace of mind for parents, children

Australia rolls out world's 1st teen social media ban amid safety concerns

The law, passed last year, mandates services such as ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram keep under-16s off their platforms or face fines

Rubio, Hegseth discuss Indo-Pacific security with Australian counterparts

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth met their Australian counterparts Monday in Washington for annual talks focused on Indo-Pacific security and countering China's increasing assertiveness in the region, including in the South China Sea and directed at Taiwan. Rubio, Hegseth, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles gathered at the State Department, with many eyes also on the Russia-Ukraine war, a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and US military strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere that have raised questions about the use of force there. This is a very strong partnership, it's a strong alliance, and what we want to do is continue to build on it. We think we have a lot of momentum behind this alliance, Rubio said, hailing cooperation between Washington and Canberra on critical minerals, defense production and troop deployments. None of the four mentioned China by name in their brief comments to ...

Wildfires rage in Australia, destroy 40 homes, kill one firefighter

A firefighter has died battling blazes that have destroyed around 40 homes in two Australian states, officials said Monday. The 59-year-old man was struck by a falling tree Sunday night while fighting a wildfire near the New South Wales town of Bulahdelah that had razed 3,500 hectares of woodlands and destroyed four homes over the weekend, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said. The man could not be resuscitated. Firefighters expected to be battling that blaze for days, Curtin said. There were 52 wildfires burning across New South Wales on Monday and nine remained out of control. A total of 20 homes had destroyed over the weekend in that state, Curtin said. In the island state of Tasmania, 19 homes had been destroyed by a weekend wildfire in the coastal community of Dolphin Sands, local government official Dick Shaw told Australian Broadcasting Corp. The fire had been contained by Monday, but the road to the community remained closed and it was not yet safe for resident

Can Ozempic trigger depression or suicidal thoughts? Australia weighs in

Australia has issued a safety alert on GLP-1 drugs after reviewing reports of depression and suicidal thoughts; while there is no proven causal link, regulators want users to stay alert

Strains in Australian met coal supply raise energy risks for India: Report

Strains in Australian metallurgical (met) coal supply has heightened energy security risks for India, which depends on imports for 90 pc of its needs, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The Indian government and steelmakers have begun reducing reliance on Australian met coal but India needs to go further to prevent India's steel sector from being weighed down by long-term energy security challenges, it noted. India aims to reach a crude steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030. Much of this growth is driven by the blast furnace (BF) technology that uses met coal. As a result, the Indian steel sector depends heavily on imported met coal since domestic met coal does not meet quality requirements due to its high ash and sulphur content. India currently imports around 90 pc of its met coal, primarily from Australia. However, concerns are mounting over the reliability of the future supply from Austral

From Mamdani to Takaichi, 2025 emerged as defining year of political reset

Historic wins, surprise upsets, and rapid leadership changes marked 2025, as voters across major democracies demanded stability, fresh ideas and a new direction for their countries

Australia's visa backlog nears 50,000 as international students face delays

Australia's review tribunal is struggling with almost 50,000 student visa appeals, leaving thousands of international students, including many from India, facing long delays