Politics

A collection of 1809 posts

Politics

Australia doubles penalty for under-16 social media ban to $99m

The federal government will double the penalty for breaches of Australia’s youth social media ban to $99m, saying tech companies are not doing enough to keep children off harmful sites. The eSafety commissioner, now investigating potential breaches by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, would have its information-gathering powers

Politics

Trump administration allows Mythos 5 access for 100+ U.S. organizations

Two weeks into the ban that led Anthropic to pull its cybersecurity-oriented models Mythos 5 and Fable 5 from the market, the Trump administration has softened its stance. It will allow Anthropic to make Mythos 5 available to more than 100 specific U.S. government agencies and companies, including non‑

Politics

Senators seek to block CFTC funding of lawsuits over prediction markets

Seventeen Democratic senators asked leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government to prevent the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from using federal funds in lawsuits against state officials targeting prediction markets. The letter was led by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Jeff Merkley and signed by 15

Politics

Great koala national park to proceed after carbon credit approval

A long-promised New South Wales great koala national park will proceed after the Albanese government approved a change allowing the state to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for protecting native forests previously earmarked for logging. The assistant climate change minister, Josh Wilson, said the government had approved a regulatory

Politics

Senators Urge CFTC Probe Polymarket Over Faked Ads Report

A bipartisan pair of US senators has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate the prediction market platform Polymarket after a report said the company paid social media influencers to post videos of fake bets. Republican John Curtis and Democrat Adam Schiff sent a letter to CFTC Chair Mike

Politics

The spectre of Bjelke-Petersen still looms over Queensland

Aunty Sandra King, an elder of the Yagara, Quandamooka and Bundjalung peoples, stopped in her tracks at a rally against plans for an Olympic stadium in Brisbane’s Victoria Park when she saw a placard reading “I Preferred Joh”. For those who lived through Sir Joh Bjelke‑Petersen’s premiership,

Politics

Massive wins and the promise of change — Starmer and Albanese diverge

Anthony Albanese invoked Paul Keating’s bicycle remark as he spoke to government MPs in Canberra, warning that a party needs ideas and momentum or it will fall over. Less than 24 hours earlier he had lamented Keir Starmer’s fate: the British prime minister confirmed he would resign, less

Politics

Borrowers get more time to leave SAVE repayment plan

In a legal filing, the Department of Education said borrowers will not be required to move off the SAVE plan until September 29 "at the earliest." The department added it is transitioning borrowers off the plan in waves, so most borrowers "will get even more time than

Politics

Woman jailed for three years for criticising Somali government online

A rickshaw driver in Somalia, Sadia Moalim Ali, 27, has been sentenced to three years in prison for comments she made on social media criticising the federal government. She was originally charged with insulting government institutions and incitement to commit a crime, but convicted only of the former. The sentence,

Politics

New evidence casts doubt on RFK Jr testimony before Senate

New evidence suggests Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related “mission” when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising questions about whether his Senate testimony that the trip had “nothing to do with vaccines” was accurate. Records show a colleague emailed Samoan officials saying

Politics

Xi Jinping hosts more than a dozen leaders as middle powers look beyond the US

Xi Jinping met Bangladesh’s new prime minister, Tarique Rahman, on Friday, the latest in a wave of world leaders to visit Beijing as he builds influence and economic ties and seeks to 'shift the balance of power' away from the west. His meeting with Myanmar’s military

Politics

White House posts AI-generated Destiny 2 meme amid Bungie layoffs

The official White House X account published an AI-generated Destiny 2–style character sheet featuring an unrealistically ripped Donald Trump wielding a Gjallarhorn. The post opened with "Eyes up, Guardians," and the image shows a muscular, Duke Nukem-esque Trump holding the United States flag against a backdrop of

Politics

Zimbabwe senate approves presidential term extension amid 'constitutional coup' claims

The upper house of Zimbabwe’s parliament voted 75-4 to amend the constitution, extending presidential terms from five to seven years and allowing the president to remain in office until 2030. The bill, which replaces direct presidential elections with appointment by parliament, was passed by the lower house last week

Politics

House Democrats Seek SEC Answers on AI Investment Advisors

A group of Democratic US House lawmakers is questioning the US securities regulator over how it is overseeing investment advice and trading powered by artificial intelligence. In a letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins dated Tuesday, the lawmakers said that platforms offering AI trading agents to retail traders "raises

Politics

Edge of Armageddon: why one thinker warns against rearmament

Carlo Rovelli, the Italian theoretical physicist and author of 85 Seconds to Midnight: A Physicist’s Argument against Rearmament, says the idea of a conventional Russian military threat to Europe is “ridiculous. Russia can’t even get to Kyiv! A few years ago, Russia had 4% of the world’s

Politics

FTX Exec’s Wife to Face November Trial on Campaign Finance Charges

Judge George Daniels in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York set a Nov. 9 trial date for Michelle Bond, who faces four charges tied to campaign finance violations. The schedule follows delays tied to motions arising from her husband’s plea agreement; the judge last

Politics

Kalshi Sues Illinois Officials Over Prediction Market Restrictions

Prediction markets company Kalshi has sued Illinois officials, including Governor JB Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The firm says legislation signed last week requires prediction market platforms to be licensed in Illinois to offer sports event contracts and

Politics

Crypto-backed candidates notch wins in several US primaries

Several Democrats and one Republican who were supported by more than $8 million worth of ads funded by cryptocurrency-aligned political action committees won their respective US primaries on Tuesday, setting up their candidacies for the November election. Party primaries for US House and Senate candidates in Utah, Maryland and New

Politics

Colombia’s leftwing candidate concedes to Trump-endorsed millionaire

The defeated leftwing candidate in Colombia’s presidential runoff conceded to the far-right, Trump-admiring millionaire lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella after the official count closely matched a preliminary tally that had shown him winning by less than 1% of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda and President Gustavo Petro had initially

Politics

House Sends Housing Bill with CBDC Ban to Trump

The House passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a 358-32 vote after the Senate approved the bill 85-5, and it now heads to President Donald Trump, who has signaled support and is expected to sign it on Wednesday. “Today, Congress delivered a major win for families working

Politics

Senate Democrats seek hearings on Trump family crypto deal with UAE

A group of Senate Democrats urged Republican leaders to hold hearings into a reported $500 million deal between the Trump family’s crypto firm and Abu Dhabi royalty. In a letter, they asked that Trump administration officials testify under oath and called for the hearings to begin immediately. The Wall

Politics

Montreal mayor calls for halt to random police checks amid profiling probe

Montreal’s mayor has urged a stop to random police checks as the city’s force faces an internal investigation into racism and racial profiling by 16 officers. Soraya Martinez Ferrada told reporters that her husband, who is Black, had been stopped repeatedly while driving — “Like many other Black people

Politics

CFTC sues Kentucky after state legal action against prediction markets

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a federal lawsuit against Kentucky after the state sued prediction market operators last week. The CFTC seeks to block Kentucky’s action against five prediction markets and is asking for declaratory and injunctive relief, naming Governor Andrew Beshear, Attorney General Russell Coleman and

Politics

Bill Gates: Jeffrey Epstein used billionaire connections to get to me

Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee that Jeffrey Epstein pitched his relationships with billionaires as a way to raise money for the Gates Foundation's global health work. Gates said Epstein portrayed himself as part of tax and will discussions, which made it seem credible he might be

Politics

My eight-year-old was refused a UK passport

A Briton living in Switzerland says her three children hold British and Swiss nationality. When they found out that dual nationals who live overseas must now hold a British passport to enter the UK, they applied so the children could continue visiting relatives in England. More than three months later