Research finds about 60% of Australian teenagers are evading their country’s landmark ban on social media accounts for children under 16.
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Left-wing Australian PM Anthony Albanese said Canberra has not received a request from the United States to help with its "unilateral" blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as announced by President Donald Trump.
The post Australian PM Albanese: No Request Received by Canberra to Help U.S. Hormuz Blockade appeared first on Breitbart.
Indonesian Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said Thursday that Google’s YouTube platform has not complied with Jakarta’s ban on social media accounts for children under 16 and could face “sanctions” if it does not begin meeting its obligations under the law.
The post Indonesia Threatens YouTube for Violating Ban on Social Media for Teens appeared first on Breitbart.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday that his government will implement a ban on social media for children under 15, beginning on January 1, 2027.
The post Greece Prepares to Follow Australia’s Lead with Under-15 Social Media Ban appeared first on Breitbart.
Australian authorities have arrested and charged the country's most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, with five war crime murders allegedly committed during the war in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith, a former member of the Australian Defence Force, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday. His arrest has sparked outcry from a former Australian prime minister, who argued its unfair to judge the actions of "men in mortal combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life." X owner Elon Musk also weighed in on the arrest, calling it "insane."
The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator said Roberts-Smith is being charged in connection with the killings of five unarmed Afghans in three separate incidents between 2009 and 2012. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett alleged that Roberts-Smith either killed the unarmed Afghans himself or instructed a subordinate to kill them. If convicted, Roberts-Smith faces life imprisonment on each charge.
"It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan," Barrett said during a press conference. "It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed."
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The investigation into Roberts-Smith began in 2021, according to Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the Office of the Special Investigator. Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross after storming two enemy machine guns during his fifth tour in Afghanistan.
Barnett said at the press conference that the investigation was "under challenging circumstances," given that some of the murders occurred well over a decade ago and investigators were unable to visit Afghanistan.
"We don’t have access to the crime scenes, we don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene," Barnett said at the press conference.
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While Australia's current prime minister has yet to weigh in on the arrest, former Australian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott expressed his support for Roberts-Smith on X in a lengthy post.
"If Ben Roberts-Smith transgressed, why wasn’t this picked up prior to his gallantry awards and why wasn’t any culture of brutality towards prisoners detected by his more senior officers, and dealt with quickly, rather than being allowed to fester, as has been alleged, for over a decade?" Abbott wrote.
Allegations that Roberts-Smith engaged in war crimes began circulating publicly in 2017 and 2018 in articles published by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.
Roberts-Smith filed a defamation suit against the papers, which became Australia's most expensive defamation trial, but in 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that four of the six murder allegations brought by the papers against Roberts-Smith were legitimate.
In one of the allegations ruled to have merit by Justice Anthony Besanko, Roberts-Smith allegedly marched a handcuffed Afghan man named Ali Jan off the edge of a 10-meter cliff. He survived the fall, but Roberts-Smith and his fellow soldiers walked down a footpath to meet him. Roberts-Smith then ordered a subordinate, known as Person 11 in court, to shoot him.
The High Court dismissed Roberts-Smith's appeal of the ruling in September 2025.
The criminal charges against Roberts-Smith stem from a joint effort by OSI and AFP. The two Australian agencies have conducted 53 investigations into ADF members tied to war crime allegations in Afghanistan. Ten of the investigations remain ongoing.
Someone was playing possum — or stuffed animal.
Among plush kangaroos, dingoes and Tasmanian devils ready to be bought by parents of antsy children, a live brushtail possum waited in a gift shop at an Australian airport this week.
The wild animal was first noticed by a shopper in the store on Wednesday, retail manager Liam Bloomfield of Hobart Airport in the state of Tasmania said.
"A passenger reported it to …. one of the staff members on shift, who couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing," Bloomfield told The Associated Press. "She then called the (airport) management and said we’ve got a possum in the store."
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Staff at the airport were able to remove the animal without harming it.
"I’m imagining it saw some of the plush animals that were for sale on the shelf and it decided to make its home with those," Bloomfield joked of why the possum was hiding with the stuffed toys. "It wanted to blend in."
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"Can you spot the imposter?" the airport wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that showed the possum curled up in a cubby with its stuffed counterparts.
"This cheeky lost possum found a clever hiding place among the Aussie plushies in our retail store," the airport continued. "Luckily it was safely relocated out of the terminal area, and the space was cleaned."
Bloomfield said the possum found a way into not only the airport but also their hearts.
"We’ll have a little shrine to the possum," he revealed, according to The Independent. "There will be a nice little photo; once it gets a name, we will put a nice little post in front of the store to make sure it’s remembered."
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was chased out of the country's largest mosque Friday as Muslims in attendance voiced anger over his stance on the Israeli war against Hamas.
Albanese was called several names, including a "putrid dog" and a "genocide supporter" in reference to the deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel, The Telegraph reported.
Video footage showed the prime minister standing alongside Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, at the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney as the community marked Eid, the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
"Why is he in here? Get him out of here!" some shouted.
Albanese and his Left Labor government have drawn criticism for its support of a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel's right to defend itself.
During the commotion, Gamel Kheir, the mosque’s secretary, pleaded for calm.
"Respect the place you’re in," he said. "We must engage and have frank and open dialogue with our political leaders and not shy away and be reclusive."
"You called him honorable. He’s responsible for the deaths of 1 million people, 1 million of our brothers and sisters," one person reportedly shouted.
AUSTRALIAN PM ALBANESE GETS BOOED DURING BONDI BEACH VIGIL HONORING HANUKKAH ATTACK VICTIMS
Albanese was taken into an office inside the mosque by security before he was taken out of the building and into his motorcade.
As he was leaving, cries of "shame on you" and the slur "Alba-tizi," a derogatory Arabic play on his surname, referencing buttocks, were shouted.
"He wants to come here after shaking hands with the president of Israel, who’s got blood on his hands," said one person who confronted the prime minister. "To come here and act like nothing has happened is a disgrace."
Albanese posted photos on X showing him smiling and shaking hands with attendees.
"Overwhelmingly, the reception was incredibly positive," he told reporters of his visit. "I walked through the crowd to the mosque, and not a single person heckled. There were a couple of hecklers inside. They were dealt with.
"Contrary to what’s been suggested, no one was rushed out," he added. "We just sat there. … It was dealt with by the community themselves because overwhelmingly they did not want that to occur."
A growing number of U.S. allies are declining to take part in military efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, despite mounting pressure from Washington.
From Europe to the Indo-Pacific, governments are signaling reluctance to be drawn into direct military action, instead emphasizing diplomacy, legal constraints or limited defensive contributions.
France has ruled out any military role in securing the Strait of Hormuz, stressing a diplomatic approach. In an interview with FRANCE 24 last week, Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin said Paris is "not participating in this war."
"At this point, there is no question of sending any vessels to the Strait of Hormuz," she explained. Vautrin also questioned whether Washington and Jerusalem share the same end goals in the conflict with Iran.
President Donald Trump, however, suggested Monday he expects support from French President Emmanuel Macron.
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"I think he's going to help. I mean, I'll let you know. I spoke to him yesterday. I don't do a hard sell on them because my attitude is we don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them," Trump said at the White House. "But, it's interesting. I'm almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react."
Germany has rejected military involvement, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz stating the conflict falls outside NATO’s scope. "We will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by military means. The war in the Middle East is not a matter for NATO," he said in a post on X. "Therefore, Germany will also not become involved militarily."
Australia has declined to send ships to the strait despite U.S. calls for support. In an interview on ABC Radio National on Monday, Catherine King, minister for infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government, said, "We won't be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is, but that's not something that we've been asked or that we're contributing to."
She noted Australia’s current contribution is limited to support in the United Arab Emirates, including providing aircraft to assist with defense given the number of Australians in the country.
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Ireland has ruled out participation in any EU naval mission to reopen the strategic waterway. Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheál Martin told reporters ahead of his meeting with Trump, "We don’t have that offensive military capacity in any shape or form, so obviously it’s not something that’s on our agenda," according to the Irish Examiner. "The world is in a very challenging situation and no one likes war. We certainly don’t as a country, and we want a specific resolution."
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Spain has rejected any involvement in a Hormuz mission and called for an end to the war.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles said, "We are on a defense and security mission in Cyprus and at this moment Spain is not considering any mission in Hormuz. What we are considering is the demand that the war end," according to Spanish newspaper La Razón.
She described the conflict as an "illegal war that is causing many deaths."
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares similarly argued to end the "spiral of violence" and "this escalation that does not have clear objectives."
The U.K. has stopped short of committing to direct military action while emphasizing coordination with international partners. In a press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, "We will not be drawn into the wider war."
He called on allies and other European countries to "bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible."
Japan is holding off on any deployment of naval escorts to the Middle East, citing legal constraints. Speaking in parliament during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said, "No decision has been made whatsoever regarding the dispatch of escort vessels," according to The Japan Times. "We are currently examining what Japan can do independently and what is possible within the legal framework."
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"Legally speaking, this is very difficult," Takaichi added. "We are carefully examining what can be done within the scope of current laws and what is the best course of action at this time. At the same time, we are continuing to engage with Iran to help de-escalate the situation while also exchanging information with various countries."
Two foster children who had been living with a convicted transgender triple killer, despite authorities being aware of the situation since late December 2025, are no longer residing with the violent criminal, according to local media reports.
Reginald Arthurell — who began transitioning to a woman shortly after his release from prison in 2020 — was removed from the home after heavily armed officers raided the address on Monday, radio station 2GB reported. He had been living with a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old for several months, the outlet said.
The minister for Families and Communities of New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday issued an apology, saying the situation "should never have been allowed."
"It is entirely unacceptable for a vulnerable child in the care of the state to be living with a triple murderer," Kate Washington told 2GB. "It should never have happened and I'm deeply apologetic for what has happened."
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She added that "very poor decisions were made" at the time when authorities became aware of the situation and said a review is underway to determine how the "terrible" circumstances were allowed to happen, promising systemic changes.
The situation has sparked widespread backlash and calls for the resignation of authorities who allowed the crisis to continue for months.
Late last year, Arthurell moved into an existing foster home in Sydney, where two children were already living under the care of an elderly woman, 2GB reported. He reportedly met her while she was working at a hospital, and he was a patient there.
The woman, who invited him to move in as a housemate, already had two foster children living with her under her approved placement with the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice.
Arthurell therefore shared the household with the children. The arrangement went unnoticed by authorities until the carer’s daughter reportedly raised concerns late last year.
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Prior to moving in, Arthurell had built a long criminal history, primarily involving the killings of three people over three decades, court documents show. He was first convicted of manslaughter in 1974 for reportedly stabbing his stepfather to death in Sydney. In 1981, he fatally bashed a 19-year-old sailor during a violent robbery, and while on parole in 1995, he killed his fiancée by beating her to death with a piece of wood, local outlets reported.
After killing his romantic partner, he was caught photographing himself wearing one of her dresses, 2GB added.
All three killings involved alcohol, court documents show. Records indicate that Arthurell spent nearly 39 years of his life in custody following the murders.
After his prison release in November 2020, Arthurell began transitioning into a woman under the name Regina. The first public photos and self-introductions appeared on a transgender community Facebook page in May 2021, 2GB reported. Arthurell had also expressed plans to undergo gender-affirming surgery "as soon as possible," News.com.au reported.
Court documents also described that "her transition has been taking place over quite some years," confirming the process was ongoing after his release.
Arthurell now remains in private accommodation following his Monday removal, ABC Australia reported Tuesday.
