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Social media companies could be fined more than US$30 million if they fail to keep children off their platforms, under new laws tabled before Australia's parliament Thursday.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said a Canadian report claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of the plot to kill Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a "smear campaign".

New poll finds 53% of Britons support permanent exhibition on Britain’s role in slave trade at British MuseumThe majority of people in the UK think the British Museum should have a permanent exhibition dedicated to the transatlantic slave trade, according to research.New polling data by YouGov found that 53% of respondents think a permanent display about Britain’s role in the trade of enslaved African people would be appropriate, while two-thirds believe the British Museum has a role in educating the public about the UK’s history in the slave trade. Continue reading...

Israeli move follows Guardian report that 12-year-old girl’s evacuation for treatment had been repeatedly blocked The Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was “ripped off” when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied.Last Friday, the Guardian highlighted the Damoo family’s desperate battle to get Mazyouna evacuated from Gaza to the United States to receive emergency surgery on devastating injuries to her face sustained in a missile attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which tore off half of her cheek and exposed her jawbone. Continue reading...

At least 17 state agencies to be created or overhauled, a challenge the IfG says will require major investmentLabour is creating or overhauling at least 17 public bodies, a move which is likely to come with high costs, an Institute for Government report has found.Launching a new “tracker” of public bodies, the thinktank warned of some of the pitfalls when setting up government agencies from scratch, saying: “Successfully creating a new public body is difficult and entails high fixed costs in terms of time, budget and leadership focus.” Continue reading...

Greens and legal advocates say bill will make it harder to hold authorities accountable for conditions in detention facilitiesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has introduced a bill that would allow drugs and mobile phones to be confiscated from non-citizens in immigration detention, despite opposing a phone ban when attempted by Peter Dutton in 2020.The Albanese government is proposing greater safeguards than the Coalition’s attempts to ban phones, but the move has already outraged the Greens and legal advocates who warn it will make it harder to hold authorities accountable for conditions in detention.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Everett’s novel, James, which focuses on Twain's enslaved character Jim, won the $10,000 prizePercival Everett has won the $10,000 National Book Award for fiction, one of the US’s most prestigious literary prizes, for James, his acclaimed reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.The 67-year-old author was also shortlisted for this year’s Booker prize for James, which focuses on Huckleberry Finn’s enslaved character Jim. The Guardian’s Anthony Cummins called the book “gripping, painful, funny, horrifying” in his review. Continue reading...

The Biden administration has moved to forgive about $4.7 billion in US loans to Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.