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Key Events
Labor Government backs age assurance tech for under-16 social media ban
Parents are being assured their children will be kept safe online as technology used to block kids from social media receives the green light.
An independent trial evaluated ways to verify ages including matching people with documents provided and estimating someone’s age based on physical features and hand movements.
More than 60 tools were assessed as part of the trial, which found technology could be used successfully to prevent Australians accessing explicit and inappropriate content.
Available technologies could ensure age assurance was done “privately, efficiently and effectively” with appropriate limitations.
“Age assurance can be done in Australia,” the experts wrote in a final report published on Monday.
Israel says Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida killed in Gaza
Israel says it has killed Abu Obeida, the chief military spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, during a series of air strikes.
The strike, which took place over the weekend, is the latest in a campaign that has seen several high-profile Hamas members targeted.
Hamas has not issued an official response to the claim. Abu Obeida would join the ranks of senior operatives killed by Israeli forces in recent months, including top leaders from allied groups in the region.
Abu Obeida, known for his masked televised statements and fiery declarations after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, was singled out in a social post by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.
“Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza,” he said.
Hume urges Liberal party get behind global climate change talks
Liberal senator Jane Hume has renewed her support for Australia’s net zero emissions target while also calling on her party to back the government’s efforts to host the major COP global climate summit in Adelaide next year.
Amidst ongoing internal discussions about the Coalition’s emissions policies, Ms Hume spoke has described the opportunity as “low hanging fruit” the Liberals should seize.
“Let’s face it … it’s most importantly a giant trade fair. It’s a trade fair that attracts financiers, tech companies, energy companies from right around the world to show off their wares, and it allows innovators in Australia to do the same,” Ms Hume told ABC News Breakfast on Monday morning.
“That’s really important economically for a country like Australia. Why wouldn’t we want the world’s financiers to come to Australia?”
“It’s time that the Liberal Party gets behind COP so that we can talk about it in a sensible way, rather than the reckless way that Labor is going about its renewable energy targets, which clearly it’s going to fail to deliver,” she said.
