Humanitarian assistance experts have warned agency's demise will harm vulnerable people and weaken US soft power.

Sydney — Australia's online safety regulator fined messaging platform Telegram about $640,000 on Monday for its delay in answering questions about measures the app took to prevent the spread of child abuse and violent extremist material. The eSafety Commission in March 2024 sought responses from social media platforms YouTube, X and Facebook to Telegram and Reddit, and blamed them for not doing enough to stop extremists from using live-streaming features, algorithms and recommendation systems to recruit users. Telegram and Reddit were asked about the steps they were taking to combat child sexual abuse material on their services. They had to respond by May, but Telegram submitted its response in October. "Timely transparency is not a voluntary requirement in Australia and this action reinforces the importance of all companies complying with Australian law," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. Telegram's delay in providing information obstructed eSafety from implementing its online safety measures, Grant said. Telegram said it had fully responded to all eSafety's questions last year, with no outstanding issues. "The unfair and disproportionate penalty concerns only the response time frame, and we intend to appeal," the company said in an email. Australia's spy agency in December said one in five priority counterterrorism cases investigated involved youths. The messaging platform has been under growing scrutiny around the world since its founder Pavel Durov was placed under formal investigation in France in August in connection with alleged use of the app for illegal activities. Durov, who is out on bail, has denied the allegations. Grant said Big Tech must be transparent and put in place measures to prevent their services from being misused as the threat posed by online extremist materials poses a growing risk. "If we want accountability from the tech industry we need much greater transparency. These powers give us a look under the hood at just how these platforms are dealing, or not dealing, with a range of serious and egregious online harms which affect Australians," Grant said. If Telegram chooses to ignore the penalty notice, eSafety would seek a civil penalty in court, Grant said. 

About 59 million Germans were eligible to vote in snap elections to decide who will govern eurozone’s largest economy.

Future of Gaza ceasefire at risk after Israel suspended the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Friedrich Merz from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is on track to be Germany's next chancellor.

Billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk emailed federal workers asking them to list what they had done last week.

Experts debate the future of Ukraine as the US warms up to Russia and US-European relations shift.

Salah grabs a goal and an assist as Liverpool take a major step towards lifting the Premier League title.

PM Netanyahu has demanded the 'full demilitarisation' of southern Syria, where Israel has illegally expanded its forces.

India beat Pakistan by six wickets in Dubai to leave their rivals on the brink of elimination from the Champions Trophy.

Ukrainian president has been criticised by US President Trump, who called him a 'dictator'.

Purpose-built housing for 5,879 students has been constructed in Glasgow since 2015.

“He [Netanyahu] wants to get as many of the hostages back without paying, really, the price for it.”

The charter states creating a government of 'peace and unity' despite concerns from rights groups and global actors.

SUSONO — Woven City near Mount Fuji is where Japanese automaker Toyota plans to test everyday living with robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous zero-emissions transportation. Daisuke Toyoda, an executive in charge of the project from the automaker's founding family, stressed it's not "a smart city." "We're making a test course for mobility so that's a little bit different. We're not a real estate developer," he said Saturday during a tour of the facility, where the first phase of construction was completed. The Associated Press was the first foreign media to get a preview of the $10 billion Woven City. The first phase spans 47,000 square meters (506,000 square feet), roughly the size of about five baseball fields. When completed, it will be 294,000 square meters (3.1 million square feet). Built on the grounds of a shuttered Toyota Motor Corp. auto plant, it's meant to be a place where researchers and startups come together to share ideas, according to Toyoda. Ambitious plans for futuristic cities have sputtered or are unfinished, including one proposed by Google's parent company Alphabet in Toronto; "Neom" in Saudi Arabia; a project near San Francisco, spearheaded by a former Goldman Sachs trader, and Masdar City next to Abu Dhabi's airport. Woven City's construction began in 2021. All the buildings are connected by underground passageways, where autonomous vehicles will scuttle around collecting garbage and making deliveries. No one is living there yet. The first residents will total just 100 people. Called "weavers," they're workers at Toyota and partner companies, including instant noodle maker Nissin and Daikin, which manufactures air-conditioners. Coffee maker UCC was serving hot drinks from an autonomous-drive bus, parked in a square surrounded by still-empty apartment complexes. The city's name honors Toyota's beginnings as a maker of automatic textile looms. Sakichi Toyoda, Daisuke Toyoda's great-great-grandfather, just wanted to make life easier for his mother, who toiled on a manual loom. There was little talk of using electric vehicles, an area where Toyota has lagged. While Tesla and Byd emerged as big EV players, Toyota has been pushing hydrogen, the energy of choice in Woven City. Toyota officials acknowledged it doesn't expect to make money from Woven City, at least not for years. Keisuke Konishi, auto analyst at Quick Corporate Valuation Research Center, believes Toyota wants to work on robotic rides to rival Google's Waymo — even if it means building an entire complex. "Toyota has the money to do all that," he said.

Amid democratic backsliding across Europe, Serbian students have shown the way to reimagining democracy and governance.

Tens of thousands of mourners have attended the public funeral service for former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

At this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, US President Donald Trump revelled in the spotlight.

The Israeli prime minister’s office postponed the release of Palestinian prisoners, accusing Hamas of ‘humiliation ritua

For more than a month, Israeli forces have been raiding Palestinian homes and destroying infrastructure.