Blog

By Maani Truu, ABC News Photo: 123RF Australian children and teenagers under the age of 16 could soon be banned from using social media after Labor announced it would back the higher cut-off limit. The government had previously committed to introducing the legislation that would get kids off social media by the end of the year, but earlier suggested it would not announce a specific cut-off age until after a trial of verification technology. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also confirmed on Thursday that the proposed legislation would not include grandfathering arrangements - meaning young people already on social media would not be exempt - nor would it allow for exemptions due to parental consent. A virtual national cabinet meeting will be held on Friday to discuss the changes, where...

By Betsy Klein, Aaron Pellish and Ebony Davis, CNN US Vice President Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, DC, 6 November 2024. Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP Vice President Kamala Harris offered an uplifting, positive charge to her supporters as she conceded the 2024 presidential election, acknowledging the stinging loss while committing to a peaceful transfer of power and vowing to "fight" in a much different way than a defeated presidential candidate promised four years ago. "Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect (Donald) Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power," she said in r...

Donald Trump campaigned on protectionist policies to favour Americans. Photo: AFP / Jim Watsonn Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is warning against jumping to conclusions about Trump policies that might affect New Zealand. Republican Donald Trump was projected to win the US election and had spoken on the campaign trail promising trade tariffs and protectionist policies to favour American manufacturers and farmers. Read more: Luxon congratulated Trump on a "comprehensive win". "I look forward to working with him and advancing the interests of our great countries. "I know both sides of the aisle in Washington... I've got no doubt we'll do everything we can to work constructively to move forward together." Asked about Trump's campaigning on trade tariffs which could be bad for New Zealand...

Photo: 123RF Most people dread a letter from the tax office. So spare a thought for the German man who got 1700 of them. In an administrative meltdown worthy of a Franz Kafka novel, the mountain of tax correspondence arrived at his front door in 10 boxes, a local newspaper reported. Germany's finance ministry apologised on Wednesday for the "technical error" that threw the man from Quickborn in northern Germany. "The finance ministry has contacted the taxpayer and apologised," said a ministry spokeswoman. The ministry offered to take the letters - which were all identical - off the man's hands and destroy them, but he declined the offer as unnecessary, she said. Europe's biggest economy may be at the forefront of many advanced industries but has long suffered from notoriously outdated bu...

Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has addressed supporters after conceding victory in the US election to her Republican rival Donald Trump. Trump is projected to win the election, clinching 291 electoral college votes so far. The candidates needed 270 to win. Votes are still being counted in some areas, with the winners in a handful of states - Alaska, Arizona, Maine and Nevada - yet to be announced. Harris has called Trump to concede and made a speech at Howard University in Washington DC where she said "we must accept the results of this election", but "while I concede this election I do not concede the fight that fuelled this campaign". Follow all the action with RNZ's liveblog: Source link

By Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins, CNN From left: Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Photo: AFP Analysis - Donald Trump's election victory will return him to the White House, but both his allies and detractors have made clear his second time around will look nothing like the first. With the Republican Party now entirely his, its anti-Trump figures banished for good, Trump will enter the Oval Office with both the experience of having done the job before and a wealth of resentments over how he believes the system failed him. That makes the coming four years uncertain ones that cannot be easily predicted by the first Trump presidency. His rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, tried warning voters of the risks. But to his supporters, the promises of fixing what he called a...