Australian

Snapchat says it has blocked or disabled 415,000 accounts in Australia tied to users under 16 since the country’s world-first social media crackdown took effect, while warning that some minors may still be slipping past age checks. The platform urged Australian authorities to require app stores to verify ages before downloads as an “additional safeguard” for the law, which compels major platforms to stop underage users from holding accounts. The measures took effect on Dec. 10 and apply to Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and YouTube,…

12-year-old boy dies after Sydney Harbour shark attack, family says SYDNEY — A 12-year-old boy who was bitten by a shark in Sydney Harbour has died of his injuries, his family said, following an attack that has intensified concern over a spate of shark incidents around Australia’s largest city. Nico Antic suffered critical injuries last week when a large shark attacked him as he and friends were jumping from a six-meter rock in Vaucluse, an eastern Sydney suburb on the harbor. He was pulled into a police boat while heavily…

SYDNEY — An Irish doctor out for a jog on Sydney’s Manly beach helped save the life of a surfer mauled by a shark, racing alongside lifeguards and a helicopter medical team to restart the man’s heart and rush him to surgery amid a spate of shark attacks along Australia’s east coast. Brian Burns, a clinical professor of emergency medicine and emergency physician at Royal North Shore Hospital, told RTÉ’s News at One that his “training just kicked into gear” when he saw professional lifeguards performing CPR on the sand on…

Australia bushfires razed hundreds of buildings across southeast Victoria as authorities confirmed the first death from the disaster and warned of more dangerous conditions to come. Temperatures surged past 40C (104F) under a searing heatwave that blanketed the state, driving dozens of fast-moving blazes that have scorched more than 300,000 hectares combined. Officials declared a state of disaster a day earlier; on Saturday, they began tallying losses as winds eased and crews gained access to hard-hit communities. Emergency…

Australia will establish a royal commission — the country’s highest form of public inquiry — into the Bondi Beach mass shooting that killed 15 people, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, bowing to mounting public pressure for answers about an ISIS-inspired attack and the rise of anti-Semitism. “I’ve repeatedly said that our government’s priority is to promote unity and social cohesion. And this is what Australia needs to heal,” Albanese told reporters, adding that the decision followed community calls for a comprehensive,…

SYDNEY — Australian surf lifeguards lined the shoreline of Bondi Beach on Thursday and fell silent to honor the 15 people killed when gunmen opened fire at a seaside Hanukkah celebration last week, one of the deadliest mass shootings in Australia’s history. Hundreds of rescuers in red-and-yellow uniforms formed a human ribbon along the surf, facing the Pacific as they observed three minutes of silence. Similar tributes were held by surf lifesaving clubs nationwide in solidarity before morning patrols began, turning beaches…

Albanese vows sweeping hate-speech crackdown after Bondi Beach mass shooting kills 15 Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a sweeping crackdown on hate, division and radicalisation after a mass shooting killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach. “Australians are shocked and angry. I am angry. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,” Mr Albanese told a news conference, outlining a suite of measures aimed at extremist preachers, hate speech and those who spread…

SYDNEY — One of two men suspected of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades will be charged within hours, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday, as funerals began for Jewish victims of Sunday’s attack at Bondi Beach. The father-and-son pair allegedly opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration at the iconic Sydney waterfront, in an assault that shocked the country and intensified concerns about rising antisemitism and violent extremism. Police shot dead the elder suspect, identified as…

Darwin, Australia — A Northern Territory politician says his dog unwittingly invited a bull and a horse into the family living room, a barnyard romp captured in pet-cam video that he later posted to social media. Andrew Mackay, an MLA in Australia’s Northern Territory, said the mischief began minutes after he and his fiancée left for dinner. Reviewing the live feed from his pet camera, he noticed “a cow’s head moving into the frame,” prompting the couple to race home. The video, shared by Mackay, shows his two dogs slipping…

Wildfires swept through thousands of hectares of bushland in Australia’s most-populous state on Tuesday, prompting highest-level evacuation alerts for communities on the central coast of New South Wales as a severe heatwave worsened conditions. The alert covered the Phegans Bay and Woy Woy area, about 45 kilometers north of Sydney, a region that forms part of a coastal population catchment of more than 350,000 people. Authorities urged residents to leave immediately where a safe path was available. "Leave now if the path…