ban

Palestine Action remains a banned organization in the United Kingdom despite its co-founder winning a significant High Court challenge to the government’s decision to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000. Judge Victoria Sharp said Friday that Huda Ammori’s legal challenge succeeded on two of four grounds. But the court kept the proscription in place to allow further arguments and to give the British government time to consider an appeal. Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said she would appeal. “Home secretaries…

Russia blocks WhatsApp, urges users onto domestic ‘Max’ app as Kremlin cites legal noncompliance Russia has blocked WhatsApp nationwide over what the Kremlin called the platform’s failure to comply with local legislation, intensifying a state push to shift tens of millions of people to a homegrown alternative that lacks end-to-end encryption. “As for the blocking of WhatsApp ... such a decision was indeed made and implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that the move stemmed from the service’s…

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,…

Slovakia will challenge the European Union’s decision to end imports of Russian natural gas by 2027, Prime Minister Robert Fico said, aligning Bratislava with neighboring Hungary’s plan to sue over the measure. The legal move deepens a rift inside the bloc over how quickly to sever energy ties with Moscow more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Slovakia and Hungary are landlocked central European countries that have maintained close links to the Kremlin and remain heavily reliant on Russian…

Israel urges Supreme Court to keep Gaza media ban, citing security risks Israeli authorities have asked the country’s Supreme Court to keep a ban on independent international media access to Gaza in place, arguing that unescorted reporting would pose unacceptable security risks, according to a government submission filed by the public prosecutor and obtained by AFP. The prohibition has stood since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023. In that time, Israel has permitted only a limited number of foreign reporters to enter…

The Irish Heart Foundation is urging the Government to mirror the UK’s new junk food advertising ban, calling the move a crucial step to protect children’s health and tackle childhood obesity. The British regulations, billed by ministers as world-leading, restrict daytime TV advertising for products high in fat, salt or sugar and ban paid online adverts, with the aim of reducing children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing. Britain’s health ministry says the measures, which apply to pre-9 p.m. television and across…

Israel threatens to bar 37 aid groups from Gaza and West Bank over staff data dispute Israel has threatened to bar 37 international aid organizations from operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank as early as tomorrow, saying they failed to submit personal details of staff under new registration rules. The move could force medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières to halt operations in Gaza, where it says deregistration would sever life-saving care for hundreds of thousands of people amid a deepening humanitarian crisis.…

Reddit sues Australia in High Court to overturn child social media ban, citing free political communication Reddit has filed a lawsuit in Australia’s High Court seeking to strike down the country’s new nationwide ban on social media access for people under 16, calling the measure an unconstitutional intrusion on political discourse and a threat to online privacy. The San Francisco-based platform, which counts Australia among its major markets, asked the court to declare the law invalid on grounds that it interferes with the…

Reddit has filed a legal challenge to Australia’s sweeping new social media ban on under-16s, moving just days after the landmark laws took effect and set the stage for fines against noncompliant tech platforms. The US-based discussion site is contesting the general validity of the legislation and argues it should not be included on the government’s list of services barred to users under 16, according to court filings. Australia this week became the first country to prohibit under-age access to a raft of popular platforms —…

Resurgence of Female Genital Mutilation in Liberia Raises Alarm Liberia is witnessing a troubling resurgence of female genital mutilation (FGM). Recent footage has unveiled that 502 girls and young women were initiated during a combined Sande ceremony across Lofa, Maryland, and Sinoe counties. This alarming trend affects half of Liberia's rural women aged 15 to 49, according to data from UN Women. Health advocates are raising urgent concerns that this latest mass initiation indicates a deteriorating situation amidst…