Renju Jose

Australia's centre-left government on Thursday will unveil new rules that could impose fines on Big Tech companies if they refuse to continue to pay Australian media firms for news content hosted on their platforms, local media reported.

Australian police said on Friday they were looking for two people suspected of deliberately starting a fire at a Melbourne synagogue that injured one and caused widespread damage.

The proposed law could impose fines of up to $33 million on global technology companies.

Australia moved closer on Wednesday to banning social media for children under 16 after the parliament's lower house passed a bill even as Alphabet's Google and Facebook-owner Meta pressed the government to delay the legislation.

Google and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms urged the Australian government on Tuesday to delay a bill that will ban most forms of social media for children under 16, saying more time was needed to assess its potential impact.

The Australian government on Monday will introduce legislation to implement production tax incentives for renewable hydrogen and critical minerals to help boost investment in the sector, which could play a major role in energy transition plans.

U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, has criticised Australia's proposed law to ban social media for children under 16 and fine social media platforms of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for companies for systemic breaches.

Australia's centre-left government on Thursday introduced a bill in parliament that aims to ban social media for children under 16 and proposed fines of up to A$49.5 million for social media platforms for systemic breaches.

The gender pay gap in Australia has narrowed marginally though women employees on average still earned A$28,425 ($18,590) less each year than their male colleagues, a government report said on Wednesday.

Australia's Senate on Monday censured an Indigenous woman parliamentarian over her protest against King Charles during his visit to the parliament last month when she accused the British monarch of genocide.