​ Indonesia to ban social media and other online platforms for under 16s. 1 hour ago. Lesthia Kertopati, BBC Indonesiaand. Kathryn Armstrong. Getty Images. Indonesia says it will ban social media and other popular online platforms for children under 16, becoming the latest country to introduce restrictions aimed at protecting young people from online abuse.. Meutya Hafid, the country’s communications and digital affairs minister, announced that accounts for under 16s on “high risk” platforms would be deactivated from 28 March.. “This will start with platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox,” said Hafid, adding that the ban would make Indonesia “the first non-Western country to delay children’s access to digital spaces according to age”.. There was no immediate response from the affected platforms.. “Our children are facing increasingly real threats—ranging from exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, and online scams, to addiction, which is the most significant concern,” said Hafid.. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of algorithm-driven platforms.”. Children’s charity Unicef reported in 2023 that roughly half of the 510 Indonesian children it surveyed had been exposed to sexual images on social media.. “As a working mum with two children, especially with a teenage son, I don’t have much time to constantly monitor what my son is doing in the digital world,” Amanda Kusumo, 42, told the BBC in response to news of the ban.. “With government regulations like this, it really helps ease our worries as parents,” she said, adding: “I’m confident that the government’s decision will ultimately bring positive benefits for both children and parents.”. Amanda’s 17-year-old son, Matt Joseph, said he saw the arguments both for and against the ban.. “It’s true that children still can’t fully manage their own screen time or control themselves when using their phones. But if the government chooses to completely block all platforms considered “risky” for them, I feel there might be a gentler, wiser way to approach it,” he said.. Matt Joseph feels that much of what young people enjoy comes from social media. If the government wants them to use it less, they need an incentive – such as improving what is available to watch on TV – he suggested.. “It would be nice to have entertainment that feels like it’s really meant for us, something that supports learning while still giving us joy.”. Indonesia’s child protection agency, meanwhile, said it could not comment on the government’s plans until it had studied them.. The announcement comes after Australia became the first country to start forcing social media firms to block users under 16 from having accounts on their platforms in December – a policy being closely watched by other world governments.. Critics have called on the Australian government to extend the ban to cover online gaming sites like Roblox and Disc  

​ Hungary to expel Ukrainian bank workers in row with Kyiv. 2 hours ago. Helen Sullivan,BBC Newsand. Paul Kirby,Europe digital editor. Reuters. Hungary says it is expelling seven Ukrainian bank workers arrested on Thursday while transporting $80m (£60m) worth of cash and 9kg of gold in cash-transport vehicles to Ukraine.. After Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha accused Budapest of taking the group hostage and stealing money, Hungary’s tax authority said they had been detained on suspicion of money laundering.. Ukraine’s state savings bank, Oschadbank, said they had been part of a regular transport between Austria and Ukraine and were “unjustifiably detained”.. Hungary’s tax authority said it was conducting criminal proceedings and added that the transport was being overseen by a former general of Ukraine’s intelligence service.. “This year alone, more than $900m, €420m and 146 kg of gold bars were transported through the territory of Hungary to Ukraine,” the national tax and customs administration said in a statement on Friday.. It is not yet clear what has happened to the enormous sums of cash and the gold seized on Thursday, but Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said “they’ve stolen the money”.. Relations between Ukraine and Hungary have deteriorated during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and have descended into a war of words over a halt to Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine.. The arrest of the bank workers comes deep in Hungary’s election campaign, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán trailing in opinion polls with little more than a month before the vote.. Hungarian reports described how black-clad officials from Hungary’s TEK counter-terrorism centre raided the Ukrainian-registered vehicles on Thursday and then their convoy headed to Budapest.. Sybiha accused Orbán of dragging Ukraine into its “domestic politics and electoral campaign”, adding that Kyiv would not tolerate “this state banditism”.. His opposite number in Budapest, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, asked why such enormous sums were being moved in cash: “If this is truly a transaction between banks, why was it not carried out by transfer?”. Orbán made no mention of the seven bank workers in his regular radio appearance on Friday, although he did say “transit shipments” important to Ukraine would be halted until a row over Russian oil supplies was sorted out.. Orbán, seen as Russia’s closest ally in the EU, has accused Ukraine of deliberately halting Russian oil through the pipeline. Kyiv says the pipeline was damaged in a Russian air strike in January, but Orban says satellite images indicate there is no reason why the pipeline should not be working and has threatened to “force the Ukrainians to restart deliveries”.. The Hungarian leader has also blocked a €90bn (£78bn) EU aid package seen as vital for Ukraine’s financing in a bid to force the resumption of oil supplies.. Orbán has repeatedly opposed EU funding for Ukraine,  

​ US and Venezuela agree to resume diplomatic ties after Maduro capture. 8 hours ago. Ione WellsSouth America Correspondent. Reuters. The US and Venezuela have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations.. The agency said in a statement that the two sides would make joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery and advance political reconciliation.. While their diplomatic relations have been improving since the US military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January in a surprise raid, the announcement of formal bilateral ties marks a hugely symbolic step.. President Donald Trump ordered troops to seize Maduro and his wife, bringing them to a Manhattan court to face allegations of weapon and drug offences, which they deny.. The US embassy in Caracas, which closed in 2019, has already reopened, and Washington has appointed a new diplomat in Venezuela.. The Venezuelan government said on Thursday it was willing to advance a “new stage of constructive dialogue, based on mutual respect”.. It said the relationship must result in the “social and economic happiness of the Venezuelan people”.. But the statement from Caracas made no reference to a transition or future elections, unlike the US state department’s.. The US has accused Maduro – who is due to stand trial this month in the US – and other members of his government of leading a criminal organisation involved in activities such as illegal mining and drug trafficking.. Sources told the BBC that more diplomatic staff from the US embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, are expected to be transferred to Caracas soon. The move will make it much easier for officials to negotiate face-to-face and provide consular services.. The US state department said its engagement was focused on helping Venezuelan people move forward through a “phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government”.. After a visit to Venezuela, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters on the runway in Caracas on Thursday on his way back to the US that it was a “brilliant strategic move” to intervene in Venezuela before Iran.. The US and Israel launched military action on Iran on 28 February. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the first wave of strikes.. Burgum, who leads President Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, added on Thursday that the intervention would help ensure that “oil will flow to America”.. Since the US military strikes on Venezuela and seizure of Maduro, the US has struck new oil deals with Venezuela.. Washington has allowed the country to sell sanctioned oil with US oversight, and Venezuela has changed its law to allow more foreign investment in the oil sector.. On Wednesday, Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez and Burgum said the two countries would work together to develop mining in the country.. Along with having the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Venezuela is r  

​ Israel strikes Beirut after evacuation warning sparks panic. 8 hours ago. Alice Cuddy,Senior international reporter, Beirutand. David Gritten. Reuters. Israel has launched airstrikes on Beirut, Lebanon, after ordering hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city’s southern suburbs. There were no immediate reports of casualties.. The Israeli military says it is targeting Hezbollah across Lebanon, with Beirut’s south seen as a stronghold for the Iran-backed armed group.. “The Defense Army has launched a wave of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs,” a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on X.. Following the evacuation orders, traffic jams formed on main roads heading north and south as panicked residents complied with the unprecedented blanket demand covering the area.. Follow live updates. Israel tells people in large parts of southern Lebanon to leave ahead of attacks. Battered and isolated, Hezbollah drags Lebanon into another war. Before the latest strikes, Lebanon said more than 120 people had been killed and nearly 700 wounded by airstrikes since Monday. At least 90,000 are displaced.. The Israeli order came after the military also told all residents of a huge swathe of southern Lebanon near the Israeli border to leave on Wednesday, ahead of an anticipated ground incursion.. Hezbollah has warned Israelis living within 5km of the Lebanese border to leave their homes.. Mohammed al-Khaouzam was among those stuck in traffic trying to flee Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon.. “We’re coming from Bir Hassan. They [the Israeli military] issued a warning so that’s why we’re leaving,” he told the BBC.. Khaouzam, who is originally from Syria, is heading north with his wife and children. He described Lebanon as his “second country”.. “May God help everyone. May God help all of the Lebanese,” he said out of his car window.. A woman driving north said her children were in Beirut and had called her telling her about the warning to leave the suburbs of Chiyah, Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath.. She said she was going to stay with them, hoping it would be safe.. “Is there any place to go? What should I do?” she asked.. Food kitchens and shelters in the capital have warned that they cannot support the number of people being displaced.. Reuters. Lebanese authorities have said at least 102 people have been killed in Israeli strikes over the past four days. There have been no reports of fatalities by Israeli authorities.. Israeli aircraft have carried out waves of strikes targeting Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley since Monday, when the group launched rockets and drones over the border in retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.. It pulled Lebanon into the war between Israel, the US and Iran, only 15 months after a ceasefire deal ended more than a year of full-on fighting betw  

​ Anthropic vows to sue Pentagon over supply chain risk label. 11 hours ago. Lily Jamali,North America Technology correspondentand. Kali Hays,Technology reporter. Reuters. The US has officially deemed artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic a supply chain risk, setting the stage for an unprecedented legal fight.. The Pentagon’s designation is the first time a US company has been labelled a supply chain risk, which means the government considers Anthropic not secure enough for it to use.. It has led Anthropic, which has refused to give defence agencies unfettered access to its AI tools over concerns of mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, to move towards challenging the decision in court.. “We do not believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court,” chief executive Dario Amodei wrote on Thursday evening.. In a statement earlier on Thursday, a senior Pentagon official said the supply chain risk designation was “effective immediately.”. Amodei wrote that Anthropic had received a letter from the defence department the previous day designating it a risk, noting that the designation “has a narrow scope.”. “The law requires the Secretary of War to use the least restrictive means necessary to accomplish the goal of protecting the supply chain”, he wrote.. “Even for Department of War contractors, the supply chain risk designation doesn’t (and can’t) limit uses of Claude or business relationships with Anthropic if those are unrelated to their specific Department of War contracts.. The AI developer had been in talks with the Department of Defense in recent days.. Those talks did not prove fruitful, according to a person familiar with Anthropic who asked not to be identified, in part because of how President Donald Trump and other members of his administration had publicly berated the company.. Leadership at Anthropic had thought last week the two sides were near a resolution, after weeks of back and forth. Then Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he was directing all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic, the person familiar added.. “We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump wrote in the Friday post.. Hegseth followed up with a post on X, writing that Anthropic would be “immediately” designated a supply chain risk, prohibiting any business working with the military from “any commercial activity with Anthropic”.. Anthropic said it had received no communication from the White House or the Pentagon that these statements were coming.. According to a person familiar with discussions, the feeling inside Anthropic is that it is disliked by some in the Trump administration as its chief executive has not been among the tech leaders to donate large sums to Trump or publicly praise him.. On Thursday, tech giant Microsoft said that it would continue to embed Anthropic technology in products for its clients with the exception of the US Department of Defense.. “Our law