Australia
Australia’s music industry bans AI-generated tracks from official charts
MELBOURNE, Australia | Australia’s recorded music industry will bar tracks wholly generated by artificial intelligence from official charts as burgeoning generative technologies threaten artists’ livelihoods, a representative said on Tuesday. The crackdown comes as a variation of Madonna’s pop hit “Like a Prayer” created by an Australian producer using AI-generated vocals and drums has spent […]
A timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family as they return to the UK
LONDON | Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will return to the United Kingdom, seemingly marking the end to a yearslong rift between them and the royal family. The Daily Telegraph reported the couple won’t resume their roles as working members of the royal family, but returning to Britain means King Charles III, who is […]
UK bans under-16s from using social media apps including TikTok and YouTube
LONDON | Britain will ban children aged under 16 from using a range of social media apps, including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, to protect them from harmful content and excessive screen time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday. The plan was met with mixed reaction, with some praising Starmer for taking action and others questioning […]
Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects in record bug bust
WELLINGTON, New Zealand | More than 100,000 live cockroaches illegal to keep in Australia were confiscated from a single breeder in the country’s largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, officials said Friday. The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the […]
Australia launches record $1.4B lawsuit against 3M over ‘forever chemicals’ at defense bases
MELBOURNE, Australia | Australia is suing U.S. conglomerate 3M for more than 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) over so-called “forever chemical” contamination from firefighting foam at defense bases, the government said on Thursday. The government’s largest-ever claim for compensation relates to contamination with per- and polyfluoroaklyl substances, known as PFAS, at 28 bases. Human-made […]