Author: AFP

SYDNEY: Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said yesterday, as Canberra prepares to enforce sweeping laws banning teens from social media. From December 10, Australia will force social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, to remove users under

HANOI: Rescuers plucked stranded people from the rooftops of submerged homes as widespread flooding inundated central Vietnam, where authorities said yesterday at least 16 people were killed. Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October, and popular coastal holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding. Whole

JAKARTA: Hundreds of Indonesians were staying in temporary shelters yesterday after a volcano on the main island of Java erupted, with officials evacuating around 190 people from its slopes, authorities said. Mount Semeru in eastern Java erupted on Wednesday afternoon, throwing ash and gas more than 13 kilometres away and

SEOUL: A South Korean ferry ran aground after the helmsman became distracted by his mobile phone, a member of the coast guard told AFP yesterday. All 267 passengers and crew were safely brought to a nearby port after the ferry crashed on an uninhabited island off of South Korea’s southwestern

TOKYO: One person was unaccounted for while 175 others were evacuated as a major fire engulfed a residential area in Japan, the local government said yesterday. Firefighters were still struggling to extinguish the blaze in the southern city of Oita as it spread to a forested mountain nearby, public broadcaster

YANGON: Myanmar’s military said yesterday it raided an internet scam hub on the Thai border, arresting nearly 350 people, part of a highly publicised crackdown against the booming black market compounds. Sprawling fraud factories have ballooned in war-torn Myanmar’s border regions, housing scammers targeting internet users with romance and business

LONDON: England will ban the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic, a huge cause of pollution and sewer blockages, the UK government announced on Tuesday. Rivers, lakes and beaches will be cleaner and wildlife “better protected” by the measures, due to come into force in early 2027, an

TOKYO: China will suspend imports of Japanese seafood, media in Tokyo reported yesterday as a diplomatic spat sparked by comments about Taiwan deepens. The row was triggered by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting on November 7 that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan. China, which claims