There are growing calls for Australia to address the “very serious threat” that Chinese social media giant TikTok poses to Australians.

The short video app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is one of the fastest growing platforms in the world with more than 170 million users in the US and 8.5 million in Australia.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would give ByteDance six months to divest the app and sell it to a company outside China.

Australian Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Sunday that TikTok will remain unsafe unless its relationship with Beijing is “severed”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to follow the US.

“Now that Congress and the US are banning TikTok, do you think we’ll do the same here in Australia?” asked WSFM radio host Brendan Jones.

“We will seek advice, but we have no plans,” Mr Albanese replied.

“You must always put national security interests first, but you must also recognize that this is a way for many people to communicate.”

But Patterson called on the government to “take action”, saying the app posed a risk to Australian democracy and national security.

Speaking on Sunday, he said the coalition does not yet support a full ban on the platform, but that the administration should support growing efforts in the US to spin off TikTok’s US operations from its Beijing-based parent company.

“If the United States successfully removes TikTok from ByteDance, Australia should look to do the same,” the Victorian senator told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“The ending I hope for is that Australians can continue to use TikTok, but without the risk of their data being misused and without the risk that the Chinese Communist Party can override the algorithm to pump disinformation into our democracy.

‘I’m sure intelligence agencies aren’t saying to the Prime Minister, ‘There’s nothing to worry about with TikTok – there’s no worry at all.’

“We know that’s not the case.”

The platform, whose users are mainly teenagers and young adults, is among Australia’s most downloaded apps.

But many politicians and security analysts in Australia and abroad have become increasingly wary of it, concerned that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over user data, or use it for propaganda and to sow division.

TikTok said it will not transfer data to China and that it is trying to remove misinformation from its platform.

The US legislation to tackle TikTok has received significant support among US politicians and was overwhelmingly passed by the lower house of Congress.

TikTok has urged US users to contact their local politicians to show their disapproval via an in-app notification.

If the bill also passes the U.S. Senate, President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the legislation into law, creating a legal challenge to the legislation on the grounds that it infringes on the First Nations’ right to freedom of expression Amendment.

Chinese government officials have also expressed opposition to US pressure to force the sale of TikTok, telling ByteDance they would prefer to see a ban enforced.

An outcome in which ByteDance refuses to divest the $160 billion app, forcing the ban and reducing its value, would be “revealing,” Senator Paterson said.

“That would be a very irrational choice, but it will be quite an illustrative choice, because I suspect that ByteDance would operate as an extension of the Chinese government, and not as a commercial entity.”

The senator also called on the government to introduce new transparency requirements on TikTok and other platforms such as Chinese social media site WeChat, as recommended by a Senate committee investigating the risk of foreign interference through social media.

“They need to be transparent about the relationship they have with foreign governments and the directions they receive from foreign governments to interfere with the content on a platform,” he said.

“These recommendations are there for the government to implement at any time… I really hope they do.”

But asked whether the issue should be raised when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Canberra next week, Senator Paterson said it was “not a high priority issue”.

“The Foreign Minister (Penny Wong) and the Prime Minister have a long list of issues to raise with (Mr Wang), especially the death sentence facing Australian citizen Yang Hengjun.”

Hamas is no longer demanding that Israel immediately agree to a permanent ceasefire in return for initiating a hostage and prisoner exchange, people familiar with the negotiations said.

Hamas’ new proposal would allow the release of hostages in return for a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and the release of prisoners. By adjusting demands for an outright end to hostilities, the new proposal could potentially restart negotiations.

The White House welcomed Hamas’s new proposal and confirmed that talks would resume soon in Doha, Qatar, albeit without a US delegation present. “We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in the right direction, but that doesn’t mean it’s done and we’ll have to see it through to the end,” said John F. Kirby, a national security communications adviser. for the White House.

The United States is putting pressure on Hamas to resume talks and relax its demands. Several negotiating parties have offered Gaza more promises of humanitarian aid and made vague threats to close Hamas’s political office in Doha.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel publicly denounced the new proposal, other Israeli officials have reacted more positively, with Hamas refusing to offer terms for a hostage situation last week.

Negotiators, including senior Israeli intelligence officials, could arrive in Doha as early as Sunday, according to an official in the region.

Although he said he did not want to negotiate from the White House podium, Mr. Kirby suggested that Hamas’s proposal fit within the framework agreed to by Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States in Paris last month.

“I would say that the proposal that has been put forward is certainly within the confines of – broadly speaking – within the confines of the deal that we have been working on for several months,” he said. “But the devil is in the details.”

Another US official and the official in the region said that while rifts between the warring sides need to be closed, the new proposal was the first positive step in a long time, and that it was significant that Hamas would no longer have a permanent ceasefire fire demanded.

The first phase of a deal, under Hamas’s proposal, would see Israeli forces withdraw toward central Gaza, allowing some civilians to return to their homes, an Israeli official briefed on the proposal said.

Under the Hamas proposal, Israel would have to agree to the release of more Palestinians from prison than the US-backed proposal had offered.

The first hostage exchange would involve the remaining five female hostages, in addition to 35 men who are old, sick or injured. Hamas demands the release of 350 Palestinian prisoners for the men. It wants fifty prisoners for each of the women, including thirty sentenced to life in prison. The earlier American-backed proposal stated that 15 prisoners convicted of serious terrorist acts would be released before the female prisoners.

The first phase would last several weeks. During the second phase, male prisoners would be released in exchange for a further cessation of hostilities. In the final phase, Hamas would return the bodies of dead hostages and Israel would relax the blockade of Gaza, according to Hamas’s proposal.

Israel has resisted any agreement to end its military campaign. US officials have pushed for exchanges in return for a temporary halt to fighting, saying it is the only formula that can work.

Details of the Hamas proposal were Al Jazeera reported this earlier.

The various sides had been discussing for weeks a broader three-phase approach to the release of all hostages held by Hamas and its allies, including the bodies of deceased hostages. Israel and the United States wanted to focus negotiations on the first phase, which would involve the release of certain hostages of a number of Palestinian prisoners. But as part of these targeted talks, Hamas had insisted that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire after all three phases, which became a major point of contention as Israel refuses to join it.

Edward Wong contributed reporting from Washington.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday rejected the latest ceasefire deal proposed by Hamas, calling its demands “ridiculous” and saying Israel would move forward with plans for a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of the enclave’s population lives there. is taking shelter.

Still, Mr. Netanyahu signaled he was open to more talks. He announced that he is sending an Israeli delegation back to Qatar, where mediation efforts are taking place.

The prime minister’s response came a day after Hamas made a counter-offer to Israel aimed at securing a ceasefire and a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners. In a statement, Hamas said it had presented to mediators in Qatar a “comprehensive vision” for a ceasefire in the five-month war, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and cost at least 30,000 lives there. It gave no details about its new proposal.

Within hours, Netanyahu’s office said that “Hamas continues to adhere to unrealistic demands.” Then, on Friday, Mr. Netanyahu released a second statement saying, “As for the hostages, Hamas’s demands are still ridiculous,” without elaborating.

Armistice talks have been stalled for weeks, despite efforts by officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar to reach an agreement. Hamas has pushed for a full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire before any hostage-for-prisoner exchanges could take place. Israel has rejected these conditions.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken confirmed during a visit to Vienna that Hamas had made a counterproposal, but said he could not reveal the details.

The United States is working “intensively” with Israel, Qatar and Egypt “to bridge remaining gaps,” he said. Israel’s decision to send a negotiating team to Qatar “reflects the sense of possibility – and urgency – to reach an agreement.”

A week-long ceasefire was successfully negotiated in late November, when Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in fighting and an exchange of more than 100 hostages and 240 captured Palestinians. Diplomats tried to extend the ceasefire, but it collapsed and fighting resumed in early December.

Mr Netanyahu is under increasing international pressure to end the war and limit civilian deaths. President Biden has become more forceful in recent days in his call for Israel to alleviate the plight of civilians in Gaza, who face severe hunger and continue to die in Israeli airstrikes.

The US president has urged Netanyahu not to go ahead with his plans to launch a major ground offensive in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been confined to temporary shelters.

But Netanyahu has vowed to reject international pressure to abandon a ground operation in Rafah, which Israel says is one of Hamas’s last major strongholds. On Friday, Mr. Netanyahu said he had approved plans for a military operation in Rafah and that Israeli forces were also preparing “for the evacuation of the population.”

Michael Crowley reporting contributed.

MILLIONAIRE Barrie Drewitt-Barlow has been criticized for his behavior on reality series Below Deck: Sailing Yacht.

The British businessman appeared in season 2 of the show, which first aired in 2021 but has just been added to Netflix, with his ex-husband Tony, their respective partners and five of their children.

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Barrie and Tony came into the spotlight in 1999 after becoming the first gay couple to have children through a surrogate mother.

The couple made their money through a transatlantic surrogacy business and a global medical research company.

They split in 2019, but still live together and have remained good friends.

The family made a splash as soon as they arrived on the sailing yacht, as 10-year-old twins Dallas and Jasper arrived on the boat wearing an ornately patterned three-piece. to take.

They had many demands on the staff, including refusing to be served buffet meals and requesting to be served only by leggy heartthrob JL.

Barrie shared on Instagram an offensive message that a troll sent to him after seeing him on the show.

The troll said, ‘I saw you below deck.

“You are the biggest f*ing ahole people I’ve ever seen.

“Asking the impossible, difficult, insulting”.

“You deserve to be treated like shit for the rest of your life.

“You and your family can fuck yourselves.”

In response to this post, Barrie replied, “They see you on a reality show and think you’re literally easy goal LOL.

“I mean, come on, is it outrageous to ask for your meal to be brought out at the same time?

“And don’t forget, it’s a reality show, with thirty cast members all fighting for airtime, you mug!

‘Like flowers don’t get anything.

“Wake up! @natashadebourg [the Below Deck chef] and I’m actually very, very good friends”.

During the episode, staff on the boat struggled to meet the family’s demands, with Barrie complaining about portion sizes and only drinking from crystal glasses that had to be hand washed.

“This is a fucking nightmare,” said Chef Daisy.

Barrie moaned to the wait staff, who were taken aback, that the family had been served at slightly different times.

“We can’t eat like this,” he complained.

Chef Natasha appeared to be furious at Barrie’s demands.

“I’m a chef, I’m not a clown, I don’t do magic,” she said.

Although Barrie was not impressed with the service on the boat, his trip still ended on a high note.

On the last night of the trip (which was also Tony’s birthday), Barrie proposed to his boyfriend Scott.

The family seemed overjoyed by the proposal, even Barrie’s daughter Saffron, Scott’s ex-girlfriend.

Fabulous pays for your exclusive stories. Just email fabulousdigital@the-sun.co.uk and put EXCLUSIVE in the subject line.

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IT was an anonymous email sent and designed for maximum impact.

It landed in my inbox almost 24 hours a minute since Christian Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing following Red Bull’s internal investigation.

Other names included Liberty Media chief Greg Maffei, who owns the rights to F1. The FIA ​​president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Dominacali.

For good measure, the F1 team bosses were also included. Just like Max Verstappen’s father, Jos.

It was from an anonymous sender, the title was simply the date: ‘Feb Twenty Nine’.

Inside was a Google Drive link with 79 files claiming to be evidence of the independent investigation.

There’s no way of knowing if they were real or fake, but either way it sent shockwaves through the F1 paddock before this season had even started.

Horner was sitting on the team’s pit wall during the second practice session in Bahrain when the email dropped.

After the session, he walked out of the team garage and went to the catering unit where he was staying when the nuclear fallout began.

He had survived the outcome of the internal investigation into improper conduct following a complaint from a female colleague.

One wonders if he will survive this time after this very public humiliation – again, regardless of whether they were indeed real or fake.

Just hours earlier, McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had appealed to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, demanding transparency.

“I just read the statement, which was quite simple,” Wolff said. “My personal opinion is that we can’t really see behind the curtain.

“There’s a lady in an organization who spoke to HR and said there was an issue and it was looked into and yesterday the sport got the message that it’s all fine, we’ve looked into it.

“I believe that as we strive to be a global sport, on such crucial topics, there needs to be more transparency and I wonder what the position of the sport is?

“We are competitors, we are a team and we can have our own personal opinion or not. But it is more of a general reaction or action that we have to judge as a sport, what is right in that situation and what is wrong.” .

“Are we talking with the right moral approach, with the values ​​based on the speculation that is out there? As a sport, we cannot afford to leave things vague and opaque on critical topics like this because it will take us by surprise. ” “

Brown added: “It is ultimately the responsibility of the organizers of Formula 1, the owners of Formula 1, to ensure that all racing teams and staff, drivers and everyone else involved in the sport operate in a way which we all live by.

“I don’t think it’s the roles and responsibilities of the teams. That’s for the FIA ​​and Formula 1 to ultimately decide and ask for what they think will give them the level of transparency they need to ultimately reach their conclusion and we just have to count on them to fulfill that obligation to all of us.”

The emailed dossier will only increase that pressure in the form of scrutiny of Horner – who has always denied the allegations.

It also puts Red Bull in a difficult position.

Should the emailed file be legitimate and contain elements of the original report, which was thoroughly investigated and presented by the independent QC, then this is certainly nothing new to them and their decision to remain with their team leader remains.

If they were to make an about-face now, now that they’ve gone public, there could potentially be criticism that they planned to keep their report private to save face.

Whatever the outcome, it’s a mess for the world champions.
Reports of a wedge between Horner and Verstappen’s father have increased in recent weeks.

So it was interesting that Jos Verstappen was in the paddock wearing a team jacket and seemed unmoved by the chaos happening around him.

Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar has called for Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute Of India (SII), to be awarded the 'Bharat Ratna' for his outstanding contributions to vaccine production in India.

New Delhi: Senior leader Sharad Pawar on Wednesday demanded that Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of Serum Institute Of India (SII) be honored with the 'Bharat Ratna' for his outstanding work in vaccine manufacturing in India.

While Pawar addressed the audience at an awards function in Pune, Maharashtra pointed out Cyrus Poonawalla who was also present at the function. He highlighted how the Serum Institute's vaccine has proven its effectiveness for many diseases, including COVID-19, and how significant their contribution is.

Sharad Pawar's demand to the government

He stated: “Every time five children are born in the world, three of them receive a vaccine serum. During the Corona crisis, SII provided vaccines to the whole world, especially in African countries where the need for the vaccine was great. The vaccine was delivered on a large scale, and for this, Cyrus Poonawala and his team took the responsibility of serving the people.”

“His work on vaccines is significant. Firstly, we felt bad when the Government of India gave him Padma Shri, but later he got Padma Bhushan. Today the new generation of the world is working in the field of vaccines. Considering his contribution, the government should not restrict him to Padma Bhushan but should be given Bharat Ratna,” Pawar added.

Sharad Pawar further asserted, “I expect the central government to take this demand seriously considering the work Poonawala has done for the world, the country and humanity.”

About Cyrus Ponnawalla

Cyrus Poonawalla is prominent in the pharmaceutical sector and is a leading personality in vaccine manufacturing and distribution. Poonawalla is the founder of SII, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume. As such, he has been instrumental in providing many countries, especially those with few resources, with high-quality vaccines at reasonable prices, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SII, led by Poonawalla, played a crucial role in the development of numerous vaccines, including vaccines against diseases such as influenza, measles, polio and rubella. Furthermore, SII became a key player in the global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by manufacturing and supplying millions of doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as Covishield, in India.

Ryanair has once again accused online travel agency 'pirates' of overcharging customers and using 'fake fares'.

The budget airline has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with online travel agencies (OTAs), who not only complain that they overcharge customers for Ryanair flights, but that they sell their flights without permission.

In its latest post, Ryanair has claimed that On The Beach is 'the number one pirate, overcharging customers by as much as 117 per cent (£125) for flight change fees that cost just £45 on Ryanair.com'.

Opodo was also highlighted in the report for 'charging 60 euros' [£51] service charge' for what was described as 'a non-existent service'. While eSky will charge a cancellation fee of 33 euros (£28) 'for flights that cannot be cancelled', the budget airline added.

In its research, Ryanair reiterated calls for the UK and Irish governments and EU consumer agencies to 'take action to stop OTA piracy and consumer fraud' as part of its campaign to 'protect holidaymakers from overcharging and mis-selling'.

Ryanair's Dara Brady said: 'Our February investigation continues to expose OTA Pirates' scams and overcharging, with On The Beach highlighted as February's number 1 pirate for the blatant overcharging of £125 from £125 for a £45 flight change fee at Ryanair. .com.

'While Opodo charges a “service fee” of 60 euros for a non-existent service and eSky charges a “cancellation fee” of 33 euros for flights that cannot be canceled.

“These are just the latest examples of hundreds of cases where OTA pirates are unlawfully abusing Ryanair.com to overcharge, mislead and defraud unsuspecting consumers for Ryanair products and services.

'It is unacceptable that the UK and Irish governments and EU consumer groups continue to ignore this rampant digital piracy and anti-consumer mis-selling.

“Ryanair will continue to campaign against these OTA pirates, exposing their digital piracy and excessive scams, and will continue to call for these OTA pirates to be banned and their scams to end.”

Ryanair isn't the only one issuing warnings about OTA fees. Last year, travelers were warned by Which? to take apparently 'bargain' airfares offered by some OTAs 'with a grain of salt', with research from the Consumer Champion showing their deals can be more than £100 more expensive than booking directly with airlines due to 'eye-watering' charges for extras such as luggage and seat selection.

Meanwhile, Ryanair warned in January of the consequences of a series of OTAs' move to remove the Irish airline from their websites.

The airline said that since early December, many of the larger sites such as Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak have taken Ryanair off their sites.

It said the sudden removal of what the OTA said were 'pirates' was 'welcome', but added that this would impact so-called 'load facto' – a key measure of how well airlines fill their planes – with one to two percent per year. cents in December and January.

The Irish airline doesn't hate all OTAs, though – it recently signed a deal with loveholidays to offer its flights as part of package holidays.

Responding to Ryanair's latest analysis, an Opodo spokesperson said: 'The accusation of 'fabricated fees' is completely unfounded. In reality, travelers pay less for their holidays with us. Ryanair opposes this simply because we give travelers access to the competition.

'This baseless claim is hypocritical of Ryanair as they are notorious as the King of Charges, imposing up to 28 different service charges on consumers and charging for everything imaginable. We compare and combine flights from 700 airlines to give travelers cheaper and more convenient routes than Ryanair's limited options.”

Deniz Rymkiewicz, spokesperson for eSky Group, said: 'Once again Ryanair, which is in conflict with OTAs, is trying to portray OTAs as the 'bad guys' of the industry. We believe that the report released on February 9 should not be treated as such due to fundamental inaccuracies in the methodology.

'Firstly, comparing baggage prices without providing broader context is misleading. It is standard practice for airlines, including Ryanair, to dynamically adjust both flight and baggage prices based on various factors such as destination and booking time.

'Regarding the cancellation charges, I would like to point out that these have been taken out of context and apply to every airline, not just Ryanair. This fee covers services provided in processing flight cancellations, including communication with the airline to verify cancellation policies and possible refund options.

'Ryanair flights are non-refundable, so this charge applies to airlines that allow cancellation with a partial or full refund, depending on their policy.'

A spokesperson for On The Beach said Ryanair 'compares changes on flight-only bookings with ATOL-protected package holidays', which is 'akin to comparing a single apple with a whole basket of fruit'.

They added: 'Our holidays include flights, accommodation, transfers and any activities or excursions, plus flexible payment plans to best suit our customers' needs – something that can't be offered if you book flights alone.

'The flight is only part of a holiday and comparing changes to a package holiday and all its components is simply not a fair comparison.'

Ahead of the farmers' march in Delhi Chalo on December 13, the General Secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee has unveiled the route and complete plan of the protest along with the farmers' demands.

New Delhi: Several farmers' associations are preparing for a large-scale protest on February 13, 2024, because they have a Farmers Delhi Chalo March from Haryana to New Delhi to strongly push their demands before the central government. The farmers' demands include the introduction of a law guaranteeing safety minimum support price (MSP) for the crops. The Haryana and Delhi governments have also prepared to tackle the protests including deployment of external security forces, sealing of borders, internet and bulk SMS bans and imposition of Section 144. Ahead of the farmers' protest 2024, Sarvan Singh Pandherthe Secretary General of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee has extensively revealed the plan and route of the Farmers' March and also mentioned their demands…