12/09/2025

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Trump ally shot dead

Sex abuse probe sifts over a million files SYDNEY: Australian police said yesterday they were combing through over a million files held by an alleged child sex offender, who media identified as having worked with minors. The Sydney man, who cannot be named due to court orders, was charged in July as part of an investigation into online child abuse material. National broadcaster ABC said he was a childcare worker and that he had been charged with making child abuse material. Australian Federal Police revealed yesterday the scope of material they were combing through on devices seized during a search of the man’s home. “Investigators have identified about 1.4 million electronic files on these devices. Of this, about 550,000 were unique images,” Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Luke Needham said in a statement. “The number of files does not provide any indication of the scale of the alleged offences,”he said. “Rather, this indicates the volume of work required by investigators. The team continues to methodically review the electronic material.” The Sydney Morning Herald said it was not clear how many of the files were allegedly created by the man using children he had access to through his work, nor how many were allegedly downloaded or shared. The man had worked at daycare centres around Sydney for over a decade, the newspaper said. A series of high-profile abuse cases have in recent months drawn the spotlight onto Australia’s childcare sector. This year, Victoria’s Health Department recommended sexually transmitted disease tests for 1,200 children as part of an investigation into alleged sexual assaults by a childcare worker. The New South Wales government also introduced landmark legislation to parliament on Wednesday to increase regulatory powers over the sector. – AFP Croc wrestling influencer faces fine SYDNEY: Australian authorities are investigating an American influencer who filmed himself wrestling wild crocodiles in Queensland, condemning the “extremely dangerous and illegal” activity. In videos on his Instagram, bare-chested Mike Holston, who goes by “therealtarzann” online, tussles with saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. In one post, he dives into the water, emerging holding the crocodile by its throat with blood streaming from his elbow. “He got a hold of me, but I got a hold of him,” Holston says. In another, Holston jumps off a boat and into a bushy waterway in pursuit of a crocodile, which he then wrestles. Holston has said the videos, which have amassed millions of views, were for “educational purposes”. But the videos prompted outrage in Australia, where the maximum penalty for interfering with a saltwater crocodile is A$37,500 (RM104,954). The state of Queensland said it was “actively investigating” the two videos. “These actions are extremely dangerous and illegal, and we are actively exploring strong compliance action, including fines to deter any person from this type of behaviour,” its environment department said. “People should not attempt to capture crocodiles in Queensland, unless they are trained and licensed to do so.” The state’s Premier David Crisafulli also called the influencer a “goose”. Holston did not respond to requests for comment. – AFP

o Manhunt on for suspect

On Capitol Hill in Washington, an attempt to observe a moment of silence for Kirk on the floor of the House of Representatives degenerated into shouting and finger pointing. Kirk’s appearance on Wednesday was the first in a planned 15-event “American Comeback Tour” at universities around the country. Seconds before he was shot, the married father of two young children was being questioned by an audience member about gun violence, according to videos of the event posted online. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?” Kirk was asked. He responded, “Counting or not counting gang violence?” He was shot moments later. Kirk and the group he co-founded, Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organisation in the country, played a key role in driving young voter support for Trump in November. – Reuters

The his administration would track down the suspect. “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence,” Trump said. Video clips of the killing posted online showed Kirk addressing a large crowd on the campus, about 64km south of Salt Lake City, when a gunshot rang out. Kirk moved his hand towards his neck as he fell off his chair, sending onlookers running. Trump ordered all government US flags flown at half-staff until Sunday in Kirk’s honour. There was no clear evidence of motive for the act of violence. Trump decried violent political rhetoric. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said. “This kind of rhetoric is responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” president vowed that

WASHINGTON: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at a Utah university, sparking a manhunt for a sniper. Authorities said they still had no suspect in custody as of Wednesday night, some eight hours after the midday shooting at Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah, during an event attended by 3,000 people. The lone perpetrator suspected of firing the single gunshot that killed Kirk, 31, apparently from a distant rooftop on campus, remained “at large”, said Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety. State police issued a statement on Wednesday night saying that two men had been detained and one was interrogated by law enforcement, but both were later released.

Kirk throwing caps to the crowd shortly before he was shot on Wednesday. – REUTERSPIC

French lawmakers urge ‘digital curfew’ for teens PARIS: Children under 15 in France should be banned from using social media, and those aged between 15 and 18 should face a nighttime “digital curfew”, a French parliamentary committee urged yesterday. The recommendations were put forward in a report by the committee’s lawmakers after months of testimony from families, social media executives and influencers. them towards suicide. Its lead report writer, Laure Miller, said the addictive design of TikTok and its algorithm “has been copied by other social media”. TikTok said the safety of young users of its app is its “top priority”. Geraldine, the mother of an 18-year-old woman who committed suicide, said after her daughter’s death last year, she had discovered videos of self-harm her daughter had published and looked at on TikTok. that the app used AI-enhanced moderation that last year caught 98% of content infringing its terms of service in France. But for the lawmakers, those efforts were deemed insufficient, and TikTok’s rules were “very easy to circumvent”. It also found that harmful content continued to proliferate on the app, and TikTok’s algorithm was effective in drawing young users into loops.

President Emmanuel Macron’s office has already indicated it wants to see a ban for children and young adolescents, after Australia last year started drafting its own landmark law with a prohibition for those under 16. The committee had been set up in March to examine TikTok and its psychological effects on minors after a lawsuit last year against the platform by seven families accusing it of exposing their children to content pushing

The committee’s report suggested that the ban on children under 15 using social media could be broadened to everyone under 18 if, within the next three years, the platforms did not respect European laws. Its recommendation for a “digital curfew” for users aged 15 to 18 was for social media to be made unavailable to them between the hours of 10pm and 8am. – AFP

“TikTok didn’t kill our little girl, because she wasn’t well in any case,”said Geraldine, 52, who declined to be identified by her last name. But she accused TikTok of falling short in its online moderation and plunging her daughter deeper into her dark impulses. Executives for TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, told the parliamentary committee