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Social Media

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  1. Australia will remove Chinese-made surveillance cameras from defence sites over national security fears.

    It comes after an audit found 900 pieces of surveillance equipment built by companies Hikvision and Dahua on government estates.

    The UK and US made similar moves last year, citing fears the device data may be accessed by the Chinese government.

    Hikvision says those fears are unfounded. Dahua has not responded to a request for comment.

    The audit of Australian government sites found the cameras and security gear were located on more than 200 buildings, in almost every department - including the foreign affairs and attorney general's departments.

    At least one unit was also found in the defence department, but the total number at defence sites is unknown.

     

    Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on Thursday said the government would find and remove the cameras from any defence locations to make them "completely secure".

  2. Netflix is introducing limits on password sharing in four more countries: Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.

    Customers in those countries are being asked to pay an extra fee if they want friends and family who don't live with them to share their subscription.

    The move follows a crackdown on password sharing in South America.

    The media giant estimates 100 million people around the world use shared accounts.

    The hit to revenues from the shared accounts was affecting Netflix's ability to invest in new programming content, the firm said. It has said it is planning to extend the new approach to more countries in coming months.

    "Over the last year, we've been exploring different approaches to address this issue in Latin America, and we're now ready to roll them out more broadly in the coming months, starting today in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain," it said in a blog post on Wednesday.

  3. Disney chief executive Bob Iger says he is cutting 7,000 jobs in a major shake-up of the entertainment giant.

    The layoffs are part of a plan to save $5.5bn and make its Disney+ streaming service profitable, which reported its first fall in subscribers since it launched the service in 2019.

    Mr Iger said he did "not make this decision lightly".

    He announced the changes alongside ts latest sales figures, his first since he returned to Disney in November.

    Commenting on the job cuts, Mr Iger said: "I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide, and I'm mindful of the personal impact of these changes."

    He said the changes would "better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges".

  4. North Korea has shown its largest display ever of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), a number analysts say could potentially challenge the US' defence system.

    About a dozen long-range ICBMs were shown at Wednesday's military parade.

    Leader Kim Jong-un was seen at the midnight parade with his young daughter elevated to his side.

    Kim Ju-ae's appearance has fuelled speculation she's being positioned as the successor.

    The number of long-range missiles shown in the parade has prompted concern. Analysts say such a number of the missiles - which can in theory hit as far as the US mainland - could potentially overwhelm US nuclear defences if each missile carried multiple war heads.

  5. For the first time in history, Australia has blocked the creation of a coal mine under environmental laws.

    The government on Thursday rejected a proposal for a new mine about 10km (6.2 miles) from the Great Barrier Reef.

    Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the project posed an unacceptable risk to the World Heritage area, which is already highly vulnerable.

    The mine's owner, the controversial Australian billionaire Clive Palmer, has not yet responded to the rejection.

    His firm, Central Queensland Coal, had proposed to build an open-cut mine about 700km north-west of Brisbane, that would produce both thermal and coking coal and operate for about 20 years.

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  6. The soil of Bakhmut is dusted with snow and soaked with blood. This small city in Eastern Ukraine is at the centre of an epic battle.

    For more than six months Russian forces have tried to claim it. Ukrainian troops have resisted, giving rise to the popular slogan here "Bakhmut holds."

    Now the Russians are attacking from three sides, with regular troops and fighters from the notorious Wagner mercenary group. The Russians have reached one of the main highways into the city, and are closing in on the outskirts.

  7. Four pioneers behind the electricity-generating silicon solar cell have won this year's Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

    Martin Green, Andrew Blakers, Jianhua Zhao and Aihua Wang developed so-called Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell, or Perc, technology.

    This transformed the efficiency of solar panels and is now built into 90% of all installations worldwide.

    The team is to be honoured at a special ceremony later in the year.

    The quartet will share a £500,000 award and a trophy, to be presented by the Princess Royal.

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  8. Trade between the US and China hit a record high last year even as their diplomatic relations deteriorated.

    Imports and exports between the two countries totalled $690.6bn (£572.6bn) in 2022, official figures show.

    Relations between the countries have hit new lows in recent days after a Chinese balloon travelled across the US. Beijing denies US claims it was used for spying.

    The world's two biggest economies have also been in a trade war since 2018.

    The new figures show that US imports from China increased to $536.8bn last year as American shoppers spent more on Chinese-made goods, including toys and mobile phones. In the same period, US exports to China increased to $153.8bn.

    While some of the increase in trade between the two countries is a result of the rising cost of living, the figures also point to how reliant the US and China still are on each other even after years of trade conflict between them.

  9. Aid is being stepped up in southern Turkey and northern Syria, after a huge earthquake devastated the region, leaving more than 7,000 people dead.

    The 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Gaziantep, Turkey in the early hours of Monday, reducing blocks of flats to rubble at a time when most were asleep.

    It is a region where there has not been a major earthquake for more than 200 years, or any warning signs.

    National governments of many countries including the UK, the US, China and Russia are providing aid, including search and rescue experts.

    And many charities are also launching appeals and sending teams to the area.

    The British Red Cross was one of the first major UK charities to launch its appeal.

  10. David Bowie's handwritten lyrics for his track The Jean Genie have been sold for £57,000 at auction.

    The singer, who died in 2016, gave the sheet to the founder of the inaugural David Bowie Fan Club in the 1970s.

    The song, taken from the Aladdin Sane album, was released as a single in 1972 and reached number 2 in the UK charts.

    Omega Auctions' Dan Hampson said the owner had decided to part with them after seeing Bowie's lyrics for his hit Starman sell for £203,500 in 2022.

    The lyric sheet for The Jean Genie comprised of 18 lines on a piece of A4 lined paper, which was titled, signed and dated by Bowie.

    The rock star originally gave it to American fan Neal Peters after he founded the New York-based fan club in 1973.

  11. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be questioned as part of a US defamation case brought by Meghan's half-sister.

    Samantha Markle is suing Meghan for "defamation and injurious falsehoods" following the couple's interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

    She alleges she was defamed when Meghan "falsely and maliciously" said she was "an only child".

    A motion brought by Meghan to stop depositions in the civil case from taking place was dismissed by a judge.

    A deposition is a formal statement of evidence in the US, required to be taken of a witness or party to litigation by a court.

     

  12. CNN — 

    US intelligence officials believe that the recently recovered Chinese spy balloon is part of an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, according to multiple American officials familiar with the intelligence.

    The surveillance program, which includes a number of similar balloons, is in part run out of the small Chinese province of Hainan, officials tell CNN. The US does not know the precise size of the fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons, but sources tell CNN that the program has conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years.

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