The Australian Senate is debating a ban on children younger than 16 from social media after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported the age restriction.

An Australian Cabinet minister has rejected X Corp. owner Elon Musk’s allegation that the government intends to control all Australians' access to the internet through legislation that would ban young children from social media.

Legislation for the world's first legal ban on children under 16 using social media has been introduced in Australia's Parliament.

Australian senators have voted to censure an Indigenous colleague who yelled at King Charles III during a reception in Parliament House last month.

Ghana’s Supreme Court has ruled that the parliamentary speaker's declaration of four seats as vacant was unconstitutional, effectively restoring the ruling party’s majority in the legislature ahead of the Dec. 7 election.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro says he doesn't expect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s next administration will demand the Philippines pay more for military protection because both allies face the shared threat of China.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have breached security at Australia’s Parliament House to unfurl banners from the roof as a senator quit the government over its direction on the Gaza war.

Australia plans to outlaw the sale of vapes outside pharmacies from next week under some of the world’s toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes.

A bill which criminalizes LGBTQ+ people in Ghana and their supporters has drawn international condemnation after it was passed by parliament, with the United Nations calling it “profoundly disturbing” and urging for it not to become law.

Ghana’s parliament has passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that could send people to prison for more than a decade.

Dozens of opposition lawmakers suspended from Parliament by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for obstructing proceedings have held a protest accusing the government of throttling democracy in the country.

Survivors of the harmful morning sickness drug thalidomide were in the public gallery when Australia’s Parliament made a national apology for what was described as one of the darkest chapters in Australia’s medical history.

Australia's immigration minister says three murderers are among 81 foreigners recently released after the High Court ruled their indefinite detention in migrant centers was unconstitutional.

Australia's immigration minister says 80 people including convicted criminals who are considered dangerous have been released from Australian migrant detention centers since the High Court ruled last week that their indefinite detention wis unconstitutional.

Indian lawmakers have approved a data protection legislation that “seeks to better regulate big tech firms and penalize companies for data breaches” as several groups expressed concern over citizens’ privacy rights.

A suspected Russian diplomat is apparently squatting on the site of Moscow's proposed new embassy in Canberra that the Australian government has vetoed.

Russia accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for canceling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy.

Australia’s Parliament has passed legislation to prevent Russia from building its embassy near Parliament House on security grounds.

The Australian government has forecast the nation’s first balanced annual budget in 15 years but warns that economic pressures such as persistent inflation will sink the country into deeper debt.

A government-commissioned report says Australia needs to spend more on defense and develop the ability to strike longer-range targets as China’s military buildup challenges regional security.

Australia’s main opposition party has decided to oppose the government’s model for constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in a development that appears to doom the prospects of a successful referendum this year.

Fifteen years after the Australian Parliament’s historic apology to its Indigenous people for past wrongs, the government is announcing roughly $300 million in new funding to improve the lives of Australia’s original inhabitants.

An Australian national day of mourning for the late Queen Elizabeth II has centered on Parliament House.

Australia’s Parliament has sat for the first time since May elections with the new prime minister determined to have a greenhouse gas reduction target enshrined in law.

Australia’s new government has formally committed to a more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target of 43% by the end of the decade in fulfillment of a key election pledge.

Australian and Lithuanian foreign ministers have called on like-minded countries to join forces against Chinese economic coercion.

Australian political leaders have apologized to staffers who have endured decades of bullying, harassment and sexual assault inside Parliamentary House and other government offices.

Pinnacle Communities plans a 300-unit complex at the former night club and resort site.

A developer wants to build apartments on the land that once housed the iconic Parliament House along North Orange Blossom Trail.

The Australian government expects 200,000 vaccinated foreign students and skilled workers will soon return without quarantining when the country further relaxes pandemic restrictions next week.

An Australian government minister says a review of defamation laws will likely examine whether platforms such as Facebook should be liable for users’ defamatory posts.

A new location of the Iconic Orlando gay bar Parliament House will open in downtown Orlando in the near future, according to a social media post from the nightclub.

New Zealand will consolidate its fragmented health care system into a national service similar to the one revered by many in Britain.

The Australian government decided against buying the single-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and identified a second case of a rare blood clot likely linked to the AstraZeneca shot.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacts while speaking during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. Morrison said he was shocked and disgusted by the latest sex scandal to rock his government and vowed to do more to attract women into politics. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)CANBERRA – Australia’s prime minister said on Tuesday he was shocked and disgusted by the latest sex scandal to rock his government and vowed to do more to attract women into politics. “I was completely stunned, as I have been on more than one occasion over the course of this last month,” Morrison added. “I want to see more women in this place,” Morrison said, referring to Parliament House.

Morrison said Australian government is ramping up its COVID-19 vaccination support for Papua New Guinea in a bid to contain a concerning wave of infections in a near-neighbor. Marape warned this week that one in three or four people in Papua New Guinea could soon be infected. Morrison said Australia had asked the United States, Japan and India to consider what they could do as Quad partners to support Papua New Guinea. Several recent COVID-19 cases detected in the Australian state closest to Papua New Guinea, Queensland, originated across the border. AdThe first Australian-manufactured AstraZeneca is expected to roll out from next week, with 50 million doses to be produced in Australia in a year.

FILE - In this Aug. 8, 2017, file photo, Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann addresses reporters at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, said Monday it has appointed Australian former Finance Minister Mathias Cormann as its head - despite objections over his climate record. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk, File)PARIS – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Monday that it has appointed a former Australian finance minister, Mathias Cormann, as its head. The appointment of Cormann as the OECD's new secretary general comes despite objections over his climate record. He became Australia’s longest-serving finance minister, a job he held from 2013 to 2020.

Thousands of people with placards and banners rally demanding justice for women in Sydney, Monday, March 15, 2021, as the government reels from two separate allegations. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)CANBERRA – Australians rallied in the capital and other cities Monday demanding justice for women and calling out misogyny and dangerous workplace cultures as the government reels from two rape allegations. Outside Parliament House in Canberra, the crowd of hundreds was mostly female and most wore black. They carried placards with slogans including “Justice for Women” and “Men, Own Your Guilt.”Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused organizers’ demand that he address the crowd, and organizers said they wouldn’t meet him behind closed doors. Reynolds has since apologized for describing Higgins to her staff as a “lying cow” and said she was referring to Higgins' allegation of inadequate support, not the rape allegation.

Ad“I think that resigning is the only thing I can personally do to say that I don’t think anyone else should go through what I went through,” Higgins told Network Ten. Morrison said Reynolds should not have questioned Higgins about her accusation in the same office where Higgins alleged the rape took place. “That should not have happened, and I do apologize,” Morrison told reporters. Reynolds told the Senate she never gave Higgins a choice between her job and making a police complaint. The opposition questioned how Morrison could continue to have confidence in Reynolds since she hadn’t told him of the alleged rape.

(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)SYDNEY – Australia’s medical regulator has approved use of its first coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for inoculations to begin next month. Residents and workers at aged-care facilities, frontline healthcare workers and quarantine workers are among the groups being prioritized for the first doses. Australia has an agreement for 10 million doses of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine and an option to buy more if supplies allow. Under a three-way agreement, it plans to buy 30 million doses from the Serum Institute of India in phases. — Sri Lanka's government says it will start administering a coronavirus vaccine this week.

Google on Friday threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government went ahead with plans to make tech giants pay for news content. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)WELLINGTON – Google on Friday threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government went ahead with plans to make tech giants pay for news content. “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia,” Silva told senators. Silva told senators about 95% of searches in the nation are done through Google. Facebook also opposes the rules and has threatened to remove news stories from its site in Australia.

FILE- In this Oct. 16, 2019, file photo, Australia's Trade Minister Simon Birmingham addresses media outside the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Australia will ask the World Trade Organization to intervene in its dispute with China over barley and expects other nations to become involved in the case, Australian Trade Minister Birmingham said on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. China effectively ended imports of Australian barley in May by putting tariffs of more than 80% on the crop, accusing Australia of breaching WTO rules by subsidizing barley production and selling the grain in China at below production costs. Birmingham said Australia would formally ask the WTO to intervene on Wednesday. China is the Australian barley growers’ largest market.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern moves a motion in the Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, to declare a climate emergency, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Joining more than 30 other countries around the world, New Zealand took the symbolic step of declaring a climate emergency. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)WELLINGTON – Joining more than 30 countries, New Zealand on Wednesday took the symbolic step of declaring a climate emergency. The declaration states that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and promises a commitment to minimize global warming. It says climate change will have a devastating impact on New Zealand through flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise and water availability.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The recently shuttered Parliament House bar and resort are slated to be demolished, permit applications filled by the property owners with the city of Orlando show. The Iconic Orlando gay bar closed Monday after operating at its 410 N. Orange Blossom Trail location for 45 years. Club owners said they tried to secure financing to renovate the existing property but was unable to make a deal with the property owners. The property on OBT is valued at $2.6 million, according to Orange County Property Appraiser records. Parliament House owners say they are working to find a new home for the gay club and will reopen.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Three people have been charged in connection with the death of a 21-year-old man found inside a burning vehicle in DeLand earlier this year, the Volusia County sheriff and state attorney announced. Three suspects have been charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm: Zachariah U. Sanders, 23, Fredryonna C. Grimes,18, and 17-year-old Cameron L. Lane. The 21-year-old was found dead inside a burning vehicle in the 900 block of Delaware Avenue. “We prayed, we cried, and we prayed some more, and we got just what we asked for from the Lord: An indictment,” Heath said. “So now all we’re waiting for is a conviction, and we know God will do that for us as well.”

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)ORLANDO, Fla. – Iconic Orlando gay bar Parliament House will close next week, but the owners say they have plans for the future. A statement from the Parliament House says they will never forget the memories made in the past 45 years. For over 45 years, The Parliament House has called Orange Blossom Trail our home. We have to announce that our home at... Posted by Parliament House Orlando on Wednesday, October 28, 2020“Our community showed up in thousands to celebrate marriage equality in the United States. And although our location may be changing, we hope you will follow us to our next destination here in Orlando.”The Parliament House said updates about future plans will be shared.

(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)MANILA – Australia and New Zealand on Friday announced a partial opening of their borders to travel between the neighboring countries. But New Zealand will continue to insist on travelers from Australia going into hotel quarantine for two weeks on arrival. Australian authorities have concluded that New Zealand posed a low risk of COVID-19 transmission to Australia, McCormack said. The South Australia state capital Adelaide would likely become the next city to allow quarantine-free travel from New Zealand, McCormack said. When New Zealand would allow quarantine-free travel from Australia was a question for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, he said.