Headlines: ADF deployed to Middle East to evacuate Australians

Today's headlines include:

The Federal Government will send defence assets to the Middle East to assist in the evacuation of Australians. 

Australia is a step closer to rolling out age verification technology on social media platforms, after new findings were released. 

Donald Trump has delayed banning TikTok in the U.S. for another three months.

And today's good news: A retiring explosive detection dog is being celebrated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) after six years of service. 

Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Lucy Tassell
Producer: Emma Gillespie

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
From The Daily Os. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Lucy Tassel.
It's Friday, the twentieth of June. Here's what's making headlines
for the CP.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
The Federal government will send defense assets to the Middle
East to assist in the evacuation of Australians. It comes
as the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to escalate.
In an update today, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Defense
Force personnel and aircraft are being deployed to the Middle
East to quote help Australians. They are not there for combat.

(00:34):
She emphasized. Around thirty eight Australians were evacuated from Israel
to Jordan on Thursday, in addition to a small group
the day before. According to Wong, the Department of Foreign
Affairs in Trade that's DEFAT, is expected to facilitate further
evacuations of Australians and their families, with twelve hundred people
in Israel and two thousand in Iran having registered for

(00:55):
assistance so far. It comes after officials directed the evacuation
of the Australia embassy in Iran based on quote advice
about the deteriorating security environment. Australia's ambassador to Iran will
stay in the region. DEFAT has confirmed.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Australia is a step closer to rolling out age verification
technology on social media platforms after the release of new findings.
The government commissioned a study to analyze the feasibility of
age verification as part of its world first under sixteen
social media ban. Preliminary findings from the Age Assurance Technology

(01:32):
trial show that age assurance can be done and QUOTE
can be private, robust and effective. The report said. Its
evaluation of age verification systems found they were QUOTE generally
secure and did not reveal any substantial technological limitations. However,
the findings note these systems cannot be considered infallible due

(01:53):
to the rapidly evolving threat environment. An ABC investigation found
recent trials of age checking technology QUOTE could only guess
people's ages within an eighteen month range in eighty five
percent of cases. It also claims children as young as
fifteen were repeatedly misidentified as being in their twenties and
thirties during government tests. The social media ban is expected

(02:15):
to come into effect this December.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
US President Donald Trump has delayed banning TikTok for another
three months byte edance. TikTok's parent company was ordered to
sell its American TikTok operations by nine January or face
a blanket ban in the US. However, the order has
been delayed by Trump on multiple occasions since he took office.
In a poster to Truth Social Today, Trump said he'd

(02:41):
just signed an executive order extending the deadline for the
TikTok closing for ninety days. The White House confirmed and
executive order signed in January would be extended until the
seventeenth of September. Mark Warner, a Democrat senator, released a
statement criticizing the extension, saying the quote Trump administration is
flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings

(03:04):
about the risks posed by a Chinese controlled TikTok. There
are around one hundred and seventy million TikTok users in
the US.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
And today's good news. A retiring explosive detection dog is
being celebrated by the Australian Federal Police after six years
of service, and Oh the Labrador will perform his final
sniff and search at Cann's airport this week. The seven
year old began his AFP career at Sydney Airport and
relocated to Queensland in twenty twenty two. And Oh has

(03:36):
conducted thousands of explosive sweeps since twenty nineteen thanks to
his superstar smell processing capacity, which is forty times stronger
than humans. Described by the AFP as a highly respected canine,
and Oh provided security at last year's Asian Summit, and
he was even entrusted with clearing cars and venues for

(03:56):
explosives during King Charles and Queen Camilla's royal visit in October.
Ando's handler, Constable Joel Preston, said the labrador will spend
his retirement enjoying quote going to the beach and swimming
and hiking through rainforests in cans. Enjoy that retirement. And Oh.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's the latest from the Dahios newsroom. If you're looking
for something else to listen to, you can check out
today's deep dive on why companies like Meta, Google and
Microsoft are offering nine figure salaries to recruit the best
talent in AI.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
We will be back on Sunday with a bonus deep dive.
Keep your eyes out for that episode, but until then,
enjoy your weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Calcotin woman from Gadigl country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.