Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: A stunning century from Beth Mooney turned the game around for Australia, guiding them to a 107-run win over Pakistan in the ICC Women&rsquo;s World Cup 2025 at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday.&nbsp;After winning the toss, Pakistan chose to field first and bowled impressively early, reducing Australia to 115 for eight, But Mooney stood firm, scoring 109 off 114 balls with 11 fours, while Alana King remained unbeaten on 51 off 49.&nbsp; Their 106-run stand for the ninth wicket lifted Australia to 221 for nine in 50 overs.&nbsp;Pakistan&rsquo;s slow left-armer Nashra Sandhu was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 37, while Rameen Shamim and Fatima Sana claimed two wickets each.&nbsp; Chasing 222, Pakistan&rsquo;s batting faltered once again as they were all out for 114 in 36.3 overs. Sidra Amin top-scored with 35 off 52 balls, while Rameen Shamim and Fatima Sana made brief contributions.&nbsp;Kim Garth led Australia&rsquo;s attack with 3 for 14. Megan Schutt and Annabel Sutherland took two wickets each, while Ashleigh Gardner, Alana King, and Georgia Wareham claimed one apiece.&nbsp;The victory lifted Australia to the top of the standings with five points from three matches, while Pakistan stayed at the bottom after their third straight defeat.

Cricket

Beth Mooney’s century and Alana King’s fifty powered Australia to a 107-run win over Pakistan, who were bowled out for 114, suffering their third straight defeat in the Women’s World Cup.

Mooney’s brilliant century rescues Australia after early collapse

MELBOURNE: Deloitte Australia will partially refund the 440,000 Australian dollars ($290,000) paid by the Australian government for a report that was riddled with apparent AI-generated errors, including a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic research papers. The financial services firm&rsquo;s report to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was initially published on the department&#39;s website in July. A revised version was released on Friday after Chris Rudge, a University of Sydney researcher of health and welfare law, said he alerted the media that the report was &ldquo;full of fabricated references.&rdquo; Deloitte reviewed the 237-page report and &ldquo;confirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect,&rdquo; the department said in a statement Tuesday. &ldquo;Deloitte has agreed to repay the final installment under its contract,&rdquo; the department said. The amount will be made public after the refund is processed. Asked to comment on the inaccuracies, Deloitte told The Associated Press in a statement that the &ldquo;matter has been resolved directly with the client.&rdquo; Deloitte did not respond to questions about whether the errors were generated by artificial intelligence. A tendency for generative AI systems to fabricate information is known as hallucination. The report reviewed the department&rsquo;s IT systems and their use of automated penalties in Australia&#39;s welfare system. The department said the &ldquo;substance&rdquo; of the report had been maintained and that there were no changes to its recommendations. The revised version included a disclosure that a generative AI language system, Azure OpenAI, was used in writing the report. Quotes attributed to a federal court judge were removed, as were references to nonexistent reports attributed to law and software engineering experts. Rudge said he found up to 20 errors in the first version of the report. The first error that caught his attention incorrectly stated that Lisa Burton Crawford, a professor of public and constitutional law at the University of Sydney, had written a nonexistent book with a title suggesting it was outside her field of expertise. &ldquo;I instantaneously knew it was either hallucinated by AI or the world&rsquo;s best-kept secret because I&rsquo;d never heard of the book and it sounded preposterous,&rdquo; Rudge said. Work by his academic colleagues had been used as &ldquo;tokens of legitimacy,&rdquo; cited by the report&rsquo;s authors but not read, Rudge said, adding that he considered misquoting a judge a more serious error in a report that was effectively an audit of the department&rsquo;s legal compliance. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve totally misquoted a court case, then made up a quotation from a judge, and I thought, well, hang on &mdash; that&rsquo;s actually a bit bigger than academics&rsquo; egos. That&rsquo;s about misstating the law to the Australian government in a report they rely on. So I thought it was important to stand up for diligence,&rdquo; Rudge said. Senator Barbara Pocock, the Australian Greens party&rsquo;s spokesperson on the public sector, said Deloitte should refund the entire AU$440,000 ($290,000). Deloitte &ldquo;misused AI and used it very inappropriately &mdash; misquoted a judge, used references that are nonexistent,&rdquo; Pocock told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. &ldquo;I mean, the kinds of things that a first-year university student would be in deep trouble for.&rdquo;

People arrive at the offices of Deloitte in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)

Artificial Intelligence

The report had AI-generated errors, including a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic research papers.

Deloitte to partially refund Australia for report containing AI-generated errors

Reuters/AP

MELBOURNE: Australia has signed a new defence agreement with Papua New Guinea, its first in more than 70 years, as Canberra seeks to block China from expanding its security presence in the Pacific. Under the Pukpuk defence treaty, which is the first signed by Papua New Guinea, Australia, and its northern neighbour, they are obliged to come to each other&rsquo;s aid if attacked. &quot;This is a historic agreement,&quot; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the press in Canberra. &ldquo;By continuing to build our security relationships in the region, we safeguard our own security.&rdquo; The treaty allows as many as 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve with the Australian Defence Force, under dual arrangements. Australia was Papua New Guinea&#39;s colonial master until the developing island nation became independent in 1975. Australia, with its population of 28 million, and Papua New Guinea, with an estimated population of roughly 10 million, are the most populous nations in the South Pacific. The United States and Australia have both strengthened their military ties with Papua New Guinea in recent years, which is viewed as a strategically important partner in countering China&rsquo;s growing influence in the Pacific. Albanese said both nations have agreed &quot;not to undertake any activities or enter into any agreements that would compromise the implementation of this Treaty.&quot; &quot;This Treaty was not conceived out of geopolitics or any other reason. But out of geography, history, and the enduring reality of our shared neighbourhood,&quot; Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape told the press. The Papua New Guinea cabinet approved the Pukpuk treaty, which translates to &quot;crocodile,&quot; last week. &quot;We still retain our relationship with China and other nations,&quot; Marape added.

 Anthony Albanese, left, and James Marape

Australasia

Australia and Papua New Guinea signed the historic Pukpuk defence treaty, pledging mutual defence support and closer military cooperation, allowing 10,000 PNG troops to serve with Australia, while reaffirming Papua New Guinea’s ties with China.

Australia, Papua New Guinea sign historic defence treaty

MELBOURNE: Australia&#39;s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called on China to import Australian iron ore without hindrance after reports on Wednesday that a state-run Chinese iron ore buyer had told steelmakers and traders to temporarily stop buying shipments from global mining giant BHP.&nbsp;China Mineral Resources Group Co.&rsquo;s move against the world&rsquo;s biggest miner, which is based in Melbourne, escalates an impasse in contract negotiations, news media reported.&nbsp;Albanese said he was &ldquo;concerned&rdquo; by the reports of the disruption to Australia&rsquo;s most lucrative export.&nbsp;&ldquo;I want to see Australian iron ore be able to be exported into China without hindrance. That is important. It makes a major contribution to China&rsquo;s economy, but also to Australia&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Albanese told reporters.&nbsp;&ldquo;These measures are always disappointing. But let&rsquo;s certainly hope that they are very much short-term. Sometimes, when people are negotiating over price, these things will occur. But I want to see this resolved quickly,&rdquo; Albanese added.&nbsp;China Mineral Resources Group Co. asked domestic buyers this week to suspend purchases of any dollar-denominated seaborne cargo from BHP, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified because they were discussing private deliberations.&nbsp;It means new deals can&rsquo;t be signed, including for cargo that has already left Australia, where BHP&#39;s mines are located.&nbsp;The Chinese company, created by Beijing to bolster the country&rsquo;s sway in the global iron ore trade, did not respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg reported.&nbsp;BHP told the AP the company did not comment on commercial negotiations.&nbsp;Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would arrange a meeting with BHP chief executive Mike Henry to discuss the Chinese trade.&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen those reports; they&rsquo;re concerning reports. Ultimately, though, they are about the commercial arrangements between two companies and so in one respect, a matter for the company to work through,&rdquo; Chalmers told reporters, referring to reports of the BHP boycott.&nbsp;&ldquo;This is a government that advocates for Australia&rsquo;s interests on the world stage, with our major trading partners. You can expect that to be the case again. (We will) work through these issues calmly and carefully, advocating for the workers and businesses and investors of our country,&rdquo; Chalmers added.&nbsp;China has lifted a series of official and unofficial trade barriers since Albanese&#39;s government was first elected in 2022, which had been costing Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year. But Australian iron ore was spared previous trade barriers due to its importance.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

China

Australian PM Anthony Albanese urged China to resume unhindered iron ore imports after reports that a state-run Chinese buyer halted purchases from BHP, escalating trade tensions amid ongoing price negotiations.

Australian PM urges China to resume iron ore imports after reported trade disruption

Reuters

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promoted his government&#39;s world-first teen social media ban at an event in New York, warning the challenges posed by social media for children was &quot;constantly evolving&quot;.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Governments and tech firms are closely watching Australia&#39;s effort to become the first country to block the use of social media by those younger than 16, starting from December.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Australia wants social media firms to use artificial intelligence and behavioural data to estimate the age of users, and not conduct blanket age-verification.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;It isn&#39;t foolproof, but it is a crucial step in the right direction,&quot; Albanese said in New York on Wednesday at the Protecting Children in the Digital Age event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech, said she had been &quot;inspired by Australia&#39;s example&quot;.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;We in Europe are watching and will be learning from you ... it is up to us to step up for the next generation,&quot; she said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Australia&#39;s ban passed into law in November 2024 and aims to delay teens&#39; ability to set up social media accounts from the current age of 13 until the age of 16.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Albanese&#39;s centre-left government proposed the law citing research showing harms to mental health from the over-use of social media among young teens, including misinformation, bullying and harmful depictions of body image.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Albanese called his government&#39;s efforts a sensible but overdue step to protect children at a critical stage in their life.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;The challenge we face is constantly evolving, and different countries are tackling it in different ways,&quot; Albanese said, adding the law would give Australian teens &quot;three more years of being shaped by real-life experience, not algorithms&quot;.

Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly

Viral

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promoted his government's world-first teen social media ban at an event in New York, warning the challenges posed by social media for children was "constantly evolving".

Australia’s teen social media ban draws praise at UN

SYDNEY: Tech companies including WhatsApp and Reddit as well as streaming giant Twitch and gaming firm Roblox could be among more than a dozen sites added to Australia&#39;s social media ban for under-16s, the country&#39;s regulator said Wednesday. Platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube were already included in the ban -- a world-first. &lsquo;Self assess&rsquo;But the head of Australia&#39;s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has written to 16 more companies to &quot;self-assess&quot; whether they fall under the ban&#39;s remit. The list also included Pinterest as well as Lego Play, streaming company Kick and gaming platform Steam. Companies will need to make a case if they believe their platform should be exempt from the ban, the national broadcaster ABC said. Inman Grant told the network that while some cases were &quot;pretty clear&quot;, the regulator would &quot;give them the due diligence process&quot;. &quot;We need to hear them all out,&quot; she said. The regulator said it will initially focus on platforms with the greatest number of users, where there are higher risks of harm. Fine&nbsp;Australia has been a leader in global efforts to prevent internet harm, but current legislation offers almost no details on how the ban will be enforced -- prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of unenforceable legislation. The eSafety Commission will be able to fine social media companies up to Aus$49.5 million ($32.6 million) for failing to comply with the rules. Social media companies have described the laws as &quot;vague&quot;, &quot;problematic&quot; and &quot;rushed&quot;. Canberra has struggled to pin down how precisely platforms will verify the ages of their users. This month, Communications Minister Anika Wells conceded that firms would need to self-regulate. No single solutionAn independent study ordered by the Australian government found this month that age checking can be done &quot;privately, efficiently and effectively&quot;, though it admitted no single solution would fit all contexts. The regulator has also introduced a number of rules taking effect in Australia in the coming months to protect children from &quot;lawful but awful&quot; content.

Australia may expand its under-16 social media ban to include platforms such as WhatsApp, Reddit, and Twitch. Regulators demand self-assessments, but critics question enforcement, calling the legislation vague, symbolic, and difficult to implement effectively.

Articles tagged with "Australia"

Mooney’s brilliant century rescues Australia after early collapse

Deloitte to partially refund Australia for report containing AI-generated errors

Australia, Papua New Guinea sign historic defence treaty

Australian PM urges China to resume iron ore imports after reported trade disruption

Australia’s teen social media ban draws praise at UN

Australia targets more platforms in under-16 social media ban