Headline

Google Fined $36m In Australia Over Anticompetitive Search Deals

Published

4 months ago

August 19, 2025

Google has agreed to pay a fine of 55 million Australian dollars (US$36 million) after admitting to anticompetitive agreements with the country’s two largest telecommunications firms, Telstra and Optus.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced the penalty on Monday in a statement obtained from its website , saying the arrangements between the tech giant and the two telcos reduced search competition and consumer choice in Australia.

According to the ACCC, Google’s Singapore-based Asia Pacific division entered into contracts with Telstra and Optus between late 2019 and early 2021.

Under the agreements, the telcos were banned from installing rival search engines on Android smartphones sold to customers.

The deals, which ran for about 15 months until March 2021, ensured that Google Search was the sole pre-installed option on Android devices. In return, Telstra and Optus received a share of advertising revenue generated from users’ searches.

The regulator said Google had accepted that the agreements were likely to “substantially lessen competition.”

Proceedings have been launched in the Federal Court, which will decide whether the AU$55 million penalty is appropriate.

In addition to the fine, Google has signed a court-enforceable undertaking requiring it to remove restrictions on pre-installation and default search engine options from future contracts with Android phone manufacturers and telecommunications operators.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb welcomed the outcome, stressing that anti-competitive conduct directly harms consumers.

“Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it ully means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers.

“Today’s outcome, along with Telstra, Optus and TPG’s undertakings, have created the potential for millions of Australians to have greater search choice in the future, and for competing search providers to gain meaningful exposure to Australian consumers,” she said.

Cass-Gottlieb also noted that the changes come at a critical time. “Importantly, these changes come at a time when AI search tools are revolutionising how we search for information, creating new competition,” she said.

Under the new arrangements, Telstra, Optus and TPG are allowed to configure search services on a device-by-device basis, even in ways that may not align with Google’s default settings.

The telcos may also enter into pre-installation agreements with other search providers.

“With AI search tools becoming increasingly available, consumers can experiment with search services on their mobiles,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

The case follows a lengthy ACCC investigation, which began after concerns were raised during the regulator’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry into search defaults and choice screens.

“Co-operation with the ACCC is encouraged.

“It can avoid the need for protracted and costly litigation and lead to more competition.

“More competition in markets drives economic dynamism, but the reverse is true when markets are not sufficiently competitive,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

She said ACCC remains committed to addressing anti-competitive conduct like this, as well as cartel conduct.

Last year, Telstra, Optus, and rival TPG agreed to court-enforceable undertakings with the ACCC, pledging not to renew or enter into similar arrangements with Google that would limit search engine options.

Headline

Putin Says Russia Ready For War, Blames Europe For Sabotaging Peace

Published

12 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was “ready” for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys.

The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy.

“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin told reporters in Moscow.

“They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war,” he added, repeating his claim that European leaders were hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.

He added that European changes to Trump’s latest plan to end the war “aimed solely at one thing — to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia”.

Washington has presented a 28-point draft to end the conflict, later amended after criticism from Kyiv and Europe, which viewed it as heeding to many of Russia’s maximalist demands.

The plan to end the war is championed by Trump, but European countries fear it risks forcing Kyiv to cave in to Russian demands, notably on territory.

Fearing further Russian aggression, Europe has repeatedly said an unfair peace should not be imposed on Ukraine.

The Trump envoys are now seeking to finalise the plan with the approval of Moscow and Kyiv.
AFP

Headline

US Senator Proposes Bill To End Dual Citizenship

Published

12 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

A United States lawmaker has introduced a bill seeking to abolish dual citizenship for American nationals, a move that could affect thousands of Nigerians who hold both US and Nigerian passports.

Bernie Moreno, a Colombian-born US senator, announced the proposed legislation — titled the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 — arguing that the current system, which allows Americans to hold multiple nationalities, creates “conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”

“One of the greatest honours of my life was when I became an American citizen at 18, the first opportunity I could do so.

“It was an honour to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and only to the United States of America! Being an American citizen is an honour and a privilege—and if you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good,” Moreno said.

Moreno, who has since renounced his Colombian citizenship, maintains that exclusive allegiance is essential to national integrity.

If passed, the bill could have far-reaching implications for prominent figures such as US First Lady Melania Trump, who holds both US and Slovenian citizenship. It would also significantly impact Nigerians with dual citizenship.

According to a July naturalisation flow report by the US Department of Homeland Security, 38,890 Nigerians became naturalised American citizens between 2021 and 2023. Nigeria ranked 13th among countries with the highest number of new US citizens and was the only African nation in the top 20.

Nigerian law allows citizens by birth to hold dual nationality without relinquishing their Nigerian citizenship.

This development comes months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at denying automatic US citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the country.

The order was immediately challenged by 18 states and multiple rights groups, who argued it violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. Ongoing legal battles have prevented the order from taking effect.

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

1 day ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP