Australia’s social media ban, Lebanon's fragile ceasefire, Russia’s missile and Ireland’s election
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Today, Australia bans social media for under-16s. Israel and Hezbollah trade ceasefire violation accusations. We look at how Russia's new Arechnik missiles work. And Ireland's governing parties look set to buck the trend of voters punishing incumbents for inflation. It's Friday, November 29th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the frontlines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool.

We've got your back, is our message to Australian parents. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, after the country's parliament passed a law banning those under the age of 16 from using social media platforms. The law forces tech giants from Meta to TikTok to stop minors from logging in or face fines of over $30 million a year.

A trial of enforcement methods will start in January, with the ban to take effect in a year. But one user, 11-year-old Emma Wakefield, says it won't stop her. I feel like I'd still use it, like, to secretly get in or something. Israel and Hezbollah have traded accusations of violating a fragile ceasefire the day after the deal went into effect.

Maya Jabali is in Beirut. So, Maya, what do these accusations mean for the ceasefire deal? I think we need to take a step back to actually look at what each side is accusing the other of doing. So what the Israeli military said on Wednesday and Thursday is that it noted activity in the southern border strip. The Israeli military has basically created a no-go zone in that border strip, which is actually not part of the ceasefire deal.

But they've said along these villages, you know, IDF troops are still present and we are banning any activity along the right along the border, stretching all the way from the west all the way across across the east. There's dozens of villages included in that strip. And the IDF says any activity around

around these villages will be considered a violation of the deal. Now, again, that's not actually in the text of the ceasefire. And what about the other side? The Lebanese army and Hezbollah have said is that the idea of firing on any activity that it sees along that border strip is a violation of the deal, which stipulates that there shall be a complete cessation of hostilities except for in matters of self-defense.

Lebanese army and Hezbollah also point to an Israeli airstrike that took place north of the Litani River on Thursday, targeting apparently what the IDF said was a facility where Hezbollah was storing mid-range rockets.

So when you get into the details of it, what it actually really shows you is that there's a lot of, there's still a lot of fog around the ceasefire deal in terms of what can be considered a violation and what is not considered a violation. The fundamental issue is that the monitoring mechanism that is supposed to be upholding and monitoring and checking what these different breaches are, that hasn't been set up yet. That's supposed to include UNIFIL, the Lebanese, the Israelis, the U.S., and the French.

Sticking with the Middle East, Iranian and European diplomats are meeting today in Geneva. On the agenda, whether they can get on the same page to defuse tensions, including over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, before Donald Trump returns to the White House. And speaking of the president-elect...

It was a friendly phone call. That was Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's assessment of her recent conversation with Trump. She says they agreed to maintain good relations in an apparent easing of tensions between the trading partners amid his tariff threats. In eastern Uganda, at least 15 people have been killed after a landslide triggered by heavy rains buried dozens of homes across several villages.

Ugandan Red Cross Society footage showing villagers crying as others pull mudslide victims out of the ground. More than 100 people are missing. Police and protesters clashed in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi early this morning. The protests, coming after the country's ruling party said the government would suspend talks on European Union accession until 2028. And in Ukraine, the second major Russian attack on its energy infrastructure this month.

It triggered deep power cuts across the country, with President Volodymyr Zelensky calling it a "despicable escalation." Russian President Vladimir Putin saying its strike was in response to Ukraine and U.S. attack on Russian territory.

Putin has also threatened to use Russia's new Oreshnik hypersonic missile to attack decision-making centers in Kyiv. He's called the weapon "unstoppable." But military experts have told Reuters it's actually an application of old technology used for many years in intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Our Ukraine bureau chief, Tom Barnforth, spoke to missile expert Jeffrey Lewis, who gave us a lowdown on how the new Oreshnik missile works, especially the warhead bus, which sits on top of the booster and drops the warheads from space onto their targets. What the Russians have done is taken that basic idea of a bus and they've married it to conventional weapons and used it to deliver conventional weapons for the first time in history. You know, this is a new capability

But it is not a capability that represents a dramatic change in the way that conventional weapons are developed.

old technologies put together in a new way. There's a lot of equipment in that piece of kit, right? I imagine it's hugely expensive. Do you think there's a rationale for Putin continuing to use these, if he has enough of them to use? Or do you think that would just be insane? I'm not going to say what is or is not insane when dealing with Vladimir Putin. The man has his own calculus. This is an incredibly expensive way

to deliver what is probably not much destruction. We will have to see how much damage the Russians were able to do to this plant. But this is a conventional ballistic missiles are really, really expensive way to do a small amount of damage.

Vladimir Putin did two days of press around the thing. If the weapon were inherently terrifying, he would just use it. But that's not quite enough. He's had to use it, and then he had to do a press conference, and then he had to do a second press conference to say, hey, this thing is really scary. To see how the missiles were adapted, follow the link in the pod description to see our video and graphics following how it worked on each step of its path and pictures of the missile wreckage. South Korea's biggest music label, HYBE, is having a very bad day on markets.

K-pop group New Jeans is breaking up with them. And Karma Crimmins has more. The girl group wiped 7% off HYBE's market value after they announced they were parting ways. It's a dramatic move. HYBE is an influential studio. It's the label behind supergroup BTS. And typically in this industry, stars are locked into multi-year agreements. The backstory here is that New Jeans has been caught up in infighting between HYBE and the band's creative director,

At a late night press conference, they told their bunnies, which is how they refer to their fans, that they're hoping to release new music next year. But they have said they might not be able to use their band name anymore. Hybe is saying the agreement with the group remains in effect, so a legal battle may ensue. And staying in Dublin, it's been a bad year for governments seeking re-election in Europe. But Ireland may be about to buck that trend.

Opinion polls suggest its two centre-right governing parties will retain power. Tarek Halpin is covering today's vote from Dublin.

Porrick, why would Ireland be immune to what's happened in other Western democracies, with voters punishing governments for years of inflation? I think the big difference in Ireland is the public finances. So the government have had these very large budget surpluses for the last two to three years. And rather than the spending cuts and tax increases you're seeing in countries like France, Britain had a very difficult budget recently. In Ireland, they were having big giveaway budgets, big spending increases, income tax cuts.

You've had parents, pensioners, carers all getting one-off payments to help with the cost of living. And a lot of those payments actually, obviously not without coincidence, landed during the campaign themselves, has, I guess, quelled some of the frustration out there. Like, I don't think people are happy. There's definitely a sense of frustration during the campaign. But the government has, I suppose, the financial power, financial firepower to quell that enough that it looks like it's on course for re-election.

And speaking of elections and inflation, this week's Econ World podcast is all about the outlook for prices as President-elect Donald Trump takes office. You can catch it on the Reuters app or wherever you get your podcasts. To stay ahead in fast-moving markets, you need to transform quality data into tailored, practical and valuable intelligence.

Access your choice of pre-built and market-validated models fast. And choose AI-powered analytics tools to suit your specific business needs. Experience distinct advantages with innovation, differentiated analytics, actionable insights. Discover new possibilities with LSEC data and analytics. And for today's recommended read, let's keep that Thanksgiving holiday spirit going into the weekend.

We've got the highlights from the 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. There's a link to the story and the photos in the pod description. And if you're in holiday shopping mode with Black Friday, check out our special weekend episode all about retail. It's out tomorrow. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.