Australia passes foreign interference laws
Canberra, June 28: Australia's parliament on Thursday passed a package of new laws aimed at preventing foreign interference in the country.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the crackdown last December, reports the BBC.
Although he denied it was aimed specifically at China, the move has added to diplomatic tensions with Beijing in recent months.
The government has described the wide-ranging laws, approved in the Senate, as the most significant counter-espionage reforms in Australia since the 1970s.
The approval comes after months of review by a parliamentary national security committee.
The laws criminalise covert, deceptive or threatening actions that are intended to interfere with democratic processes or provide intelligence to overseas governments.
They are designed to include actions that may have fallen short of previous definitions of espionage.
The government also plans to ban foreign political donations through a separate bill later this year.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
