Another three members of the Iran’s women’s soccer team who accepted refugee visas to stay in Australia have decided to return to their homeland, an Australian government minister said on Sunday.
The departure leaves three of an initial seven squad members in Australia.
“Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.
“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision, the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” Burke added.
Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.
Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Malaysia on March 9.
Another later changed her mind and left Australia. Three left Sydney for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night, a government official said. The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.
Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.
The Australian government was urged to help the woman by Iranian groups in Australia and by U.S. President Donald Trump. (JapanToday)
President Donald Trump said he did not think it would be “appropriate” for the Iranian soccer team to attend this year’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, and cited safety concerns as a reason on Thursday while the countries remained embroiled in a war.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup,” Trump wrote on his social media site, “but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”
Iranian leaders said earlier this week that it’s “not possible” for the country to participate in the World Cup.
Trump’s message appears to depart somewhat from what the Republican president relayed Tuesday at the White House to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who later publicly said that Trump assured him the Iranian players and coaches would be welcome.
A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations, had confirmed Trump’s message to Infantino about Iran’s participation.
On Thursday, the White House did not immediately clarify what Trump meant by “their own life and safety,” such as whether he anticipated threats against them while in the United States after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began Feb 28.
Iran, one of 48 teams in the tournament, is scheduled to play in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing group play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26. The U.S. is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Iran’s soccer federation has planned to take the team in June to a tournament base camp in Arizona, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson.
Since June, Iran has been subject to a travel ban into the U.S. as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But athletes and coaches from the target nations are exempt, which means the Iranian team would be allowed to enter the U.S.
But there are also likely fears from Iranian soccer players about playing in a tournament abroad where they could be feted by an anti-regime diaspora while their families face threats back home.
The Iranian women’s soccer team, which arrived in Australia to play at its Asian Cup tournament before the U.S. and Israeli bombing attacks on Iran started, did not sing the Iranian national anthem before its first game. That was widely interpreted as a gesture of protest or an act of mourning. Several members of the team stayed in Australia on humanitarian visas afterward.
At the 2022 men’s World Cup, played in Qatar, the Iranian team did not sing the anthem before a game against England and did not celebrate the two goals scored in a 6-2 loss. At that time, Iran was in turmoil several weeks after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly violating a strict Islamic dress code.
FIFA’s own evaluation was “low risk” for World Cup safety and security plans proposed by the U.S., Canada and Mexico soccer federations, which are guaranteed by their governments. Trump has often taken credit for “winning” the World Cup hosting rights in 2018, when the three neighbors easily beat Morocco in a vote by FIFA member federations.
“All parties have experience of hosting major sports events on a regular basis and established arrangements are in place for managing security and safety at stadiums and for high-profile individuals,” FIFA’s in-house inspection team wrote eight years ago.
Iranian athletes who previously defied the Islamic regime have left the country to continue their careers.
Iran’s first female athlete to win an Olympic medal, Kimia Alizadeh, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in taekwondo, criticized wearing the mandatory hijab headscarf. She competed for the Olympic refugee team at Tokyo in 2021 and for Bulgaria at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Judoka Saeid Mollaei went into hiding in Germany after a dispute with Iranian team officials at the 2019 world championships. Mollaei, the defending champion, said he was ordered to lose a bout to avoid a potential gold medal match against an Israeli opponent. He got Mongolian citizenship and took silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. (JapanToday)
Australia has granted asylum to five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who were visiting the country for a tournament, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Tuesday.
The women were transported from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia “to a safe location” by Australian federal police officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time. There, they met with Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas finalized, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.
“I say to the other members of the team the same opportunity is there,” Burke said. “Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts.”
Burke’s announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it.
The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the Iran war began. The team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and was facing the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment. Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari on Sunday said the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can,” according to Australia’s national news agency, AAP.
Earlier Monday, Trump had blasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the … team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.” Trump called on Australia to grant the team asylum, adding: “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.” Less than two hours later, in another social media post, Trump praised Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying, “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
Trump also said that some players “feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
Trump’s offer of asylum represented something of a change for the president, whose administration has sought to limit the number of immigrants who can receive asylum for political purposes.
During the tournament, the players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference on Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the conflict.
The team’s silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last week was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. They later sang and saluted during the anthem before their remaining two matches. (JapanToday)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his government was writing to the Commonwealth realms that it would back the removal for former prince Andrew from the line of royal succession.
Albanese said he had been in touch with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the former royal who is being investigated for alleged misconduct in public office, after new revelations of his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Australia likes being first and we have made sure that everyone knows what our position is and we’ll be writing today to the other realm countries as well, informing them of our position,” Albanese told public broadcaster ABC.
Albanese told reporters that Australians were “disgusted” by the “grave” revelations.
“King Charles has said that the law must now take its full course. There must be a full, fair and proper investigation. And that needs to occur,” he added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office said it would also back such a move, in a statement to media on Tuesday.
“The bottom line is no one is above the law, and once that investigation is closed, should the UK government decide to remove him from the line of succession, that is something we would support,” Luxon told reporters after the statement was released.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, is the third child of late Queen Elizabeth II.
He is currently eighth in the royal line of succession, behind Prince William; William’s children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis; William’s brother Prince Harry; and Harry’s children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Last week, Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential government documents while in public office. The allegations originate from documents released by the US Department of Justice as part of the so-called Epstein Files.
The UK Police released Mountbatten-Windsor “under investigation” after 11 hours in custody but the arrest itself was unprecedented in modern British history.
Mountbatten Windsor has denied any wrongdoing over his ties to Epstein, having been named by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in her posthumous memoir, but has not responded to the latest allegations.
In response to the investigation, the British government said it was considering introducing legislation to ensure the former prince could never be king. The Commonwealth realms would also have to consent to the move for a formal removal. (DW)
At least 12 people were killed and 29 wounded when gunmen fired on a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday in what Australian police and officials described as a terrorist attack.
One suspected gunman was killed and another was in a critical condition, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a press conference. At least 29 people injured, including two police officers, were taken to hospital, he said.
Police were investigating whether a third gunman was involved in the shooting, and a bomb-disposal unit was working on several suspected improvised explosive devices in cars parked near the beach, Lanyon said.
Mike Burgess, a top Australian intelligence official, said one of the suspected attackers was known to authorities but had not been deemed an immediate threat.
Sunday’s shootings were the most serious of a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. Sunday’s attack was the worst such incident in the country since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site in the southern state of Tasmania.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of the country’s national security council and condemned the attack, saying the evil that was unleashed was “beyond comprehension”.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” he said. “At this dark moment for our nation, our police and security agencies are working to determine anyone associated with this outrage.”
Witnesses said the shooting at the famed beach on a hot summer’s evening lasted about 10 minutes, sending hundreds of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks. Police said around 1,000 people had attended the Hanukkah event alone.
“I was just getting ready to go home, and I was packing my bag, was ready to catch my bus, and then I started hearing the shots,” said Bondi Junction resident Marcos Carvalho, 38.
“We all panicked and started running as well. So we left everything behind. We just ran through the hill,” he said. “I must have heard, I don’t know, maybe, like, 40, 50 shots.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Jewish people who had gone to light the first candle of the Hanukkah holiday on the beach had been attacked by “vile terrorists”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was appalled by the shooting and that Australia’s government must “come to its senses” after countless warnings.
“These are the results of the antisemitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years, with the antisemitic and inciting calls of ‘Globalise the Intifada’ that were realized today.”
One of the world’s most famous beaches, Bondi is typically crowded with locals and tourists.
“If we were targeted deliberately in this way, it’s something of a scale that none of us could have ever fathomed. It’s a horrific thing,” Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News, adding his media adviser had been wounded in the attack. (JapanToday)
As Australia began enforcing a world-first social media ban for children under 16 years old this week, Denmark is planning to follow its lead and severely restrict social media access for young people.
The Danish government announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children.
The Danish government’s plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared the plans.
Many social media platforms already ban children younger than 13 from signing up, and a EU law requires Big Tech to put measures in place to protect young people from online risks and inappropriate content. But officials and experts say such restrictions don’t always work.
Danish authorities have said that despite the restrictions, around 98% of Danish children under age 13 have profiles on at least one social media platform, and almost half of those under 10 years old do.
The minister for digital affairs, Caroline Stage, who announced the proposed ban last month, said there is still a consultation process for the measure and several readings in parliament before it becomes law, perhaps by “mid to end of next year.”
“In far too many years, we have given the social media platforms free play in the playing rooms of our children. There’s been no limits,” Stage said in an interview with The Associated Press last month.
“When we go into the city at night, there are bouncers who are checking the age of young people to make sure that no one underage gets into a party that they’re not supposed to be in,” she added. “In the digital world, we don’t have any bouncers, and we definitely need that.”
Under the new Australian law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian children younger than 16.
Some students say they are worried that similar strict laws in Denmark would mean they will lose touch with their virtual communities.
“I myself have some friends that I only know from online, and if I wasn’t fifteen yet, I wouldn’t be able to talk with those friends,” 15-year-old student Ronja Zander, who uses Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, told the AP.
Copenhagen high school student Chloé Courage Fjelstrup-Matthisen, 14, said she is aware of the negative impact social media can have, from cyberbullying to seeing graphic content. She said she saw video of a man being shot several months ago.
“The video was on social media everywhere and I just went to school and then I saw it,” she said.
Line Pedersen, a mother from Nykøbing in Denmark, said she believed the plans were a good idea.
“I think that we didn’t really realize what we were doing when we gave our children the telephone and social media from when they were eight, 10 years old,” she said. “I don’t quite think that the young people know what’s normal, what’s not normal.”
Danish officials are yet to share how exactly the proposed ban would be enforced and which social media platforms would be affected.
However, a new “digital evidence” app, announced by the Digital Affairs Ministry last month and expected to launch next spring, will likely form the backbone of the Danish plans. The app will display an age certificate to ensure users comply with social media age limits, the ministry said.
“One thing is what they’re saying and another thing is what they’re doing or not doing,” Stage said, referring to social media platforms. “And that’s why we have to do something politically.”
Some experts say restrictions, such as the ban planned by Denmark, don’t always work and they may also infringe on the rights of children and teenagers.
“To me, the greatest challenge is actually the democratic rights of these children. I think it’s sad that it’s not taken more into consideration,” said Anne Mette Thorhauge, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.
“Social media, to many children, is what broadcast media was to my generation,” she added. “It was a way of connecting to society.”
Currently, the EU’s Digital Services Act, which took effect two years ago, requires social media platforms to ensure there are measures including parental controls and age verification tools before young users can access the apps.
EU officials have acknowledged that enforcing the regulations aiming at protecting children online has proven challenging because it requires cooperation between member states and many resources. (ABC)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday acknowledged some young people were still on social media a day after a world-first ban on under-16s went live, saying the rollout was always going to be bumpy but would ultimately save lives.
A day after the law took effect, Australian social media feeds were flooded with comments from people claiming to be under 16, including one on the prime minister’s TikTok account saying “I’m still here, wait until I can vote”.
Under the law, 10 of the biggest platforms including TikTok, Meta’s Instagram and Alphabet’s YouTube must bar underage users or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million). The government has said previously that it would take some time for the platforms to set up processes to do this.
“Of course it isn’t smooth,” Albanese told Melbourne radio station FOX. “You can’t in one day switch off over a million accounts across the board. But it is happening.”
On Nova Radio in Sydney, Albanese added: “If it was easy, someone else would have done it.”
Governments around the world have said they would monitor the Australian rollout as they weigh whether to do something similar. U.S. Republican senator Josh Hawley endorsed the ban as it took effect, Nine newspapers reported.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF warned in a statement the ban might encourage children to visit less regulated parts of the internet and could not work alone.
“Laws introducing age restrictions are not an alternative to companies improving platform design and content moderation,” the statement said.
Albanese has pitched the ban as an intervention to protect young people from mental health risks associated with social media, including bullying, body image problems and addictive algorithms.
The measure would “save lives and it will change lives for this and future generations”, he told Nova.
Australian searches for virtual private networks (VPNs), which can mask an internet user’s location, surged to the highest in about 10 years in the week before the ban took effect, according to publicly available Google data.
Free VPN provider hide.me told Reuters it experienced a 65% spike in visits from Australia in the days before the ban kicked in, although that had not translated to a rising number of downloads.
All 10 platforms named by the ban opposed it before saying they would comply. As the ban took effect, some platforms not covered by the ban rose to the top of app download charts, prompting the Australian government to say the platform list was “dynamic”.
One app, Lemon8, which is owned by TikTok parent Bytedance, introduced an age minimum of 16. Photo-sharing app Yope told Reuters it had experienced “very fast growth” to about 100,000 Australian users. About half its users were over 16.
The company told Reuters it had told the Australian internet regulator overseeing the rollout that it considered itself a private messaging service, not social media. (JapanToday)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his girlfriend Jodie Haydon on Saturday, becoming the country’s first leader to tie the knot while in office.
A beaming Albanese, 62, wed the financial services worker at a private ceremony in the garden of his official residence in Canberra, The Lodge.
“Married”, the prime minister said in a one-word post on social media with video of him in a bow-tie holding the hand of his smiling bride, who wore a long, white dress, as confetti showered down.
In a separate joint statement, the couple said: “We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends.”
The ceremony took place more than a year after Albanese proposed on Valentine’s Day 2024, saying at the time he had found a partner “who I want to spend the rest of my life with”.
They wrote their own vows and were married by a celebrant.
Albanese’s dog, a shaggy cavoodle named Toto, was the ring bearer.
After the ceremony, where guests drank beer from a Sydney brewery, the couple walked down the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).”
The newlyweds are to go on a five-day honeymoon in Australia from Monday.
The prime minister — who divorced his previous wife in 2019 and has an adult son, Nathan — met Haydon more than five years ago at a Melbourne business dinner.
The centre-left Labor Party leader secured a second three-year term in office in a landslide election victory in May this year.
He joined Labor while in high school and later became deeply involved in the bruising world of student politics at the University of Sydney. (Vanguard)
South Africa retained the Rugby Championship crown for the first time after beating Argentina 29-27 at Twickenham on Saturday.
The title was decided on points difference for the first time, the Springboks’ 57-plus margin eclipsing New Zealand’s eight-plus.
The All Blacks beat Australia 28-14 in Perth hours earlier to put pressure on the Springboks, who clinched the title decider in typically punchy style.
They didn’t lead until the 44th minute, gradually overwhelming the Pumas with the power of their set-piece.
“Not the most perfect game we’ve played but it is the fight we show each and every week,” Springboks captain Siya Kolisi said. “It doesn’t always go the way we want it to go but we are always able to find that second gear. With the bench that we have, they are special.”
Taking advantage of the superior muscle up front, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach — named the player of the match — and hooker Malcolm Marx scored two tries each.
The Pumas weren’t as close to South Africa as the scoreline suggested. They scored two late converted tries but finished with the wooden spoon for the first time since 2022.
Argentina gave up the scheduled home match to relocate to Twickenham for bigger ticket revenue, and the Springboks felt more at home thanks to expatriates filling an impressive crowd of 70,360. They celebrated the Springboks’ sixth title in 30 tournaments and their first back-to-back crowns.
“After the way we started (with the shocking loss to the Wallabies at Ellis Park), you could not have said we would be here now,” Kolisi said. “But the belief we have in ourselves is because of what coach Rassie (Erasmus) has instilled into this team. Since 2018, the mindset created means you don’t feel at any moment that you are going to lose. No matter how it looks.”
It didn’t go to plan at the start on Saturday either.
Center Canan Moodie was yellow-carded in the second minute for head-on-head contact, and moments later Argentina gave right winger Bautista Delguy space and time to bust through Reinach and Ethan Hooker to the try-line.
South Africa’s first scrum tighthead was rewarded with a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty.
World Cup winner Ox Nche gave a torrid time to scrum opposite Francisco Coria Marchetti. He debuted in June against the British and Irish Lions and always appeared off the bench until Joel Sclavi was injured on Friday in the captain’s run. That forced the Pumas to start Coria Marchetti, their 10th change to the starting XV that lost to the Springboks 67-30 in Durban last weekend.
Despite Nche being the only change to the Springboks starting XV, they struggled to click at Twickenham. Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the star in Durban, passed over Cheslin Kolbe’s head in one of 10 handling errors in the half.
Santiago Carreras’ second penalty extended Argentina’s lead to 13-3 then Moodie was lucky not to receive a second yellow card and subsequent red when his deliberate knock-on was only penalized.
But South Africa finished the half strong. Lock Eben Etzebeth was held up over the line by Pumas flyhalf Geronimo Prisciantelli but when No. 8 Jasper Wiese lost control of a pushover try Reinach was too close to the line to be stopped.
The second half started badly for Argentina. Loosehead prop Mayco Vivas was sin-binned for a high tackle, and South Africa drove the subsequent lineout, dishing a 26th test try for Marx.
South Africa finally had the lead and an extra man. RG Snyman took over for Etzebeth, who went to the blood bin, and his pop-up helped Reinach burrow over for his second try and extend the lead to 22-13.
Before the game was an hour old, Marx regained an Argentina lineout tap down from his own throw-in then crashed over for his second try of the match. It also was his 17th in championship history, tying him with Richie McCaw for the most tries by a forward.
When Coria Marchetti injured his right leg, the Pumas finishing props were four-cap Boris Wenger and 20-year-old debutant Tomás Rapetti. They were consoled by Delguy’s second try from a wild pass by Kolbe, and fellow wing Rodrigo Isgro scoring after the hooter from a crossfield kick by Carreras. (JapanToday)
The draw for an expanded 2027 Rugby World Cup will take place on December 3, organizers said Wednesday, with host Australia confirmed as kicking off the tournament at Perth Stadium.
Twenty-four teams will be divided into six pools of four, with 52 games across six weeks from October 1 to November 13. A round of 16 will be played for the first time.
The last World Cup in France, won by South Africa, featured 20 teams.
“I’m thrilled to see the tournament draw date revealed,” said World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson. “Expanding the men’s Rugby World Cup to 24 teams is a landmark moment for our sport. It means more nations, more matches, and more opportunities for fans around the world to connect with rugby.”
World Rugby rankings at the end of the November international window will be used to determine which teams head each of the six groups, making every win crucial ahead of the draw.
South Africa are currently ranked one ahead of Ireland, New Zealand, France, England and Argentina, with hosts Australia seventh. Scotland, Fiji and Italy round out the top 10.
The top two from each pool plus the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the knockout phase.
“The introduction of a round of 16 will deliver even more knockout rugby, ensuring every match counts and every team has the chance to make history,” said Robinson.
“Importantly, we’ve been able to achieve this within a streamlined tournament window that protects player welfare while enhancing the spectacle. This is a huge step forward for rugby and a reflection of the game’s global growth.”
Sydney had already been announced to host the final and both semi-finals, along with a third-place playoff and a string of other knockout and pool stage games.
The rest of the schedule is split between Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Adelaide and Townsville.
Some 2.5 million tickets will go on sale in February, with one million priced under A$100 (U.S.$66) in a bid to make it the most family-friendly tournament yet. (JapanToday)
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