Several European nations are already planning similar moves while Britain has said ‘nothing is off the table’

Australia is taking on powerful tech companies with its under-16 social media ban, but will the rest of the world follow? The country’s enactment of the policy is being watched closely by politicians, safety campaigners and parents. A number of other countries are not far behind, with Europe in particular hoping to replicate Australia, while the UK is keeping more of a watchful interest.

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© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Waltz warns ‘spoilers’ will be held to account as rebel fighters escalate offensive in South Kivu province

The US has accused Rwanda of violating a US-brokered peace agreement by backing a deadly new rebel offensive in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, and warned action will be taken against “spoilers”.

The remarks by the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, came as more than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels escalated their offensive in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, according to officials who also say Rwandan special forces were in the strategic city of Uvira.

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© Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

© Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

Gaza has been hit by heavy rains and low temperatures, deepening the misery of most of its 2.2 million population who are living in tents after two years of Israeli bombardment. Thousands of homeless people have been washed out of their makeshift shelters and forced to seek emergency refuge

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

American officials joined Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran in objecting to language on fossils fuels, biodiversity and plastics in a report that was three years in the making.

© Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

Women work longer and per hour earn a third of what men are paid, in figures that have changed little in 35 years, UN report shows

“Gender inequality is one of the most entrenched and significant problems of our time,” says Jocelyn Chu, a programme director at UN Women, responding to the stark figures contained in this year’s World Inequality report, which labels gender inequality a “defining and persistent feature of the global economy”.

Women work longer and earn just a third – 32% – of what men get per hour, when paid and unpaid labour, such as domestic work, are taken into account. Even when unpaid domestic labour is not included, women only earn 61% of what men make, according to the report.

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© Photograph: Murtaja Lateef/EPA

© Photograph: Murtaja Lateef/EPA

© Photograph: Murtaja Lateef/EPA

Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months ago

Malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, with more than 9,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone, according to the latest UN figures.

While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing Israeli restrictions on their humanitarian aid shipments, which they say fall well below the needs of a population weakened and traumatised by two years of war, homelessness and living in flimsy shelters.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Shifting politics, intensive lobbying and surging disinformation online have undermined international efforts to respond to the threat.

© Andre Penner/Associated Press

The United States has retreated on climate. China, the only superpower at COP30 and the world leader in clean energy, is not filling the void.

© Adriano Machado/Reuters

Just outside Belém, the Amazonian city where the world is meeting to discuss climate change, electricity is a very recent arrival.

© Alessandro Falco for The New York Times

“All we have to do is look outside,” one delegate said. “The sea rises, the coral dies.”

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World leaders, gathering in Brazil, will try to agree on new, more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gases.

© Pablo Porciuncula/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The multibillion-dollar fund would essentially pay countries to keep forests standing, hoping for success where earlier forest-protection ideas have struggled.

© Jorge Silva/Reuters