When Australia banned under 16-year-olds from using social media in December 2025, it became a test case for a policy now being pursued by governments around the world.

Six months on, the UK has announced plans to introduce its own social media ban in 2027, with France, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greece among other countries pursuing similar bans.

So how’s it going in Australia? Have the teenagers emerged from a phone-lit glow to reengage in the real world? And what kind of difference is it having on their mental health?

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak to Susan Sawyer, a professor of adolescent mental health at the University of Melbourne, who is running a number of ongoing studies examining the way young people and their parents are reacting to Australia’s ban.

Sawyer says that when the ban was first introduced, she was cynical about the government’s ability to get young people off social media – and it has been difficult. In a compliance report released in March 2026, Australia’s eSafety Commission said many young people were still able to access social media, and it launched investigations into five technology companies it feels haven’t done enough to comply with the ban.

Yet while she used to think of the ban as a blunt instrument, Sawyer says her views are changing. “We’re seeing that conversations are shifting from whether social media negatively affects young people or to what extent or in what ways, to rather thinking about what age might be a more appropriate age for young people to first gain access to social media,” says Sawyer.

And that is born out by some of Sawyer’s research. In a recent poll of more than 2,000 parents of 0- to 17-year-olds, just under 40% said the law had changed their view on when children should first have their social media accounts and “overwhelmingly, that’s now a higher age”, she says.

Listen to Sawyer on The Conversation Weekly podcast, and read an article she’s written about her latest research on the impact of high social media use on mental health.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl.

Newsclips in this episode from pmaulinauskasmp, BBC News and 9News Australia.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.

The “overlooked” town has been named one of the top places to visit in the UK for 2026, crowning the historic Cotswolds town ahead of overrun tourist hotspots like Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water

The best place to visit in the Cotswolds has been revealed – and it’s not the usual suspects like Chipping Campden, Bibury or Bourton-on-the-Water.

There’s an abundance of stunning beauty spots scattered across the UK, with rugged landscapes, peaceful golden beaches, vibrant and quirky towns, craggy rocks and cliffs, vast woodlands, rolling green hills, and plenty more besides.

For a relatively small country, there’s a rich variety of diverse destinations to pick from – whether you fancy exploring the peaceful glacial lakes and fells of the Lake District, or the seemingly endless dramatic coastlines of Scotland, the history and intrigue of sites like the Mourne Wall in Northern Ireland, or the impressive peaks of Eryri/Snowdonia in Wales; there’s no shortage of choices.

This is equally true when it comes to the varied towns scattered throughout the UK, from sleepy fishing villages and bustling market towns, to picturesque places that offer a glimpse into the past, and much more.

If you’re keen to embark on a “staycation” in the UK and feel overwhelmed at the prospect of deciding where to go, you’re in luck.

Time Out has issued a round-up of “the best places to go in the UK in 2026” – and a Gloucestershire town has made the cut. Widely celebrated as the “Capital of the Cotswolds”, the historic market town of Cirencester has claimed fifth place on a national list.

Time Out said: “When it comes to ‘where to travel in the UK’, you might think the Cotswolds has been done to death. Actually, it hasn’t. In fact, only teeny tiny portions of the region tend to get all the love.”

The publication described Cirencester as “often-overlooked” and championed the town – the largest in the region – for being “much better equipped for tourism” than overcrowded destinations such as Bibury.

Cirencester boasts a seamless fusion of Roman heritage with a vibrant independent shopping scene – particularly within the historic Corn Hall and Arcade – alongside stunning green spaces, including Cirencester Park. Home to the 9th Earl and Countess Bathurst, the park is a haven for deer and horses alike.

History enthusiasts will be in their element at the award-winning Corinium Museum, which houses an impressive Roman collection; “one of the largest collections of Romano-British antiquities extensively from Corinium”.

Featuring mosaics, sculptures, coins and much more, the fully accessible venue also includes a gift shop, café, and the Cirencester Visitor Information Centre.

The town is equally well-stocked with stunning historic buildings and characterful pubs that are well worth exploring.

Of summer visits, Time Out noted: “Heading here in summer? Go for a dip in the Cirencester Open Air Swimming Pool, a beautiful old spot for a swim surrounded by old buildings.

“It’s a slice of history all by itself – around since 1869, making it one of the oldest in the country.”

Labour’s Andy Burnham has claimed a landslide victory in the crucial Makerfield by-election.

He is now set to return to Westminster and is likely to officially challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the party leadership.

Allies of Mr Burnham are calling on Sir Keir to hand over the keys to No 10, but the prime minister has repeatedly insisted that he has no intention of walking away.

Speaking after the results were counted, Mr Burnham hailed his victory as a “turning point” and said that Labour has a “final chance to change”.

Here is Mr Burnham’s victory speech, in full.

“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working.

“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.

“From here on I will give everything I have got to make it so. To ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs, bringing back something we’ve lost – hope – hope for the future.

“I am proud that this place has shone in the world’s spotlight for the last few weeks and the warmth, humour and hospitality of its people has been on show for all to see. It will never be a stepping stone to me, but instead will be my touchstone.

“A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness.

“I spoke in the campaign about the need to change politics. I promised to lead by example, from the front, as your Member of Parliament.

“I know people who traditionally vote for the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and perhaps more recently for Reform UK, have given me their support in this election. I will always have respect to them for that. And out of respect for them, I will always take a place-first, rather than a party-first, approach and I will focus on problem-solving rather than point-scoring.

“And I will work hard after this by-election to heal the divisions of this campaign. And let it be really understood that I will be your MP, however you voted.

“When this borough went to the polls in May, it made a loud cry for change. In this campaign we have begun to answer that.

“But I do say to my own party: this is a final chance to change. This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on. We must hear it, we must act upon it and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.

“But there is a chance now from this result tonight to build a new politics based on unity and hope. Turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States.

“We must now take this path and put this country back on the right path, and bring people back together and get things working properly again.

“It is with some sadness that this result brings an end to my wonderful nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester.

“This city region has given so much to me. And it is a wrench to leave the job I love. But I am not leaving the service of Greater Manchester. I’ve always been clear that it can’t achieve everything it should be and we can’t close the north-south divide, and we can’t make all the great English cities be what they should be without big change at the national level.

“I always knew one day I would seek to go back to Westminster to complete that unfinished business so that Makerfield and Greater Manchester, and the north of England, can fulfil their potential.

“This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody.

“People here have voted for change. They have voted for more power for the North and everywhere forgotten by Westminster. They have voted for hope. Now, let’s give that back to them.”

With Arsenal top of the tree, and a number clubs facing huge changes, this season is one of the more unpredictable in recent memory. Throw in Coventry City’s return after 25 years, helmed by manager Frank Lampard, it is primed to be another enthralling and intriguing 10 months of Premier League action. Follow the fixture release live below from 10am BST!

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Friday its forces struck targets throughout southern Lebanon overnight as Hezbollah reported intense fighting in the area, threatening the nascent agreement between Iran and the United States to end their war.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported at least 16 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, which the Israeli military said were ongoing. Israel, meantime, said four of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, including a lieutenant colonel.

Continued fighting in Lebanon could unravel the newly signed deal, which calls for an immediate halt to military operations “on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, and for ensuring Lebanon’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

The deal aims to end the war and has reopened the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, while bringing the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran’s stranglehold on the strait had all but stopped the flow of oil through the key waterway.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he signed the agreement to avoid “economic catastrophe” in the U.S., after the war caused oil prices to skyrocket, made financial markets skittish and fueled inflation. After the signing of the agreement, more than 12.5 million barrels of oil were shipped through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night, the U.S. said.

US and Israel at odds over conflict in Lebanon

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, has refused to withdraw, saying Israeli forces will remain in Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah has been eliminated.

Trump, meantime, has been openly critical of Netanyahu’s recent moves, saying the day before the agreement with Iran was signed that “without the U.S. there would be no Israel.”

“Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did — I have had a great relationship with Bibi,” Trump said, using a nickname for Netanyahu. “Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.”

The renewed Israeli attacks in Lebanon came as planned talks in Switzerland between Iran and the United States over their efforts to reach a permanent end to the Iran war were delayed.

Vance delays trip to Switzerland as talks postponed

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday put off his trip to Switzerland where he had been set to lead the talks. The White House blamed logistical issues, but the announcement came after a report from Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied to Hezbollah, said that Iran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.

Trump signed the initial pact with Iran on Wednesday while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, which took immediate effect.

Following the signing, the U.S. said it had lifted its blockade, allowing oil tankers to begin freely moving through the Strait of Hormuz after months of being unable to use the critical channel. Still, the tentative agreement has drawn sharp criticism from some in the U.S. — including a few congressional Republicans — who worry Washington ceded too much to Iran with relief from sanctions and a potential $300 billion fund to help with rebuilding.

In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei seemed to endorse direct negotiations, saying in a statement on state media that “it is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion.”

It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement, and it was interpreted as a shift in Iran’s approach. Hard-liners, especially Khamenei’s father, the previous supreme leader, have long opposed direct talks, especially after the U.S. pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was wounded in a strike at the start of the war.

US defends deal with Iran

Vance, who was initially personally skeptical of the U.S. going to war with Iran, has increasingly become the administration’s face of the conflict and has been outspoken in defending the deal.

On Thursday, he took the relatively unusual step of appearing at the White House to defend the initial deal to extend the ceasefire 60 days and allow for more negotiating — arguing that while it offers concessions, Iran first has to comply with U.S. demands.

Vance also offered a blunt warning to Israel, saying Trump was “the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.”

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this story.

All My Children star Paul Avery and his wife Sheila have died at their home in Blairstown, New Jersey, after a fire broke out.

The couple were found unconscious and removed from the building by firefighters on Tuesday shortly after midnight but died from their injuries not long after.

Avery was 81 and best known for his role in the American soap All My Children, starring as Hughie the bartender for 12 years.

The couple’s daughter, Kyle Avery, said in a Facebook post: ‘I’m devastated to share that our parents, Paul and Sheila Garry Avery, passed away early this morning.

‘We loved them so much, and they loved us so much, and nobody ever had to wonder if that was so. We’re grateful to the Blairstown Fire Department for their efforts. Service plans to follow.’

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, which was brought under control by 1am, according to local paper, Ridge View Echo.

As well as All My Children, Hughie appeared in shows such as Superman, Three’s Company and Tales from the Darkside over his 20-year acting career.

He moved to work as a journalist and editor in later life, writing film reviews and working across several papers before founding the Ridge View Echo.

In 2018, Sheila suffered a stroke, with her husband stepping down from some public responsibilities to become her full-time carer.

Avery, an active member of the Blairstown community, once wrote in his paper: ‘The great thing about living in a small town is that you can actively participate in it.’

Ridge View Echo employee Joe Phalon paid tribute to the late star, telling WFMZ: ‘I got a call saying what happened, and I just couldn’t believe it. I always like to call Paul the most interesting man in the world, because he was when you consider everything he’s done in his life. Acting, skydiving, Vietnam veteran, started a newspaper.’

He continued: ‘His death is going to leave a real void in this community. Not just Blairstown, but the towns around as well. I think we’ll really miss him, and I think it’s going to become more apparent over time.’

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For the French president, Emmanuel Macron, this year’s meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) in the spa town of Évian-les-Bains from June 15 to 17 had several pressing issues to address. As well as reaching a coordinated approach towards artificial intelligence, trade and conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, Macron needed to get Donald Trump to stay for the entire meeting.

This was no easy task. the US president left the 2018 summit in Quebec, Canada early due to a summit with North Korea and personal tensions with the host, Justin Trudeau. And he left the 2025 summit in Alberta, also in Canada, due to the Israeli war with Iran, which the US was to join a few days later.

While the G7 meeting is normally a moment for some of the world’s biggest economies to show unity – with the US usually in lockstep with its G7 allies – the Trump era has made this event more unpredictable. The major questions facing Macron as host were: what might Trump say to undermine G7 unity – and would he leave early once again?

In both respects, Macron was able to avoid a negative outcome. But it was no easy feat. Macron’s masterstroke was to resort to flattery, inviting Trump to a dinner at the opulent 2,300 room Palace of Versailles at the end of the summit on June 17, billed as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of US independence. Macron had purposely pushed back the G7 schedule so that Trump could attend a mixed martial arts fight at the White House on his 80th birthday.

Kissing up to Trump was something that Europeans have gone along with for most of Trump’s first and second terms. But when European leaders failed to answer Trump’s call for assistance in the US and Israel’s war against Iran, they were the target of bitter attacks from the US president.

The US recently announced it is reducing the number of F-16 and F-15 fighter jets available to Nato from 150 to 100. Maritime reconnaissance aircraft would also be reduced from 26 to 15 and eight refuelling tanker jets that were previously available to Europe will also be withdrawn. This is a big deal for G7 member states, all of which – apart from Japan – are members of Nato.

Against this background, Macron did not want Trump and other geopolitical tensions to undermine the summit. One of his key victories was to achieve what appears to have been a united stance on Ukraine – something which Macron labelled as “re-synchronisation” after what he said was a “very deep change in the US approach”.

The Russian president, Vladmir Putin, may have hoped that the summit would expose divisions. But this year’s G7 meeting managed to highlight western unity on Ukraine, releasing a statement pledging unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity. Even Trump signed the statement after what he said was a “very good” meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky on the summit’s sidelines.

Ukraine will also receive more air defence systems along with licenses to produce them – with the US ready to provide “backstop” for these efforts.

Trump also signalled that with the Strait of Hormuz open, the sanctions on Russian oil sales he had lifted during the war with Iran would be reimposed, telling reporters he would do whatever he could to push for peace in Ukraine.

What a difference a year makes. The 2025 G7 summit ended without a unified statement on Ukraine after Trump’s walkout. Instead, the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney made his own statement, what he called a “chair’s summary”. It was reported that Trump would not agree to the original statement’s strong language against Russia.

Mending fences

This year Trump got what he wanted: praise for his 60-day ceasefire agreement with Iran, which he signed during the state dinner at the Palace of Versailles.

Just months ago Trump was lashing out at his European allies over Iran. It was a low point in relations that looked as if it would be hard to fix. In April, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Iran had “humiliated” Trump, while Macron and Keir Starmer also issued defiant statements that they would not play ball with Trump’s demands for their assistance. Macron hit back at complaints from Israel and the US that “they are alone in an operation they decided on alone. It’s not our operation.”

Even Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni – once a staunch Trump ally – distanced herself, after Trump’s attack on Pope Leo for criticising the conflict, saying his behaviour towards the pope was “unacceptable”. But this week Meloni and Trump appeared to have made up. When European Council president, António Costa, joked to Trump and Meloni that they appeared to be “friends again”, Meloni replied: “We have always been friends.” Trump retorted: “I was abandoned.” Meloni responded with a smile: “No, you were not.”

This G7 showed European leaders are willing to make nice with Trump. Unlike last year there was no sense they felt they were walking on eggshells in dealing with the US president. A case in point: when Trump walked into the G7 meeting on Wednesday morning, the last to arrive at the summit table, he told the waiting leaders: “I’m the boss”. It was greeted with friendly laughter, rather than with derision.

Throwing a state banquet at Versailles for Trump has sent a clear message that Macron wants to preserve the transatlantic relationship – even though relations are strained.

The meeting was not without its tensions. There were concerns at what appeared to be Trump’s mixed messages on Ukraine when, despite his apparent backing for Zelensky, he commented that the war has “nothing to do with us”. And his assertion that if the Iran deal doesn’t work out the US would “go back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head” will have worried assembled leaders.

But as they sat down to lobster, caviar and truffles in Versailles it appeared that the level of discord between the G7 leaders and Trump had subsided – at least for now.