General U.S. NewsJul 11, 2026·3 min read

AI companies want to water down Australia’s copyright laws. Artists are outraged, Labor is split

The Guardian – World

3h ago

AI companies want to water down Australia’s copyright laws. Artists are outraged, Labor is split

Summary

Anthony Albanese will deliver a landmark speech on AI this week as MPs are torn between attracting datacentre investment and protecting the rights of creatives Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast When Anna Funder stood before a pack of journalists at Parliament House earlier this month, she presented herself not just as a writer but also a “victim of crime”. The stoush has exposed splits within Labor about how to respond to AI and raised questions about how far the government should bend – if at all – to big tech to capture the supposed riches of the datacentre boom. After abandoning former industry minister Ed Husic’s vision for a dedicated AI act in favour of a hands-off approach to regulation, the government is reportedly set to pivot back to a more interventionist strategy . A concrete announcement on changes to copyright laws is not anticipated as part of Albanese’s address, which Guardian Australia has been told will be more vision statement than detailed policy announcement. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Senior Labor sources say ministers have been split on the path forward for copyright reform, delaying a resolution. But the timeframe for a resolution remains unclear, leaving the tech industry and creatives in the dark. The independent senator for the ACT described the proposal presented to ministers as the “ultimate dirty deal” and demanded Labor immediately rule it out. “To sell out Australian creatives would be a reckless act. To sell out Australian creatives for a couple of hundred billion dollars in datacentres, a bump to GDP, would be reckless,” Pocock told the Senate on 1 July. The Labor MP has previously suggested a moratorium might be necessary if the datacentre “frenzy” was making it harder to hit the nation’s housing construction targets. One Labor MP says opposing datacentres is akin to “nimbyism” and the federal government should establish consistent rules across the country to ensure Australia secures benefits from the global investment race.

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US judge dismisses January 6 case against Proud Boys after Trump order

A United States federal court has dismissed the seditious conspiracy cases against four members of the Proud Boys, the far-right group involved in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. On Friday, Judge Timothy J Kelly, an appointee of President Donald Trump, granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be revived in future. But Kelly made it clear that the defendants — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — had been “convicted of serious offences”. He wrote in his seven-page ruling that his decision was ultimately rooted in the separation of government powers, not in the merits of the case. “As the Court has said many times, the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a perilous event. It was an attack on people, including police officers, many of whom were injured,” Kelly wrote . “It was an attack on the Constitution’s mechanism to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next,” he added. Friday’s ruling was yet another milestone in Trump’s efforts to end the prosecution of January 6 rioters. January 6, 2021, was the day Congress was scheduled to certify the Electoral College votes, confirming Trump’s defeat. Members of Congress had to be led to safety. On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order granting “a full, complete and unconditional pardon” to most of the defendants involved in the Capitol attack. Trump’s executive order had also required the Department of Justice to seek the case’s dismissal. “The Court will grant the motion because there are no grounds for it to withhold leave for the Government to dismiss the case with prejudice,” Kelly concluded.

Armed Israeli Settlers Detained Ro Khanna. He Wants Their Illegal Outposts Demolished.

On a hot Wednesday afternoon in the Palestinian village of Zanuta, California Rep. Ro Khanna walked through the ruins of a Palestinian school demolished by Israeli settlers several years earlier. Even after the security aide identified the group as an American delegation with a member of Congress, the settlers and soldiers did not budge. “The security person said this is the most concerned he’s ever been, and he’s done tours for decades,” Khanna recalled. The IDF soldiers operating in the area did not take part in blocking the road,” the military said, adding, “The identity of the armed individual is currently under review.” “I’m a Jewish school shooting survivor, and I’m sitting here looking at Jewish kids who have the eyes of a school shooter.” Kasky, who joined Khanna’s office in January following his own visit to the West Bank and has been working with Khanna on his Israel and Palestine policy, said he was afraid the incident would turn more violent, recalling accounts of settler attacks . “I was sitting there like, ‘Are the Hilltop Youth about to blow a bunch of holes in our vehicle?’” Kasky remembered saying to himself. “I’m a Jewish school shooting survivor, and I’m sitting here looking at Jewish kids who have the eyes of a school shooter. Members of Congress have visited the West Bank in the past, but Khanna’s run-in with settlers is the first known instance of direct harassment by Israeli settlers toward a sitting U.S. lawmaker. “Imagine what life is like for ordinary Palestinians who do not have a national platform.” During the incident, Khanna said he phoned an official in the U.S. Embassy, which urged the group not to escalate the situation. Shortly after, Israeli police arrived and instructed the group not to return under threat of arrest. “I thought to myself, if they can do this to an American member of Congress and to American citizens, imagine what life is like for ordinary Palestinians who do not have a national platform, who can’t just pick up the phone and call the American embassy,” Khanna said. Khanna’s remarks praising Israel’s tech industry drew criticism from pro-Palestine advocates, who at the time accused the lawmaker of using the visit as a “photo op” to “ whitewash Israeli apartheid. ” Khanna had long branded himself as an anti-war figure. In 2004, he ran an unsuccessful bid for Congress centered around his opposition to the Iraq War. And after being elected to Congress in 2016, Khanna would help spearhead an effort to halt U.S. military support to Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen’s civil war .

AI companies want to water down Australia’s copyright laws. Artists are outraged, Labor is split

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