Sydney:

An Australian court on Monday rejected a bid by the country’s cyber safety regulator to extend a temporary order for Elon Musk-owned X to block videos of the stabbing of an Assyrian church bishop, which authorities had called a terrorist attack.

Federal Court judge Geoffrey Kennett said the application to extend the injunction granted last month had been refused. The reasons for the judgement will be released later, the judge said during a brief hearing.

The matter has been listed for a hearing on Wednesday.

The legal tussle has sparked heated exchanges between Musk and senior Australian officials including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called Musk “an arrogant billionaire” for his objections to take down the video. Musk has posted memes criticising the regulatory order, describing it as censorship.

Other platforms, such as Meta, took down the content quickly when asked.

The Federal Court, Australia’s second-highest court, last month upheld an order by the eSafety Commissioner asking X, formerly Twitter, to take down 65 posts containing footage of the bishop being knifed mid-sermon in Sydney on April 15, saying it showed explicit violence. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with a terrorism offence for the alleged attack.

Australian users have been blocked from viewing the posts but X has refused to remove them globally on the grounds that one country’s rules should not control the internet.

The regulator told the court last week that geo-blocking Australians, the solution X offered, was ineffective because a quarter of the population used virtual private networks that disguised their locations.

Last week, Albanese’s centre-left government announced it would hold a parliamentary inquiry to look into the negative impacts of social media, saying it has significant control over what Australians see online, with almost no scrutiny.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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| Photo Credit: AFP

Western Australian police shot and killed a “radicalised” 16-year-old boy with a knife who had wounded a member of the public in Perth, police and the state premier said on May 5.

The teenager “rushed” at police after wounding someone and was fatally shot by an officer, Premier Roger Cook told a news conference.

“There are indications he had been radicalised online. But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears he acted solely and alone.”

Police had received a call late on Saturday from a male warning that he was going to commit “acts of violence” but without giving his name or location, the state’s police commissioner, Col Blanch, told reporters.

Within minutes another emergency call alerted police that a “male with a knife was running around the car park” in Willetton, a southern suburb of Perth, he said.

Police body camera images showed the teenager refused officers’ demands that he put down the knife, the police chief said.

Officers fired two Tasers at him but “both of them did not have the full desired effect,” he said.

“The male continued to advance on the third officer with a firearm who fired a single shot and fatally wounded the male.”

The teenager died in hospital later in the night, he said.

Sydney:

A Sydney bishop brutally stabbed during a live-streamed sermon said Thursday he is recovering and forgives his attacker, declaring: “You are my son.”

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was slashed in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect on Monday, sparking a riot by followers of the Assyrian Christian church in western Sydney.

“I am doing fine, recovering very quickly,” said the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.

The area is a hub for Sydney’s small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.

Emmanuel has an online following of almost 200,000, galvanising many with his criticism of Covid-19 vaccines and lockdowns as well as Islam.

“There is no need to be worried or concerned,” the bishop said in a YouTube video released Tuesday, with audio of his voice accompanied by a photo of him in vestments.

“I forgive whoever has done this act and I say to him: You are my son, I love you and I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well.”

The teenage suspect was taken to a Sydney hospital after the attack.

Senior police said mid-week his treatment was expected to last for several days.

The bishop called for calm after the stabbing sparked angry scenes outside the church.

Hundreds of congregants and members of the community rushed to the site on the night of the attack.

Some hurled rocks and other projectiles that allegedly wounded police and damaged 50 police cars.

“I want you to always be calm,” the bishop said.

“We need to be always law-abiding citizens as well. We need to cooperate with the police directives whether it be at a state level or a federal level,” he said.

“We should never forget that we are very blessed to be Aussies, but above all we are Christians and we need to act like it.”

Police charged a 19-year-old man Wednesday in connection with the violence outside the church and have warned more will be arrested in the coming days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)