BBC News Briefing

9 December, 2025

Sofia has long brown hair and brown eyes and is wearing a green top.

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. Under-16s in Australia are about to lose access to social media. My colleagues explain the ban and its impact. We're also taking a closer look at the woman dubbed "The Ketamine Queen" by US prosecutors investigating the death of Friends actor Matthew Perry. And finally, take a trip to see some of London's best Christmas lights.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Australia ban leaves big tech scrambling

A child has her hair up in a ponytail and wears a pink hoodie. She is holding a smartphone in her hands and is looking at it. She is standing on a grass field and trees and a red-brick building are visible in the background.

Scrutiny of social media companies' practices and how they affect children's mental health has intensified. Credit: Getty Images

Various governments, from the US state of Utah to the European Union, have been experimenting with limiting children's use of social media. Australia is taking the most radical step so far: a first-of-its-kind ban for under-16s that kicks in on 10 December. Many of the social media firms affected have spent a year protesting against the new law, which requires them to take "reasonable steps" to keep underage users from having accounts on their platforms. Some children claim to have found ways to outsmart the ban, but the worry inside the tech industry, as Lily Jamali and Tiffanie Turnbull report, is that the ban may inspire other countries to follow suit.

Read now

Explainer: The ban is being watched closely by other countries. Here's what it involves.

Watch: Australian content creators Zoey and Ella, who are both 14, told the BBC how the ban will impact them.

Listen: Correspondent Katy Watson joins The Global Story podcast to talk about whether the policy will succeed.

WORLD HEADLINES

A person holds Ukraine's blue and yellow flag outside a shed, the picture quality is grainy as it's been zoomed in

Flag raised to show ongoing fight for Pokrovsk

Defence correspondent Jonathan Beale sees Ukrainians fighting for Pokrovsk, a city Russia claims to have won.

Read Jonathan's report >

A small white car has fallen down a hole that has appeared in the road after an earthquake in Japan. It is snowy and the road has been taped off

Magnitude 7.5 quake strikes northern Japan

At least 30 people were injured and thousands of people had to evacuate their homes on Monday night.

What to know >

The front of the nightclub, showing the sign which reads 'Birch By Romeo Lane' and a promotion poster.

Goa nightclub owners fled to Thailand, police say

Indian authorities confirmed Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra boarded a flight to Phuket in Thailand shortly after the deadly fire.

What happened >

The exterior of Gracie Mansion in New York City. It has yellow clapboard sides, green shutters, and white railings along the roof.

Zohran Mamdani will live in historic Gracie Mansion

For Mamdani, moving to the historic residence of most NYC mayors means leaving behind a rent-stabilised flat.

Read more >

What Canada is doing with US booze pulled off shelves

Canadian provinces that stopped selling US liquor in anger over tariffs now have to figure out what to do with the stock.

What they're doing >

NEWS FROM THE UK

Maternity care: An interim report into maternal and prenatal services in England highlights how ingrained poor care is.

Off-grid living: Some 2,000 households are thought to have no access to mains power in the UK and many worry about the future.

Cancer treatment: A therapy has reversed aggressive and incurable blood cancers in some patients, doctors report.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The woman behind 'The Ketamine Queen'

Jasveen Sangha sits on the floor wearing an unbuttoned Fendi red and black blouse. She is holding a money-gun firing fake dollar bills into the air. She has long blonde hair tied in a braid and brown eyes.

The dual British-American national was a dealer to Hollywood's rich and famous. Credit: Courtesy of Zanc

Jasveen Sangha is one of five people, including two doctors, who have pleaded guilty to offences in the overdose death of actor Matthew Perry in 2023. Her involvement in drug dealing has surprised some of her long-time friends. They tell the BBC they knew her by many nicknames, but never "The Ketamine Queen" moniker US prosecutors have used to describe her.

Find out more