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The UK's data protection watchdog on Monday announced investigations into three social media networks, including TikTok and Reddit, over their use of children's personal data.

Growing concerns that young people could be sent inappropriate or harmful content from social media apps prompted the probes, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said in a statement.

"The responsibility to keep children safe online lies firmly at the door of the companies offering these services and my office is steadfast in its commitment to hold them to account," said Information Commissioner John Edwards.

The ICO will look into how Chinese-owned TikTok uses the personal information of 13-to-17-year-olds to make recommendations and deliver content to their social media feeds.

Online forum site Reddit and image-sharing site Imgur are under investigation over their age assurance measures as well as personal information use.

"We're deeply committed to ensuring a positive experience for young people on TikTok," a company spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.

TikTok has "comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens, including industry-leading safety features and robust restrictions on the content allowed in teens' feeds", the firm added.

The other two platforms had yet to respond.

In 2023, the ICO fined popular video-sharing app TikTok several million pounds for failing to obtain consent of parents or guardians to use children's data, after they had set up accounts despite being too young. AFP 

President Donald Trump is ordering a pause on shipments of US military aid to Ukraine after his heated Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a White House official told CNN Monday, CNN reported.

The halt in aid, which came after Trump held a series of meetings with top national security officials at the White House, could have dire effect on Ukraine’s war-fighting abilities, officials and analysts said. It will remain in place until Trump determines Zelensky has made a commitment to seeking peace talks, one official said, essentially forcing Ukraine to a negotiating table by threatening further losses on the battlefield.

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” the White House official said.

After more than a week of open hostility between Washington and Kyiv, Monday’s pause was the most material sign of how far the relationship has deteriorated since Trump took office.

In recent weeks, Trump has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points, falsely claiming Ukraine started the war and accusing Zelensky of being a dictator, but his decision to halt the delivery of military aid is a move that could have real consequences for the balance of the conflict and strengthen Putin’s hand.

The pause will apply to all military equipment not yet inside Ukraine, officials said, and amounts to a direct response to what Trump views as Zelensky’s bad behavior last week.

Ukraine could likely sustain its current fighting pace for several weeks — perhaps until the start of the summer — before a US pause would begin to have a major effect, Western officials said in the wake of the decision. The Biden administration rushed shipments of weapons to Ukraine in its waning days, providing the country with large stockpiles of advanced weapons, according to CNN.

It is those sophisticated weapons — including the long-range ATACMS missiles — that have allowed Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory, a strategy that could suffer if those weapons remain paused.

While European nations may be able to replace US shipments of artillery, supplemented by Ukraine’s own growing defense industry, the most advanced weapons used by Kyiv come from the United States.

Impact could be ‘crippling’

“The impact is going to be big. I would call it crippling,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has closely followed the war.

Cancian estimated that Ukraine would feel the impacts of the pause in aid within two to four months, as aid from European countries helps Kyiv remain in the fight for now. “That’s why they don’t fall off a cliff, but when your supplies get cut in half, eventually that shows up on the front lines,” Cancian said. “Their front lines would continue to buckle and eventually they would break and Ukraine would have to accept an adverse – even catastrophic – peace settlement.”

But Cancian warned the Trump administration has more forms of aid to Ukraine that can be paused or canceled altogether, including intelligence sharing and the training of Ukrainian forces. “There might be a way out of this, but it’s going to be extremely humiliating for Zelensky,” Cancian said.

The White House made the decision to pause military aid to Ukraine for now as officials seek an acknowledgement from Zelensky about the breakdown in relations following Friday’s blowup in the Oval Office.

According to several officials, Trump and his senior aides are seeking an acknowledgement from Zelensky – potentially in the form of a public apology – before moving ahead with a deal on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, which had been close to agreement before Friday’s meeting, or a discussion on continuing foreign aid. The decision to halt the aid was made later on Monday, one person said, and is part of a pressure strategy on Ukraine, CNN reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly called for Zelensky to apologize for Friday in an interview on CNN.

The halt puts Trump even more clearly at odds with the United States’ traditional European allies like Britain and France, who made clear their support for Zelensky at a summit in London on Sunday.

“There is a capability gap that Europe cannot fill alone,” one US official said.

A European official called the Trump administration’s decision to pause military aid to Ukraine “petty and wrong.”

The official said it will immediately deepen distrust in the US government among the Ukrainian people. The official also predicted it will cause unnecessary civilian casualties, as Ukraine will not be able to defend against Russian air attacks after they run out of air defense missiles.

President Donald Trump has said he is moving forward with 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico into the US, adding that time had run out to reach a deal, BBC reported.

US stock markets sank in response to the measures, which he has threatened since earlier this year and said would now go into effect on Tuesday.

An additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports is also expected to come into force, leaving all three of America's top three trade partners facing significantly higher trade barriers than just a few weeks ago. 

"No room left for Mexico or for Canada," Trump said at the White House on Monday. "The tariffs, you know, they're all set. They go into effect tomorrow."

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters later on Monday: "Let's be clear, if Trump is imposing tariffs, we're ready." 

She said Ottawa planned to impose retaliatory tariffs against US imports of $155bn (£122bn), with the first tranche of $30bn ready immediately to be levied on everyday goods like pasta, clothing and perfume.

Joly noted that Canada did not want a trade war, but would hit back if the US started one.

The foreign minister added that the tariffs were "an existential threat to us", with "thousands of jobs in Canada at stake".

Mexico and China have also said they will retaliate against the US tariffs, raising the prospect of a widening trade war. 

Trump threatened to impose the tariffs, which are a tax added to a product when it enters a country - on Canada, Mexico and China in response to what he said was the unacceptable flow of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants into the US, according to BBC.

All the tariffs were supposed to take effect last month, until the US agreed to a one-month delay for Canada and Mexico, pulling its North American neighbours back from the brink of a potentially damaging trade war.

But Trump went ahead with imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese exports to the US in February, meaning goods from the country now face a levy of at least 20%.

Trump has long maintained that tariffs are a useful tool to correct trade imbalances and protect US manufacturing.

He has largely dismissed concerns that the measures risk economic damage in the US, despite the close ties, especially in North America, where businesses have enjoyed decades of free trade. 

"What they'll have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things, in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs," he added.

The three major indexes in the US sank after Trump's comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 1.4%, the S&P 500 sank 1.75% and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%.

Officials from Canada and Mexico had been in Washington in recent days, trying to stave off the tariffs.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum appeared to send a message to Trump earlier on Monday when she said at a public event in the city of Colima that "Mexico has to be respected".

"Co-operation [and] co-ordination, yes, subordination, never."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday, from a summit on Ukraine in London, that Canada was "not an issue" as a source of illegal fentanyl in the US.

Only 1% of fentanyl seized in the US is thought to come from Canada, according to US data.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it has been "surging" its efforts to tackle fentanyl crossing into the US.

Canadian Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand met officials in Washington in recent days and said over the weekend there will be a response, BBC reported.

"We are steady at the wheel. We are prepared for any eventuality, but we will at every turn defend our country's economy," she told CBC News.

China's state-run Global Times newspaper said that Beijing had prepared countermeasures, which would probably target US agricultural and food products.

President Trump has also announced a 25% charge on all steel and aluminium imports, which is meant to come into effect on 12 March.

In addition, he has threatened to impose custom "reciprocal" tariffs on individual countries, as well as 25% tariffs on the European Union.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has demanded the Finance Ministry to ensure financial resources for the expansion of three airports in Karnali and Lumbini Provinces.

The Ministry has demanded Rs 11 billion to expand the airports of Surkhet and Jumla in Karnali Province and the Tarigaon airport, Dang in Lumbini Province.

Section officer at Tourism Ministry, Prakash Pokharel, informed that the Finance Ministry was proposed to ensure the financial resource for airport expansion.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had recommended the government that it acquired lands for augmenting the airport capacity.

With this, the Council of Ministers on Monday decided to guarantee the financial resources.

Although Rs 5 billion was estimated to acquire lands for expanding the Tarigaon airport of Dang, the Finance Ministry is demanded allocation of Rs 10 million and the guarantee of the resource of Rs 990.

Similarly, the Finance Ministry has been asked to allocate Rs 100 million and guarantee the resource of Rs 4.90 billion for acquiring land and expanding the Surkhet airport.

Rs 1 billion has been estimated for buying land and expanding the facility at Jumla airport, while allocation of Rs 100 million and resource of Rs 400 is urged.

The Karnali Province government led by then chief minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi had forwarded an ambitious plan to operate province government's own air service.

However, the province government's plan to domestic and inter-province air service named 'Karnali Airlines' is in limbo.

The Shahi-led government had further announced the construction of 'high altitude' airport in Mugu and an airport of an international standard in Surkhet.

Even a Chinese company 'North West' had submitted a feasibility study to the province government for free of cost.

Currently, Kathmandu-Surkhet-Kathmandu has four flights in a day. Number of flights to upper Karnali has radically declined.

In 2077BS, the province government had mooted a plan to even conduct the night flights from Surkhet airport by expanding its runway up to 1,500 meter.