PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure that a ban on social media for children under the age of 15 can enter into force in September at the start of the next school year.

In a video released late Saturday by French broadcaster BFM-TV, Macron said he had asked his government to initiate an accelerated procedure so that the proposed legislation can move as quickly as possible and be passed by the Senate in time.

“The brains of our children and our teenagers are not for sale,” Macron said. “The emotions of our children and our teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated. Neither by American platforms, nor by Chinese algorithms.”

Macron’s announcement came just days after the British government said it will consider banning young teenagers from social media as it tightens laws designed to protect children from harmful content and excessive screen time.

According to France’s health watchdog, one in two teenagers spends between two and five hours a day on a smartphone. In a report published in December, it said that some 90% of children aged between 12 and 17 use smartphones daily to access the internet, with 58% of them using their devices for social networks.

The report highlighted a range of harmful effects stemming from the use of social networks, including reduced self-esteem and increased exposure to content associated with risky behaviors such as self-harm, drug use and suicide. Several families in France have sued TikTok over teen suicides they say are linked to harmful content.

Macron’s office told The Associated Press that the video was addressed to lawmaker Laure Miller, who is sponsoring the bill that will be examined in a public session on Monday.

“We are banning social media for under-15s, and we are going to ban mobile phones in our high schools,” Macron said. “I believe this is a clear rule. Clear for our teenagers, clear for families, clear for teachers, and we are moving forward.”

In Australia, social media companies have revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children since the country banned use of the platforms by those under 16, officials said. The law provoked fraught debates in Australia about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.

President Donald Trump commended British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan in a social media post on Saturday, backtracking on remarks he made that attracted criticism from NATO allies.

In an interview Thursday, Trump had claimed troops from non-American NATO countries had stayed off the “front lines” during the war in Afghanistan. The comments drew fierce criticism across Europe, including from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called them “insulting and frankly, appalling.”

Trump had told Fox Business the U.S. “never needed” the trans-Atlantic military alliance, one of the pillars of the post-World War II international order.

“We have never really asked anything of them,” he said. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.”

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump wrote that the “great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America.”

He did not make a direct apology for his remarks, however.

Of the 3,621 coalition soldiers killed during the war, around 1,160 were America’s allies, including 457 British servicemen and women.

Trump described them, as well as those who were badly injured, as “among the greatest of all warriors.”

“The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you all, and always will!,” Trump added.

Starmer’s office said the Prime Minister had discussed the issue with Trump in a phone call on Saturday.

“The Prime Minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,” Downing Street said in a statement. We must never forget their sacrifice”.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the U.S. led an international coalition in Afghanistan with the aim of toppling the terror group Al Qaeda and the country’s ruling militant group, the Taliban. NATO triggered Article 5 for the first and only time to date.

Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan with the British Army, had joined a chorus of veterans, U.K. and European officials in rebuking Trump’s remarks.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Duke of Sussex said allies “answered” the call to join the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan, rallying in pursuit of a “shared security”.

“I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there,” he said.

“Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defense of diplomacy and peace,” Harry added.

Britain’s veterans minister, Alistair Carns, whose own military service included five tours in Afghanistan, called Trump’s claims “utterly ridiculous”.

Trump’s remarks worsened already-strained diplomatic relations with European allies already rattled by his push to acquire Greenland.

Trump used his address at the World Economic Forum earlier this week to chastise Europe, accusing countries of “destroying themselves” and saying that “certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore.”

The United States lost about 2,460 troops in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

More than 150 Canadians were also killed, along with 90 French service personnel, while Denmark lost 44 troops, one of NATO’s highest per-capita death rates.

BANDUNG, Indonesia — Indonesian rescuers struggled Sunday with mounds of mud, debris and water‑soaked ground, searching for dozens still missing after a landslide triggered by torrential rains the day before on the country’s main island of Java killed at least 11 people.

The predawn landslide roared down the slopes of Mount Burangrang in West Java province on Saturday, burying some 34 houses in Pasir Langu village. On Sunday, 79 people remained missing, many feared buried under tons of mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

About 230 residents living near the site have been evacuated to temporary government shelters. Rescue workers retrieved two more bodies on Sunday morning, bringing the death toll to 11, according to Ade Dian Permana from the search and rescue office.

Videos released on Saturday by the country’s search and rescue agency, known as Basarnas, showed rescuers using farm tools and bare hands to pull a mud-caked body from the ground and placing it in an orange bag to take away for burial.

Heavy equipment and excavators were mostly idle because the ground was too soft and unstable.

“If the slope does not stabilize; crews are prepared to continue manually,” Permana said, estimating the height of the mounds of mud to be up to 5 meters (16 feet)

“Some homes are buried up to the roof level,” he added.

Visiting the area on Sunday, Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka pledged that authorities would take measures to prevent similar disasters. He urged the local authorities in West Java and West Bandung to “address the issue of land conversion in disaster-prone areas,” including ways to reduce risks.

Basarnas chief Mohammad Syafii confirmed to reporters after visiting the devastated Pasir Langu village with Gibran, that the terrain condition and bad weather continue to complicate search operations on Sunday.

“We are at the mercy of the weather, and the slide is still mud … flowing and unstable,” Syafii said, ”With the area this wide, we’ll use every asset we have … drones, K‑9 teams and ground units, but safety comes first.”

Seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.