Category Archives: headline

Patches: “Yes, I am running

Former Representative for East Basseterre Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd has confirmed that he will be contesting in the upcoming General Election. Liburd represented that Constituency after narrow success on a Peoples Action Movement ticket and served in Team Unity’s first term as Minister of Public Infrastructure. He was replaced as PAM’s candidate for the area in […]

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Albanese and Biden hit it off, and you can see why

OPINION: One of the big dilemmas for voters at this federal election was not liking either leader, Scott Morrison the bulldozer or Anthony Albanese the bumbler, and both major parties suffered record low primary votes as a result.

But a win's a win.

Labor and Albanese have secured power, and Australia will now judge our 31st prime minister on his promise of delivering a less divisive government that's more constructive and inclusive.

Albanese bursts into laughter as President Biden pretends to walk out of a meeting with Australia's 31st prime minister.

READ MORE: Labor on brink of majority government

He must also guide the country through choppy economic waters and testing times on the global front with the rising threat of China.

It's not going to be easy, and it's been straight into business on the world stage.

Our new prime minister was sworn in and whisked onto the government jet bound for Tokyo for high-level talks with leaders from the US, Japan and India for the annual Quad Group meeting.

And so far, so good.

He reaffirmed Australia's ties with our closest ally, the US, and even shared a joke or two with President Joe Biden.

They seemed to enjoy each other's company, and you can see why.

There's no doubt Albanese is a decent bloke.

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US President Joe Biden greets Anthony Albanese with a hand on his shoulder and a warm smile.

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That's the assessment from those who've worked closely with him, describing him as genuine and a good person, who is shaped by his upbringing, growing up in public housing with a single mum on a disability pension.

He speaks from the heart, and he can relate to the struggles of average Australians, because he's lived them.

His comment during his victory speech on election night, that he hoped families living in government housing were listening, really resonated with me.

READ MORE: Radio announcers caught up in fake Facebook profile scam

The PM is in Tokyo to meet with the leaders of Japan, India and the United States.

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I'm also a child of a single mother who grew up in public housing, and Albanese is spot on when he says few other countries offer the opportunities that Australia does.

We really are the lucky country.

And we can thank our lucky stars that we are free of all the election campaign pitches and promises for another three years.

Thank goodness for that!

Deborah Knight is a presenter on 2GB and 4BC, hosting Afternoons With Deborah Knight from 12-3pm, Monday to Friday.

Radio announcers caught up in fake Facebook profile scam

Facebook users are being warned to watch out for scammers cloning the profiles of celebrities and ordinary Australians.

The scammers are using the fake Facebook accounts to send direct messages to the person's friends or fans, often mentioning a fake government grant they might be eligible for, or a prize.

Northern Territory radio presenters Danielle McMurrich and Alice Burton from station Hot100 have both been caught up in the scam in recent weeks.

READ MORE: A 17-year-old boy received a text message. Hours later, he was dead

Hot 100 radio announcer and DJ Danielle McMurrich has been caught up in a Facebook scam involving cloned profiles.

The radio station said it had been inundated with messages from listeners saying they had been contacted by scammers using phoney profiles made to look like the accounts of both the announcers.

"One of the pages is promoting a bogus event, giving 20 people the chance to win a 'special prize' of $1000 but it's understood people are being asked to provide their credit card details to enter the draw," the station said.

Northern Territory Consumer Affairs Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Davey told the radio station fake profiles appeared to be a new scam trend. 

READ MORE: How to delete your social media accounts

The Hot 100 radio station is warning about a Facebook scam involving presenter Danielle McMurrich.

"It is a bit of an emerging strategy where scammers are obviously using celebrities or local identities to hook people into thinking something is legitimate and then taking away your money or your personal information," Davey said.

But it is not just high-profile people the scammers are targeting.

Jessica Pappelau, from Darwin, told 9News.com.au she was shocked yesterday to get a call from her best friend in Adelaide about a new profile her dad appeared to have set up.

"My friend sent me some screenshots and said it looked like my dad had created a new Facebook page, but that it had been hacked," Pappelau said.

Scammers made a fake profile for Jessica Pallelau's dad, Wolfgang, and then began contacting his friends.

The scammer had cloned Pappelou's dad's Facebook page and sent her several messages. 

The conversation starts with the scammer casually asking how she is going. They then go on to mention a government grant from the Department of Health and Human Services she should check out. 

Pappelau said her friend's suspicions were almost immediately raised, and for good reason.

"My dad hates the government so he'd never say anything like that," she said.

Pappelau said her dad had also heard from some of his other friends who the scammers had contacted.

"He was really shocked. He can't get his head around it," she said.

How to spot a scam

Davey said it was often very hard for victims to get their money back as the scammers were usually operating from overseas.

There were several things people could do to help identify if a profile was fake, she said.

"Looking for spelling errors, grammatical errors, a lot of these [scammers] are based from overseas … or perhaps foreign words that appear on the page or in the domain name."

"I'd definitely just advise people to take the time and investigate any claim or offer before you hand over any money."

A fake profile of another Hot 100 radio presenter, Alice Burton, has also been used by scammers to trick listeners.

If it sounded too good to be true, chances are it probably was, she said, adding people needed to use their common sense.

"For example if they're offering a prize, why would you then need to give your credit card details, that just doesn't make sense," Davey said.

Contacting the person or business directly was always a good idea, she said.

"Don't just put a question in the comments if you're dealing with a Facebook post because it's probably the scammer who'll respond to you," Davey said.

"Call the business instead and ask them to confirm if they're running a competition or offering a prize."

"If it's say, Hot 100, you could look up their contact details on the website from a legitimate source and call them and verify that information."

It was unknown exactly how many people had fallen victim to the scam and Davey said it was unlikely any money received by scammers would be returned.

"Unfortunately a lot of the scammers are located overseas so that makes it very difficult when we don't have jurisdiction but by reporting it, that's the first step you can do to take action in the fight against them," she said.

9News.com.au has contacted Meta, which owns Facebook, for comment.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

At SKN: Commonwealth Head Calls for Greater Caribbean Collaboration to Fight Corruption

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland. (GP) has called for greater collaboration among Commonwealth Caribbean member states in the fight against corruption. She was speaking at the opening of an anti-corruption conference, currently underway in St Kitts and Nevis. The Commonwealth Secretary-General has called for greater collaboration and information sharing to “sweep corruption aside and create […]

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Anthony Albanese: Australia’s New PM Sworn In Ahead of Quad Meeting

By Tiffanie Turnbull BBC News, Sydney Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as Australia’s new leader and will fly immediately to an international summit. Mr Albanese’s Labor Party defeated Scott Morrison’s conservative government in an election on Saturday. It remains unclear whether Mr Albanese will form a majority or govern with the support of crossbenchers. […]

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Senior Russia UN Diplomat Resigns Over Ukraine War in Blistering Letter

A veteran diplomat in Russia’s mission to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva handed over a scathing resignation letter on Monday, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine a shameful “crime” against both nations. Boris Bondarev, 41, who has been a counselor in the Russian mission since 2019, announced his resignation in a Monday […]

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Mia Mottley Named Among TIME Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People

By Sheri-Kae McLeod Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has been listed among the 100 most influential people in the 2022 TIME100, the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In the TIME article written by the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Okonjo-Iweala, Prime Minister Mottley, who led her ruling […]

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WORLD VIEW: Rus Bogged Down in Ukraine, Indo-Pacific Simmit, Poll-Economy Over Russia, More

Trending | View in Browser May 24, 2022 Here is today’s selection of top stories from The Associated Press at this hour to begin your day.  Today’s Headlines After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, it had hoped to overtake the country in a blitz […]

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Report: Carbon Monoxide Killed 3 Tourists at Sandals, Bahamas

Fox News- The three American tourists who were found dead earlier this month at an all-inclusive Sandals resort in the Bahamas passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning, a new report says.  A pathologist is expected to release autopsy and toxicology findings Monday following the May 6 deaths of Michael Phillips, 68, and Robbie Phillips, 65, of […]

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Russian Firm: Jamaica says Rusal Making Consistent Payments on Tax Bill

By Kate Chappell KINGSTON, May 23 (Reuters) – Russian aluminum giant Rusal (RUAL.MM) has been making steady payments to Jamaica as part of a 2021 agreement to pay back production taxes it owes the government, according to Jamaican Transport and Mining Minister Audley Shaw. Rusal has paid about 45% so far of a $35 million […]

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