Four people have been taken to hospital after they were mauled by a dog north of Brisbane.

Emergency crews were called to a property after receiving reports of a dog attack in Morayfield about 11.30am.

Queensland Ambulance Service confirmed one man in his 30s was treated by paramedics after receiving a "significant open wound" to his forearm.

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He was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in a stable condition.

A woman in her 40s and a man and a woman, both in their 20s, all suffered abrasions and were transported to Caboolture Hospital.

The dog was seized by animal control officers, according to a City of Moreton Bay Council spokesperson.

"Council received a report from Queensland Ambulance Service this morning about a dog attack incident in Morayfield and is currently investigating," the spokesperson said.

"Our thoughts go out to those who have been impacted."

It’s a plan for how the city is expected to grow over the next 30 years.

Why Justine Ross has named a former PM as her most admired NZer.

Fans are being warned to be vigilant when purchasing music, sport and entertainment tickets after it was revealed goods and services scams have cost Aussies almost $40 million this year.

The warning also comes after the news scammers hacked Australians' Facebook accounts and used their identities to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets to scores of fans who missed out on actual tickets.

To combat the risk of music lovers falling victim to sophisticated scams, banks are developing more proactive alerts for digital banking to help customers spot red flags.

READ MORE: Catfishing victim thought she was in love with Alex O'Loughlin

National Australia Bank (NAB) has extended the proactive alerts it introduced in March to include ticket and marketplace scams.

The alerts present customers with a real-time alert in the NAB app or NAB internet banking if a payment shows signs it could be a scam.

The banking giant is also launching a series of new ads warning Australians about ticket scams across platforms including Spotify, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace.

NAB security advisory and awareness manager Laura Hartley said it was important Australians were aware of red flags when purchasing tickets online.

"Be extremely cautious about buying tickets online via social media," she said.

"We're hearing about criminals hacking social media profiles and selling bogus concert tickets to the account owner's friends, who aren't aware someone else is controlling the account.

"Even if it's a friend you legitimately know, pick up the phone and talk to them directly before sending money.

"Contact your bank immediately if you think you've been scammed." 

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Data shows millennials are the most likely group to lose money to buying and selling scams.

"Scammers play on our FOMO (fear of missing out) for concert tickets, often responding to fans who post on social media looking for tickets or listing bogus ones online that don't actually exist," Hartley said.

"While many customers ultimately complete their payment after receiving an alert, we know they are stopping and pausing because we see around $220,000 worth of payments abandoned daily."

Australians have reported losing $39,354,405 to buying and selling scams in 2023, according to data submitted to the government's ScamWatch service.

Thousands of Australians in Lebanon have been urged by the federal government to leave immediately amid warnings there is no guarantee the country's main airport will remain open.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts told the ABC today he understood there were about 15,000 Australians in the Middle Eastern country.

While he said many had deep family links with Lebanon, they should be wary of the Israel Hamas conflict potentially spreading through the region.

READ MORE: Australians trapped in Gaza freed after Egypt crossing opens

"I understand the deep roots and sort of the reluctance to leave but our strong advice to Australians in Lebanon is take the option to leave now," Watts said.

"We can't make any guarantees that for example, Beirut airport will remain open if the conflict spreads to the south of Lebanon and at that point, departure options become much more complex and much more difficult.

"We're really strongly encouraging Australians in Lebanon, take the opportunity now to leave because we don't know what their situation is going to look like in the coming days, in the coming weeks."

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"It may become much more difficult to leave and again may become much more difficult for the Australian government to assist you to leave."

Fighting continues on Lebanon's southern border with Israel where Hezbollah — a Lebanese armed group backed by Iran — has its main base.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of communities along the Lebanese border.

Watts said that 65 Australians remain stranded in Gaza.

READ MORE: School to stay closed after boy dies under lift

Overnight a number of Australians who have been trapped in the territory were able to cross into Egypt after the crucial Rafah border crossing opened for the first time after more than three weeks of siege.

At least 20 Australians had been among the 300 that crossed the border.

– Reported with CNN

New data has shown which Aussies love where they live the most.

Scammers posing as Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin are preying on vulnerable female fans of the Hawaii Five-O star, with some victims losing tens of thousands of dollars to catfishing schemes.

9news.com.au first revealed in February the case of a NSW woman who lost $35,000 to a catfisher who claimed to be O'Loughlin.

Since then, 9news.com.au has been contacted by several O'Loughlin fans who said they believed they were in love with O'Loughlin, only to be left gutted after finding out they had been catfished.

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One of those women is Jane, who asked for her surname to be withheld, from Wollongong, south of Sydney.

For more than two years – from May 2021 until last month in September – Jane thought she was in a relationship with O'Loughlin and that they were going to get married.

In order to convince her that they were legitimate, Jane's scammer deepfaked video calls and sent her mocked-up photos of a passport, driver's licence and divorce certificate – all purportedly belonging to O'Loughlin. 

Over the two-year period, the scammer wiped out Jane's entire life savings of $45,000.

"It's broken me. I've had to move back in with my parents because I couldn't afford to pay the rent," Jane, who works as a cleaner, said.

9news.com.au does not suggest O'Loughlin, who is based in Hawaii, has any connection in any way to Jane's scammer, or any of the others. Instead his identification has been illegally used to trick others.

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O'Loughlin's Australian representative previously told 9news.com.au the actor's agent and lawyer in the US were aware of the matter.

O'Loughlin's US agent did not respond to 9news.com.au's requests for comment for this latest story.

The scammers are known to set up fake social media accounts under the same name as the 47-year-old Canberra-born actor, who starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in the 2010 movie, The Back-up Plan.  

Jane said the nightmare all started for her when she liked a Facebook account called "Alex O'Loughlin Private".

Soon after, she received a message from another Facebook account, named "Alex O'Loughlin official".

"The message just said, 'Hi, how long have you been a fan?' And he asked what movies did I like him in," Jane said.

After a month of exchanging messages on Facebook, the scammer directed Jane to move their chat to the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

"He said he wanted us to be able to chat in private, where no one could hack into his account and find the messages," Jane said.

It was then that the scammer made his first request for money, asking Jane to join an exclusive O'Loughlin membership club for $3000.

"I paid it out of my tax return, I gave him my whole tax return," she said.

Savings and salary drained

Jane was directed to pay the money in Bitcoin, with instructions for how to purchase the online currency on a trading platform coming via email from someone claiming to be O'Loughlin's manager.

Over the next few months the relationship turned romantic, Jane said, with the scammer masquerading as O'Loughlin telling her he had divorced his wife.

While Jane said she was sceptical about why a famous actor would want to pursue a relationship with her, a woman he had never met, the scammer had all the right answers.

"I called him on it and said, 'I'm just an ordinary woman, why would you be interested in me?' He told me he knew heaps of people who married people who weren't famous," she said.

Over hundreds of messages, the scammer professed his love for Jane, sending photos of a ring and vowing they would get married.

But, all the while, there were demands for cash, with the scammer claiming his ex-wife had blocked access to his bank account.

"He said he got into a car accident with Scott (O'Loughlin's co-star Scott Caan on Hawaii Five-O) and there were hospital bills," Jane said.

"They wanted money for everything, his power even got cut off at one point," she said.

"I had $15,000 saved and then each week, when I would get paid from work, I would send the money to him." 

Jane paid thousands of dollars for the man she believed was O'Loughlin to fly out to Australia to meet her this year.

The visit also came with requests for money to pay for security, aviation fuel and to fix a fault on the private plane.

Things turned farcical, however, when the scammer, posing as O'Loughlin's manager, claimed the actor had been kidnapped after touching down in Australia and a ransom was being demanded.

"That's when I started to get suspicious," Jane said. 

"If someone that high-profile got kidnapped it would be all over the news, it would be everywhere.

"The manager wanted $5000 and I refused to pay it. I said, 'Send me the ransom note and I will take it to the police' and he said, 'no'."

Jane said was still trying to deal with the emotional and financial fallout from the scam, adding that she felt too ashamed to tell her friends or family what had happened.

"I now know it's all lies. I can't even watch him on TV anymore without bursting into tears – I just change the channel," she said. 

'I need help'

Jane said she was still responding to the scammer's messages and had reported the case to police in Australia and Hawaii.

However, police were yet to follow up on the matter, Jane said, adding she felt like she was left with nowhere to turn.

"I need help, but it seems like there is no one who will look into this," she said.

Romance scams are one of the most common ways Australians are being defrauded out of their savings, but the true extent remains unknown as many victims are too embarrassed to come forward.

So far this year, Australians reported $27.5 million in romance scam losses to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Scamwatch.

The most common delivery method for romance scams is via social media. 

Meta, the owners of Facebook, advises users to check whether an account is verified in a bid to avoid celebrity impersonation scams.

A celebrity's account will carry a blue tick if it has been verified.

Have you got a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au

The United States has pledged to accelerate its delivery UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Australia's armed forces after a fatal crash forced the grounding of the ADF's Taipan fleet.

Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the delivery of the helicopters will be sped up after he met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).

The 40 Black Hawks are replacing Australia's MRH-90 Taipan helicopters on a faster-than-normal timeline, following the crash of an MRH-90 off Queensland in July.

READ MORE: Hope for Australians trapped in Gaza as Rafah border crossing opens

All four crew were killed and the tragedy led to the grounding of all the Defence force's Taipan helicopters.

Marles said the Black Hawks would be delivered to Australia sooner than expected, but refused to give details about the timeline.

They are estimated to cost the federal government $2.8 billion.

"Not going into specifics, but the number and timing has been sped up," he said.

He said the agreement aimed to close capability gaps for the ADF created by the grounding of the Taipans.

"This will make a difference in ensuring that we move to the new capability as quickly as possible, and that we minimise capability gaps," he said.

Before the deadly crash off North Queensland, the Taipans were scheduled to be retired from service by December 2024.

Investigations into the incident are continuing.

"We've been completely clear that it is a capability challenge that we've grounded the fleet and made clear that we won't be flying [the MRH-90] again," Marles said.

A number of Australians who have been trapped in Gaza have been able to cross into Egypt after the crucial Rafah border crossing opened for the first time after more than three weeks of siege.

The first civilians – dozens of dual passport holders and seriously injured – were allowed to leave Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes pounded a refugee camp for the second day.

At least 20 Australians had been among the 300 that crossed the border overnight.

The opening of the crossing into Egypt has spurred hope that the almost 100 Australians trapped in the besieged enclave will be able to leave as part of the sanctioned exodus.

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At least 34 Australians are named in a spreadsheet of foreign nationals approved to enter Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

Hundreds of foreign nationals were waiting at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza on Wednesday morning (night AEDT), after a deal was reportedly brokered to bring them out.

Jordan said the process of evacuating its citizens had begun, while Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera news reported that the first group of Egyptian dual nationals had crossed the border.

Three sources close to the matter have told CNN that up to 500 foreigners are expected to cross out of Gaza at Rafah, in what would be a significant breakthrough following weeks of Israeli airstrikes across the densely populated strip that have killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian crisis.

In an initial update on Wednesday afternoon (Thursday morning AEDT), Palestinian authorities said 110 foreign passport holders had departed Gaza. It is not yet clear if all those foreign passport holders have crossed into Egypt.

By mid-afternoon, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority said six buses carrying 335 foreign passport holders had left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

The authority said the plan was for more than 400 foreign passport holders to leave for Egypt. Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees because of fears Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war.

Their exit follows a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, in coordination with the US, that would allow for the release of foreign nationals and critically injured civilians from Gaza, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The agreement is separate from any hostage negotiations, the source added.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera television, one of the few media outlets still reporting from northern Gaza, aired footage of devastation in the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City and of several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.

The Hamas-run government said the strikes killed and wounded many people, but the exact toll was not yet known.

The Al-Jazeera footage showed nearly identical scenes as the day before, with dozens of men digging through the gray rubble of demolished multistory buildings in search of survivors.

The opening of the crossing raises hope that the 88 Australians who are in the Gaza Strip will be able to leave the territory.

READ MORE: 'Children carrying injured children': Witness describes refugee camp horror

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been in contact with those citizens to tell them about the potential of the border opening today.

"The Australian government is assisting 88 individuals in Gaza, including Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family members," a DFAT spokesperson said before the crossing opened.

"We understand the situation is extremely distressing for them and their loved ones.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is communicating with all individuals registered with us in Gaza about departure options, including to make them aware of the possibility of the opening of the Rafah border on 1 November.

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"Consular officials in Cairo are ready to provide support to those Australians and their family members who cross into Egypt.

"Australia continues to work with authorities and support international efforts to establish a safe passage corridor both for humanitarian supplies and for Australians and their family members who want to depart Gaza."

But communicating with the Australians on the ground is becoming increasingly difficult, with phone and internet connectivity in Gaza once again cut off.

Internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org has told the Associated Press that the territory "is in the midst of a total or near-total telecoms blackout" in line with the blackout imposed over the weekend.

READ MORE: Why does Israel refuse to call intensified Gaza war an invasion?

Connectivity was previously cut from late Friday (early Saturday AEDT) to early Sunday, coinciding with the entry of large numbers of ground troops into Gaza in what Israel described as a new stage in the war.

Rafah is the only Gazan border crossing not controlled by Israel. While it has been opened to allow limited aid convoys into the enclave, no people have been allowed out of Gaza through the crossing since the start of the recent conflict escalation. 

Egyptian military personnel and tanks were seen near Rafah before the opening of the border.

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In addition to foreign nationals, 81 severely wounded Palestinians are set to be allowed out of Gaza through the crossing.

An Egyptian border official told CNN the civilians from Gaza will be allowed to travel for treatment in hospitals in Egypt.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media, said the patients were "seriously injured" and the Rafah border crossing is set to open on Wednesday morning (tonight AEDT) to allow them to pass.

The 81 patients are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals across Gaza, many of whom require surgical intervention in operating rooms that is not currently available in Gaza, the director of Al Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Silmiyeh, told CNN.

They will be discharged from the hospitals in Gaza and then complete their treatments in a field hospital in Egypt's Sheikh Zuweid city, he added.

READ MORE: Israeli human rights group slams 'horrifying' refugee camp bombing

The director of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, Khaled Zayed, also confirmed the location of the field hospital to CNN, saying Egypt is "ready to receive them".

The news comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalates in the face of Israel's siege.

Already one of the most densely populated places on the planet, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have left the north of the territory to flee Israel's developing ground assault and air strikes.

Overnight, the Israeli military attacked a refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing a high number of civilians, including children, in order to strike a senior Hamas commander.

A new plan which aims to ensure all Australians diagnosed with cancer get the same treatment – no matter where they live, what kind of cancer they have or their background – has been launched by the federal government.

Health sector figures say the wide-ranging initiative aims to improve prevention, screening, treatment and management of all types of the disease which is the nation's biggest killer, taking the lives of 135 Aussies every day.

Cancer Australia CEO Professor Dorothy Keefe told 9news.com.au the plan was developed after asking patients what they wanted.

READ MORE: Subtle sign little boy had devastating disease

"At the moment we have some of the best cancer outcomes in the world," Keefe said.

"But that's not true for everybody.

"So there are certain different cancers that don't have the best outcome, certain priority populations that don't have the best outcomes.

"The aim of the plan is to improve it for everyone, wherever they are in Australia."

READ MORE: 'Too late for me': Cancer patient's plea over screening plan

Two years to be diagnosed

It took two years for former teacher Ray Suttie, 75, to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Despite the grandfather, from Ballarat in regional Victoria, registering elevated levels on the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test which can flag prostate cancer, no follow-up was done.

When he queried it, he was told his GP had left.

After struggling to get another GP to follow up, he did eventually get a diagnosis, but almost two years had passed since that initial test.

He believes if he had been in a city he would have been diagnosed faster.

"There's only a smaller amount of urologists to see in Ballarat," he said.

"In the city, there's a stack of them."

Once Suttie was finally diagnosed, his local hospital didn't have the ability to perform keyhole surgery, which meant his recovery took much longer.

Luckily, the cancer – which is the most commonly diagnosed in Australian men – hadn't spread and he has recovered.

Suttie said health authorities must include better provision of GPs in regional and rural areas.

"If you're in a country town in NSW, Victoria, you've got to get an appointment with a GP – and there's no GPs," he said.

Health Minister Mark Butler said Australia has some of the best cancer outcomes in the world – but not for everyone.

"The burden of cancer is increasing, with more than 164,000 Australians estimated to be diagnosed this year," Butler said.

"Our Australian Cancer Plan responds to patients' concerns that the health system is hard to navigate and will ensure no one falls through the gaps."

Do you have a story? Contact journalist Sarah Swain at ss****@******om.au

Charity Movember will also be involved.

Famous for encouraging men to grow moustaches in November, it will join Monash University in a $17.5 million plan to share the experiences of cancer patients.

It is estimated around two in five Aussies will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85.

"Australians who are diagnosed with cancer expect that their treatment teams will have the best possible information on hand, to support the best possible outcomes," Movember CEO Michelle Terry said.

"By providing a world-first platform for clinicians to understand the outcomes and lived experiences of patients, we can rapidly advance personalised cancer care; bridging the gap between evidence and clinical practice to improve patient outcomes."

The new plan will complement a scheme to tackle cancer in indigenous communities.

First Nations Australians are almost one and a half times more likely to die from cancer compared to non-Indigenous Australians.