A rise in cases on the North Shore – including a noticed increase in risk in Redvale – is so far not attributable to the wild party held at a swanky property last weekend.Several influencers have since been dropped by their agenices,…

As the desperate search for missing WA girl Cleo Smith enters its 10th day, a chopper pilot who led the search from the air has admitted things did not look good just hours into day one.

Justin Borg put his chopper into the air mere hours after Cleo was first reported gone from her family's tent at a campground in the tiny town of Carnarvon.

Speaking on Today, Mr Borg said he expected to spot the four-year-old from his helicopter that morning, given the stark, open terrain.

READ MORE: The crucial clue in 30-minute window of Cleo Smith mystery

"First of all … we thought it was just going to be a matter of her wandering off, that we would have found her very quickly," he said.

"Once we hadn't located her after an hour it wasn't looking good."

Mr Borg said a team of experienced stock musterers had been working the ground, while his chopper flew sorties up and down the coastline, looking for Cleo, clues or the young girl's sleeping bag.

"We look under every stone and do not leave a stone unturned," Mr Borg said.

"We know the area well."

His chopper at times hovered just metres above the ground to double-check partially concealed spots or rule out potential clues of significance.

Mr Borg responded to calls to help on the first day.

His chopper and a light plane remain on stand-by if needed to fly more missions by police.

"We are still hoping for a positive outcome," he said.

Police have now shifted away from a possible theory that Cleo simply wandered off from her tent, in the early hours of October 16.

Cleo was staying inside the tent with her mum, Ellie, her mother's partner Jake Gliddon and baby sister Isla.

READ MORE: Colombia captures its 'most feared' drug lord

Mum's plea for help

Ms Smith today posted another heartbreaking message on Instagram, along with pictures of Cleo and Isla together, asking the question "where are you baby" with two broken heart emojis.

"We all need her home," Ms Smith wrote on another image, following a reminder that the Western Australia government has posted a $1 million reward for information about her missing daughter.

Alongside another photograph of Cleo and Isla, Ms Smith wrote: "Best big sister ever."

Police are now focusing on a crucial window between 1.30am and 6am.

Ms Smith said Cleo woke for a drink of water at 1.30am, but that she was gone when the family woke up in the morning.

There has been no sign of her since.

One zip to the tent was reported to be at least partly open, beyond the reach of Cleo, and her sleeping bag was also missing from inside the family tent.

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Hackers are using images of child exploitation as a means of infiltrating the Facebook accounts of some Australians in a horrifying new trend.

Several people have contacted 9news.com.au over the past month to share stories of child abuse images being posted on their personal Facebook account by hackers.

The disturbing images trigger an alert to Facebook which prompts the social media giant to disable the hacked account as it violates its community standards.

Once disabled, the hackers are more easily able to gain control of the person's Facebook account.

READ MORE: Sophie feels like she has "blood on her hands" after working at Facebook

The new technique used by hackers is a variation of one previously reported by 9news.com.au, whereby an image of a flag associated with the terrorist group ISIS is posted on the Facebook account. The image of the ISIS flag also violates Facebook's community standards.

For Victorian mum Tamsyn Cromb, having child exploitation images uploaded onto her Facebook page was a horrifying experience.

Ms Cromb's Instagram account was also hacked during the ordeal, as were her Netflix, Paypal and email accounts.

In a dramatic twist, her hacker even reached out to her via email and tried to blackmail her into sending them Bitcoin.

It all started on October 7, when she logged in to Facebook and saw a notification that one of her posts had violated its community standards.

"There were these little thumbnail images, and I thought, what is this?" she said.

READ MORE: Hackers take control of Aussie singer's Facebook page as high-profile accounts targeted

Ms Cromb said when she zoomed in on the images and was shocked to see they contained child exploitation images.

"It was horrible and actually a bit traumatic to have that posted on my page," she said.

"Some of my friends saw it and they messaged me instantly, saying something really bad is going on with your Facebook."

Ms Cromb then got a bizarre email from her hacker, notifying her of their intentions.

"The English was really bad, but it said I'd been hacked and my information stolen," she said.

"The email actually said this is your password, and it was my password. That was quite freaky."

In the same email, the hacker told Ms Cromb they had webcam footage of her visiting a porn site.

"It said if you pay $500 in bitcoin then we will delete everything and won't make it public," she said.

"That's when I actually starting feeling a bit better because it was so ridiculous. I knew they had nothing on me."

Ms Cromb said she has since tried several methods of regaining her Facebook and Instagram accounts but with no success.

The hacker has changed her usernames, passwords and information associated with her pages.

"Facebook still think that it's me and it's so automated that you can't really get any help," she said.

"You can't even explain under any of their online avenues or speak to anyone in person."

Ms Cromb said her experience had taught her the importance of having different passwords for all of her accounts.

"You kind of think your Facebook is private if it is set to private, but it's not," she said.

"It's really creepy to think that these people have access to my account when all of my posts are usually of my kids."

A Facebook spokesperson said its team was now investigating Ms Cromb's case.

'It all happened in about three minutes that Facebook shut me down'

Victorian mum and police officer Annie Clark was also targeted last month by Facebook hackers in a similar fashion, however, in her case, both child pornography and an image of an ISIS flag was used.

Within minutes of the posts going up on her page, Ms Clark's account was disabled by Facebook.

"I didn't actually see it. It all happened in about three minutes that Facebook shut me down. That's how quickly it happened," Ms Clark said.

Ms Clark's friends were quick to fill her in on what had happened.

"I was told my Facebook profile photo was changed to the ISIS flag," she said. "It was upside down and black with white scribbly writing."

"The next thing that went up was a post with a photo of three boys in a bath. There were nine child porn photos in total that were posted."

Just in case those methods were not enough to get Ms Clark booted from her account, the hacker changed her birthdate, making her appear to be eight years old and too young to have a Facebook account.

"All of a sudden I was underage, I liked ISIS and child pornography, so I think that was all three that ticked the box," she said.

Although she eventually managed to regain control of her Facebook account, Ms Clark said the experience had made her more wary of social media.

"You put all your trust in social media but then when something like this happens you can't even speak to someone at Facebook about what has happened."

A Facebook spokesperson said: "Content that exploits children is not allowed on our services, and we're constantly working to keep anyone, including hackers, from sharing content that violates our policies on our platform."

"We take immediate action to remove illegal activity as quickly as possible. We continue to make significant investments in technology to protect the security of people's accounts."

Facebook recommends users turn on app-based two-factor authentication and alerts to warn about unrecognised logins.

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

The delivery of thousands of packages is likely to be delayed with workers from FedEx having walked off the job around the country.

The delays are expected after mail delivery has already been slowed across the country for weeks due to impacts caused by COVID-19 and lockdowns.

FedEx workers across Australia began a 24-hour strike at 1am over failed negotiations with the company.

READ MORE: Deliveries delayed with Australia Post inundated during Melbourne lockdown

The strike follows industrial action at a number of delivery companies in recent weeks, including StarTrack employees who stood down from work on Thursday.

FedEx workers had also planned to strike last Thursday but paused the industrial action believing they were close to reaching an agreement with the company.

In a written statement, TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said discussions between the workers and FedEx broke down on Thursday "when FedEx attempted to extend the agreement, swindling workers out of repayment for their restraint during a year of record turnover and stifling growth in the future".

According to the TWU, FedEx refused requests to meet again on Friday, prompting today's strike.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-9news-lunch-podcast/oct-25-a-coronavirus-patients-attempted-hospital-e/embed?style=cover

"FedEx workers' good faith has been twisted, exploited and spat back at them. Six other transport operators have settled fair agreements in the last two weeks, but FedEx is determined to keep its foot on workers' necks," Mr Kaine said.

"FedEx is determined to trample all over its workforce trying to achieve job security and parity with their counterparts across the industry.

"Although FedEx raked in record profits above US$5 billion last year, it is going to great lengths to swindle workers out of an agreement which secures their future and allows them to catch up to other major transport operators like Toll and Linfox."

Up to 3000 FedEx workers also walked off the job over the dispute on September 30.

A fatal crash involving a truck and motorbike in Canterbury this morning has raised the holiday weekend road toll to eight deaths – making this among the worst Labour weekends on New Zealand roads over the past decade. Police said…

New Zealand’s daily Covid case numbers have returned to triple figures – and daily vaccinations slowed to one of the lowest totals yesterday.There are 109 new cases of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health says, and with New Zealanders…

High-profile Indigenous Australians are banding together in a bid to lift COVID-19 vaccination rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The campaign, called For All of Us, will include model Samantha Harris, musician Baker Boy, chef Nornie Bero, street artist Tori-Jay Mordey, Paralympian Amanda Reid and renowned didgeridoo player William Barton.

To date, about 45.15 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are fully vaccinated.

READ MORE: New TV ad launched as some states lag behind in vaccine rollout

The project, delivered by the Australian Government Department of Health, conveys the simple message "For our past, for our future, for all of us. Get vaccinated for COVID-19".

Ms Harris reveals she got her vaccine to do her part for her family and community.

READ MORE: COVID-19 vaccine boosters likely to start next month

"I've seen the heartbreak of COVID-19 with people struggling with their mental health, losing their jobs and not being able to be with their families and friends," she said.

"It's important that we understand the risks of getting COVID-19, as well as the benefits of getting the jab."

While vaccination rates are steadily increasing around Australia, there are concerns for some communities falling behind.

Queensland and Western Australia have the lowest rates of all jurisdictions.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-9news-lunch-podcast/oct-25-a-coronavirus-patients-attempted-hospital-e/embed?style=cover

"COVID is absolutely on its way and that's the outcome of opening borders," Queensland Deputy Chief Health Officer Queensland James Smith warned over the weekend.

"COVID-19 will very much come into the community, making vaccination critical."

Russian and Chinese warships have conducted the first ever joint patrol in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

The patrols involved a total of 10 warships, five from each nation, and lasted a week, from Sunday, October 17 to Saturday, October 23, covering 1700 nautical miles, according to the ministry.

The objective of the joint patrol was to "demonstrate the state flags of Russia and China, maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and also protect facilities of both countries' maritime economic activity," the statement read.

READ MORE: The crucial clue in 30 minute window of Cleo Smith mystery

"During the patrol, the group of warships passed through the Tsugaru Strait for the first time," the statement added.

The Tsugaru strait is body of water between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in the northern part of the country, connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to the patrol, the two navies practiced joint tactical exercises and did a series of military drills, the statement added.

The two countries have an ongoing military partnership and have conducted a series of joint military drills, the most high profile of which was 'Vostok 2018', which involved a simulated battle in which a Russian-Chinese coalition fought a fictional enemy.

READ MORE: Colombia captures its 'most feared' drug lord

In August, Russia and China joined forces once again to use a joint command and control system, with Russian troops integrated into Chinese formations, according to a statement by China's defence ministry at the time.

Russia's leader Vladimir Putin has an ally in Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian telling a news briefing in June that the two countries were "united like a mountain" with an "unbreakable" friendship.

Kiwi singing legend Sir Dave Dobbyn has come out in support of the Covid vaccine – but says the fight should be against the virus, not people.The 64-year-old has taken to Facebook to express his views and to declare his own vaccination…