When Sarah's cat went missing and she received a message from somebody claiming to have seen her, she was hopeful.

But the Sydney student, 18, who had posted on Facebook and put up posters about her missing pet, was shocked to discover the person was trying to scam her.

They had created photos of a cat similar to hers using AI and were demanding money.

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"If this happened to me it's going to happen to someone else," she told 9News.

Black cat Cinda, who is 16, escaped at Middle Street in Kingsford in Sydney at 9pm on May 5.

The person who contacted Sarah, by email, claimed to have "found her".

They posted photos that looked like the cat in a car and on a sofa.

But when Sarah questioned them further, they said they wanted $200, with some to be paid by Apple gift card.

"They were like 'I spent my last buck on her'. They were like, 'Are you going to compensate me?'" she said.

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And while like any cat owner Sarah said she'd hand over any amount of money to get her cat back, she started to get suspicious.

She said the photos didn't seem to be her cat.

"I just knew it wasn't her," she said.

She showed them to her boyfriend who also realised something wasn't right.

The messages were also written with strange grammar.

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When Sarah questioned them, they threatened they would "go and sell her".

Sarah said she was onto them but went ahead with their demands to meet at a local supermarket.

She went with her mother but nobody turned up.

"I'd give everything I have for her but we knew it was a scam, " she said.

While the police told her there's nothing they can do, she also reported what happened to Scamwatch.

She's warning other pet owners to beware.

"What they're doing is extortion and it's a crime," she said.

"I would say question it – don't just rely on your own judgement."

Cinda has green eyes, and one of her eyes has brown discolouration. Underneath the black fur on her neck is sparse white fur.

9News has contacted Scamwatch.

If you can have seen the cat, contact reporter Sarah Swain on ss****@******om.au

Brosnan paid $400 for Logan White’s tūī painting at Fresh & Tasty Mangōnui.

The 71-year-old says the theft has stripped her of her freedom and independence.

The National Party leader has emphatically rejected a grand coalition with Labour.

Health experts warn measles is now likely circulating in the Wellington community.

Support has shifted from National to New Zealand First, not to Labour.

An American has tested positive and a French traveller developed symptoms aboard their separate aircraft journey after passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship began flying home aboard military and government planes.

One of the 17 American passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, US health officials said today.

Earlier, one of the five French passengers developed symptoms on their flight home, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a statement, and all were put into strict isolation with plans to be tested.

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Passengers were evacuated from the MV Hondius following its arrival in Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the West African coast.

Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organisation, and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.

The aircraft carrying the Americans was due to arrive in Omaha, Nebraska today.

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They would first be taken to the University of Nebraska, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

"One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms," said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for The Nebraska Medical Centre.

From the ship, all of the passengers were escorted to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks.

Spanish passengers were the first to leave, flown to Madrid and taken to a military hospital.

Hours later, a plane that evacuated French passengers landed in Paris, where it was met by emergency vehicles.

Meanwhile, plans for the Australians from the ship have been revealed.

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Australians will be taken to a Sydney hospital once they arrive home.

NSW Health said it's working with the federal government on the plan for the four Australian passengers from the ship, where three people have died.

They'll be taken to the NSW Biocontainment Centre at Westmead Hospital once they get home from the Canaries, where it is now docked.

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Unveiled in 2023, it is a special unit to isolate patients with rare, highly infectious diseases.

The cruise ship patients will be assessed and have quarantine arrangements planned.

They're due to land in a charter flight in Perth tomorrow.

"These passengers will be closely monitored, and should any develop symptoms, they will be assessed by an infectious diseases physician and be provided appropriate care," NSW Health said.

"The risk to the public is low."

– with Associated Press

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A Victorian carpenter is being taken to court for allegedly threatening to sack a teenage apprentice if he took sick leave.

Caleb Geoffrey Stubbs – a sole trader who operates CS Carpentry in Geelong – is also accused of underpaying the apprentice and another young casual worker and failing to cooperate with Fair Work's attempts to investigate the claims.

The Fair Work Ombudsman launched the investigation after receiving requests for help from the two 18-year-olds who were employed by Stubbs in 2022 and 2023.

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One was employed as an apprentice carpenter between November 2022 and January 2023. and the other as a casual construction worker for a week in November 2022.

According to Fair Work, on the morning of January 19, 2023, the apprentice messaged his employer on Snapchat stating he was unwell and wouldn't be able to work that day.

It's then that Fair Work alleges Stubbs threatened to not pay the apprentice for a week if he didn't come to work and to terminate his employment if he took personal leave in the future.

The carpenter also stands accused of failing to comply with a Compliance Notice from Fair Work in April of the same year, after a Fair Work investigator pursued him for allegedly underpaying the casual worker and failing to pay the apprentice's public holiday and leave entitlements.

Stubbs also allegedly breached pay slip laws.

"Sick leave is a fundamental lawful entitlement," Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Rachel Volzke said.

"Workers have a right to access their leave entitlements without negative consequences.

"Taking action to protect employees who may be vulnerable, such as young workers, and improving compliance in the building and construction industry are priorities for the Fair Work Ombudsman."

Stubbs faces a fine of up to $8250 over the Compliance Notice issue as well as $16,500 for each of the alleged pay slip and adverse action contraventions.

The regulator is also seeking a court order directing Stubbs to comply with the Compliance Notice, including rectifying outstanding payments to the young employees.

The case against Stubbs will be heard in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne on May 21.

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says Australia is in "a real mess" and traced the surge in support for her party to the two majors failing to deliver outcomes for the community.

Her comments come after One Nation won a seat in the House of Representatives for the first time, with David Farley claiming former Liberal leader Sussan Ley's spot in a thumping victory that has sent shockwaves through Australian politics.

Farley secured 57 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, leaving the Liberal Party to poll at just 12 per cent, raising questions about its future.

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Hanson said the result "vindicated" her party and proved it was not a flash in the pan but providing hope for Australians.

"I stuck to my guns, what I believed in," she told 2GB radio in Sydney.

"I felt that the country was in one hell of a mess and the major political parties were not addressing the needs and concerns of the Australian people.

"I just feel that there was no future for our generations to come. And a lot of the young ones were coming up to me and people, whether they were small business, industries, manufacturing, the farming sector, just ordinary Australians saying they had no hope for the future."

She took aim at Liberal leader Angus Taylor, who claimed a rising One Nation vote would only keep Labor in power.

"They are so arrogant, and Angus Taylor is so arrogant with their attitude like it's just a two-party system in Australia," she said.

"He's trying to justify the whole thing… why you should only stick with the two major political parties. He's not going back… he needs to have a good look in the mirror why it's happening this way, because they have not delivered for the Australian people."

She refused to confirm whether she would look to use the uptick in One Nation support to gun for a House of Representatives spot of her own at the 2028 election (Hanson is a senator in the Upper House), but she admitted with the changing fortunes of the party, anything could happen for her and MP Barnaby Joyce.

"When Barnaby came across, he indicated he did want to stand for the Senate. But the way that it's going at the moment, as I said to Barnaby, 'Your position might be better in the lower house.' And that's something that I'm also considering myself," she said.

Joyce reveals next One Nation target

Joyce said the Farrer victory had emboldended One Nation to target urban seats in parts of Sydney with the aim of forming government.

"I tell you what, I've met some people from the western suburbs of Sydney who are pretty happy that One Nation is on the move," he said on Today.

"This is not an issue that is about regional Australia, this is about [all of] Australia."

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He said recent results in Farrer and in the South Australian state election had removed previous tags over the party, and that One Nation was aiming to be in power rather than "maintaining the status quo".

"I don't think people see One Nation as racist; they view them as tough," he said.

"People say Labor are so strong in the western suburbs, Labor didn't even turn up to the Farrer by-election, that's how strong they are."

He also dismissed the idea that the route back to power for the conservative side of politics was to win back inner-city seats.

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"[People say] 'You've got to win back teal seats'; no you don't, you've got to look after people in the regional areas and the western suburbs of the major capitals," he claimed.

Some commentators have suggested the Liberal Party and One Nation could come together to form a Coalition government that could challenge Labor, an idea that was not dismissed by Liberal MP Tim Wilson yesterday.

However, Joyce insisted this was off the table, saying he would rather chase "policy outcomes" than ministries.

"We don't want your ministries, keep your ministries and your salaries. You've got all of the prizes, but you will deliver policy outcomes, because we will not be constricted by cabinet solidarity that has done over the Australian people," he said.

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The US president loves AI content – and his latest "ReTruth" is sure to bait the online crowd into a rage.