Tag Archives: oceania

Trump taking on Apple with his own phone company

2025-06-17 FreeNews

The Trump Organisation is licensing the Trump name for a new wireless mobile phone service that is being marketed to the president's supporters and puts the brand in competition with major US carriers such as AT&T and Verizon and smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung.

"A big part of what we've done … has been focused on technology for people who have been underserved, whether that's been in crypto or anything else, but one of the places where we felt there was lackluster performance was in the mobile industry," Donald Trump Jnr said at an event at Trump Tower in New York.

A website for the project advertises a $US47.45 a month plan, an apparent reference to President Donald Trump's terms as the 47th and 45th president of the United States.

The Trumps emphasised the new mobile company's focus on American-made devices — a gold-hued "T1" smartphone was available for pre-order Monday for $499 — and US-based services.

"You're not calling up call centres in Bangladesh," Eric Trump told Fox Business. "You're doing it right out of St Louis, Missouri."

"With Trump Mobile, we're going to be introducing an entire package of products," Trump Junior said, including telemedicine, roadside assistance and unlimited texting.

The announcement, timed to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the day Donald Trump took the golden escalator down to announce his 2016 presidential run, marks the latest expansion of the Trump family business into tech, cryptocurrencies and media.

The vast and growing scale of the Trump family businesses — which include long-held real estate and casino holdings along with more recent forays into digital finance and branded items — has deepened concerns about the president's willingness to flout ethical conventions while in office.

The White House has repeatedly denied any suggestion of impropriety.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has previously said it was "ridiculous" that anyone would suggest Trump is "doing anything for his own benefit" and that the White House holds itself to the "highest of ethical standards".

The Trump Organisation is the main holding company for President Trump's private businesses, and it is run by his eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr.

The mobile service will work with all three major wireless carriers, the Trump Organisation said.

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WhatsApp to start showing ads to users in parts of the messaging app

2025-06-17 FreeNews

WhatsApp users will start seeing ads in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people that use the messaging service.

Advertisements will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day. However, they won't appear where personal chats are located, WhatsApp developers said.

“The personal messaging experience on WhatsApp isn’t changing, and personal messages, calls and statuses are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be used to show ads,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.

WhatsApp will soon include advertisements on some parts of the app.

It’s a big change for the company, whose founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009.

Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 and the pair left a few years later.

Parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has long been trying to generate revenue from WhatsApp.

WhatsApp said ads will be targeted to users based on information like their age, the country or city where they're located, the language they're using, the channels they're following in the app, and how they're interacting with the ads they see.

WhatsApp said it won't use personal messages, calls and groups that a user is a member of to target ads to the user.

It's one of three advertising features that WhatsApp unveiled on Monday as it tries to monetise the app's user base.

Channels will also be able to charge users a monthly fee for subscriptions so they can get exclusive updates. And business owners will be able to pay to promote their channel's visibility to new users.

Most of Meta's revenue comes from ads. In 2025, the Menlo Park, California-based company's revenue totalled US$164.5 billion ($AUD 252.3 billion) and US$160.6 billion ($AUD 246.3 billion) of it came from advertising.

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‘Distressing’: Hundreds of Aussies trying to flee Iran and Israel

2025-06-16 FreeNews

Hundreds of Australians have asked for government help to leave Iran and Israel as the conflict between the two countries trade deadly missile attacks in a worsening crisis.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong revealed the figures today while calling for de-escalation on the fourth day of the conflict.

She said about 350 Australians in Iran and 300 in Israel had registered with the government for help to leave the region.

"I understand how concerned, how distressed many Australians are about what is occurring," she said from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade crisis centre.

"I understand, particularly those who are in the Middle East, in Israel or Iran, how worrying this situation is, how frightening it is.

"And I also recognise, for families of people who are in the region this is a distressing time."

She said the Australian government was looking at all contingencies and planning for assisted departures when safe.

"What I would say is, at the moment, airspace is closed," she said.

"This means that governments have closed down airspace because of the risk of strikes on civilian aircraft.

"So obviously we have to wait until airspace is open before we can try to get people out by air."

Meanwhile, Australians were urged to shelter in place and pay attention the advice from the Australian and local governments, as the foreign minister called on Israel and Iran to show restraint.

"No one doubts the threat Iran poses. We have long been speaking about this as an international community. We have long put sanctions in place," she said.

"We have, Australia has, been part of the pressure that has been applied to the Iranian regime in relation to their nuclear program and their non-proliferation obligations. So no one doubts that.

"The question is, what do you do about it? Is your response going to risk dire consequences for the region.

"Our call for diplomacy, for dialogue, for de-escalation, is the same call that is being made by the United Kingdom, by Canada, by France, by so many countries around the world, and it's consistent with what President Trump has said."

Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early on Monday, killing at least five people, while Israel claimed it had achieved air superiority over Tehran and could fly over the Iranian capital without facing major threats.

The Israeli military said it had destroyed more than 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers in central Iran, a third of Iran's total. It also said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.

"At this time, we can say that we have achieved full aerial superiority over Tehran's skies," said military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

Israeli strikes "amount to a deep and comprehensive blow to the Iranian threat", he said.

Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure that have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday.

Israel said so far 24 people have been killed and more than 500 injured as Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones.

The latest conflict began when Israel launched an assault on Iran's top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists that it said was necessary to prevent its long time adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so.

Iran has retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. The back-and-forth has raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.

– Reported with Associated Press

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Man arrested after woman’s body found in Sydney bushland

2025-06-16 FreeNews

A man has been arrested after a woman's body was found in bushland in Sydney's west.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances of how the 47-year-old's body ended up in a reserve at Werrington, near Penrith.

In an attempt to identify her, police today focused on a nearby apartment and garage – where multiple people live.

It was about 1.15pm yesterday when a passerby made the grim discovery of remains found face down and partially naked.

Door-knocking today led police to a Parkes Avenue address, turning the unit inside out while also examining the garage.

"Two police officers knocked on my door and asked if I'd seen any homeless people around lately and I said, 'No I haven't'," one resident said.

About 6pm tonight, police arrested a 47-year-old man at a home on Powell Street, Hobartville.

He has not been charged and it's unclear if he has any links to the Parkes Avenue address.

Despite gathering a mountain of evidence, there was still no confirmation on who the woman was or how she died.

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Police narrow search for gunmen after Australian man killed in Bali shooting

2025-06-16 FreeNews

Indonesian police believe they know the identity of the shooters responsible for the death of a Melbourne man in Bali over the weekend.

Detectives this afternoon revealed they had identified the masked men who opened fire on Sanar Ghanim and Zivan Radmanovic in a Bali Villa on Saturday.

Radmanovic, 32, was gunned down in the bathroom as his wife hid under the covers in the bedroom next door.

His friend Ghanim was bashed and shot several times in the attack.

He was released from hospital and transported to a new Canggu apartment today.

Doctors are still awaiting consent from Radmanovic's family to proceed with an autopsy.

They claim an external examination shows the Seabrook man sustained wounds from blunt-force trauma to the face, chin, torso and legs.

9News has confirmed both men have been living on the holiday island for the past few months.

They are known to police in Victoria.

Ghanim shares a child with Roberta Williams' eldest daughter Danielle.

The fatal shooting is being treated as an organised hit and police believe those responsible are Australian.

Police suspect they have fled Bali but remain in Indonesia.

If they are arrested on Indonesian soil they will face the death penalty.

The AFP says it currently has no involvement in the manhunt.

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Police investigating broad daylight road rage attack on Gold Coast

2025-06-16 FreeNews

A video has surfaced on social media showing a man punching through a car window in broad daylight on the Gold Coast.

The footage shows traffic at a standstill on Currumburra Road in Ashmore as the driver of a silver Volkswagen ute is punched through the window of his car by another driver standing in the middle of the road.

The ute is then seen to make an illegal U-turn, driving over a median strip to pull up in front of a white Holden Commodore sedan.

The sedan then swerves around the ute before a chase appears to unfold.

The video has been viewed more than three million times on Facebook.

Police are investigating despite not receiving a complaint.

"No complaints have been made by either of those drivers at this stage however we are making enquiries to locate those drivers," Acting Superintendent Michelle Piket said.

"I just encourage everyone to be calm when they're driving to make sure everyone gets to their location safely."

Police are preparing for Operation Cold Snap, which will target dangerous driving during the school holidays.

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Coastal town rocked after ‘lovely’ Queensland woman stabbed to death

2025-06-16 FreeNews

A woman who was stabbed to death in her coastal Queensland home has been described as "energetic" and "lovely".

Angela Gauld, 58, suffered a single stab wound to her chest during an alleged attack at her home on Creekside Esplanade in Cooloola Cove about 7.15pm yesterday.

Despite being treated at the scene, she died of her injuries.

Stabbing victim Angela Guald, 58

Detective Craig Mansfield said a weapon was seized and police were yet to establish a motive.

"At this point in time it's being treated as a suspicious death," he said.

Gauld's death has rocked the township situated between Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay, with neighbours describing her as "energetic" and "lovely".

Police are questioning a man aged in his 50s who was at the residence at the time of her death.

Police are investigating the fatal stabbing north of Gympie

Mansfield said the man was an associate of Gauld's.

Forensic specialists and detectives were still scouring the crime scene today.

A post-mortem will be conducted tomorrow, according to police.

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Woman’s caffeine death blamed on ambulance ramping

2025-06-16 FreeNews

The caffeine overdose death of an aspiring cancer researcher who waited more than seven hours for an ambulance was preventable, a coroner has found.

Christina Lackmann, 32, died in her Melbourne apartment in April 2021 after calling triple zero because she couldn't get off the floor and was feeling dizzy, light-headed and numb.

She died alone in her bathroom.

The Victorian Ambulance Union is arguing an Ambulance Victoria (AV) intensive care crew shouldn't have been stuck in a corridor with a non-urgent patient when a man in cardiac arrest needed help.

Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald has ruled in inquest findings that if she had been treated sooner, she likely would have survived.

Fitzgerald highlighted errors in the response to Lackmann's triple zero call, including being unable to transfer her call to a health practitioner for further assessment.

She was categorised as a non-acute/non-urgent Code 3 which was deemed suitable for secondary clinical triage.

At no time during the call did Lackmann disclose that she had taken caffeine tablets, or what had caused her symptoms.

She was told to keep her phone line free so she could be called back.

Ambulance Victoria staff attempted to call her back 14 times and sent one text – but all attempts were left unanswered.

About an hour later, her call priority was upgraded to improve her chances of having an ambulance dispatched.

But two ambulances assigned to her were diverted to higher-priority cases.

Paramedics finally gained access to Lackmann's Caulfield North apartment shortly before 3am, seven hours and 11 minutes after her first triple-zero call.

She was pronounced dead soon after.

An email on Lackmann's phone found that an iHerb order of caffeine tablets had been delivered to her apartment the day she made the call for help.

Despite searches of the apartment, neither the tablets nor their packaging was found.

In her written findings handed down on Friday, Fitzgerald said a toxicological analysis of post-mortem blood samples and stomach contents identified the presence of caffeine at a very high and potentially fatal concentration.

The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine's chief toxicologist, Dimitri Gerostamoulos, explained that the concentration of caffeine detected in Lackmann's blood could not be achieved by drinking excessive amounts of coffee.

Associate Professor Narendra Gunja, a specialist medical practitioner in clinical and forensic toxicology, said caffeine overdoses can become deadly within eight hours of ingestion.

He added if Lackmann had been hospitalised soon after her triple zero call it's likely she would have been asked about what she had taken and in turn be treated appropriately.

Six staff at Ambulance Victoria have been stood down, accused of being at the heart of an alleged fraud scandal. Their union blasted senior leadership at the emergency service as malicious for leaking the information.

He said it was likely she would have survived the overdose, but said it was difficult to pinpoint an exact time of when her death was preventable because so little was known about when and how much caffeine Lackmann had ingested.

The coroner was damning of Ambulance Victoria's failure to provide care to Lackmann, describing the wait time as "unacceptable" – as more than 80 per cent of their fleet was ramped at major hospitals and unable to respond to emergencies on the night she died.

Ambulance Victoria undertook an internal review and has made changes to its systems.

It is working with the health department to reduce ambulance ramping, which involves paramedics being forced to wait to offload patients outside overcrowded emergency departments.

Victoria's statewide benchmark is for 90 per cent of ambulance patients to be transferred to emergency care within 40 minutes of arrival.

However, latest statewide data showed 69.6 per cent of ambulance patients were admitted to an emergency department within 40 minutes.

The median wait time in March was 26 minutes.

Hospitals have been required to deliver a four per cent improvement in ambulance offload times by the end of June under emergency department standards to reduce ramping.