Daily News Round-up

THURSDAY, February 3

Australian billionaire mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has launched criminal proceedings against social media giant Facebook, alleging the company has breached Australia’s money laundering laws by failing to prevent false cryptocurrency advertisements.

In the proceedings lodged in the Western Australia Magistrates Court, Mr Forrest alleges the company repeatedly failed to take down posts by scammers that use his image to promote cryptocurrency investments, which have appeared on the website since March 2019.

He claims that Facebook was “criminally reckless” by failing to take down the false advertisements on the platform, and that the company breached Australia’s money-laundering laws by not doing enough to stop the scams.

Mr Forrest also alleges that Facebook — which has since rebranded to Meta — “failed to create controls or a corporate culture to prevent its systems being used to commit crime”.

The criminal proceedings come after Mr Forrest requested Facebook prevent his image being used to promote cryptocurrency schemes, including in an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019.

In a statement, Mr Forrest said he was launching the “world-first” action on behalf of “everyday Australians” to protect their savings from being “swindled away by scammers”.

“I’m concerned about innocent Australians being scammed through clickbait advertising on social media,” he said.

“I’m committed to ensuring that social media operators don’t allow their sites to be used by criminal syndicates.”

Mr Forrest said he wanted people from around the world protected against similar schemes.

“I want social media companies to use much more of their vast resources and billions of dollars in annual revenue to protect vulnerable people — the people who are targeted and fall victim to these horrible scams with their hard-earned savings,” he said.

“Social media is part of our lives, but it’s in the public interest for more to be done to ensure fraud on social media platforms is eliminated or significantly reduced.

“I’m very serious about this. I’m very serious about preventing bullying, and I’m very serious about doing whatever small part I can do to protect the innocent from exploitation.”

The charges have been brought under Part 10 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, with the consent of the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Mr Forrest said.

An initial hearing into the case will he held in the Western Australia Magistrates Court on March 28.

Mr Forrest said he also launched civil proceedings in California against the company last September, seeking injunctive relief and other remedies.

He said the separate case was pending in the Superior Court of California.

Facebook has been contacted for comment.

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Serbia’s state prosecutors have rejected reports that Novak Djokovic used a fake positive test for COVID-19 to try to enter Australia and defend his Australian Open title, reports AAP..

In a statement on Wednesday, local time, the prosecution office said that it had received a request for criminal proceedings against unnamed individuals who allegedly forged two PCR certificates, which were later used by Djokovic to apply for a medical exemption from vaccination when entering Australia.

“The prosecution acted according to the regulations, checks were performed, and it was determined that Novak Djokovic was tested several times and that the certificates on the test results from December 16, 2021, and December 22, 2021, are valid,” the statement said.

Foreign media, including Der Spiegel and the BBC, had reported discrepancies in the serial numbers of the tests Serbian authorities administered to the top-ranked Djokovic ahead of his trip to Australia, suggesting possible irregularities in the way they were issued.

Senior Serbian health officials have previously said that Djokovic’s test was valid.

Djokovic was deported from the country and barred from playing in the Australian Open last month after an 11-day visa saga on the eve of the tournament began because he failed to meet strict COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

To enter Australia, Djokovic submitted a positive COVID-19 test issued in Serbia on December 16 for a visa exemption on the grounds that he had recently recovered from the virus.

The 34-year-old player is not vaccinated and the Australian government later decided to cancel his visa and deport Djokovic, saying his presence in Australia could stir anti-vaccination sentiments.

Djokovic’s rival, Rafael Nadal, won the Australian Open for a record 21st men’s grand slam title, leaving the Serb and his other big rival, Roger Federer, both trailing on 20 major titles.

In his native Serbia, Djokovic is adored. Since he returned home, he was seen visiting churches and attending liturgies in both Serbia and neighbouring Montenegro.

On Thursday, Djokovic is set to visit Serbia’s populist President, Aleksandar Vučić, who has been vocal in denouncing the Australian authorities for deporting the tennis star.

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New Zealanders who have been stranded in Australia, unable to win a place in their country’s hotel quarantine system, will be able to go home from February 27. 

Their fellow citizens stuck in other parts of the world will have to wait until March 13 to make the journey.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the changes during a speech this morning and detailed a new plan for how she intends to reconnect New Zealand to the world. 

The country still has strict border policies in place and citizens located across the world have been forced to enter a lottery to win a place in New Zealand’s hotel quarantine system. 

Today, Ms Ardern announced that policy would now change. 

“The tools we used yesterday to help battle this health crisis, they won’t stay the same,” she said. 

She said there was “no question” the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system “has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic”.

From the end of the month, instead of facing a bottleneck at hotel quarantine, returning New Zealanders will be allowed to isolate at home. 

It’s expected Australian tourists, and other travellers from visa-waiver countries, will be allowed in under similar conditions “no later than” July. 

Visa holders, including international students and migrant workers, will be allowed in and to isolate at home from mid-April. 

Non-visa holders can expect to enter New Zealand in October. 

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Ash Barty and Emma McKeon, the Australian superstars who lit up international sport in 2021, will now go head-to-head for a global sports prize.

Both Barty, the world’s leading women’s tennis player who has just captured the Australian Open singles crown, and McKeon, the record-breaking Olympic swimming champ, have been nominated for the prestigious Laureus 2022 Sportswoman of the Year accolade.

Meanwhile, emphasising what a breakthrough year it was for Australian sportswomen, another Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus has been shortlisted for the Breakthrough of the Year award in world sport’s annual “Oscars”.

Barty or McKeon could become the first Australian athlete since Cathy Freeman to win the award after Wednesday’s unveiling of shortlists.

Freeman took the honour in 2001 after her heroic performance at the previous year’s Sydney Olympics, where she won the 400 metres at her home Games. In Freeman’s award-winning year, golfer Karrie Webb was also shortlisted for the gong.

Barty is being recognised for her stellar 2021 campaign in which she comfortably retained her place as world number one while also taking the Wimbledon crown among five victories around the world.

The 27-year-old freestyle maestro McKeon took four gold and three bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, tying gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya for most medals ever won by a woman in a single Games.

But Barty and McKeon, though, face tough competition for the award from Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah, the triple sprint champion in Tokyo, American track legend Allyson Felix, US swimming superstar Katie Ledecky and Spain’s Ballon d’Or-winning footballer Alexia Putellas.

The newly-retired Tom Brady will doubtless be a sentimental favourite to win the equivalent men’s award, as his name was announced on the shortlist 24 hours after announcing his retirement from the NFL.

The seven-time Super Bowl winner is nominated, along with Novak Djokovic — who won three tennis grand slams last year — Formula One champ Max Verstappen, Kenyan marathon king Eliud Kipchoge, US quintuple Tokyo gold medallist swim powerhouse Caeleb Dressel and Ballon d’Or-winning striker Robert Lewandowski.

Meanwhile, the young Tasmanian freestyler Titmus made a remarkable impact, beating the great Ledecky, twice, at both 200 and 400 metres in Tokyo, while also earning a silver in the 800m final behind the American.

She’ll face competition for the “breakthrough” award from tennis stars Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu, both surprise champions at the US Open, India’s Olympic javelin champ Neeraj Chopra, Spanish footballer Pedri and world record-breaking triple jumper Yulimar Rojas.

The Team of the Year award will be contested by three football teams in the Argentina and Italy men’s national sides as well as Barcelona Women, as well as NBA champions, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Retiring Aussie wheelchair tennis legend Dylan Alcott was surprisingly not listed for the award for sportsperson of the year with a disability, even though his female Dutch counterpart, Diede de Groot, who achieved the same ”golden slam” of all four grand slams and Paralympic gold, did get nominated.

The nominees were selected by a panel of 1,300 sports journalists globally, with the winners to be announced in April after a vote by the 71 Members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

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A Brisbane religious school has withdrawn a controversial enrolment contract sent to parents last week, after a backlash from parents and the broader community.

The contract demanded families denounce homosexuality and that students identify by birth gender, or risk being excluded from the school.

Citipointe Christian College’s contract describes homosexuality as a sin and compares it to bestiality and paedophilia.

The school’s principal, Brian Mulheran, has written to the school’s parents this morning acknowledging the contract had caused distress and it had been withdrawn “at this time”. 

ENDS