BBC: New Zealand Covid: Men caught smuggling KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland. “NZ police have made a bizarre arrest after a pair of alleged gang associates were caught trying to enter Auckland with a boot full of KFC chicken and tens of thousands of dollars.”
ABC News (Australia): Online activity during COVID lockdowns sees surge in cyber attacks and espionage. “In its second annual threat report, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has revealed over 67,500 cybercrime reports were made in the last financial year, a jump of 13 per cent on the previous 12 months. About one-quarter of cyber incidents reported to the ACSC last year were associated with Australia’s critical infrastructure or essential services, including education, communications, electricity, water and transport.”
ABC News (Australia): Race to save frogs, quokkas, parrots and koalas from extinction helped by new threat database . “Researchers across Australia have spent 18 months forming the database of threats forcing species to the brink of extinction. The list of more than 1,700 species was done to help wildlife warriors and organisations stop foreshadowed declines in flora and fauna populations, and even possible extinctions.”
9 News: More Melburnians defying lockdown rules this time around, data suggests. “The number of Melburnians defying lockdown restrictions is much higher than it was during lockdown last year, exclusive Google mobility data obtained by 9News has revealed. Tracking data from Google has indicated non-essential shopping and recreation in Melton is only 21 per cent less than what it was pre-pandemic.”
The Guardian: ‘Every message was copied to the police’: the inside story of the most daring surveillance sting in history . “Billed as the most secure phone on the planet, An0m became a viral sensation in the underworld. There was just one problem for anyone using it for criminal means: it was run by the police.”
BBC: Australia media can be sued for social media comments, court rules. “Australian news outlets can be held liable for defamatory comments posted by readers on their social media posts, the nation’s top court has found. The landmark ruling could have wide implications for how Australian news firms and others use social media.”
The Conversation (Australia): Facebook or Twitter posts can now be quietly modified by the government under new surveillance laws. “A new law gives Australian police unprecedented powers for online surveillance, data interception and altering data. These powers, outlined in the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill, raise concerns over potential misuse, privacy and security.”
News Australia: NSW Health limits residents of locked-down tower block to six beers per day. “Residents in apartment blocks locked-down by NSW Health are having their alcohol deliveries policed as part of a policy to limit the number of drinks being consumed each day. NSW Health has imposed rules limiting people in ‘NSW Health controlled buildings’ to a certain amount of alcohol each day in a bid to “ensure the safety of health staff and residents”.”
BBC: Covid: Sydney reveals plan to end months-long lockdown. “Australia’s biggest city Sydney is likely to ease out of lockdown from next month, provided a vaccination threshold is reached. The New South Wales (NSW) state capital has been in lockdown since July due to a Delta variant outbreak. The state government released its much-anticipated ‘roadmap to freedom’ on Thursday.”
HuffPost: Film Archive Releases Colorized Footage Of Last Known Tasmanian Tiger. “An Australian film archive released colorized footage of the last known Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, this week ― 85 years after the species went extinct. The short video was filmed at a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania in 1933 and shows the thylacine, named Benjamin, padding around a small enclosure. Benjamin died in captivity three years later and the Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct.”
BBC: Covid: Australia records 1,000th death from the pandemic. “A recent surge in infections in Sydney has challenged Australia’s response strategy and strained health resources. On Monday, New South Wales state – of which Sydney is capital – reported four new deaths and another daily record of 1,218 cases. Authorities warned that death and hospitalisation rates would increase into October, even as more people got vaccinated.”
EurekAlert: New archaeological discoveries highlight lack of protections for submerged Indigenous sites. “New archaeological research highlights major blind spots in Australia’s environmental management policies, placing submerged Indigenous heritage at risk. The Deep History of Sea Country (DHSC) project team have uncovered a new intertidal stone quarry and stone tool manufacturing site, as well as coastal rock art and engravings, during a land-and-sea archaeological survey off the Pilbara coastline in Western Australia.”
The Mandarin: New tool forecasts number of COVID-19 infections on international flights. “More than 48,000 COVID-19 cases would have entered Australia between January and May last year had the federal government not implemented travel bans, according to new research by CSIRO and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The research has shown that Australia successfully lowered the number of imported COVID-19 cases by 88% over that same period, to around 6,000 cases.”
BBC: Australian farmer draws heart with sheep in tribute to aunt. “Like so many families separated during the pandemic, Ben Jackson wasn’t able to say goodbye to a loved one. The Australian farmer was 400km (248 miles) away in New South Wales when his Aunt Debby lost her two-year cancer battle in Queensland. Restrictions forbade him from travelling to Brisbane to attend her funeral. So he turned instead to his own sheep and pasture to show his love, laying out grain in the shape of a heart.”
