Monthly Archives: August 2024

[ad_1] Ministry of Health’s sports initiative sparks change in Micoud  The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] A New South Wales MP that has quit parliament hours after being charged with child sex offence has also been removed as a referee on the biggest day of Sydney’s rugby calendar. NSW MP for Pittwater Rory Amon was charged with five counts of having sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 10 and 14 after he was arrested at Manly police station at 6am on Friday. Amon was also scheduled to officiate Saturday’s Shute Shield rugby grand final between Eastern Suburbs and Northern Suburbs but has been replaced. The Shute Shield grand final is the pinnacle of Sydney rugby and the premier club rugby competition in Australia. Amon was due to help officiate the first grade grand final as the No.5 official at Leichhardt Oval today, but the NSW Rugby Referee’s Association was forced to scramble for a replacement last minute. John McCarthy, who was named as the No.5 official for the preceding match between Eastern Suburbs vs Manly Marlins in second division will double up and also officiate in the first grade match. NSW Rugby referee Rory Amon has been stood down from the Shute Shield first grade grand final today at Leichhardt Oval Amon has vowed to fight ten child sex offences he allegedly committed against a 13-year-old boy. Amon, 35, resigned from his seat in the NSW electorate of Pittwater on Friday – just hours after he was charged with assaulting a teenage boy who was known to him in Mona Vale, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, in 2017. The charges include five counts of having sexual intercourse with person over 10 and under 14, and two counts of attempted sexual intercourse with a child over 10 and under 14. He was also charged with two counts of indecent assault on a person under 16 years of age, and committing an act of indecency with person under 16 years. His lawyers appeared in Manly Local Court on Friday afternoon and tried to block media from identifying him and reporting the allegations, but the application was withdrawn and dismissed. Amon then released a statement maintaining his innocence, and confirming his resignation from the NSW Liberal Party. ‘Today I have been charged in relation to events alleged to have taken place in 2017,’ he said. ‘I deny all charges, and will make my case in the courts, not in the media. Accordingly, I will make no further comment on the case.’  ‘The nature of the charges against me are such that I will be unable to continue to fully represent my community in parliament. As a result, I have tendered my resignation as the Member for Pittwater, effective immediately.’ Rory Amon (pictured) was asked to resign from the NSW Liberal Party on Friday Amon said his constituents deserved a representative who was able to dedicate themselves to the community. ‘As I defend myself against these charges, I will not be able to devote my full energy to representing them,’ he said. ‘Thank you to all those who have supported me. ‘It’s been the greatest honour of my life to represent my community on Northern Beaches Council from September 2017, and as the Member for Pittwater since March 2023.’ Amon was granted conditional bail. He must report to police once daily and he is not allowed to contact the alleged victim or any witnesses for the prosecution. NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman confirmed he asked for Amon’s resignation when he learned about the charges earlier on Friday. ‘The charges against Rory Amon are extremely serious,’ he said in a statement. ‘Upon learning of these charges, I asked for and received Mr Amon’s immediate resignation from the Liberal Party. ‘While Mr Amon is entitled to the presumption of innocence, a criminal trial will be some time away and in the meantime the citizens of Pittwater are entitled to have a member of Parliament who can discharge their duties in the community fully.’ The investigation related to reports of a sexual assault in Mona Vale in Sydney‘s northern beaches in 2017. Liberal MP Rory Amon has been charged with five counts of underage sex with a teenage boy ‘Police were told a teenage boy was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man – who was known to him – at an address in Mona Vale,’ a NSW Police spokesman said. ‘In March 2023, Strike Force NOORAL was established to investigate the incident. ‘Following extensive inquiries, a 35-year-old man was arrested at Manly Police Station about 6am today.’ He was given strict conditional bail to appear at Manly Local Court on September 18. Amon was elected to the Northern Beaches seat of Pittwater last year to replace retiring minister Rob Stokes. He became the Shadow Assistant Minister for Transport and Roads, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure, and the Shadow Assistant Minister for Youth. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb was asked about the charges at budget estimates on Friday. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Robert Borsak asked Ms Webb if she could inform parliament ‘about the processes and charges in relation to Mr Amon’s charging’.  ‘He is currently in custody awaiting an appearance in court, will the police support an application for bail from him?’ he asked.  ‘That will be up to the bail sergeant,’ Ms Webb replied. ‘A bail sergeant … makes the determination, and that’s the decision of the bail sergeant,’ she said. Police Minister Yasmin Catley said she did not know about the charges. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] BBC A picture posted to one of the drugs channels by a member About nine months ago while researching a story, I found myself added to a large Telegram channel which was focused on selling drugs. I was then added to one about hacking and then one about stolen credit cards. I realised my Telegram settings had made it possible for people to add me to their channels without me doing anything. I kept the settings the same to see what would happen. Within a few months, I had been added to 82 different groups. I changed my settings to stop it, but now every time I log on I am treated to thousands of new messages across dozens of extremely active illegal groups. The arrest of Telegram’s billionaire chief executive in France has ignited a debate about moderation on his app. Pavel Durov has been charged for suspected complicity in allowing illicit transactions, drug trafficking, fraud and the spread of child sex abuse images to flourish on his site. There is no doubt that criminality is happening on other social networks too, but my experiment hints at a broader problem that many in law enforcement have been concerned about for years. Here is a flavour of some of the groups to which I have found myself added. My Telegram app has become a one-stop shop for illegal goods, all without me actively searching for new sellers. All the images were posted to the groups, and we have altered the names of the channels so as not to advertise them. Card Swipers group (15,700 members) sells stolen cloned credit cards and ships worldwide. Images and videos show criminals successfully draining ATMs using the faked cards and holding wads of cash Drugs Gardens official (9,119 members) Sells marijuana balls, marijuana cookies, and illegal vapes. Videos and images of products and customer reviews are shared regularly Memories and Drugs (6,253 members) Almost every drug imaginable is being offered for sale, with strings of Telegram channels advertising dozens of vendors in cities all over the world Contraband Network (5,084 members) A group sharing advice, and vendors selling everything from prescription drugs to stolen credit cards and guns Gift cards forum (23,369 members) A marketplace selling fake vouchers and gift cards for AirBnB, Marriott Hotels, American Airlines, Amazon, Apple, Walmart and dozens of other companies New Dawn Market (222 members) Marketplace selling hacking tutorials, malicious software and stolen credit cards and passports It is no wonder some people, like cyber-security podcaster Patrick Gray, have been describing Telegram for months as “the dark web in your pocket”. The dark web is a part of the internet that can only be accessed using specialist software and knowledge. Ever since the launch of the Silk Road marketplace in 2011, there has been a steady conveyor belt of websites selling illegal goods and services. Speaking about the shock arrest of Mr Durov, Mr Gray said on his podcast Risky Business that Telegram has been a haven for crime for a long time. “We are talking about child sexual abuse material, we’re talking about drug sales, we’re talking about absolutely dark web levels of criminality that they’re just doing nothing about,” he said. Telegram has become a popular place for criminals to attract customers Criminals like the dark web because of the anonymity it provides – internet traffic is bounced around the world, obscuring people’s locations. Pinpointing who is behind certain usernames is extremely challenging. Researchers at cyber-security company Intel471 say that “pre-Telegram this activity was predominantly done in online markets hosted using hidden dark web services” but for lower-level, lesser-skilled cyber-criminals, “Telegram has become one of the most popular online destinations”. The hacker group Qilin, which held NHS hospitals to ransom earlier this summer, notably chose to publish stolen blood test data on its Telegram channel before its dark web website. The deepfake service used to create fake nudes of schoolgirls in Spain and South Korea also runs its full service, including payment, on Telegram. There is no doubt that some of this criminality is happening on other platforms as reported previously. Some of the Telegram criminal channels I was added to seem to have a presence on Snapchat, for example, and drug dealers can be found on Instagram too, where deals are no doubt being made in private chats. But drug dealers can often be seen advertising their Telegram channels on those other sites to funnel people to that platform. In January, state police in Latvia set up a separate unit specialising in monitoring chat apps for drug trafficking and communication, and officials have named Telegram as a particular concern. Child abuse material Telegram says that its moderation is “within industry standards”, but this week we have seen evidence to the contrary related to an area of criminality far less visible (and one I did not search for) – child sexual abuse material. On Wednesday, the BBC learned that while Telegram does respond to some takedown requests from police and charities, it is not participating in programmes aimed to proactively prevent the spread of images and videos of child sexual abuse. The app is not a member of either the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or the Internet Watch Foundation – both of which work with all major social networks to find, report and remove such material. Not doing enough to police child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is one of the chief allegations from French prosecutors. “At the heart of this case is the lack of moderation and co-operation of the platform, in particular in the fight against crimes against children,” said Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the secretary general of French child protection agency Ofmin, on LinkedIn. Telegram told the BBC it does proactively search for illegal activity, including child sexual abuse, on its site. It said undisclosed action was taken against 45,000 groups in August alone. The press office did not respond to follow-up questions about this or anything else in this article. In

[ad_1] Building a healthy lifestyle trend with Indonesian flavor  The Jakarta Post [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Since Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire and founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested on landing in Paris on Saturday evening, there has been more speculation than substance about his fate. The headline in a Russian newspaper summed up the story: “The arrest (or detention) of ‘Russia’s Zuckerberg’, Pavel Durov, is one of the most important, but mysterious global news stories,” declared Nezavisimaya Gazeta. True. Except that “mysterious” is a bit of an understatement. Why did French police detain him? What charges will he face? Has it anything at all to do with his recent visit to Azerbaijan, where he met (or didn’t meet) Russian President Vladimir Putin? For two days, reporters have quoted “sources close to the investigation” about the offences Pavel Durov may be charged with (allegedly, from complicity in drug-trafficking to fraud). Telegram put out a statement saying Mr Durov had “nothing to hide”. On Monday evening, the Paris prosecutor said in a statement that Mr Durov was being held in custody as part of a cyber-criminality investigation. The statement mentioned 12 different offences under investigation that it said were linked to organised crime. These included illicit transactions, child pornography, fraud and the refusal to disclose information to authorities, the prosecutor said. The statement added that Mr Durov’s time in custody had been extended and could now last until Wednesday. Without going into detail, President Emmanuel Macron posted on social media that he had seen “false information” regarding France following Mr Durov’s arrest, and added: “This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.” In Moscow, the Kremlin is being cautious. “We still don’t know what exactly Durov has been accused of,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday, in his first comments on Pavel Durov’s detention. “We haven’t heard any official statements. Before I can say anything at all about this, we need some clarity.” Clarity is not something of which everyone in Russia feels the need. On Monday, state TV’s flagship political talk show had plenty to say on the matter. “All these accusations against Durov sound absurd,” one political analyst in the studio declared. “Accusing him of all the crimes that are committed on his platform is like accusing [France’s] President Macron of all the crimes that happen in France. It’s the same logic.” Russian newspapers, too, went big on the story. Several dailies expressed concern that Pavel Durov’s arrest could have serious consequences for Russia. “This blow to Telegram threatens to be a blow to Russia,” wrote Nezavisimaya Gazeta. “With Pavel Durov’s arrest, Western intelligence services could obtain the messenger’s encryption keys.” “Telegram might become a tool of Nato, if Pavel Durov is forced to obey the French intelligence services,” declared Moskovsky Komsomolets, adding: “Telegram chats contain a huge amount of vitally important, strategic information.” In April 2018, the Russian authorities began blocking access to Telegram, only to lift the ban in 2020. Today, not only do Russian officials use the messenger, but so does the Russian military, including soldiers fighting in the so-called “Special Military Operation” (Russia’s war in Ukraine). “If Telegram crashes,” Moskovsky Komsomolets asked today, “how is [our army] going to fight?” In the West, Pavel Durov’s detention has sparked a debate about free speech. In Russia, too, presidential human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova claimed that “the real reason for arresting Pavel Durov was to shut down Telegram, a platform where you can discover the truth about what’s happening in the world. Everyone who strives for free speech protests this.” Ms Moskalkova made no mention of the Signal messaging app, to which the Russian authorities blocked access earlier this month, or YouTube, access to which has been severely limited now in Russia. Facebook and Instagram have already been blocked here. And what of those rumours of a Putin-Durov meeting in Baku earlier in August. Was there one? “No,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied when I asked. However this mysterious story ends, Moscow will use it to strengthen one of its official narratives: that Russian citizens should beware of the West. As the popular tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda put it: “For the West, there is no such thing any more as ‘good Russians’.” [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Limerick woman launches book to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children  Limerick Live [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] “I’m putting you on notice.” MSNBC anchor and lawyer Ari Melber threatens to sue Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski live on the air [ad_2] View Reddit by ExactlySorta – View Source