Australia’s banks have joined forces to unveil a new weapon to help save victims from transferring their money to scammers. The crucial tool means banks can communicate quickly to “freeze” the payments from one bank to another. The Australian Banking Association unveiled its Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) platform on Tuesday. “Given every minute can be crucial in disrupting scams, the …

An independent review of Australia’s carbon credit market has defended the scheme while making sweeping recommendations to improve transparency and confidence in the market. The review was carried out after the scheme’s integrity was called into question by a key architect of the framework, Andrew Macintosh, who described it as a “fraud on the environment”. A panel of four experts …

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged to the world to come together in solidarity — not a “Collective Suicide Pact” — in an alarming address to the COP27 summit. Setting an urgent tone for the climate talks in Egypt, Mr Guterres warned that humanity was on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator”. He told …

The world is headed for “economy-destroying levels of global heating” as signatory countries to the Paris Agreement fail to commit to more ambitious emissions reduction targets. That’s the message from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as the United Nations hands down its Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window. The “emissions gap” refers to the difference or “gap” between where emissions are projected …

A telco which pledges to stand up for its customers is facing nearly $300,000 in penalties and compensation after exposing consumers to identity fraud. Digital telco Circles.Life has been fined $199,800 by the communications watchdog for failing to conduct proper identity checks when transferring mobile phone numbers to its services. The company, established in 2019, has also offered to pay more than …

After being banned from several social media platforms, former US president Donald Trump has announced plans to launch his own app, TRUTH Social, in a bid to “stand up” to bigger companies. TRUTH Social will be created through a new company formed by a merger of the Trump Media and Technology Group and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), both organisations said …

A nuclear-powered submarine colliding with an unknown “object” under one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes is rarely good news – but is the incident cause for concern? Submarine incidents are usually shrouded in secrecy, given how critical these sophisticated (and expensive) pieces of equipment are in military operations. We’ve talked to defence and security experts to help clarify what we know, what we …

From the “population crash” of the swift parrot to shrinking habitat for koalas and quokkas: It’s hoped a comprehensive database of threats to endangered species can help halt Australia’s terrible record of extinctions. 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 …

An Australian infectious disease expert says Chinese authorities refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to a World Health Organization-led team probing the origins of the pandemic. The team had requested raw patient data on the 174 cases of COVID-19 that China had identified from the early phase of the outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019, as well …

The much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine being developed in the UK will resume human trials after being deemed safe. The trials were paused last week when a patient reported a side effect which required investigation to see if the problem was related to the vaccine. Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed Oxford University’s announcement that the trials would resume. “This pause shows we will …