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☆ Christopher Saunders: Former Australian bishop charged with historical sex offenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —A senior Australian Catholic clergyman has been charged with historical sex offenses allegedly committed while he was serving as the bishop of Broome, a remote diocese in Western Australia. Emeritus Bishop Christopher Saunders was arrested on Wednesday at his home in Broome, where he became bishop in 1996, according to CNN affiliate Seven News. Saunders is the highest-ranking Australian Catholic official charged with historical sex abuse charges since Cardinal George Pell faced court over historical assaults allegedly committed in the late 1990s. Of the survivors who reported being abused in a religious institution, 61.4% said the abuse occurred in a Catholic organization. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse reported that 7% of Australian Catholic priests had been accused of abusing children.

Persons: Australia CNN —, Bishop Christopher Saunders, Saunders, Timothy Costelloe, ” Costelloe, ”, Costelloe, Cardinal George Pell, Pell Organizations: Australia CNN, Australian Catholic, CNN, Seven News . Police, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Catholic Bishops Conference, WA, Police, Australian, Australia’s, Catholic, Royal Commission Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Broome, Western Australia, Rome

☆ Inquiry into New Zealand's deadliest shooting to start on Tuesday
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Farid Ahmed, survivor of the Christchurch shootings where her wife Husna was killed, is joined in prayer with his neighbours, during his visit to offer thanks for their support, in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWELLINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A coroner's inquiry into the death of 51 Muslim worshippers in 2019 in New Zealand’s deadliest shooting will start on Tuesday, hoping to establish what happened after the attack started and make recommendations to prevent deaths in the future. Armed with high-capacity semi-automatic weapons, Australian Brenton Tarrant, 32, killed 51 people and injured dozens when he opened fire on Muslim worshippers on March 15, 2019, in Christchurch. Tarrant released a racist manifesto shortly before the attack and streamed the shootings live on Facebook. A Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2020 found that security agencies were almost exclusively focused on the perceived threat of Islamist terrorism before the massacre.

Persons: Farid Ahmed, Husna, Edgar Su, Brenton Tarrant, Tarrant, ” Tarrant, Lucy Craymer, Christian Schmollinger Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Facebook, New, Coroners, Royal Commission of, Thomson Locations: Christchurch, Christchurch , New Zealand, New, New Zealand

☆ Australia fines lender NAB $1.4 mln for wrongfully charging fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The National Australia Bank Logo is seen on a branch in central Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies National Australia Bank Ltd FollowSept 22 (Reuters) - The Australian Federal Court has fined the country's second-biggest lender National Australia Bank (NAB) <NAB.AX> a penalty of A$2.1 million ($1.4 million) for wrongfully charging customers periodic payment fees, the securities regulator said on Friday. Between January 2017 and July 2018, National Australia Bank continued to charge its customers periodic payment fees for transferring money despite knowing it had no contractual entitlement to do so, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) said. The bank wrongfully charged 2,888 personal banking customers and 513 business clients payment fees totalling A$139,845 on 74,593 occasions, the regulator added. Shares of NAB were trading 0.7% lower as of 0221 GMT after declining as much as 1.3% earlier in the day.

Persons: Daniel Munoz, Sarah Court, Sameer Manekar, Ayushman, Janane Venkatraman, Dhanya Ann Thoppil Organizations: National, REUTERS, National Australia Bank, Australian Federal Court, Australia Bank, Australian Securities & Investments Commission, NAB, Reuters, Royal Commission, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Australia fines lender NAB $1.4 million for wrongfully charging fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The National Australia Bank Logo is seen on a branch in central Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies National Australia Bank Ltd FollowSept 22 (Reuters) - The Australian Federal Court has fined the country's second-biggest lender National Australia Bank (NAB) <NAB.AX> a penalty of A$2.1 million ($1.4 million) for wrongfully charging customers periodic payment fees, the securities regulator said on Friday. Between January 2017 and July 2018, National Australia Bank continued to charge its customers periodic payment fees for transferring money despite knowing it had no contractual entitlement to do so, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) said. The bank wrongfully charged 2,888 personal banking customers and 513 business clients payment fees totalling A$139,845 on 74,593 occasions, the regulator added. NAB in an email to Reuters acknowledged "some customers were incorrectly charged for periodical payment fees several years ago," adding that it had completed a remediation program and repaid more than A$8.3 million to affected customers.

☆ Opinion: ‘Dear Canada…’ an American firefighter’s heartfelt letter to north of the border
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Opinion Clare Frank | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This means agencies creating the wildland-urban interface or WUI — where human settlements meet the natural environment — are not ultimately responsible for protecting it. By my fifth year in firefighting, I’d seen plenty of wildfires and structure fires, and wildfires threatening structures. As we convoyed in, a battalion chief instructed each engine company, “If it’s not savable, leapfrog to the next house. Smoke rises from the Texas Creek wildfire south of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, on July 9. In this banner year, some are crying for Canada to form a national fire department.

Persons: Clare Frank, Read, Cynthia Smalley, nature’s, partiers, leapfrog, Luis Ascui, they’d, ember, Smokey Bear, “, it’s, Canada’s Organizations: CNN, CNN —, Del, Getty, Australia, Service, Reuters, Twitter, Facebook Locations: California’s, United States, Pebble Beach , California, Del Monte Forest, Kinglake, Victoria, Australia, Canada, Texas, Lillooet, British Columbia, California, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France

☆ Australia inquiry says ex-PM Morrison misled cabinet on debt recovery scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, July 7 (Reuters) - An Australian inquiry into a programme to recover welfare debt said on Friday former Prime Minister Scott Morrison had misled the cabinet about the scheme in an earlier ministerial role. The report recommended unnamed people be referred for prosecution or civil action over the automated "robodebt" programme, designed to ensure welfare recipients were not underreporting income and over-receiving government payments. The report said Morrison, who in 2015 monitored the rollout of the programme as the social services minister, took the proposal to the cabinet without necessary information. Morrison, prime minister from August 2018 to May 2022 and still a member of parliament, rejected each finding adverse to him and critical of his involvement in "authorising the scheme". In 2020, he apologised in parliament for distress caused by the robodebt scheme but did not admit legal liability.

Persons: Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese, Morrison, Renju Jose, Jamie Freed, William Mallard Organizations: SYDNEY, Royal Commission, Australian Federal Police, Thomson Locations: Australian, Sydney

DUBAI, June 5 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund will take control of four of the kingdom's top soccer clubs including Al-Nassr, which Cristiano Ronaldo plays for, as the government revives a plan to privatise several state-owned sports clubs. All are in the top-flight Saudi Professional League, except Al-Ahli which is in the second-tier Saudi First Division. The privatisation plan, mainly focused on soccer clubs and launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, allows companies and development agencies to invest in and take over clubs, SPA reported earlier on Monday. The kingdom aims for the revenue of the Saudi Professional League to increase to 1.8 billion riyals ($480 million) annually by 2030 from 450 million riyals. Saudi oil giant Aramco will own Saudi First Division club Al-Qadsiah, Third Division side Alula FC will be owned by the Royal Commission for Al-Ula while First Division club al-Diraiyah FC will be controlled by Diriyah Gate Development Authority.

Persons: Cristiano Ronaldo, PIF, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ula, Ronaldo, Al Nassr, Lionel Messi, Jana Choukeir, Yousef Saba, Sriraj Kalluvila, Emelia Organizations: Al, Public Investment Fund, Twitter, Saudi Professional League, Saudi, Division, Saudi Crown, Second Division, NEOM, Saudi First Division, Alula FC, Royal Commission, First Division, Diraiyah FC, Diriyah, Development Authority, Investment, Premier League, Newcastle United, Reuters, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Saudi, al, Ittihad, Al, Ahli, Hilal, Saudi Arabia, Portuguese, Argentina

☆ Google opposed a shareholder proposal asking for more transparency around its AI algorithms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google has opposed a shareholder's call for more transparency around its algorithms. CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the potential of new generative AI and added safety is essential. Google's parent company Alphabet opposed a shareholder proposal that sought increased transparency surrounding its algorithms. It argued that accountability and transparency in artificial intelligence are needed if the technology is to remain safe to society. Google in its opposition to the proposal said that it already provides meaningful disclosures surrounding its algorithms, including through websites that provide overviews of how YouTube's algorithms sort content, for instance.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, We've, Geoffrey Hinton, Timnit Gebru, ProPublica Organizations: Google, Trillium Asset Management, Trillium, New Zealand Royal Commission, Mozilla Foundation, New York University, SEC, Google's Locations: Christchurch, Saudi Arabia

☆ Factbox: Penalties imposed on Australian companies over the recent years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Here are some of the major penalties imposed by the regulators:AMP LTD (AMP.AX)Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd was fined a court-mandated penalty of A$24 million in May for billing dead clients for insurance and financial advice. In October 2022, ANZ was penalised A$25 million for failing to provide certain benefits it had agreed to give customers. In October 2022, CBA's trading unit was fined A$20 million for compliance failures in delivering financial services. NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK (NAB.AX)National Australia Bank, the country's second-largest bank, was charged A$18.5 million penalty in August 2021 by a court for issuing misleading fee disclosure statements or none at all. WESTPAC BANKING CORP (WBC.AX)Australia's third-biggest lender, Westpac Banking Corp was ordered to pay A$113 million in penalties in April 2022 for multiple compliance failures across its businesses.

☆ Hegra has been inhabited for 12,000 years -- but has only had tourists for four
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Now, increased investment in archeology from the Saudi government means that more and more information is coming out of Hegra and other Nabatean sites. I think they just get absorbed in the story of the growth of the Roman Empire.”"Hinat" greets travelers at the Hegra visitor's center. Now, travelers can see her in the Hegra visitors’ center. Expand your searchMany visitors combine their Hegra trip with visits to the smaller nearby historic sites of Dadan and Jabal Ikmah. Don’t miss the covered outdoor station near the Hegra visitor’s center, where you can practice using a small chisel to carve your name or initials into pieces of stone.

☆ Australian court fines ANZ Group $6.6 mln for breaching consumer protection laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 10 (Reuters) - An Australian court has fined ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ.AX) A$10 million ($6.6 million) in penalties for non-compliance with consumer credit protection laws in a case that stems from the country's Royal Commission proceedings, a corporate watchdog said on Friday. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) said the fine related to the lender's home loan introducer program – that allowed third parties to refer customers for home loans – between March 2017 and March 2018. The court case stems from a 2017 Royal Commission inquiry into Australia's financial services industry, which ended up exposing widespread misconduct in the sector. "ANZ has cooperated with ASIC during this process, is nearing completion of a customer remediation program and has made changes to its home loan processes," the bank said. ($1 = 1.5161 Australian dollars)Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Davos 2023: Riyadh city developing fast with eye on Expo 2030 bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, which has bid to host the Expo 2030 world fair, is pushing ahead with plans to turn its capital Riyadh into a major global metropolis, a government official said on Thursday. Should Riyadh win Expo hosting rights it would be ready, but the build-up, which includes an additional 120,000 hotel rooms by 2030, was needed regardless to meet tourism goals, he said. The host country for the 2030 Expo is expected to be selected in November. Asked if alcohol would be allowed in Riyadh by 2030, Al Rasheed said: "No, but I think you can ... consider it a wellness detox." If Saudi Arabia wins its bid it would be the second Arab country to host Expo after the United Arab Emirates.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will step down by next month because she no longer has "enough in the tank" to do the job justice, she said. ET Wednesday) she would not seek re-election and planned to resign no later than Feb. 7. If a new leader is selected, Ardern said she will resign soon after and a new prime minister will be sworn in. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on May 13, 2020. Her liberal Labour Party won reelection two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.

☆ Australian Cardinal George Pell, whose abuse conviction was overturned, dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Cardinal George Pell, who was the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex abuse before his convictions were later overturned, has died in Rome at age 81. Pell, an Australian, was once the third-highest ranked Catholic in the Vatican after earlier serving as the Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney. But Pell returned to his native Australia in 2017 in an attempt to clear his name of child sex charges. Pell’s reputation remained tarnished by the church’s child sex abuse scandal. Pell was born on June 8, 1941, the eldest of three children to a heavyweight champion boxer and publican also named George Pell, an Anglican.

[1/3] Australian Cardinal George Pell gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rome, Italy December 7, 2020. Archbishop Peter Comensoli, the Archbishop of Melbourne, said Pell had died from heart complications following hip surgery. An Australian appeals court ruling in 2020 quashed convictions that Pell sexually assaulted two choir boys in the 1990s. Pell took pride in having set up one of the world's first schemes to compensate victims of child sexual abuse in Melbourne. The inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, began in 2013 a five-year investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and other institutions.

☆ New Zealand announces review of its handling of COVID-19 pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WELLINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The New Zealand government said on Monday it would launch an inquiry into the country's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic so future governments could learn from the experience. A Royal Commission, a public inquiry of the highest level in New Zealand, would look at the overall response, the government said in a statement. That would include considering economic measures, such as fiscal and monetary policy responses but without reviewing particular central bank decisions. The aim would be identifying lessons that could be applied in a future pandemic. The government's financial response is also now being blamed by some political opposition parties for contributing to three-decade high inflation.

☆ Australia court dismisses petition against CBA, unit over banned commissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Australian Federal Court has dismissed a petition by the country's corporate regulator against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) and its pension unit on allegations of improperly collecting commissions, the regulator said. However, the dismissal of this petition by the court is a blow to consumer advocates who wanted tougher regulation, and also absolves CBA of some of the most damaging allegations aired at the inquiry. The regulator said on Thursday that the court found that the payments made by Colonial to CBA did not constitute benefits within the definition of "conflicted remuneration". CBA in an emailed response to Reuters acknowledged the judgement, but refrained from commenting any further. ($1 = 1.5420 Australian dollars)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sameer Manekar and Byron Kaye; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ AMP handed $9.7 mln penalty for charging pensioners 'fees for no service'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe logo of AMP Ltd, Australia's biggest retail wealth manager, adorns their head office located in central Sydney, Australia, May 5, 2017. Picture taken May 5, 2017.REUTERS/David Gray/File PhotoSept 20 (Reuters) - Wealth manager AMP Ltd (AMP.AX) was handed a penalty of A$14.5 million ($9.74 million) on Tuesday by Australia's Federal court for charging customers with 'fees for no service' on their corporate pension accounts. Between July 2015 and September 2018, AMP entities deducted A$356,188 in fees even though they were aware that the members had ceased their employment and could no longer receive advice services, the court found. The penalty received on Tuesday has already been provisioned in the 2022 half-yearly financial statement, AMP said. ($1 = 1.4890 Australian dollars)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ AMP handed $9.7 million penalty for charging pensioners 'fees for no service'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe logo of AMP Ltd, Australia's biggest retail wealth manager, adorns their head office located in central Sydney, Australia, May 5, 2017. Picture taken May 5, 2017.REUTERS/David Gray/File PhotoSept 20 (Reuters) - Wealth manager AMP Ltd (AMP.AX) was handed a penalty of A$14.5 million ($9.74 million) on Tuesday by Australia's Federal court for charging customers with 'fees for no service' on their corporate pension accounts. Between July 2015 and September 2018, AMP entities deducted A$356,188 in fees even though they were aware that the members had ceased their employment and could no longer receive advice services, the court found. "Although AMP has remediated A$691,032 to affected customers, the court found AMP failed to investigate whether or not there was a systemic issue, despite many complaints over a lengthy period of time," ASIC said. The penalty received on Tuesday has already been provisioned in the 2022 half-yearly financial statement, AMP said.

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