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Australians' private government details at mercy of hackers, say IT security experts
The private records of millions of Australians – including their doctor visits, prescription drugs, childcare and welfare payments – are at the mercy of cyber criminals because of flimsy IT security around a critical federal government website, IT security experts warn.
And they say the risk will increase from the middle of the year, when the government will make it compulsory for Australians to use the my.gov.au website to lodge their electronic tax returns, potentially also exposing their financial and banking records to hackers.
Banks face land grab claims in developing world
Australia’s major banks are funding large-scale illegal “land grabs” in the developing world and enabling illegal logging, child labour or other human rights abuses.
ANZ, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have funded overseas companies investigated for illegally or improperly acquiring large tracts of land from local communities in developing countries, according to an investigation by NGO Oxfam Australia and European research and economics firm Profundo.
If today is your big day, happy birthday!
You share a birthday with James Monroe, US president (1758-1831); Charles Sturt, British explorer (1795-1869); Lionel Barrymore, US actor (1878-1954); Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese dictator (1889-1970); Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer (1908-1981); Kim Gordon, US singer-musician of Sonic Youth fame (1953-); John Daly, US golfer (1966-); Penelope Cruz, Spanish actress (1974-); Jessica Alba, American actress (1981-).
1503 - Spanish destroy French fleet at Cerignola, Sicily.
1940 - US band leader Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record Pennsylvania 6-5000 for RCA Victor.
1952 - Japan regains sovereignty and independence when the peace treaty signed in San Francisco in 1951 by the United States and 47 other nations comes into effect.
1977 - Andreas Baader and other members of the Baader-Meinhoff group are jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly two years in Stuttgart, Germany.
1993 - In Turkey, an avalanche of garbage triggered by a methane explosion buries squatter huts near a city dump, killing at least 18 people.
1998 - British explorer David Hempleman-Adams reaches the geographic North Pole, becoming the first person to reach the earth's magnetic and geographic poles.
2002 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez launches a cabinet shake-up by appointing a new vice president and promising changes to his economic team.
2006 - The US army charges Lt Col Steven Jordan, who headed the interrogation centre at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib jail, making him the highest-ranking person charged in the prisoner abuse scandal.
2013 - British media reveals nurse Jacintha Saldanha left a note saying the hoax call of two Australian DJs led to her death; The fugitive owner of an illegally constructed building that collapsed, killing hundreds in Bangladesh, is captured as he tries to flee to India.
Why do crabs never give to charity? Because they're shellfish.
Have a great day,
Hannah