Israel kills Al Jazeera journalist and four colleagues in air strike near Gaza hospital
A press freedom group and a UN expert previously warned that his life was in danger due to his reporting from Gaza. UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said last month that Israel's claims against him were unsubstantiated.
In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its allegations against al-Sharif.
'Israel's pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,' Sara Qudah, the committee's director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.
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Australian journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the deaths followed 'a long smear campaign of unsubstantiated allegations against Al Sharif and other journalists'.
'As Al Jazeera has said, this was a 'dangerous attempt to justify the targeting of journalists in the field'. Tragically, these warnings have now come to fruition,' the MEAA said in a statement.
'The targeting of journalists is a blatant attack on press freedom, and it is also a war crime. It must stop.'
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said the killing might signal the start of an Israeli offensive.
'The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City,' Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he expected to complete a new Gaza offensive 'fairly quickly' as the United Nations Security Council heard new demands for an end to suffering in the Palestinian enclave.
Speaking after his security cabinet on Friday approved a much-criticised plan to take control of Gaza City, Netanyahu said he had no choice but to 'complete the job' and defeat Hamas to free hostages seized from Israel in October 2023.
London's Telegraph reported that al-Sharif left a pre-recorded message to be published in the event of his death in which he said he had 'lived the pain in all its details' and 'tasted grief and loss repeatedly'.
'Despite that, I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths,' he said.
A man-made crisis
Meanwhile, European representatives at the UN said famine was unfolding in Gaza, and Israel's plan to expand its offensive would only make things worse.
'Expanding military operations will only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and result in further unnecessary suffering,' Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement.
'This is a man-made crisis, and therefore urgent action is needed to halt starvation and to surge aid into Gaza,' they said.
Malnutrition is widespread in the enclave due to what international aid agencies say is a deliberate plan by Israel to restrict aid. Israel rejects that allegation, blaming Hamas for the hunger among Palestinians and saying a lot of aid has been distributed.
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Five more people, including two children, died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza's Health Ministry said, taking the number of deaths from such causes to 217, including 100 children.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said a further 23 people had been killed so far in the war by airdrops of aid that countries have resorted to, due to the difficulties of getting aid in by road.
The US representative at the Security Council defended Netanyahu and said Washington was committed to addressing humanitarian needs, freeing hostages and achieving peace.
Netanyahu said Israel was working with Washington on creating a surge of aid into Gaza, including by land. After a conversation with Donald Trump, the prime minister's office said he had thanked the US president 'for his steadfast support of Israel'.
The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israeli authorities say 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are alive.
Israel's offensive since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has left much of the territory in ruins.
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Sydney Morning Herald
14 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The quiet partnership behind a $1 billion superannuation collapse
As the sun set on 2018, two little-known fund managers were toasting the property deal of a lifetime – the bargain-basement purchase of a sprawling resort overlooking the Coral Sea in Port Douglas. The men, Falcon Capital's David Anderson and Paul Chiodo of Keystone Asset Management, had big dreams of turning the tired three-star hotel into a six-star luxury resort the likes of which had never been seen on Australian shores. Two years later, Chiodo and Anderson pulled off a coup by signing major hotel chain Accor to bring the first-ever ultra-luxury Fairmont resort to Australia and recruiting celebrity gardener Jamie Durie to help design the incredible complex. It would mark the start of a six-year rollercoaster business relationship between Anderson and Chiodo that ended in more public ignominy than either could have imagined. They are now under investigation by the corporate watchdog for criminal and civil breaches of their responsibilities as fund managers, including fraud, according to thousands of pages of documents filed in the Federal Court. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) compiled the dossier to convince a judge to freeze the assets of both men and ban them from leaving the country. The regulator has yet to launch substantive court proceedings against any of the players, and may not, but to win the orders, which are regarded as draconian, it had to show it would have a good case. Chiodo and Anderson did not appear at the hearings to oppose ASIC's applications but both deny the allegations, and neither has been charged as a result of ASIC's long-running investigation. Chiodo and Falcon (Anderson's company) both separately sought to stop liquidators taking control of their business, claiming they had been unfairly targeted. Anderson did consent to receivers being appointed over his personal assets, including his home, in April. What the public has not been aware of before is that Chiodo and Anderson have long been business partners and worked together to sow the seeds for what would become a $1 billion superannuation disaster for 12000 people across the country. Anderson's First Guardian Master Fund and Falcon Capital businesses have collapsed, likely wiping out the entirety of the $446 million in retirement savings invested in the fund. Chiodo's similarly sized Shield Master Fund and Keystone business have also collapsed, putting at risk $480 million in superannuation of their 6000 clients. ASIC suspects much of the super savings in the two funds had been squandered on pet projects, luxury cars and what the regulator says are unusual payments to the men's private companies. Both men have denied these allegations, saying ASIC has misunderstood their businesses and that its suspicions of mismanagement are unfounded and unfair. This masthead is not suggesting those allegations are true, just that they have been made as part of ASIC's long-running and ongoing investigation into the men. Liquidators are now picking through the wreckage of each group and have found many of the investments made by Anderson and Chiodo 'have no value', and returns for investors, particularly in the First Guardian business, are expected to be as low as 20 cents in the dollar or less. Now an investigation by this masthead has found deep ties between the men. Drawing from 7000 documents filed by the regulator in its cases against the men and information provided by more than a dozen sources working within associated businesses or familiar with the ASIC investigation, this masthead can reveal the two had for seven years been business partners and co-investors, including in six different property projects and investment group CF Capital. Anderson also invested one-fifth of First Guardian's funds – or $95 million – into Chiodo's property business and helped him restructure when it got into financial trouble in 2021. It can also be revealed that Anderson and Chiodo used the same investment scheme marketers and financial planners to promote their now failed funds as part of a plan to allow Anderson to recoup that $95 million investment in Chiodo's business. Chiodo confirmed to this masthead that he and Anderson had been joint venture partners in a range of projects over several years. But he insisted that - other than the $95 million investment - there were no existing ties between their businesses or the use of the same group of investment promoters, including financial planning group Venture Egg boss Ferras Merhi. He also said that he and Anderson had not been on good terms since around 2021. 'It's not linked, they [the funds] are not linked, it was not a case of 'hey Ferras can you help us out with our problem?'. There were separate agreements,' Chiodo said. The business partnership between Chiodo and Anderson brought together two different skill sets. Blue blood Anderson, 43, moved in the worlds of investment banking and high finance. At the age of 20 he told the Herald Sun that, while watching the 2000 tech stocks crash on the large electronic sharemarket boards in the foyer of the ASX building, he had predicted the rout: 'At least this crash is going to knock some sense into people.' After joining Falcon, by 2018 Anderson – a fine dining and craft beer fanatic – had amassed a large portfolio of farming land and wanted more deals, focusing his sights on property in Port Douglas. Chiodo, a man with equally large aspirations, was there to help. From a blue-collar background, Chiodo had been working in property development for years, initially in mid-sized residential projects in Melbourne and a high-end set of apartments in Port Douglas. He was also looking for new deals, and when the large resort property in the tropical idyll came on the market in late 2018, the pair agreed to team up to buy it. Loading The $300 million project would need a lot of money to succeed. To help fulfil the dream development, Anderson and Chiodo set up a property fund to bring in new investors. That fund would hold the Port Douglas resort project, five of Chiodo's smaller-scale residential developments in the holiday town and smaller ones in the Melbourne suburbs of Glenroy, Ashburton, Bentleigh and Doncaster East. Anderson's First Guardian would manage the fund as trustee, invest $95 million and help bring in investors and grow the fund to $500 million. In 2019, Anderson and Chiodo set up another business, CF Capital. It was owned by First Guardian, operated by Chiodo and licensed under Falcon's financial services licence. Chiodo told this masthead that, at the time, he and Anderson relied on the marketing skills of Sean Niven, a former senior manager within collapsed property investment group Westpoint, to draw customers into the fund. Niven had introduced the two men, Chiodo told this masthead. At the time, Niven had just exited bankruptcy, and it is not suggested he handled money for either Chiodo or Anderson. Years later Niven would be banned from working in financial services. Niven is not under investigation by ASIC in relation to the current scheme, and not accused of wrongdoing in relation to it. The arrangement between the trio was going well until about mid-2021, when the pandemic inflated costs and pushed out the timelines of the fund's property projects. Niven has also pleaded guilty to lying to his bankruptcy trustee in 2020. Soon cracks emerged between Anderson and his board over First Guardian's hefty investment in the Chiodo fund, documents obtained by this masthead indicate. Under pressure from Anderson's board at Falcon Capital, Anderson and Chiodo decided to cut most of the ties between the two groups – First Guardian would sell the CF business and pass on oversight of Chiodo's fund to Chiodo. Minutes from a Falcon board meeting in February 2022 show the relationship between Chiodo and Falcon's board had frayed and that Anderson told the Falcon board he would sever ties with Chiodo. 'The [Chiodo fund] was restructured due to its dire financial position. The handover of trustee services went well,' the minutes note. They also record an audit report had deemed the fund 'insufficient and inconclusive'. The minutes show Chiodo initiated a statutory demand in the Supreme Court of Victoria against First Guardian for not making payments to him as required under their business arrangements. 'This was deemed … to be delusional, and highly unlikely to succeed. Chiodo played down this pathway to avert his creditors from going after him and to divert attention toward First Guardian. FGC [First Guardian Capital] was ahead in terms of its investment flows ... FGC was not in a debt position but rather equity. 'DA [David Anderson] stated that Chiodo had withdrawn the Stat Demand. 'It is now deemed that [Chiodo] is a hostile manager and that a full redemption program would be set in train by DA.' This masthead asked Chiodo if his fund was in trouble and that was why he made the claim. Loading 'What a load of crap!!! This was purely FGC [First Guardian Capital] not willing to honour our settlement agreement,' he said. Anderson would go on to devise a redemption plan to recoup First Guardian's investment in Chiodo's fund by quickly driving thousands of customers into Chiodo's business. Details of this plan have been confirmed by three sources familiar with First Guardian business and correlate with Falcon's board minutes and a timeline presented by ASIC to the court as part of its actions against Chiodo and Anderson. Under the plan, Chiodo established the Shield Master Fund to bring in new investors. That new fund then absorbed Chiodo's financially troubled property investment vehicle. To supercharge the business, Anderson put Chiodo in touch with Merhi and his business partner Osama 'Sammy' Saad. Merhi and Saad would bring in social media marketing expert Rashid Alshakshir, the former business partner of feared outlaw bikie Hasan Topal. Alshakshir, Merhi and Saad would devise a customer funnel, using social media ads encouraging people to 'find their lost super' or consolidate multiple accounts. Ultimately, it drove customers to Merhi and Saad's financial planning business and then onto Chiodo and Anderson's funds. There is no suggestion that Merhi, Saad and Alshakshir had knowledge of the fund's investments or any misuse of their clients' money, only that ASIC is investigating whether they breached obligations to their clients as financial advisers. As Chiodo's fund grew to $480 million, Anderson had the chance to recoup First Guardian's $95 million in the fund. He never did. Chiodo insisted to this masthead that his and Anderson's use of the same marketing strategy was not a joint plan. Instead, he said: 'David was trying to convince Ferras to allocate a greater portion [of customers] to his fund in order to cover David's need for the redemption.' Anderson and Chiodo would pay out $100 million – or 10 per cent of the money invested with them – to their marketing crew, who now drove Bentleys and other flash cars and had upgraded to lovely homes in Melbourne's better northern suburbs. As the funds swelled with super savings, both men allegedly went on a spending spree using other people's money. Anderson bought a dream home in Melbourne's leafy Hawthorn overlooking the Yarra River and pumped millions into fine dining restaurants via a business arrangement with celebrity chef Scott Pickett and, separately, set up two restaurants in inner Melbourne, one a South-east Asian eatery with 18 craft beers on tap. Chiodo would burn millions pulling together a portfolio of wish-list luxury development proposals in K'gari, Fiji and Venice, rent a corporate box at the MCG and host events with sporting stars like Floyd Mayweather and Josh Giddey. When ASIC came knocking on Chiodo's door in late 2023, Anderson was suddenly focused on First Guardian's investment in the Chiodo fund. In May 2024 Anderson attempted to sell the investment to an American group which never paid, and the investment remained within the Shield fund. Whether that investment, like many others made by Anderson and Chiodo, will ever be reclaimed for investors remains to be seen. Loading As for the property in Port Douglas, despite Chiodo claiming to have spent more than $70 million on works to build the resort, the project was never developed. Earlier this year receivers appointed agents to sell the property on behalf of its lenders. No return is expected for Chiodo's investors from the sale.
Sydney Morning Herald
14 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
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Terrorist group Hamas has welcomed the federal government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state, claiming it vindicates the October 7 attacks. Loading
The Age
14 minutes ago
- The Age
The quiet partnership behind a $1 billion superannuation collapse
As the sun set on 2018, two little-known fund managers were toasting the property deal of a lifetime – the bargain-basement purchase of a sprawling resort overlooking the Coral Sea in Port Douglas. The men, Falcon Capital's David Anderson and Paul Chiodo of Keystone Asset Management, had big dreams of turning the tired three-star hotel into a six-star luxury resort the likes of which had never been seen on Australian shores. Two years later, Chiodo and Anderson pulled off a coup by signing major hotel chain Accor to bring the first-ever ultra-luxury Fairmont resort to Australia and recruiting celebrity gardener Jamie Durie to help design the incredible complex. It would mark the start of a six-year rollercoaster business relationship between Anderson and Chiodo that ended in more public ignominy than either could have imagined. They are now under investigation by the corporate watchdog for criminal and civil breaches of their responsibilities as fund managers, including fraud, according to thousands of pages of documents filed in the Federal Court. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) compiled the dossier to convince a judge to freeze the assets of both men and ban them from leaving the country. The regulator has yet to launch substantive court proceedings against any of the players, and may not, but to win the orders, which are regarded as draconian, it had to show it would have a good case. Chiodo and Anderson did not appear at the hearings to oppose ASIC's applications but both deny the allegations, and neither has been charged as a result of ASIC's long-running investigation. Chiodo and Falcon (Anderson's company) both separately sought to stop liquidators taking control of their business, claiming they had been unfairly targeted. Anderson did consent to receivers being appointed over his personal assets, including his home, in April. What the public has not been aware of before is that Chiodo and Anderson have long been business partners and worked together to sow the seeds for what would become a $1 billion superannuation disaster for 12000 people across the country. Anderson's First Guardian Master Fund and Falcon Capital businesses have collapsed, likely wiping out the entirety of the $446 million in retirement savings invested in the fund. Chiodo's similarly sized Shield Master Fund and Keystone business have also collapsed, putting at risk $480 million in superannuation of their 6000 clients. ASIC suspects much of the super savings in the two funds had been squandered on pet projects, luxury cars and what the regulator says are unusual payments to the men's private companies. Both men have denied these allegations, saying ASIC has misunderstood their businesses and that its suspicions of mismanagement are unfounded and unfair. This masthead is not suggesting those allegations are true, just that they have been made as part of ASIC's long-running and ongoing investigation into the men. Liquidators are now picking through the wreckage of each group and have found many of the investments made by Anderson and Chiodo 'have no value', and returns for investors, particularly in the First Guardian business, are expected to be as low as 20 cents in the dollar or less. Now an investigation by this masthead has found deep ties between the men. Drawing from 7000 documents filed by the regulator in its cases against the men and information provided by more than a dozen sources working within associated businesses or familiar with the ASIC investigation, this masthead can reveal the two had for seven years been business partners and co-investors, including in six different property projects and investment group CF Capital. Anderson also invested one-fifth of First Guardian's funds – or $95 million – into Chiodo's property business and helped him restructure when it got into financial trouble in 2021. It can also be revealed that Anderson and Chiodo used the same investment scheme marketers and financial planners to promote their now failed funds as part of a plan to allow Anderson to recoup that $95 million investment in Chiodo's business. Chiodo confirmed to this masthead that he and Anderson had been joint venture partners in a range of projects over several years. But he insisted that - other than the $95 million investment - there were no existing ties between their businesses or the use of the same group of investment promoters, including financial planning group Venture Egg boss Ferras Merhi. He also said that he and Anderson had not been on good terms since around 2021. 'It's not linked, they [the funds] are not linked, it was not a case of 'hey Ferras can you help us out with our problem?'. There were separate agreements,' Chiodo said. The business partnership between Chiodo and Anderson brought together two different skill sets. Blue blood Anderson, 43, moved in the worlds of investment banking and high finance. At the age of 20 he told the Herald Sun that, while watching the 2000 tech stocks crash on the large electronic sharemarket boards in the foyer of the ASX building, he had predicted the rout: 'At least this crash is going to knock some sense into people.' After joining Falcon, by 2018 Anderson – a fine dining and craft beer fanatic – had amassed a large portfolio of farming land and wanted more deals, focusing his sights on property in Port Douglas. Chiodo, a man with equally large aspirations, was there to help. From a blue-collar background, Chiodo had been working in property development for years, initially in mid-sized residential projects in Melbourne and a high-end set of apartments in Port Douglas. He was also looking for new deals, and when the large resort property in the tropical idyll came on the market in late 2018, the pair agreed to team up to buy it. Loading The $300 million project would need a lot of money to succeed. To help fulfil the dream development, Anderson and Chiodo set up a property fund to bring in new investors. That fund would hold the Port Douglas resort project, five of Chiodo's smaller-scale residential developments in the holiday town and smaller ones in the Melbourne suburbs of Glenroy, Ashburton, Bentleigh and Doncaster East. Anderson's First Guardian would manage the fund as trustee, invest $95 million and help bring in investors and grow the fund to $500 million. In 2019, Anderson and Chiodo set up another business, CF Capital. It was owned by First Guardian, operated by Chiodo and licensed under Falcon's financial services licence. Chiodo told this masthead that, at the time, he and Anderson relied on the marketing skills of Sean Niven, a former senior manager within collapsed property investment group Westpoint, to draw customers into the fund. Niven had introduced the two men, Chiodo told this masthead. At the time, Niven had just exited bankruptcy, and it is not suggested he handled money for either Chiodo or Anderson. Years later Niven would be banned from working in financial services. Niven is not under investigation by ASIC in relation to the current scheme, and not accused of wrongdoing in relation to it. The arrangement between the trio was going well until about mid-2021, when the pandemic inflated costs and pushed out the timelines of the fund's property projects. Niven has also pleaded guilty to lying to his bankruptcy trustee in 2020. Soon cracks emerged between Anderson and his board over First Guardian's hefty investment in the Chiodo fund, documents obtained by this masthead indicate. Under pressure from Anderson's board at Falcon Capital, Anderson and Chiodo decided to cut most of the ties between the two groups – First Guardian would sell the CF business and pass on oversight of Chiodo's fund to Chiodo. Minutes from a Falcon board meeting in February 2022 show the relationship between Chiodo and Falcon's board had frayed and that Anderson told the Falcon board he would sever ties with Chiodo. 'The [Chiodo fund] was restructured due to its dire financial position. The handover of trustee services went well,' the minutes note. They also record an audit report had deemed the fund 'insufficient and inconclusive'. The minutes show Chiodo initiated a statutory demand in the Supreme Court of Victoria against First Guardian for not making payments to him as required under their business arrangements. 'This was deemed … to be delusional, and highly unlikely to succeed. Chiodo played down this pathway to avert his creditors from going after him and to divert attention toward First Guardian. FGC [First Guardian Capital] was ahead in terms of its investment flows ... FGC was not in a debt position but rather equity. 'DA [David Anderson] stated that Chiodo had withdrawn the Stat Demand. 'It is now deemed that [Chiodo] is a hostile manager and that a full redemption program would be set in train by DA.' This masthead asked Chiodo if his fund was in trouble and that was why he made the claim. Loading 'What a load of crap!!! This was purely FGC [First Guardian Capital] not willing to honour our settlement agreement,' he said. Anderson would go on to devise a redemption plan to recoup First Guardian's investment in Chiodo's fund by quickly driving thousands of customers into Chiodo's business. Details of this plan have been confirmed by three sources familiar with First Guardian business and correlate with Falcon's board minutes and a timeline presented by ASIC to the court as part of its actions against Chiodo and Anderson. Under the plan, Chiodo established the Shield Master Fund to bring in new investors. That new fund then absorbed Chiodo's financially troubled property investment vehicle. To supercharge the business, Anderson put Chiodo in touch with Merhi and his business partner Osama 'Sammy' Saad. Merhi and Saad would bring in social media marketing expert Rashid Alshakshir, the former business partner of feared outlaw bikie Hasan Topal. Alshakshir, Merhi and Saad would devise a customer funnel, using social media ads encouraging people to 'find their lost super' or consolidate multiple accounts. Ultimately, it drove customers to Merhi and Saad's financial planning business and then onto Chiodo and Anderson's funds. There is no suggestion that Merhi, Saad and Alshakshir had knowledge of the fund's investments or any misuse of their clients' money, only that ASIC is investigating whether they breached obligations to their clients as financial advisers. As Chiodo's fund grew to $480 million, Anderson had the chance to recoup First Guardian's $95 million in the fund. He never did. Chiodo insisted to this masthead that his and Anderson's use of the same marketing strategy was not a joint plan. Instead, he said: 'David was trying to convince Ferras to allocate a greater portion [of customers] to his fund in order to cover David's need for the redemption.' Anderson and Chiodo would pay out $100 million – or 10 per cent of the money invested with them – to their marketing crew, who now drove Bentleys and other flash cars and had upgraded to lovely homes in Melbourne's better northern suburbs. As the funds swelled with super savings, both men allegedly went on a spending spree using other people's money. Anderson bought a dream home in Melbourne's leafy Hawthorn overlooking the Yarra River and pumped millions into fine dining restaurants via a business arrangement with celebrity chef Scott Pickett and, separately, set up two restaurants in inner Melbourne, one a South-east Asian eatery with 18 craft beers on tap. Chiodo would burn millions pulling together a portfolio of wish-list luxury development proposals in K'gari, Fiji and Venice, rent a corporate box at the MCG and host events with sporting stars like Floyd Mayweather and Josh Giddey. When ASIC came knocking on Chiodo's door in late 2023, Anderson was suddenly focused on First Guardian's investment in the Chiodo fund. In May 2024 Anderson attempted to sell the investment to an American group which never paid, and the investment remained within the Shield fund. Whether that investment, like many others made by Anderson and Chiodo, will ever be reclaimed for investors remains to be seen. Loading As for the property in Port Douglas, despite Chiodo claiming to have spent more than $70 million on works to build the resort, the project was never developed. Earlier this year receivers appointed agents to sell the property on behalf of its lenders. No return is expected for Chiodo's investors from the sale.
