Latest news with #Darwin
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Police allegedly make a sickening discovery on Australian man's phone - now he could face 95 years behind bars
A Darwin man has been charged with serious child sexual abuse crimes after police allegedly made a shocking discovery on his phone during a random bag check upon his arrival in the Northern Territory. The Australian Border Force launched a multi-agency investigation after officials reportedly found child abuse material when he was returning to Darwin on New Year's Day. Authorities allegedly discovered sexually explicit videos and images of children on his phone, along with video calls from the man to facilitators in the Philippines, instructing them to livestream the sexual abuse of children as young as six years old. On January 3, police executed a search warrant at locations where the man had been living, including a vehicle and a yacht, leading to his arrest. He first appeared in court on January 7 and was remanded in custody, with a scheduled reappearance set for May 27. He was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia, two counts of sexual activity with a child outside Australia, and one count of possessing child abuse material. If found guilty of all five charges, the 68-year-old will face a cumulative maximum sentence of 95 years behind bars. The NT News reported the 68-year-old did not appear before court on Tuesday and was instead represented by his lawyer. The prosecution was granted an adjournment to gather 'outstanding material' they would need present to the court. The case has been adjourned to June 24 for a preliminary examination on papers. A Northern Territory special investigation unit provided information related to the alleged abuses to Philippines police. Philippines authorities conducted an operation in April and arrested two alleged abuse facilitators and rescued the six young children. AFP Superintendent Greg Davis said the force would relentlessly pursue sex criminals. 'The protection of children is one of the AFP's highest priorities,' he said. 'All victims of child sexual exploitation experience lifelong harm because of the selfish actions of their abusers. 'The AFP will continue to work closely with local, Commonwealth and international partners to protect children from sickening abuse, and together identify offenders and bring them before the courts.' ABF Commander Tracie Griffin said the vigilance of ABF officers at Australia's border was absolutely critical in protecting the most vulnerable. 'I want to commend the work of the ABF officers involved in the alleged discovery of child abuse material on this man's phone. Six children are safe because of their diligence and the work of our domestic and international law enforcement partners,' Commander Griffin said. The AFP urged anyone with knowledge of an abuse happening right now or a child at risk to call police immediately on 000.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
The Global Tussle For The Port of Darwin
On this week's Australia Podcast: Host Rebecca Jones speaks to government reporter Ben Westcott and senior editor Chelsea Mes about the strategic significance of the Port of Darwin. Never miss an episode. Follow The Bloomberg Australia Podcast today. In 2015, Chinese company Landbridge was awarded a 99-year lease over the Port of Darwin. Now, Australia wants to take it back and put it into local hands. This week on the podcast, Rebecca Jones speaks to Ben Westcott and Chelsea Mes about why Beijing is speaking out against that decision, and what role the US might play.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Sickening abuse': Darwin man allegedly paid to watch children raped live
Six children in the Philippines are now safe after authorities uncovered a disturbing case of online child abuse allegedly orchestrated by a Darwin man from a yacht and vehicle in the Northern Territory. The man faced Darwin Local Court on Tuesday charged with five serious offences, including allegedly instructing the abuse of children as young as six via live video from a remote location. The investigation began after Australian Border Force officers allegedly discovered child abuse material on the man's mobile phone during a baggage search when he arrived at Darwin Airport on New Year's Day. The matter was referred to the Northern Territory Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (NT JACET) who later executed a search warrant at Dinah Beach on January 3. The man was arrested after being found living between a vehicle and a yacht. Police allege forensic examination of his mobile device uncovered sexually explicit images and videos of children, along with video calls showing the man instructing facilitators in the Philippines to carry out child abuse while he watched live. NT JACET investigators passed information to Australian Federal Police officers in Manila, prompting a Philippines National Police operation in April. That led to the arrest of two suspects and the removal of six children from abusive environments. The Darwin man has been charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia (maximum 20 years' imprisonment if convicted), two counts of sexual activity with a child outside Australia (maximum 20 years), and one count of possessing child abuse material (maximum 15 years). AFP Superintendent Greg Davis said protecting children was one of the AFP's highest priorities. 'All victims of child sexual exploitation experience lifelong harm because of the selfish actions of their abusers,' Superintendent Davis said. 'The AFP will continue to work closely with local, Commonwealth and international partners to protect children from sickening abuse and together identify offenders and bring them before the courts.' Philippines National Police Brigadier General Portia Manalad praised the co-operation between agencies. 'The PNP Women and Children Protection Centre will continue to locate alleged offenders and rescue victims with the assistance of our foreign partners,' she said. NT Police Senior Sergeant Toby Wilson said the community could be confident police were committed to pursuing offenders and protecting vulnerable children. ABF Commander Tracie Griffin said the case highlighted the critical role of frontline officers. 'Six children are safe because of their diligence and the work of our domestic and international law enforcement partners,' she said.
Bloomberg
4 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Climate Blow as Giant LNG Plant Gets Nod to Run to 2070
Good morning, it's Ainsley here with all the news you need to start your day. Today's must-reads: • North West Shelf plant gets preliminary extension • Albanese faces dilemma over Port of Darwin • Opposition regroups a week after split Environment Minister Murray Watt said he's made a proposed decision to extend North West Shelf LNG's operating life to 2070, with conditions. Operator Woodside Energy will have 10 business days to respond. The preliminary approval to extend the life of Australia's biggest and oldest LNG plan potentially creates billions of dollars in new drilling opportunities but raises questions about the nation's climate agenda.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The new Diogo Jota is wanted by Liverpool in €100m deal
Hugo Ekitike should be an exciting link. He isn't because of two reasons. Firstly, people see him as a project player and have PTSD from the signing of Darwin Nunez. Secondly, there's a bit of a misunderstanding when it comes to Expected Goals. WhoScored posted a stat recently, revealing that his 15 league goals this season from an Expected Goals haul of 22.55 was the biggest xG under-performance in the Bundesliga. In other words, he's a poor finisher. Advertisement Having watched Darwin for three seasons, there's a fear that signing a centre-forward who is an underwhelming finisher is a big mistake. So, in their eyes, there's no getting away from it. The former PSG man is going to be a dud. An underperformance isn't a bad thing though, not if the numbers still appear to be sustainable. Ultimately, you want attackers who can generate high-quality shots on a regular basis. Finishing can be erratic. But being an elite chance-getter is what is highly sought after in the world of data analysis. Ian Graham said it in his book. 'A scout or a coach would say, 'Why do we like this forward?' His analytics team would respond, 'He takes loads of really good shots.' The scout or coach would counter, 'Yeah, but does he drive inside enough? Does he bring his teammates into play enough?' 'But we're playing them up front,' Graham said. 'He takes loads of good quality shots. There is literally nothing else to say. All other arguments, they're second-order effects compared to this. But people love to mystify and bring more and more factors into play. A use of the data is just to say: This is the important thing and we might be wrong about it — we sometimes are wrong — but you have to come up with some really good arguments against this one really important thing.'' Advertisement 'He takes loads of good quality shots. There is literally nothing else to say.' This is why I have Darwin the benefit of the doubt during his first two seasons at Anfield. Yes, he was missing big chances. And yes, he was making some questionable decisions at times. But he was a centre-forward who created opportunities and got into good positions. He was doing what you want your striker to do. Across his two full seasons with the Reds, he had an Expected Goals total of 28. That is quite remarkable when you consider a few things. He was adapting to a new country, a new league and a new system. He was also shifted about the pitch with Jurgen Klopp trying different things on multiple occasions. Advertisement Yet he still managed an xG of 28 across 3,750 minutes. Without taking penalties. He was taking high quality shots on a regular basis. Mohamed Salah, for example, had a Non-Penalty xG of 34.1 across this period, having appeared in 5,8000 minutes. So, in a nutshell, 6.1 more xG in an extra 2,050 minutes. This isn't a stat to show Darwin is better than Salah - he isn't. It isn't a stat to say Darwin is as good as Salah - again, he isn't. But it highlights how impactful Darwin was in the final third as a goal threat. You pay insane money for that. Liverpool did just that. You also ignore the misses because, generally speaking, things balance themselves out. In this instance, it didn't and Darwin scored just 20 times. He was judged on his actual output rather than his threat. Advertisement The Nerds in charge at Liverpool will look at the threat though. Usually, you can scale the threat in a better team. It happened with Diogo Jota. He had an Expected Goals per 90 of 0.45 in his final season with Wolves but averaged just 0.28 goals. People looked at his return of seven goals and laughed at Liverpool's decision to spend £40million. The Reds no doubt looked at his xG total of 20 across two seasons in the Premier League with Wolves and thought they were grabbing themselves a bargain. That turned out to be the case, didn't it? The same thing happened with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. You don't mind an underperformance if the other metrics are all positive. Advertisement If anything, you'd prefer that over an overperformance. This is why I didn't want Darwin initially. He had a Non-Penalty Expected Goals total of 14 for Benfica but scored 22 non-penalty goals. Liverpool were paying for his output rather than his underlying numbers. He was running stupidly hot and it didn't seem sustainable at that rate. Turns out it wasn't. Liverpool managed to scale his threat but the one-off season for Benfica of insane overperformance turned out to be an outlier rather than the norm. So, back to Ekitike. I'm not entirely sure why people are against his signing. He's 22, he's well-rounded in attack and a dual threat, with a Non-Penalty xG Involvement of 0.91 this term on a per 90 basis in the Bundesliga. Of course, Bundesliga tax needs to be applied to this. But for something like £65million, it doesn't appear that outrageous. Not if Liverpool feel they can scale his threat, or at least sustain it. Advertisement Though German media report a fee of €100million would be needed, the likelihood is the Bundesliga side will accept less. He has a Non-Penalty goals per 90 average of 0.49, per FBref, but has a NPxG90 average of 0.68 from 4.01 shots. Good shot volume, good xG per shot (0.19) average and a huge xG average. Exactly what you want to see from a striker. His misses don't appear to impact his confidence either. For a bit of context here, Darwin was averaging one non-penalty goal per 90 for Benfica during his final season from a NPxG of 0.6 and four shots.
