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Hundreds of gamblers who self-excluded from Crown Casino were able to circumvent safeguards and place bets undetected. Photo: AFP/ William West Crown Melbourne has been fined $2 million by the Victorian state gambling regulator after allowing 242 people who had self-excluded themselves from gambling to place bets. The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said the casino allowed the people to place bets over an 8-month period between October 2023 and May 2024. Self-exclusion is an industry-operated program where individuals may bar themselves from gambling venues to prevent themselves from placing bets. It's an offence in Victoria to allow any excluded person to enter, remain or gamble at the casino. VGCCC Chair Fran Thorn said Crown was obligated to protect people at...

An Ukrainian serviceman walks down a street in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Donetsk (file photo). Photo: ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff are calling for a new international security system to preclude future instances of armed aggression, as he addressed an online conference on securing peace following Russia's invasion. Andriy Yermak said 66 countries and international organisations had taken part in the conference, devoted to one point of the president's peace plan on ending the more than two-year-old war with Russia. The discussions focused on future instances of escalation and aggression. Zelensky planned to present to parliament this week a "victory plan" - a follow-up to the peace plan he drew up in late 2022 calling for the withdr...

Russian authorities said the vessel was discovered in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. File picture. Photo: AFP / Russia's Emergency Ministry Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific, but his brother and nephew died during the ordeal. Social media images showed a thin, bearded man wearing a hooded jacket and orange emergency vest in a catamaran-like sailboat flying a red flag from a small pole. "On Oct 14, a vessel was discovered in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk," legal authorities in Russia's Far East said on the Telegram messaging app, referring to waters that sprawl over 1.58 mln sq km (610,000 sq miles). "Two people died, one survived," added the regional prosecutor's off...

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa Photo: Samoa Government Samoa's Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa says a question mark hangs over whether work related to the Manawanui disaster will pause during King Charles' visit for the Commonwealth leaders' meeting. About 60 New Zealand Defence Force personnel and specialists are working alongside local authorities after the sinking of the Royal New Zealand Navy vessel on 5 October. Officials estimate that approximately 200,000 litres of diesel has leaked from the vessel. Fiamē told RNZ Pacific on Tuesday there are no talks of the Manawanui being salvaged this week, as leaders from 56 nations are set to gather in Apia for the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next Monday. "There is a question that is being posed because whet...