Canberra, July 30 (IANS) The number of Australians who gamble at risky levels is on the rise, new data has shown.

The new report, which was published by the Center for Gambling Research at the Australian National University (ANU) on Monday, found that more Australians have taken up online gambling, Xinhua news agency reported.

It revealed that 60.3 per cent of Australian adults had gambled in some form in the 12 months to January 2024 — down slightly from 61.3 per cent in 2023.

However, the proportion of the adult population who gamble at risky levels spiked from 11.6 per cent in 2023 to 13.6 per cent in 2024.

“This means a larger proportion of individuals who gamble are experiencing harm,” Aino Suomi, lead author of the study and director of the Center for Gambling Research, said in a media release.

Buying lottery tickets remained the most popular form of gambling in the 12-month period to January 2024, with 46.8 per cent of the adult population having done so.

Over one-third of adults — 33.4 per cent — gambled online in the same period.

Suomi said online gambling rates have increased exponentially, making it one of the main gambling platforms for Australians.

“The unlimited access to online gambling has the potential to cause real harm if not properly addressed,” she said.

A separate report also published by the Center for Gambling Research on Monday found that 1.2 million Australians — or more than 5 per cent of the adult population — had been personally affected by someone else’s gambling in the last 12 months.

People who were affected by another’s gambling tended to be younger, earning a lower income, experiencing problems related to their gambling and dealing with psychological distress, Suomi said.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australians lose approximately 25 billion Australian dollars ( $16.4 billion) on legal forms of gambling every year, representing the largest per capita losses in the world.

–IANS

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London, July 30 (IANS) UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to visit Southport on Tuesday where two children were killed and nine others were injured – six of them still in a critical condition – during a knife attack on Monday morning.

Ahead of Starmer’s visit, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Southport MP Patrick Hurley laid flowers at the scene of the attack on Tuesday morning. A vigil is also being planned in the evening in memory of the victims.

The children were attending a Taylor Swift event at a dance school when a 17-year-old male offender, armed with a knife, walked into the premises and started to attack those inside.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said that the youngster from Banks in Lancashire, who was born in Cardiff, was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and taken to the police station where he is being interviewed by detectives.

In its initial statement, the local police had confirmed that the incident was not being treated as terror-related and they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

“At this early stage, enquiries are ongoing to establish the motive for this tragic incident and we would urge people not to speculate while the investigation is ongoing,” said Merseyside Police.

–IANS

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Yangon, July 30 (IANS) Over 10,000 acres of monsoon paddy have been submerged in Kyonpyaw township of Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region in recent days, the state-run daily Myanma Alin reported on Tuesday.

The report said that the rise of a creek in the township and torrential rains have caused the paddy fields to be submerged, Xinhua news agency reported.

As of July 28, in Kyonpyaw township, 10,307 acres of monsoon paddy, 15 acres of tapioca fields and two acres of banana fields were flooded, with over 60 houses from three villages submerged, the report said.

Local authorities and rescue organisations have provided the affected residents with food and drinking water, it added.

Additionally, Ayeyarwady’s Kangyidaunt township reported over 3,800 acres of submerged monsoon paddy.

–IANS

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Phnom Penh, July 30 (IANS) A Cambodian military helicopter, that went missing on July 12, was found in the Cardamom Mountains, with both two people aboard confirmed dead, a defence spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“At 10:30 a.m. local on July 30, 2024, the search team of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) found the body of pilot Sun Phalla at the foot of the Yav Yai Mountain, about 210 meters from the crash site,” Gen Chhum Socheat, a secretary of state and spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, announced in a post on social media.

According to Socheat, the corpse of pilot assistant Kheng Chhaiyuth was discovered on Monday at around 5 p.m. local time in the crashed chopper, Xinhua news agency reported.

“I am shocked and saddened by the news of the deaths of the two pilots and pray for their souls to rest in peace,” the spokesperson said.

The search team found the missing helicopter at the Yav Yai Mountain in Thmor Da commune of Pursat province’s Veal Veng district on Monday afternoon after a 17-day search operation.

The helicopter had lost contact with the Air Force headquarters while flying over the densely forested Cardamom Mountain range in Pursat and Koh Kong provinces during a training flight on July 12 due to bad weather, according to the Ministry of National Defence.

Gen Ith Sarath, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), who led the search and rescue operation, said more than 1,000 ground and air forces carried out the work.

–IANS

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Seoul, July 30 (IANS) North Korea appointed new ambassadors to Vietnam and Singapore on Tuesday after years of delay due to the North’s COVID-19-related border shutdown.

North Korea appointed Ri Sung-guk as the country’s new top envoy to Vietnam, replacing his predecessor Kim Myong-gil, according to the foreign ministry.

The post had remained vacant since Kim returned to North Korea in April 2019, months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yonhap news agency reported.

Details about Ri were not available as the North’s state media have not carried any report about him so far.

The North also appointed Ri Kil-song as the country’s ambassador to Singapore. He appears to be a former vice foreign minister who had handled Asian affairs until 2020.

It marked the first time in about more than three years that North Korea has named new ambassadors following the appointment of Ri Ryong-nam, the North Korean ambassador to China, in 2021.

North Korea has allowed new top envoys from China, Mongolia and Cuba to begin their official duty in the North since last year, as it started easing its border restrictions in August 2023.

–IANS

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