Queensland has reported lost more than $6 million a day, to poker machines in clubs and hotels last year.

Tim Costello, director for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, has noted that losses are on the rise due to machines becoming more addictive alongside sophisticated loyalty schemes.

Mr Costello reported that pokies losses was causing issues across the state, particularly in vulnerable communities, with an increase in crime, homelessness, family breakdowns, suicide and bankruptcy.

Category two Cyclone Oma could be expected to make landfall along the southern Queensland coast late this week.

The system reportedly delivered record levels of rain to northern queensland a fortnight ago, with Dean Narramore from the Bureau of Meteorology commenting that it has stalled near Vanuatu before redeveloping into a tropical low and further strengthening to a tropical cyclone.

New heart health research has revealed parts of Queensland and outback Northern Territory are worst impacted by the disease.

Heart foundation general manager of heart health and research, Bill Stavreski, told Sky News that a high prevalence of smoking, physical inactivity and difficulty in accessing medical services from remote areas were significant contributors.

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death in Australia, with 43,500 deaths attributed to CVD in Australia in 2017.

Australia’s political parties have been targeted by a “sophisticated state actor”, according to Scott Morrison, as part of a breach of the Parliament House computer network.

The head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Alastair MacGibbon, says agencies were unsure what material had been taken in the incident because the rapid remediation efforts has removed some of the forensic evidence.

The New Zealand government has announced plans for a new tax targeting tech giants like Google and Facebook. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday the current tax system isn’t fair and the gap needs to be closed

The proposed digital services tax would take about 2 or 3 percent of revenue that international online companies generate in New Zealand.

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said the tax could be implemented as soon as next year.

A spacecraft has successfully fired a harpoon into a target orbiting Earth in an operation that could help clean up the tonnes of space junk threatening satellites.

It was the third of four experiments in where scientists of the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft, fired a harpoon at a speed of 20 meters per second to hit the target.

Indonesian police insist an explosion near the venue of last night's presidential debate was a firecracker, not a bomb.

The blast occurred while President Joko Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto were on stage at Jakarta's Sultan Hotel for a televised pre-election debate.

Footage recorded on mobile phones showed people running in fear, while a voice, amplified by loudspeaker, urged them not to panic.

India is warning of rising communal tensions after a Kashmiri suicide bomber killed 44 policemen in the region last week.

The attack has prompted backlash against the Kashmiri Muslim population, hundreds of which now face property evictions after a village headman declared housing them to be an act of treason.

The Federal Interior Ministry has issued an advisory to all states to ensure the safety and security of the Kashmiri Muslim minority, and in same cases Kashmiri students are being held as a precaution in police guarded hostels.