Australia has been urged by experts to start placing heavier regulations on the video gaming industry. This call for action comes as countries such as Germany, Belgium, Japan and China have taken drastic measures against ‘loot boxes’. 

Loot boxes are purchasable prizes which medical observers have compared to gambling as they function like ‘mini-casinos’. Children are at most risk of being exploited by loot boxes.

Currently, Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie is proposing new laws requiring games with loot boxes to carry an R-18 rating.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has apologised on behalf of the Greek government for their constant delays and breakdowns in responding to the wildfires. 

In the seventh day of the blazes, 500 fires have been burning throughout Greece forcing the evacuation of numerous villages. 

Mitsotakis promises the restoration of forests, and has approved a 500 million euro aid package for the region.

A new vaccination centre will open at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) this Wednesday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said initially 1000-1500 doses per day would be administered on site. 

The BCEC hub will deliver Pfizer vaccinations and second doses of AstraZeneca for those who have already had their first vaccination.

Queensland Ambulance Service has apologised to the family of a Brisbane sixty-nine year old woman who died while waiting nine hours for an ambulance.

 
This tragedy was one of a number of cases dating back as far as May this year, when information leaked from south-east Queensland Ambulance Networks revealed how Brisbane hospitals were at 190% capacity.

Researchers from the University of Queensland have described the fossils of a new pterosaur species unearthed in Wanamara Country, North West Queensland as the closest thing to a real-life dragon. 

This species of pterosaur had a wingspan of around seven metres, with a spear-like mouth containing forty teeth.

It is the third species of anhanguerian pterosaur discovered in Australia and from western Queensland.

A survey by charity group Anglicare has found that three quarters of Australians would support a universal basic income policy.

Executive director Kasy Chambers (not to be confused with the singer-songwriter) said the increases to jobseeker and newstart have highlighted to Australians that poverty is a policy choice.

The number of people surveyed was only around one thousand, but the results were consistent with similar surveys conducted since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Northern Territory government has launched a new agreement with first nations Australians aiming to reduce high Indigenous incarceration rates in the region. 

Titled the ‘Aboriginal Justice Agreement’, community elders and legislators hope that the agreement will implement actions and establish new local laws that will reintroduce community courts as well as expand on programs aimed at reducing recidivism.

The agreement is set to be launched in Alice Springs and Kalkarindji later this month.

Belarusian President Alesandr Lukashenko has denied he had any involvement in the death of an activist in Kiev and the defection of an Olympian during an annual press conference.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has indicated the EU states are planning stronger sanctions towards Lukasenko and Belarus, which could be approved at a EU ministers meeting next month.