Crown Melbourne has been fined $2 million by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) for allowing 242 self-excluded individuals to gamble over an 8-month period.

Melbourne, Apr 29 : Putting all rumours to rest, Hollywood actor Mel Gibson has appeared with his Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva for the first time in public at a premiere in Los Angeles.

Gibson and his lover went out together to attend the Los Angeles premiere of Hugh Jackman''s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, reports The Australian.

Melbourne, Apr 29 : Hajnal Ban, one of Queensland''s youngest politicians, has confessed that she spent nine months in Russia to go under a bone-breaking growth surgery to increase her height because she used to be insecure about her size.

Bal, the 31-year-old Logan councillor, had each of her legs broken in four places for the leg-lengthening procedure.

She stayed in the Russian hospital as she grew about 1mm a day to increase her 154cm frame to 162cm.

Melbourne, April 29 : Drinking out of water bottles made from PET plastic may pose a human health risk, reveals a new study.

According to lead researcher Martin Wagner, Goethe University, Frankfurt, a questionable finger could be raised on the safety of the PET plastic water bottles.

The study found that estrogenic compounds trickle into the water in bottles made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate).

And some yet-to-be-identified chemicals in these plastics seemed to have the potential to meddle with estrogen and other reproductive hormones.

Melbourne, Apr 29 : Singer Olivia Newton-John says she still believes her missing boyfriend is alive.

The 60-year-old singer's lighting technician beau of nine years Patrick McDermott mysteriously disappeared during a fishing trip in 2005.

However, in an interview Australian Women''s Weekly, Newton-John said she is still unconvinced that her lover is dead.

"I think there will always be a question mark," the Herald Sun quoted her as saying.

Melbourne, Apr 28 : Advertising campaigns designed to tackle problems such as alcohol among youngsters fail to work, says a prominent communications expert.

Noel Turnbull, adjunct professor in the School of Applied Communications at RMIT University, who is now a director of DrinkWise Australia, said that young people "think they''re immortal".

"They simply don''t believe the risks are as great as other people say," News. com. au quoted him as saying.