A senior Kremlin-appointed official in Ukraine has blamed Russian military setbacks on incompetent and corrupt senior commanders and even urged the defence minister to consider suicide over his performance.

In a searing four-minute video posted to the encrypted messaging application Telegram, Kirill Stremousov, the Moscow-installed deputy leader of Ukraine's Kherson region, largely occupied by Russia, blamed military losses in his jurisdiction on "incompetent commanders" who have not been held accountable for their mistakes.

Stremousov said the conduct of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was so poor that any real officer would kill himself, news agency Reuters reports.

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"Indeed many people say that if they were the Minister of Defence, who brought things to this state of affairs, they would shoot themselves, if they were real officers."

"But the word officer is incomprehensible to many."

Stremousov's comments come as Kyiv is successfully pushing ahead in its campaign to retake parts of southern and eastern Ukraine that Russia captured in the initial weeks of the war.

Pro-Russian propagandists and military analysts have blamed the string of losses on what they see as mistakes by the Russian military, but few Russian-installed officials on Ukrainian soil have so publicly skewered Moscow's flailing war effort.

Stremousov alleged that a "small number" of what he called "corrupt marauders and other miscellaneous riffraff" were responsible for "gaps" on the battlefield. He singled out Shoigu, saying he "allowed this situation to happen."

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Shoigu is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader turned 70 years old on Friday but has little to celebrate as the seven-month-old conflict drags on.

Members of Russia's parliament and regional officials have begun to level criticisms at the Russian military, alleging that not enough troops were deployed to hold the parts of eastern and southern Ukraine that Russian forces captured in the initial weeks of the conflict.

Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, the head of Russia's State Duma Defence Committee, said officials need to "stop lying" about developments on the ground.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin's inner circle: The men behind Russia's war in Ukraine

"People know. Our people are not stupid," Kartapolov said in an interview with a Russian journalist.

The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, criticised Russia's withdrawal on Saturday from the strategic eastern city of Lyman in the region of Donetsk. Kadyrov, a key ally of Putin, said Russian troops "were not provided with the necessary communication, interaction and the supply of ammunition."

Kherson and Donetsk are two of the four regions Russia is planning to annex in violation of international law. Donetsk and Luhansk are both in eastern Ukraine, and fighting against Moscow-backed breakaway republics in each region has been raging since 2014.

Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are in southern Ukraine and have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in late February.

Ukraine's military has made significant gains in Kherson in the past week, liberating more than 400sq/km in an unspecified time frame, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman said.

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Every week we will break down, debunk and demystify your rights as a shopper in Australia. This week we are looking at a curious supermarket practice where scanning errors could see customers receiving items for free.

We all know life is getting more expensive than ever before, and how important it is to stretch every dollar you make.

That's why each week we'll answer a question surrounding what shoppers are – and aren't – entitled to when dealing with retailers and manufacturers.

MONEY MATTERS: Does a shop have to honour a price set by mistake?

Is the supermarket scanner myth an urban legend?

Hi Stu,

I was at a dinner party recently and one of my friends was claiming that he received a packet of chips for free because when he scanned it at the self-serve, it came up for a price that was higher than what it said on the shelf.

We all thought this was an urban legend. Surely the supermarket would sell it at the lower advertised price rather than give it away for free?

Have you ever heard of this?

Believe it or not, this is actually a real phenomenon – but it has less to do with consumer law and more to do with major supermarkets keeping customers happy.

In grocery land there is something called a "Scanning Code of Practice", which is a voluntary code that Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have all signed up to.

(Some IGAs have signed up to the code, some haven't, given the independent nature of those supermarkets.)

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The code details in general terms that if a scanner malfunctions product scans at a higher price than what is advertised, it is free.

The whole idea of having the code is a throwback to the introduction of digital scanners, and was brought in to encourage the public's trust that the machines were reading the correct prices.

Coles calls this their "Promise on Price Scanning", and says they do this to "ensure confidence in the pricing accuracy at our registers".

"If a single item scans at a higher price than the advertised or ticketed shelf price for that item, we will give you that item free," the supermarket states on its website.

MONEY MATTERS: Is it legal for shops to offer discounts for cash?

Aldi is similar, noting that only the first incorrectly-scanned product is free.

"If a regular product scans at a price higher than that displayed, you are entitled to receive the first item free. All subsequent items will be charged at the lower price," it says on its website.

"If a Special Buys product scans at a price higher than the price displayed, Aldi will refund the difference between the scanned price and ticketed price."

Woolworths shares fewer details on its policy, but like Coles it does let customers know that the policy does not apply if there has been a user error (rather than a scanner error) – such as an employee putting the wrong product code on an item.

"The Scanning Code of Practice doesn't apply to an error in unit pricing that's recorded on a shelf label," Woolworths says.

MONEY MATTERS: Can a business refuse legal tender in Australia?

There are some limitations to the code of practice too.

Both Coles and Woolworths stipulate that the "freebie" policy doesn't apply to liquor and tobacco products, items with a shelf price of $50 or higher, or where an operator error has occurred, for instance the wrong unit number has been keyed in or the wrong product is identified by the checkout operator.

Given that today's supermarket scanners are far more accurate than any human, I think it would be pretty rare to take advantage of this policy.

Do you have a consumer question you want answered? You can get in touch with reporter Stuart Marsh at sm****@******om.au.

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial or legal advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

South Korea says North Korea has flown 12 warplanes near their mutual border, prompting South Korea to launch 30 military planes in response.

The highly unusual incident on Thursday came hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of missile tests in less than two weeks.

Eight North Korean fighter jets and four bombers flew in formation and were believed to have conducted air-to-surface firing drills, South Korea's military said.

READ MORE: More than 30 killed, mostly kids, in shooting at Thailand childcare centre

The military said South Korea responded by scrambling 30 fighter jets and other warplanes, though they didn't engage in any clash with the North Korean aircraft. It refused to provide further details, including how close to the border the North Korean planes flew.

Tensions have risen sharply on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea's recent barrage of missile tests prompted South Korea, the United States and Japan to conduct joint drills in response.

Earlier Thursday, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters. The launches came after the United States redeployed an aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea's launch of a nuclear-capable missile over Japan.

North Korea has conducted a record number of missile tests this year. South Korean officials said the North may further raise tensions by testing an intercontinental ballistic missile or conducting its first nuclear test explosion since 2017, following an old pattern of heightening tensions before trying to wrest concessions.

Some experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is determined to continue with weapons tests aimed at boosting his nuclear arsenal in defiance of international sanctions. They say North Korea's goal is to eventually win recognition as a legitimate nuclear state from the United States and the lifting of sanctions, though the United States and its allies have shown no sign of doing so.

READ MORE: Police set up cordon after three reportedly stabbed in central London

The latest missiles were launched 22 minutes apart from North Korea's capital region and landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The first missile flew 350 kilometres and reached a maximum altitude of 80 kilometres and the second flew 800 kilometres with an apogee of 60 kilometres.

The flight details were similar to Japanese assessments announced by Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada, who confirmed that the missiles didn't reach Japan's exclusive economic zone.

He added that the second missile was possibly launched on an "irregular" trajectory. It is a term that has been used to describe the flight characteristics of a North Korean weapon modelled after Russia's Iskander missile, which travels at low altitudes and is designed to be manoeuvrable in flight to improve its chances of evading missile defences.

US, South Korean and Japanese destroyers launched joint drills later on Thursday off the Korean Peninsula's east coast to hone their abilities to search, track and intercept North Korean ballistic missiles, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

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The US destroyer is part of the strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which returned to the waters in what South Korea's military called an attempt to demonstrate the allies' "firm will" to counter the North's continued provocations and threats.

The strike group was in the area last week as part of previous drills between South Korea and the United States, and the allies' other training involving Japan. North Korea considers such US-led drills near the peninsula as an invasion rehearsal and views training involving a US carrier as more provocative.

South Korea's military said it had also boosted its surveillance posture and maintained readiness in close coordination with the United States.

The US Indo Pacific Command said the launches didn't pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, but still highlighted the "destabilising impact" of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke by phone on Thursday and agreed that North Korea's recent missile tests are "a serious, grave provocation" that threatens international peace, according to Yoon's office. Kishida earlier said the North's continued launches are "absolutely intolerable".

Moon Hong Sik, a South Korean Defence Ministry spokesperson, said North Korea's accelerating tests also reflect an urgency to meet Kim Jong-un's arms development goals.

Kim last year described an extensive wish list of advanced nuclear weapons systems, including more powerful ICBMs, multi-warhead missiles, underwater-launched nuclear missiles and tactical nuclear arms.

On Tuesday, North Korea staged its most provocative weapons demonstration since 2017, firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan, forcing the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains.

Experts said the weapon was likely a Hwasong-12 missile capable of reaching the US Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.

Other weapons tested in recent days included Iskander-like missiles and other ballistic weapons designed to strike key targets in South Korea, including US military bases there.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the redeployment of the Reagan strike group poses "a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity".

"The ministry said it strongly condemns US-led efforts at the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions on the North over its recent missile testing, which it described as a "just counteraction" to joint US-South Korean drills.

After the North's intermediate-range missile launch, the United States and South Korea also carried out their own live-fire drills that have so far involved land-to-land ballistic missiles and precision-guided bombs dropped from fighter jets.

But one of the tit-for-tat launches nearly caused catastrophe early Wednesday when a malfunctioning South Korean Hyumoo-2 missile flipped shortly after liftoff and crashed into the ground at an air force base in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung. South Korea's military said no one was hurt.

After Tuesday's North Korean launch, the United States, Britain, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. But the session Wednesday ended with no consensus, underscoring a divide among the council's permanent members that has deepened over Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russia and China during the meeting insisted to fellow Security Council members that US-led military exercises in the region had provoked North Korea into acting.

AFL great Wayne Carey will not face charges over an incident which involved him dropping a bag of white power at Crown Perth last month.

WA Police confirmed today that their investigation had been finalised and no criminal charges had been laid.

The 51-year-old was reportedly banned from all Crown venues for two years after dropping the bag of powder he claimed was crushed up pain killers on September 1.

READ MORE: Brittany Higgins cries as Parliament House security vision played to court

Carey was escorted from the casino after the incident, but police were not called until days later.

The former AFL player has maintained the white powder was not illegal and said it was crushed up anti-inflammatory drugs.

"What I will say is that nothing illegal has occurred here… I am disappointed," Carey previously told 9News Melbourne.

Carey previously told The Age that he offered the substance to security, but they "didn't take it".

"They just said it's not a great look, I understood that, and we left without incident."

Crown Resorts chief executive Ciaran Carruthers has publicly disputed Carey's version of events.

Carruthers told 6PR that some of the statements made by Carey directly contradicted the statements made by Crown team members.

"My understanding is that they didn't know that it was Carey that was at the table. It was a customer that was buying in for chips at the time," he said.

"(Staff) noticed the packet fall out along with the notes and they advised their gaming manager.

Carruthers said the one "miss in the procedure" was that staff didn't call police.

"The one mistake was that the authorities should have been notified straight away," he said.

"That process has been changed, effective immediately. That change has already happened following a full review."

Last month, lawyers for Carey said they would assess whether he was unlawfully discriminated against.

More than 30 people, mostly children, have been killed when a gunman opened fire in a childcare centre in northeastern Thailand, authorities said.

Police Major General Achayon Kraithong said the shooting occurred early in the afternoon on Thursday in the centre in the town of Nongbua Lamphu.

He said the attacker killed 30 people before taking his own life. He had no more details.

A spokesperson for a regional public affairs office said 26 deaths have been confirmed so far — 23 children, two teachers and one police officer.

According to Thai media reports, the gunman also used knives in the attack and then fled the building.

Photographs showed at least two bodies on the floor of the centre covered in white sheets.

Several media outlets identified the assailant as a former police lieutenant colonel from the region but there was no immediate official confirmation.

The Daily News newspaper reported that after fleeing the scene of the attack the assailant returned to his home and killed himself along with his wife and child.

A statement from the prime minister's office said the shooting took place at the Child Development Centre in Uthaisawan Na Klang district, Nong Bua Lamphu province.

"The prime minister has expressed his condolences on the shooting incident which resulted in 30 deaths," the statement read.

Gun ownership in Thailand is relatively high compared with other countries in South-East Asia.

Mass shootings in the country are rare but a 2020 incident saw a soldier kill 29 people in a shooting spree that began at a military site and then sent shoppers hunting for cover after the gunman entered a mall.

More to come

A gyrocopter has crashed while trying to alert a surfer to a shark circling nearby off the coast of New South Wales.

Bill Ballard knew he was surfing with dolphins but had no idea of the shark in the water at Wallagoot beach, south of Tathra.

That's until a gyrocopter started circling above him and he noticed the passengers pointing it out.

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"The third loop around I could see them pointing," Ballard told 9News.

"They were pointing at this large black shadow that was close to me."

As Ballard paddled to the safety of shore, there was an unexpected turn of events – the gyrocopter crashed into the shallows.

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"A light helicopter just crashed, it tried to warn me about a shark swimming around me. Can you f—ing believe this holy s—," Ballard said in the video.

The couple were luckily uninjured and Ballard had captured the aftermath on film, which he posted online.

"It was like we were in a movie," Ballard said.

"(It) started off with me having a nice surf with few dolphins to be potentially attacked by a shark and then an aircraft crashing on a beach."

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Brittany Higgins has been challenged over how long she kept a dress she wore when she was allegedly raped at Parliament House hidden under her bed.

A jury has heard a second day of evidence from Higgins in the ACT Supreme Court criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. 

It comes as the 26-year-old said she felt her story was out of her control once she had given interviews to high-profile journalists when questioned about why she approached the media with the allegations.

READ MORE: Texts reveal Brittany Higgins' thoughts in days after alleged assault

Higgins hid dress under bed after alleged attack

Higgins was questioned today about a white dress she wore the night of the alleged assault. 

"I kept it under my bed in a plastic bag for a good six months," Higgins told the court.

"It wasn't touched, it wasn't cleaned…. I kept it there, it was like this weird anchor for me.

"Once it was clear I could proceed with my job I very symbolically washed the dress," she added.

After lunch Higgins was cross-examined about how long the dress had remained under her bed.

Defence Barrister Steve Whybrow showed the court a photo of her wearing the garment about two months later and put to her that she had lied.

Higgins replied that she was simply wrong and that the alleged assault was the worst night of her life.

"It stayed under my bed for a period of time.. I was wrong," she told the court.

Conversations with Linda Reynolds

Higgins also testified today former defence industry minister Linda Reynolds told her she did not think her accused rapist was "capable of something like that". 

The pair were working in Reynold's office as staffers at the time of the alleged assault. 

Higgins told the court she had a meeting with Reynolds and her chief of staff Fiona Brown after the alleged rape.

She described being panicked because she was in the same office with the couch where Lehrmann had allegedly assaulted her. 

"The words were a little lost … she (Reynolds) said something to the effect of 'I didn't think he was capable of something like that'," Higgins told the court. 

She said Reynolds apologised to her, but the conversation then turned to the upcoming 2019 federal election. 

After dreaming of becoming a political media adviser, Higgins said she feared she would lose her job if she made a complaint to the police. 

"My interpretation of that was that if I raised it with police there were going to be problems," she said. 

She said she wanted to keep working for the Liberal Party and assist during the election but also wanted to proceed with the complaint.

"It became really apparent it was my job on the line… I'd gone my entire life working towards this moment," she said. 

She said she decided to "toe the party line" and not proceed further with the police complaint. 

Higgins worked with Reynolds during the election but told the court she felt as though she did not like her because of the problems she had caused with the allegations. 

"I felt like she (Reynolds) did not like being around me based on the fact of how little she would have me on the road with her as a media adviser," Higgins said. 

After the election, Higgins began working with another Liberal senator Michaelia Cash. 

Allegations 'out of control' after media story

Higgins said she was not ashamed of going public with details of her alleged rape before reopening her complaint with the police.

Whybrow put to Higgins she told the media about her alleged rape two years after it occurred because she wanted to damage the Liberal Party.

Higgins said she wanted changes to address systemic problems related to the treatment of women in Parliament House.

"I loved my party, I loved the Liberal Party," she said.

She told the court the cultural issues and her alleged rape were two separate issues she wanted to address.

She decided to go down two avenues to address the issues by talking to the media and to the police about her allegations.

"I stand by my choice. I'm not ashamed of that," she said.

Higgins said once she had spoken to journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson about her allegations the story became outside of her control.

"… They both sort of had exclusive rights and they were fighting over when it would be released and who did what and who got the exclusive drop so come Walkley's time who could claim what."

"It became not even about me or my story, it became about them (the journalists)," she said.

"Once I'd given an on-the-record interview … it was out of my control … it was up to them."

The Walkley Awards are a prestigious journalism accolade.

Whybrow put to Higgins a timeline of events she had written was prepared for the media rather than for the police.

Higgins originally wrote it for the police but it was given to particular journalists when she and her partner David Sharaz were overwhelmed with media inquiries.

She said those journalists then circulated the dossier to others, which was a "breach of trust".

Whybrow put to Higgins police had told her media reporting could jeopardise the case.

Higgins thought she would do one print and one television interview about her experience and then never talk about it again.

She also did not think police would prosecute her argument or that the matter would end up in court.

"I thought I'd go back to uni and disappear," she said.

Higgins told the court she originally did not go ahead with a police complaint in 2019, when the alleged rape happened, because she feared she would lose her job.

Parliament House security footage shown

Earlier, Higgins was shown security vision of her and Lehrmann entering Parliament House on the night she alleges he raped her.

Higgins cried as the footage was played and said she does not remember the specifics of entering her workplace with Lehrmann in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

The video showed the pair arriving at the building entrance and being signed in by two security guards.

Higgins walked through the security gate, was required to take off her shoes and struggled to put them back on.

Barefoot and carrying her heels, she and Lehrmann were escorted to the office by a security guard.

The footage ended after the pair entered the office.

The footage also showed Lehrmann leaving Parliament House about an hour later and an Uber collecting him.

Higgins was seen leaving the building at 10am that morning, wearing a jacket she said she borrowed from a bag of clothes in the minister's office.

The jury also heard an audio recording of Lehrmann at the gates to the ministerial entrance.

He told security his name, saying he was with then-minister Linda Reynolds and had been requested to pick up some documents.

The jury was also shown photos of the office of Higgins and Lehrmann's former boss, then-defence industries minister Linda Reynolds, including multiple images of the couch where the alleged assault took place.

The photos were taken by police two years after the alleged assault.

"I was like a prop, pinned into that corner. My leg was pinned up," Higgins said.

The court was also shown an image of Higgins' right leg with a large bruise.

The photo was taken about a week after the alleged assault.

She told the court she assumes the injury was sustained during the alleged assault.

The jury was also shown photos of the office of Higgins and Lehrmann's former boss, then-defence industries minister Linda Reynolds, including multiple images of the couch where the alleged assault took place.

The photos were taken by police two years after the alleged assault.

"I was like a prop, pinned into that corner. My leg was pinned up," Higgins said.

The court was also shown an image of Higgins' right leg with a large bruise.

The photo was taken about a week after the alleged assault.

She told the court she assumes the injury was sustained during the alleged assault.

– Reported with AAP

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Changes to regulations regarding telcos are planned, after the Optus data leak, to protect customers' information.

The federal government said the move will "better protect Australians," after at least 2.1 million personal identification numbers were been stolen in the massive cyber attack at the end of last month.

The government will recommend changes to the Governor-General, including to allow telcos to better coordinate with banks to prevent fraud, and allow Optus to share "limited information" with Services Australia.

READ MORE: Alleged SMS scammer arrested for 'using Optus hack data'

Personal information should also be destroyed when it's no longer needed, it said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland announced the planned changes.

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"These steps that we announce today are all about helping Optus and the financial services sector and the relevant agencies work together more effectively to protect customers affected by the breach," Chalmers, said.

"If there are further steps that need to be taken, we will take them."

The regulations are only in place for 12 months and will be reviewed.

The changes will allow telecommunications firms to temporarily share information, such as drivers licences, Medicare and passport numbers of affected customers with regulated financial services firms so they can implement "enhanced monitoring and safeguards" for customers affected by the breach, the government said.

Optus will also be able to share identifiers to help Commonwealth, and state and territory agencies to prevent fraud.

"The proposed regulations have been carefully designed with strong privacy and security safeguards to ensure that only limited information can be made available for certain purposes," a government statement said.

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"Information can only be used for the sole purposes of preventing or responding to cyber security incidents, fraud, scam activity or identify theft.

"The proposed changes will also allow for increased fraud detection in the broader financial services sector through existing industry mechanisms to report fraudulent transactions, such as fraud information exchanges."

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