Tag Archives: oceania

Ulises Davila, 34, was accused of being the ringleader of the betting scam which saw him and two Macarthur Bulls teammates deliberately earn yellow cards to satisfy a betting outcome.

The charges related to six football games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Ulises Davila Macarthur FC Western United A-League Men

The former Macarthur FC captain faced a Sydney court today and pleaded guilty to facilitating and engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of an event.

Eight charges against him, including that he directed and participated in a criminal group, were withdrawn by prosecutors in the Downing Centre Local Court.

The Mexican will be sentenced on December 19.

During a match on December 9, 2023, against Sydney FC, Davila and his teammates Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were handed yellow cards.

The captain was cautioned for delaying play by kicking the ball away, Lewis was carded for pushing an opponent in the chest, and Baccus was rebuked for a poor tackle.

Bets had been placed on the Macathur team receiving at least four cards during the game, according to facts agreed to by Davila's teammates.

Three Macarthur players - Clayton Lewis, Ulises Davila and Kearyn Baccus - admitted wrongdoing.

Winning payouts for the bets placed through gambling site Betplay totalled more than $200,000.

Davila paid Lewis and Baccus $10,000 each for their roles in the betting scam, the teammates said.

Both men were handed good-behaviour bonds and escaped conviction in September, with the magistrate finding the pair were "right at the bottom of the scheme".

Lewis and Baccus emphasised they had become involved at the behest of Davila, who they claimed was "not only the captain of the team, but the captain of the scheme".

All three players were suspended by Macarthur FC after their arrests and are no longer contracted to the team.

The club previously issued a strongly worded statement that said "serious deficiencies" around integrity processes in Australian football needed to be addressed.

Ulises Davila suffered the death of his wife in 2022, before his role in the caution scam.

"The systems in place are inadequate to protect clubs from risk and lack the responsiveness required to manage issues of this magnitude," the statement read.

"A comprehensive review and reform of integrity protocols is urgently required to safeguard the future of the game."

Davila was an elite youth talent who played at an under-20 World Cup with Mexico and was signed by English powerhouse Chelsea as a 20-year-old.

He never cracked the Blues first team, and instead played in a number of leagues before arriving in the A-League in 2019 with Wellington Phoenix.

He won the Johnny Warren Medal as the best player in the league in 2020-21 and shifted to Macarthur after that season, where he was named captain.

In 2022, the Mexican faced heartbreak as Lily Pacheco, his wife and mother of their two-year-old son, died aged 31.

There are many different ways to get help and information about gambling. You can visit the National Gambling Helpline or call on 1800 858 858.

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Former pilot accused of staging lawnmower crash to stand trial for wife’s murder

2025-10-09 FreeNews

A man accused of staging his wife's death to look like a ride-on lawnmower crash has been ordered to stand trial for her murder.

Robert John Crawford, 47, has been accused of strangling his wife in a "murderous rage" before her body was discovered west of Brisbane.

Frances Elizabeth Crawford was found dead near the ride-on mower at the base of a retaining wall at a rural Upper Lockyer property in July 2024.

Robert John Crawford, 47, has been accused of strangling his wife Frances Elizabeth Crawford in a "murderous rage".

A former Royal Australian Air Force pilot, Mr Crawford entered a not guilty plea in Ipswich Magistrates Court today after he was ordered to stand trial.

Acting Magistrate Sue Ganasan found there was sufficient evidence for Crawford to face trial on the charges of murder and interfering with a corpse.

Mr Crawford's barrister, Saul Holt, said the prosecution case was "extraordinarily weak" after cross-examining four witnesses over the two-day hearing, including extensive questioning of a forensic pathologist and a biomechanics expert.

Holt also challenged electronic evidence that claimed a mobile phone had been activated repeatedly in the hours after midnight when Frances Crawford was likely dead and his client said he was asleep.

Ganasan asked Mr Crawford if he had anything to say in response to the charges.

"Not guilty, Your Honour," he said.

Crawford called emergency services about 3.40am and told them he found his wife at the bottom of a retaining wall and a lawnmower had fallen on her.

She had been trying to move the lawnmower away from water sprinklers, Crawford told responding officers.

Timothy John Roberts testified he was a detective sergeant at the time of Ms Crawford's death and attended the couple's property on the morning her body was found.

Crawford was treated as witness rather than a suspect despite police declaring a crime scene based on the suspicion his wife had died via homicide, Ms Ganasan heard.

"Crawford said he was alone at property but also said he spent time asleep. I could not say if two people had been there," Mr Roberts said.

Mr Crawford was charged three months after his wife's death.

Prosecutors have claimed Mr Crawford strangled his wife, possibly in the couple's home bathroom, then moved her body to make it look like a 237kg ride-on mower had landed on top of her.

His defence has argued she died from the lawnmower's steering wheel compressing her neck.

Forensic pathologist Andrzej Kedziora testified yesterday he performed the autopsy on Ms Crawford.

It revealed injuries including 15 abrasions to her throat area and an abrasion to her chin, Ganasan heard.

Under cross examination, Dr Kedziora agreed the injuries could potentially be explained by someone accidentally reversing a ride-on mower off a retaining wall at night.

However, his report found Ms Crawford could have been killed by someone pressing their arm across her throat via a headlock, Ms Ganasan heard.

Crawford's bail was continued.

He declined to comment when he left the court building, as did Mr Holt.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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NRL star Brandon Smith waits for evidence as he fights drug, betting allegations

2025-10-09 FreeNews

Brandon Smith is still waiting to see police evidence as he fights allegations of supplying cocaine to fellow NRL star Victor Radley.

The South Sydney hooker did not attend Southport Magistrates Court for today's mention of drug and betting charges.

Smith is accused of unlawfully supplying Sydney Roosters lock Radley with cocaine at Currimundi, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, on June 7.

South Sydney player Brandon Smith leaves Southport Magistrates Court at an earlier court date.

Text messages allegedly exchanged between Smith and his former teammate Radley were uncovered in a police investigation.

Radley has not been charged with any offence.

He has ruled himself out of playing for England in the upcoming rugby league Ashes series following the scandal.

Radley was set to run out against the Kangaroos for the three-Test series starting on October 25 at Wembley Stadium.

The Roosters also hit Radley with a hefty 10-match ban without pay, and he was also made to give a $30,000 donation to St Vincent's Hospital for charity research.

Smith remains banned from any contact with Radley as he fights to clear his name.

Brandon Smith is facing drug supply and betting charges in Queensland.

"We are awaiting the brief of evidence that the Queensland Police rely on to establish the charges," leading Sydney lawyer Pat McGirr told AAP today.

"Once we have that material, we will read it and take it from there."

The court ordered the brief of evidence to be delivered to the defence by November 13.

Smith has been charged jointly on the cocaine supply count with Joshua Geoffrey Peter Bainbridge, 34, and the court ordered no contact between the pair.

The NRL star also faces a charge of disclosing inside knowledge of the Souths' starting line-up for his return from injury on July 2.

Smith's inside knowledge about being moved to the run-on side for the Rabbitohs' clash against Manly was allegedly shared with Bainbridge, who then placed a bet on the game as a result.

Victor Radley has not been charged with any offence.

The case was adjourned until December 4 for mention, with his appearance excused.

The charges stem from a police investigation following the seizure of Smith's phone at Gold Coast Airport.

The South Sydney hooker was questioned by police when he arrived in Queensland ahead of his club's August 10 clash with Gold Coast.

He was released without charge and ran out against the Titans.

The charges against Smith were brought by Taskforce Maxima, which targets criminal gang activity across Queensland.

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The AI giant consuming as much power as New York just got even bigger

2025-10-09 FreeNews

One of the world's largest AI developers is set to expand even further after OpenAI and chipmaker AMD agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal.

The developers behind ChatGPT added $96 billion to AMD's market value after agreeing to buy 6 gigawatts worth of AMD's graphics processing units (GPUs).

"Our partnership with OpenAI is expected to deliver tens of billions of dollars in revenue for AMD while accelerating OpenAI's AI infrastructure build out," AMD chief financial officer Jean Hu said.

The OpenAI logo appears on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with random binary data, March 9, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

The agreement comes days after OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, revealed a plan to build artificial intelligence data centres worldwide, which could consume as much as 10 gigawatts of power, with another 17 gigawatts already being used.

That amount is comparable to the 10 gigawatts New York City uses in the summer and five gigawatts used by San Diego during its 2024 heatwave.

Experts have also likened the energy consumption used by OpenAI to the amount required by entire countries.

"Ten gigawatts is more than the peak power demand in Switzerland or Portugal. Seventeen gigawatts is like powering both countries together," Cornell University professor Fengqi You said.

This July 13, 2010, file photo, shows an entrance to the Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Andrew Chien, a computer science professor at the University of Chicago, told Fortune the energy is set to be on par with what "the whole economy consumes".

"I've been a computer scientist for 40 years, and for most of that time, computing was the tiniest piece of our economy's power use.

"A year and a half ago, they were talking about five gigawatts.

"Now they've upped the ante to 10, 15, even 17.

"There's an ongoing escalation."

Professor Jeannie Patterson from the Centre of AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne believes there is a growing question of whether we need more powerful AI.

"There are some good uses of the technology. But a lot of the time it's being used to replace human labour without genuine gain for humans," she said.

"Additionally, more generative AI doesn't necessarily mean more accurate or safer technology."

Sam Altman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, OpenAI, testifies before a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington

Altman recently claimed ChatGPT has surpassed 800 million weekly active users.

"More than 800 million people use ChatGPT every week, and we process over 6 billion tokens per minute on the API."

"Thanks to all of you, AI has gone from something people play with to something people build with every day," he said.

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Woolworths pushes back on Pauline Hanson’s paper bag claims

2025-10-09 FreeNews

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has called for major supermarkets to bring back plastic bags, despite them being banned across the country.

The Queensland senator posted a video to her social media pages, which showed her holding a broken Woolworths paper bag with some items inside.

In the video, Hanson claimed the bags were of poor quality, and expressed frustration at the 25c it costs to buy them at Woolworths.

Pauline Hanson One Nation senator Queensland Woolworths shopping bag

"You buy these cheap, rubbish bags that split and break on you all the time," she said.

"I'm over it, I'm so angry about this.

"And 25c a bag!"

She also called for the return of plastic bags to major supermarkets, writing: "Bring back the trusty plastic bags."

Plastic bag ban decisions are made by states and territories instead of the federal government, but every state and territory has now banned lightweight plastic bags.

Coles and Woolworths also voluntarily got rid of plastic bags in 2018, charging a small sum for shoppers to use reusable bags.

However, Hanson claimed such a charge in a cost-of-living crisis was unfair on Australians.

"You charge a fortune for it, cost of living, people can't afford it, and it's ridiculous," she said.

"I'm sure you're making a fortune out of it."

A spokesperson for Woolworths told 9news.com.au a range of bags are available for customers, and disputed Hanson's claims of poor quality.

"Our paper bags have been available for customers since 2020 and while we continue to provide a wide range of shopping bags for our customers, we ultimately want to sell less of them," they said.

"Woolworths paper bags are regularly tested to carry up to 6kg, and are easily recycled at home in kerbside recycling bins."

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Search for mystery ticket-holder yet to claim $15 million lotto win

2025-10-09 FreeNews

Lotto officials are searching for a person in the NSW Hunter Valley who is yet to cash in a winning $15 million ticket.

It has been nearly two full days since the winning numbers were drawn in the recent Oz Lotto draw, which saw one ticket take out the division one winning entry.

The ticket was purchased at Greenhills Newsagency at the Stockland Shopping Centre in East Maitland north of Newcastle.

Oz Lotto ticket Australia

Since the winner was not registered with The Lott Members Club, officials have no way to contact the person, and the only way they can claim their prize money is if they come forward to the newsagency or to Oz Lotto.

The winning numbers in the latest Oz Lotto on Tuesday were 44, 46, 39, 34, 7, 15 and 3, while the supplementary numbers were 24, 19 and 13.

A staff member at the newsagency confirmed it was the biggest prize they had ever sold, and they hoped the winner would come forward.

"We've sold division one winning entries in the past, but this is the biggest prize so far," Tiarna Perry said.

"We're so excited! Everyone has been coming in to check their tickets, wondering if it's them or if we've found them yet."

The Lott spokesperson Khat McIntyre urged anyone who thinks they may have purchased a ticket in the draw to double-check their entries, saying it could change their lives in the best way possible.

"We can't believe our mystery ticket holder still hasn't come forward. It's possible they're heading to work today with no idea they've scored $15 million," she said.

"Imagine if you're the multi-millionaire we're searching for. You can bet any plans in your year ahead would be flipped on their head in the best way possible."