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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Charlotte Graham-McLay

Morning Mail: asbestos crisis ‘destined to happen’; fears over Putin’s next move; Gaza ceasefire hopes fade

Jason Scarborough
Jason Scarborough, a former EPA investigator, wrote a paper in 2013 warning of widespread breaches by industry. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Good morning. A former senior officer at the NSW environmental watchdog has told Guardian Australia in an exclusive interview that the state’s widening asbestos contamination crisis was “destined to happen” after the regulator failed to act on problems in the waste recovery sector more than a decade ago.

“It’s one of those situations ... where you just want to grab all of the parties concerned and clunk their heads together,” Jason Scarborough says.

Elsewhere, Russian dissenters fear Vladimir Putin’s next actions after Alexei Navalny’s death, and Australia’s best-known carbon-neutral farm is no longer carbon-neutral.

Australia

Asbestos warning signs at Victoria Park in Sydney
Asbestos warning signs at Victoria Park in Sydney. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

World

A woman holds a poster saying ‘Not dead but killed’ as she walks to lay a flower for Alexei Navalny at a monument in St Petersburg
A woman holds a poster saying ‘Not dead but killed’ as she walks to lay a flower for Alexei Navalny at a monument in St Petersburg. Photograph: AP

Full Story

Joe Biden leaves a press conference at the White House; Donald Trump leaves an event in Las Vegas
Joe Biden leaves a press conference at the White House; Donald Trump leaves an event in Las Vegas. Composite: AFP, Getty Images

Is Joe Biden too old to be president?

There is just four years difference in age between the US president, Joe Biden, and his predecessor, Donald Trump – who is as well known as the president for misspeaking and making gaffes. But something has changed: a growing unease about Biden’s perceived frailty and his mental acuity. The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, talks to Michael Safi about why the same charges against Trump don’t stick and how Biden’s campaign can prove the president is fit and sharp enough for another four-year term.

Here’s more: in 2024, there’s a dilemma over Biden v Trump for America’s reporters.

In-depth

Children undergo ultraviolet light therapy to prevent rickets in 1938
Children undergo ultraviolet light therapy to prevent rickets in 1938.
Photograph: Science History Images/Alamy

According to the UK’s Royal College of General Practitioners, scabies cases are now running at three for every 100,000 of the population in England, double the five-year seasonal average. It’s is not the only Victorian disease that appears to be making a comeback in Britain: in 2022 423 patients were admitted to English hospitals with rickets and 188 people were treated for scurvy – both seen as proxies for malnutrition. Cases of measles are also rising.

“It is shameful,” says Dr Benjamin Jacobs, a rickets expert. The Observer asks to what extent poverty, inequality and public health cuts are responsible.

Not the news

A martiny (a tiny martini) cocktail
A martiny (a tiny martini) cocktail. Photograph: Parri Thomas

Here are 30 food stories Observer writers are excited about in 2024 – including cuisines from Oman to Nepal, trends such as ordering the whole menu, and the return of retro dessert trolleys.

The world of sport

India’s Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the wicket of England’s Joe Root on the fourth day of the third cricket Test between England and India in Rajkot
India’s Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the wicket of England’s Joe Root on the fourth day of the third cricket Test between England and India in Rajkot. Photograph: Ajit Solanki/AP

Media roundup

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Scott Morrison’s speech at a rally to support the Jewish community in Sydney, in which the paper says he accused the UN of antisemitism and rejected the prospect of a two-state solution. NT News covers a campaign for clear biodiversity laws which would make the territory no longer the only part of Australia without them. Taylor Swift’s shows in Melbourne were a tourism fillip for the city, the Age says.

What’s happening today

Emily Blunt, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie at the Baftas in London
Emily Blunt, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie at the Baftas in London. Photograph: Scott Garfitt/Bafta/Getty Images
  • Baftas | Follow our live coverage of the film awards in London this morning. Here’s a list of the winners so far.

  • Citizenship | The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will hear evidence from expert witnesses for a review of the Australian citizenship amendment (citizenship repudiation) bill 2023. The bill allows the minister to make a court application for a citizenship cessation order when someone is convicted of certain crimes.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.

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