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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: citizenship cancellations ruled illegal, breast milk trade warning, ‘Rosetta Stone’ of dinosaur finds

Ahmad Merhi holding a yellow and blue macaw
Ahmad Merhi lost his Australian citizenship after being accused of terrorism in Iraq, a charge he denies. Photograph: Supplied

Morning everyone. One of the most controversial immigration measures introduced by the Coalition saw Australians accused overseas of terrorism have their citizenship cancelled. One such person, Ahmad Merhi, has languished on death row in Iraq ever since but now has hope after the citizenship ruling was declared invalid – along with the rulings for 18 other people.

Meanwhile, a group of amateur palaeontologists in Queensland may have discovered a fossil providing the missing link for several new dinosaur species, and could you go 26 months before filling your rubbish bin?

Australia

Five women standing behind a fossil they have excavated
Amateur fossil hunters have found a skull connected to the body of marine giant elasmosaur for the first time in Australia. Photograph: The Guardian
  • ‘Rock chicks’ | A group of female graziers from outback Queensland who hunt fossils in their spare time have uncovered the remains of a 100m-year-old dinosaur that palaeontologists are likening to the Rosetta Stone for its potential to unlock the discovery of several new species of prehistoric marine creatures.

  • Citizenship ruling | The Department of Home Affairs has overturned a decision to cancel the citizenship of a former Sydney man on death row in Iraq after it ruled the law used to strip him of his Australian citizenship was invalid. Almost 20 other rulings have been reversed as well.

  • Milk fears | An exponential growth in Australians donating or selling breast milk online is putting infants at risk of disease, a bioethicist says, calling for human milk to be defined as a “tissue” and regulated in the same way as blood.

  • Lehrmann move | Bruce Lehrmann is contemplating suing the ABC over its decision to live broadcast a statement made by Brittany Higgins outside court after his trial was aborted in October.

  • Wheel kindness | A woman who pursued a cyclist in her four-wheel-drive car after a road-rage incident was released on parole after her victim pleaded for her to be shown compassion in an “extraordinary” statement to a Brisbane court.

World

A large smoke and fire plume rises from Kursk oil depot
Footage posted on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the sky followed by a fire at the airfield 280km from the Ukrainian border. Photograph: Unknown

Full Story

Participant seen holding a sign at the protest in Manhattan
Campaigners say US laws are reinforcing stigmas about HIV, and discouraging people who don’t know their status from getting tested. Photograph: Erik McGregor/LightRocket/Getty Images

Imprisoned for being HIV positive

People living with HIV still face criminalisation in more than 80 countries. We hear from two people who faced criminal charges in the US, including Lashanda Salinas, whose former partner accused her of exposing him to the virus.

In-depth

A woman stands with her hand on her bin on the pavement
How long does it take to fill your rubbish bin? Photograph: Trudy Joyce

An Adelaide woman has set a remarkable record after going more than two years without filling her general rubbish bin. With careful composting and re-using of everyday waste, Alice Clanachan managed to last 26 months without troubling the garbos. “I could have gone a bit longer, but it’s getting hot,” she said.

Not the news

Rhonda Burchmore sitting on a couch with her poodle
Entertainer Rhonda Burchmore says she gets ‘quite a buzz out of vacuuming’. Photograph: Philip Castleton

Rhonda Burchmore has been singing and dancing on our screen for 35 years having started on Hey Hey It’s Saturday. As she prepares for a series of shows singing Christmas classics in Melbourne, she tells us about three treasured objects: a homemade dance costume from when she was six, her Dyson vacuum cleaner, and recording of her early TV appearances (sadly mostly lost, she says).

The world of sport

Morocco players celebrate on the pitch
Morocco have knocked Spain out of the World Cup after a penalty shootout. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Media roundup

Reaction to the RBA’s eighth successive rate rise is everywhere this morning. The Courier Mail says the big four banks have wasted no time in passing on the rise, while the Canberra Times looks at how much the average mortgage repayment has increased in the capital. The Australian claims an exclusive that the government has “issued a list of demands to the NSW and Queensland governments to impose their own coal price caps”. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the renovation of the Quay Quarter Towers building at Sydney’s Circular Quay has been named “world building of the year”. And the Adelaide Advertiser reports on why a real Christmas tree is going to cost you a lot more this year.

What’s happening today

  • Washington talks | The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the defence minister, Richard Marles, are in Washington for more security talks with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin.

  • Outback Wrangler case | A police officer is in a Darwin court charged with 32 offences, including conspiring to destroy evidence in a helicopter crash.

  • Aacta awards | The Aacta awards for cinema and TV start at 7.30pm in Sydney.

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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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