Good morning. Novak Djokovic awaits his Australian Open fate in a Melbourne immigration hotel. New South Wales hospitals are anticipating Covid-related admissions to triple. And deadly protests in Kazakhstan has hampered the bitcoin network.
Novak Djokovic is awaiting his Australian Open fate in a Melbourne immigration hotel as he mounts a legal challenge against Australia’s decision to cancel his visa. Djokovic’s lawyers succeeded in a bid to stop him from being deported on Thursday with a full hearing in the federal court now scheduled for Monday. The tennis champion spent eight hours detained at Melbourne airport overnight before Australian Border Force officials announced he had been denied entry into the country on Thursday morning. They cited a failure to meet Australia’s Covid vaccination exemption requirements. Djokovic’s wrangling with authorities over entering Australia has inadvertently highlighted a different plight: those of the refugees and asylum seekers stuck for months, and years, at the Park Hotel which has been described by detainees as a “torture cell”. The Serbian president has accused Australia of “maltreatment” of the tennis star and Djokovic’s family said he is the victim of “a political agenda” aimed at “stomping on Serbia”.
Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died during the ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The protests were sparked by rising fuel prices in the west of the country but quickly spread to encompass other regions and turned into a general protest against corruption, poverty and inequality. Protesters are angry with Tokayev and benefactor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan between independence in 1991 and 2019 and has remained powerful behind the scenes. The unrest in Kazakhstan – which is the world’s second-largest centre for bitcoin mining – has led to an internet blackout, significantly hampering the global computing power of the bitcoin network.
Today marks the one year anniversary of the insurrection at the US Capitol when extremist Donald Trump supporters tried to overturn the official certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. Biden on Thursday forcefully denounced Trump for spreading a “web of lies” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in a desperate attempt to cling to power. Meanwhile, the special House committee investigating the 6 January 2021 insurrection are hoping to secure the cooperation of Mike Pence, the former vice-president, who certified Joe Biden’s election victory despite pressure from the White House and the violent mob that broke into the US Capitol.
Australia
NSW hospitals are preparing for Covid-related admissions to triple as cases of the virus soar, forcing further cuts or delays in care that could have long-lasting health impacts, doctors and medical experts say.
Covid cases have spread to remote parts of northern Australia for the first time – just days before the expected onset of the wet season that will cut road access to large swathes of the Cape York’s Indigenous communities for months.
General practitioners say they are being given a “laughable” supply of vaccine for the rollout to children, warning they will struggle to inoculate them ahead of the return to school in February.
Archived advice shows that health officials were warning federal and state governments about Covid testing overburden almost a year ago. They warned that widespread community transmission could see testing sites overwhelmed by demand and “alternative testing methods”, including rapid antigen testing, could help alleviate pressure.
Norfolk Island is experiencing its first Covid outbreak of the pandemic, with spiralling case numbers having already forced more than 10% of the population into isolation and raising concerns about the local health system’s reliance on medical evacuations.
The world
France’s data privacy watchdog has fined Google and Facebook a combined €210m ($AU331m) for hampering users’ ability to stop the companies tracking their online activity by making it difficult for them to refuse cookies.
The Spanish government has distanced itself from minister Alberto Garzón, after he told the Guardian that factory farming is damaging the environment and leading to the export of poor-quality meat.
French MPs have passed the government’s controversial vaccine pass bill, which requires people to be fully vaccinated to enjoy social, sporting and cultural activities. It follows Macron’s pledge to ‘piss off’ those without jabs.
Recommended reads
When the drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded in 2010, Stephen Stone escaped with his life. But in the years that followed, he came to feel deeply betrayed by the industry he had once trusted. “I didn’t think the industry was this bad,” he said. “It just kind of takes some hope from humanity, shatters your illusions a little bit.”
Director Matthew Walker’s irresistibly fun and jaunty documentary I’m Wanita follows an artist you’ve most likely never heard of, but after a viewing will probably never forget: Wanita Bahtiyar, Australia’s self-professed “queen of honky tonk”, country music singer and longtime sex worker. This film shows us life dreams do not have to disappear as youth fades.
Are you beset by poisonous comparisons? Try to covet what you already have, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon Smith, instead of feeling shame at what you lack. “Set aside some time to look at your life like an envious outsider peeping in,” she writes. “Ask what else people would say of you while thinking ‘I wish I were more like that’.”
Listen
This is a replay of an episode looking at one of 2021’s landmark cases. In May last year, Australia’s Fair Work Commission ruled that Deliveroo rider Diego Franco was an employee, not a contractor. The case could have ramifications for the wider gig economy, where the use of contractors has led to widespread job insecurity, and workers are subjected to dangerous conditions.
Reporter Naaman Zhou explains how the case unfolded and how, in the face of increasing pressure to give workers better rights, some companies are changing the way they operate.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Leaving Stuart Broad out of two of the first three Ashes Tests was a poor bit of judgment that will come to define this tour.
Media roundup
The NSW government is preparing to reintroduce some Covid restrictions, including closing nightclubs, banning singing and dancing in pubs and cancelling major events, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Northern Territory has entered a snap lockout and introduced a vaccine pass system, according to the ABC. Here is what you need to know.
And if you’ve read this far …
Here’s three quick steps to saving thousands in super fees.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
Discover Australian Weekend
Every Saturday at 6am, enjoy early access to the best journalism planned for the weekend in one elegant app, plus a curated selection of the week’s news and analysis from Australia and the world.
