TRANSCRIPT:
- Greece approves a bill allowing same-sex marriages;
- Environment authorities reassure the public as mass testing of sites for asbestos begins;
- Former tennis world number one Simona Halep suing over her four year doping ban.
A specially formed task force is set to begin a mass testing of sites across Sydney potentially contaminated with asbestos-tainted mulch.
The City of Sydney council has confirmed garden beds will be tested in 38 locations, and 33 parks will also be checked.
Environment inspectors are also urgently testing mulch in seven Sydney schools.
But the Environment Protection Authority says there is no need for panic, with chief executive officer Tony Chappel declaring the risk from exposure to the mulch is small.
"New South Wales Health advise very clearly that bonded asbestos, if undisturbed, does not present a significant risk. Obviously in different contexts it can be disturbed, and we always take it seriously and work rapidly to remediate and remove it. But the community can be confident that they can go about their lives and they're not facing a significant risk."
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A woman has died in floodwaters in northwest Queensland as the state prepares for another cyclone.
Emergency services say the 28 year old woman was found in her car in the flooded Malbon River at Duchess.
The northwest is still reeling from flooding caused by the remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily, and now they're bracing for more wild weather.
A tropical low is set to move southwest towards the Northern Territory, cross the Gulf of Carpentaria coast, and move onshore this (Friday) afternoon - with a 40 per cent chance of becoming a cyclone.
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Greece's parliament has approved a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage, a landmark victory for supporters of LGBTQI plus rights.
The approval was greeted with cheers by onlookers in parliament and the dozens of people gathered on the streets of Athens.
"I am here because this is a very important step towards establishing human rights, towards equality, and a very important step for Greek society.”
The approval comes after decades of campaigning by the LGBTQI community for marriage equality in the socially conservative country.
It makes Greece one of the first Orthodox Christian countries to allow such unions.
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A senior foreign affairs official says critics of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees are exaggerating claims of mismanagement because they want to see it disbanded.
Australia has joined other nations in suspending funding for the UN-R-W-A as misconduct allegations are investigated.
Greens Deputy Leader Mehreen Faruqi has said the money must be restored because there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the agency.
Assistant secretary for foreign affairs Marc Brown has told Senate Estimates that they could not ignore the allegations, even though they are aware of the wider context.
”Unfortunately often these reports can contain a significant amount of exaggeration and so on. I mean, the agenda - and this is well known - the agenda is for UNRWA to be disbanded.”
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Julian Assange could be extradited to the United States in less than a week to face charges of releasing classified files.
Assange is facing 17 espionage charges after WikiLeaks published a haul of classified documents about US operations in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars more than a decade ago.
But advocates for the WikiLeaks founder say if Australia fails to act to stop him being taken to the US, he may die in prison.
His wife Stella says she does “not have hope” of success at his upcoming appeal hearing - which could be the final one in Britain.
"Julian will be put in a hole if he is extradited. There is no doubt about that. He will be put in a hole so far and deep in the ground that I don't think I'll ever see him again.”
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Former tennis world number one Simona Halep is suing the Canadian company that produced a nutritional supplement she believes led to her being handed a four-year ban for doping.
Halep is seeking more than $US10 million in damages from Quantum Nutrition, which operates as Schinoussa Superfoods, after testing positive at the 2022 US Open for Roxadustat, a drug often used by people with anaemia.
Roxadustat is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list because it can increase haemoglobin and the production of red blood cells, building endurance.
The 32 year old player says this ingredient wasn't disclosed on the label when she used the company's supplements during the tournament.
She is accusing them of negligence and making false claims, alleging the ban has harmed her career and reputation.
