Afternoon. Joe Biden mistakenly called Kamala Harris “vice-president Trump” and introduced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as Vladimir Putin in the 81-year-old’s latest gaffes.
Biden was wrapping up a Nato summit in Washington DC, where he faced a barrage of questions on his mental fitness. Shortly after he finished speaking, the Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, the top ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, called on Biden to step down from the campaign.
Top news
Brisbane couple charged with spying for Russia | A 40-year-old woman on long-term leave from the Australian defence force and her 62-year-old husband were charged with preparing for an espionage offence, federal police said.
Police took 19 hours to attend Sydney home of elderly man | A neighbour of an 85-year-old man asked NSW police to check on him at 5.45pm, but officers didn’t enter his Bankstown home until midday next day. The man was found struggling to breathe and died a short time later.
Water warning after Melbourne factory fire | Residents of Melbourne’s western suburbs of Derrimut and Laverton North have been advised to continue monitoring conditions and to avoid contact with local waterways after a factory fire that started on Wednesday continued to be managed by emergency services.
Teacher and teenager block only road to WA gas development | The pair chained themselves to concrete barrels inside a four-wheel drive and a boat and blocked the only road to Woodside’s Burrup Hub gas development. The state and federal governments are considering an application by Woodside to expand and extend the life of the plant, one of the country’s biggest fossil fuel developments, by 50 years.
Queensland state MP announces sudden resignation due to dementia | The Ipswich West MP, Darren Zanow, has announced his imminent resignation from Queensland parliament due to early-onset rapid developing dementia at the age of 52. The LNP MP announced this morning that he had been diagnosed with microvascular ischemic disease.
Australian pair reach Wimbledon men’s doubles final | Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson beat top seeds Spaniard Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horacio Zeballos 6-4 6-4 in 71 minutes to book a place in the final on Saturday (early Sunday AEST) at the All England Club.
California wildfires | The US state’s wildfire season is off to a ferocious start, with the state’s top wildfire official saying that fires have already burned through five times the average amount of land for this time of year.
In video
What they said …
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“The love we have for our father and Lucita is so dear and this situation is like living a nightmare. We pray for answers and the truth in this horrific matter and pray for their safe return to Australian shores.” – Fisk family statement
Sydney man David Fisk, his Philippine-born partner, Lucita Cortez, and her relative were discovered dead with hands and feet tied at Lake hotel in Tagaytay. Their family wants answers.
In numbers
The latest spend is a $250m pledge from the Albanese government to provide air defence missiles to Ukraine – its biggest single package of military assistance to Kyiv to date.
Before bed read
“There is a feeling of dread lurking in my every day. Wars, famine, the cost-of-living crisis, governments turning their backs on the most vulnerable … As a young, white person from a middle-class background, I feel it is my responsibility to honour the privileges that have been afforded to me, but it all seems a bit futile, like walking uphill knee-deep in mud. What do we do? And how do we find the courage to do it?” – a reader asked our advice columnist.
An excerpt of Eleanor Gordon-Smith’s response:
“If we owe it to those people not to abandon the fight, and if resolve is eaten by despair, then for their sake we had better not collapse into anaesthetic, throwing-hands-up thinking of ‘it’ll never make a difference’.” – read the full reply.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: EGO. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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