The tobacco industry and a leading cancer charity have offered opposing verdicts on the success of the plain packaging of cigarettes, two years to the day since the measure was first introduced in Australia.

Australia’s indigenous Aborigines die about 20 years younger than other Australians, said a report published today.

Almost half of Australia’s 20 million people are overweight and are fast creeping up to the obesity levels of the world’s fattest nation – the United States, according to a health report released today.