Governments across Australia are under pressure to map out the road to recovery after it was confirmed that Australia has plunged into its worst recession since the Great Depression. Yesterday's national accounts figures showed GDP for the three months to June fell by a record 7%. The federal government is now ramping up pressure on the states to reopen their borders releasing modelling predicting a $55 billion hit to the nation's tourism industry this year.
In Victoria — it's been reported this morning that Melbourne could stay under tight lockdown for a further two weeks ahead of a staged opening as the government works to get new cases down to lower levels. The government will officially unveil its plans on Sunday for opening after the lockdown which is due to expire on September 13.
Israel's supreme court has upheld a finding that former school principal, Malka Leifer, has been faking mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia. It removes a key obstacle preventing her from facing 74 charges of sexually abusing her former students at Melbourne's Adass Israel School. A final decision on extradition will be made later this month.
And the German government says there is unequivocal evidence Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with nerve agent Novichok. It's the same toxin that poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in Britain two years ago. The Russian politician is now in an induced coma in a Berlin hospital.