Christchurch mosque gunman has been sentenced to life in jail with no parole.
The Australian man who killed 51 people and injured 40 others during a terrorist attack in Christchurch last year has been sentenced to life without parole. It is the first time the full-life term has been imposed in New Zealand.
Brenton Tarrant, 29, committed the mass murders in March of last year.
“Your actions were inhuman,” Judge Cameron Mander said. “You deliberately killed a three-year-old infant as he clung to the leg of his father.”
It's understood that he will serve his sentence in New Zealand, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirming on Thursday that he has not received a request for the Christchurch mosque terrorist to serve his life sentence in his home country.
"It's normal practice that criminals convicted of these offences serve their sentences in that jurisdiction and that's my understanding of what the arrangements are," Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
"No request has been made to Australia for that to be any different."
Read: "Remember that name." The emotional testimonies heard at the Christchurch shooter's sentencing.
Man shot dead by police in Queensland.
A man has been shot dead by police on a suburban street in Brisbane overnight after officers arrived just after midnight to the 27-year-old wielding a knife and acting aggressively.
Officers were called to Surround Street at Dakabin due to a violent disturbance between a man and a woman.
After a failed negotiation and tasering, police were forced to open fire.
He received first aid for multiple gunshot wounds but died at the scene.
The Queensland Police Ethical Standards Command is now investigating.
100 people at "recurring" Melbourne protest.
Protesters have spilled onto suburban streets in Melbourne's outer southeast to rebel against the city's strict COVID-19 lockdown rules.
Vision circulating online shows more than 100 people walking through the streets of Dandenong on Wednesday afternoon, with at least a dozen officers monitoring activity in the area.
Police said the protest was "recurring" at George Andrews Reserve each afternoon, with 11 fines issued on Tuesday.
"Anyone planning to attend this protest would be blatantly breaching the chief health officer's directions and putting Victorian lives at risk," Victoria Police said in a statement.
Victoria recorded 149 new infections on Wednesday, the state’s third consecutive day with fewer than 150 cases. More than 600 hospital staff in Melbourne are in isolation, amid a major COVID outbreak at Frankston Hospital.
Premier Daniel Andrews has backed down on his plan to extend Victoria's State of Emergency for 12 months, agreeing to a much shorter period.
The Age reports Mr Andrews is willing to accept a compromise of six months.
Queensland prisons in lockdown as yacht investigation ramps up.
A corrective services officer has tested positive to COVID-19 sending the entire Queensland prison system into lockdown.
The confirmed case is believed to have interacted with other officers on Friday who then worked at multiple prisons.
All prisoners are to remain in their cells, and everyone on site must wear a mask.
A group who sailed from Victoria to Queensland on a luxury yacht under an exemption for repairs are under investigation.
Seven people arrived on the Gold Coast on the boat on Monday where they had their travel exemption revoked and were sent into hotel quarantine.
"They were only meant to have the people necessary to bring the yacht safely up to Queensland," Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young said yesterday.
"That's a very serious investigation," she added.
COVID-19 alert for several Sydney bus routes.
A trainee bus driver in Sydney who worked three days on the city's buses while infectious with COVID-19 is one of six new infections confirmed in NSW.
The bus driver was completing bus routes in Blacktown, Rouse Hill and Mt Druitt, NSW Health reported after an investigation, with passengers in those areas urged to monitor their symptoms.
The other areas on high alert in the state right now include Virgin Gym in Zetland, Windscreens Cafe at Randwick Royal Hospital for Women and City Tattersalls gym.
Three Sydney schools underwent a deep clean yesterday.
Tony Abbott granted exemption from COVID-19 travel ban.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is being granted an exemption from Australia's travel ban to visit the UK as part of a new role as joint president of the UK's Board of Trade.
The Age reports Mr Abbott had breakfast overnight with UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss in London and is now in Italy.
The role will reportedly require Mr Abbott to help the United Kingdom negotiate new trade deals post-Brexit.
Questions have been raised about whether he will now have to register as an agent of foreign influence under Australia's transparency laws.
Scott Morrison brushed questions about the implications on Wednesday, simply saying the appointment was a "good hire" by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I'll leave that for the attorney-general to sort out and I'm sure there's paperwork for Tony to fill out - I'm sure he'll get that done," the prime minister told reporters in Canberra.
Aged sector needs $621m to lift standards.
Australia's aged care sector will need more than half a billion dollars annually just to achieve basic quality consistently in nursing homes, researchers say.
The first of its kind study also found just 11 percent of residential aged care facilities met all accreditation standards and had no complaints.
"Australians expect that all are entitled to the best quality level of care in aged care homes," Aged Care Commissioner Tony Pagone said in a statement on Thursday.
"Additional funding will be needed to enable providers to meet those expectations consistently."
University of Queensland researchers found residential aged care facilities could be broadly clustered into three quality levels, with 79 percent failing to meet all accreditation standards or a higher than average use of high-risk medicines.
The study for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found the cost to have all residential aged care homes operating in their current size at the same level as the top 11 percent was estimated to be $621 million per year.
Melania Trump: "He is an authentic person who loves his country."
First lady Melania Trump has offered sympathy for victims of the coronavirus pandemic and a plea for racial understanding in a Republican convention speech aimed at women voters who have abandoned US President Donald Trump.
On the convention's second day, the speech's warm tone was out of step with a Republican gathering that featured harsh rhetoric about Democratic challenger Joe Biden and sometimes apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of Democratic governance.
"I want to acknowledge the fact that since March, our lives have changed drastically," Melania Trump told a crowd in the White House Rose Garden. "My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one."
"And my prayers are with those who are ill or suffering. I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know: You're not alone."
On racial unrest she said: "I urge people to come together in a civil manner so we can work and live up to our standard American ideals.
"I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice and never make assumptions based on the colour of a person's skin."
US virus cases decline, as India cases surge.
The United States is reporting a sustained drop in daily recorded coronavirus cases while a surge in India has added more than 1.5 million new infections so far in August.
Since the start of August the US has had its weekly average for daily cases drop from more than 60,000 new infections to just over 40,000, with daily cases dropping below 40,000 over the past three days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The US - with a death toll that is approaching 180,000 people - leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases at nearly 5.8 million.
Brazil trails the US in total cases and India now leads the world in daily cases, overtaking the US in mid-August.
India reported more than 67,000 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.
Around the world.
- Rapper Kanye West will be on Tennessee's US presidential ballot in November after he cleared the 275 signature threshold to qualify as an unaffiliated presidential candidate.
- Two people have been killed in street violence in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, as riots over the police shooting of Jacob Blake rock the country.
- With AAP
Feature image: Don Arnold/WireImage/7NEWS/Alex Wong/Getty.