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The Australian and international news stories you need to know today, Monday October 18.

Rush for hair, restaurant bookings in Vic as the state opens five days early.

Phones will be running hot for hairdressers, pubs and restaurants as fully vaccinated Victorians race for a taste of freedom.

They're back on the menu as of Friday after the state government announced it would end lockdown five days earlier than previously planned thanks to hitting its 70 per cent double-dosed vaccination target more quickly than expected.

News of the fast-tracked relaxation came after Victoria recorded 1838 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths on Sunday.

"With five sisters already, William is looking on the bright side - more bench depth on the family basketball team."

Mr Perrottet was appointed premier on October 5 after Gladys Berejiklian stood down to face a corruption inquiry.

Australia, South Island NZ travel reopens.

Quarantine-free travel between Australia and the South Island of New Zealand is ready to resume, Chief Medical Official Paul Kelly says.

He said NSW and Victoria have agreed to allow trips to restart from midnight on Tuesday given there has not been a COVID-19 case in the South Island since last year.

"There is very good work being done to stop people from the North Island going to the South Island, so that is not a risk," Professor Kelly told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.

"We hope to allow anyone who has been in the South Island of New Zealand whether Australian, New Zealanders or other nationalities, as long as they have been there for 14 days, to come in quarantine free."

The so-called green lane travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand was halted earlier this year after the Delta variant of COVID-19 hit the southeast of Australia.

UK MP stab suspect 'son of ex-Somali aide'.

Ali Harbi Ali, the son of an ex-media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia, has been arrested by UK police under anti-terrorism laws following the killing of MP David Amess, a source close to the investigation and British media say.

Amess, 69, from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party, was knifed repeatedly as he met constituency voters in a church on Friday in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London.

The killing took place five years after the murder of Jo Cox, an MP from the opposition Labour Party, and has prompted a review of politicians' security.

Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old UK man at the scene on suspicion of murder and have said it is believed he acted alone.

They have not named the suspect but used additional powers under anti-terrorism laws to detain him until October 22.

A British source close to the investigation named Ali Harbi Ali, a British citizen, as the detained suspect.

Harbi Ali Kullane, the father of Ali Harbi Ali, told The Sunday Times that his son had been arrested in connection with the murder.

"At this particular moment we are going through (an)unprecedented and horrific situation," Harbi Ali Kullane, a former adviser to Hassan Ali Khaire, a former Somali prime minister, told Reuters in an email when asked about this.

Around the world.

- Russia has reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases, with 34,303 new infections and 999 deaths. Only 29 per cent of the country is fully vaccinated.

- Former US president Bill Clinton has been discharged from hospital after being admitted last week for a urological infection. 

- With AAP

Feature image: Quinn Rooney/Getty/Sam Mooy/Getty/Instagram @dom.perrottet.

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Top Comments

suz 3 years ago
At least there is one thing Dom knows how to do. Now he just needs a medical degree, seeing he has dropped our Kerry Chant from advising us. 
lachy8 3 years ago
@suz  Too right, I’m surprised he has the energy to be premier.