In wake of the assassination of former leader Shinzo Abe, Sydney Opera House will be lit up on Sunday in recognition of Japan. Additionally, buildings in Melbourne and Adelaide will be lit in red and white on Saturday night.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to Mr Abe after his shocking death, saying the "low act of cruelty" would not overshadow the former Japanese prime minister's achievements.
Mr Abe died from injuries sustained in a shooting during a speech at a campaign event in the Japanese city of Nara ahead of this weekend's local elections.
Mr Albanese said that while arrangements would not be discussed until after local elections in Japan, flags in Australia will fly at half-mast on the day of Mr Abe's funeral.
Meanwhile, campaigning in Japan has resumed on the final day of electioneering, even as the country reels from the assassination.
An unemployed 41-year-old man has been arrested over the incident.
Politicians pledged to continue campaigning ahead of Sunday's poll, which is expected to deliver victory to Japan's ruling coalition, while police scrambled to establish the motive and method of Mr Abe's killer.
More news overseas, and former UK finance minister Rishi Sunak says he is running to replace Boris Johnson, three days after helping to launch the cascade of resignations that brought the prime minister down.
Johnson announced on Thursday that he would stand down as prime minister after a mass rebellion in his Conservative Party, triggered by the latest in a series of scandals that had fatally undermined public trust.
Closer to home, evasive new Omicron variants are fuelling a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations across Australia but experts say it is too early to know if they cause more severe disease.
Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett says it's difficult to determine how transmissible the BA.4 and BA.5 variants are due to waning vaccine immunity and differing levels of prior infection.
They make everyone "fair game" for either infection or reinfection but hospitalisations are unlikely to reach levels seen during the initial Omicron wave, she says.
However, preliminary research from Japan indicates the variants could replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2, and Prof Bennett says this could lead to an increase in lower respiratory tract and secondary infections.
THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Anthony Albanese pays tribute to Shinzo Abe
- Election resumes day after Abe shooting
- Sunak announces bid to replace UK PM
- Risk from new COVID strains uncertain
- NSW flood recovery co-ordinators appointed
- Hendra virus detected on Mackay property
- Staff needed on Australian Antarctic bases
- Fast fashion craze damaging the planet
