COVID-19

The move was requested by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and allows Mr Muhyiddin to suspend parliament at a time when his government is weakened.

The palace said the emergency would last until 1 August, unless cases were brought under control earlier.

Critics say it allows Mr Muhyiddin's unstable government to cling to power.

The prime minister came to power in March last year with a thin majority, but was facing threats from coalition allies to withdraw support for his government, triggering a snap election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said regulators were now expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of January.

He announced the plans on Thursday as the cities of Sydney and Melbourne battled to control new clusters.

By March, four million Australians could be vaccinated, he said.

"We are now in a position where believe we will be able to commence vaccinations in mid-to-late February," Mr Morrison said.

Following regulatory approval, the first of the country's order of 10 million Pfizer vaccine doses should be issued in a matter of weeks.

According to a Government press release, there has also been an amendment to the SOE Orders to allow domestic ferry travel from Savaii on Sundays.

The first repatriation flight on 14 January will be a charted plane from Tonga that will repatriate Samoans, who will arrive in Tongatapu on an earlier flight from New Zealand.  

The Lulutai Airlines flight will return to Tongatapu on the same day with Tongans stranded in Samoa.

Another return flight is scheduled to bring home Samoan sailors from New Zealand on 22 January 2021.

The first case is a 35-year-old man who travelled from the United Kingdom and arrived in Fiji on flight NZ 952 from Auckland on 24 December.

The other two cases are a 25-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman who arrived in Nadi on flight GA 8250 from New Delhi on 21 December.

The fourth case is a 55-year-old man who travelled from Mali and arrived on 31 December on flight NZ952 from Auckland.

Tennis Australia and the state government are now scrambling to find an alternative hotel, as players are due to arrive on January 15 and serve a mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

Sources familiar with the deal told The Age that the government could be forced to compensate the owners of The Westin Melbourne over the cancellation of the multi-million dollar deal.

Tickets for the March 21 race at Albert Park have yet to go on sale.

A Formula One spokesman, asked on Monday about media reports of a likely postponement, said the sport looked forward to racing again in March.

He did not specify where, with Bahrain's Grand Prix also scheduled for March.

Local organisers in Melbourne were not immediately available for comment but various reports said a postponement, rather than a cancellation for the second year in a row, was likely to be announced later in January.

All schools and colleges will close to most pupils and switch to remote learning from Tuesday.

Boris Johnson urged people to follow the rules immediately amid surging cases and patient numbers.

He said those in the top four priority groups would receive a first vaccine dose by the middle of next month.

All care home residents and their carers, everyone aged 70 and over, all frontline health and social care workers, and the clinically extremely vulnerable will be offered one dose of a vaccine by mid-February.

To be able to travel, they must pass three tests seven days apart.

In addition, they must take another Covid-19 test five days before their departure.

The new measures come just days after Samoa banned all travellers from Britain and South Africa because of the emergence of the new B.1.1.7 strain.

Samoa has further banned travellers transiting through 13 countries, including Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

Sources close to his family told ABC News and his former employer CNN that he has been at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre for over a week.

In a career spanning over 60 years, King has multiple accolades, including two Peabody Awards and an Emmy.

He has faced several health problems in recent years, including heart attacks.

Representatives for King, 87, have not publicly commented on his hospitalisation, and details of his current condition are unclear.

And Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has urged everyone “to join us to thank God for the challenges we had come through in the past as well as the opportunities that have emerged with the crises.”

”May God remain at the helm of Samoa’s journey through 2021,” Tuilaepa said as part of his New Year’s message.

Here is the rest of the message.