Health News at Your Fingertips

We will close this blog now. Many thanks for your company, comments and correspondence today.

A brief summary to finish:

• 89 deaths were recorded in Australia due to Covid, the majority in NSW (35) and Victoria (22).

• A child from the NSW north coast may be the third person linked to the recent Splendour in the Grass festival to contract meningococcal disease.

• Internationally, the British-Indian author Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage at a literary event in New York. The Booker prize winner lived for years in hiding after a fatwa was issued against him by the then leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, over his 1988 book The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims regard as blasphemous. Rushdie remains in hospital, with reports he may lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.

• The UN has warned of a “grave crisis” resulting from shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, rebuked Amnesty International for a report that accused the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians. And a Russian airbase on Crimean coast was damaged by several large explosions.

Socialite Lillian Frank remembered as a flamboyant personality who used her social standing for good

The Melbourne socialite Lillian Frank has been remembered as a flamboyant personality who used her social standing for good, after her death aged 92.

The icon of Melbourne’s social scene, hairdresser and tireless charity worker died on Friday night.

Frank’s daughter Jackie Frank paid tribute to the social doyenne, saying “last night we lost the heart and soul of our family”.

“She lived life to the max, without any regrets and was forever grateful,” she wrote on Instagram.

“She saw things through rose-coloured glasses. No matter what adversity she had to face, and there were many, she saw the good in everyone and everything.

“Forever trying to make a difference in the world. She used her flamboyant personality and social standing for good, raising millions and millions for charity.”

She said of the longtime Toorak hair salon owner: “To us she was mum, to my kids nani and the most spectacular selfless human being in the world with the biggest heart.

“We (heart) you but a piece of our hearts will be broken forever. #RIP Lillian.”

The Victoria Racing Club paid tribute to Frank, who was a longtime judge of Myer Fashions on the Field and attended her first Melbourne Cup in the 1960s.

“Lillian left an indelible mark on the Melbourne Cup Carnival where she attended nearly every year for 50 years,” chairman Neil Wilson said.

“Her impeccable sense of style and vibrant personality helped elevate the VRC’s Fashions on the Field competition to one of the most popular and prestigious outdoor fashion events in Australia, if not the world.”

The club was celebrating 60 years of Fashions on the Field in 2022, and would not be the enduring competition it had become without Frank’s influence, Wilson said.

Australian former Taliban prisoner returns to Afghanistan

The Australian teacher formerly known as Timothy Weeks, who was a prisoner of the Taliban for more than three years before a prisoner swap was engineered for his release in 2019, has returned to Afghanistan, praising Taliban rule of the country, a year after the terror group violently seized power.

“I’m … coming to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, who I have stood behind,” he said.

“I spent three and a half years with Taliban soldiers, and I saw these people in a light that nobody else has been able to do.”

Three convicted terrorists, senior members of the Haqqani network, were released in exchange for his freedom.

The educator has converted to Islam and is now known as Jibrael Umar. He landed at Kabul airport on Friday Afghanistan time.

Umar was welcomed by the Taliban.

But his return was condemned by members of the Afghan-Australian community.

What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week?

The UN has warned of a “grave crisis” resulting from shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, rebuked Amnesty International for a report that accused the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians. And a Russian airbase on Crimean coast was damaged by several large explosions.

Guardian Australia reporter Jordyn Beazley has everything you need to know:

And here is a wrap of what we know on day 171 of the invasion:

That’s all from me for today – it’s time to hand you over to my excellent colleague Ben Doherty, who will take you through the rest of Saturday afternoon. Ciao!

Here are the latest Covid-19 figures from around Australia, with a total of 89 deaths recorded around the country in the last day.

NSW

Victoria

Queensland

Western Australia

South Australia

Tasmania

ACT

NT

Tasmania has recorded 514 new Covid-19 cases in the last day. There are now 3,476 active cases across the state.

Across Tasmania, 65 people are in hospital with Covid-19, of whom 17 are being treated specifically for Covid.

More information is available here.

The Northern Territory has reported 171 new Covid cases in the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday, bringing the number of active cases to 1,228. There are currently 32 people in hospital.

The territory has seen a total of 59 Covid-related deaths throughout the pandemic.

Benita Kolovos

Millenial and Gen Z voters a significant bloc in Victorian state election – analysis

Much has been made about voters shifting away from the major parties and towards independents and Greens candidates.

But a lot of the analysis from this year’s federal election didn’t consider one important aspect: it was the first in which baby boomers were outnumbered by Millennial and Gen Z voters.

According to the 2021 census, Millennials, aged 25-39, are neck and neck with the baby boomers as the largest generational group in Australia, each representing about 21% of the Australian population. A further 18% of the population are members of generation Z (10-24 years old).

This is a significant voting bloc who have come of age at a time of economic uncertainty – either the global financial crisis or the Covid pandemic – growing inequality and an increase in extreme weather events, including bushfires and floods.

This is a demographic that is being closely watched in Victoria as the state heads to the polls in November.

Read more from Benita’s analysis here:

‘Horrible act of intolerance’: witness describes Salman Rushdie attack

Prof Carl LeVan of the American University, who was in the audience at the Chautauqua Institution when the author Salman Rushdie was attacked, has told the ABC:

I was sitting about 14 or 15 rows back from the stage, it’s a fairly large amphitheatre, here we call it the Amp. It seats a few thousand people and it’s a covered amphitheatre and I was just settling into my seat around 10.45am, a few minutes beforehand.

We knew this was going to be a very popular event, he is a very well-known speaker, author, novelist and proponent of human rights.

One of the hosts for the event, one of the staff members of the Chautauqua Institution was describing the program and shortly after he started talking, a man rushed onto the stage and repeatedly and viciously stabbed Salman Rushdie. And there were just gasps of shock from the audience, we were all sitting down, many of us stood up. A few courageous and compassionate people went up the stage and it was just a really horrible act of intolerance and violence to witness.

You can follow live updates about Rushdie here:

Western Australian health authorities have reported 2,094 new Covid-19 cases to 6pm last night. There are currently 14,677 active cases in the state and 304 people in hospital.

More information here:

AAP brings us David Littleproud’s comments at the party’s federal council meeting today:

Nationals leader David Littleproud says his party will take policies representing regional and rural communities to the Albanese government’s national jobs summit next month.

Littleproud outlined his vision for the Nationals to the party faithful gathered in Canberra for a federal council meeting.

It’s disappointing that regional Australia wasn’t even thought of. We were an afterthought and it’s important regional Australia has a voice there.

We want to prosecute our case with some pragmatic solutions.

The fact that regional Australia wasn’t even invited just goes to show that this stunt was all aimed at just sending the symbolic messages to the electorate.”

Littleproud said rebuilding trust with women was also a top priority, but rejected quotas for his party.

I don’t believe in quotas. I believe in creating the environment for women to come forward.

We’ll be looking to identify female candidates in new seats and those seats that we will have retiring members in and we’ll start that process as part of this journey in being open and honest, but we want to be genuine about this.

Littleproud said pensioners and veterans should be able to work more without their payments being impacted as a reward for their service to the nation. “This is a payback to them,” he said.

The party will also fight for a visa to fast-track permanent residency for workers in rural and regional communities.

We believe that it needs now to go forward and to incentivise those migrants that come to regional Australia. We need to give them the incentive of becoming residents and citizens of this great country.

This is an opportunity to grow regional Australia to make sure the next generation are out there and taking us to our full potential.

Littleproud said the program of paying the university debt of healthcare workers in the regions should be extended to other graduates in areas experiencing skills shortages.

The federal government will hold its jobs and skills summit in Canberra over the first two days in September.

Labor invited the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to attend, or a Coalition member in his place, but the Liberal party turned down the offer.

It brings the total number of active cases in the state up to 11,211. There are 275 people in hospital.

Lillian Frank, a Melbourne socialite and philanthropist, has died aged 92.

Frank will be remembered as an icon of Melbourne’s social scene, hairdresser and tireless charity worker.

Frank’s daughter Jackie announced the news on social media, saying “we lost the heart and soul of our family” on Friday night.

Frank was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community in 1991, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 for her philanthropic work.