SYDNEY -- Australian city Melbourne's COVID-19 lockdown eased since Thursday midnight, while states remained on high alert as the investigation into an infected couple continued.

Victoria lifted its two-week lockdown in the capital city of Melbourne with the outbreak relatively under control, while results from a COVID-infected couple's contacts are still outstanding in the state of Queensland. (Australia-Melbourne-Lockdown lifted)

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TOKYO -- Japan's upper house of the parliament on Friday passed a bill revising the national referendum law following three years of negotiations between the pro-revision ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ).

The revision to the law will allow for polling stations to be set up in public places, although the passage of the bill through the lower house only came with the CDPJ's cooperation and reflects changes to the law required in return. (Japan-Referendum law-Revise)

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MANILA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) hailed the Philippines on Friday for ending the polio outbreak almost two years after the highly infectious disease re-emerged in the Southeast Asian country.

In a joint statement, the UN agencies said the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) officially stopped the polio outbreak response on June 3 this year. (Philippines-Polio-End)

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NEW DELHI -- The local government in India's northeastern state of Meghalaya has sought help from the Indian navy after failing to rescue six people trapped inside a coal mine for the past 12 days, officials said on Friday.

The laborers got trapped on the night of May 30 following flooding of the mine in the wake of a dynamite explosion.

The incident took place in the East Jaintia Hills district, about 140 km east of Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya. (India-Miners-Trapped) Enditem

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