1. Sydney to remain locked down for another week

Restrictions in greater Sydney and regional NSW that were set to expire on Friday will remain in place for another week following a crisis cabinet meeting by the NSW government. Premier Gladys Berejiklian is also expected to provide more details on the state's plan for easing restrictions in the future, noting yesterday that "when we do come out of the lockdown it won't be what life looked like necessarily before we went into lockdown".

2. Private school students received Pfizer vaccine due to 'error'

163 boarding students at Sydney’s St Joseph's College have received the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine even though only the school's indigenous boarding students were meant to be vaccinated. The Sydney Local Health District has issued an apology for the error.

3. RBA scales back bond-buying program

The Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday announced its weekly bond purchases will fall from $5 billion per week to $4 billion from September, and RBA Governor Dr Philip Lowe noted that the cash rate is still expected to remain at 0.1% for the foreseeable future. "Our central scenario continues to be that the condition for an increase in the cash rate will not be met until 2024. But there are alternative plausible scenarios as well," Dr Lowe said.

4. 11-year-old completes physics degree in a year

Laurent Simons, an 11-year-old boy from the coastal town of Ostend in northern Belgium, has completed a bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Antwerp in just one year. He is now planning to continue his studies with a master's degree.

5. S&P 500 falls after 7 days of record highs

The S&P 500 fell by 8.80 points or 0.20% on Tuesday, the first day of the shortened trading week in the US, after reaching consecutive record-high closes for the previous seven consecutive days. The Dow Jones dropped by 208.98 points or 0.60% to 34,577.37 while the Nasdaq moved 24.32 points or 0.17% higher to 14,663.64.