Australian National University research shows vaccination rates are lower for people who don't speak English, live outside of NSW and have a relatively low household income or level of education.

Vaccine hesitancy, mainly driven by concerns about side effects, has also decreased as the country grapples with a third wave of the virus.

However the Prime Minister has described extra freedoms for fully vaccinated Australians as "common sense".

But as some states and territories prepare their own domestic passports, allowing access to public venues, and no guarantee of a national system, it's looking likely Australian will need two.

Meanwhile, restrictions designed to preserve the health of Australians saw millions of them feed unhealthy habits and turn to their vices to cope, new research from the national health data agency suggests.

For instance, during the country's initial lockdown between April and June in 2020, one in five people who drink alcohol noticed they were reaching for the bottle more, while a similar proportion of smokers and illicit drug users also upped their consumption. Here's what else it said.

In the US, President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans.

The move aims to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging Delta variant that is killing thousands each week and jeopardising the US's economic recovery.

The rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans.

Steve Evans is a reporter at the Canberra Times. But on September 11, 2001 he was in New York - at the Worl;d Trade Center.

He was going to have breakfast at the top of the North Tower but was saved by a Cuban coffee shop.

"Because American diner coffee is so bad - like the drips from a wrung-out dish-cloth - a Hispanic coffee shop was not to be passed. Coffee and pastries - empanadas - delayed me just enough to save my life."

Read the full story.

Australians are obsessed with cleaning, attacking bite-sized chores while working from home and watching more TV as a way to share time with others, according to new research.

Of those Australian surveyed, one quarter have changed their cleaning routine in the past year as they adapt to more time living and working at home. Almost one-third now consider themselves obsessed with cleaning (29 per cent), while 34 per cent do a deep clean at least weekly and 64 per cent clean their home daily.

- with Australian Associated Press