National and Act could work together to form a Government based on the results of a new political poll. Tonight’s 1News Kantar poll, taken from September 17 to 21, shows National with 37 per cent support, the same result it received…

Japan protested to Russia on Tuesday over the detention of a Japanese consulate official on espionage allegations, denying the allegations and accusing Russian authorities of abusive interrogation.

The official was detained on September 22 and interrogated with his eyes covered, his hands and head pressed and immobilised, Japan's Foreign Ministry said, prompting it to lodge a protest and demand an apology.

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry notified Japan's Embassy in Moscow that the official had been declared persona non grata, or an undesirable person, on grounds he conducted illegal espionage activity.

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It ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.

“The alleged illegal activity insisted by the Russian side is completely groundless,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Matsuno said Japan's Vice Foreign Minister, Takeo Mori, summoned Russia's ambassador and strongly protested, demanding a formal apology from the Russian government and measures to prevent a recurrence.

The Russian authorities' treatment of the consulate official was “intimidating” during the interrogation, adding that such handling of consular officials violates the Vienna convention and a Japan-Russo treaty over consular affairs, Matsuno said.

“It is extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable,” Matsuno said.

The consular official has since been released with no health problems and is set to return to Japan on Wednesday.

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The dispute is the latest example of worsening ties between the two countries over Japan’s sanctions against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Japan and Russia had expelled a number of diplomats, while Russia scrapped peace negotiations with Japan that includes talks on Russian-held disputed islands that Japan says the Soviets took at the end of World War II.

Russia said Monday that it had detained a Japanese consulate official based in the eastern city of Vladivostok for soliciting “restricted” information, according to Russian news agencies.

“A Japanese diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving, in exchange for financial reward, restricted information about Russia’s cooperation with another country in the Asia-Pacific region,” the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency, was cited as saying through its press service, without specifying the third country.

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The FSB identified the official as Tatsunori Motoki, accusing him of seeking out information on “the impact of Western sanctions” on the surrounding Primoriye region, according to news agencies.

The Kremlin has repeatedly referred to Japan as a “hostile” country, a designation it shares with the US, EU countries and their Western allies, since Tokyo joined them in slapping sanctions on Moscow after Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24.

In its latest sanctions, Japan's government on Monday banned the export of materials that may be used for chemical weapons to 21 Russian organisations, including science laboratories.

The measure was approved by the Cabinet following a decision by Group of Seven foreign ministers last week.

Former Adelaide Crows player Deni Varnhagen has lost her court challenge to South Australia's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Varnhagen, who is also a nurse, took her case to the SA Supreme Court after a declaration under the state's Emergency Management Act required her to be vaccinated to work in the health system.

Her decision not to get the jab also resulted in the Crows placing her on their inactive list last season because of the AFL's requirements for all players to be fully vaccinated.

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The league removed that requirement in July this year.

In a judgment today, Justice Judy Hughes found that after SA's emergency declaration in relation to the pandemic was removed earlier this year, Varnhagen's case became hypothetical and lacked utility.

In those circumstances, she said the action was dismissed.

Justice Hughes also ruled against Varnhagen on key questions of law related to the transfer of the vaccine requirements for health workers into public health laws.

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She said that transfer, enacted by the SA parliament, was valid.

Varnhagen was initially joined in her action by five other people, another nurse, a childcare worker, a teacher and two police officers.

But only one of those, fellow nurse Courtney Millington, continued with the case.

During the Supreme Court hearings, Varnhagen argued that she was not able to make an informed decision regarding the effectiveness or the safety of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines available.

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"I believe that, because of the directions, I am being left with no choice as to whether I receive a COVID-19 vaccine," she contended.

"I believe that I am being coerced into doing so in order to keep my employment."

The intensive care nurse told the court that she had not worked at Adelaide's Flinders Medical Centre since November last year and had taken a job as a labourer to meet her expenses.

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Millington received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but decided not to have a second after suffering an adverse reaction.

She sought an exemption on medical grounds, but it was refused.

Their legal team has indicated the court decisions will be appealed.

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Within hours of Vladimir Putin announcing a draft to fill the dwindling ranks of the Russian military, a series of sobering Google searches began to trend.

Surging up the Google Trends rankings was the phrase "How to leave Russia", as many Russian men look to avoid being pressed into service.

Another troubling search topic rapidly climbing in Russia was the phrase "how to break arm at home".

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A broken arm would keep an unwilling man out of the military, at least for a while.

Putin announced the conscription of 300,000 men in the military reserve or anyone with previous military experience.

With military service compulsory for young Russians, this would make nearly all young men eligible for a call-up to the Ukrainian front.

Massive queues have formed at border crossings with Russians eager to leave.

Border crossings into Finland have doubled in the past week.

At the land border into Georgia, a 10km queue has formed, with an estimated 24-hour wait to get out of the country.

READ MORE: Russian military recruiter shot amid fear of Ukraine call-up

In the Kazakh city of Uralsk, Russians who cannot find a room to stay are sleeping in a cinema.

It is believed eligible Russians will be banned from leaving the country soon, prompting a speedy exit.

Others resisting the draft are doing so violently.

In Siberia, a 25-year-old shot a military recruitment officer at close range at an enlistment centre.

In Volgograd, another centre was destroyed by a man who hurled Molotov cocktails into the building.

Meanwhile, footage has emerged of Russian conscripts filming the poor quality of the weapons they have been given.

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Video that has been widely circulated on social media shows soldiers looking at rust-covered AK-47s.

"This is f—ed. I'm in f—ing awe," one of the soldiers can be heard saying.

An estimated 56,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the country invaded Ukraine in February.

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