As many as 10 death row inmates in Oklahoma, more than one-fifth of the state’s prisoners condemned to die, could escape execution because of a recent US Supreme Court ruling concerning criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country.

The inmates have challenged their convictions in state court following the high court’s ruling last year, dubbed the McGirt decision, that determined a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation.

The decision means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal charges in cases in which the defendants, or the victims, are tribal citizens.

Among the inmates likely to get a new trial in federal court is Shaun Michael Bosse, 38, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the 2010 killing of Katrina Griffin and her two young children. The victims were all found inside a burning mobile home near Dibble, about 56km south of Oklahoma City.

Dozens of other inmates convicted in non-death penalty cases also are seeking to have their convictions tossed, which is expected to result in a dramatic increase in the workload of federal prosecutors.

Although Bosse is not a tribal citizen, the court determined that Griffin and her children were Native Americans and that the crime occurred on land inside the Chickasaw Nation’s historic reservation.

The decision is particularly frustrating to District Attorney Greg Mashburn, whose office prosecuted Bosse.

“He’s benefiting from the people he killed,” Mashburn said. “It would be a travesty of justice if he got anything less than death.”

Mashburn said another trial would also re-victimise Griffin's family, who were pleased with the outcome of the state trial.

“Unfortunately, the law doesn't ask their opinion," Mashburn said.

Stephen Greetham, an attorney for the Chickasaw Nation, said Griffin’s family has reached out to the tribe with concerns that Bosse could escape his death sentence. But he says the tribe has no say in that case because Bosse is not American Indian.

“He’s not subject to our jurisdiction, so it’s entirely at the discretion of the federal prosecutor,” Greetham said.

The cases of Bosse and nine other death row inmates are being re-examined in district court to determine if the defendant or victims are enrolled members of a federally recognised tribe and if the crime occurred on a tribal reservation, according to the attorney general's office.

If those conditions are met, it's likely the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals will toss the convictions and force the cases to be retried in federal court where obtaining a death sentence is much more difficult.

Although federal prosecutors have the authority to pursue the death penalty under certain circumstances, if the killing is determined to have occurred on tribal lands, the tribal nation must also agree to allow the death penalty.

While some Oklahoma-based tribes have indicated they're considering that option, only one tribe — the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma — has explicitly authorised the death penalty in federal cases.

“The Sac & Fox Nation has always been a law-and-order tribe," said Carter Truman, an American Indian law expert and former prosecutor with the Sac & Fox Nation.

“Our position was, if one of the most serious federal crimes was committed and you had a dangerous individual defendant accused of committing that crime, the death penalty should be an option."

But none of the crimes committed by the death row inmates seeking to have their convictions thrown out took place on Sac & Fox land. U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said having to retry these cases, particularly some that are decades old, could pose unique challenges because of fading witness memories or stale evidence.

“In theory, a blueprint is there for how to present this case and how to successfully convict this individual, but it’s not without inherent problems because of the time that has passed since the original crime," Shores said.

Maria Kolar, an Oklahoma City University professor with expertise in capital punishment as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, agreed retrying cases in federal court will be a challenge for federal prosecutors.

“I think it’s going to be a tall order for a lot of these cases, and the older the case, the bigger the challenge," Kolar said. “They’ll get into issues like witness availability, witness memory."

It's feared anti-vaxxers could target COVID-19 vaccine storage hubs, with online activity from protesters spiking in recent days.

A special team of AFP detectives has been appointed by the Federal Government to watch the online interactions of the anti-vaccination "movement".

Previously, those interactions had measured about 200 a day, but recently that had skyrocketed to 6000 a day.

READ MORE: 'Too soon' for states to take over vaccine responsibility

An anti-vaccination protest was held in Melbourne last week, while yesterday, a peaceful protest with about 200 people was staged outside Health Minister Greg Hunt's office.

Among the fears of some anti-vaxxers is the idea that the COVID-19 jab could alter a person's DNA.

"It's basically about informed consent," one of the protesters outside Mr Hunt's office said yesterday.

Almost 30,000 Australians have been vaccinated already, but the rollout has not been without its dramas.

READ MORE: More than 120 doses of Pfizer vaccine thrown out at aged care home

Two elderly people in Queensland were given an overdose of the vaccine last week by a doctor who had not had the proper training.

And 125 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had to be tossed out in Melbourne after an aged care home received more than double the supply of required vials.

Other aged care residents have been left waiting after believing they were set to receive the vaccine last week.

But NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said despite the federal bungles, it was too soon to talk about the states taking over vaccine delivery.

"The fair thing to say is we need to give the Federal Government time," he said.

"You've got to expect that in a one-in-100-years situation that there will be hiccups."

The House of Representatives voted early Saturday morning to approve President Joe Biden's US$1.9 trillion ($2.47 trillion) pandemic aid package, a major step toward enacting the first legislative priority of the new administration as the devastating fallout from the spread of COVID-19 has left Americans in dire need of further relief.

The final vote tally was 219-212. Two Democrats broke ranks and voted against the bill: Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine. The bill did not pass with bipartisan support as no Republicans voted for it.

Now that the bill has passed the House it will next go to the Senate.

READ MORE: Single shot COVID-19 vaccine approved in US

Making the effort more complicated, the Senate is expected to strip out a provision in the legislation increasing the federal minimum wage after the Senate parliamentarian ruled against including it under the procedure known as reconciliation, which Senate Democrats are using to pass the bill with a simple majority vote. The bill would then have to go back to the House for a separate vote before it could go to Mr Biden to be signed into law.

In brief remarks Saturday, Mr Biden praised the House for passing the bill and called on the Senate to take "quick action" on the measure.

"If we act now, decisively, quickly and boldly, we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again, and the people of this country have suffered far too much for too long," he said, speaking from the White House.

"We need to relieve that suffering."

The package advanced by House Democrats also includes direct aid to small businesses, US$1400 ($1816) direct checks to Americans making less than US$75,000 ($97,340) annually, an increase in the child tax credit, direct funding to state and local governments, funding for schools and more money for vaccine distribution.

It had been expected to pass on a party-line vote as House Republicans urged their members to vote against the package and worked to limit defections.

READ MORE: Biden heads to Texas to see storm damage

Republicans have argued that the legislation overreaches and serves as a liberal wish list of agenda items and complain that they have been locked out of the process for crafting the measure. Democrats counter that they are willing to work with Republicans, but will not water down the plan and say they have a mandate to take sweeping action to address the pandemic now that they control Congress and the White House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a narrow margin to pass the bill, but many members across the ideological spectrum did not have an appetite to torpedo the new administration's first major piece of legislation.

Mr Golden said in a statement Saturday that he voted against the bill because he "won't support trillions more in funding that is poorly targeted or in many cases not necessary at this moment in time." He expressed concern over individual provisions like extending the child tax credit, arguing that the policies should be considered under regular order but don't belong in an emergency spending bill, and about the "compounding effect of the spending decisions of the past year."

Progressives have fought to include the minimum wage increase in the legislation, an effort that was dealt a major blow on Thursday when the Senate parliamentarian ruled against the move.

Ms Pelosi insisted at a news conference Friday evening ahead of the vote that the House would pass the wage increase, regardless of what happens in the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell railed against Democrats in a statement Saturday morning for passing the relief plan without bipartisan support.

READ MORE: Pfizer vaccine doesn't need to be kept in deep freeze, say US officials

"Tonight House Democrats snapped that bipartisan streak. They jammed through a bill that even liberal economists and editorial boards say is not well targeted to this stage of the fight," the Kentucky Republican said in the statement.

"More than a third of its spending, including more than 90 percent of the K-12 school funding, would not even go out this fiscal year."

He also slammed the White House for not working with Republicans on the legislation.

"After Republicans led five bipartisan bills last year, Democrats have chosen the polar opposite. When Senate Republicans went to the White House to suggest cooperation, President Biden's team said no thanks," he said.

"The White House Chief of Staff admits this liberal wish-list is 'the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation.' So much for common sense and common ground.

"The House's partisan vote reflects a deliberately partisan process and a missed opportunity to meet Americans' needs."

Republicans had made a last ditch attempt to deter Mr Biden from going it alone with just Democratic support for the US$1.9 trillion relief bill and instead continue to work on a bipartisan deal.

A group of Senate Republicans had pitched a counteroffer of a roughly US$600 billion ($778.7 billion) plan they felt was a more targeted approach, and the President met with them for two hours in the Oval Office earlier this month.

But Mr Biden later said while he's open to working with Republicans to make his bill "cheaper," he isn't willing to compromise much on its content.

South Carolina GOP Governor Henry McMaster, Kansas Democratic Governor Laura Kelly, and 20 other Republican governors expressed opposition to the bill's measure aimed at promoting equity in vaccine distribution by allocating federal aid to states based on the state's unemployment rate, rather than its population.

The governors argued in a joint statement Saturday that the proposal "punishes states that took a measured approach to the pandemic and entered the crisis with healthy state budgets and strong economies."

"A state's ability to keep businesses open and people employed should not be a penalizing factor when distributing funds. If Congress is going to provide aid to states, it should be on an equitable population basis," they added.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on the governors' statement.

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A World War II-era plane flew Saturday over the funeral service of Captain Tom Moore, in honour of the veteran who single-handedly raised millions of pounds for Britain's health workers by walking laps in his backyard.

Moore also received a firing salute from 14 soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment.

Soldiers performed ceremonial duties at the service for the 100-year-old, whose charity walk inspired the nation and raised almost £33 million ($60m). Captain Tom, as he became known, died February 2 in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.

His Union Flag-draped coffin was carried by soldiers from the regiment into the crematorium in Bedford, eastern England, past empty pews due to coronavirus restrictions. The soldiers then marched out and left his close family for the service, to the sound of Moore singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a charity single he recorded with Michael Ball.

In line with current coronavirus restrictions, the funeral was attended by his immediate family — two daughters, Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore, four grandchildren and his sons-in-laws.

"Daddy, I am so proud of you," Teixeira said, "What you achieved your whole life and especially in the last year. You may be gone but your message and your spirit lives on."

Teixeira said her father would be watching them at the funeral and chuckling "saying 'don't be too sad as something has to get you in the end.'"

Speaking of her grief, Ingram-Moore said "we have lost a huge part of our family" and "we feel your loss with a deafening silence."

But she added "the power of the love you left allows us to stay strong."

Alfie Boe's performance of I Vow To Thee My Country, Dame Vera Lynn's The White Cliffs Of Dover and a version of the song Smile, recorded by singer Michael Buble, were played at the moving ceremony.

The family urged well-wishers to stay at home as the country remains in lockdown but some locals did line the streets to pay their respects.

Once Covid-19 restrictions permit, the family will intern Moore's ashes in Yorkshire, where he will rest with his parents and grandparents in the Moore family plot.

Moore, who served in India, Burma and Sumatra during WWII, set out to raise a modest £1,000 ($1800) for Britain's National Health Service (NHS) by walking 100 laps of his backyard by his 100th birthday.

But his quest went viral, catching the imagination of millions stuck at home during the UK's first wave of the pandemic.

People from 163 countries around the world donated to Captain Tom Moore's fundraiser, the celebrant conducting the funeral said.

The celebrant added that they were investing "in the values that he stood for."

His positive attitude — "Please always remember, tomorrow will be a good day" became his trademark phrase — inspired the nation at a time of crisis, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson described him as a "hero in the truest sense of the word″.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July in a socially distanced ceremony at Windsor Castle, west of London.

– Reported with Associated Press and CNN.