15:30
Good morning all, it’s Matilda Boseley here on the blog with you, ready to bring you all of Australia’s morning news. (Which actually mostly takes place outside of Australia this morning.)
Australia and New Zealand are standing by to offer additional support to Tonga following reconnaissance missions to assess damage in the crisis-struck Pacific nation. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volanic eruption on Saturday – potentially the world’s most powerful blast for 30 years – caused a tsunami across the Pacific and blanketed the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa in thick ash.
While much of Tonga’s power has been restored, communication in and out of the remote Pacific nation remains limited.
Yesterday morning a New Zealand defence force Orion aircraft took off from Auckland’s Whenuapai base on a mission to investigate further, with an Australian P-8 Poseidon also leaving Brisbane on a similar mission.
New Zealand will follow the reconnaissance mission with flights from the heavy-duty Hercules C-130 to drop any needed provisions.
One fatality has also now been confirmed. The body of 50-year-old British woman Angela Glover, who ran the Tonga Animal Welfare, has now been found.
Heading across to Europe and the tennis star Novak Djokovic has touched down in his home country of Serbia after being deported from Australia after failing to meet vaccination requirements.
He was welcomed by a small but noisy band of supporters at the Belgrade airport before being whisked through passport control and customs and driven home by his brother.
However, it looks like the unvaccinated player isn’t out of the woods yet, after the French sports ministry made a point to confirm that a new law barring unvaccinated people from sports venues, restaurants and other public places will apply to sportsmen too.
That would prevent Djokovic from playing at the French Open in May though a spokesperson noted the pandemic situation “could change by then”.
There is certainly plenty to get through, so with that why don’t we jump right into the day.
