MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic returned to the tennis court Monday for training, having won a legal battle to stay in Australia to play in the Australian Open after his exemption from strict coronavirus vaccine rules was questioned. But the government is still threatening to cancel his visa and deport him.
The unvaccinated tennis star was released after being confined to an immigration hotel for four nights — a drama that has gripped many in Australia and beyond.
Federal Circuit Court Judge Anthony Kelly reinstated Djokovic’s visa, which was pulled after his arrival last week because officials said he didn’t qualify for an exemption to a rule that all non-citizens be fully vaccinated. Djokovic’s lawyers say that since he recently recovered from COVID-19, he didn’t need to be inoculated.
The judge ruled the No. 1 player had not been given enough time to speak to his lawyers before the decision was made and ordered the government to release him from the Melbourne quarantine hotel where he was held.
But government lawyer Christopher Tran told the judge that the immigration minister “will consider whether to exercise a personal power of cancellation.”
That would mean that the nine-time Australian Open winner and defending champion could again face deportation and could miss the tournament, which starts on Jan. 17. It could also bar him from the country for three years.
Late Monday night, Djokovic tweeted out a photo that showed him and his team standing on one of the main show courts of the tournament. He was already back to training, his brother told reporters in Serbia.
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Michael Moore sounded off on the people of Texas following Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to open the state and remove its mask mandate amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Abbott issued an executive order that rescinds many of the state’s previous orders, allowing all businesses in the state to fully reopen and revoking the statewide mask mandate as of next Wednesday.
"I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%. EVERYTHING," he tweeted Tuesday. "I also ended the statewide mask mandate."
Although the governor cautioned in a press conference that the order does not mean that the coronavirus is no longer a concern in the state, he pointed to a number of positive statistics including the reduction in active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and the coming vaccinations as sufficient reason to reopen the state and end the mandate.
Moore, however, was among the many celebrities who took to Twitter to criticize the state for its approach to the pandemic and the recent blackouts that caused widespread issues during cold weather conditions across the state.
"Texas - we hear you. You didn’t want to be part of our electrical grid. And now you’ve removed your mask mandate & are allowing large crowds to gather. We hear you! COVID is a hoax! So u don’t need our precious vaccine. We’ll send it to ppl who are saving lives by wearing masks," he began a thread on Twitter.
The filmmaker continued: "Yes, we must and will find a way to vaccinate the poor and people of color in Texas. To Texans who say, hey, it’s not me - it’s the Governor! Well, then, impeach and remove him. We’re tired of this. Don’t mess with Texas? Happy to oblige."
Moore then hit his followers with some statistics about the state’s coronavirus response, including the issue Houston is having with the variants.
"Btw - Houston is the first city in the country to record the presence of ALL the new variants of the coronavirus. The rest of us must find a way to protect ourselves from the policies and politicians of Texas," Moore wrote.
He concluded his Twitter tirade by breaking down the racial demographics in the state.
"Texas is no longer majority white. The 57% majority is Latinx and Black and Asian and Native American. So let’s do everything we can to help that majority remove the bigots and ignoramuses from office. It’s killing them, and it’s killing us," he added.
As of Wednesday morning, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 114,843,310 people across 192 countries and territories, resulting in at least 2,551,200 deaths. In the U.S., all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, tallying more than 28,719,654 illnesses and at least 516,616 deaths.
Currently, Texas has the second-highest most cases in the United States behind only California.
It’s Wednesday, the temperature is in the single digits, and a man named Joe drives a Jeep around Wise County.His power has been out and water pipes frozen for the past two days, but he’s not stopping. “Supposedly, rolling blackouts were coming,” said Joe Andrews. “The power went out. It just never came back on.” As Andrews, 38, puts his Jeep in reverse, he leaves behind his two boys and wife at the Pleasant Grove Cowboy Church. There the lights still shine. Intense games of Uno, puzzles, freshly-cooked meals and the hum of functioning HVAC are shared. But Andrews has been dispatched again, he said by God. “If I can help, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
He drove to where the people need help, plowing through the ice in snow in his 2017 Jeep Rubicon. Its four-wheel drive is outfitted for these elements.It’s one of the few things that was equipped for the deep freeze in Wise County since Sunday, as temperatures lingered around 0 and snow stacked up. Crunching through white roads, Andrews provided an array of help. Some needed assistance with their cattle. On other trips, he delivered jugs of water or food. In other cases, Andrews provided a ride, bringing people to the warmth of Pleasant Grove Cowboy Church.
The 200-member church was transformed into a warming shelter, boasting outlets and the promise of power for medical devices and dying phones. “If you’re gonna preach it, you gotta walk it,” said Don Purcell, an elder at the church. Several area churches and some businesses with power have opened their doors as warming shelters. The Decatur Conference Center has been established as an emergency shelter as well as a winter weather response headquarters. Tucked away in a room, department heads from the county and Decatur sit around a table, managing wires, laptops and a symphony of emergency radios in a concerted effort to see Wise County through the winter storm.
Power outages were widespread. Cities are facing breaking points with water. Fires break out by the hour and pipes keep bursting, flooding area homes. The sleep deprived eyes at the table are telling. In one room, they tried to tackle the issues together. “This is where we landed,” said Decatur Fire Chief Nate Mara. “We established a joint EOC between fire, police, county EMS, office of emergency management and the fire marshal’s office. Every player that needs to be at the table to handle this issue in the area is here.” A few steps away from winter weather headquarters, more than 30 elderly from Governor’s Ridge and various families huddled in the building as a DCC employee belts out Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond. Some slept on cots. Others conversed on couches in the hallways. One young girl danced to the music as her parents huddled next to an outlet to charge their phone. Outside the impromptu concert, Governor’s Ridge resident Mark Berube chatted with four others covered in blankets from Red Cross. “We lost power and came here” Berube said on Tuesday. “It’s been good. I’ve got no complaints.”
The assisted living center lost power and some residents were moved to the DCC Monday. The parking lot for the DCC was not nearly as crowded as the hotel side of the complex. After widespread power outages, hundreds of Wise County residents have turned to hotels. Most have chosen to grit through it at home, often encountering another cruel twist to the storm, burst pipes.On Wednesday, plumber Lee Davis said he’s averaging 30 calls for service per day. He said he’s booked out until Feb. 24. With intermittent power, the bone chilling temperatures stopped water in its tracks.
“This weekend I helped people get their stuff covered, but it didn’t even matter,” Davis said. “Pipes still froze.” As pipes thawed out, many have exploded, flooding homes. While his schedule is full, Davis is working in the elderly and those with young children first. Davis said if your pipes are frozen, turn your water main off. “This is a very unique situation. I’ve lived in Texas my whole life and grew up here, and I have never seen anything like this,” he said. “We’re in Texas. This is South Dakota weather.” Lines stretched down U.S. 81/287 outside Russell Feed and Supply as residents searched for propane. People with milk jugs and other impromptu containers also waited in lines for potable water at water stations, and at the Bridgeport Fire Department.
Perhaps the most rare and awe inspiring sight was the 2 inches of ice covering Lake Bridgeport. By Wednesday, the frozen lake was covered in a blanket of snow, hiding the waves that were frozen in place. At the Wise County Park in Chico, county employee Jimmy Counts broke through the ice to set up a lift station in the lake to provide water to livestock. Ranchers filled tanks and jugs looking for a respite. “I had to see it,” said longtime Wise County resident Jerry Strain said after snapping some pictures of the lake from his truck. For all it’s beauty, the storm and energy failures have created a dire situation in Wise County as people look for warmth and water.
Wise Health System has not encountered any hypothermia cases or carbon monoxide poisonings at its emergency room as of Wednesday, WHS Marketing Executive Michelle Stone said. But people have been tested and displaced. As Thursday neared, there seems to be some hope, as consistent power returned for thousands of Wise County residents. Friday promises temperatures that will finally be above freezing. The storm is passing. The weather event revealed weakness but also strength. “We’re not built for this as Texans, but we still have that heart and the willingness to fight. You see a lot of that in the resilience of the people,” said Brandon Blasingame, pastor at Pleasant Grove Cowboy Church. “It’s been awesome to see.”