Monday: Vaccinated international travellers to arrive as Australia reopens border for first time in nearly two years. Plus: the fall of Prince Andrew

Good morning. There will be excitement at airports today as Australia’s international border reopens to vaccinated travellers, nearly two years after the border closed to help stop coronavirus from spreading.

Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron have agreed to try to secure a ceasefire in the east of Ukraine and to put together an urgent summit at the highest level on the future of the country, the Élysée Palace said in a statement. The two leaders spoke on the phone for 105 minutes, and the outcome, broadly confirmed by the Kremlin, suggests Russia might be willing to step back from the brink of a full invasion of Ukraine to allow renewed diplomatic discussions. Meanwhile, Russian troops sent to Belarus for military exercises will remain in the country indefinitely, Belarus’s defence ministry has said, in a decision that will further fuel concerns Moscow is planning an imminent Ukraine invasion.

The messaging around the severity of the Omicron Covid variant and a degree of pandemic fatigue is slowing Australia’s booster rollout, as some Australians shun the third dose. The Burnet Institute epidemiologist, Mike Toole, said this time the slow rollout could not be put down to supply issues. “The messaging around Omicron, that it is mild, has inhibited the uptake of boosters for adults and first and second doses for kids,” Toole said. “I think that’s been quite dangerous. The country had 66 deaths on Thursday, 64 on Wednesday, 46 on Tuesday. That’s still a lot of deaths.”

The Queen has tested positive for Covid-19, ahead of the expected ending of all coronavirus restrictions in England in the coming days. Buckingham Palace said the monarch, 95, was experiencing “mild cold-like symptoms” but expected to continue carrying out light duties this week. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson said the country is “in a different world” from when the Covid pandemic started, meaning the last remaining restrictions can begin to be lifted from next week. Ahead of an announcement on Monday about the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, the prime minister signalled free mass testing would end imminently and told people to return to the office and “get their confidence back”.

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Australia

Australia’s largest immigration detention centre is “awash with drugs”, sources inside the Villawood detention centre say, with several detailing an extensive drug-smuggling operation.

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and the Canadian asset management giant Brookfield have launched an extraordinary joint bid to take over AGL Energy, Australia’s most polluting company, with the goal to shut its coal power plants earlier than planned.

The first travellers in nearly two years are on their way to Australia, but tourism operators say it could be more than a year before they truly return to business as usual.

A historic decision by the Lismore city council to hand back land to First Nations people will proceed, despite a contentious motion by a newly elected councillor to halt the return of 37 hectares at the southern end of Sleeping Lizard Hill, or North Lismore Plateau.

The world

Large parts of the United Kingdom were braced for another day of travel chaos and power cuts on Monday as Storm Franklin brought hurricane-force winds and flooding in the wake of the deadly Storm Eunice. Hundreds of families in south Manchester were urged to evacuate their homes on Sunday night while nearly 80,000 households remained without power following the worst UK storm in decades.

The Italian ambassador to Australia has died after falling from a balcony in her home town in Foligno in the Umbria region.

Victims of a French modelling agent’s alleged sexual abuse have expressed shock and dismay after he was found dead in his cell, in an apparent echo of the prison suicide of his close associate, the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The west has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan and its own reputation by imposing a policy of starvation on the country, according to David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

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Listen

For months Prince Andrew has been clear about the accusations of sexual assault he faced from Virginia Giuffre: they were baseless and he would fight them all the way in court.

In the past week he agreed to a settlement that states he had “never intended to malign Ms Giuffre’s character” and that he recognised she had “suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks”. Andrew also pledged to “demonstrate his regret for his association” with the sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The surprise out-of-court agreement means Prince Andrew makes no admission of guilt over the claims. He has always denied the allegations.

The Guardian’s Caroline Davies tells Nosheen Iqbal that this will, in effect, end the Duke of York’s career as a public figure.

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Sport

When does keeping a low profile transition into being forgotten? How much are supporters willing to endure? Can you promote your way into a good product? After a week in which it felt like several tipping points were reached at once, these appear to be the metaphysical predicaments confronting the A-Leagues and its handlers, the Australian Professional Leagues.

Media roundup

Foreign policy is normally not a decider in federal elections but that could change this year, as parties debate how Australia should engage with China moving forward, the ABC reports. The Morrison government is facing a damaging health funding squabble with both Liberal and Labor states on the eve of the federal election, the WAToday reports.

And if you’ve read this far …

We’ve ranked the 15 most interesting Australian frogs. You’d be hopping mad to not be fascinated by the weird, wacky and wonderful amphibians on this list.

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