NSW floods: 500,000 Under Evacuation Orders or Warnings

FLOOD UPDATE
This isn't a river. It's a town. The town of Lismore in New South Wales. And it's underwater. It's one of many towns on the east coast that have experienced a lot of flooding this week because of the wet and wild weather. Now, it's come to Sydney. Hundreds of thousands of people have been told to evacuate across the state, and even more are on "evacuation warning's, meaning they could be asked to leave at any moment. Emergency services have been working around the clock packing sandbags and responding to calls for help. Up in Queensland, folks living just north of Brisbane, from Moreton Bay to Wide Bay, were asked to pick up their kids from school early because of more severe weather. Creeks and rivers in the state are rising again and while many are hoping to start cleaning up authorities say for now it's safer to stay away.

WA BORDER OPENS
Western Australia has finally opened its borders to the rest of the country and overseas tourists. Arrivals were greeted with hugs from friends and family at Perth airport this morning. It's been a long time coming, Western Australia's gone through 697 days of COVID-19 travel restrictions and is the last state to open its border. People do have to be vaccinated, though.

TASSIE TIGER BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE
It's been officially extinct since the 1930s. But for years people have been holding out hope of finding a living Tasmanian Tiger. Now Professor Andrew Pask here might be able to help. His projects just got 5 million dollars to help make the Thylacine in a lab. How might you ask? The specimens they have in museums are intact, so they sequenced the entirety of the DNA of a thylacine about 4 years ago and now have the complete blueprint on how to build the animals. Using that "blueprint" scientists aim to create a Tassie tiger embryo which they can transfer to another marsupial species to give birth to. If it works, it will be a world first and the technology could eventually go on to help many more Aussie animals.

UK PARLIAMENT STANDING OVATION
First up, to UK's parliament. Politicians united to give Ukraine's ambassador a standing ovation. Some even wore the country's colours blue and yellow to show support.

ELINA SVITOLINA
Ukranian tennis star Elina Svitolina is thinking about the situation back home, too. She won her match in straight sets against Russian Anastasia Potopova at the Monterrey Open and says she's playing for her country.

SOUTH KOREA LIGHTS UP THE SKY
About 1000 blue and yellow drones filled South Korea's skies as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine. They started from Gwangalli Beach before forming the Ukrainian flag. The event was part of South Korea's Independence Movement Day celebrations.
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For the past 50 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.