Australia and New Zealand
Firefighters near Perth, Australia, on Monday.Evan Collis/West Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services, via Associated Press

First Came the Lockdown. Then Came the Wildfire. Residents on the outskirts of Perth in Western Australia fled their homes in the middle of the night, just days after being told to stay in because of the coronavirus.
Its Borders Shut, New Zealand Prods Local Tourists to ‘Do Something New.’ A viral ad campaign urges New Zealanders to find new ways to look at their own backyard — and to stop posting hot-tub vacation photos.

For Melburnians, the Australian Open Tests Anxieties About the Virus. Australians have gone to great lengths to control the coronavirus. And some don’t want to throw that away for a tennis tournament.

As the Tennis Party in Australia Begins, an Uncertain Year Awaits. Officials in Australia moved mountains to make the country’s annual professional tennis swing happen. That will be far more difficult after the tour leaves this isolated island nation.
The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in February. Our streaming picks for February, including “Parks and Recreation,” “News of the World” and “Bliss.”
One Case, Total Lockdown: Australia’s Lessons for a Pandemic World. The country’s short, sharp responses have repeatedly subdued the virus and allowed a return to near normalcy. Now its model is being applied to Perth, its fourth-largest city.
The Pop Star Wants to Be an Olympian. Cody Simpson has been a singer, a dancer, an actor and an author. Now, with support from Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe, he is resurrecting a childhood swimming dream.
The Australian Open will allow up to 30,000 spectators a day. Such numbers would make the tennis tournament a sports rarity during the pandemic, though attendance would still be down by about half from a normal year.

Around the Times
Illustration by Najeebah Al-Ghadban

77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert the Election. Hours after the polls closed, the president declared the election a fraud — a lie that unleashed a movement that would shatter democratic norms and upend the peaceful transfer of power.
Were the Capitol Riot Suspects Trained Militants? What the Arrests Show. Our review of federal cases suggests that many of those in the mob were not organized, but some groups, like the Proud Boys, came prepared for battle.
Vaccines Could Blunt the U.K. Epidemic in Weeks. Britain’s timeline shows the promise of vaccination as a path out of the deadliest stage of the pandemic.
McKinsey Settles for Nearly $600 Million Over Role in Opioid Crisis. The consulting firm has reached agreements with 49 states because of its sales advice to drugmakers, including Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin.

… And Over to You

Last week, we asked for your reactions to the possibility of a life without Google. Here are some responses:

“The plans of the Australian government to make Google pay for linking people to news media are typical of the technological illiteracy of the ministers involved — just look at the disastrous National Broadband Network, the Covid tracing app or the My Health Record.

“When we look up a topic on Google, we may or may not want the latest news on it — I may be looking for historical records, images, videos, stories and so on. If it shows me snippets of news stories, I will often ignore them and keep moving down the list, not least because the News Corp press, the ones most loudly protesting that they need more money, will offer nothing more than a paywall should I click on a link to their site.

“I would suggest that Google keep doing what they do best, but exclude links to any site that automatically takes the user to a paywall. Anyone who has subscribed to such a site already knows where it is and won’t need Google’s help to get there. As for the government, stick to what you know (if anything), and stay out of technology, which is certainly not your strong suit.”

— Desmond Bellamy

“I am fine with shifting search engines to Bing, Ecosia, DuckDuckgo. As much as I love Google, their response to the Australian government is cocky, arrogant and threatening. I want democratic governments to make policy in the world, not billionaires.”

— Fiona Branagh

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