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Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 player in men’s tennis, had a lot at stake going into this year’s Australian Open. A win there would have made him the most decorated male tennis player in history. But he arrived in the country without having had a Covid-19 vaccination, flying in the face of Australia’s rules, and after a court battle he was ultimately deported.In Australia, the “Djokovic affair” has become about a lot more than athletes and vaccines — it has prompted conversations about the country’s aggressive border policy, isolationism and treatment of migrants. Guest: Damien Cave, the Australia bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Prime Minister Scott Morrison latched on to the Djokovic case. But with an election looming, it’s not clear that it was a political winner.Novak Djokovic lost his bid to stay in Australia to a government determined to make him a symbol of unvaccinated celebrity entitlement; to an immigration law that gives godlike authority to border enforcement; and to a public outcry, in a nation of rule followers.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Microsoft announced this week that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard, the maker of video games such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush, in a deal valued at nearly $70 billion.Microsoft, the owner of Xbox, said the acquisition was a step toward gaining a foothold in the metaverse.But what exactly is the metaverse? And why are some of the biggest companies in the world spending billions of dollars to get involved?Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Does the metaverse even exist? Here’s what you need to know.Video games are not merely entertainment anymore. They have become weapons that today’s technology titans wield to try to shape our future.The deal for Activision Blizzard would be Microsoft’s biggest ever, and one that places a major bet that people will be spending more and more time in the digital world.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

It’s a big week in the Senate for voting rights. Democrats have two bills that include measures to bolster and protect elections.But the bills are almost certain to fail.Why has it proved almost impossible to pass legislation so integral to the agenda of President Biden and the Democrats?Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Here’s what to know about voting rights and the battle over elections.Democrats’ bid to force through a bill intended to offset state voting restrictions appeared destined to fall to a Republican filibuster.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Four years ago, Azmat Khan, an investigative reporter for The Times Magazine, told us the story of Basim Razzo, whose entire family was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike in Iraq. His story helped reveal how American air wars were resulting in a staggering number of civilian deaths.Analyzing thousands of pages of U.S. military reports and investigating in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, Azmat was able to gain a better understanding of why this was happening.Azmat Khan, an investigative reporter for The Times Magazine.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The promise was a war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. But Pentagon documents show flawed intelligence, faulty targeting, years of civilian deaths — and scant accountability.A trove of internal documents, combined with extensive reporting across the Middle East, reveals the tragic, disastrous failures of the U.S. military’s long-distance approach to warfare.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Elizabeth Weil, the author of today’s Sunday Read, writes that, in her marriage, there was a silent third spouse: California.“The state was dramatic and a handful,” Weil writes. “But she was gorgeous, and she brought into our lives, through the natural world, all the treasure and magic we’d need.”However, for Weil, there is internal conflict living in a state where wildfires have become the norm. She describes living through a discontinuity in which previously held logic fails to stand up to reality.Today, Weil analyzes the sources of California’s crisis — from the impact of colonization and the systemic erasure of Indigenous practices to the significant loss of fire-management practices and critical dryness caused by global warming.In California, as in much of the world, climate anxiety and climate futurism coalesce into trans-apocalyptic pessimism. But, in spite of the doom, Weil suggests the situation is not completely devoid of hope.To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Sidney Poitier, who was Hollywood’s first Black matinee idol and who helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry, died last week. He was 94.For Wesley Morris, a Times culture critic, it is Mr. Poitier — not John Wayne, Cary Grant or Marilyn Monroe — who is the greatest American movie star.“His legacy is so much wider and deeper than the art itself,” Wesley said. “This man has managed to affect what we see, how we relate to people, who we think we are, who we should aspire to be. And if that’s not a sign of greatness, I don’t know what is.”Guest: Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: “The greatest American movie star is Sidney Poitier. You mean the greatest Black movie star? I don’t. Am I being controversial? Confrontational? Contrarian? No. I’m simply telling the truth.” Read Wesley’s tribute to Mr. Poitier.Sidney Poitier, who paved the way for Black actors in film, died last week at 94. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As the highly infectious Omicron variant surged, a high-stakes battle played out between Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and the city’s teachers’ union about how to keep schools open and safe.We chart this battle on the ground in Chicago, speaking with teachers, parents and students about the standoff.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The deal between the city and the teachers’ union included provisions for additional testing and metrics that would close schools with major virus outbreaksAs millions of U.S. students headed back to their desks, the coronavirus testing that was supposed to help keep classrooms open safely was itself being tested. In much of the country, things are not going well.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedailyTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The diplomatic talks in Geneva this week are of a kind not seen in a long time: an effort to defuse the possibility of a major war in Europe.President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has amassed military equipment and personnel on the border with Ukraine.President Biden has warned that there will be consequences if Mr. Putin decides to invade, but what can Washington do to impel the Kremlin to back down?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Russia and the United States expressed some optimism after negotiations in Geneva, but they did not break an impasse over Moscow’s demand that Ukraine never become a member of NATO.Can the West stop Russia from invading Ukraine? Here’s a guide to what’s at stake.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedailyTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

 The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has a reputation for causing mild illness, yet it’s fueling a staggering rise in hospitalizations across the country. In some of the early hot spots for the variant, emergency rooms are filling up, hospitals are being flooded with new patients and there aren’t enough staff to care for all of them. We explore why the Omicron surge is leading to hospitalizations and hear from doctors about what they are seeing, and why this surge feels different from the ones that came before. Guest: Emily Anthes, a reporter covering science and health for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Covid hospitalizations are surging, though severe cases are a smaller share of the total than in previous waves. With staff shortages, some hospitals are still in crisis.In the cities where Omicron first drove a rapid rise in Covid cases, serious outcomes including I.C.U. stays and deaths are following case curves upward.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedailyTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This year’s Golden Globes ceremony was muted. Instead of a celebrity-filled evening, broadcast on NBC, the results were live tweeted from a room in the Beverly Hilton. It was the culmination of years of controversy for the awards and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind them. Who are the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and how did one of the biggest awards shows get to this point?Guest: Kyle Buchanan, a pop culture reporter and the awards season columnist for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: With the Hollywood Foreign Press Association mired in controversy, the 2022 awards ceremony was devoid of stars or cameras. Winners were announced via Twitter, and social media had a field day.Last year, the association, seen as colorful, generally harmless and not necessarily journalistically productive, faced a lawsuit and questions about its voting group.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedailyTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In her new book, “The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change,” Pauline Boss considers what it means to reach “emotional closure” in a state of unnamable grief.Hard to define, these grievances have been granted a new name: ambiguous loss. The death of a loved one, missing relatives, giving a child up for adoption, a lost friend — Boss teases out how one can mourn something that cannot always be described.The pandemic has been rife with “ambiguous loss,” Boss argues. Milestones missed; friendships and romantic liaisons cooled; families prevented from bidding farewell to dying loved ones because of stringent hospital rules. A sense of “frozen grief” pervades great swathes of the global community. Boss believes that by rethinking and lending language to the nature of loss, we might get closer to understanding it.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. 

After the election on Nov. 3, 2020, President J. Donald Trump and his allies tested the limits of the U.S. election system, launching pressure and legal campaigns in competitive states to have votes overturned — all the while exposing the system’s precariousness.Although the efforts weren’t successful, they appear to have been only the beginning of a wider attack on American elections. In the final part of our Jan. 6 coverage, we explore the threats to democracy that may come to bear in the next election. Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The fight over American democracy and the fragility of good faith: Times political journalists talk about the Republicans’ push to restrict voting and seize control over elections, and how Democrats are responding.Here are four takeaways from the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming was the only Republican leader calling on President Donald Trump to move on from his efforts to overturn the results. Then, after the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, she gave a full-throated condemnation of what had happened and the rhetoric that facilitated it. A year later, while many of her party have backed down from criticizing the former president, she has remained steadfast — a conviction that’s cost her leadership position.In the second part of our look at the legacy of the Capitol riot, we speak to Ms. Cheney about that day and its aftermath, the work of the Jan. 6 commission and the future of the Republican Party. Guest: Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and former No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The Jan. 6, 2021, assault has shaken the foundations of the Capitol, a symbol of American strength and unity, transforming how lawmakers view their surroundings and one another.A year after the Capitol riot, Donald Trump’s continued hold on the Republican Party shows, once again, that the former president can outlast almost any outrage cycle.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Who exactly joined the mob that, almost a year ago, on Jan. 6, breached the walls of the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of President Biden’s election victory?Members of far-right extremist groups were present but so too were also doctors, lawyers, substitute teachers and church deacons, many of whom had previously been nonpolitical. The question of why they were at the Capitol that day is hard to answer, but some of the most useful clues come from three F.B.I. interviews that have been released to the public.Today, in the first of a three-part look at what happened on Jan. 6 and what it tells us about the state of American democracy, using voice actors, we bring one of those interviews to life — that of Robert Reeder, a father and delivery driver from suburban Maryland. Guest: Alan Feuer, a reporter covering courts and criminal justice for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: In recent weeks, with the anniversary of the riot looming, a few dozen investigators and members of Congress are rushing to dissect what led to the worst attack on the Capitol in centuries.A visual investigation into how a presidential rally turned into a Capitol rampage.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

About a decade ago, companies began offering pregnant women tests that promised to detect rare genetic disorders in their fetuses.The tests initially looked for Down syndrome and worked well, but later tests for rarer conditions did not. An investigation has found that the grave predictions made by those newer tests are usually incorrect.We look at why the tests are so wrong and what can be done about it.Guest: Sarah Kliff, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: In just over a decade, prenatal tests have gone from laboratory experiments to an industry that serves more than a third of the pregnant women in America. The grave predictions of rare genetic disorders made by newer tests, however, are usually wrong.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Omicron variant is fueling record-breaking cases across the world and disrupting life. But it may not present as great a danger of hospitalization and severe illness as earlier variants. We explore why this is and what it means for the next stage of the pandemic.Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: New studies are providing the first indication of why the Omicron variant causes milder disease than previous versions of the coronavirus: It spares the lungs.The decision by U.S. health officials to shorten isolation periods for many infected with the coronavirus has drawn both tempered support and intense opposition from scientists.The growing consensus in nations with Omicron that the virus is moving too fast to catch is tempered by early evidence that the variant causes milder symptoms.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.With most natural disasters, the devastation is immediately apparent. But when a winter storm hit Texas, some of the damage was a lot less visible.The stories of Iris Cantu, Suzanne Mitchell and Tumaini Criss showed the depth of the destruction.Their lives were upended. The storm in February left their homes barely habitable, with collapsed ceilings and destroyed belongings, and it disrupted their children’s learning.While the state investigated widespread blackouts from the storm, looking for accountability, the three women grappled with a more pressing question: How am I going to move forward with my life?Today, we return to their stories.Guest: Jack Healy, a Colorado-based national correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: As the freak winter storm raged, historically marginalized communities were among the first to face power outages.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.The Good Shepherd Nursing Home in West Virginia lifted its coronavirus lockdown in February.For months, residents had been confined to their rooms, unable to mix. But with everybody vaccinated, it was time to see one another again, albeit with rules on social distancing and mask wearing still in place.There was Mass in the chapel, lunch in the dining room (decked out in Valentine’s Day decorations) and a favorite activity: the penny auction. Top prize? A tub of cheese puffs.In March, we shared the home’s some of the relief and joy about the tiptoe back to normalcy. Today, we return to the home to see how life has changed.Guest: Sarah Mervosh, a national reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The happiness inside the Good Shepherd Nursing Home, after a nearly a year in lockdown.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.This episode contains strong language.Dogecoin started out as a kind of inside joke in the world of cryptocurrency. However, earlier this year, it quickly became, for some, a very serious path to wealth.Today, we return to the unlikely story of a 33-year-old who bought the cryptocurrency and became a millionaire in the process, to see what he has lost or gained in the time since.Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Glauber Contessoto went looking for something that could change his fortunes overnight. He found it in a joke cryptocurrency.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.When Officer Harry Dunn reported for work at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, he expected a day of relatively normal protests.At noon, the mood shifted. He received calls over his radio that the demonstrations were becoming violent. When he took up position on the west side of the Capitol, he said he realized just how dangerous the situation had become.Inside the building, after the walls were breached, Officer Dunn found a chaotic scene — one in which officers were overwhelmed and the waves of rioters seemed endless. He also encountered racism from the pro-Trump mob, as did many of his Black co-workers.We hear from Officer Dunn about what happened that day from his perspective.Guest: Officer Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer who was on duty during the storming of the Capitol.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading:“Black officers fought a different battle” on Jan. 6, Officer Harry Dunn said. Here is what he saw and heard when rioters, including white supremacists, stormed the Capitol.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.