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SYDNEY, Australia — The day before the Australian Open was set to begin, Novak Djokovic, possibly the greatest tennis player of all time, ran up against a group of determined opponents that no amount of talent, training, money or willpower could overcome.He lost his final bid to stay in Australia on Sunday when a three-judge panel upheld the government’s decision to cancel his visa.More broadly, he lost to a government determined to make him a symbol of unvaccinated celebrity entitlement; to an immigration law that gives…

Boats bashed into a quiet harbor in Southern California, a remote island was battered in Japan by four-foot waves and two women were swept to their deaths on a beach in Peru — some 6,000 miles from an undersea volcanic eruption so powerful that the tsunami it set off churned ocean waters halfway across the globe.But on Sunday, as reports of the volcano’s impact trickled in from far-flung countries, there was little word from Tonga, the island nation just 40 miles from the site of the extraordinary explosion. As concerns…

Good morning. We’re covering Djokovic’s forced departure from Australia, ongoing tensions between Russia and the West and the Cambodian government’s tightening of internet surveillance. Djokovic loses his Australia case The unvaccinated Serbian tennis superstar left Australia on Sunday night after a court ruled against his bid to stay, costing him a chance at a 10th Australian Open title and a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that Australia’s immigration…

CAIRO — The song starts out like standard fare for Egyptian pop music: A secret infatuation between two young neighbors who, unable to marry, sneak flirtatious glances at each other and commit their hearts in a bittersweet dance of longing and waiting.But then the lyrics take a radical turn.“If you leave me,” blasts the singer, Hassan Shakosh, “I’ll be lost and gone, drinking alcohol and smoking hash.”The song, “The Neighbors’ Daughter,” has become a giant hit, garnering more than a half- billion views of its video on…

JERUSALEM — The lawyers of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli former prime minister, are in negotiations with state prosecutors to reach a plea bargain in his long-running corruption case, according to a spokesman for the Israeli Justice Ministry and two people involved in the negotiations.The talks are expected to finish by the end of the month and, if successful, would help conclude a legal process that contributed to years of political instability in Israel and, ultimately, to the end last June of Mr. Netanyahu’s record…

Eternals came to Disney Plus on Wednesday, bringing the Marvel Cinematic Universe to trippy cosmic places. Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao's movie establishes a new team of immortal heroes tasked with defending Earth from the nasty Deviants, and it includes a pair of post-credits scenes that'll get you hyped for the MCU's future. The movie takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which saw the Mad Titan Thanos defeated and billions of vanished people returned to Earth after five years. Our separate…

Novak Djokovic, the top player in men’s tennis and its leading vaccine skeptic, had his visa canceled for the second time by the government of Australia, where he had arrived on Jan. 5 hoping to defend his Australian Open title. The tournament begins on Monday. Here’s a look at how the standoff has unfolded: A surprise exemption gave Djokovic an apparent chance to avoid Australia’s tough vaccination rules. Djokovic has won the last three Australian Open men’s singles championships, and a record nine in his…

DirecTV is dropping far-right cable channel One America News. OAN, a favorite of Donald Trump, has been criticized for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, the 2020 presidential election and the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Streaming and satellite network DirecTV didn't give a reason for the move, saying in a statement Saturday that "following a routine internal review, we do not plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires." Catch up on the biggest news stories in…

Amtrak said on Friday that it will temporarily reduce service on some trains because of staffing challenges stemming from a surge in cases of the Omicron variant among workers.While nearly 97 percent of Amtrak workers are fully vaccinated, several hundred employees — including service personnel, conductors, engineers and mechanical crew members — have been sidelined because of Covid-19 infections or exposures, officials said. The agency will suspend 8 percent of its train departures over the next 10 weeks.“These…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conceded in an announcement on Friday that cloth masks do not protect against the coronavirus as effectively as surgical masks or respirators.In East Asia, a pronouncement like that would not be necessary because it is already common knowledge.The region’s mask-wearing customs vary because each country has responded over the years to different sets of epidemiological and environmental threats. But this much is clear: Surgical masks have generally been the public face covering…