Good morning and welcome to another week.

1. The first Australian has been vaccinated against COVID-19 over the weekend, marking the start of a nationwide rollout. Jane Malysiak, 84, received her shot of the Pfizer vaccine in Castle Hill in Sydney before Prime Minister Scott Morrison received his on Sunday.

2. Monday will kick off the first phase of the vaccination program, with some 600,000 aged care residents and frontline workers to receive their jab by the end of March. The PM is already claiming the rollout could end state border closures. “Its successful rollout will only further reduce the risk, and when you reduce the risk, then obviously you do not need more blunt and extreme measures in order to deal with COVID.”

3. Novak Djokovic has taken out the 2021 Australian Open, marking his ninth title win at Rod Laver arena. The Serbian did it in straight sets against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. The win marks the 18th major for the 33-year-old Djokovic, just behind Rafael Nadal (34), and Roger Federer (39). After the match, Djokovic reflected, saying: “I got injured in the third round. It was rollercoaster ride if I can define it in one word. I think it makes [it] even sweeter for me.”

4. Facebook has removed the main page of the Myanmar military weeks after it staged a coup to overthrow the country’s democratically-elected government. While the ban is unlikely to return democracy to the Southeast Asian country, it does inadvertently treat Myanmar military leaders like Australian media organisations. A strange world indeed.

5. Speaking of the ban, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that tech platforms are going after fake news under a new media code. Facebook, Google and Twitter could issue regular warnings to users about the trustworthiness of news articles and advertisements under a newly formed code designed to reduce the spread of misinformation and harmful content on the internet.

6. Bitcoin has hit a $US1 trillion market cap for the first time on the back of (yet another) enormous rally in price over the weekend. It puts it in the same company, at least in terms of market cap, as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google-owner Alphabet. At the time of writing, one whole piece of the digital coin will set you back more than $73,000. Of course, given the inherent volatility that could very well be much more or much less by the time of reading.

7. Australia’s banking sectors concedes that thousands of defaults may be unavoidable as loan deferrals begin to expire next month. Australian Banking Association (ABA) CEO Anna Bligh said she expects an increasing number of borrowers to fall behind on their repayments in the coming months, while Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said there will be “difficult conversations” as JobKeeper and JobSeeker are slashed.

8. NASA is getting ready to to charter the first ever flight of an aircraft on another planet. After successfully landing its Perseverance Rover on Mars, the space agency says all systems are go to fly its 2 kilogram solar-powered Ingenuity helicopter across the Red Planet. “If successful, these technologies could enable other advanced robotic flying vehicles that might be part of future robotic and human missions to Mars,” NASA said.

9. Consumer advocates have warned that the axing of responsible lending law will only hurt vulnerable Australians. CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland told a Senate Inquiry the “consequences will flow to individuals” as the federal government claims unrestrained lending will bolster the economy. Weighing in on the debate, Bendigo Bank managing director Marnie Baker says banks don’t need the regulations as it “makes no sense” for them to lend to anyone who can’t repay the debt.

10. To rent or to buy, that is the question. While typically renting is considered a more affordable option, Domain has found the opposite is true in more than one in three suburbs. The analysis found that while premium suburbs are still more affordable to rent, peripheral suburbs and regional areas offer far greater savings for homebuyers, in a few instances representing a discount in excess of 50%.

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