PAHO: Omicron to become dominant variant in Americas shortly
MIAMI — The Pan American Health Organization said Wednesday it expects omicron to become the predominant coronavirus variant in the Americas in the coming weeks, where confirmed cases have reached record levels.
Biden pays silent tribute as Reid lies in state at Capitol
WASHINGTON — The late Sen. Harry Reid was remembered Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol as a “legendary leader,” a hardscrabble Democrat who rose from poverty in a dusty Nevada mining town to deliver landmark legislation from the Senate’s most powerful position.
Dems switch strategy on voting bill as Biden pushes action
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are trying to force a public showdown over their sweeping elections legislation, aiming to launch debate on a key party priority even though there’s no assurance the bill will come to a vote.
GOP leader McCarthy says he won’t cooperate with 1/6 panel
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as it continues to seek first-hand details from members of Congress on former President Donald Trump’s actions on the day hundreds of his supporters brutally beat police, stormed the building and interrupted the certification of the 2020 election.
Abortion grows as priority issue for Democrats: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — With Roe v. Wade facing its strongest threat in decades, a new poll finds Democrats increasingly view protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government.
Australia nears decision on whether to deport Djokovic
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s prime minister said Thursday his government’s tough policy toward visitors who were not vaccinated for COVID-19 had not changed, as it nears a decision on whether to deport Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic.
China faces omicron test weeks ahead of Beijing Olympics
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Just weeks before hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics, China is battling multiple coronavirus outbreaks in half a dozen cities, with the one closest to the capital driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
Rubble brings opportunity, and risk, in war-scarred Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip has few jobs, little electricity and almost no natural resources. But after four bruising wars with Israel in just over a decade, it has lots of rubble.
After Kazakhstan unrest, relatives await detainees’ release
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — With about 12,000 people arrested after anti-government protests in Kazakhstan last week, friends and relatives of those held by police waited outside a jail Wednesday, hoping to learn their fate. Some even went to morgues to see if a loved one was among the scores killed in the unprecedented violence in the Central Asian nation.
US hits NKorean officials with sanctions after missile test
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday slapped sanctions on five North Korean officials in its first response to Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test and later announced it will also seek new U.N. sanctions.
Democrats try to stamp out school closures as virus surges
When Chicago teachers went on strike last week to protest COVID-19 safety protections in the nation’s third-largest school district, Democratic Party officials leapt into action.
Omicron wave prompts media to rethink which data to report
NEW YORK — For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic’s march across the world.
US shoppers find some groceries scarce due to virus, weather
Benjamin Whitely headed to a Safeway supermarket in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to grab some items for dinner. But he was disappointed to find the vegetable bins barren and a sparse selection of turkey, chicken and milk.
Biden challenges Senate on voting: ‘Tired of being quiet!’
ATLANTA — Pounding his hand for emphasis, President Joe Biden challenged senators Tuesday to “stand against voter suppression” by changing Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans are blocking from debate and votes.
EPA moves to crack down on dangerous coal ash storage ponds
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites.
UN seeks $5B to aid millions of Afghans as country struggles
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations on Tuesday launched its biggest ever appeal — for over $5 billion to help 22 million Afghans whose country is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse as well as 5.7 million Afghan refugees in five neighboring countries.
China’s Tianjin orders more testing on 14 million residents
BEIJING — The northern Chinese city of Tianjin ordered a second round of COVID-19 testing on all 14 million residents Wednesday following the discovery of 97 cases of the omicron variant during initial screenings that began Sunday.
Rescuers resume search at collapsed building site in SKorea
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean rescuers on Wednesday resumed their search for six missing construction workers believed to be trapped at a collapsed construction site in the southern city of Gwangju.
Pope slips out of Vatican to visit record shop, gets CD
ROME — Pope Francis grew up listening to the opera on the radio, is a fan of Argentine tango and thinks Mozart “lifts you to God.”
North Korea claims successful test of hypersonic missile
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday its leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful flight test of a hypersonic missile he claimed would remarkably increase the country’s nuclear “war deterrent.”