Omicron has plunged the world into collective uncertainty.
The highly mutated variant of the coronavirus has reached more than 40 countries and has been detected in 12 U.S. states. According to scientists in South Africa, Omicron appears to spread faster than any other variant, thanks to a combination of contagiousness and an ability to dodge the body’s immune defenses. But the contribution of each factor is not yet certain.
Tracking its spread, experts say, is key to understanding what threat it poses. The effort to trace and stop Covid mutations in South Africa, where Omicron was first detected and a high rate of H.I.V. infection may give the virus more chances to mutate, is especially urgent. We went inside a cutting edge lab in South Africa that works with health workers to stanch the emergence of new variants. Back in the U.S., a Nebraska lab has identified six cases of Omicron.” Read more at New York Times
A memorial for four Oxford High School students on Friday.Sarah Rice for The New York Times
“The parents of a Michigan teenager accused of fatally shooting four classmates were arrested after a manhunt.
The couple, James and Jennifer Crumbley, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges. Officials said their 15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley, carried out the shootings at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit using a handgun his parents had bought for him.
The Crumbleys, who had failed to show up for their arraignment and apparently fled town, were taken into custody yesterday in a commercial building in Detroit after the police received a tip. ‘They did not resist,’ Detroit’s police chief said, describing the couple as ‘distressed.’
The actions of Oxford High School officials are also under a microscope, prompting questions about the school’s responsibility. School officials let Ethan Crumbley back into a classroom despite concerns about his behavior.” Read more at New York Times
President Vladimir Putin will have a video call with President Biden on Tuesday.Pool photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko
“President Biden will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin this week, days after U.S. intelligence revealed that Russia was preparing a possible invasion of Ukraine.
An unclassified U.S. intelligence document details plans that Moscow has drawn up for a military offensive involving an estimated 175,000 troops as soon as early next year. Experts say Ukraine’s military would stand little chance.
U.S. officials stress that Putin’s intentions remain unclear and the intelligence does not show that he has decided to carry out the apparent war plan. But about half of the Russian forces that would be used in an invasion are already near Ukraine’s border. The video call on Tuesday comes as US.-Russian relations have been spiraling downward.” Read more at New York Times
Chris Cuomo during a televised political town-hall-style meeting in 2019.Mike Blake/Reuters
“The star anchor Chris Cuomo was fired by CNN over his efforts to help his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, fight off a sexual harassment scandal.
The move came just days after a new batch of testimony and text messages released by the New York attorney general revealed that the CNN anchor had played a bigger role in his brother’s political affairs than the network said it had previously known.
The announcement completed a stunning downfall for Chris Cuomo, the top-rated anchor at CNN who had built a successful broadcast career outside of his famed political family. Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor of New York in August, unable to withstand a barrage of sexual harassment allegations.” Read more at New York Times
“ATLANTA — Most of the time in November, Alabama barely held on. It started December by routing Georgia, the country’s top-ranked team.
The upshot felt as familiar as anything in college football: Alabama, the reigning national champion suddenly cast into an underdog’s existence after escaping three games last month by a touchdown or less, gave itself a chance to contend for another title.
Georgia, its nationally sterling defense dented Saturday in ways not previously seen this season, will almost certainly be in the field, too, when the final College Football Playoff rankings are announced on Sunday. It will just not be there as the Southeastern Conference champion, that potential squandered time and again during an evening that ended with an Alabama rout, 41-24.
For the No. 3 Crimson Tide, it was a victory plenty of its faithful had figured would not happen, not after it took four overtimes to beat unranked Auburn, not after Alabama wheezed to a win over an Arkansas team that Georgia had held scoreless.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — Members of the select congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol are pressing to overhaul the complex and little-known law that former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that the ambiguity of the statute puts democracy at risk.
The push to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 — enacted in the wake of another bitterly disputed presidential election — has taken on new urgency in recent weeks as more details have emerged about the extent of Trump’s plot to exploit its provisions to cling to power….
Republicans in Congress have repeatedly blocked efforts by Democrats to alter election laws in the wake of the 2020 crisis, and it is not clear whether a bid to revamp the Electoral Count Act will fare any better. But experts have described the law as ‘almost unintelligible,’ and an overhaul has the support of several leading conservative groups.
The statute, written in the aftermath of the disputed election of 1876 between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden, has dictated how Congress formalizes elections, mostly without incident, ever since.
But what unfolded Jan. 6 tested its limits.
Both of the objections by Trump’s allies — who sought to invalidate the electoral votes of Pennsylvania and Arizona — failed in the House, although the vast majority of Republicans supported them. In the months since, it has become clear those challenges were part of a broader strategy.” Read more at Boston Globe
Anti-abortion activists demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.Kenny Holston for The New York Times
“The Mississippi abortion case brings into sharp focus shifting and competing conceptions of the Supreme Court’s role.
For decades, conservatives have argued that Roe v. Wade amounted to judicial activism and was not a right found in the Constitution. Now, after nearly half a century of precedent, the argument may have come full circle. Many liberals say that overturning Roe would amount to flagrant political activism. Both arguments are grounded in concerns about the court’s legitimacy.” Read more at New York Times
“The trial for "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett resumes with defense witnesses. Last week, two brothers testified that he directed them to carry out a fake hate crime while pretending to be Donald Trump supporters in an attempt to get media attention.” Read more at CNN
“Convicted murderer Scott Peterson will be re-sentenced for the 2002 murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. Last year, the California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence because potential jurors were dismissed erroneously, in part because they expressed objections to the death penalty on a questionnaire.” Read more at CNN
Italian law enforcement officers intercepted 14 tons of captagon in a single bust in 2020. Ciro Fusco/EPA, via Shutterstock
“A drug empire is flourishing in the ruins of Syria’s decade-long war.
An investigation by The Times found that an illegal drug industry in Syria has grown into a multibillion-dollar operation, eclipsing legal exports and turning the country into the world’s newest narcostate.
Powerful associates and relatives of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, are making and selling an illegal amphetamine called captagon. The drug is now the country’s most valuable export, far surpassing legal products. Last year, the street value of the captagon seized globally may have been as high as $2.9 billion.
In Europe, the Belgian port city of Antwerp is grappling with a flood of cocaine blamed for a surge in violence. Customs officers in Antwerp are on track to intercept 100 tons of cocaine this year — an amount equal to about twice the volume seized in the whole of the European Union 10 years ago.” Read more at New York Times
“Physician assistants say they want to be called ‘physician associates,’ arguing that they do more than just help doctors. ‘We provide care as part of a team,’ says one PA. But doctors are pushing back, and some suspect it’s just part of a power grab.” Read more at NPR
Ian Fishback was a Green Beret, a Ph.D. in philosophy and one of Time magazine's most influential people of 2005 for exposing torture by U.S. troops in Iraq. He died broke and virtually homeless as friends and family scrambled to find him mental health care. This is the story of his final, anguished years.” Read more at NPR
“Scientists say they've witnessed a never-before-seen type of replication in organic robots created in the lab. The robots — shaped like Pac-Man — move around collecting loose stem cells into piles. The scientists were stunned when those piles organized themselves into robot copies and came to ‘life.’
Among other things, the findings could have implications for regenerative medicine.” Read more at NPR
“Rivian and Lucid aren't household names. But, somehow, these two electric car startups are each worth more than Ford — and may have a shot at competing wtih Tesla.” ” Read more at NPR
The percentage of U.S. workers leaving their jobs is historically high. Many are saying ‘I quit’ loud and proud.
People are celebrating their resignations in Instagram reels or ‘QuitToks’ and tweeting screenshots of texts to their bosses declaring they have quit. Even chief executives are making public displays of resignation. Last week, the head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, shared on his own platform that he was stepping down.
If quitters think they can punch back at their old bosses without alienating future employers, they might be right. The supply-demand curve of the labor market is working in their favor.” Read more at New York Times
“Billionaire Mark Cuban bought the entire town of Mustang, Texas,well, just because.” Read more at CNN
Correll ‘C.J.’ Jones, the unofficial ambassador of Rockefeller Center, talking to Neil O. Lawner next to the Christmas tree.Brittainy Newman for The New York Times
“For two decades, Correll Jones has been the man to ask about New York’s most famous tree — and where to find the public bathrooms.
Jones is the main greeter at Rockefeller Center. His company-issued business card reflects his status: ‘C.J. mayor of Rockefeller Center.’ And each winter, as countless visitors arrive to see the Christmas tree, Jones essentially becomes its concierge. To him, it’s ‘the best job in the world.’
While New Yorkers may hate crowds during the holidays, they have bigger problems to deal with these days: a schmear shortage. Supply chain problems that have hit businesses across the country are threatening the quintessential New York treat of a fresh bagel with cream cheese.” Read more at New York Times
“LaMarr Hoyt, the Chicago White Sox right-hander who coupled outstanding control with a fine sinkerball to win the 1983 Cy Young Award as the American League’s leading pitcher, died on Monday in Columbia, S.C. He was 66.
The cause was cancer, his son Matthew said in a statement on the team’s website….
Hoyt’s pitching career ended prematurely. He was plagued by a shoulder injury and began abusing drugs, including painkillers. He was arrested several times, spent time in jail and was out of baseball in 1987.” Read more at New York Times