The Omicron variant that first emerged in Botswana, has now been detected in South Africa, Hong Kong and Israel. In total, 84 confirmed cases have been identified so far, according to an online tracker. On Friday, the World Health Organization renamed the B.1.1.529 strain the Omicron COVID variant using the Greek alphabet naming system and classified it as a “variant of concern.” Nations have swiftly moved to roll out travel restrictions as part of measures to curb its spread from the region, amid concerns that the strain could evade immunity....

Omicron has been detected in almost half of all states in America, and experts are concerned about its mutations, which indicate it could be highly transmissible and potentially reduce the effectiveness of treatments and vaccines. It’s likely still going to be weeks before the true nature of the variant is determined, but Fauci doesn’t believe it will be “worst-case scenario.” Fauci, who serves as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, told the Agence France-Presse that Omicron is “clearly highly transmissible....

On Tuesday, President Trump tweeted, “Democrat ’leadership,’ despite their denials, are putting tremendous pressure on their members to vote yes on this ridiculous Impeachment. If they vote yes, it will be much easier for Republicans to win in 2020!” Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a “Dear Colleague” letter circulating among caucus members urged House Democrats to “join her on the floor” Wednesday for the upcoming vote on impeachment articles....

That’s because, if things go as planned for the NBA, the age limit will be pushed up to 20 sooner rather than later, essentially eliminating the one-and-done option for young potential stars. MORE: NBA’s best one-and-done players That would probably be good for college basketball. It would be good, too, for NBA coaches and general managers, who would be granted more time to watch players develop from prep stars into collegians....

As his 7-year-old son helpfully packages shotgun shells into cardboard boxes, Palawan says his sales of AK-47 assault rifles have mushroomed 75 percent in just a few days. “God willing, our business is getting better and better.” These are boom times for the 90,000 residents of this hardscrabble frontier town that has been churning out rifles, explosives and ammunition for more than a century. The arms trade here in Dara got its start in 1897 when British colonial rulers decided that allowing local Pashtun tribesmen to make their own substandard weapons was preferable to having them steal top-quality British ones....

Fifty years ago, British novelist and scientist C.P. Snow lamented the existence of “two cultures,” the humanities and the sciences. In his 1956 essay and again in a series of lectures and a book by the same name, he noted that a gathering of intellectuals would be aghast if one of their number did not know who Shakespeare was. But there would be no such reaction if someone did not know the second law of thermodynamics....

Since his death, the aura of the King and the Colonial revival mansion he bought in 1957 has never stopped growing. During an official U.S. visit last summer, the then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insisted on touring Graceland. There, before a chuckling President Bush and Elvis’s once wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie, Koizumi mugged like the King and crooned “The Impossible Dream.” Elvis was casual about money, and that is the only reason that the Graceland house—which would be dwarfed by a modern rock star’s pool house—is open to visitors....

Former Selangor star Andik Vermansah has made several revelations regarding his time at the Red Giants, in an interview with Detik.com. He told the Indonesian publication that in his four years at the Klang Valley based side, he was taken care of financially well in general by the club, except for on one occassion when his salary was delayed for one and a half months. Amazingly, the Indonesia winger said that he was not bothered by that particular delay, as he has had to wait a lot longer for his salary earlier in his career....

The 3-year-old golfer was born without most of his right arm, but he doesn’t let that stop him from working on that golf swing. He watched golf instructions from his idol, Tiger Woods, and a when he got the chance to put against him, he jumped at the chance. He relies mainly on his left arm and is able to maintain control with one hand. The cutest thing is when Morrissey is asked who that man is and he replies with such confidence, “Tiger Woods....

The city of New York held a ceremony on Thursday to formally mark the ending of the “recovery” phase at the World Trade Center, and it was a damn good ceremony, filled with equal measures of sadness and pride, of closure and potential, of conviction and doubt. Mostly sadness, though. From the opening bell—-literally, the fire department’s “5-5-5-5” toll for fallen comrades—-this was an event about remorse. An empty stretcher symbolized the remains of the 1,700 dead who have yet to be formally identified....

A tweet from the “Trump War Room” account on Tuesday said the trial is the sort of thing that occurs in a “banana republics” and “third world dictatorships,” while slamming Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who is presiding over the trial in his role as president pro tempore of the Senate. “Imagine having a ’trial’ where the ‘judge’ had already voted to convict the defendant?” the account wrote about Leahy on Tuesday....

Absolutely—all of the above. Do whatever you can. Information Technology is a challenge given the dynamics of the industry and unfortunately many universities or community colleges may not offer the latest and greatest programming languages or OS environments. Don’t let that stop you. Invest in yourself by self-study, seminars, school part time, whatever it takes. The key in the end is to challenge yourself and your employer to allow you to do more by accepting more responsibility in or out of your core competency....

Almost all of the several dozen readers who wrote to us about the Sept. 10 piece were angered by the Nobel peace laureate’s blunt views about the United States; some were disturbed by the fact that the interview was published just one day before the anniversary of last year’s terror attacks. “That you would publish his insult to all decent humans on the worst day in our history–when tens of thousands are mourning the loss of 3,000 lives most acutely–is deeply, profoundly wrong,” wrote one reader, describing America as “the greatest nation on earth....

On Tuesday, Representative Liz Cheney was defeated in her primary race in Wyoming’s at-large district, making the congresswoman the last of the pro-impeachment Republicans to lose to Trump’s endorsed candidate. Trump-backed Harriet Hageman was victorious over Cheney, who was once the No. 3 Republican in the House before she was removed from the position by members of her party. Three other Trump candidates—Russell Fry, John Gibbs and Joe Kent—successfully defeated Representatives Tom Rice of South Carolina, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Jamie Herrera Beutler of Washington state, respectively....

Democrats in Congress are currently pushing to pass the For the People Act, major legislation which would shore up voting rights and make substantial changes to U.S. elections. Meanwhile, Republicans in Washington, D.C., oppose the bill, as GOP lawmakers in state legislatures across the country have introduced—and in several states enacted—laws that restrict access to voting. New polling released Thursday by Pew Research Center showed stark divides among Democratic and Republican voters on their views regarding voting rights—appearing to align with the political battle playing out in the Capitol and across the country....

Not even a year after the coronavirus pandemic, there are no answers to many questions. Where and how did the virus originate, is it artificial or natural? How and why did the U.S. and EU intelligence services fail to anticipate this crisis? What is indisputable and evident is that the whole world was completely unprepared and disorganized for what followed. The pandemic has shown how vulnerable international institutions are. Even societies that have contributed to industrialization and the incredible development of science and technology have shown an insufficient ability to cope with global change....

Trump knows all about “flippers,” and by his own admission, has been pondering them for most of his adult life. Last year in complaining about Cohen on Fox News, Trump explained that what Cohen did is “called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.” Trump acknowledged that he knew “all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go....

This week, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. Senate candidate, John Fetterman, was interviewed by Dasha Burns of NBC, and the segment drew attention for all the wrong reasons. Fetterman had a stroke in May. The lasting effects include auditory processing disorder and aphasia, an impaired ability to understand or express speech. As a result, he uses closed captioning technology to conduct interviews. Burns and the network agreed to use captioning for the interview, but the effect, and how they spoke about it, felt patronizing....

Dave Hall, a 53-year-old game warden with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in no way fits the stereotype of the fellow who collars your cousin for fishing without a license. A man obsessed, he works around the clock as an undercover cop chasing wildlife poachers from Louisiana to Alaska. He and his kind are like characters from the last century. As author Marc Reisner points out, “Backup DEA agents hide in nearby buildings or vans, backup wildlife agents actually hide behind trees, or in trees....

OPENING DAY 2016: Live scoreboard | Must-see photos 9:19 p.m.: O’s skipper Buck Showalter with the verdict: 8:51 p.m.: Need a ruling: Was it pie or cake? Bottom line, Adam Jones defies the ban on sugary postgame celebrations after the Orioles’ rain-delayed opening day victory: 7:38 p.m.: Daniel Murphy becomes an instant hero in Washington. His RBI double in the 10th proves to be the game-winner as the Nats top the Braves 4-3....