The NHL is not sending players to the Beijing Olympics over concerns that the pandemic will disrupt the league’s ability to complete a full season.

Two people with direct knowledge of discussions told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the league informed the NHL Players’ Association it was exercising its right to withdraw from the Beijing Games because there was a material disruption to the season.

For most of 2020, avoiding the novel coronavirus was at the heart of almost every piece of public-health advice. Then, vaccinations largely gave Americans their lives back. Breakthrough infections were remarkably rare in the early months of mass vaccination. Only about 10,000 people—or 0.01% of the 101 million U.S. adults who had been fully vaccinated—reported one by the end of April 2021, illustrating that post-vaccine infections were possible, but unlikely.

In the days leading up to the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, John Sopko’s staff began receiving urgent emails from the U.S. State Department to shut down public access to his agency’s website. As Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), Sopko is charged with producing reports cataloging the waste, fraud and abuse that has plagued 20 years of U.S. reconstruction spending in Afghanistan.

On Aug. 16, a day after the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the omicron variant surging through the country, President Joe Biden announced the government will provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts.

At the White House on Tuesday, Biden detailed major changes to his COVID-19 winter plan, his hand forced by the fast-spreading variant, whose properties are not yet fully understood by scientists.

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And just like that, Build Back Better died.

With apologies to the Sex and the City spinoff, that was the effect of Sen. Joe Manchin’s visit to the set of Fox News Sunday, a performance that sent Washington insiders scrambling, progressives reaching for pitchforks and Republicans quietly repositioning their chess board for 2022 and 2024.

(NEW YORK) — Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron's share of infections in only one week.

In much of the country, it's even higher.

Before Donald Trump had spoken a word Sunday, Dec. 19, at First Baptist Dallas it would’ve been understandable if those in attendance had trouble remembering the “reason for the season.” Jesus was celebrated, yes. But the entire Christmas service was built around Trump’s advent: lines wrapped around the building starting 3 hours before the event; security screening for everyone in the main sanctuary; Trump’s smiling face on every program.

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump revealed he received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing boos from a crowd in Dallas.

Trump made the disclosure Sunday night during the final stop of “The History Tour,” a live interview show he has been doing with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

A symphony of mobile phone notifications trilled across Hong Kong on Saturday as residents received text messages reminding them to vote in the legislative election. But most Hong Kongers chose to stay away from the "patriots only" election Sunday—the first since Beijing revamped the semi-autonomous territory's electoral system to allow only those loyal to China to run.

George Floyd’s death in police custody brought a huge and a rapid increase in protests over police brutality—thousands of marches driven by the assumption that taking to the streets will bring change. Does it?

Critics argue that protest brings mostly more strife, pointing to the weeks of violent demonstrations in Portland, Ore., or the melee during the protests over the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wis., that culminated in the Rittenhouse shootings.