United States

The Associated Press reports: The Pentagon is sending another 3,000 combat troops to Poland to join 1,700 who already are assembling there in a demonstration of American commitment to NATO allies worried at the prospect of Russia invading Ukraine, a senior defense official said Friday. The additional soldiers will depart their post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, over the next …

NPR reports: The U.S. isn’t planning a military operation to help its citizens leave Ukraine, President Biden says, and they should do so on their own. “American citizens should leave now,” Biden said as Russia amasses a military force around its neighbor. Biden made the remarks in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, who asked him what kind of …

The Associated Press reports: The Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government Thursday to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production. For the fourth straight day, scores of truckers taking …

Reuters reports: Canadians say they are concerned political strife in the United States will undermine security and economic growth at home, according to a new poll, as an anti-vaccine mandate protest praised by former U.S. President Donald Trump gripped the capital and affected the border. The Ottawa protest, now in its 13th day, has been marred by the appearance of …

ABC News reports: Propelled in part by the wildly contagious omicron variant, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000. The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte, North Carolina. The milestone comes more than 13 months into a …

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Biden is directing the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to bolster the defense of European allies in the first major movement of U.S. forces in Russia’s military standoff with Ukraine, U.S. officials said. Mr. Biden is sending roughly 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and …

From the State Department: The security situation in Ukraine continues to be unpredictable due to the increased threat of Russian military action and can deteriorate with little notice. The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider departing now using commercial or other privately available transportation options. U.S. citizens wishing to depart Ukraine currently have multiple options via commercial …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Pentagon hasn’t said under which circumstances the U.S. would deploy the troops, but officials said it could send a signal to Russia that the U.S. would quickly bolster the defenses of NATO allies in the event of a Russian incursion into Ukraine. The troops could also be on standby should the U.S. decide they …

CNN reports: President Joe Biden discussed options for bolstering US troop levels in the Baltics and Eastern Europe with his top military officials during a briefing at Camp David on Saturday, according to a senior official. The briefing, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley attended virtually, included the discussion of …

CNN reports: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that any movement of Russian military forces across Ukraine’s border would represent “a renewed invasion” that will be “met with swift, severe and a united response” from the United States and allies. Blinken’s remarks followed an hour and a half bilateral meeting Friday in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey …

Reuters reports: The United States reported 1.35 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total for any country in the world as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The previous record was 1.03 million cases on Jan. 3. A large number of cases are reported each …

Reuters reports: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a fresh high of 132,646, according to a Reuters tally on Monday, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year, amid a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant. While potentially less severe, health officials have warned that the sheer number of infections caused by the Omicron variant could …

The Washington Post reports: Negotiators for the United States are planning to show up to talks with their Russian counterparts Monday with proposals to discuss the placement of missiles and scope of military exercises in Europe, according to people familiar with the plans. The White House is looking to test whether Moscow is serious about ending the Ukraine crisis through …

Jimmy Carter writes today for the New York Times: Politicians in my home state of Georgia, as well as in others, such as Texas and Florida, have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes. They seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think …

Bloomberg News reports: More than 1 million people in the U.S. were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as a tsunami of omicron swamps every aspect of daily American life. The highly mutated variant drove U.S. cases to a record, the most — by a large margin — that any country has ever reported. Monday’s number is almost double the previous …

Reuters reports: The United States is at risk of paying an “unbearable price” due to its actions over Taiwan, Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, said in an interview with state media on Thursday. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its …

The New York Times reports: With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays. As a second year of …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries imposed last month over concerns about the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant, the White House said Friday. Foreign nationals who are barred from the United States because they have been in one of the eight countries within the prior 14 days will again be allowed on U.S.-bound …

Changing America reports: At least 20 million adults in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a new analysis of government data, representing nearly 8 percent of the nation’s total adult population. Millions more may identify as something “more expansive” like pansexual or asexual, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation said in a recent report. Using data …