New cases down nearly 60 percent since delta variant surge … New coronavirus infections in the United States have dropped nearly 60 percent since a September spike brought on by the more contagious delta variant, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.

Corporate Minimum Tax Resurfaces as Democrats Hunt for Money  —  Senators offer updated plan to impose minimum levies on profitable corporations; key moderate lawmaker Kyrsten Sinema endorses proposal  —  WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats announced a 15% minimum tax on large companies' income on Tuesday …

Issuance of the First U.S. Passport with an X Gender Marker  —  The Department of State continues the process of updating its policies regarding gender markers on U.S. passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) to better serve all U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender identity.

Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin describes sexual assault by US senator  —  Revelation of incident ‘buried’ by Abedin contained in new memoir Both/And, to be published next week  —  Huma Abedin, a longtime close aide to Hillary Clinton, has written in a new book that she was sexually assaulted …

Jan. 6 committee expected to subpoena lawyer who advised Trump, Pence on how to overturn election  —  The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to subpoena John Eastman, the pro-Trump legal scholar who outlined scenarios for denying Joe Biden the presidency, according to the panel's chairman.

An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy  —  The future of democracy in the United States is in danger.  —  (DESIGN BY HANNAH YOEST / PHOTOS: GETTYIMAGES / SHUTTERSTOCK)  —  [This open letter is being published simultaneously by The Bulwark and the New Republic.]

Herschel Walker gets McConnell's blessing  —  Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker has won the endorsement of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, cementing his support from the Republican Party establishment in a race that could determine which party controls the chamber.

Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94  —  A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy, he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s by addressing political and social issues.  —  Mort Sahl, who confronted Eisenhower-era cultural complacency with acid stage monologues …

Moldova: Russia threatens gas supply in Europe's poorest state  —  His country is immersed in a gas crisis.  But Nicu Popescu is trying to remain positive.  —  “On Monday our country made history,” Moldova's foreign minister tells me.  “For the first time Moldova bought gas from a source that was not Russia's Gazprom.”

Federal Trade Commission Scrutinizing Facebook Disclosures  —  Lawmakers want agency to determine if Facebook engaged in deceptive conduct; company says internal research is mischaracterized  —  WASHINGTON—Federal Trade Commission staffers have begun looking into disclosures …

Bidenomics Is Working  —  Consumer prices are high and rising, and so is disapproval of Joe Biden.  In recent days, the president's net-favorability rating has hit new lows in FiveThirtyEight's aggregation of polls.  Meanwhile, America's headlines are full of testaments to economic discontent.

Biden heads abroad with most of his ambassadorial picks stranded in the Senate, stunting U.S. diplomatic efforts  —  President Biden — who has made renewed international engagement a hallmark of his foreign policy ethos — is headed to a pair of global summits in Europe this week with just a handful …

Final New York Mayoral Debate Descends Into Exchange of Personal Insults  —  The televised confrontation between Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa a week before Election Day seemed unlikely to change the dynamics of the race.  —  There was talk of schmoozing with murderous gang members …

Manchin warns that Biden's agenda would create an ‘entitlement society.’ But his state leads the way.  —  In his skirmishes with the liberals of his party over the size and shape of their agenda, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) has repeatedly warned that the left would lead the nation into a crippling dependency on government.

'We're being pressured into sex by some trans women'  —  Is a lesbian transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women?  Some lesbians say they are increasingly being pressured and coerced into accepting trans women as partners - then shunned and even threatened for speaking out.

Vaccines for 5-11 year olds: FDA meeting cliff notes  —  Today VRBPAC (an external scientific advisory committee to the FDA) voted in favor of the Pfizer COVID19 vaccine for 5-11 year olds.  VRBPAC was the second stop in a long process to get the vaccine authorized for emergency use.

The Moral Chasm That Has Opened Up Between Left and Right Is Widening  —  Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C. on politics, demographics and inequality.  —  There has been a remarkable erosion in public tolerance of “offensive expression about race, gender and religion …

U.S. Gen. Mark Milley Likens China's Hypersonic Weapon Test to ‘Sputnik Moment’  — Top U.S. general says suspected test is ‘very concerning’  — Afghan war a failure as the ‘regime that we supported lost’  —  The U.S.'s top uniformed military officer called China's suspected test …

Top News Organizations Run Huawei-Sponsored Puff Pieces  —  Politico, Reuters partner with China-backed telecom giant  —  Some of the country's most prominent news organizations have partnership deals with telecom giant Huawei, which the U.S. government considers a national security risk because of links to the Chinese government.

How to tax Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos  —  Secretary Yellen: How new billionaire tax would work  —  Edward J. McCaffery is Robert C. Packard trustee chair in law and a professor of law, economics and political science at the University of Southern California.

The greatest peacetime surge in household wealth  —  Household net worth in the United States has increased USD25 trillion since end-2019, or nearly 115% of GDP … The exceptional policy response during the pandemic has facilitated the largest ever peacetime expansion in household wealth in the United States (US).