Highly vaccinated countries thought they were over the worst.  Denmark says the pandemic's toughest month is just beginning.  —  COPENHAGEN — In a country that tracks the spread of coronavirus variants as closely as any in the world, the signals have never been more concerning.

Congress Ends ‘Horrible Year’ With Divisions as Bitter as Ever  —  Democrats' achievements were overshadowed by legislative setbacks, fallout from the Jan. 6 attack and a sense that Congress was not rising to meet a perilous moment in history.  —  WASHINGTON — A congressional year that began …

Kamala Harris interview with Charlamagne Tha God gets heated after he asks who is ‘real’ president  —  Vice President Kamala Harris bristled Friday after TV host Charlamagne Tha God asked her who the nation's “real” president is.  —  “I want to know who the real president of this country is — is it Joe Biden, or Joe Manchin?”

‘Stop the Steal’ founder told Jan. 6 committee about contacts with GOP lawmakers  —  Ali Alexander, who founded the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” movement and attended the rally that preceded the Capitol attack, told congressional investigators that he recalls “a few phone conversations” …

NYC School Administrators Feel Pressure As COVID Outbreaks Grow Among Students and Staff  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio emphasized that he does not plan to shutter the public school system before winter recess - despite an increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the city and within classrooms.

Hidden Pentagon Records Reveal Patterns of Failure in Deadly Airstrikes  —  The promise was a war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs.  The documents show flawed intelligence, faulty targeting, years of civilian deaths — and scant accountability.

Biden to deliver Tuesday speech on omicron variant as Covid cases rise  —  President Joe Biden will deliver a speech Tuesday to address the omicron variant and unveil new steps the administration is taking to help communities in need of assistance, a White House official told NBC News on Saturday.

Gauteng's Omicron Wave Is Already Peaking.  Why?  —  In Gauteng, South Africa's Omicron epicenter, the wave seems to be cresting.  In other parts of the country, too, the terrifyingly fast rise of the new variant appears already to be slowing and even receding.

OSHA vaccine mandate penalties to start Jan. 10  —  The Occupational Health and Safety Administration said Saturday that it would not issue citations tied to its coronavirus vaccination mandate before Jan. 10, so that companies have time to adjust to and implement the requirements.

Vaccine Data Gaps Point to Millions More in U.S. Who Lack Shots  —  The U.S. government has over-counted the number of Americans who are at least partly vaccinated against the coronavirus, state officials warn, meaning millions more people are unprotected as the pandemic's winter surge gathers steam.

'Let's get a drink': Dems confront prospect of a 2022 hurricane  —  CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democratic Party leaders moved quietly this week to lower expectations for the midterm elections as they met for year-end talks against the backdrop of an increasingly bleak electoral landscape.  —  The House?

More than two years after Trump tweeted a classified image of Iran, former officials are divided on fallout  —  On the morning of Aug. 30, 2019, then-President Donald Trump was receiving his daily intelligence briefing with a a select group of senior national security officials …

Team Biden is making a list: Favorite Year 1 numbers  —  White House communications director Kate Bedingfield sent Democratic lawmakers a memo outlining President Biden's Year 1 accomplishments, even with Build Back Better in limbo.  —  Driving the news: A copy came down the Axios AM chimney.

Fury over Oxford University plan to hire academics based on how woke they are  —  Anger among lecturers who fear they may have to give researchers a score on their beliefs about diversity and equality  —  Oxford dons are furious that a candidate's “woke score” could be part of the criteria …

Trump International Hotel in Washington report exposes gaping corruption loopholes  —  Why does the House report matter?  The D.C. hotel was the epicenter of Trump's graft.  —  Donald Trump should never have been allowed to retain ownership of his Washington, D.C., hotel while president.

“Our Pride is Showing”: NBC Settles With Nicholas Sandmann  —  Former Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann has reached another settlement with a major news organization over the widespread false reporting of his encounter with a Native American activist in front of the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2019.

‘We are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe,’ new study says  —  If you know people still in denial about the crisis of American democracy, kindly remove their heads from the sand long enough to receive this message: A startling new finding by one of the nation's top authorities …

Pretending Problems Don't Exist Won't Make Them Disappear  —  This fall, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the peculiar vigilante group known as the Guardian Angels, ran for mayor of New York City as a Republican.  Sliwa was less threatening than liberals made him out to be …

WHO: Omicron cases doubling in 1.5 to 3 days in places with local spread  —  The Omicron variant has been detected in 89 countries and has a “substantial growth advantage” over the Delta variant, the World Health Organization announced.  —  State of play: COVID-19 cases detected …

Tortilla Coast on Capitol Hill Closing For Good  —  Tortilla Coast, the Tex-Mex institution, is closing for good after three decades on Capitol Hill, owner (through his restaurant group) Geoff Tracy confirmed to me today.  The last day the spot will be open to the public is tomorrow, Saturday …

White House not budging on Feb. 1 end to student loans forgiveness  —  The White House has been pretty clear in recent days: Federal student loan payments will resume Feb. 1 as President Joe Biden lifts the nearly two-year pandemic-era pause despite pressure from many in his own party to extend it.