Your Monday Briefing

Omicron causes thousands of flight cancellations

Thousands of flights around the world, including more than 1,000 in the U.S., were canceled over one of the biggest weekends for travel in the year as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus sickened crews and disrupted travel plans.

The cancellations came at a time when many flew to spend the Christmas holiday with their families. Roughly two million people passed through screening checkpoints in the U.S. each day last week, and the numbers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nearly double the equivalent figures last year.

As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, the U.S. is experiencing a sharp rise in Covid cases, with the average daily caseload exceeding this summer’s peak, which was driven by the Delta variant. Hospitalizations are starting to tick up, too, although not at the same rate as cases.

Cautions: “It looks like there is a lesser degree of severity,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., said of the Omicron variant. But he warned against complacency, noting that there were still tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• The spread of the Omicron variant has coincided with a surge in reported case counts in Africa, prompting health authorities in several countries to reintroduce curfews and quarantines and impose new vaccine mandates.

Ukraine’s resistance in training

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have signed up to learn combat skills in government-run training programs and private paramilitary groups. The training is part of the country’s strategic defense plan in the event of a potential invasion by Russia — to foster a civilian resistance that can carry on the fight if the Ukrainian military is overwhelmed.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has not indicated whether he intends to launch an attack. But even Ukraine’s own generals say their regular military stands little chance in a full-fledged invasion. The programs aim to create a national resistance of about 100,000 volunteers, according to one general, to bolster the country’s resources.

Civilian defense is not unfamiliar in Ukraine; volunteer brigades formed the backbone of the country’s forces in the east in 2014, the first year of the war against Russian separatists, when the Ukrainian military was in shambles. Last year, the Ukrainian Army began weekend training for civilian volunteers in the newly formed Territorial Defense Forces.

Endgame: The goal is not to achieve victory against the weight of the Russian military, which would be virtually impossible, but instead to create the threat of disruption that would serve as a deterrent to an invasion.

Related: Amidfear of an invasion, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has surrounded himself with people drawn from his comedy studio. Few have any experience in diplomacy or warfare.

An uncertain future for Afghans in the Netherlands

Of the roughly 2,000 Afghan refugees accepted by the Dutch government, around half are now living in shared, unheated tents in a temporary camp deep in a forest near the eastern town of Nijmegen. Hopes for more solid housing appeared to be dimming, given a shortage of more permanent social housing for poor Dutch and refugees alike.

The evacuees face an uncertain future in a region that is in the middle of a heated debate on immigration. In the Netherlands, as elsewhere in Europe, politicians fear a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis, when more than a million people sought asylum in the E.U., setting off a populist backlash.

Kati Piri, an opposition lawmaker who has called for more Afghans to be evacuated to the Netherlands, called the Dutch response “shameful,” saying that the lists of people approved to get on flights were drafted chaotically and late. “The Dutch government was extremely careful not to open the doors to too many Afghans,” she said.

By the numbers: According to the European Commission, E.U. nations have so far evacuated 28,000 Afghans and have committed to taking in 40,000 more. The Netherlands pledged to admit 3,159 Afghans, including the 2,000 already evacuated.

THE LATEST NEWS

Around the World

• Christmas in Saudi Arabia, long banned but covertly celebrated, is now bursting out of the shadows.

• Despite a continued crackdown, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of several cities in Sudan on Saturday, denouncing the October military coup.

• At least 16 people died in the sea off the coast of Greece after a boat carrying migrants capsized, the third such episode in three days.

What Else is Happening

• Myanmar’s ruling military was accused of killing and then burning the bodies of at least 35 villagers who were fleeing combat on Christmas Eve.

• A Los Angeles judge ordered a soccer star to pay $30,000 to a man who found his missing dog.

• Strong winds and whiteout conditions contributed to a 20-car pileup and other crashes in the U.S. after a winter storm slammed into the Northwest over the weekend.

• The last known ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the U.S. is remarkably well preserved, researchers said. DNA may even be extracted from the site.

A Morning Read

The icons and fashions of the end of last century are objects of fascination for those who didn’t experience them the first time around. Here’s what Gen Z has to say about why they can’t get enough of the 1990s.

Lives Lived

The archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was a powerful force for nonviolence in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, died yesterday at 90. Tributes have poured in.

ARTS AND IDEAS

The year’s best books

To winnow out the latest, greatest reads, the editors of the Times Book Review read a lot of books each year, then compile lists to help keen readers make sense of them all. Here are some to recap.

From 100 notable books … : Fiction, memoirs, nonfiction or poetry — this list has it all.

… to the top 10: The editors deliberate all year to whittle the list of 100 down to 10.

Critics’ picks: The Times’s book critics also make their own lists based on the books they reviewed throughout the year. (If you want to know how they get there, you can read their discussion.)

Gift list: Books make for excellent gifts, of course, and these 71 dazzling titles — including thrillers, cookbooks, photography collections and more — will delight any reader.

The outside: We know not to judge a book by its cover, but some covers deserve praise. The Book Review’s art director picked his favorite covers, above.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

This herby pasta is a vibrant antidote to heavier holiday fare.

What to Watch

Five Joan Didion movies to stream right now.

From Wirecutter

The best accessories for your new laptop.

Now Time to Play

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: What enjoys a light meal every day? (five letters).

And here is the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha

P.S. A hidden haiku from this article in The Times: “So that’s the night we / met, the night the elephants / walked through Manhattan.”

The latest episode of “The Daily” is on “The Year in Sound.”

Claire Moses wrote today’s Arts and Ideas. You can reach Natasha and the team at [email protected].