COVID is likely to cause a decline in the viewership, fanfare, and prestige usually associated with hosting the Olympics.
The big picture: Empty stadiums, a ban on foreign visitors, and a COVID-powered migration among global viewers away from TV and to streaming are likely to reduce the attention Beijing was hoping to garner from the Games.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the U.S. and NATO had "ignored" Russia's main security demands in written responses transmitted to the Kremlin last week.
Why it matters: The comments mark the first time Putin has publicly discussed the crisis stemming from Russia's military buildup near Ukraine since Dec. 23, before a flurry of diplomacy with the West over Moscow's demands for a freeze on NATO expansion.
Danish officials lifted most of the country's pandemic-related restrictions on Tuesday, as the country no longer considers COVID-19 to be a "socially critical disease," AP reports.
Why it matters: The move highlights the divergent approaches European countries are taking as the Omicron variant continues to drive caseloads upward for many.
The International Olympic Committee is publicly backing China, where the Winter Games are being held this year and where there is an ongoing genocide.
The big picture: The IOC has long stated it is committed to human rights, but it is declining to take a stand ahead of the Beijing Olympics — and insisting its only mission is to run the Games successfully.
Athletes and other attendees of the Beijing Winter Olympics will endure some of the strictest COVID-prevention protocols ever created for an event as organizers attempt to pull off a coronavirus-free Games.
Driving the news: While the general public and outside spectators aren't allowed to attend, 11,000 people from around the world are expected in Beijing.Officials have implemented strict measures, including a "closed-loop system" meant to shut off the outside world entirely.
Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul's airport, ending a dispute with the Afghan government that's caused a months-long pause in flights, the Gulf nation's foreign minister told Axios.
Why it matters: The agreement for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, will allow the U.S. and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their own citizens and at-risk Afghans who face dual threats of Taliban retaliation and a humanitarian crisis.
U.S. officials have received a written response from Russia's government to the American proposal on de-escalating Ukraine border tensions, the State Department said on Monday.
Why it matters: The letter comes ahead of a Tuesday phone call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and as an estimated 100,000 troops from Moscow amassed at Ukraine's border raise concerns of an imminent Russian invasion.
Ottawa Police are launching a hate crime hotline Tuesday for reporting offenses committed during pandemic demonstrations following reports of violence, racist abuse, harassment and the displaying of Nazi imagery at the protests in Canada's capital.
Driving the news: Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly told a Monday briefing that intelligence and investigative officers were being deployed in response to unruly behavior at the protests, which began as a rally last week against a U.S. vaccine requirement for cross-border truck drivers.
An online news outlet in Mexico announced Monday its reporter had been fatally shot — the fourth journalist to have been killed in Mexico this month, per AP.
