
Australia's PM Scott Morrison rules out new Covid lockdowns despite rising cases and Omicron fears
CNN
For two years, Australia avoided the worst of the coronavirus pandemic thanks to strict border controls and prolonged lockdowns.
But Covid cases are now rising rapidly in the country, with the Omicron variant posing a new threat just as states and cities were beginning to loosen restrictions.
On Tuesday, the country's most populous state reported its highest new daily caseload of the pandemic, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called an emergency National Cabinet meeting to discuss the rising infections.

Bent on infamy and obsessed with mass killings and school shootings, Audrey Hale extensively chronicled her grievances against her parents and others she blamed for her fraught life as she stocked up on firearms and meticulously prepared for the March 2023 massacre at a Christian school, according to a police investigative report released Wednesday.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs are facing blowback from all corners – a market sell-off, foreign retaliation, anger from corporate America and skepticism from the Federal Reserve chairman and some allies in Congress. So far, the president is defiant in the face of the global turbulence.