our updates are always on www.kpix.com. we will see you at 6:00 captioning sponsored by cbs sargent: tonight, staggering surge. omicron rages, burning hot in nearly every state, new infections smashing pandemic records, many hospitals swamped by the unvaccinated and confronting critical staff shortages. this man waiting 17 hours in a chicago-area emergency room. reporter: i m lilia luciano in los angeles, where new cases hit a record high as california calls in the national guard for help. sargent: also tonight, schools struggle as absences and closures add up. plus, president biden joins democrats in tribute to harry reid, while his administration negotiates to defuse tensions with russia over ukraine. shoot to kill khazakstan s president orders security forces
to fire on protesters without warning, while calling on moscow to restore order. in a historic first, a u.s. navy aircraft carrier deploys under the command of a female captain. there is no greater honor than taking over the responsibility for this incredible crew. sargent: and later, two communities far apart look for common ground in a divided nation. this is one opportunity to actually bring people together. this is the cbs weekend news. sargent: good evening. i m irika sargent in chicago. adriana diaz is off. the highly contagious omicron variant is smashing covid records and overwhelming hospitals and healthcare staff from coast to coast. the number of americans currently hospitalized with the virus has reached its highest level in a year with providers reporting record surges and cases. new cases are averaging a
missiles in europe. now, russia and the u.s. were until very recently in a treaty that banned both sides from having them, and the u.s. said it is willing to revive some sort of deal. the third is military exercises. the u.s. said if russia agrees to do the same, it would be willing to freeze sending ground forces or bombers on maneuver near each other s territory. of course, the white house reiterated today the number of u.s. troops in europe is not up for negotiation. irika. sargent: christina ruffini, thank you. the year has gotten off to a very bad start in khazakstan. it began with a sudden and steep increase in the cost of fuel, sparking deadly protests and an official shoot to kill order. cbs imtiaz tyab has the details. reporter: this is a nation on the brink. what started earlier this week as a peaceful protest against a sudden hike in fuel prices rapidly escalated into a full- blown uprising.
with melting ice and warming water raising sea levels and speeding up global warming. so, what can we do? we have to reduce very dramatically the amount of carbon dioxide that humans are causing to be put into the air. there s no doubt about that. it s late, but the best time to take action was 50 years ago, and the second-best time is right now. reporter: the sooner we act to protect the arctic, he says, the more we can keep dramatic disruptions there from cascading to the rest of the planet. roxana saberi, cbs news, london. sargent: still ahead on the cbs weekend news, a milestone birthday for a duchess known as the reliable royal. what makes febreze air effects different? while cheaper aerosols rely on artificial propellants. febreze uses a 100% natural propellant. check it out! pressure created by what s in your air makes the bottle spray.
whether you served with harry for decades or you were new to america just a few days ago, you wanted harry in your corner. let there be no doubt: harry reid will be considered one of the greatest senate majority leaders in history. sargent: tonight, the president is headed back east. joining us from the white house, cbs christina ruffini. christina, there s news tonight about officials meeting with russia next week and its military buildup near ukraine. reporter: that s right. ahead of those talks a senior u.s. official said today although some of the russian demands are nonstarters, like, for example, no new countries be admitted to nato, there are three key places where they think the u.s. and moscow might be able to do some negotiation. the first of those involves offensive missile systems in ukraine. russia has said american or nato placement of those types of systems in that country would be an act of aggression, but the white house said today it has no interest in doing th