the vatican says benedict s condition has worsened in recent hours. and a powerful winter storm in north america has claimed more lives in new york state. we ll speak to a recovery worker in buffalo, one of the worst hit cities. for you watching in the uk, on pbs in the us and around the globe, welcome to bbc news. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. it comes as china s covid cases surge. tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worrying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government offi
the vatican says benedict s condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. it comes as china s covid cases surge. tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worrying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government officials say the situation is under control. that s not what these pictures suggest. at this funeral home, one of the city s biggest, more evi
it s the subway series menu. 12 irresistible subs. the most epic sandwich roster ever created. it s subway s biggest refresh yet! it s 3:00 p.m. eastern, and thank you for sticking with me. i m sara sidner. this just in, the u.s. will now require all travelers entering the country from china to show a negative covid test. the new requirements come as cases in china surge following the country s move to ease restrictions. cnn s kevin liptack is traveling with president biden as he goes to the virgin islands. tell us about these new restrictions and why they have been put in place. reporter: yes, sara. these are going to go into effect on january 5th. so about a week from tomorrow, and what they do is require all passengers who are traveling from the united states to show proof of a negative covid test before they get on their airline. it can be a negative pcr test. it can be a negative self-antigen test that s administered by a tell health service, but they need to sho
they by potentially reinforcing this image of extremism that hurt republicans so much through purple states. there are others, but for me those are the biggest known unknowns for 2024. and that last one is a great question because you have heard republicans, you know, they have been basically chomping at the bit to take over the majority for obvious reasons. but with such a small majority, you negotiation i heard from republicans who say, we re concerned about what these investigations look like and what path this goes down and do we look like we have a strategy that we have it together or we don t know who is going to be the house speaker next week when the new congress takes over. good point. ron, thank you very, very much. thank you, guys. happy holidays. thank you. cnn this morning continues right now. good morning. it is 8:00 a.m. eastern. we re so glad you re with us. it is december 27th. welcome to cnn this morning. all right, so we will begin with
can even rebook. but just looking at just look now at the never ending line of people on your screen right now, snaking through atlanta s airport at the southwest counter. passengers are being told to expect even more delays and cancellations. the travel nightmare has caught the attention of the transportation department and investigating if southwest could have better handled the cancellations. the president of southwest pilots association tells cnn that a meltdown like this has been brewing for some time. weather was just the tipping point. we have cnn correspondents nick valencia and gabe cohen standing by. and let s start with gabe at baltimore washington international which is one of the worst effected airports. gabe, describe for us how bad things are where you are and how many more flights are grounded today? reporter: well, the situation seems to get worse and worse for southwest passengers. the airline canceling roughly 62% of their flights today. close to 2500 o