In the day's other news
The COVID-19 death toll in the United States has passed 850,000, with the average number of daily deaths climbing sharply in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, China has eased its lockdown measures in Xi'An, about 75 miles from Beijing. But Beijing also reported its first case of Omicron, with the Winter Olympics less than three weeks away. Major U.S. airlines and cargo lines warned today of a crisis when AT&T and Verizon deploy new faster 5G wireless Internet service on Wednesday. Delta, United and Southwest said that they need federal clearance to keep major airports operating, or air travel could be sharply reduced. There are concerns that 5G signals could interfere with airliner instruments that are used to measure the distance to the ground. A major winter storm brought heavy snow and high winds to the Northeast today, cutting power for thousands and canceling flights. Plows were out in force overnight in Eastern Ohio, where some places got more than two feet of snow. And, as day came, people in Rochester, New York, had to dig their way out. The storm migrated from the Deep South after causing the deaths of at least two people. Australia and New Zealand sent out surveillance flights to Tonga today in the wake of an enormous undersea volcano eruption on Saturday. Communication with the South Pacific island chain remains largely cut off, but there is word of significant damage. Nick Schifrin has our report.
NICK SCHIFRIN
A blast so massive, it was seen from space. Satellite imagery caught the explosion and a ball of ash billowing above and beyond the Tongan Islands. Before the blast, thick plumes filled the sky, shooting up 12 miles above sea level. On Tonga, the tsunami arrived quickly. Communications are almost completely down, and the death toll is unknown, but one confirmed dead, Briton Angela Glover, who ran a rescue dog charity. Her brother Nick spoke in the U.K. NICK ELEINI,
Brother of Angela Glover
I haven't got the words in my vocabulary to even describe how we're feeling at the moment.
NICK SCHIFRIN
The explosion caused waves around the world. In Pacifica, California, harbors flooded. In Japan's Sakihama Port, fishermen looked on as their boats sank. And, in Peru, coastal areas flooded, and two women drowned after waves swept them away. In total, around the world, the explosion affected at least 11 countries and territories. ED VENZKE,
Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program
It's a rare explosion that reaches the stratosphere. And that's what got everyone's attention.
NICK SCHIFRIN
Ed Venzke is a senior researcher with the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program. He says the eruption comes from a chamber of magma forcing itself through rock.
ED VENZKE
Just like a bottle of soda, the gas that's contained in that liquid magma starts to expand. And so it reaches the surface right with the magma and start an eruption. And it's when that hot magma hits the water, the water expands and creates its own explosion.
NICK SCHIFRIN
A volcanic explosion that's believed to be the largest in three decades. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
JUDY WOODRUFF
Remarkable pictures. In Sudan, meantime, this has been one of the deadliest days since October's military coup. Security forces in Khartoum again opened fire on protesters, killing seven and wounding around 100 others. That makes at least 71 people killed so far in the near daily protests. The U.S. and its Asian allies today condemned North Korea's fourth firing of ballistic missiles this month. The South Korean military says they were short-range weapons that flew not quite 240 miles, landing in the sea. The North has rejected new talks on its nuclear program until the U.S. drops sanctions. China reports that its economy grew 8 percent for all of last year, but slowed to only half that rate in the fourth quarter. The drop-off came as Beijing cracked down on the real estate industry's surging debt. That, in turn, triggered a slump in construction. And back in this country, Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who flew combat missions in three wars, died Sunday at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. In both military and civilian life, he faced segregation and racism. But he was highly decorated, and, in 2020, he received a standing ovation during President Trump's State of the Union address. Charles McGee was 102 years old. Still to come on the "NewsHour": the contentious debate over changing the Senate filibuster; a doctor's take on best practices for COVID testing and masking; how a new museum celebrates and critiques the history of filmmaking; and much more.
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