UAE Adviser Visits Iran Amid Nuke Talks12/06 06:15

   The national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates met Monday with 
Iran's hard-line president in Tehran, a major visit for the Gulf Arab 
federation that has long viewed the Islamic Republic as its main regional 
threat.

   TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The national security adviser of the United Arab 
Emirates met Monday with Iran's hard-line president in Tehran, a major visit 
for the Gulf Arab federation that has long viewed the Islamic Republic as its 
main regional threat.

   The visit by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan comes as the Emirates and 
Saudi Arabia are both negotiating with Iran amid efforts in Vienna to save 
Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

   The UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, reached a diplomatic recognition deal 
last year with Israel, increasing tensions with Tehran. The UAE has long served 
as a lifeline to the outside world for Iran amid international sanctions.

   Sheikh Tahnoon, wearing a navy-blue thobe, black suit jacket and his 
signature aviator sunglasses, met first with Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran's 
Supreme National Security Council. The two men smiled and shook hands in front 
of journalists before their meeting, a large map of Iran and the Persian Gulf 
looming behind them, with just a sliver of the Emirates visible on it.

   Iranian state television quoted Shamkhani as saying that "warm and friendly" 
relations between the countries remain a priority and that they shouldn't be 
affected by other nations -- likely a reference to the United States and Israel.

   Sheikh Tahnoon later met with President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protg 
of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A statement from the presidency 
quoted Raisi as welcoming "improved ties with the Emirates," including on 
economic issues.

   "There should be no barrier in relation of the two Muslim nations of Iran 
and the Emirates," Raisi said. "It should not be affected by foreigners' 
dictation."

   The Iranian presidency quoted Sheikh Tahnoon as inviting Raisi for a state 
visit to the UAE. A report by the UAE's state-run WAM news agency did not 
mention the invitation, but said the two "discussed prospects of consolidating 
bilateral ties and explored an array of issues of common interest."

   Monday marked a series of political visits in the region against the 
backdrop of the Vienna talks in Europe. Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad 
also visited Tehran, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was to visit 
Oman on a regional tour. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was 
to travel to Qatar, which Prince Mohammed also planned to visit soon.

   Sheikh Tahnoon's brother is Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi's 
powerful crown prince and long the de facto ruler of the Emirates, a federation 
of seven sheikhdoms. Under Sheikh Mohammed, the UAE has embarked on a rapid 
expansion of its military forces to counter what they see as the threat of 
Iran. The Emirates also hosts U.S. and French forces and its Jebel Ali port is 
the U.S. Navy's busiest port of call outside of America.

   Sheikh Tahnoon also has held at least one meeting with the head of the 
Israeli Mossad intelligence service.

   Sheikh Mohammed has long feared a nuclear-armed Iran, according to U.S. 
diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

   But the UAE has pulled back from the Saudi-led war in Yemen against the 
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 
the Emirates also has sought to mend diplomatic ties to Turkey, viewed with 
suspicion over offering a haven for Islamists, and Qatar, which the UAE 
boycotted for years with several other nations as part of a political dispute.

   Ali Bagheri Kani, an Iranian deputy foreign minister leading the Vienna 
talks, also recently traveled to the UAE for talks.

   As the meeting took place, however, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed 
Khatibzadeh criticized the Emirates for its purchase this past weekend of 16 
billion euros worth of advanced Rafale jet fighters from France. The UAE also 
plans a $23 billion purchase including advanced stealth F-35 fighters as well, 
after its recognition of Israel.

   Khatibzadeh urged France to "behave more responsibly" and criticized the 
"militarizing of our region."

   "We are witnessing billions of dollars of arm sales to regional countries 
though they hold many meetings about our missiles," Khatibzadeh said, 
mentioning Iran's ballistic missile program. "With these actions, we become 
more determined to make our defense shield more active."

   Talks over Iran's program in Vienna broke up last week after Tehran offered 
new demands. Khatibzadeh insisted Iran wasn't after a "temporary" agreement 
from the negotiations, which he described as resuming "later this week." 
European officials have yet to announce a time for the talks to restart.

Japan Looks to Build Up Military       12/06 06:19

   

   ENIWA, Japan (AP) -- Dozens of tanks and soldiers fired explosives and 
machine guns in drills Monday on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, a main 
stronghold for a nation that is perhaps the world's least-known military 
powerhouse.

   Just across the sea from rival Russia, Japan opened up its humbly named Self 
Defense Force's firing exercises to the media in a display of public firepower 
that coincides with a recent escalation of Chinese and Russian military moves 
around Japanese territory.

   The drills, which foreign journalists rarely have a chance to witness, will 
continue for nine days and include about 1,300 Ground Self Defense Force 
troops. On Monday, as hundreds of soldiers cheered from the sidelines and waved 
unit flags, lines of tanks shot at targets meant to represent enemy missiles or 
armored vehicles.

   The exercises illuminate a fascinating, easy-to-miss point. Japan, despite 
an officially pacifist constitution written when memories of its World War II 
rampage were still fresh -- and painful -- boasts a military that puts all but 
a few nations to shame.

   And, with a host of threats lurking in Northeast Asia, its hawkish leaders 
are eager for more.

   It's not an easy sell. In a nation still reviled by many of its neighbors 
for its past military actions, and where domestic pacifism runs high, any 
military buildup is controversial.

   Japan has focused on its defensive capabilities and carefully avoids using 
the word "military" for its troops. But as it looks to defend its territorial 
and military interests against an assertive China, North Korea and Russia, 
officials in Tokyo are pushing citizens to put aside widespread unease over a 
more robust role for the military and support increased defense spending.

   As it is, tens of billions of dollars each year have built an arsenal of 
nearly 1,000 warplanes and dozens of destroyers and submarines. Japan's forces 
rival those of Britain and France, and show no sign of slowing down in a 
pursuit of the best equipment and weapons money can buy.

   Not everyone agrees with this buildup. Critics, both Japan's neighbors and 
at home, urge Tokyo to learn from its past and pull back from military 
expansion.

   There's also domestic wariness over nuclear weapons. Japan, the only nation 
to have atomic bombs dropped on it in war, possesses no nuclear deterrent, 
unlike other top global militaries, and relies on the so-called U.S. nuclear 
umbrella.

   Proponents of the new military muscle flexing, however, say the expansion is 
well-timed and crucial to the Japanese alliance with Washington.

   China and Russia have stepped up military cooperation in recent years in an 
attempt to counter growing U.S.-led regional partnerships.

   In October, a fleet of five warships each from China and Russia circled 
Japan as they traveled through the Pacific to the East China Sea. Last month, 
their warplanes flew together near Japan's airspace, causing Japanese fighter 
jets to scramble. In fiscal year 2020 through March, Japanese fighters 
scrambled more than 700 times -- two-thirds against Chinese warplanes, with the 
remainder mostly against Russians -- the Defense Ministry said.

   Russia's military also recently deployed coastal defense missile systems, 
the Bastion, near disputed islands off the northern coast of Hokkaido.

   Japan was disarmed after its WW II defeat. But a month after the Korean War 
began in 1950, U.S. occupation forces in Japan created a 75,000-member lightly 
armed de facto army called the National Police Reserve. The Self Defense Force, 
the country's current military, was founded in 1954.

   Today, Japan is ranked fifth globally in overall military power after the 
United States, Russia, China and India, and its defense budget ranked sixth in 
the 2021 ranking of 140 countries by the Global Firepower rating site.

   During archconservative former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's more than 
eight-year rule, which ended a year ago, Japan significantly expanded its 
military role and budget. Abe also watered down the war-renouncing Article 9 of 
the constitution in 2015, allowing Japan to come to the defense of the United 
States and other partner nations.

   Japan has rapidly stepped up its military role in its alliance with 
Washington, and has made more purchases of costly American weapons and 
equipment, including fighter jets and missile interceptors.

   "Japan faces different risks coming from multiple fronts," said defense 
expert Heigo Sato, a professor at the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku 
University in Tokyo.

   Among those risks are North Korea's increased willingness to test 
high-powered missiles and other weapons, provocations by armed Chinese fishing 
boats and coast guard ships, and Russia's deployment of missiles and naval 
forces.

   One of North Korea's missiles flew over Hokkaido, landing in the Pacific in 
2017. In September, another fell within the 200-nautical mile exclusive 
economic zone off northwestern Japan.

   Under a bilateral security pact, Japan hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, 
mostly on the southern island of Okinawa, which, along with Japanese units in 
Hokkaido, are strategically crucial to the U.S. presence in the Pacific.

   Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October, said 
during his first troop review that he would consider "all options," including 
possibly pursuing pre-emptive strike capabilities to further "increase Japan's 
defense power" -- a divisive issue that opponents say violates the constitution.

   Japan has more than 900 warplanes, 48 destroyers, including eight Aegis 
missile-combating systems, and 20 submarines. That exceeds Britain, Germany and 
Italy. Japan is also buying 147 F-35s, including 42 F-35Bs, making it the 
largest user of American stealth fighters outside of the United States, where 
353 are to be deployed.

   Their deployment is crucial for Japanese defense in the Indo-Pacific, and 
the country is now retrofitting two flattops, the Izumo and Kaga, as the 
country's first aircraft carriers since the end of the World War II.

   Among Japan's biggest worries is China's increased naval activity, including 
an aircraft carrier that has been repeatedly spotted off Japan's southern 
coasts.

   Japan has customarily maintained a defense budget cap at 1% of its GDP, 
though in recent years the country has faced calls from Washington to spend 
more.

   Kishida says he is open to doubling the cap to the NATO standard of 2%.

   As a first step, his Cabinet recently approved a 770 billion yen ($6.8 
billion) extra budget for the fiscal year to accelerate missile defense and 
reconnaissance activity around Japanese territorial seas and airspace, and to 
bolster mobility and emergency responses to defend its remote East China Sea 
islands. That would bring the 2021 defense spending total to 6.1 trillion yen 
($53.2 billion), up 15% from the previous year, and 1.09% of Japan's GDP.

   Experts say a defense budget increase is the price Japan must pay now to 
make up for a shortfall during much of the postwar era, when the country 
prioritized economic growth over national security.

   As China is playing tough in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as 
a regional flashpoint, with Japan, the United States and other democracies 
developing closer ties with the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as a 
renegade territory to be united by force if necessary.

   China's buildup of military facilities in the South China Sea has heightened 
Tokyo's concerns in the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku 
islands are also claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu. China has sent a 
fleet of armed coast guard boats to routinely circle them and to go in and out 
of Japanese-claimed waters, sometimes chasing Japanese fishing boats in the 
area.

   Japan deploys PAC3 land-to-air missile interceptors on its westernmost 
island of Yonaguni, which is only 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Taiwan.

   In part because of a relative decline of America's global influence, Japan 
has expanded military partnerships and joint exercises beyond its alliance with 
the United States, including with Australia, Canada, Britain, France and other 
European countries, as well as in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 
Japan also cooperates with NATO.

   Despite the government's argument that more is needed, there are worries 
domestically over Japan's rapid expansion of defense capabilities and costs.

   "Although the defense policy needs to respond flexibly to changes in the 
national security environment, a soaring defense budget could cause neighboring 
countries to misunderstand that Japan is becoming a military power and 
accelerate an arms race," the newspaper Tokyo Shimbun said in a recent 
editorial.

Fauci: Early Omicron News Encouraging  12/06 06:22

   U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the 
coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications 
suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge 
of hospitalizations.

   (AP) -- U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of 
the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications 
suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge 
of hospitalizations.

   President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN's 
"State of the Union" that scientists need more information before drawing 
conclusions about omicron's severity.

   Reports from South Africa, where it emerged and is becoming the dominant 
strain, suggest that hospitalization rates have not increased alarmingly.

   "Thus far, it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it," 
Fauci said. "But we have really got to be careful before we make any 
determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn't cause any severe 
illness, comparable to delta."

   Fauci said the Biden administration is considering lifting travel 
restrictions against noncitizens entering the United States from several 
African countries. They were imposed as the omicron variant exploded in the 
region, but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has blasted such measures 
as "travel apartheid."

   "Hopefully we'll be able to lift that ban in a quite reasonable period of 
time," Fauci said. "We all feel very badly about the hardship that has been put 
on not only on South Africa but the other African countries."

   Omicron had been detected in about a third of U.S. states by Sunday, 
including in the Northeast, the South, the Great Plains and the West Coast. 
Wisconsin, Missouri and Louisiana were among the latest states to confirm cases.

   But delta remains the dominant variant, making up more than 99% of cases and 
driving a surge of hospitalizations in the north. National Guard teams have 
been sent to help overwhelmed hospitals in western New York, and Massachusetts 
Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order requiring any hospitals facing 
limited patient capacity to reduce scheduled procedures that are not urgent.

   U.S. officials continued urging people to get vaccinated and to receive 
booster shots, as well as take precautions such as wearing masks when among 
strangers indoors, saying anything that helps protect against delta will also 
help protect against other variants.

   Even if omicron proves less dangerous than delta, it remains problematic, 
World Health Organization epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove told CBS' "Face 
The Nation."

   "Even if we have a large number of cases that are mild, some of those 
individuals will need hospitalizations," she said. "They will need to go into 
ICU and some people will die. ... We don't want to see that happen on top of an 
already difficult situation with delta circulating globally."

   Two years into the outbreak, COVID-19 has killed over 780,000 Americans, and 
deaths are running at about 860 per day.

   More than 6,600 new hospital admissions are being reported daily, according 
to tracking data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

   COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. have dropped by about half since the 
delta peak in August and September, but at more than 86,000 new infections per 
day, the numbers are still high, especially heading into the holidays, when 
people travel and gather with family.

Gunmen Attack Niger Military Base      12/06 06:24

   

   NIAMEY, Niger (AP) -- Extremist gunmen attacked a military camp in Niger 
near its southeastern border with Burkina Faso, killing at least 12 soldiers, 
the West Africa country's interior ministry said.

   Extremist rebels riding 100 motorcycles attacked the military camp of 
Fonion, in the Gorouel area, the ministry said in a statement late Sunday.

   Soldiers fought back and inflicted "enormous damage to the enemy," said the 
government statement.

   "Dozens of terrorists have been killed," said the press release from Niger's 
interior ministry without specifying the exact number. The military is pursuing 
the rebels through land and air operations with reinforcements from the 
capital, Niamey, and other military bases, according to the statement.

   "The precise assessment will be communicated at the end of the military 
operations which are still in progress," the press release concludes.

   The Fonion military camp is located near the village of Tera, where protests 
against the French convoy en route to Gao, in northern Mali, left 3 dead and 18 
injured last week.

Scientist: Next Pandemic May Be Worse  12/06 06:25

   

   LONDON (AP) -- One of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 
vaccine is warning that the next pandemic may be more contagious and more 
lethal unless more money is devoted to research and preparations to fight 
emerging viral threats.

   In excerpts released before a speech Monday, Professor Sarah Gilbert says 
the scientific advances made in fighting deadly viruses "must not be lost" 
because of the cost of fighting the current pandemic.

   "This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our 
livelihoods,'' Gilbert is expected to say. "The truth is, the next one could be 
worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both."

   Gilbert is scheduled to make the remarks Monday night when she delivers this 
year's Richard Dimbleby lecture, named after the late broadcaster who was the 
BBC's first war correspondent and a pioneer of television news in Britain. The 
annual televised lecture features addresses by influential figures in business, 
science and government.

   Gilbert is set to call on governments to redouble their commitment to 
scientific research and pandemic preparedness, even after the threat of 
COVID-19 wanes.

   "We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone 
through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean 
that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,'' she said. "The 
advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost."

Saudi Crown Prince Tours Arab States   12/06 06:28

   

   RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi Arabia's crown prince was heading Monday 
to Oman, the first stop of a tour of Gulf Arab states that will see him meet 
neighboring rulers and allies as the kingdom closely watches negotiations in 
Europe to revive Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

   Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit coincides with a flurry of other 
diplomatic meetings in the region, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan's visit to ally Qatar and a visit by a high-ranking security official 
from the United Arab Emirates to Iran. Confirmed by Saudi and Omani media, the 
tour also comes ahead of an upcoming annual six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council 
meeting of rulers this month.

   The tour will take Prince Mohammed to the UAE, where a rivalry has heated up 
for business amid diverging foreign policies between the traditional allies, as 
well as Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, according to diplomats who spoke to The 
Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss tour details.

   The diplomats said the tour aims to eliminate geopolitical differences and 
enhance cooperation and coordination among the six Gulf Arab countries, 
particularly in dealing effectively with Iran's nuclear program and regional 
ambitions.

   While relations among the GCC are underpinned by cultural, religious and 
tribal ties, they have widely different foreign policy stances on Iran. Oman, 
Kuwait and Qatar have all maintained relations with Iran, while Saudi Arabia, 
Bahrain and the UAE have seen tensions spike and actively work to curtail 
Iran's reach in the region.

   Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however, have held direct talks with Iran aimed at 
easing tensions. Gulf Arab states are concerned over a perception that the 
United States is increasingly disengaging from the Mideast to focus on threats 
from China and Russia. They point to the U.S. withdrawal of troops from 
Afghanistan as the latest example.

   The diplomats told the AP that Prince Mohammed's meetings with Arab rulers 
will stress the importance of self-reliance among the GCC. The kingdom and UAE 
are investing in homegrown defense industries and increasingly looking to 
countries such as France, Russia and China for military hardware, though the 
U.S. remains the top arms and defense supplier in the region.

   The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel oppose the 2015 Iran nuclear 
agreement, which has been on life support since the U.S. pulled out of the deal 
under then-President Donald Trump and imposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran.

   Prince Mohammed will also be seeking greater support for a resolution to the 
yearslong war in Yemen, the diplomats said. Saudi forces, despite accelerated 
airstrikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and elsewhere in recent weeks, have 
not managed to significantly push back the country's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

   In July, Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq made Saudi Arabia his first stop 
since taking power last year. Saudi Arabia, a global oil heavyweight, is the 
largest and the most populous Arab country in the GCC, and the largest economy 
in the Middle East.

Group Pushes for WI Voting Changes     12/06 06:29

   A group formed to support former President Donald Trump's agenda is working 
with Wisconsin Republicans on a ballot measure that would bypass the state's 
Democratic governor to change how elections are run in the battleground state.

   MADISON, Wisc. (AP) -- A group formed to support former President Donald 
Trump's agenda is working with Wisconsin Republicans on a ballot measure that 
would bypass the state's Democratic governor to change how elections are run in 
the battleground state.

   The effort represents a new escalation in the ongoing Republican campaign to 
alter voting laws in response to Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in 
the 2020 election. It comes as Wisconsin has become the epicenter of this 
year's voting wars, with Republicans trying to dismantle the election system 
they themselves put in place several years ago -- and figure out how to do that 
with a Democratic governor still in office.

   The backing for a possible route around Gov. Tony Evers was revealed during 
a private meeting on elections hosted by the American Legislative Exchange 
Council, which advocates conservative policies to state lawmakers in voting and 
other areas. Trump's former White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told attendees 
that his new organization, the Center for Election Integrity, was working with 
elected officials and business leaders in Wisconsin "to figure out the best 
path" around Evers, who has said he will block GOP-backed election measures.

   "We feel as though the governor can't do anything about it and it will 
become law," Gidley said in a recording of the session made by an attendee and 
obtained by The Associated Press.

   The strategy is similar to one already underway in Michigan. State 
Republicans there already are gathering signatures to place a measure on the 
ballot that would tighten that state's voting laws, an effort to get around 
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's veto of a similar bill that passed the 
GOP-controlled state legislature. But Gidley's statement is the first 
indication of a Trump-tied group engaged in a similar tactic in Wisconsin.

   Reached for comment, Gidley initially said he'd provide more details about 
his work in Wisconsin, but did not respond to further requests for comment.

   Bill McCoshen, head of the policy board for a conservative group called 
Common Sense Wisconsin, said he met with Gidley in Milwaukee six weeks ago to 
discuss getting an elections proposal on the ballot.

   "I think they thought it was a good idea," McCoshen said. "They haven't made 
a commitment to us one way or the other."

   McCoshen's proposal would require elections to be run the same way across 
Wisconsin; early voting hours and days would have to be the same in every 
community, and some would have to change how they count absentee ballots. The 
measure is largely viewed as an attempt to force the state's Democratic cities 
to restrict access.

   The proposal would also bar private groups from making large donations to 
the state's heavily Democratic cities.

   Wisconsin Republicans have been angry about more than $10 million in 
election grants that went to more than 200 municipalities last year, the bulk 
of it going to the state's five largest cities, which are all Democratic 
strongholds. The money came from $350 million in election donations from 
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that have triggered deep conservative 
suspicion.

   Under the amendment, money like that would have to be shared by all 
municipalities in the state.

   The changes require amending the state constitution, a process that takes at 
least two years because the Legislature has to pass it in two consecutive 
sessions. No amendment to do so has been introduced yet in the statehouse.

   Following Trump's narrow loss of Wisconsin last year, the state has been 
roiled by a Republican attack on the bipartisan elections commission the 
GOP-controlled Legislature itself created six years ago.

   Gidley's group is part of America First Policy Institute, an organization 
created during the Trump administration to promote the former president and his 
policies.

   The three-hour session where Gidley spoke occurred Wednesday, during the 
conservative council's state and national policy summit in San Diego, 
California.

   The session reflects how election issues have moved to the heart of the GOP 
agenda since Trump falsely blamed his 2020 loss on fraud. Repeated audits, 
investigations and lawsuits -- including by Trump's own Department of Justice 
-- turned up no significant fraud in the presidential election. But that has 
not stopped Republican state legislatures from pushing new laws that largely 
put new limits on voting.

   During the session, participants heard from Cleta Mitchell, a prominent 
conservative attorney who advised the former president earlier this year as he 
pressured Georgia Republicans to declare him the winner of a state President 
Joe Biden won. Also addressing the group was Arizona Senate President Karen 
Fann, who approved a review of the election in that state's largest county that 
chased a variety of conspiracy theories. It was unable to prove any fraud in 
Biden's victory there.

   Gidley praised the Arizona review. "Arizona has done a great job with their 
audits," he told the group.

Stocks Rise on Monday                  12/06 16:05

   Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street Monday, nearly reversing the S&P 500's 
losses from last week, when jitters over a new coronavirus variant roiled 
markets.

   (AP) -- Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street Monday, nearly reversing the S&P 
500's losses from last week, when jitters over a new coronavirus variant roiled 
markets.

   The benchmark index rose 1.2%. More than 85% of stocks in the index gained 
ground, with technology companies and banks accounting for a large slice of the 
gains. The rally also included airlines, cruise lines and other travel-related 
companies that stand to benefit from the economy staying clear of more 
pandemic-related restrictions.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.9%, while the Nasdaq composite 
gained 0.9%. Small-company stocks outpaced the broader market, sending the 
Russell 2000 index 2% higher. Long-term bond yields rose, also making up a big 
portion of what they lost last week.

   Wall Street was encouraged by comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White 
House's chief medical adviser, who said early indications suggested that the 
omicron variant of COVID-19 may be less dangerous than the delta variant. It 
will still take a few weeks to learn whether omicron is more contagious, causes 
more severe illness or evades immunity.

   "The COVID concerns from last week maybe aren't as pronounced, and some of 
the geopolitical tensions maybe are not quite as pronounced," said Willie 
Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts. "At least for a day, people 
feel better about it."

   The S&P 500 rose 53.24 points to 4,591.67. The Dow gained 646.95 points to 
35,227.03. The Nasdaq rose 139.68 to 15,225.15. The Russell 2000 picked up 
44.17 points to 2,203.48.

   Bond yields rose, which benefits banks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury 
rose to 1.44% from 1.33% late Friday. JPMorgan Chase rose 1.2%.

   Delwiche said that the rise in the 10-year bond yield says more about 
investors' confidence in the economy than the pickup in stocks.

   "Seeing yields in the 10-year get back above 1.40% is the most encouraging 
development," he said. "It's hard to make an optimistic case of the U.S. 
economy if yields are moving lower."

   U.S. crude oil prices rose 4.9% and helped send energy stocks higher. Exxon 
Mobil rose 1.1%.

   Airlines, cruise operators and a wide range of travel-related companies made 
solid gains. Norwegian Cruise Line vaulted 9.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P 
500. Rivals Carnival and Royal Caribbean jumped 8.1% and 8.2%, respectively.

   American Airlines climbed 7.9%, while United Airlines gained 8.3%. Expedia 
Group rose 6.7%. The travel industry has been under pressure over concerns 
about the latest coronavirus variant and the potential for it to crimp economic 
activity in the midst of the busy holiday season.

   Shares in COVID-19 vaccine makers fell. Moderna slid 13.5% for the biggest 
decline among S&P 500 stocks. Pfizer dropped 5.1% and BioNTech slumped 18.7%.

   The stock market is coming off of a choppy week as investors gauged the 
threat from COVID-19, along with a mixed batch of job market data and lingering 
inflation concerns. The S&P 500 posted two straight weekly losses heading into 
this week. The benchmark index is up 22.3% for the year.

   Investors are still reacting to the Federal Reserve's plan to hasten the 
withdrawal of its support for the market and economy, said Michael Arone, chief 
investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors.

   The central bank plans to speed up the pace at which it trims bond 
purchases, which have helped keep interest rates low. That has raised concerns 
that the Fed will raise its benchmark interest rates next year sooner than 
expected.

   "What you're seeing now is that is being priced into markets and that 
underlying shift in expectations is starting to play out in market leadership," 
Arone said.

   Banks and other sectors that benefit from higher interest rates are starting 
to lead the market higher, while industries that typically suffer from higher 
rates, like technology stocks, are lagging, he said.

   Investors will get more economic data this week that could help give them a 
clearer picture of the economy.

   The Labor Department will release its job openings and labor turnover survey 
for October on Wednesday, along with its weekly unemployment benefits report on 
Thursday. Wall Street will get another update on inflation when the Labor 
Department releases the Consumer Price Index for November on Friday.

   A mix of corporate news helped send several stocks higher. Del Taco 
Restaurants surged 66.1% on news it is being bought by Jack in the Box.

   Department store operator Kohl's rose 5.4% after activist investor Engine 
Capital LP pushed for a sale or spin off.

   BuzzFeed fell 11% in its market debut after the digital media company went 
public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

   The price of Bitcoin, which fell sharply on Friday, steadied by late 
afternoon Monday, edging up 0.1% to $48,947, according to Coindesk.