Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the FDA authorized Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to modify their respective shots to better protect Americans against the omicron strain of Covid-19; A Wisconsin federal judge ruled disabled voters are allowed to have someone help them return their absentee ballot; A United Nations panel expressed deep concern about the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, and more.

National

Pfizer and Moderna to roll out omicron-specific Covid-19 boosters

Updated boosters are expected to come out as soon as next week after the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to modify their respective shots to better protect Americans against the omicron strain of Covid-19.

Pharmacist Brian Kiefer draws saline while preparing a dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, Pool)

Courthouse doors slam in US against relic-restitution fight

U.S. courts will not decide whether Nazi rule helped the Prussian state acquire a world-renowned collection of medieval German ecclesiastical art in 1935, concluding a long-running court battle initiated by the heirs of Holocaust victims.

The medieval portable altar of Eilbertus a part of the Welfenschatz, is displayed at the Bode Museum in Berlin on Jan. 9, 2014. The Guelph Treasure, which is at the at the center of a long-running ownership dispute, includes silver and gold crucifixes, altars and other relics worth more than 200 million dollars. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Regional

Wisconsin federal judge rules disabled voters can get help casting absentee ballots

A Wisconsin federal judge on Wednesday ruled disabled voters who need help from someone else to place their absentee ballot in the mail or return it to the municipal clerk cannot be barred from getting that assistance under state law because it is a federally protected right.

Poll workers sort out early and absentee ballots in Kenosha, Wis., on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Fifth Circuit asked to block permit for Texas gas export terminal

An attorney for the Sierra Club told a Fifth Circuit panel Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should not have approved a permit for a liquified natural gas facility in Texas that allows dumping into wetlands.

Federal prison warden faces inmate sex abuse charges

A federal prison warden was arraigned in federal court in Oakland on Wednesday on charges of sexually abusing several inmates.

The Federal Correctional Institution is shown in Dublin, Calif., on July 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

International

Danish government aims to crack down on gang recruitment

Ahead of upcoming national elections, the governing Social Democratic Party has presented 30 proposals for stricter sentencing on organized crime activities. The legislative package focuses on prevention rather than acts of violence.

Denmark´s capital Copenhagen seen from above. (Thomas Villars Petersen/LLO)

UN panel voices deep concern over abortion, racial justice in America

The review committee of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination expressed deep concern Wednesday about the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion rights and continued brutality of law enforcement against people of color.

Demonstrators march and gather near the Texas State Capitol in Austin on June 24, 2022, following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Science

Talk about moxie: Machine has success creating oxygen on Mars

A lunchbox-sized instrument can create a small tree’s worth of oxygen on Mars.

This April 6, 2021, image shows the Perseverance rover, foreground, and the Ingenuity helicopter about 13 feet behind on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via AP)

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