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Underscoring its high transmissibility, in a week, omicron went from a 12.6% share of new COVID infections in the U.S. to a dominant 73.2%, according to the CDC's latest estimates.

The canal is being widened to handle much larger ships. But after five years of building, the project is expected to cost at least $1.6 billion more than planned. The builders and the canal operators both say the other side should pay.

A small Canadian firm takes on two of the largest drug companies in the world with its surprise launch of a generic copy of the best-selling blood thinner Plavis. Apotex began shipping its generic version to U.S. stores today. The makers of Plavix sold $6 billion of the popular heart drug last year.

Internet auction provider eBay agrees to buy Skype. eBay will pay $2.6 billion in cash and stock for the Internet calling service, in hopes that it will boost communication between buyers and sellers.

NPR's Joseph Shapiro recently got a first hand look at what it means to be disabled when he broke his ankle and had to use a four-wheeled scooter to move around. He found that even on the streets of Washington, D.C., where improvements have been made to accommodate the disabled, life can be difficult. He takes a tour of downtown with disability advocate Lisa Iezzoni. Read excerpts from Iezzoni's book, When Walking Fails.

More than 6,000 original stories were submitted to this round of Three-Minute Fiction. We're on the quest to select just one winner. Until then, we'll be reading a few of the stories that catch our eyes. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz presents this week's stand out stories: Exercise by India DeCarmine of Babylon, N.Y., and Letting Go by Graham Sanders from Oregon City, Ore. To see these stories and others go to npr.org/threeminutefiction.

More than 6,000 original stories were submitted to this round of Three-Minute Fiction and we're on the quest to select just one winner. Until then, we'll be reading a few of the stories that catch our eyes. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz presents this week's stand out stories: Pilgrims by Catherine Carberry from Metuchen, N.J., and Fireflies, by Delia Read from Fairfax, Calif. To see these stories and others go to npr.org/threeminutefiction.

Nearly 6,000 original stories were submitted to this round of Three-Minute Fiction. We're on the quest to select just one winner. Until then, we'll be reading a few of the stories that catch our eyes. To see these stories and others go to npr.org/threeminutefiction.

The argument over the vice president's role in counting electoral votes fueled the Jan. 6 protests, thanks to ambiguity in the Electoral Count Act. A push to clarify the law is gaining traction.

Case in point: India, which reported 481,000 COVID-19 deaths in 2020 and 2021. The World Health Organization found 4.74 million deaths there either directly or indirectly attributable to the pandemic.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on why someone would create a forgery of a painting by Adolf Hitler after German police raided an art house in Nuremberg with suspected counterfeits painted by the Führer.

A week after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools said no parents or family members would be allowed to attend school shows and performances this spring, the school district reversed course, saying each student will now be allowed up to two guests as long as a facility's capacity doesn't exceed 30%.

All but a handful of Democratic caucus members left their desks for the exits as Rep. Donnie Loftis of Gaston County took the oath of office Monday evening.

A new report released by Johns Hopkins University shows that gun homicides rose 7.6% from 2020, a year that set a previous U.S. record. Firearms are the leading cause of death for those under age 25.

A rainy winter has brought an early spring to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California. Wildflowers are in bloom. How can seeds survive years of drought and then put on such a display?

Yahoo Inc. has rebuffed an unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp., an offer Yahoo said "substantially undervalues" the company. Microsoft is now expected to sweeten its bid, which valued Yahoo stock at $31 a share.

Yahoo is rejecting an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer from Microsoft. But it remains to be seen whether Yahoo shareholders will support a management decision to snub the software giant's bid.

The $3.7 billion NBA franchise and a handful of businesses are returning money they received from a federal program that was intended to help small companies hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States — at more than 109,000 — accounts for more than a quarter of global deaths from COVID-19. More than 6.9 million worldwide have been infected with the coronavirus.

Drone footage captures the moment a more-than-6-foot shark circles a surfer, coming only inches away from him. It's possible that the drone noise scared the animal away.