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This 24-hour timelapse from the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory shows the start of the eruption of Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano. Officials say volcanic ash and debris is falling nearby. The eruption began late Sunday night in the summit caldera of the volcano on the Big Island.

Houston’s citywide water outage stemmed from the failure of two electrical transformers at a key treatment complex that prevented officials from turning on backup generators. The outage that shuttered schools, delayed surgeries and forced some restaurants and other businesses to close their doors in the fourth-largest US city on Monday may stretch into a second day, given that initial results of safety tests won’t be known until 3 a.m. local time

Protests against China’s stringent Covid regime failed to take place Monday night, as authorities deployed a heavy police presence in the capital and other major cities to deter a repeat of the weekend’s demonstrations. With evidence of a clampdown on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and elsewhere, crowds largely stayed away, despite plans to gather disseminated on social media. Shopping malls were closed early, and passersby were regularly stopped for identity checks. In Beijing, the university and residential district of Haidian was buzzing with police vehicles, and riot police took over a theater as an operations base. In parts of downtown Shanghai, officers were spotted on virtually every corner.

Barely a month after granting himself new powers as China's potential leader for life, Xi Jinping is facing a wave of public anger of the kind not seen for decades, sparked by his "zero COVID" strategy that will soon enter its fourth year. Demonstrators poured into the streets over the weekend in cities including Shanghai and Beijing, criticizing the policy, confronting police — and even calling for Xi to step down. On Monday, demonstrators gathered in the semi-autonomous southern city of Hong Kong, where the pro-democracy movement was all but snuffed out by a harsh crackdown following monthslong demonstrations that began in 2019. At the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated to reporters that the Biden administration supported peaceful protests.

A Senate bill protecting same-sex marriage cleared another procedural hurdle on Monday night, with passage of the legislation expected on Tuesday. The 61-35 vote allows the Senate to move ahead with an amendment to the measure that ensures it doesn’t infringe on religious rights and protections. The Respect for Marriage Act would federally recognize same-sex marriages and ensure benefits for all married couples. A unanimous consent agreement was reached for a Tuesday afternoon vote on final passage that would take place after votes on three amendments from Republican Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth, erupted for the first time in 38 years on Sunday, blanketing the sky with ash. Officials have not issued evacuation orders for the area and air traffic remains unaffected. The volcano began erupting around 11:30 p.m. local time Sunday, blanketing the sky with ash. Officials have not issued evacuation orders and air traffic remains unaffected. So far, the lava is contained near the summit, though officials warned that may change. Mauna Loa, rising 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) above sea-level, is the largest of five volcanoes that make up Hawaii’s Big Island. It has erupted 33 times since 1843, most recently in 1984. The nearby Kilauea volcano spewed ash 30,000 feet into the air in a 2018 eruption, limiting air traffic and prompting evacuations.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Donald Trump should apologize for dining last week with rapper Ye and a well-known white nationalist, saying his former boss showed “profoundly poor judgment” and should denounce “their hateful rhetoric without qualification.” Pence is the most prominent Republican to criticize the former president for his meeting last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Ye, who was formerly known as Kanye West and has lost business partners after making anti-Semitic remarks, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes

President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are moving to prevent a looming shutdown of the nation’s freight railroads with the House preparing to take up legislation this week to impose a settlement over the objections of some unions. Biden said in a statement Monday that lawmakers should “immediately” codify the agreement he helped broker in September between unions and railroads “without any modifications or delay,” after some labor groups voted to reject it.

The Biden administration said Monday that Russia has abruptly and without explanation postponed the scheduled resumption of arms control talks this week. Speaking to reporters at the White House briefing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia had postponed a meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission that was scheduled to begin Tuesday in Egypt and last through next week.

With the outlook for global growth under pressure from \China’s zero-Covid policy, and the Federal Reserve stepping up its rate-hike rhetoric, equity markets have plenty to be concerned about. No less than four Federal Reserve officials commented on Monday that rates may need to go higher, while equity markets wait in suspense for China to loosen Covid curbs that prompted protests in a number of cities.

Elon Musk’s tumultuous month atop Twitter Inc. has already included firing most of the company’s employees, tinkering with key features and restoring banned accounts. Now he’s embarking on what could be his riskiest gambit yet: a war with Apple Inc. The billionaire attacked the iPhone maker with a flurry of tweets Monday, saying the company had cut its Twitter advertising and threatened to bump the social network from Apple’s app store. He asked whether Apple hated free speech, criticized its app fees and even pondered whether the tech giant might go after another of his companies, Tesla Inc. In taking aim at Apple, Musk is challenging a company that’s vital to Twitter’s livelihood. Apple was consistently one of the top advertisers on the social network, which had an entire team of employees dedicated to helping maintain the relationship, according to people familiar with the matter. The ad spending was well above $100 million annually, one of the people said.

The 10-Year Treasury yield curve is experiencing its deepest inversion in 40 years. While historically that makes a near-term recession almost a certainty, there appears to be no exact correlation between the depth of the inversion and the severity of that coming recession.

NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that no country should support Russia's "illegal war" and NATO would continue to help Ukraine defend itself. Stoltenberg said NATO countries would help Ukraine rebuild its gas and power infrastructure and deliver air defence systems. "I'm absolutely certain that President Putin will not succeed; that the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian armed forces, the Ukrainian leadership will not bend, but will just mobilise even more in fighting back," he said, speaking in Bucharest. Stoltenberg's remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts gathered in Romania to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine aimed at ensuring that Moscow fails to defeat the country as it bombards energy infrastructure.

President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to prevent a freight-rail strike as he met Tuesday with congressional leaders trying to assemble a bipartisan coalition to support the bill over union opposition. He met with them at the White House.

The United Nations says it supports demonstrators' right to protest over China's COVID policies. "We believe in the importance of people's right to peaceful assembly and association, their right to demonstrate peacefully, and urge the authorities to guarantee that right," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday. Crowds angered by severe anti-virus restrictions are calling for leader Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades. Authorities have eased some controls after demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong. But they showed no sign of backing off their larger "zero-COVID" strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes for months at a time. Security forces have detained an unknown number of people and stepped up surveillance. With police out in force, there was no word of protests Tuesday in Beijing, Shanghai or other major mainland cities. A small group gathered at a university in Hong Kong.

NATO's Secretary-General accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to "weaponize winter" by forcing the Ukrainians to "freeze or flee" and dividing the alliance. But he said the meeting in Bucharest was sending a "strong message of NATO unity and sustained support" for Ukraine. NATO foreign ministers met in Romania to drum up support for Ukraine as Russia bombards energy infrastructure ahead of the frigid winter. Many of NATO’s 30 allies believe the focus now must solely be on defeating Russia. Stoltenberg said allies made additional pledges of financial support for Kiev. "This will fund urgent nonlethal support, including fuel and generators, helping Ukraine to address the consequences of Russia's strikes against their power grid," said Stoltenberg. Beyond Ukraine's immediate needs, NATO wants to see how it can help the country longer-term, by upgrading its Soviet-era equipment to the alliance's modern standards and providing more military training.

The US is giving Ukraine more than $53 million to help repair electrical infrastructure damaged by Russian attacks in recent weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday. The package will help Ukraine buy transformers, circuit-breakers, vehicles and other equipment, Blinken announced Tuesday on the margins of a NATO foreign ministers’ gathering in Bucharest. The US wants to get the equipment to Ukraine quickly to restore power as winter sets in. Tuesday’s allocation follows a previous package of $55 million to fund generators and other equipment to restore power and heat to areas targeted by Russia.

The Biden administration is weighing whether to label Russia’s Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of efforts to handicap the privately owned military company’s involvement in Ukraine and its growing presence in Africa. The administration has made no final decision on the designation, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Labeling Wagner a foreign terrorist organization would allow the US to pursue criminal prosecution against the group and its members, as well as go after its assets around the globe. Moving against Wagner would mark a new US effort to counter a group that has gained in prominence and power around the globe, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, as its mercenaries have played a major role in the fighting. The group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is considered a major ally and supporter of President Vladimir Putin and his war effort in Ukraine. He’s known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business hosted dinners attended by the Russian president. A State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to confirm discussions about Wagner but said the US would continue to hold those responsible for Russia’s war to account. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t return a message seeking comment. Russia’s government has denied any official connection to Wagner in the past. Prigozhin and Wagner are already sanctioned by the US, the UK and the European Union, though the group has only continued to gain strength and influence. In September, Prigozhin acknowledged for the first time that he had founded the group, and that it had been active in Syria and other Arab states, as well as Africa and Latin America. He referred to it as “one of the pillars of our homeland.” Russian state television has highlighted the group’s role in Ukraine. In September, video emerged of a man who bears a strong resemblance to Prigozhin offering an early release for prisoners who survive a six-month stint fighting at the front in Ukraine. Western officials have also grown increasingly alarmed by Wagner’s presence in parts of Africa. The United Nations announced in March it was probing human rights abuses in Mali by Wagner mercenaries, whose deployment in the West African nation prompted France and its allies to withdraw forces.

The Chinese city of Zhengzhou shuttered hundreds of buildings and apartment blocks hours after lifting broader lockdown measures, as officials strive to make their Covid controls more targeted in line with Beijing’s directives. The city, home to Apple Inc.’s largest manufacturing site in China, said late Tuesday that it was lifting a lockdown of its main urban areas put in place five days ago as Covid cases climbed. Authorities then issued a lengthy list of buildings that would be declared high risk spanning the greater Zhengzhou region, which means they will continue to be subject to lockdown-style curbs. The shift comes after China’s top health officials in Beijing reinforced an order for local cadres to avoid excessive curbs in containing the virus, following weekend protests where demonstrators took to the streets in several major cities in opposition to the stringent Covid Zero policy. As of Nov. 30, Zhengzhou will remove so-called mobility controls -- a euphemism for lockdown -- and replace them with “normal Covid-combating measures,” according to a post on the local government’s official WeChat account. Businesses will be allowed to resume operations in an orderly manner, and people outside of the high-risk areas won’t be subject to regular mandatory Covid tests as long as they don’t leave home. Beijing is urging local authorities to adhere to a 20-point playbook for virus control issued just over two weeks ago after a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top leadership body. While the guidelines caution against broader lockdowns and excessive mass testing, officials on the ground have struggled to control outbreaks in a more targeted way -- instead reverting to the cruder, wider measures of old.

Electricity production in Ukraine covers 70% of consumption needs, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday. Shmyhal said that all regions of Ukraine, except the Kherson region, had been connected to the power system. He added that Ukraine enters winter with 14 billion cubic meters of gas in storage and 1.3 million tons of coal in warehouses. He added that this was enough of a resource "to get through the winter period stable." Earlier the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said that this winter would be life-threatening for millions of people in Ukraine. Russia has been continuously striking Ukraine’s energy grids, robbing cities of power and some of the water and public transport, too, compounding the hardship of winter for millions.