Saturday's News Links

[Yahoo/Bloomberg] Crypto Tokens Plunge in Fresh Sign of Global Market Nerves

[The Hill] These are the states where the omicron variant has been identified

[CNN] South Africa Covid-19 cases have nearly quadrupled since Tuesday, with Omicron fueling the surge

[CNBC] As energy prices rise, your heating bill is likely to jump by as much as 69%: Here’s what to expect

[The Hill] Alarm grows over smash-and-grab robberies amid holiday season

[Reuters] Erdogan says he hopes volatile Turkish lira will steady soon

[Euronews] Why is the Turkish lira crashing and what impact is the currency crisis having in Turkey?

[AP] Explainer: Stuck jet stream, La Nina causing weird weather

[AP] Biden, Putin to talk next week as tensions grow over Ukraine

[Politico] U.S. intelligence finds Russia planning Ukraine offensive

[AP] China’s communists bash US democracy before Biden summit

[Reuters] Blinken says any move by China to invade Taiwan would have 'terrible consequences'

[WSJ] China Evergrande Requests Help From Government After Warning of New Debt Crunch

[FT] Omicron and US monetary policy uncertainty roil global markets