Typhoon misery in Philippines, pandemic dampen joy in Asia

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation, are marking Christmas without homes, adequate food and water, electricity and cellphone connections after a powerful typhoon left at least 375 people dead last week and devastated mostly central island provinces. Elsewhere, New Zealanders are celebrating Christmas in the warmth of mid-summer with few restrictions, in one of the few countries in the world largely untouched by the omicron variant of COVID-19, and Australia is marking the holiday amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, worse than at any stage of the pandemic. And adding more pain for travelers, airlines around the world canceled hundreds of flights as the omicron variant jumbled schedules and drew down staffing levels.