Omicron's spreading as the holidays near

This is definitely NOT what we asked for from Santa.

Omicron is set to be Europe's dominant coronavirus variant by early 2022, and the United States may not be far behind. It's already the dominant strain in London, with the UK facing an Omicron "tidal wave." All this as the holidays approach.

In the United States, holiday travel is set to reach almost prepandemic levels, with 109 million Americans expected to be on the move. We've got some expert advice for safer, smoother travels. And please, be kind to your flight attendants -- with disruptive passenger incidents massively on the rise, they're going through a lot right now.

Most countries that introduced travel bans against southern African countries after the variant was first discovered in the region have kept them in place, with the UK a notable exception: It abandoned its briefly reinstated "red list" on December 15.

France, which has nine southern African countries on its strictest "scarlet red list," is banning nonessential travel from the UK. Canada has advised its citizens to avoid all nonessential international travel.

And Ghana has introduced some of the toughest measures in Africa, mandating that all arrivals are vaccinated and fining airlines that break the rules.