News Wrap: Supreme Court rejects GOP challenge to proxy voting in the House

Judy Woodruff:

In the day's other news: Jitters over Ukraine and broader economic worries sent Wall Street into a deep dive, before it climbed all the way back.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 1,100 points in the first several hours of trading, but ended up gaining 99 on the day to close at 34364. The Nasdaq rose 86 points. The S&P 500 added 12. We will take a closer look at what's fueling the market's fears later in the program.

New numbers today indicate the pandemic's Omicron wave may be peaking across the U.S., with the daily average of new cases now below 700,000. But deaths are still rising, and hospitals across the South and the West are still overwhelmed.

The head of the World Health Organization forecast today that the emergency phase could end this year, but he also had a warning.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:

: It's dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame. On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.

Judy Woodruff:

Also today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed against proxy voting in the U.S. House of Representatives. The pandemic era measure allows members to cast absentee ballots.

Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wanted the court to reject it as unconstitutional.

The High Court agreed today to hear challenges to affirmative action in college admissions for the first time since 2016. Two lawsuits charge that using race in admissions decisions at Harvard University and at the University of North Carolina discriminates against Asian Americans.

Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis charged today that three former police officers violated George Floyd's civil rights by failing to prevent his murder. In opening statements, they said the men did nothing when fellow officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd's neck until he died. Chauvin was convicted of murder last year. The defense argued that Chauvin was a senior officer and that he called all the shots.

In Iran, the government opened the door today to direct talks with the United States on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. The foreign minister spoke in Tehran as negotiations with other world powers resumed in Vienna.

Hossein Amir Abdollahaian, Iranian Foreign Minister (through translator):

If we get to a stage where reaching a good deal with strong guarantees necessitates direct talks with the U.S., we will consider this in our agenda to lift sanctions.

Judy Woodruff:

In response, the U.S. State Department said it remains open to direct meetings with Iranian officials. President Biden has indicated he wants to rejoin the nuclear deal that President Trump abandoned in 2018.

Rebels in Yemen backed by Iran fired missiles into the United Arab Emirates today, and U.S. troops intercepted them with Patriot missiles. Some of the Americans had to take cover during the exchange. It was the second such attack in a week.

China has made a new show of force near Taiwan, sending 39 warplanes, the most since October. The planes flew over an area near the Pratas Islands southwest of Taiwan. The Chinese declined to say what their purpose was. This took place as two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier groups sailed in the South China Sea, over Beijing's objections.

Back in this country, judges in Georgia approved a special grand jury to investigate whether former President Trump tried to interfere with the 2020 election results. A district attorney requested the assistance. The special panel will be seated in May and it will serve up to a year.

There's further evidence of the pandemic's toll on students. Data from 26 states shows high school graduation rates fell in at least 20 of them after the first full school year disrupted by COVID. The nonprofit education news agency Chalkbeat did the analysis.

And the world's biggest galactic observatory has arrived at its destination one million miles from Earth. As depicted in this NASA animation, the James Webb Space Telescope reached its planned orbit around the sun today. That critical moment came a month after launch. The $10 billion telescope will look deeper into space than humanity has ever seen.