A brace from Bukayo Saka helped Arsenal solidify its position among the top four in the Premier League with a 5-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Norwich City at Carrow Road on Sunday.
The victory temporarily moved Arsenal to within three points of Chelsea in third — before the West London club won 3-1 at Aston Villa later Sunday — but still 12 points back of league leaders Manchester City.

Coronavirus postponements aside, 28 goals in the Premier League's six Boxing Day games provided a heavy dose of drama even without changing the complexion of the title race.
Even Manchester City, coasting at 4-0 after 25 minutes, managed to shake things up with a 10-minute second-half implosion to end up delivering a nine-goal thriller. The 6-3 win over Leicester left the defending champions six points in front.

Anthony Martial has told Manchester United he wants to leave, manager Ralf Rangnick said.
The France forward has dropped down the pecking order at Old Trafford, making just two Premier League starts this season and only four in all competitions.

Peter Parker's good fortune continued over the holiday weekend as Hollywood prepares to close the books on a turbulent 2021. Even with some mighty competition from new Matrix and Sing movies, and rising concerns over the omicron variant, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" stayed in the No. 1 spot and netted a few more milestones too including crossing the $1 billion mark globally.
According to studio estimates Sunday "Spider-Man" added $81.5 million over the three-day weekend, down 69% from its first weekend. The Sony and Marvel film has now grossed $467 million from North American theaters, more than doubling the domestic grosses of 2021's previous No. 1 film, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

The latest COVID-19 variant is upending holiday plans for tens of thousands of travelers — but it didn't do much damage to holiday shopping.
Airlines canceled hundreds more flights Sunday, citing staffing problems tied to COVID-19, as the nation's travel woes extended beyond Christmas, with no clear indication when normal schedules would resume.

A major Christmas weekend storm caused whiteout conditions and closed key highways amid blowing snow in mountains of Northern California and Nevada, with forecasters warning that travel in the Sierra Nevada could be difficult for several days.
Authorities near Reno said three people were injured in a 20-car pileup on Interstate 395, where drivers described limited visibility on Sunday. Further west, a 70-mile (112-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 80 was shut until at least Monday from Colfax, California, through the Lake Tahoe region to the Nevada state line.

The bitter cold of Afghanistan's winter has small children huddled beneath blankets in makeshift camps. Sick babies in hospitals lie wrapped in their mothers' all-enveloping burqas. Long lines at food distribution centers have become overwhelming as Afghanistan sinks deeper into desperate times.
Since the chaotic Aug. 15 Taliban takeover of Kabul, an already war-devastated economy once kept alive by international donations alone is now on the verge of collapse. There isn't enough money for hospitals.

Delta Air Lines said Monday that new pandemic-related cleaning requirements at a Shanghai airport were behind the turning back of a recent flight from Seattle in midair, a move that had prompted a protest from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.
An emailed statement said the new mandates at Shanghai Pudong International Airport "require significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable for Delta."

Bells rang at midday Monday from St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town to honor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a day after his death at age 90.
The bells at the cathedral, where Tutu urged South Africans of all races to work together against apartheid, will toll for 10 minutes at noon for five days to mark Tutu's life.

Libyan lawmakers met Monday to discuss the myriad challenges that forced a postponement of the long-awaited presidential election this month. The postponement was a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos in the oil-rich North African country.
The vote has faced many obstacles, including controversial presidential hopefuls, disputes over laws governing the elections, and occasional infighting among armed groups.
