As the COVID-19 scourge continues to plague the US, most Americans say they want the Biden administration and Congress to focus on tackling the public health and economic crises with the most urgency. But that's where the consensus ends. Deep political polarization, exacerbated by the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and last month's US Capitol insurrection — has exposed, and perhaps deepened, splits on issues like race relations, poverty, climate change, and the federal deficit. We take a look at the public policy priorities that both Democratic and Republican voters agree on, as well as those where they find little common ground.

The recent coup in Myanmar has ended — at least for now — the country's brief experiment with democracy. But the power grab, in which civilian leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was deposed, comes as coup attempts around the globe in recent decades have become both less common and less successful. That's partly because the end of the Cold War diminished outside superpowers' interest in backing the overthrow of elected governments they didn't like. Here's a look at the historical record.

Even as vaccines roll out around the world, COVID-19 is continuing to spread like wildfire in many places, dashing hopes of a return to normal life any time soon. Some countries, like Israel and the UK for instance, have been praised for their inoculation drives, while still recording a high number of new cases. It's clear that while inoculations are cause for hope, the pace of rollouts cannot keep up with the fast-moving virus. Here's a look at the countries that have vaccinated the largest percentages of their populations so far – and a snapshot of their daily COVID caseloads (7-day rolling average) in recent weeks.