North America

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is key to President Joe Biden's hopes of passing a $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, said on Sunday he would not support the package.

"I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," Manchin said during an interview with the "Fox News Sunday" program, citing concerns about inflation. "I just can't. I have tried everything humanly possible."

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The Omicron virus is raging across the world as the winter holiday season approaches, making COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots more crucial than ever for traveling Americans, chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.

Omicron has been found through testing in 43 out of 50 U.S. states and around 90 countries so far after first being identified in southern Africa and Hong Kong in late November.

DETROIT (AP) — While restaurants in the U.S. and United Kingdom are open without restrictions and often bustling, they are entering their second winter of the coronavirus pandemic anxious about what’s ahead: They’re squeezed by labor shortages and skyrocketing food costs and the omicron variant is looming.

“I’m extremely worried. I’ve never felt like we were out of the woods,” said Caroline Glover, chef and owner of the restaurant Annette in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

HAVANA, December 18. /TASS/: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergey Glazyev discussed the state of relations between the country and other members of the integration association, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla announced on Friday.

The parties talked about results achieved at the second Joint Meeting on Cooperation, as well as the traditional historical bonds of friendship that unite us with the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the diplomat wrote on Twitter.

OTTAWA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said a spike in cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant was "scary," while the country's top medical official made clear the healthcare system could soon be swamped.

COVID-19 case numbers are rapidly increasing in Canada, with several of the 10 provinces reporting big jumps as Omicron replaces Delta as the dominant variant.

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Southwest (LUV.N) Chief Executive Gary Kelly tested positive for COVID-19 after appearing at a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday, the airline confirmed on Friday.

Kelly appeared at the Senate Commerce hearing with the CEOs of United Airlines and American Airlines (AAL.O) as well as a senior Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) executive and the head of a flight attendants union. Kelly drew attention at the hearing for questioning the health benefits of masks on airplanes.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Limitations on the U.S.-China scientific and technological exchanges and collaboration, including restrictions on Chinese scientists and students, are in the interest of neither side, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has said.

Qin made the remarks in an interview with Kim Montgomery, director of International Affairs and Science Diplomacy and executive editor of Science & Diplomacy magazine, on China's science diplomacy initiatives. The story was published on Friday.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 testing kits developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the pandemic's early weeks contained a design flaw that caused false positives, a recent internal review has found.

The CDC previously disclosed that the polymerase chain reaction tests developed in January 2020 were contaminated but had not acknowledged the basic design flaw, according to The New York Times, citing the analysis published earlier this week on PLOS One.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden administration nominees early Saturday after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

With many senators anxious to go home for the holidays, Schumer, D-N.Y., threatened to keep the Senate in for as long as it took to break a logjam on a broad array of diplomatic and national security nominees.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The jury that will weigh 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes finally got the case Friday afternoon after a three-month trial that captivated Silicon Valley.

The hand-off came after lawyers for the opposing sides wrapped up a second day of painstaking final arguments to sum up their respective interpretations of the evidence submitted to the jury. That included the testimony of 32 witnesses — including Holmes herself — and more than 900 exhibits.