North America

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Most of the 43 COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant identified in the United States so far were in people who were fully vaccinated, and a third of them had received a booster dose, according to a U.S. report published on Friday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that of the 43 cases attributed to Omicron variant, 34 people had been fully vaccinated. Fourteen of them had also received a booster, although five of those cases occurred less than 14 days after the additional shot before full protection kicks in.

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Canada is expected to toughen restrictions on international travel with new measures to be announced on Wednesday as it looks to limit the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, CBC News reported.

Possible measures, including a ban on all non-essential foreign travellers coming to Canada, including from the United States, were discussed in a call between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial premiers but no decision was reached, the CBC reported.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States and the European Union (EU) must return to a full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iranian ambassador to the United Nations (UN) told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

"Now it is time for the U.S. and the EU to live up to their responsibilities and return to the full compliance with the JCPOA. The choice is theirs. We hope they seize this opportunity," said Majid Takht Ravanchi.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday morning gave a final approval to the measure that would lift the nation's borrowing limit by 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars, averting a looming debt default.

The Democrats-held House approved the measure by a 221-209 vote to raise the federal government's debt limit to roughly 31 trillion dollars, hours after the Senate passed the legislation in a party-line 50-49 vote on Tuesday.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A use-of-force and Taser expert testified Wednesday at Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial that police officers are allowed to use deadly force to stop fleeing suspects, as her attorneys argue that Potter was justified in shooting Black motorist Daunte Wright even if she didn’t intend to.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — The little red wagon was strewn upside down on a heap of rubble — a pile of boards and bricks, a mangled blue bicycle, a baby doll.

Behind it, there was little more than a hole in the ground where a house had stood. Across the street, the tidy homes on this cul-de-sac were reduced to mounds of lumber. Clothes hung from the branches of snapped trees. The walls of one house were gone, and the only thing left standing inside was a white Christmas tree.

(AP) --- The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 topped 800,000 on Tuesday, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic, given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after the vaccine became available practically for the asking last spring.

The number of deaths, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of Atlanta and St. Louis combined, or Minneapolis and Cleveland put together. It is roughly equivalent to how many Americans die each year from heart disease or stroke.

NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday rejected a renewed attempt by the Biden administration to end a policy put in place by former President Donald Trump that forced tens of thousands of migrants to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their U.S. asylum cases.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, scrapped his Republican predecessor's policy - often referred to as "Remain in Mexico" - soon after taking office in January this year. But after Texas and Missouri sued over the rescission, a federal judge ruled it had to be reinstated.

Dec 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected challenges brought by a group of Christian doctors and nurses and an organization that promotes vaccine skepticism to New York's refusal to allow religious exemptions to the state's mandate that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19.

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 people died and dozens were injured after a fuel truck exploded in northern Haiti, media and officials said on Tuesday.

The blast occurred in Haiti's northern port city of Cap-Haitien, Prime Minister Ariel Henry tweeted, extending his condolences on behalf of the government and the Haitian people.

He also announced a three-day national mourning to commemorate the victims.