North America

(AP) --- U.S. health advisers said Thursday that some Americans who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months ago should get a half-dose booster to rev up protection against the coronavirus.

The panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend a booster shot for seniors, as well as younger adults with other health problems, jobs or living situations that put them at increased risk from COVID-19.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has set a vote to recommend criminal contempt charges against former White House aide Steve Bannon after he defied the panel’s subpoena.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that the panel will vote Tuesday to recommend the charges. That would send the recommendation to the full House for a vote.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton was admitted to a Southern California hospital Tuesday with an infection but he is “on the mend,” his spokesman said Thursday.

Clinton, 75, was admitted to the University of California Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday evening for a non-COVID-related infection, Angel Ureña said in a statement.

“He is on the mend, in good spirits and is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses, and staff providing him with excellent care,” Ureña said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentine Economy Minister Martín Guzmán met in Washington DC with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to further discuss renegotiations of the country’s US $ 45 billion debt.

The South American official also held an encounter with David Lipton, a top adviser to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Also Tuesday, Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced he believed the deal with the IMF would not be finalized before 2022.

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The top diplomats from Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to hold three-way talks in Washington Wednesday as President Joe Biden’s administration embraces and looks to expand a normalisation drive.

Concerns about Iran — the specter of which helped bring together Israel and Gulf states when they established relations last year as part of the Abraham Accords — are expected to be high on the agenda after Biden’s early diplomatic overtures to Tehran bore little immediate fruit.

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Germany will most likely have a new government before Christmas, the Social Democrats' candidate for chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday.

The atmosphere in the exploratory talks so far has been very constructive, Scholz, who is also German finance minister in the outgoing coalition, told reporters in Washington. He said he was confident that the project could succeed "and that we will have a new government before Christmas".

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cuba will start administering booster shots with its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines in November, Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal said Tuesday at a press conference.

"In the very beginning, we will administer coronavirus booster shots to vulnerable groups and frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, scientists, and people with the highest likelihood of exposure to the virus," he told Xinhua.

SOLVANG, Calif. (AP) — A major highway in Southern California coastal mountains remained closed Wednesday and evacuation orders were in place as a growing wildfire chewed through dry vegetation in the region.

More than 760 firefighters battled the Alisal Fire, which covered 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) along the south Santa Barbara County coast and was only 5% contained, county fire officials said.

DALLAS (AP) — When Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over the weekend, citing bad weather and air traffic control issues, unsupported claims blaming vaccine mandates began taking off.

Conservative politicians and pundits, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, alleged the flight disruptions resulted from pilots and air traffic controllers walking off their jobs or calling in sick to protest federal vaccination requirements.

The airline, its pilots’ union and the Federal Aviation Administration denied that.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another surge in consumer prices in September sent inflation to 5.4% from a year ago, matching the highest such rate since 2008 as tangled global supply lines continue to create havoc.

Consumer prices rose 0.4% in September from August as supply chain disruptions kept many goods scarce. The costs of new cars, food, gas, and restaurant meals all jumped.