USA

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Healthcare workers in the United States who test positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic can return to work after seven days in isolation, provided they test negative, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

The new guidance cuts the quarantine time from a previously recommended 10 days, which the CDC said was in preparation for an anticipated increase in Omicron cases. Omicron now accounts for 73% of coronavirus infections in the United States, the CDC said on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The General Assembly on Friday approved an annual regular budget for the United Nations (UN) of about 3.122 billion U.S. dollars.

The 2022 budget is slightly lower than that of the previous year.

The regular budget covers UN activities across a range of areas, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and public information.

BOSTON (AP) — Staff absences for COVID-19 tripled this month in London’s hospitals, and nearly 10% of the city’s firefighters called out sick.

In New York, about 2,700 police officers were absent earlier this week — twice the number who are ill on an average day. And on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, grocery worker Judy Snarsky says she’s stretched to her limit, working 50 hours a week and doing extra tasks because her supermarket has around 100 workers when it should have closer to 150.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Heavy overnight rains in Northern California left two people dead in a submerged car as authorities on Thursday ordered evacuations for a fire-scarred Southern California canyon area because of possible mud and debris flows.

Firefighters in Millbrae, just south of San Francisco, rescued two people who had climbed atop a vehicle at a flooded underpass. But they weren’t able to reach people in a fully submerged car, San Mateo County sheriff’s Det. Javier Acosta said.

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — A shooting at a suburban Chicago mall full of Christmas shoppers left four people injured Thursday, police said.

The incident at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook began with two males involved in a shootout in a corridor around 5:45 p.m., police Chief James Kruger said.

He said the injuries were not life-threatening. Three people who were shot were initially believed to have been hit by ricocheting bullets, but Kruger later said they were directly struck. A fourth person suffered an ankle injury while running away.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas board that had unanimously supported a posthumous pardon for George Floyd over a 2004 drug arrest in Houston backpedaled in an announcement Thursday, saying “procedural errors” were found in their recommendation months after leaving the decision to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

The unusual reversal was announced by Abbott’s office two days before Christmas, around the time he typically doles out his annual pardons.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police fatally shot a 14-year-old girl who was inside a clothing store dressing room Thursday as they fired at a suspect who had assaulted a woman earlier, authorities said.

Police also killed the male suspect, authorities said. He and the girl have not been named. The woman who had been assaulted was taken to the hospital with moderate to serious injuries.

The shots were fired around 11:45 a.m. at a Burlington store — part of a chain formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory — in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in the death of Daunte Wright, prompting tears from the young Black man’s parents and a jubilant celebration by supporters outside the courthouse who chanted “Guilty, guilty, guilty!”

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, said yesterday that, he has tested positive for COVID-19, and is self-isolating.

“I have tested positive for COVID-19 today. I am isolating at home with mild symptoms,” Shahid tweeted.

“I was privileged to have been fully vaccinated, including a booster. My prayers are with the millions suffering from COVID-19, and the billions without access to vaccine! I Stand for #VaccineEquity,” read the tweet.

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Four people were injured when a fire erupted on Thursday at an Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) complex in Baytown, Texas, one of the largest refining and petrochemical facilities in the United States.

There were no fatalities and those injured were in stable condition and receiving medical treatment. Other personnel were accounted for, Exxon said.

The fire had been put out by roughly 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), several hours after the blaze erupted.

An Exxon official told a news conference that the fire had affected a unit that produces gasoline.