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WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Americans vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 can be with family over the holidays but attending large gatherings is not safe, even for those who received a booster dose, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday.

The United States faces a second Christmas of upended holiday plans, with a surge in infections fueled by the now-dominant Omicron variant of the coronavirus forcing many to cancel travel, reconsider visiting loved ones, and question attending holiday parties.

NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted 217 km SW of La Cruz de Loreto, Mexico at 23:22:58 GMT on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 8.56 km, was initially determined to be at 18.8988 degrees north latitude and 107.1694 degrees west longitude.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he will run for reelection in 2024 if he is in good health at the time.

"Yes," he said when asked by host David Muir if he plans to run for reelection, in an interview aired Wednesday on ABC's World News Tonight.

"But look, I'm a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I'm in the health I'm in now, if I'm in good health, then in fact, I would run again," he said.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- New COVID-19 cases have more than doubled from 3,052 to 6,509 in the past 24 hours in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of California and the country, local public health authorities said Wednesday.

"This steep increase, one of the steepest rises we have ever seen over the course of the pandemic, reflects the increased circulation of Omicron and the associated rapid acceleration of transmission associated with this variant," said the Los Angeles County Public Health Department in a news release.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Biden administration effort to reunite children and parents who were separated under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance border policy has made increasing progress as it nears the end of its first year.

The Department of Homeland Security planned Thursday to announce that 100 children, mostly from Central America, are back with their families and about 350 more reunifications are in process after it adopted measures to enhance the program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marine Corps discharged 66 Marines in the past week for refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine as mandated by the military, outpacing the other services at discipline related to the shots.

The latest Corps actions, which came as COVID-19 cases surged across the country as a result of the omicron variant, brought the total number of Marines booted out of the service for vaccine refusal to 169.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump turned to the Supreme Court Thursday in a last-ditch effort to keep documents away from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Trump’s attorneys argued in their petition to the Supreme Court that “both the Constitution and the Presidential Records Act give former Presidents a clear right to protect their confidential records from premature dissemination. This case presents a clear threat to that right.”

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The vehicle stolen at gunpoint in Philadelphia from U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was found in neighboring Delaware with five suspects inside, who were in police custody Thursday, police said.

Scanlon’s blue Acura MDX was located Wednesday night in Newark, Delaware, about 45 miles (74 kilometers) from Philadelphia, Delaware State Police said.

The suspects were being processed, police said. Their names have not been released, and no other details were available.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Davenport’s 81-year-old Centennial Bridge across the Mississippi River creaks under the weight of tens of thousands of cars and trucks every day. Rust shows through its chipped silver paint, exposing the steel that needs replacing.

This city’s aging landmark is among more than 1,000 structurally deficient bridges in the area. The tally gives Iowa’s 2nd congressional district the dubious distinction of having the second-most troubled bridges in the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections.

The Food and Drug Administration authorization of Merck’s molnupiravir comes one day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer.

Pfizer’s pill, Paxlovid, is likely to become the first-choice treatment against the virus, thanks to its superior benefits and milder side effects.