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HOUSTON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- An unvaccinated man living in Harris County, Texas, is believed to be the first victim having died from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the United States, local media reported Monday.

"Sad to report the first local fatality from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A man in his 50s from the eastern portion of Harris County who was not vaccinated," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted earlier in the day.

The victim had an underlying health condition, she added.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Democrats have encountered a major setback as Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Sunday dealt a death blow to his party's landmark Build Back Better plan.

After months of negotiations between moderate and progressive Democrats, Manchin publicly stated he would vote "no" on U.S. President Joe Biden's landmark 2-trillion-U.S.-dollar social spending bill.

NEW YORK (AP) — Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is poised for a surge in new coronavirus infections as a far more contagious version of the disease spreads among holiday parties and family gatherings forced indoors by a series of winter storms.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials issued detailed new rules Monday prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review.

Berlin, OH (AP) — Captive missionaries in Haiti found freedom last week by making a daring overnight escape, eluding their kidnappers and walking for miles over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow, according to the agency they work for, officials said Monday.

The group of 12 navigated by stars to reach safety after a two-month kidnapping ordeal, officials with the Christian Aid Ministries, the Ohio-based agency that the captive missionaries work for, said Monday at a press conference.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are struggling to pick up the pieces after Sen. Joe Manchin effectively crushed President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy bill. But they face serious questions whether the $2 trillion initiative can be refashioned to win his crucial vote or the party will be saddled with a devastating defeat.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and documents from Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Monday, marking the first time the committee publicly sought to sit down with a sitting member of Congress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As coronavirus cases surge in the days before Christmas, President Joe Biden plans to stress in a speech the importance of getting vaccinated to protect from the wave of infections tied to the new omicron variant.

The world is confronting the prospect of a second straight holiday season with COVID-19 as families and friends begin to gather while the variant quickly spreads. Scientists don’t yet know whether omicron causes more serious disease, but they do know that vaccination should offer strong protections against severe illness and death.

JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER /Florida/, December 20. /TASS/: Spaceflights to the Moon and Mars would be impossible without NASA’s cooperation with Russian colleagues, NASA’s International Space Station Program acting deputy chief scientist Bob Dempsey told TASS Monday.

"We have a lot of cooperation. We will have to continue to do that, you know, as we continue the space station to whenever its end of life is, and you know, going to the moon and Mars," Dempsey said. "There's no way we can do that without cooperation with the Russians. I think there'll be a part of that too."