
The entire Great Lakes, shared by Canada and the United States is at 88.8% ice coverage, with the highest totals coming from Lake Huron and Lake Erie at about 96% ice coverage according to Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.

Venezuela's government has given the U.S. two weeks to slash the size of its embassy staff in Caracas to 17 diplomats as tensions between the two nations rise. Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez made the announcement Monday after a meeting with the top American diplomat in Caracas. She said it is up to the U.S. to decide which of an estimated 100 diplomats it wishes to send home.

The slowdown in the US economy at the end of last year was more pronounced than previously thought, official figures have shown. The world's largest economy grew at an annual pace of 2.2% between October and December, against a previous estimate of 2.6%, the Commerce Department said.

In a landmark decision for the future of the Internet, the United States Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved tough net neutrality regulations to oversee online traffic. The new rules prohibit Internet service providers from discriminating against legal content flowing through their wired or wireless networks, such as by charging websites for faster delivery of video and other data to consumers.

The Argentine government will present on Thursday its appellant’s brief over the contempt of court ordered by New York Judge Thomas Griesa, the Economy Ministry has confirmed. Griesa had ruled Argentina in contempt of his orders due to working on a plan to shift control over payments of its restructured debt to Buenos Aires.

United States Justice authorized the release of confidential information on the investigation of 123 companies allegedly linked to Argentine public works tycoon Lázaro Baez, a close business associate of the Kirchner family and which holdout funds that are suing Argentina in New York court suspect were used to launder US$65 million of funds for the federal government.

Argentina's Economy minister Axel Kicillof suggested on Friday that no negotiation is possible with the holdout funds as long as 'special master' appointed by US Judge Thomas Griesa continues in his post, since ”he clearly favors 'vulture funds' (holdouts)”.

Another United States prominent TV news figure has been accused of exaggerating his exploits while covering combat situations: this time it's Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and refers to his alleged coverage of the Falklands' war in 1982.

A large Los Angeles public hospital has notified scores of patients they were possibly exposed to a drug-resistant bacteria superbug during endoscopy procedures that infected seven patients and may have contributed to two deaths.

Officials at the United States Federal Reserve are unlikely to raise interest rates soon, the latest minutes from the bank's January meeting have revealed. Policymakers worried about lower-than-expected inflation as well as slow wage growth in the US economy, the world's largest.