North America

MANAGUA, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday officially reopened its embassy in Nicaragua after the two countries resumed diplomatic relations on Dec. 10.

The ceremony, held at the new location of the embassy in the capital Managua, was inaugurated by Yu Bo, representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the federal judiciary needs to do more to ensure judges don’t participate in cases where they have financial conflicts of interest.

Roberts made the comments as part of his annual report on the federal judiciary released Friday evening.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two people were shot and wounded Friday following an apparent altercation at the Mall of America, sending New Year’s Eve shoppers scrambling for safety and placing the Minneapolis mall on temporary lockdown, authorities said.

One man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg during the shooting that happened about 4:30 p.m. on the third floor of the mall and another person was grazed, police said. Shoppers ran for cover and the mall was evacuated until the lockdown ended about 45 minutes later, a mall official said during a news briefing.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — After tough talk between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border, both sides insist they are hopeful that a pathway to easing tensions could open during diplomatic talks set for January.

But with less than two weeks to go before senior U.S. and Russian officials are to meet in Geneva, the chasm is deep and the prospect of finding an exit to the crisis faces no shortage of complications.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Workers in Maine’s largest city are getting a big pay raise on Saturday thanks to the hazard pay ordinance.

The pay increases to $19.50 effective Jan. 1 after the Portland City Council postponed action on repealing an emergency pandemic order in December.

The ordinance was enacted in 2020 and was subject to legal and political challenges. The state supreme court upheld the ordinance in July, but said it would not take effect until January 2022.

SUPERIOR, Colo. (AP) — Hundreds of Colorado residents who had expected to ring in 2022 in their homes are instead starting off the new year trying to salvage what remains of them after a wind-whipped wildfire tore through the Denver suburbs.

Families forced to flee the flames with little warning returned to their neighborhoods Friday to find a patchwork of devastation. On some blocks, homes reduced to smoking ruins stood next to ones practically unscathed by the fires.

WASHINGTON, December 31. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the upcoming contacts with Russia in a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday, the US State Department press service reported. The press service noted after the conversation that NATO is ready for a meaningful dialogue with Moscow while also standing united to deter "further aggression against Ukraine."

WASHINGTON, December 31. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden plans to speak on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky on Sunday, January 2, a White House official told reporters on Friday.

Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and Senator Joe Manchin spoke about the "Build Back Better" bill a day after the conservative Democratic senator publicly rejected the president's social spending plans, a White House adviser said on Friday.

"He (Biden) has some confidence about that (bill), including discussions he has had with Senator Manchin," Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House council of economic advisers, said in an interview with CNN on Friday.

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Within weeks, the Omicron variant has fueled thousands of new COVID-19 hospitalizations among U.S. children, raising new concerns about how the many unvaccinated Americans under the age of 18 will fare in the new surge.