North America

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has earned an "incomplete" grade in its first-year foreign policy because of its anti-China approach, said an op-ed published recently on the Los Angeles Times.

In the article titled "Does the Biden administration deserve a passing grade in foreign policy," Gregory F. Treverton, former chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, wrote that "on the Biden administration's first-year report card, its approach toward China earns it an 'incomplete' in foreign policy."

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The mayor of Mississippi’s capital city has ordered the closure of city hall and other offices due to a surge in new confirmed coronavirus cases, particularly the highly contagious delta and omicron variants.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s new executive order closing offices went into effect Wednesday. Only essential employees will continue to work in person, he said. The order will stay in place until at least next Wednesday.

DENVER (AP) — A gunman who went on a shooting rampage in several locations around the Denver area, killing five people and wounding two, targeted his victims based on previous personal and business dealings, authorities said.

Lyndon James McLeod, 47, was also killed Monday night after he shot a police officer who confronted him in a busy shopping district in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. The officer managed to fire back at McLeod, killing him, Lakewood police spokesperson John Romero said Tuesday.

(AP) --- In February, with the images of the violent insurrection in Washington still fresh in the minds of Americans, newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took the unprecedented step of signing a memo directing commanding officers across the military to institute a one-day stand-down to address extremism within the nation’s armed forces.

NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The judge in British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell's sex abuse trial said the jury would deliberate for at least one hour longer than usual if needed on Tuesday due to an "astronomical spike" in COVID-19 cases in the New York area.

"We now face a high and escalating risk that jurors and/or trial participants may need to quarantine," U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan told prosecutors and defense attorneys outside the presence of the jury, which had begun deliberating again on Tuesday morning.

Dec 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it raised COVID-19 related travel warnings for Malta, Moldova, Sweden and Argentina.

For Malta, Moldova and Sweden, the travel warning was raised to level four or "very high" while for Argentina, it was raised to level 3 or "high", the CDC said on Tuesday.

SAN SALVADOR, Dec 28 (Reuters) - A former senior Salvadoran anti-corruption prosecutor said President Nayib Bukele’s government shut down his unit’s investigation into its alleged negotiations with violent street gangs to help expand its power, as the United States steps up pressure on the Central American country over those talks.

DENVER, Dec 27 (Reuters) - A lone gunman shot four people to death and wounded three, including a police officer, on Monday in a Denver-area shooting spree that unfolded at several locations and ended with police killing the suspect, authorities said.

Investigators have yet to determine a motive for the rampage, which began around 5 p.m. when the gunman shot and killed two women and wounded a man near downtown Denver, Police Chief Paul Pazen said a news briefing.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers met behind closed doors on Tuesday as they launched an impeachment investigation into the state attorney general for his conduct surrounding a fatal car crash last year.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Conservation experts in Virginia’s capital Tuesday pulled buttons, coins, documents and other artifacts from a time capsule found in the remnants of a pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The lead conservator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Kate Ridgway, said that the measurements and material, copper, match historical accounts, so they believe it’s the 1887 time capsule they’ve been looking for.

“It does appear that this is the box we expected,” she told reporters.