USA

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 29 (APP):UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for 2021 to be a “year of healing”, stressing the need for unity and solidarity when addressing the coronavirus pandemic and climate change crisis.

“Both climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are crises that can only be addressed by everyone together – as part of a transition to an inclusive and sustainable future,” he said in his New Year message.

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday ordered two Georgia counties to reverse a decision removing thousands of voters from the rolls ahead of Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which political party controls the U.S. Senate.

The counties seemed to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address data to invalidate registrations, the judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner, said in her order filed late on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Monday strengthened an executive order barring U.S. investors from buying securities of alleged Chinese military-controlled companies, following disagreement among U.S. agencies about how tough to make the directive.

The Treasury Department published guidance clarifying that the executive order, released in November, would apply to investors in exchange-traded funds and index funds as well as subsidiaries of Chinese companies designated as owned or controlled by the Chinese military.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned Friday's attacks against the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

In a statement, the members of the Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms" the attacks against the UN mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), which resulted in three peacekeepers from Burundi killed and two others injured.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- In a far-fetched bid to overturn the result of the U.S. election, House Representative Louie Gohmert and other fellow Republicans on Monday sued Vice President Mike Pence, who will preside over the upcoming congressional meeting that will finalize Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- On average, nine to 10 people in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, currently test positive for COVID-19 every minute, local health officials said Monday.

The county's Department of Public Health reported 13,661 new COVID-19 infections and 73 more deaths in a daily release, pushing its cumulative cases up to 733,325 with 9,555 related deaths, while officials estimated there were delayed reportings of additional 432 deaths due to outages and the holiday weekend.

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge rejected a $28.5 million proposed bail package for Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Monday, saying her incarceration is necessary to ensure she faces trial on charges she recruited teenage girls for the late financier to sexually abuse.

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan in Manhattan rejected the proposed bail for Ghislaine Maxwell in an order. But she did not immediately release an opinion explaining her reasoning, in order to allow defense lawyers and prosecutors to propose redactions.

NOEL, Mo. (AP) — At least two people were being treated for injuries at hospitals in southwest Missouri after a fire destroyed a grocery store and an adjacent mosque that were gathering spots for immigrants in the small town of Noel, authorities said on Monday.

McDonald County Emergency Management director Gregg Sweeten said authorities received a 911 call at 6:50 a.m. Monday about a blaze at the African Grocery Store in downtown Noel.

DETROIT (AP) — When Andre Avery drives his commercial truck through Detroit, he keeps his pistol close.

Avery, 57, grew up in the Motor City and is aware that homicides and shootings are surging, even though before the pandemic they were dropping in Detroit and elsewhere. His gun is legal, and he carries it with him for protection.

“I remain extremely alert,” said Avery, who now lives in nearby Belleville. “I’m not in crowds. If something looks a little suspicious, I’m out of there.”

CHICAGO (AP) — An attorney for a U.S. Army special forces sergeant arrested in what authorities called an apparently random shooting at an Illinois bowling alley that left three people dead told an initial hearing Monday that her client may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Duke Webb, 37, faces three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder for injuring three others in the shooting at Don Carter Lanes, in Rockford, on Saturday evening.