North America

NEW YORK, February 27. /TASS/. Paul Whelan, a US citizen detained in Russia on espionage charges, is not allowed to communicate by phone or mail while in Russia’s Lefortovo jail, his brother David Whelan has emailed to TASS.

According to David Whelan, no phone calls are permitted for his brother, even though other Lefortovo prisoners have phone access. Besides, "no personal letters are being given to Paul and "no mail is being allowed from Paul," he said.

In addition, a house arrest was also not allowed, despite a space being offered by Paul's lawyer.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A South African envoy on Tuesday reiterated deep concern about "the dire humanitarian situation" in Syria, and called on the United Nations and the international community to further increase financial and material assistance to the Middle East country.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress Tuesday in a testimony that the central bank will be "taking a patient approach" in determining future changes in monetary policy.

The central bank, Powell said, will be "taking a patient approach with regard to future policy changes." He said policy decisions "will continue to be data dependent and will take into account new information as economic conditions and the outlook evolve."

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Tuesday that China opposes military intervention in Venezuela.

"China maintains that all countries should abide by the basic principles of international law and international relations, opposes foreign interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, and opposes military intervention in Venezuela," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, said at a Security Council meeting on the situation in Venezuela.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A 24-year-old man is guilty of trying to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van outside an Oklahoma City bank, a federal jury ruled Monday.

Jurors convicted Jerry Drake Varnell, of Sayre, of attempting to use an explosive device to damage a building and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Prosecutors alleged that Varnell planned to detonate what he thought was a half-ton (450-kilogram) vehicle bomb on Aug. 12, 2017.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday pledged to “sooner than later” make public 10 years of his tax returns and vowed to support the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, saying he held no grudges against the Democratic National Committee over his unsuccessful 2016 campaign.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are moving quickly to try to roll back President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to siphon billions of dollars from the military to fund construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tuesday’s vote in the Democratic-controlled House comes on legislation to revoke Trump’s executive order from earlier this month and would send it to the Republican-held Senate, where it would take only a handful of GOP defections to pass it.

26 Feb 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to hold a "signing summit" with China's President Xi Jinping to seal a trade deal, since as discussions are in the "advanced stages."

The comments cheered global stock markets, since they confirmed the dispute will not ratchet up immediately, averting an even bigger impact on the global economy.

26 Feb 2019; DW: Cubans overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that preserves a one-party socialist state while implementing modest economic and social reforms, the electoral commission announced Monday. 

More than 86 percent of voters backed the changes in Sunday’s referendum, while nine percent opposed.  Around four percent of ballots were declared invalid. Electoral authorities said 84 percent of 8.7 million eligible voters cast ballots. 

GENEVA, February 25. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Moscow and Washington to preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and agree on the extension of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, known as the New START Treaty.