USA

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers gave final approval Saturday to a bill that will legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, but not until 2024, when retail sales of the drug would also begin.

With a compromise bill clearing the House and Senate, Virginia becomes the first Southern state to vote to legalize marijuana, joining 15 other states and the District of Columbia. The legislation now goes to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who supports legalization.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just five weeks ago, Los Angeles County was conducting more than 350,000 weekly coronavirus tests, including at a massive drive-thru site at Dodger Stadium, as health workers raced to contain the worst COVID-19 hotspot in the U.S.

Now, county officials say testing has nearly collapsed. More than 180 government-supported sites are operating at only a third of their capacity.

“It’s shocking how quickly we’ve gone from moving at 100 miles an hour to about 25,” said Dr. Clemens Hong, who leads the county’s testing operation.

NEW YORK (AP) — With the nation’s financial system on the brink of collapse, all but three Republicans voted against the massive stimulus package designed to protect millions of Americans from financial ruin.

It was early 2009, just weeks after Joe Biden was sworn in as vice president, and the vote marked the beginning of a new era of partisan gridlock in Congress. And for beleaguered Republicans coming off a disastrous election, it was their first step back to political power.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

Health experts are anxiously awaiting a one-and-done option to help speed vaccinations, as they race against a virus that already has killed more than 510,000 people in the U.S. and is mutating in increasingly worrisome ways.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 27 (APP): The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution calling on all member states to support a “sustained humanitarian pause” to local conflicts, in order to allow for coronavirus vaccinations.

Resolution 2656, adopted unanimously on Friday by the 15-member council, will enable the vaccines, which COVAX began distributing on February 24, to reach those living in conflict areas.

Briefing journalists afterwards, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus argued that more could be done.

WASHINGTON, February 27. /TASS/: The United States may announce additional sanctions on Russia within weeks, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration is closely following developments in Brazil with regard to human rights and climate, but intends to continue strengthening U.S. economic ties and trade with the South American country, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden on Feb. 5 had announced an additional $300,000 (1.5 million reais) in funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development to bolster Brazil’s emergency COVID-19 response, Psaki told a White House briefing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden’s White House has made it clear it plans to ignore Donald Trump’s speech on Sunday to a conservative conference in Florida, where the former president is expected to go on the attack against his successor.

“Our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying” at the Conservative Political Action Conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

It’s a strategy that has worked before, political veterans and historians say.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Democrats-held House approved U.S. President Joe Biden's 1.9-trillion-U.S.-dollar COVID-19 relief package early Saturday morning amid Republican opposition, sending the bill to the Senate.

The measure, which is a major legislation for Biden, cleared the lower chamber of Congress by a vote of 219 to 212, with Democrats and Republicans largely voting along party lines. Two Democrats voted against it.

26 Feb 2021; MEMO: The US intelligence community formally blamed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today for the grisly 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence's long-sought declassified report concluded, based heavily on the CIA's analysis, that the Kingdom's de facto ruler "approved" and almost certainly ordered the murder.