![United States President Joe Biden’s bill includes a range of spending measures to boost vaccine distribution, reopen schools and support state and local governments [File: Lee Jae-Won/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dollar.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Executives from several industries sent a letter to Congressional leaders on Wednesday urging them to pass COVID relief.
Government
![Volunteers unload trucks filled with boxes of food in Warren, Michigan, the United States, where the chair of the Federal Reserve told Congress on Tuesday that the path of the economy continues to depend significantly on the course of the coronavirus [File: Emily Elconin/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/harvest.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Recovery for the world’s largest economy remains ‘uneven and far from complete’, Fed’s Jerome Powell tells Congress.
![Social media companies like Facebook use news to attract customers, and have been accused by news publishers of not sharing enough advertising revenue with them [File: Carlos Jasso/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/fb-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
An antitrust bill would allow smaller news outlets to negotiate collectively with Facebook and Google, Reuters reports.
![Democratic lawmakers in the United States such as Senator Elizabeth Warren have long sought to toughen insider-trading laws, which are enforced under general rules against market manipulation [File: Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/warren.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Democratic senators are asking the US Securities and Exchange Commission to review rules for 10b5-1 plans.
![The United States Congressional Budget Office expects the budget deficit to fall to about $1 trillion in 2022 as the economy heals and there is less need for government spending [File: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cbo.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
While it dropped by $900bn, the deficit could still increase if President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus were to pass.
![[Muaz Kory/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/clinic-room-2.png?resize=270%2C180)
Unsafe termination of pregnancy results in thousands of deaths in Nigeria, where abortion carries a heavy jail sentence.
![United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris wear protective masks during a meeting with House Democrats in the Oval Office of the White House following an early-morning vote in the Senate along party lines that showcased the Democrats’ ability to proceed on a bill without Republican support [File: Stefani Reynolds/The New York Times/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/biden-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
US President Joe Biden says Americans are hurting too badly to wait for partisan negotiations.
![Google has been accused of underpaying women and Asians [File: David Gray/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/367608528.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The allegations came up in a routine compliance audit several years ago as Google was a tech supplier to the US govt.
![The United States' economic growth will taper off to below two percent by the end of the decade, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report published Monday [File: Alex Brandon/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AP21031588199780.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Congressional Budget Office hinges its forecast on laws passed by January 12 – not including Biden’s executive actions.
![Monday's meeting, hosted by United States President Joe Biden, would amount to his most public involvement in the negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief aid [File: Evan Vucci/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/biden.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Republicans propose slimmer benefits, about a third of the $1.9 trillion that President Joe Biden is seeking.
![Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced investments in healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure [Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021-02-01T041221Z_766175076_RC2FJL9G67XH_RTRMADP_3_INDIA-BUDGET.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
India is ready to spend big to dig its economy out of the COVID-19-induced hole it has fallen into.
![A demonstrator wearing a face mask attends a protest held by business owners against the restrictive measures put in place to fight the coronavirus, in Rome [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-01-25T112637Z_1871409948_RC2YEL9KA5DE_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-ITALY.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Business owners are particularly concerned that relief funds will be held up while a new government is formed.
New global survey finds most people believe media, politicians are trying to mislead people by spreading misinformation.
![Cuba had originally been put on the United States' 'state sponsors of terrorism' list in 1982, but was removed by President Barack Obama in 2015 as he sought to improve economic and diplomatic relations with the Communist island nation [File: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_19076618098762.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Trump’s move days before he leaves office will make it harder for President-elect Biden to reset relations with Cuba.
