USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Workers and families with private health insurance would reap savings on prescription drugs from a little-noticed provision in President Joe Biden’s sweeping social agenda bill. It’s meant to break the cycle of annual price increases for widely used medicines.

That provision would require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they increase prices above the rate of inflation. Drugs sold to private plans would count in calculating the penalty, like a tax on price increases. The issue is dividing business groups in a fierce lobbying battle.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It was supposed to be a moment of triumph for Joe Biden.

The Democratic president had just signed into law the most significant infrastructure package in generations. And he had done it by bringing Democrats and Republicans together, just as he promised during last year’s campaign. But when Biden arrived in New Hampshire last week to promote the $1 trillion package at the foot of a crumbling bridge, not all of his VIP guests were in the mood to celebrate.

ATLANTA (AP) — A passenger awaiting a search at the Atlanta airport’s main security checkpoint reached in his bag and grabbed a firearm, and it went off, causing chaos among travelers and prompting a temporary FAA ground stop on flights Saturday afternoon, officials said. The man fled.

The man, later identified as a convicted felon, ran with the gun from the checkpoint and escaped out an airport exit, the Transportation Security Administration said. Authorities said it was not an active shooter incident and described the discharge as accidental.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A difficult political atmosphere for President Joe Biden may have become even more treacherous with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.

WASHINGTON, November 20. /TASS/: Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez has put forward an amendment imposing new sanctions against Russia in case of hostile actions against Ukraine, the US Congress said on its website.

According to the text of the amendment, new significant sanctions should be imposed if "the Russian Federation engages in escalatory military or other offensive operations against Ukraine."

WASHINGTON, November 20. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in the US hopes that Washington will heed expert opinions with regards to the need to influence Ukraine in order for Kiev to implement its obligations within the framework of the Minsk Accords, according to its statement published on Facebook on Friday.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Several vials that were labeled "smallpox" and accidentally found at a laboratory in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania raised the alarm for threats of a virus leak to public health, local media has reported.

A laboratory worker found 15 vials while cleaning out a freezer in a facility that conducts vaccine research outside Philadelphia, with five labeled "smallpox" and 10 as "vaccinia."

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday endorsed booster doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines for all U.S. adults.

"CDC continues to encourage the 47 million adults who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect themselves, their families, loved ones and communities," the CDC said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China must show vision and determination, and take real actions to blaze a bright path for the two countries and the world, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has said.

Qin made the remarks on Thursday during a virtual dialogue with board members of the Brookings Institution.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu left office nearly four years ago, winning national accolades for removing landmark Confederate monuments after jump-starting the recovery from Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic levee failures and flooding.