White House News (白宮消息) | Feb.24, 2021

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​How to Survive a Pandemic

US President Joe Biden with his dogs Major and Champ.
Oval Office walk-in privileges’: Post about ‘First Dogs’ wins people"

Gorgeous fur babies," wrote an Instagram user while commenting on the picture.

Feb. 24 - "Champ and Major, the ‘First Dogs’, are settling right in at the White House. Not just that, from an adorable picture recently shared on the official Instagram profile of President Joe Biden, it seems they’re getting comfortable in Oval office too.

“Not many people have Oval Office walk-in privileges. Happy to report that these two are on the list,” shared with this caption, the image is super sweet.
In the picture, the president is seen standing in front of his desk smiling with one of his dogs standing near him and the other lying in front"...     quoted from

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FEBRUARY 23, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
​White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held a briefing on news of the day. She took questions on a range of topics including President Biden’s upcoming meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the confirmation process of the Office of Management of Budget (OMB) director nominee Neera Tanden and the administration’s immigration policies.

FEBRUARY 23, 2021
President Biden Meets with Canadian Prime
Biden held his first bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. President Biden provided welcome remarks telling Prime Minister Trudeau that “the United Sates has no closer friend than Canada.” In addition, the president talked about U.S.-Canada cooperation on COVID-19, economic recovery, climate change, and migration issues. Prime Minister Trudeau also provided remarks along with Vice President Harris and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. The virtual meeting took place in the White House Roosevelt Room.

Biden, Trudeau bypass tension for unity on coronavirus, China and climate change

Feb. 24 - Biden portrayed the relationship with the US’s northern neighbor and largest trading partner as reinvigorated, after strains over immigration, trade and defense under former President Donald Trump. The new president made no mention of current disputes between the countries

Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said their nations would adopt a unified approach toward the pandemic, climate change and China, setting aside trade and other tensions in what the White House called the new US president’s first bilateral meeting.

After about a two-hour virtual meeting between the two leaders and their staffs on Tuesday, Biden said that they had agreed to cooperate to strengthen the World Health Organization and industrial supply chains, “tackle climate change" and “better compete with China."     more details

FEBRUARY 23, 2021
President Biden Meets with Black Essential
Biden and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice participated in a virtual roundtable discussion with Black essential workers that included a pharmacist, grocery store director, childcare worker, and firefighter. President Biden thanked them for their service, telling the workers “you’re holding the country together” and later asked them how the White House could support their efforts. 

Wanda Cooper, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, stands with a painting of her son during a candlelight vigil in his honour on 23 February, 2021.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was unarmed and out for a run when he was gunned down one year ago in the southern US state of Georgia.

​Feb. 24 - The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man shot dead while jogging, filed a lawsuit Tuesday on the anniversary of his killing as President Joe Biden pledged to help make the United States safer for people of colour.

Wanda Cooper seeks $1 million in damages in the suit that names the three white men charged with killing her 25-year-old son, who was unarmed and out for a run when he was gunned down on 23 February, 2020 in the southern US state of Georgia.
 
"A black man should be able to go for a jog without fearing for his life," Mr Biden said. "Today, we remember Ahmaud Arbery's life and we dedicate ourselves to making this country safer for people of colour."

The lawsuit also targets local police and prosecutors whom Ms Cooper accuses of trying to cover up the killing, which became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement in a tumultuous year of mass protests demanding racial justice.

For two months after Mr Arbery's killing, the police made no arrests and it was only when a video of the shooting went viral on social media that the investigation was taken out of their hands and an inquiry began into what had happened.
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Gregory McMichael, a former investigator who had worked with the local prosecutor's office, was arrested together with his son Travis, who could both be seen on the video clip. The man who shot the footage, William Bryan, was himself arrested two weeks later.      source from

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb.23, 2021

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FEBRUARY 22, 2021
President Biden Delivers Remarks on COVID-19
President Biden delivered remarks at the White House on the U.S. surpassing 500,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The president noted that the death toll had surpassed the U.S. deaths in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined. He said it was important to remember each person and that Americans must “resist becoming numb to the sorrow.” Following his remarks, the president, first lady, vice president and second gentleman held a moment of silence outside the South Portico, where 500 candles were lit to represent the 500,000 Americans who had lost their lives. 

FEBRUARY 22, 2021
President Biden Moment of Silence for COVID-19 Lives Lost
President Biden and others holds a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony at the White House in memory of lives lost to COVID-19.

The GOP is imploding in spectacular fashion The New Republic
19:17 Mon, 22 Feb
Whoopi Goldberg shuts down ‘The View’ after Meghan McCain argues Biden should “Remove” Dr. Fauci Decider
00:56

Mounting confirmation battle sends warning sign to Biden CNN
13:09
Supreme Court tosses Pennsylvania election challenges in blow to Trump supporters Washington Examiner
22:52 Mon, 22 Feb
Trump worried Biden will take credit for 500,000 COVID deaths he made possible The Onion (Satire)
03:11
Biden orders flags at half-mast to mourn 500k COVID-19 U.S. deaths CGTN
15:12
The GOP is imploding in spectacular fashion The New Republic
19:17 Mon, 22 Feb
Whoopi Goldberg shuts down ‘The View’ after Meghan McCain argues Biden should “Remove” Dr. Fauci Decider
00:56
Mounting confirmation battle sends warning sign to Biden CNN
13:09
Supreme Court tosses Pennsylvania election challenges in blow to Trump supporters Washington Examiner
22:52 Mon, 22 Feb
Trump worried Biden will take credit for 500,000 COVID deaths he made possible The Onion (Satire)
03:11
Biden orders flags at half-mast to mourn 500k COVID-19 U.S. deaths CGTN
15:12

FEBRUARY 22, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held a briefing Monday afternoon. She defended Office of Management and Budget Director nominee Neera Tanden and said that the administration still sees a path to her confirmation, despite statements by Senators Manchin (D-WV), Collins (R-ME), and Romney (R-UT) that they will not back her nomination.

Neera Tanden testifying during her Senate confirmation hearing in Washington this month.
Tanden’s Confirmation on Shaky Ground as More Senators Voice

moderate Republican senators said they would not vote to confirm President Biden’s nominee to head the budget office, further dimming her chances of securing enough support.

Feb. 22 - WASHINGTON — Neera Tanden, President Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, suffered a significant setback on Monday as two moderate Republicans said they would not support her nomination, potentially dooming her chances for confirmation.

The statements of opposition from Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, two Republicans with a professed willingness to work with the Biden administration, further winnowed Ms. Tanden’s chances in an evenly divided Senate. Three senators in four days have announced plans to vote against her, after Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, became the first to publicly oppose her confirmation.
​
A White House official said on Monday that the administration continued to stand behind Ms. Tanden’s nomination, but her path to confirmation was increasingly narrow. Her failure to win confirmation would be the first casualty for Mr. Biden, who has so far been able to win Senate support for several other cabinet picks, though many nominees have yet to face full Senate votes.     more details

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb.22, 2021

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Lila Blanks reacts next to the casket of her husband, Gregory Blanks, 50, who died from complications from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of his funeral in San Felipe, Texas, U.S., January 26, 2021.
United States approaches grim milestone of 500,000 Covid-19 deaths

The United States faces a dark milestone this week despite a recent decline in COVID-19 cases as it prepares to mark a staggering half-million deaths, with President Joe Biden planning to memorialise the lives lost.

Feb. 22 - While the number of COVID-19 cases fell for the fifth straight week and officials scrambled to inoculate the population, the nation was poised to reach 500,000 deaths from the highly infectious respiratory disease.
It has been nearly a year since the pandemic upended the country with dueling public health and economic crises.

"It's nothing like we've ever been through in the last 102 years since the 1918 influenza pandemic. ... It really is a terrible situation that we've been through - and that we're still going through," Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House COVID-19 medical adviser and the nation's top infectious disease official, told CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

The White House said on Sunday it planned a memorial event in which Biden would deliver remarks.
A White House spokesman said the president along with first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff would hold a moment of silence on Monday and there would be a candle-lighting ceremony at sundown.

Biden last month observed America's COVID-19 deaths on the eve of his inauguration with a sundown ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool.

Biden will use "his own voice and platform to take a moment to remember the people whose lives have been lost, the families who are still suffering ... at what is still a very difficult moment in this country," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.     more details

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Biden to hold moment of silence for 500K COVID-19 deaths

Feb. 21 - President Biden will hold a moment of silence Monday evening for the Americans who have died of coronavirus, the White House said.

The nation is expected to surpass 500,000 coronavirus deaths Monday.

“In the evening, the President will deliver remarks on the lives lost to COVID-19 in the Cross Hall. The First Lady, the Vice President, and the Second Gentleman will be in attendance,” the White House said in a press release.

“Then, the President, the First Lady, the Vice President, and the Second Gentleman will hold a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony at sundown in the South Portico.”

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has confirmed 498,879 deaths as of Sunday evening. Globally, the U.S. has reported the most deaths due to the coronavirus out of any other country. Brazil, the country with the second highest number of coronavirus deaths, has reported roughly half the amount the U.S. has.

The day before his inauguration day, Biden held a lighting ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial to honor those died from COVID-19. Biden has committed to vaccinating at least 100 million people in his first 100 days in office.     source

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Bill Gates Reveals What Caused Deadly Power Outages in Texas
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the Lone Star State allowing the government to allocate more funds to help millions of people affected by severe winter storms.

Feb. 22 - Bill Gates has revealed the reason behind the weather-induced crisis in Texas that resulted in power outages, leaving nearly half of the state's population under a boil advisory. In an interview with CNN, the Microsoft co-founder dismissed allegations made by Governor Gregg Abbott and other officials that solar panels and wind turbines were to blame for the massive outages in the state, noting that state's dependence on renewable energy isn't high enough.

Gates believes that the state's authorities should have spent money on weatherising energy plants. This, the software developer says, would have prevented the crisis.

"This is not because of renewable dependency. This is natural gas plants, largely, that weren't weatherised. They could've been. It costs money, and the trade-off was made, and it didn't work out, and it's tragic that it has lead to people dying", Gates told CNN.

Cataclysms, Instability,
the interview Bill Gates, who has donated over $50 billion to charitable causes, reiterated the need to address the global warming problem. Climate change is the root cause of all extreme weather events and the solution is green energy, Gates said. The philanthropist noted that without decisions on lowering carbon emissions and transition to renewable energy the world will face catastrophic consequences – the collapse of natural ecosystems as well as the inability to farm, which in turn will lead to war and instability.

According to the Microsoft co-founder, the deadline for the world to deal with the said issues is 2050. "2050 is literally the soonest it could get done given the scale and the number of things you have to change", Gates said.

The philanthropist believes that in an ideal world 80 percent of the energy will be renewable and come from solar panels and wind turbines, while 20 percent will come from nuclear plants. Gates even cited Texas as an example. When harsh climatic conditions make it unable to use green energy, a state can ramp up nuclear energy or draw from storage.     What happened in Texas?

In Their Own Words: U.S. Covid-19 Death Toll Hits 500,000 | NBC Nightly News
Feb 22, 2021
The Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. has passed 500,000. NBC News’ Kate Snow illuminates some of those we’ve lost through their own words.

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb.20, 2021

 White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com)

FEBRUARY 19, 2021
President Biden Delivers Remarks at Pfizer Plant
President Biden delivered remarks at a Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The president was introduced by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who praised the Biden administration for its work on increasing the vaccine supply and distribution. President Biden spoke about progress made in getting people vaccinated, the need for Congress to pass his COVID-19 relief package and the importance of reopening schools.

Biden says the United States could be ‘approaching normalcy by the end of this year.’

After touring a Pfizer manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Friday, President Biden emphasized the safety of approved coronavirus vaccines and said there would be enough available for all Americans by the end of July.

I came here because I want the American people to understand the extraordinary, extraordinary work that’s being done to undertake the most difficult operational challenges this nation has ever faced. And let me say parenthetically that it’s not enough that we find cures for Americans. There needs to be cures that the world is able to take part in because you can’t build a wall or fence high enough to keep a pandemic out. We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for all Americans by the end of July. It doesn’t mean will be in all Americans’ arms, but enough vaccine will be available by that time. And I know people want confidence that it’s safe. Well, I just toured where it’s being made. It takes more time to do the check for safety than it does actually to make the vaccine. That’s how fastidious they are. But if there’s one message to cut through to everyone in this country is this, the vaccines are safe. Please, for yourself, your family, your community, this country, take the vaccine when it’s your turn and available. That’s how to beat this pandemic.     source

FEBRUARY 19, 2021
President Biden Tours Pfizer Plant
President Biden toured a Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. The president was shown freezers storing the vaccine and demonstrations of the packing process.

Rocket attack hits US and coalition forces in Erbil, Iraq
Feb 16, 2021
A civilian contractor was killed and a US service member was injured along with eight other contractors when rocket fire landed on coalition forces near Erbil International Airport in Iraq, said Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve.

Pfizer seeks to store vaccine at higher temperatures, easing logistics

Feb. 20 - Approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could send a strong signal to other regulators around the world that may ease distribution of the shot in lower-income countries.

The companies have submitted new temperature data to the FDA to support an update to the current label that would allow vials to be stored at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius (-13°F to 5°F) for a total of two weeks.
​
The current label requires the vaccine to be stored at temperatures between -80ºC and -60ºC (-112ºF to -76ºF), meaning it has to be shipped in specially designed containers.
The shot’s cold-storage requirements set off a scramble among U.S. states at the beginning of the rollout for dry ice, in which it can be stored temporarily when there are no specialized freezers available, for instance in rural areas.     more details

Biden says U.S. will seek to ‘end cancer as we know it’ after Covid pandemic

​Feb. 21 - President Joe Biden said Friday that once the coronavirus pandemic has been defeated, his administration will target another deadly disease: cancer.

“I want you to know that, once we beat Covid, we’re going to do everything we can to end cancer as we know it,” Biden said in a speech after touring Pfizer’s massive coronavirus vaccine manufacturing site in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics, with nearly 600,000 people dying of cancer in 2019. Almost 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2021, American Cancer Society researchers estimate.

One of Biden’s sons, Beau Biden, died at age 46 from an aggressive form of brain cancer.
​
Biden said that two White House offices, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, will be involved in developing an “advanced research effort on cancer and other diseases.”     more details

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb.19, 2021

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FEBRUARY 18, 2021
White House Daily Briefing (Audio Only)
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held her daily news conference over the phone due to the winter weather in the Washington, DC area. She was joined by Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.

Overnight Defense: NATO expanding troops in Iraq

Feb. 18 - NATO will expand its security training mission in Iraq by thousands of troops following a deadly rocket attack on a military air base earlier this week.

The 30-member alliance will increase its personnel in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000, a move to prevent the war-torn country from becoming a breeding ground for terrorists, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Thursday.

“ISIS still operates in Iraq and we need to make sure they’re not able to return,” Stoltenberg told reporters at the end of a two-day virtual NATO defense ministers meeting.

What the increase means: 
He said NATO’s efforts will now include more Iraqi security institutions and areas beyond Baghdad, though their presence “is conditions-based and increases in troop numbers will be incremental.”

He added that the Iraqi government had made a request for the expanded mission, which will begin in the coming months.     more details

Rocket attack hits US and coalition forces in Erbil, Iraq
Feb 16, 2021
A civilian contractor was killed and a US service member was injured along with eight other contractors when rocket fire landed on coalition forces near Erbil International Airport in Iraq, said Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve.

U.S. ‘Prepared’ for Talks with Iran

Feb. 18 - On February 18, the United States told its European allies that it was ready for talks with Iran over returning to the 2015 nuclear deal. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany to discuss Iran, Yemen, ISIS and Iraq, among other issues. “If Iran comes back into strict compliance with its commitments under the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], the United States will do the same and is prepared to engage in discussions with Iran toward that end,” read a joint statement released after the virtual meeting. But the Biden administration reiterated its demand that Tehran return to compliance before Washington rejoined the deal.

The four diplomats urged Iran to abandon its threat to suspend compliance with the Additional Protocol, a voluntary agreement that grants international inspectors greater access to declared nuclear sites. “The E3 and the United States are united in underlining the dangerous nature of a decision to limit [International Atomic Energy Agency] access, and urge Iran to consider the consequences of such grave action, particularly at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity,” the joint statement read.
​ 
The four diplomats also criticized Iran’s past breaches of the deal, particularly its decision to enrich uranium up to 20 percent and to produce uranium metal. “These activities have no credible civil justification,” the statement read. “Uranium metal production is a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.” Iran resumed enriching uranium to 20 percent on January 4 and announced that it would produce uranium metal on January 13.      more details

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FEBRUARY 18, 2021
House Speaker Weekly Briefing
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held her weekly legislative briefing on Capitol Hill. She spoke about creating a commission looking into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying it would closely resemble the 9/11 Commission and have subpoena power. She also said the federal government should provide help for Texas as the state deals with the aftermath of a recent deadly storm.