China Manufacturing PMI Rebounds in December, Offering Boost to Economic Growth Outlook 
Wall Street Ends Mixed as Tech and Financial Stocks Weigh on Markets Amid Thin Holiday Trading 
Royalty Pharma Stock Rises After Acquiring Full Evrysdi Royalty Rights from PTC Therapeutics 
AstraZeneca’s LATIFY Phase III Trial of Ceralasertib Misses Primary Endpoint in Lung Cancer Study 
U.S. Stock Futures Slip as Year-End Trading Turns Cautious 
Sanofi’s Efdoralprin Alfa Gains EMA Orphan Status for Rare Lung Disease 
Trump Administration Probes Corporate DEI Programs, Raising Questions for Google Stock 
Seatrium Reaches $475 Million Settlement With Maersk Over Offshore Wind Vessel Project 
U.S. Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Enforce Medicaid Funding Ban on Planned Parenthood 
FDA Fast-Tracks Approval of Altria’s on! PLUS Nicotine Pouches Under New Pilot Program 
Elon Musk Wins Reinstatement of Historic Tesla Pay Package After Delaware Supreme Court Ruling 
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk Battle for India’s Fast-Growing Obesity Drug Market 
Canada Loses Measles-Free Status After Nearly 30 Years Amid Declining Vaccination Rates 
Lockheed Martin Secures $92.8M AEGIS Sustainment Contract from U.S. Navy 
Disney Agrees to $10 Million Settlement Over Child Privacy Violations on YouTube 
Italy Supreme Court Upholds Salvini Acquittal in Migrant Kidnapping Case 
ByteDance Plans Massive AI Chip Spending Boost as Nvidia Demand Grows in China 
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill entitled Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to end the federal ban on marijuana, though the measure was seen as unlikely to pass the Senate.
The bill sponsored by Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, passed by 220-204, with few Republicans supporting the measure.
The bill decriminalizes marijuana cultivation, distribution, and possession by removing it from the list of controlled narcotics.
However, the MORE Act will need 60 votes in the Senate's evenly divided chamber to reach President Joe Biden's desk for signature, a result largely considered implausible given the measure's lack of Republican support.
Democratic Representative Ed Perlmutter stated on the House floor on Thursday ahead of the vote that the bill will "end decades of failing and unfair marijuana prohibition." He added Prohibition is clearly past, and today we have a chance to create a new route forward on federal cannabis legislation that makes sense."
He went on to say that the bill does not compel any state to legalize marijuana.
Marijuana consumers and companies in the United States face a convoluted legal landscape, with 37 states legalizing it in some form, whether for recreational or medical purposes and 13 states still outright prohibiting it.
Researchers are severely constrained in their ability to study cannabis and its effects due to federal law's classification of the drug as an illicit drug with no medicinal uses, making the policy difficult to design.
Because of the federal ban, cannabis firms are mainly excluded from the banking system in the United States.
On the House floor, Republican Representative Michelle Fischbach said that the bill was "not just defective, but dangerous," because it would not protect minors and would encourage people to start marijuana enterprises.
Marijuana legalization is exceedingly popular among Americans, with 91 percent agreeing that either medical or recreational use should be permitted, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in 2021.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, came up with his marijuana-legalization bill, which he plans to introduce in April.
