WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its key overnight interest rate near zero and made no change to its monthly bond purchases, pledging again to keep those economic pillars in place until there is a full rebound from the pandemic-triggered recession.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Over one million people in the Americas have now died from complications from COVID-19, the head of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa Etienne, said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are directly engaged in building support for a $1.9 trillion economic recovery plan in Congress, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

MONTREAL (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Quebec on Wednesday retreated from a controversial requirement for homeless people to follow a curfew aimed at curbing the spread of novel coronavirus, after a court ruled it put them in danger.

MADRID, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Top European clubs wishing to form a breakaway Super League would be shooting themselves in the foot as well as damaging the world football ecosystem, La Liga president Javier Tebas told Reuters.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deaths in Mexico jumped nearly 37% between January and August as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and 184,000 more people died than during the same period in 2019, Mexico's statistics institute (INEGI) said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group Inc, the world's largest manager of alternative assets, said on Wednesday its fourth-quarter distributable earnings rose 60% year-on-year, driven by a surge in asset sales across its private equity and real estate business lines.

MADRID, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Delays to COVID-19 vaccine shipments have forced authorities in Madrid to halt inoculations and are threatening supplies in Catalonia, Spanish officials said on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - Dennis Dick, a professional stock trader in Las Vegas, reads the site Seeking Alpha before work and keeps up to the minute throughout the trading day by watching Twitter, but last weekend he also joined a group on the popular online discussion board Reddit "because I need to know what's going on."