Wednesday Briefing: Texas sheds coronavirus masks and occupancy restrictions

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March 10, 2021 Reuters News Now Today's top stories Biden is poised for his first big legislative win, GameStop is back in play, and more fallout from that bombshell royal interview Texans are waking up with a statewide mask mandate and occupancy restrictions in businesses lifted, a move some herald as freedom and others as foolishness. We look at how America’s vaccine drive is failing to reach Black and Hispanic communities, despite pervasive warnings about their lack of healthcare access and heightened vaccine hesitancy, rooted in distrust of the government and historical episodes of medical exploitation. President Joe Biden is poised today for his first major legislative victory when the House of Representatives is expected to approve his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which forecasters predict will turbocharge the U.S. economy. Hawaii has declared an emergency after heavy rains brought floods, landslides and fear of dam failures, and authorities have ordered the evacuation of several thousand people from communities threatened by rising waters. ↑ Floodwaters stream down a street in Hauula, Hawaii, March 9, 2021 WORLD ↑ Tha Peng, a Myanmar national who said he was a police officer and recently fled to India shows his photograph in his phone wearing a police uniform following his interview with Reuters in India's northeastern state of Mizoram, March 9, 2021 When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot at Myanmar protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them, the police lance corporal refused. He resigned from the force and crossed into India - one of the first reported cases of police fleeing the country after disobeying orders from the junta. Russia said it is slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure to remove banned content and threatened a total block if the U.S. platform did not comply with its deletion demands. Queen Elizabeth said the British royals are saddened by the challenging experiences of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and promised to privately address revelations about a racist remark about their son. Piers Morgan, the pugnacious presenter who has just lost his high-profile breakfast TV slot over attacks on Meghan, said he still does not believe what she said during her Oprah Winfrey interview. After the 2011 tsunami, Japan built new neighborhoods, parks and schools. But the scale of loss is beyond any policy response. We visited survivors in hard-hit coastal towns for whom the grief never subsides. Business Shares of GameStop jumped before the bell, setting the videogame retailer on track for its longest streak of daily gains in six months. A chunk of Biden’s coronavirus relief package is poised to end up in the stock market and could provide a boost for GameStop and other stocks embraced by individual investors. Just when developing economies were ready to bask in the post-COVID rebound in global growth, in sweeps a bond market blaze to scorch them again. We look at the carnage that has been described as a bond bonfire by analysts. General Electric says Ireland’s AerCap Holdings will buy its aircraft-leasing business in a deal valued at more than $30 billion - the latest in a series of disposals Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp has undertaken since taking the reins in 2018. Lego returned to double-digit growth last year, as families stayed home to build models together. Years of investment paid off just in time for the pandemic, with new sets to build from plastic bricks - such as robots that can be programmed on a smartphone. Video Bitcoin bonanza for remote Siberian data center Technology   An eco-friendly drinking straw, made of reeds Environment   Real news for busy people More Newsletters Reuters News Reuters TV               © 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 Email Preferences    |   Privacy Policy    |   Terms and Conditions