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VIERNES 5 DE FEBRERO DE 2021 | Año XLVI | Número 15.908 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
Las novedades que llevan a París a una nueva edad de oro P28 ARTE
‘El chico’, la primera película de Chaplin, vuelve en su centenario P30
CINE
Sanidad revisa el plan de vacunas tras descartar la de AstraZeneca para los mayores El ajuste del calendario adelanta la inmunización del personal sanitario PABLO LINDE, Madrid La falta de eficacia probada de la vacuna de Oxford y AstraZeneca para los mayores obliga a alterar los planes de vacunación del Gobierno. Sanidad y las comuni-
ANDREW POLLARD Director del Grupo de Vacunas de Oxford
“No merece la pena esperar seis meses a una eficacia del 100%” RAFA DE MIGUEL, Londres Andrew Pollard, jefe de vacunas de Oxford, defiende en una entrevista el uso del fármaco creado con AstraZeneca, aunque no haya avalado aún su eficacia en mayores. “Aunque tuviera un 100% de eficacia, no merecería la pena esperar seis meses. Es mejor comenzar cuanto antes”, dice. PÁGINA 22
Las autonomías dispararán la inversión en un 30% gracias al fondo europeo LAURA DELLE FEMMINE, Madrid Las comunidades autónomas han presupuestado para 2021 la cifra más elevada de inversiones en una década, con un aumento sobre el año anterior superior al 30%. Las autonomías proyectan un alza de ingresos gracias a los fondos europeos, a pesar de la caída generalizada de la recaudación de sus impuestos. PÁGINA 38
dades autónomas discrepan sobre si se debe vetar su administración a mayores de 55 o de 65 años, pero cualquiera que sea la decisión final, prevista para hoy, eso altera el calendario por grupos de vacunación. De esta forma, según informó anoche el Ministerio de Sanidad, las vacunas de AstraZeneca que llegarán el próximo fin de semana irán destinadas a los profesionales sanitarios y sociosanitarios que no estaban incluidos en los grupos 2 y 3, es decir, que no están en primera línea del coronavirus. Tras ellos, se buscarán a dependientes y otros grupos vulnerables que no alcanzan la edad límite que se fije. Los mayores de 80 años se vacunarán con los fármacos de Pfizer y Moderna. Fernando Simón, director del Centro de Coordinación de Alertas y Emergencias Sanitarias, admitió ayer que la decisión sobre el fármaco condiciona el calendario, y contempló que dos de los grupos se vacunen “de forma concomitante en algún momento”. Pero añadió que espera que se alcancen los objetivos de inmunización fijados. PÁGINA 21
LA CÁMARA DE REPRESENTANTES REPUDIA A LA CONGRESISTA ULTRA. La Cámara baja de EE UU apartó anoche con los votos demócratas a Marjorie Taylor Green de dos comités parlamentarios por abrazar las teorías de la conspiración de QAnon. Los republicanos votaron contra la medida. En la foto, Green, el miércoles en el Capitolio con el lema “Acabad con el aborto”en su mascarilla. / JOSHUA ROBERTS (REUTERS) PÁGINA 4
Bárcenas aportará documentos a otras dos causas contra el PP La colaboración del extesorero apunta al cohecho durante el Gobierno de Aznar y a la caja b de Esperanza Aguirre en Madrid JOSÉ MANUEL ROMERO, Madrid Luis Bárcenas, extesorero del PP, ha anunciado a la Fiscalía Anticorrupción su intención de aportar información sobre, al menos, dos causas de corrupción que investiga la Audiencia Nacional, además
de la relativa a sus papeles, que se juzga desde este lunes. Bárcenas señala vínculos entre donaciones al PP y contratos públicos, lo que apunta a un delito de cohecho en la pieza separada que examina 23 adjudicaciones de los Gobiernos
de Aznar. Además, según fuentes de su entorno, el extesorero documentará las cuentas de las campañas de Esperanza Aguirre en Madrid, distintas de las presentadas al Tribunal de Cuentas. PÁGINA 14 EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 10
ELECCIONES EN CATALUÑA
Las acusaciones de corrupción enfrentan a Junts y ERC Laura Borrás, imputada, ataca a Junqueras CAMILO S. BAQUERO, Barcelona La situación de la candidata de Junts, Laura Borrás, imputada por prevaricación, dejó de planear sobre la campaña catalana para ser el detonante de amargos
ataques entre su partido y ERC. Borrás se defendió citando a Oriol Junqueras como un condenado por corrupción. La gresca añade dificultades para un eventual pacto poselectoral. PÁGINAS 16 A 18
FINANCIAL TIMES NEWS PROY JDER OF THE Y EAR
F R ID A Y 5 F E B R U A R Y 2021
O u í o f t h e f r y in g pan
H id d e n in v e s to rs
Venezuelans golng ‘home’ to Lebanon thlnk again -N 0 T E B 0 0 K . pa g e 22
The vast pools of prívate capital in family o ffice s - g il l ia n t e t t . p a g e 23
UK £2.90 ChanneiIslands £350; Republic of Ireland €3.20
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Lo w b a tte rie s UK carmakers in race to boost 1 electric lines - b ig r e a d , pag e 21
Media muzzled Myanmar acts to stiíle protest
Briefing - Nvídia’s $40bn Ara» deal faces probes The EU and the UK are set to open in-depth competition investigaüons into Nvidla’s $40bn acqnisition of the UK chip designer Arm, after rivals called for tlie deal to he blocked. - pa g e e
Pólice on guard in Yangon, Myanmar, yesterday aliead of protests against this weelc’s coup in which the army seized power and declared a one-year State of emergency. AtmgSanSuuKyi, the coimtry’s elected leader, and other sénior officialswerearrested onMonday. M yanm ar’s junta has ordered all internet Service providers to block access to Facebook, which serves as a primary channel for news and communication witltín the country. The junta’s move carne as peaceful protests organised on social media were starting to gather forcé in large cities. Opponents of the coup were trading online memos praising protestéis and tauntingthegenerals.
*- Shell lifts payout despite fall in earnings The Anglo-Dutch oil major has kept investors on side by raising its divldend despite an annual loss of $21.7bn, its first headline loss and one of the biggest in recent UK corporate history.- page 9
►McKinsey to pay $574m in opioid claims The consultancy will have to pay almost $574m and has fiied two partners in asettlement with US S t a te s that claimed its advice to pharmaceutical groups contributed to the opioid crisis.—page &: l e x . page 24
►Car sales tumble as lockdown bites
F u llst o rv p a g e 4 Reuters
New caí- sales fell 4 0 per cent in January and industry bodies have wamed of further daiuage if tlie lockdown continúes into March, thebusiestcar-selling month of the yeai-.- page 3
►Barrister finances hit by triáis backlog Nearly one in frve criminal barristers want to quit the profession, with many suffering a “substandal drop in eaniings” after jury triáis in England and Avales were halted because of the pandem ia- page 2
D irectors face greater liability for m ajor failures under audit reform
►BaFin gave selective Wü’ecard brieíing Germany’s financial watchdog gave the European Securities and Markets Authority selective and incomplete I n f o r m a t i o n when n i a k i n g i t s case for the bau on shoiting shares in w irecard.- page s
+ White paper clue next week * Increased FTSE 350 scrutiny » Compliance costs set to rise DANIELTHOMAS AND JIM PICKARD
D irectors will be held personally responsible for the accuracy of financial statements — with fines and bans for major failures - as part of far-reacliing proposalstooverhaul corporate governance and audit overs ight. ICwasi Kwarteng, the uew business secretary, will publish long-delayed refonns in a white paper as early as next week, according to offidals and industryexecutives. They wili inelude significant clianges to the audit industry in the wake of accounting scandals at com pañíes such as Carillion and Patisserie Valerle. The 200-plus pages of recommendations issued by Beis, the business departrnent, will indude tire introduc-
tion of rules similar to the system of Sarbanes-Oxley regulation in the US. The changes will make directors, rather than boards, personally respon sible forthe accuracy of company finan cial statem ents tlirough sign-off of intemal Controls and risk management. Directors will face fines or temporary bans if tlrey are found to have breached tlieir duties to uphold corporate reportingand auditstandards. There will also be new powers for the audit reguktor to set and enforce standards for FTSE 350 companies’ audit committees. New rules to report environmental and social obligations, such as climate risk, are expected to be introduced via legislación, according to múltiple indus try executives.
Ministers will also consult on whetlier to extend the definition of a “public interest entity” — which is currently mostly limited to listed companies - to inelude large prívate groups, charities anduniversities. The new rules inight mean higlier compiiance costs and will raise questions about the barden on companies as theyemerge fromthepandemic. Ministers are also searcliing for ways to cut red tape, and attract fast growth, tech-based companies to London through a sepárate reviewof the listings regime, which could clash with the push for more stringentand costly corporate govemance. Next week’s white paper will accept mo-st of the main recommendations of the three indepeudent reviews that have
Kwasi Kwarteng wii] be lookiug at changes to the audit sector in thew ak eof big accounting scandals
been carried out overthe past four years into the sector. These raised concems about tlie quality and effectiveness of audits, and recommended a seriesof radical reforms of the profession, which is dominated by Big Four fil ms — EY, KPMG, Deloitte andPwC. The govenune nt has backed the operational separation of the audit andadvisory work of the Bíg Four accountants to end accusations of conflicts of interest, overseen by a stronger indepeudent regnlator. Th e white paper is expected to have a 16-week consuitation period — much longer than normal—given the extent of Üie reforms, with more than 1 0 0 reconunendations, according to people familiar with Üie situation.
►Asda buyers stump up less than £800m Bíllionaire bt others Mohsin and Zuber Issa backed by prívate equity firmTDR Capital will pay less than £80 0 m of their own rnoney to take a controlling stake in the supemiarket.—page 12
Datawatch Cut off Economlc cost of major Internet shutdowns In 2 0 2 0 <$bn) Yemen 0.2 Belarus 0.3 1_____
Iridian outhorrties conttnued to restrict internet access more than any other country lasf year. Int-entional internet blackouts and bandwidth restrictions set its economy back $2.8bn and affectedmcre
Source: ToplOVPN.com
than lOm people.
BoE optimistic on recovery this year but holds negative interest rates in reserve
The central bank said it would forcé commerciallenders to prepare for negative rates to be imposed in slx months but stressed that this ivas not a sign that its Monetary Policy Committee thought such a move ivas necessary. AndreivBailey, BoE govemor, said the MPC’s central forecast assumed that Covid-related restrictions and health concerns would weigh on economic activity“inthe nearterm”. He added th at the vaccin ation programme woidd lead to an easing of conditions “such that gross domestic
product is projected to recover strongly from th e second qu arter of 2021, towardspre-Covid levels” While tlie MFC ivanted to be in a position to use negative rates in the mo nths to come, Mr Bailey said “it did not wish to send any signal that it intended to set a negative bank rate at some po int in the futu re”. Financial markets regarded the BoE’s latest policy statements as a hawkish move, sending sterling lúglier and raising govemment borrowhig costs. The pound, which shpped earlier in the day, juniped 0.8 per cent to $1.3676 against the dollar after the meeting as bets that negative rates would be deployed conünued tobe unwound. Government bonds also sold off, although t!ie cost of its borrowing was still negative 011 bonds with maturities of between one and five years. The two-
STOCK MARKETS
CURRÉNOES
CHRIS GILES — ECONOMICS EDITOR
Ofcom strips China State broadeaster of UK llcence Tensión beíween China and the UK, already strained over Hong Kong, took a turn for the worse yesterday when media regulaíor Ofcom strlpped the country's State broadeaster of Its UK llcence because It said China Global Televisión Network wasedltorlafly controiled by the Chínese Communlst party. CGTN had recruifed hundreds of Journailstsfor its London office, Its thírd International base, to report news from a 'Chínese perspecílve-.
Report ►page 2
The Bank of England expeets a rapid vaccine-fuelled reco v ery for the economy in the second half oftliis year but held out the prospect of imposing negative interest rates if the postlocltdown upswing disappoints.
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year gilt yield rose 0 .0 4 percentage points to -0 .0 4 per cent. The MFC cut its short-term forecasts because of the Covid-19 lockdown, with output expected to dip 4 per cent this quarter. But it was more optimistic about tlie outloo k for the second haLf of the year, which it assumed would be boosted by an easing of lockdown restrictions and the rollout of Covtd-19 vaccines. It expeets the recovery to make up any loss of ontputin the first quarterby tile end of the year. The bank said it still needed to com plete the pianned £150bn of additional quantitative easing in 2021, under which it creates m oney and buys govemment bonds, to keep inflation doseto its 2 per centtarget.
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latimes.com
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
© 2021
Expect tough calls on vaccine priority
COLUMN ONE
School plus job doubles the load L.A. teens take on grueling work to help their strapped families in the COVID era.
Officials face ethical land mines and ‘Sophie’s Choice’ moments in deciding eligibility for shots.
By Laura Newberry t was never a question that Stephanie Contreras-Reyes would take the most rigorous AP classes her high school offers. It was never a question that she would juggle these classes with a slate of impressive extracurriculars and weekly volunteering at two hospitals. It was never a question that she would apply to California’s top colleges, including Stanford. And when her dad lost his factory job in March at the onset of the pandemic, it was never a question that the 17-year-old would do whatever was needed to keep her family afloat. Her parents do not speak English, so she researched how to sign up her family for food and rental assistance at various community organizations. She held garage sales on the weekends, selling blouses and shoes from her South Los Angeles home and dropping off catalogs for Tupperware — which she helps her mom sell — to family friends. But it wasn’t enough. So she told her parents that she wanted to take on shifts at the embroidery factory where her mom worked. “Tell your boss I’m ready, I can do this,” Stephanie, the eldest of four children, said to her mom at the dinner table. The next week, mother and daughter stood side-by-side at the industrial sewing machines, lining up snap-back hats that would soon be stitched with the logos of local sports teams. Stephanie’s AP U.S. History teacher, Heidi Mejia, will tell you that her student is remarkable. She’s at the top of her class, the first in her family to get this far in school. She is also among an increasing number of teenagers in Los Angeles who have started working or taken on more work to help their financially struggling families during the pandemic, often carrying overwhelming loads that can bring on anxiety attacks, bouts of depression, and failing grades, their school counselors say. “My parents’ worries [See Teens, A7]
I
By Colleen Shalby, Luke Money and Rong-Gong Lin II
Photographs by Al Seib Los Angeles Times
MARISOL BARROSO, left, an outreach worker with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority,
speaks with a client named Ace and inputs his information near the 405 Freeway in Inglewood.
L.A.’s homeless count was canceled. Good decision? Some see chance to improve a cumbersome process By Doug Smith Los Angeles County’s annual homeless count is a civic ritual bringing thousands of volunteers together in a common cause. It is also a reckoning with the shortcomings of all that’s been done to salve the county’s most perplexing human crisis. So its cancellation this year due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus has had a multifaceted fallout — a loss of civic engagement, uncertainty over how much the COVID-19 pandemic has added to homelessness and, possibly most consequential, the potential loss of federal dollars that would be triggered by a higher count. But for those who see sharp and timely data as a keystone in the fight against [See Count, A12]
Hospitalizations, infections improve A CROWD outside the Downtown Women’s Center listens to U.S. District Judge David O. Carter demand stronger action on the homelessness crisis.
Georgia Republican rebuked for spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories. By Alan Fram, Brian Slodysko and Kevin Freking
The FDA will consider the COVID shot for emergency use to boost the immunization effort. BUSINESS, A9
U.S. SOLDIERS return to Ft. Drum, N.Y., from Afghanistan in December.
Case ensnares 11 in Maywood
Rethinking Afghan exit
Trump rejects request to testify His legal team calls the House Democrats’ plan a “public relations stunt.” NATION, A6 Weather Sunny. L.A. Basin: 71/50. B12
COVID-19 in L.A. County is finally on a sustained decline after catastrophic winter. CALIFORNIA, B1
House removes Rep. Greene from two panels
J&J seeks swift vaccine clearance
An ex-mayor and 10 others are accused of twisting city’s purse strings for their own benefit. CALIFORNIA, B1
With COVID-19 vaccine doses still in short supply, the decision of how to prioritize immunizations is becoming an increasingly fraught matter as officials must choose among many groups, each with its own desperate need to get to the front of the line. Focusing on older people, the disabled and others at higher risk of becoming critically ill from the coronavirus has the potential to save many lives. Reserving doses for essential workers would also help slow the spread of COVID-19. And moving educators to a higher position could make teachers willing to return to campus for inperson instruction. “What’s so difficult right now is that we even have to view this as competing priorities. There’s all this tension on shifting priorities in groups, and all of this is based on a limited supply,” said Dr. Eve Glazier, president of the Faculty Practice Group at UCLA Health. “There’s a lot of different lenses to look at it.” So far, a number of California’s most populous counties have generally prioritized healthcare workers, those living in long-term [See Vaccine, A9]
John Moore Getty Images
National security officials fear Al Qaeda will roar back after the U.S. withdrawal.
Should U.S. withdraw by May as planned by Trump? Security aides urge Biden to delay. By David S. Cloud WASHINGTON — President Biden is under pressure to delay the withdrawal of the remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a decision that has forced a vexing early debate within his national security team about whether ending America’s
longest war will plunge the violence-plagued country deeper into chaos. It’s a decision that Biden inherited from former President Trump, who negotiated a withdrawal timetable with the Taliban but left the final and most difficult step of actually ending the war to his successor. Though Biden has long favored shrinking the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, current and former national security officials warn the president that even after nearly two decades in Afghanistan, the de-
parture of U.S. forces there could lead to a resurgence of Al Qaeda, the militant group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Biden’s national security team is looking for ways to pressure the Taliban to reduce attacks, break with [See Afghanistan, A4]
‘America is back,’ Biden declares President’s foreign policy will prioritize democratic values and cooperation with allies. WORLD, A3
WASHINGTON — A fiercely divided House tossed GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off both her committees Thursday, an unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she had earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories. Underscoring the political vise her inflammatory commentary has clamped her party into, nearly all Republicans voted against the Democratic move, but none defended her lengthy history of outrageous social media posts. Yet in a riveting moment, the freshman Republican from a deep-red corner of Georgia took to the House floor on her own behalf. She offered a mixture of backpedaling and finger-pointing as she wore a dark mask emblazoned with the words
“FREE SPEECH.” The chamber’s 230-199 vote, including support from 11 Republicans, was the latest instance of conspiracy theories becoming pitched political battlefields, an increasingly familiar occurrence during Donald Trump’s presidency. He faces a Senate trial next week for his House impeachment on a charge of inciting an insurrection after a mob he fueled with his false narrative of a stolen election attacked the Capitol. Thursday’s fight also underscored the uproar and political complexities that Greene — a master of provoking Democrats, promoting herself and raising campaign money — has prompted since becoming a House candidate last year. Addressing her colleagues, Greene tried to dissociate herself from her “words of the past.” Contradicting past social media posts, she said that she believes the 9/11 attacks and mass school shootings were real and that she no longer believes QAnon conspiracy theories, which include lies about Democratic-run pedophile rings. [See Greene, A12]
BUSINESS INSIDE: Voting software firm sues Fox News over false ballot fraud claims. A8
Nxxx,2021-02-05,A,001,Bs-4C,E1
CMYK
Late Edition Today, mostly cloudy, morning rain, wintry mix, high 42. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 28. Tomorrow, mostly sunny, breezy, seasonable, high 40. Weather map appears on Page A24.
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Biden Cuts Off Support For Saudis’ Yemen War; Has Warning for Russia Hardens Response to Kremlin Aggression — A Reversal of Trump’s Policies By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
GILLES SABRIE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Ships on the Yangtze River in Wuhan. China’s is the only major economy that has returned to steady growth during the pandemic.
Coercion, Persuasion and China’s War on Covid Jobs Sidelined By Pandemic Successes in Mobilizing Are Vanishing the Private Sector This article is by Steven Lee Myers, Keith Bradsher, Sui-Lee Wee and Chris Buckley.
The order came on the night of Jan. 12, days after a new outbreak of the coronavirus flared in Hebei, a province bordering Beijing. The Chinese government’s plan was bold and blunt: It needed to erect entire towns of prefabricated housing to quarantine people, a project that would start the next morning. Part of the job fell to Wei Ye, the owner of a construction company, which would build and install 1,300 structures on commandeered farmland. Everything — the contract, the plans, the orders for materials — was “all fixed in a few hours,” Mr. Wei said, adding that he and his employees worked exhaustively
Embolden Xi to meet the tight deadline. “There is pressure, for sure,” he said, but he was “very honored” to do his part. In the year since the coronavirus began its march around the world, China has done what many other countries would not or could not do. With equal measures of coercion and persuasion, it has mobilized its vast Communist Party apparatus to reach deep into the private sector and the broader population, in what the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has called a
“people’s war” against the pandemic — and won. China is now reaping long-lasting benefits that few expected when the virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and the leadership seemed as rattled as at any moment since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. The success has positioned China well, economically and diplomatically, to push back against the United States and others worried about its seemingly inexorable rise. It has also emboldened Mr. Xi, who has offered China’s experience as a model for others to follow. While officials in Wuhan initially dithered and obfuscated for fear of political reprisals, the authorities now leap into action at Continued on Page A10
FLO NGALA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Warning Others When Police Didn’t One victim in a string of violent attacks in Brooklyn used social media to sound an alarm. Page A23.
When Chanel Maronge saw on Facebook that she was eligible to get a Covid-19 vaccine, she seized the opportunity. The only catch? She had to cross the state line to Mississippi last week, driving an hour and a half from her home in Baton Rouge, La., to get her first shot.
“The idea of having to wait an unlimited amount of time in Louisiana to get a vaccine just didn’t work for us,” said Ms. Maronge, 37, a school librarian who has hypertension. Her husband, who has diabetes, and both her parents were able to get vaccinated along with her in McComb, Miss. With overwhelming demand in the early months of the vaccine rollout, thousands of Americans are crossing state lines on quests
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8
Making Trips to States Where Rules Vary for doses. The scramble to get inoculated has turned attention to the patchwork of vaccination rules devised by states, given a lack of national, standardized protocols.
With states varying widely in prioritizing who can get shots, “vaccine hunter” groups, which scour the country for places where people qualify for the vaccine, have sprung into action on social media. That has public health officials grappling with how to handle pandemic travelers: Should strict rules be followed, turning away all outsiders, or should as many shots be adminContinued on Page A8
STEFANI REYNOLDS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
President Biden shifted course on two thorny issues on Thursday.
Vote by House Trump Refuses Ejects Greene A Call to Testify From 2 Panels At Senate Trial By CATIE EDMONDSON
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday exiled Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from congressional committees, blacklisting the first-term Georgian for endorsing the executions of Democrats and spreading dangerous and bigoted misinformation even as fellow Republicans rallied around her. The House voted 230 to 199 to remove Ms. Greene from the Education and Budget Committees, with only 11 Republicans joining Democrats to support the move. The action came after Ms. Greene’s past statements and espousing of QAnon and other conspiracy theories had pushed her party to a political crossroads. The vote effectively stripped Ms. Greene of her influence in Congress by banishing her from committees critical to advancing legislation and conducting oversight. Party leaders traditionally control the membership of the panels. While Democrats and Republicans have occasionally moved to punish their own members by stripping them of assignments, the majority has never in modern times moved to do so to a lawmaker in the other party. In emotional remarks on the House floor, Ms. Greene expressed regret on Thursday for her previous comments and disaContinued on Page A18
INTERNATIONAL A9-13
SPORTSFRIDAY B7-10
‘I Am Not Afraid’
Super Bowl’s Big Quandary
With Aleksei A. Navalny facing his first long prison term, his wife, Yulia B. Navalnaya, has been thrust reluctantly into a public spotlight. PAGE A9
With the whole world watching, the N.F.L. and CBS Sports face the challenge of presenting a uniquely American spectacle in a time of widespread unease, unrest and misery. PAGE B8
NATIONAL A14-25
BUSINESS B1-6
hacking of the United States government. Saudi leaders knew that the move was coming. Mr. Biden had promised to stop selling arms to them during the presidential campaign, and it follows the new administration’s announcement last month that it was pausing the sale of $478 million in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, a transfer the State Department approved in December over strong objections in Congress. The administration has also announced a review of major American arms sales to the United Arab Emirates. But Mr. Biden’s order on Thursday went further, appearing to also end providing the Saudis targeting data and logistical support. It was not only a rejection of Trump administration policy but also a reversal of American support for the Saudi effort that dated to the Obama administration — and that Mr. Biden and his newly appointed secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, helped formuContinued on Page A12
By JEANNA SMIALEK
John Mahalis of Philadelphia was two and a half months from qualifying for his full pension when he learned that he would be permanently laid off from his job as a toll collector on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The news was a gut punch; Mr. Mahalis said it would leave him less able to financially weather retirement. “It came out of the blue,” said Mr. Mahalis, 65. He had worked for the turnpike for five years after 20 years of unemployment due to an injury he sustained as a dockworker. He had loved the work, especially interacting with customers, and earned good money: By taking as much overtime as he could get, he made about $53,000 a year, along with benefits. “It was the best thing I ever did,” he said. “I felt like a man again.” The job evaporated overnight when the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, decided in June to move up its plan to lay off nearly 500 toll workers and replace them with electronic tolling. Dismissals planned for early 2022 instead went into effect immediately, a move that the commission said would help the system financially accommodate weaker traffic during the economic downturn. The United States may be witnessing the bleeding edge of a labor force shuffle that often occurs during recessions: Employers who have been forced to cut workers turn to existing or new technology to carry on with less labor. But this time the shift could be magnified by a wave of forced layoffs at the start of the pandemic and by the fact that demand in some cases came back before emContinued on Page A21
‘Vaccine Hunters’ Fan Out for Shots They Can’t Get Near Home This article is by Simon Romero, Amy Harmon, Lucy Tompkins and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio.
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday ordered an end to arms sales and other support to Saudi Arabia for a war in Yemen that he called a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe” and declared that the United States would no longer be “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions.” The announcement was the clearest signal Mr. Biden has given of his intention to reverse the way President Donald J. Trump dealt with two of the hardest issues in American foreign policy. Mr. Trump regularly rejected calls to rein in the Saudis for the indiscriminate bombing they carried out in their intervention in the civil war in Yemen as well as for the killing of a dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, on the grounds that American sales of arms to Riyadh “creates hundreds of thousands of jobs” in the United States. And he repeatedly dismissed evidence of interference by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in American elections and Russia’s role in a highly sophisticated
Health Care Workers Burn Out
Back to Newark’s Future
CNN Leader to Leave
A year in, many on the front lines have reached their limit. Above, Dr. Sheetal Khedkar Rao outside Chicago. PAGE A6
Neighborhoods are seeing a flurry of redevelopment a decade after the city’s downtown began to rebound. PAGE A14
Jeffrey A. Zucker played a central role in the rise of Donald J. Trump, then sharply reversed course. PAGE B1
F.D.A. Considers 1-Shot Vaccine
Charged in Capitol Attack
Election Firm Sues Fox News
Johnson & Johnson asked for urgent approval from the F.D.A. and could begin shipments in March. PAGE A8
Samuel Fisher left a trail of online posts about his Jan. 6 exploits. “People died,” but it was great, he wrote. PAGE A16
Smartmatic, a tech company, sued Rupert Murdoch’s network for over $2.7 billion, charging defamation. PAGE B1
Soccer’s Surprising Exporter It used to be the rare and momentous occasion when an American player would make it overseas. But more and more, European powers are mining M.L.S. for talent. On Soccer. PAGE B10 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
Paul Krugman
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This article is by Nicholas Fandos, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman.
WASHINGTON — The House impeachment managers issued a surprise request on Thursday for Donald J. Trump to testify in his Senate trial next week, making a long-shot attempt to question the former president under oath about his conduct on the day of the Capitol riot. It was quickly rejected by his lawyers. In a letter to Mr. Trump, Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead House impeachment prosecutor, said the former president’s response this week to the House’s charge that he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6 had disputed crucial facts about his actions, and demanded further explanation. “Two days ago, you filed an answer in which you denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment,” wrote Mr. Raskin, Democrat of Maryland. “You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense.” He proposed interviewing Mr. Trump “at a mutually convenient time and place” between Monday and Thursday. The trial is set to begin on Tuesday. But Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen, Continued on Page A17
WEEKEND ARTS C1-12
Transformative Photography An exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum brings together generations of self-taught artists. Above, just some of Ichiwo Sugino’s alter egos. PAGE C1
U(D54G1D)y+z!]!,!$!#
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021 ~ VOL. CCLXXVII NO. 29
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DJIA 31055.86 À 332.26 1.1%
NASDAQ 13777.74 À 1.2%
STOXX 600 409.54 À 0.6%
10-YR. TREAS. g 3/32 , yield 1.140%
OIL $56.23 À $0.54
GOLD $1,788.90 g $43.30
Biden Turns Foreign Policy Focus to Russia, Myanmar, Yemen
What’s News Business & Finance
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Brazilian miner Vale agreed to pay $7 billion in compensation to the state of Minas Gerais over the deadly dam collapse in 2019. A1 Initial jobless claims fell for a third straight week, a sign that layoffs have started to ease. A2 The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched new highs, gaining 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, while the Dow rose 1.1%. B11 UnitedHealth CEO Wichmann retired after 40 months in the role and was succeeded by Witty, the company’s president. B1 Merck’s Frazier is retiring as CEO at the end of June and will be succeeded in that post by finance chief Davis. B6 CNN’s Zucker will depart the cable news channel at the end of 2021, when his contract expires. B4 Smartmatic sued Fox News over what it alleges were defamatory on-air comments about the voting-machine company’s products. B4
World-Wide The House voted 230-199 to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments, delivering a severe rebuke to the Georgia Republican hours after she said she regretted her past embrace of conspiracy theories. A1 Biden issued sharp warnings on rapidly developing crises in Russia and Myanmar while saying that he would end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and emphasize multilateral agreements and human rights. A6 Johnson & Johnson asked U.S. regulators to authorize the emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine, setting the stage for a potential third vaccine to become available in the U.S. within weeks. A8 Trump spurned a request from House impeachment managers that he testify next week as part of his Senate trial. A4 Senate Republicans unleashed a blitz of amendments to Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan. A4 The Biden administration is considering using executive action to forgive Americans’ federal student debt, the White House’s chief spokeswoman said. A3 A congressional investigation found high levels of toxic metals in several top baby-food brands and called for stricter standards. A3 A Belgian court sentenced an Iranian diplomat to prison for plotting a bomb attack against a gathering of Iranian dissidents outside Paris. A10 CONTENTS Arts in Review A12-13 Banking & Finance B10 Business News.. B3,6 Crossword.............. A13 Heard on Street. B12 Mansion............. M1-10
Markets..................... B11 Opinion.............. A15-17 Sports....................... A14 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-8 Weather................... A13 World News..... A9-10
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YEN 105.55
Big Chip Shortage Takes Toll On Auto Industry BY MIKE COLIAS
close of $347.51 on Jan. 27 and ended Thursday’s session at $53.50. Other once-hot stocks such as AMC and Koss Corp. fell more than 20% on Thursday as the Reddit rally lost steam. Trading firms make money by selling shares for slightly more than they are willing to buy them, and pocketing the Please turn to page A2
A global semiconductor shortage is expected to slash Ford Motor Co.’s vehicle output by up to 20% in the first quarter, illustrating how deeply the fallout from the computer-chip crunch has hit the car business. Ford said Thursday it plans to cut production of its F-150 pickup truck—the nation’s topselling vehicle and the company’s biggest moneymaker— because of the shortage, a day after confirming a hit to output of several sport-utility vehicles. Losses of vehicle production globally in the first and second quarters could trim $1 billion to $2.5 billion from its pretax bottom line this year, executives warned while discussing fourth-quarter earnings. These latest actions mark a significant escalation in the chip-shortage problem that has disrupted the auto sector and other industries in recent weeks. Most major auto makers have been forced to curtail some factory output; meanwhile, makers of consumer electronics have had to deal with limited supplies for their Please turn to page A6
James Mackintosh: Markets withstood GameStop test... B1
Ford earnings hit by lower truck output................................ B3
SCREEN TIME: With some staff watching virtually, President Biden visited the State Department Thursday to outline his plans, addressing Russian aggression, Myanmar’s coup and U.S. support for Saudi military operations in Yemen. A6
GameStop Rally Fuels Scrutiny Of Payments to Online Brokers BY ALEXANDER OSIPOVICH The Reddit-fueled frenzy in stocks such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is prompting calls for regulators to reconsider a decades-old practice in the U.S. stock market: payment for order flow. The practice, in which highspeed trading firms pay brokerages for the right to execute orders submitted by individual
investors, has long been controversial. Some have said it warps the incentives of brokers and encourages them to maximize their revenue at the expense of customers. Supporters, including many brokers and trading firms, said it helps ensure investors get seamless executions and good prices on trades. Last year, brokerages such as Charles Schwab Corp., TD Ameritrade, Robinhood Markets Inc. and E*Trade col-
lected nearly $2.6 billion in payments for stock and option orders, according to JMP Securities. The biggest sources of the payments were electronic-trading firms such as Citadel Securities, Susquehanna International Group LLP and Virtu Financial Inc. Payment for order flow helped set the stage for the manic trading in GameStop, whose shares began the year around $18, surged to a record
Vale to Pay White House Target: Full Employment $7 Billion Elusive goal is to boost prosperity without overheating economy Over Dam Collapse Percentage of months in which the jobless rate exceeded full employment
BY JON HILSENRATH AND KATE DAVIDSON
100%
WASHINGTON—Driving down unemployment has become the overriding economic goal of top U.S. policy makers, an imperative that will shape many of the big decisions being made in Washington in the months ahead. The jobless rate stalled at 6.7% in December and November after a rapid descent from double-digit levels last spring. A Labor Department report coming Friday will provide an update. Economists estimate business and government payrolls rose slightly in January and the jobless rate remained stuck in place. Just a year ago, the unemployment rate had fallen to 3.5%, a low not seen in decades. The Federal Reserve and the new Biden administration want to get back there as
80
BY SAMANTHA PEARSON AND JEFFREY T. LEWIS SÃO PAULO—Brazilian miner Vale SA agreed to pay $7 billion in compensation to the state of Minas Gerais, where the collapse of its dam two years ago killed 270 people, polluted rivers and obliterated the surrounding landscape. The settlement, the biggest in Brazilian history, is a watershed moment for a country where miners and big businesses have often exerted more power than the state, especially in rural areas. Prosecutors said the $7 billion agreement is meant to compensate the state for the socioeconomic and environmental damage caused by the disaster. But it doesn’t affect the many pending homicide and other criminal charges in the case against the world’s largest iron-ore miner and former executives, including Vale’s previous chief executive, Fabio Schvartsman. The attorney general of Minas Gerais state, Jarbas Soares Júnior, said he hoped the size of Thursday’s settlement would send a message to the rest of the world: “We will not accept the exploitation of our resources without a minimum level of commitment to social and environmental responsibility.” Vale accepted the decision and said it would book an additional expense of about $3.7 billion in its 2020 results. “Vale is committed to fully repair and compensate the damage caused by the tragedy in Brumadinho and to increasingly contribute to the improvement and development of the communities in which we operate,” CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said. “We know that we have work to do and we remain firm in that purpose.” Vale’s investors welcomed the settlement as a way to avoid a drawn-out court battle, as did prosecutors who Please turn to page A10
60 40 20 0 1950s
’70s
’90s
2010s
Note: Full employment estimate based on Congressional Budget Office Sources: Labor Department; Congressional Budget Office
quickly as possible. Washington’s intense focus on driving unemployment much lower marks a change in policy circles and more broadly in economic thinking. The Trump administration initially set speeding up economic growth as its top goal. The Federal Reserve for decades made low and stable inflation its beacon. Previous administrations have given priority to rising homeownership, reduced poverty, low taxes, balanced budgets and other economic objectives. However, the low unemployment rate achieved before the pandemic was a wake-up call for many policy makers and economists about the merits of reducing joblessness as Please turn to page A11 Weekly jobless claims edge lower again.......... A2
House Ousts GOP’s Greene From Committees BY KRISTINA PETERSON
ing with Democrats. The move will diminish Mrs. Greene’s ability to shape legislation and work with other lawmakers, sidelining her just weeks into her first term in office. Democrats said the move was a necessary response to counter the violent rhetoric and misinformation that helped foment the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, since GOP leaders declined to sanction her. “Yesterday, the Republican Conference chose to do noth-
WASHINGTON—The House voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments, delivering a severe rebuke to the Georgia Republican on Thursday hours after she said she regretted her past embrace of conspiracy theories. The House voted 230-199 to oust Mrs. Greene from the budget and education committees, with 11 Republicans sid-
To Explain Reddit-Fueled Mania, Beer and Puppets Come In Handy i
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ing. So, today the House must do something,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said. Republicans defended keeping Mrs. Greene on the committees, saying she had expressed regret, and they denounced the Democrats’ action as an infringement on the minority party’s rights. Republicans warned the move could spark retaliation in the future. The vote capped a tumultuous week for House Republi-
cans, whose internal turmoil over the party’s identity spilled into the open as GOP lawmakers struggled with how to contend with dueling factions of their party. In an hourslong meeting Wednesday night, where Mrs. Greene addressed some of her past comments, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House GOP Conference chairwoman, also fended off an effort from some allies of former President DonPlease turn to page A4
INSIDE
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The Reddit-fueled frenzy in stocks such as GameStop and AMC is prompting calls for regulators to reconsider the practice of payment for order flow. A1
EURO $1.1963
Ford plans to reduce production of its F-150 pickup truck, the U.S.’s top-selling vehicle JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
global chip shortage is expected to slash Ford’s vehicle output by up to 20% in the first quarter, highlighting the crunch’s impact on the auto industry. A1 Ford said its fourth-quarter earnings were dented by lower truck output. B3 Kia has approached potential partners about a plan to build Apple’s long-awaited electric car in Georgia. A6
HHHH $4.00
WSJ.com
Market frenzy inspires offbeat online explainers; the Beanie Baby parallel BY JULIA CARPENTER To help explain the complexities of the GameStop market frenzy, Brianna Parkins turned to two tall cans of Guinness, a sad-looking gray dog puppet and a pile of candy. In her series of short TikTok explainers, Ms. Parkins casts the puppet as a hedgefund manager looking to short a can of Guinness, reaping
profits (that would be the candy) along the way. A white plaster statue enters the scene—representing the popular Reddit forum WallStreetBets—and buys up not one, but two cans of Guinness. “This is bad news for your hedge funds,” she says, waving the puppet to the camera. Her series has drawn nearly three million views. “With something like short selling, it Please turn to page A11
MANSION A $2 million lodge is elaborate retreat for home on Chicago’s North Shore. M1
BUSINESS & FINANCE Yogurt maker Chobani weighs an IPO that could be worth more than $7 billion. B1