PRIMERAS PLANAS INTERNACIONALES
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VIERNES 19 DE FEBRERO DE 2021 | Año XLVI | Número 15.922 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
Biden abre una vía para nacionalizar a indocumentados
EE UU
La flota perdida por Francis Drake emerge en A Coruña P27
CULTURA P2
Podemos fractura más al Gobierno al apoyar las protestas violentas La formación de Pablo Iglesias dirige sus críticas a la policía y recibe la réplica de Calvo. El PP reclama a Sánchez que destituya al vicepresidente J. CASQUEIRO / R. CARRANCO / A. L. CONGOSTRINA, Madrid / Barcelona La fractura entre el PSOE y Unidas Podemos se agravó ayer por el apoyo de la formación que encabeza Pablo Iglesias a las protestas por el encarcelamiento del rapero Pablo Hasél. Después de que Pablo Echenique diera “todo” su apoyo a quienes habían protagonizado las protestas a pesar de lo violentas que habían resultado,
otro portavoz de Podemos, Rafael Mayoral, se negó a condenar la violencia de los manifestantes y criticó las cargas policiales. La vicepresidenta Carmen Calvo replicó que “una cosa es defen-
der que una democracia sea exigente y otra alentar una situación con heridos y detenidos”, dijo. La oposición reaccionó con dureza. “Sánchez tiene que destituir hoy a Iglesias, el máximo dirigen-
Las polémicas frases de Pablo Hasél que lo han llevado a prisión
P15
te del partido que ha alentado la violencia”, dijo Cuca Gamarra, del PP. Ciudadanos habló de “anormalidad democrática” y Vox denunció “incitación a la violencia”. Las protestas continuaron anoche, especialmente en Barcelona, donde hubo barricadas ardiendo, y Valencia, pero perdieron seguimiento con respecto a los días anteriores. PÁGINAS 14 A 16 EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 10
El PP ve más cerca ahora el acuerdo sobre el Poder Judicial La exclusión de Unidas Podemos del Consejo, clave en la negociación E. G. DE BLAS / C. E. CUÉ, Madrid El Partido Popular ve ahora más cercano un acuerdo con el PSOE para renovar instituciones como el Consejo General del Poder Judicial, RTVE, el Tribunal Constitucional o el Defensor del Pueblo. Después de que se hayan reanudado las conversaciones tras las elecciones catalanas, tanto el PP como el Ejecutivo consideran factible ese pacto. Pero la clave de la negociación es el papel de Unidas Podemos: el partido de Casado confía en que quede fuera del reparto del Poder Judicial, pero los socialistas niegan ese planteamiento. PÁGINA 17
Australia desata el primer gran duelo entre las tecnológicas y los medios
Miembros del centro de control de la NASA observan las primeras imágenes enviadas por ‘Perseverance’ desde Marte.
El vehículo de exploración ‘Perseverance’ salva con éxito un complejo aterrizaje
/ BILL INGALLS (NASA)
ORIOL PUIGDEMONT, Brisbane Una regulación que pretende hacer pagar por las noticias a las grandes tecnológicas como Google y Facebook (las Big Tech) ha abierto las hostilidades en Australia. Mientras Google ha llegado a un acuerdo con el conglomerado News Corp, Facebook ha vetado a los medios australianos, en una batalla que puede reproducirse en otros países. PÁGINA 26
La mayor misión espacial llega a Marte
La desescalada avanza aunque el nivel de los contagios sigue siendo muy alto
NUÑO DOMÍNGUEZ, Madrid La más ambiciosa misión a Marte de la historia aterrizó ayer con éxito en el planeta rojo. El vehículo de exploración Perseverance se posó a las diez de la noche, hora peninsular española, en el cráter Jezero tras una operación muy compleja, pues la poco densa atmósfera marciana apenas frenaba la velocidad de entrada, de 20.000 kiló-
JESSICA MOUZO, Barcelona La fuerte caída de los contagios por coronavirus ha llevado a algunas comunidades a ir suavizando las restricciones a la actividad y la movilidad. Madrid, Castilla y León y Aragón están entre las comunidades que avanzan en la desescalada. Con todo, el nivel de transmisión y la presión asistencial son aún muy altos. PÁGINA 23
metros por hora. Perseverance —desarrollado por EE UU con participación europea, también española— está equipado para analizar la composición atómica y química del fondo del cráter, donde hace 3.500 millones de años había un gran lago. Buscará rastros de vida microbiana en un entorno propicio para que surgiera en el pasado. PÁGINA 21
FINANCIAL TIMES N E W S PRO V ID E R O F T H E Y E A R
F R ID A Y 19 F E B R U A R Y 20 21
U K £2.90 Channel Islands £3.20; Re publiC o f Ireland €3.20
Macron calis for urgent supply of Covid vaccines to poorer nations
Briefing ►Sunalc report on business rafes delayed Thechancellor isto delaya final report onareview of business rates — a key part of his promise to “level tlie playing field” between tlie high Street and Online retailers - until later tliis year.- page 2
►Anger mounts over Woodford plans
Exclusive interview French leader highlights perils of inequalities in run-up to G7 summit
Tile City watc hdog is facing calis by asenior MP to say whenitwill end its probe intothecollapseofNeil Wood ford ’s huid, amid anger over Woodford ’s plans to la u n c h an e w u n it.- report and city insider. pacei2
RO ULA K H A LA F A N O BEN H A L L - LON DON V IC T O R M A L L E T - P A R IS
►Starm er calis íor UK reeovery bond
President Emmanuel Macron of Frunce says Europe and the US should urgen ti)' allocate up to 5 per cent of their current vaccine suppli.es to deveioping countries where Covid-19 vaccination campaigns have scarcely begun and China and Russia are offering to fúl the gap. In an interview w ith the Financial Times by video linkfrom the Elysée Palace, Macron said that. African nations were sometimes buying w estern vac cines such as those made by AstraZeneca at “astro nomica I piice.s” —two or three times tire price paid by the EU and being offered Chínese and Russian vaccines of uncertain efficacy against new va ri ants of tlie virus. The Elysée said that the pricing was evidentiya problem of sales bymtermediaries, and m ight equally affect the vaccines of other drugs companies. “We are allowing the idea to take hold that hundreds of tnillions of vaccines are being given in rích countries and that we are n o tsta rtin g in poor coun tries,” Macron said altead of a G7 meeting of the leaders of the woxld’s biggest economies called by Boris Johnson, the UK prime jninister. “It’s an imprecedented acceleration of global inequality and it's politically unsustainable too because it’s paving the way for a war of influence over vaccines he said. “You can seetheChinese strategy, and the Russian strategy too.” Downing Street said Johnson will cali on fellow G7 leaders today to marease their funding for the Covax global vac cine p rocurement pro gra mine and back efforts to speed development of new Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. M acron said th a t it was crucial for pharmaceuticals groups making vaccúres to transfertechnology abroad to accelerate global production and to be tra n sp aren t about pricing, “We will apply all thepressure we can.” he said. The concept of intellectual property
SirKeir Stanner, facing heatforlettingBoris Johnson off thehookover his pandemicperformance, called foranew British reeovery bond, m akeyspeech ai med at resetdng lüs Labour leadersliip.—pa g e 2
►Bullish Barclays resumes dividends ChiefjesStaley predicted a “robust ” rebound in consumer spendingand restartedthe lender’sdividend, buoyedby faUingcoroimlrus-related loan prOVisiOUS.- PAGE 12: l e x . p a g e 24
►BioNTech vaccine less potent on variant The Biorfrech/Pfízcr coro aavirus vaccine appears tobe two-tliirds less effective against the virus variant, known as 501Y.V2, that emerged in South Africa, a study has found.- p a g e 6
►Cruz faces heat over tiip to Cancán Democrats have called for Ted Cruz, Texas’s Republican senato r, to quit afte r he flew to México while millions Ln thestategrappledw ltha deadly Arcticblast and electricityblackouts.- page 4
►Tllegal middlemen’ PPE probe launched Proseaitors in Italy have launched a probe into a €1.25bn govemmeut contract for PPE from China, placed as Italy battled ashortageofm asksatthe Emmanuel M acronsaid that tliehighcostof vaccines was settingtliestage fo ra'w aro f influence’ Sraaa del a Moisw ri ere
was essential for innovation, but if vac cine m a n u fa c tu re rs w ere not cooperative “inevitablytbe political question of mtellectual property will arise in all our countries,” he said. ■‘I don’t think it’s the right debate, it’s not helpful, but it will arise —this discussion over excess profits based on scaicity of tire vaccine.” M acron acknowledged that the EU had been slower tlian the US at ensuring production and supply of vaccines and was facing shortages, b u t said that diverting a small share of tlie doses to Africa from European supply chains wotdd not hfridervaccination efforts. “The key is to move quicker,” he said. "We’re n o t talking about billlons of doses immediately, or billions and billions of euros. It’s about m uchm orerap-
idly allocating 4-5 per cent of th e doses wehave. “It won’t change our vaccination cam pa igns, b u t each c o nntry should set aside a small number of the doses it has to transfer tens of millions of them, but very fast, so that people on the groimd see it happening.” Macrou said he had discussed tlie idea w ith Angela Merkel, G ennany’s chancellor. “She supports it and we are in agreem ent,” he said, adding th at he hoped also to convnice the US, where
li s about much more rapidly allocating 4-5 per cent of the doses we have'
The most sénior House Democrat overseeiug the financia] Services industry
Charittes demand hlgher Jabs prlorlty for disabled N ew figures that sa y p eople sufferlng with dlsablllties accounted for 6 0 per cent of C ovld-19 deaths in E n glan d fast ye ar have prompfecf charltles to urge that their Jabs priority leve! is raised. Officials are to m ove an extra 8 2 0 ,0 0 0 p eo p le u p the prlorlty llst, Includlng so m e w lfh severe learnlng dlsablllties. b ut crltlcs warrted thls did n ot Inelude th o se w ith mlld dísabtlltíes, w h o are at equal rlsk o f d y in g from the dlsease.
Vaccine rollout ► p a g e FT Vlew ► PAGE 22
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said fears of a “rigged" system on Wall Street had been exacerbated by last m onth’s vol atility in Ga me Stop shares. As some of th e biggest players in equities trading faced a grilling on Capítol Hill, Maxine Waters, California representativeand chairof the House financlal Services com m ittee, called for “robust protections for investors and accxmntabihty for Wall Street". “Many America ns feel tliat the Sys tem isstacked against them and no matter what, Wall Street always wins,” she said. “Intliis instan.ee manyretail inves tors appeared motivated by a desire to beat Wall Street at its own game. And given thelosses tliat many retail inves
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GameStop traders grilled in Congress on surge th at raised ‘rigged’Wall Street fears JAM ES P O LIT I — W ASHINGTON E R IC P L A T T - NEW YORK
heightofthepandemiclastyeaiv-PAGE 9
vaccine supplies arem ore plentiftd than intheEU. w liile implicitly acknowledging tliat the rollout of vaccines to deveioping countries was a diplomatic battle that western countries were losing, Macron said it ivas in tire interest of all countries extend jab programm es beyond tlieir home ter ritory. “It’s in the interest ofthe French and the Europeans.Today I have more than lOm o í our fellow citizens who have families on the other side of theMediterranean,” he said. W ithout helping their neighbours aroundthe Mediterranean and the Balkans, European countries would never be able to reopen because they would end up reünporting Covid-19 variants resistant to their vaccines, he said,
tors have sustained as a result ofvolatility in the system, there are many whose belief that the system is rigged against them has been reinforced.” Execuüves from hedge ftmds Citadel Securities and Melvin Capital were qutezed by lawmakers alongside Robin hood, the online trading platform; Reddit, the social media network; and Keith Gilí, the retad investor known as DeepFuckingValue on Reddit and Roaring Kitty on YouTube. T hey were caught up in the share surge in G am eStop, a video gam e retailer. The company s stock rocketed to as high as $483 in January before trading restríctions were put in place. The price has sincecollapsed to $43. Gilí, norm ally seen online in a red bandana and T-shirt, m ade his video link appearance in suit and tie. In pre pared rem arks to th e hearing, he
defended his investm ent in GameStop and urged the H ouse com m ittee to investígate “potentíally manipulative shortingpractices” on Wall Street, “fve had a bit of experience and even I barely understand these m atters ” Gil! said. “It’s alarming how little we know about the inner workings of the mar ket.” The hearing pointed to an effort by Democrats in Congress to tighten financial regulations, with the support of tlie Biden administra tion. In their testiinony, Robinhood chief executive Vlad Tenev, Ken Griffin of Cit adel and Melvin founder Gabe Plotkin sought to deconstruct a narrattve that Wall Street instituí ions a re playing by a different rules tiran everyday investors. Tenev apologised for events surrotmding Robinhood’s suspensión of trading during the episode, which shut manyretail investorsout ofthe market.
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Late Edition Today, cloudy, periodic snow, sleet, high 34. Tonight, flurries, partial clearing later, low 26. Tomorrow, clouds and sunshine, windy, high 36. Weather map appears on Page A22.
VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,974
$3.00
NEW YORK, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2021
© 2021 The New York Times Company
Texans Facing New Crisis: Too Little Drinkable Water Power Flickers Back, but Frozen Pipes Break and Treatment Plants Are Crippled This article is by Jack Healy, Richard Fausset and James Dobbins.
TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
A family in San Antonio burning furniture to stay warm. More than four million Texans lost power when the state’s grid collapsed.
U.S. Is Moving ‘Touchdown’ as NASA’s Rover Arrives on Mars Mars has been the focus of more To Renew Deal and more interest from explorers On a Mission to Send on Earth. The United Arab Emirsafely landed a new roWith Iranians boticNASA ates and China both began orbitRocks Home in a rover on Mars on Thursday, By KENNETH CHANG
This article is by Lara Jakes, Michael Crowley and David E. Sanger.
WASHINGTON — The United States took a major step on Thursday toward restoring the Iran nuclear deal that the Trump administration abandoned, offering to join European nations in what would be the first substantial diplomacy with Tehran in more than four years, Biden administration officials said. In a series of moves intended to make good on one of President Biden’s most significant campaign promises, the administration also backed away from a Trump administration effort to restore United Nations sanctions on Iran. That effort had divided Washington from its European allies. And at the same time, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told European foreign ministers in a call on Thursday morning that the United States would join them in seeking to restore the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, which he said “was a key achievement of multilateral diplomacy.” Hours later, Enrique Mora, the European Union’s deputy secretary general for political affairs, appealed to the original signers of the nuclear deal — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — to salvage it at “a critical moment.” “Intense talks with all participants and the US,” Mr. Mora said on Twitter. “I am ready to invite them to an informal meeting to discuss the way forward.” While it was unclear whether the Iranians would agree to join discussions, three people familiar Continued on Page A9
beginning its most ambitious effort in decades to directly study whether there was ever life on the now barren red planet. While the agency has completed other missions to Mars, the $2.7 billion robotic explorer, named Perseverance, carries scientific tools that will bring advanced capabilities to the search for life beyond Earth. The rover, about the size of a car, can use its sophisticated cameras, lasers that can analyze the chemical makeup of Martian rocks and ground-penetrating radar to identify the chemical signatures of fossilized microbial life that may have thrived on Mars when it was a planet full of flowing water. “Now the fun really starts,” Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s plan-
Search for Life etary science division, said during a news conference after the landing. NASA’s earlier missions showed that in the distant past some places were warm, wet and habitable. Now it is time to learn whether there were ever any microscopic inhabitants there. “It‘s an enormous undertaking that’s in front of us, and it has enormous scientific potential to really be transformative.” Kenneth Williford, a deputy project scientist on the mission said during a news conference on Wednesday. “The question is, ‘Was Mars ever a living planet?’ ”
ing the planet last month, joining an armada of European and American spacecraft already studying it from space. The rover will set in motion a NASA plan that is to be carried out over the next decade, and it could bring samples from Mars back to Earth, where scientists will have even more capabilities to find something signaling that our planet is not the only place where life has ever been found. The mission will also try to make a small experimental helicopter, Ingenuity, take flight in the thin Martian atmosphere — something never accomplished before. Successful tests of this Marscopter could point the way toward new methods for searching the surface of Mars and other Continued on Page A16
FATEFUL MOVE An American
couple’s decision to relocate to Iran has brought misery. PAGE A9
BILL INGALLS/NASA, VIA REUTERS
WASHINGTON — When Di’Zhon Chase’s teacher told her that she might be able to enroll in a Harvard University class, she was skeptical — and not just because the Ivy League school was more than 2,000 miles from her hometown, Gallup, N.M. “Harvard isn’t part of the conversation — you don’t even hear
Bolting to Cancún, Cruz Finds More Heat Than He Expected By SHANE GOLDMACHER and NICHOLAS FANDOS
Like millions of his constituents across Texas, Senator Ted Cruz had a frigid home without electricity this week amid the state’s power crisis. But unlike most, Mr. Cruz got out, fleeing Houston and hopping a Wednesday afternoon flight to Cancún with his family for a respite at a luxury resort. Photos of Mr. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, boarding the flight ricocheted quickly across social media and left both his political allies and rivals aghast at a tropical trip as a disaster unfolded at home. The blowback only intensified after Mr. Cruz, a Republican, released a statement saying he had flown to Mexico “to be a good dad” and accompany his daughters and their friends; he noted he was flying back Thursday afternoon, though he did not disclose how long he had originally intended to stay. Text messages sent from Ms. Cruz to friends and Houston neighbors on Wednesday revealed a hastily planned trip. Their house was “FREEZING,” as
that word in Gallup,” Ms. Chase said. “It isn’t something that adults expect out of us. I don’t think it’s because they don’t believe in us; it’s just so much is stacked against us.” But in fall 2019, Ms. Chase joined a small group of students across the country in an experiment that sought to redefine what is possible for students who share her underprivileged background.
INTERNATIONAL A8-11
Focusing on Students in the Poorest Schools Through an initiative started by a New York-based nonprofit, the National Education Equity Lab, hundreds of students are virtually rattling the gates of some of the
nation’s most elite colleges by excelling in their credit-bearing courses before they leave high school. The Equity Lab enrolled more than 300 11th and 12th graders from high-poverty high schools in 11 cities across the country in a Harvard course, “Poetry in America: The City From Whitman to Hip-Hop,” taught by a renowned Continued on Page A19
This article is by Sharon LaFraniere, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Abby Goodnough.
RICHMOND, Va. — When tiny glass vials of coronavirus vaccine began rolling off production lines late last year, federal health officials set aside a big stash for nursing homes being ravaged by the virus. Health providers around the country figured as well that it was prudent to squirrel away vials to ensure that everyone who got a first dose of vaccine got a second one. Two months later, it is clear both strategies went overboard. Millions of doses wound up
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7
BUSINESS B1-6
Cuts to Public Transit Averted
Employment, Guaranteed?
After warnings of draconian actions, officials in New York announced that they would not have to slash bus or subway service through 2022. PAGE A7
The federal government has not deployed a policy of directly providing jobs to people since the Great Depression. Various politicians and economists are now willing to consider it. PAGE B1
NATIONAL A12-19, 22
SPORTSFRIDAY B7-9
An Island’s Ageless Echoes
Outlining a Path to Citizenship
A New-Generation Showdown
On La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, schoolchildren learn a language of medieval shepherds: whistling. PAGE A8
Democrats detailed a sweeping plan to fix an immigration system they said Trump policies had broken. PAGE A18
After ousting Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, above, will play Jennifer Brady for the Australian Open title. PAGE B9
More Dialogue, Less Diktat
Pushing Biden on His Pledge
New Boss for Tokyo Games
Europeans welcome President Biden’s vow to restore the trans-Atlantic alliance, but they want more say. PAGE A10
Native Americans are hoping for help in addressing problems with poverty, health care and other issues. PAGE A17
With the naming of a woman to run the Tokyo organizing committee, some also see a cultural shift in Japan. PAGE B8
REUTERS
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas at a Mexico airport on Thursday. Ms. Cruz put it — and she proposed a getaway until Sunday. Ms. Cruz invited others to join them at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún, where they had stayed “many times,” noting the room price this week ($309 per night) and its good security. The text messages were provided to The New York Times and confirmed by a second person on the thread, who declined to be identified because of the private nature of the texts. For more than 12 hours after the Continued on Page A16
Short of Doses, States Lay Claim To Stockpiles of Unused Vaccine
Mission control erupted in cheers on Thursday as NASA’s $2.7 billion Perseverance craft landed.
A Program Inspires Ivy League Dreams in Disadvantaged Teens By ERICA L. GREEN
DALLAS — Power began to flicker back on across much of Texas on Thursday, but millions across the state confronted another dire crisis: a shortage of drinkable water as pipes cracked, wells froze and water treatment plants were knocked offline. The problems were especially acute at hospitals. One, in Austin, was forced to move some of its most critically ill patients to another building when its faucets ran nearly dry. Another in Houston had to haul in water on trucks to flush toilets. But for many of the state’s residents stuck at home, the emergency meant boiling the tap water that trickled through their faucets, scouring stores for bottled water or boiling icicles and dirty snow on their stoves. For others, it meant no water at all. Denise Gonzalez, 40, had joined a crowd at a makeshift relief center in a working-class corner of West Dallas on Thursday where volunteers handed out food from the luggage compartment of a charter bus. Back at her apartment, she said, the lights were finally back on. But her pipes were frozen solid. She could not bathe, shower or use the toilet. She said she had been calling plumbers all day, but one of the few who answered told her it would be $3,000 to come out
to assess the damage. “If I had $3,000,” Ms. Gonzalez said, “I wouldn’t be getting food from people on the bus.” Major disruptions to the Texas power grid left more than four million households without power this week, but by Thursday evening, only about 347,000 lacked electricity. Much of the statewide concern had turned to water woes. More than 800 public water systems serving 162 of the state’s 254 counties had been disrupted as of Thursday, affecting 13.1 million people, according to a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In Harris County, which includes Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, more than one million people have been affected by local water systems that have either issued notices to boil water so it is safe to drink or that cannot deliver water at all, said Brian Murray, a spokesman for the county emergency management agency. Residents in the Texas capital, Austin, were also told to boil water because of a power failure at the city’s largest water-treatment facility. The director of Austin Water, Greg Meszaros, said that plummeting temperatures caused water mains to break and pipes to burst, spurring an increase in water usage and allowing water to Continued on Page A14
Robinhood Cast as the Villain Lawmakers at a congressional hearing kept coming back to the chief of the stock-trading app with pointed questions and a key argument: “Something very wrong happened here.” PAGE B1 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21
David Brooks
PAGE A20
trapped in logistical limbo, either set aside for nursing homes that did not need them or stockpiled while Americans clamored in vain for their first doses. Now a national effort is underway to pry those doses loose — and, with luck, give a significant boost to the national vaccination ramp-up. In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has pushed the Biden administration to allow him to claw back 100,000 excess doses that were allocated to the federal program for long-term-care facilities. In Michigan, Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun, the chief medical executive, is raiding nursing home doses that Continued on Page A5
WEEKEND ARTS C1-14
The Unsettled Americans Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand, above, is a patient, compassionate film about itinerant lives, A.O. Scott writes. PAGE C1
U(D54G1D)y+"!{!,!$!=
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2021 ~ VOL. CCLXXVII NO. 40
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DJIA 31493.34 g 119.68 0.4%
NASDAQ 13865.36 g 0.7%
STOXX 600 412.70 g 0.8%
10-YR. TREAS. À 3/32 , yield 1.286%
OIL $60.52 g $0.62
GOLD $1,773.40 À $2.30
Mars Welcomes a Picture-Perfect Landing for NASA Rover
What’s News Business & Finance
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obinhood CEO Tenev offered an apology during a congressional hearing for the firm’s decision to temporarily curb trading in some stocks, including GameStop, on Jan. 28 amid extraordinary volatility. A1
IBM is exploring a potential sale of its IBM Watson Health business as the tech giant looks to streamline. B1 Australians were caught off guard by Facebook’s move to pull news from its platform in a spat with the government over payment for content. B1 Facebook has taken steps to prevent it from collecting sensitive personal data through apps but should do more, a New York regulator said. B4 Quibi is trying to force executives at Elliott to explain whether the hedge fund’s involvement in financing a patent suit against it was motivated by a relationship between Elliott’s founder and a colleague. B1
World-Wide More than 14 million people in Texas are without safe drinking water, as the fallout from severe winter weather hobbles the state. A fresh winter storm pounded large parts of the U.S. on Thursday. A1, A6 U.S. and Iranian officials could hold nuclear discussions within coming weeks under an EU plan to bring the two sides together, U.S. officials and senior diplomats say. A16 The Biden administration kicked off a round of highlevel diplomacy at a NATO meeting where it sought to soothe European allies. A4 Groups representing major tech firm filed a lawsuit challenging Maryland’s new online advertising tax, contending it is an improper levy on the internet. A3 Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn sought data on nursing-home deaths from New York Gov. Cuomo’s administration after state officials took months to respond to a separate DOJ inquiry. A3
NASA
ROLLOUT: NASA’s best-equipped rover yet, Perseverance, touched down safely Thursday on Mars, after a seven-month, 292-million-mile journey. It began transmitting images shortly after landing in an ancient lake bed called Jezero Crater. A3
Robinhood’s CEO Apologizes For Blocking Trades in Frenzy BY PAUL KIERNAN AND PETER RUDEGEAIR Robinhood Markets Inc. Chief Executive Vlad Tenev offered an apology for the firm’s decision to temporarily curb trading in some stocks, including GameStop Corp., on Jan. 28 amid extraordinary volatility. “Despite the unprecedented market conditions in January, at the end of the day, what happened is unacceptable to us,” Mr. Tenev said. The apology from Mr. Tenev came after House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman
BY SARAH NASSAUER Walmart Inc. said it would raise wages for about 425,000 of its employees after a year in which the Covid-19 pandemic boosted its business and demand for workers who handle online orders. The company reported strong holiday sales but predicted slower growth and higher spending this year. After surging last year, the company’s stock fell 6% Thursday. The country’s largest pri-
INSIDE
CONTENTS Arts in Review A10-11 Banking & Finance B10 Business News.. B3,5 Crossword............... A11 Heard on Street. B12 Mansion............. M1-14
s 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
vate employer said its more targeted raises would increase pay for its hourly U.S. workers to an average above $15 an hour, up from an average above $14 in January 2020. Walmart employs about 1.5 million hourly U.S. workers and 2.2 million people world-wide. Congress is debating whether to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour. The Biden administration’s proposal, which is part of a Covid-19 stimulus relief package, seeks to increase it
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to $15 over four years. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the company supports raising the federal minimum but there are parts of the country that should be lower than others, and increases should be paced out. The company is keeping its starting wage at $11 an hour. Please turn to page A2 Walmart move plays into U.S. policy debate.............................. A2 Heard on the Street: Don’t let slower sales fool you.......... B12
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Fans demand return of beloved items that disappeared during the pandemic BY HEATHER HADDON
MANSION Homeowners remodel to create places for together time—and time apart. M1
Markets..................... B11 Opinion.............. A13-15 Sports........................ A12 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-7 Weather................... A11 World News...... A8,16
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ing whether the saga calls for policy changes or was fueled by criminal misconduct such as market manipulation. It remains to be seen whether major policy changes are on the horizon. Thursday’s hearing was billed as a factfinding mission aimed at illuminating the GameStop drama. In addition to Mr. Tenev, lawmakers also questioned Ken Griffin, the billionaire CEO of Chicagobased hedge fund Citadel LLC and market-making giant Citadel Securities, as well as Keith Gill, the once-anonymous trader who led the hordes of
Where’s My Midnight McMuffin? Curtailed Menus Draw Protests
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
The Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars, in NASA’s latest and most ambitious effort to find evidence of past life on the planet. A3
Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) interrupted the Robinhood CEO during his opening remarks. Ms. Waters’s request was unusual, as witnesses are allowed to have opening statements before taking questions from lawmakers. The GameStop episode, in which a group of online traders helped send shares of the videogame retailer on a wild rally earlier this year that ultimately crashed, has raised concerns about the integrity of the U.S. stock market and the rules that govern it. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other authorities are investigat-
Walmart to Boost Wages For 425,000 U.S. Workers
WHO investigators are honing their search for animals that could have spread the new coronavirus to humans, identifying two, ferret badgers and rabbits, that were sold at a Wuhan market. A8 Democrats in Congress and progressive advocates are coalescing around a strategy to try to pass immigration bills piecemeal. A4
YEN 105.68
Freeze Leaves Millions Without Water
BY ELIZABETH FINDELL AND KEN THOMAS
Initial jobless claims rose during the first half of February, pausing a downward trend that pointed to an improving labor market. A2
Volkswagen is considering listing as much as 25% of Porsche, a move analysts say could boost the market value of the entire VW group. B1
EURO $1.2095
Pipes burst by ice wreak havoc in Texas, forcing some to cope by melting snow
Walmart said it would raise wages for about 425,000 of its U.S. employees, as the retailer reported strong holiday sales but predicted slower growth and higher spending this year. A1, A2
U.S. stocks dropped, with the S&P 500 and Dow both retreating 0.4%, while the Nasdaq shed 0.7%. B11
HHHH $4.00
WSJ.com
U.S. NEWS Former Sen. Bob Dole is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. A5
Caitlyn Romanski was sitting in her car in a Panera Bread Co. parking lot, alone and confused. The 21-year-old college junior couldn’t figure out what she would do without the Chicken Tortellini Alfredo that Panera had yanked from menus during the coronavirus pandemic. There was no substitute for the ‘M’ is for comfort derived from that roughly $10 plate of pasta, the University of Kentucky student said. She didn’t like Italian chain Fazoli’s similar option as much. Olive Garden’s was good, but more expensive. A self-described horrible cook prone to burning
grilled cheese, Ms. Romanski resorted to making Knorr pasta packets at home. She took her grievance to the internet, starting a petition at Change.org calling on Panera to serve her favorite pasta again. She shared it with the site’s more than 100 million users. More than 530 people have signed on to her cause. “All that I ask is that they bring back the Chicken Tortellini Alfredo ‘Missing’ pasta back,” the Chicago native said. A spokesman said that Panera couldn’t guarantee tortellini pasta would return, but that other favorite items such as French onion soup have reemerged. Please turn to page A9
individual investors into GameStop under the online alias “Roaring Kitty.” Mr. Gill stressed in his testimony that he isn’t a professional investor and doesn’t provide investment advice in exchange for fees. He also told lawmakers: “I’m not a cat.” Lawmakers took different positions on the implications of the trading frenzy that emerged on message boards surrounding GameStop and Please turn to page A4 Reddit users seek the next GameStop..................................... B1
More than 14 million people in Texas are without safe drinking water, as the fallout from severe winter weather hobbles the nation’s second most populous state and fuels widespread anger and frustration. Cities including Austin, Houston and San Antonio are under boil-water notices until Monday. Some residents are bringing in shovelfuls of snow to flush their toilets. The harsh weather has crippled Texas’s energy grid, leaving more than four million residents without electricity during the peak of the blackouts, many of them remaining without heat in subfreezing conditions for days on end. The cold snap has also caused a wave of burst water pipes, which led to a loss of water pressure and a shortage. Three dozen people have died due to weather-related issues across the U.S., according to the Associated Press. Traffic accidents make up the majority of those deaths, and half a dozen people have died from exposure. More than 382,000 customers in Texas still have no power, according to data from poweroutage.us. Over two million households and businesses Please turn to page A6 Winter storms pound large parts of U.S................................ A6 Frigid weather disrupts grocers, auto makers............. B3
Unaccompanied children and families detained at the Mexican border Unaccompanied child
Family units
12,500
10,000
7,500
5,000
2,500
0 Oct. 2019 Jan. ’20 Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Jan. ’21
More Families Cross Illegally Federal authorities and aid groups say the number of families illegally crossing into the U.S. and being rapidly released from immigration custody in border towns is rising. Local officials say they haven’t seen such large releases of migrants since 2019. A4
Behind the Botched Vaccination Rollout Balky communication and misallocated doses set back launch; pace picks up The record-fast creation of Covid-19 vaccines was a triumph. So why is it taking so long to vaccinate Americans? By Sarah Krouse, Brianna Abbott and Jared S. Hopkins The answer starts with tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses that sat unused in medical freezers across the U.S. in the early weeks of the rollout. In the launch, the federal government set aside far more doses for nursing homes than the facilities needed. A fragmented chain of communication between federal authorities dispatching doses and the local sites ultimately injecting them left
the vaccinators in the dark about how many patients they could schedule. Worried about limited supplies, some hospitals and health departments held back doses to make sure they had enough to administer second shots for staff or to meet appointments, creating a bottleneck to the outflow. Vaccinations are now picking up. But early stumbles might extend the pandemic, and leave more people without protection. Health officials say the new coronavirus variants that appear to Please turn to page A9 Storm stalls delivery of vaccine........................................... A7 WHO narrows hunt for origin of Covid-19.................................. A8