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Malas notas para tres de cada cuatro campus UNIVERSIDAD
El asesinato de Khashoggi y otros documentales de denuncia P26 CINE
P23
Y
27
Sanidad reanudará la vacunación con AstraZeneca tras el aval de la UE La Agencia Europea del Medicamento concluye que el fármaco es seguro y eficaz
Pablo Casado, acompañado por Teodoro García Egea, saludaba ayer a los diputados expulsados de Vox Francisco Carrera y Juan José Liarte tras votarse la moción en la Asamblea de Murcia. / MARCIAL GUILLÉN (EFE)
Pablo Casado bendice el transfuguismo para reconstruir la derecha El líder del PP da las gracias a la ultraderecha en Murcia XOSÉ HERMIDA, Cartagena El presidente del PP, Pablo Casado, relanzó ayer su proyecto bendiciendo el pacto con tránsfugas de Ciudadanos y con disidentes de Vox para mantener el Gobierno de Murcia. “Hoy comienza la reconstrucción del centrodere-
Edmundo Bal, relevo de Aguado como candidato de Cs en Madrid M
ADRID
La pandemia revela la precariedad de la atención psicológica en la red pública
cha”, proclamó el líder del PP en Cartagena, donde aterrizó para avalar la maniobra que permitió a su partido neutralizar la moción de censura de Ciudadanos y PSOE. Casado acudió raudo a agradecer el apoyo de tres exdiputados de Vox al PP. PÁGINA 13
PABLO LINDE / GUILLERMO ABRIL Madrid / Bruselas España reanudará las vacunaciones con el fármaco de AstraZeneca el próximo miércoles, según acordaron ayer por unanimidad el Ministerio de Sanidad y las comunidades autónomas en una reunión extraordinaria del Consejo Interterritorial de Salud. La medida se adoptó poco después de que la investigación de la Agencia Europea del Medicamento (EMA) concluyese que la vacuna es segura y que sus beneficios superan los riesgos. Francia e Italia también desbloquearon de inmediato el uso del medicamento. La Agencia señaló que los casos de trombosis detectados, y que habían llevado a España y otros países a paralizar la administración del producto de AstraZeneca, entran en los esperados para la población general, aunque no se puede “descartar definitivamente” un vínculo entre esos episodios y el fármaco. Los siete casos de coagulación intramuscular diseminada y los 18 de trombosis del seno venoso cerebral registrados —dentro de un total de 20 millones de personas vacunadas en Europa— significan solo un 1,25 por millón de vacunados, una cifra inferior a la de otros medicamentos y similar a la de otras vacunas. Los expertos del Comité Inter-
territorial evalúan ahora a qué grupos de población se inyecta la vacuna. Está pendiente una decisión sobre si se amplía el uso del medicamento a los mayores de 55 años. PÁGINAS 20 Y 21 EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 8
España ya es el quinto país del mundo que regula la eutanasia El Congreso culmina el trámite de la ley con amplia mayoría EMILIO DE BENITO, Madrid España se une a Holanda, Bélgica, Luxemburgo y Canadá como uno de los primeros países del mundo que regulan la eutanasia. El Congreso de los Diputados aprobó ayer, con 202 votos a favor, 141 en contra y dos abstenciones, el último trámite de la ley, que entrará en vigor dentro de tres meses. La norma prevé ayudar a morir a quien sufra una enfermedad que le cause un “sufrimiento intolerable”. PÁGINAS 20 Y 21
IVÁN DUQUE Presidente de Colombia
La salud mental, para quien puede pagársela
“No hago política con la paz, tengo una política de paz”
la media de la UE. “La salud mental”, dice el experto Antonio Sanz, “es el punto más débil del sistema sanitario”. La inmensa mayoría de los 33.200 colegiados en psicología clínica ejercen en consultas privadas, a las que acuden cada vez más personas ante el embudo creciente para conseguir cita en el sistema público. PÁGINA 22
J. M. AHRENS / J. LAFUENTE Bogotá El presidente de Colombia, Iván Duque, analiza en una entrevista con EL PAÍS las reformas en marcha, los efectos de la pandemia y la relación con Venezuela. “Yo no hago política con la paz. Yo tengo una política de paz”, asegura. PÁGINA 6
JESSICA MOUZO, Barcelona Psicólogos y psiquiatras advierten de que la demanda de tratamientos de salud mental crece por la pandemia y la crisis económica sin que la red pública sea capaz de asumirla. España solo cuenta con seis psicólogos del Sistema Nacional de Salud por cada 100.000 habitantes, un tercio de
FINANCIAL TIMES NEWS PROVIDER OF THE l i EAR
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Lessons from Netflix
Vaccine wars
China’s fintech battle
What news titles can learn from the streaming king - i n s i d e b u s i n e s s , p a g e
EU’s scramble to secure jabs risks reputational damage - p a g e 6
How curbing credit-fuelled excesses could stifle growth - big r e a d , p a g e 21
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Cameron lobbied for Greensill access to Covid-19 loan schemes •> Former PM urged bigger role for ailing group •> Treasury reluctant amid eligibility fears
Briefing ► Bank upgrades outlook for OK economy The Bank of England revised up its outlook forthe British economy, but it stressed that it was in no rush to cut its support to boost the country’s recovery from thecoronavirus pandem ic.- pace i
► EU gives all-clear to AstraZeneca jab France and Italy are to restart using the AstraZeneca jab following the announcement by the EU drugs body that it was “safe”,just days after manynations had paused its use.— r e p o r t s , p a g e l e t t e r s , p a g e 22
JIM P IC K A R D , C Y N T H I A O ’ M U R C H U A N D
RO B ERT SM ITH
► Ocado reaps lockdown sales windfall
David Cameron lobbied thegovenunent to increase Greensill Capital’s access to state-backed Covid-19 loan schemes, months before the finance company col lapsed and left the taxpayer on the hook forpotential losses. The form er p rim e m inister, who became an adviser to Greensill in 2018, pressed his ex-colleagues to give the company a bigger role in programmes des igned to keep credit flowing to pan demic-hit businesses, according to peo ple briefed on the m atter in Whitehall and the City. Public records show Green sill representatives had 10 virtual meet ings between March and June last year with the two most senior officials at the Treasury as it sought access to a Bank of England loan scheme. w h a tth e records do not show - but w hat the Financial Times has estab lished from figures within industry and Whitehall —is that Cameron also inter vened personally on behalf of the com pany founded by Australian financier Lex Greensill. Treasury officials were reluctant to include Greensill in the Bank of England’s Covid C orporate Financing Facility, even though the finance group said “concerns about their eligibility for die CCFF were mis placed”, according to records released under the Freedom of Information Act. Greensill then deployed Cameron to lobby his former colleagues. The former prim e m inister approached the Treas ury and 10 Downing Street through both his personal email and a t least one phone call, according to two people familiar with die conversations. The FT c o n ta cte d b o th C am eron and his spokesm anbutthey did not respond. In mid-May, as Treasury officials con tinued to resist Greensill’s approach, chancellor Rishi Sunak stepped h i and asked Charles Roxburgh, the second permanent secretary at the Treasury, to give the company a further hearing. An offida 1summary of that conversa
Lockdowns pushed Ocado sales up 29 per cent, bu ttlie grocer said that it expected more normal trading patterns to resume anditofferedno yearly profits guidance.- p a g e 12
► Anger over plans for asy lum seekers Campaigners have criticised reported HomeOffice plans tosend asylum seekers abroad while their claims wereprocessed as part of a proposed immigration system shake-up.- p a g e 2
► Toshiba red-faced after five-year battle A clash between Toshiba and two o f its largest investors has ended in a vote in favour of aprobe Into the group’s conduct after fiveyearsof shareholder activism .- page 9; lex, page 24
► Putin and Biden swap insults Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden have swapped insults amid warnings that the Moscow-Waskington relationship has sunk toahistoric low, with Russia recallingits ambassador for talks - p a g e 9
► National Grid acquires Western Power
A ustralian financier Lex Greensill, left, aud David Cam eron, the form er prim e m inister FT montage; Shufterstock, AFP via Getty Images
tio n p re p a re d fo r R o x b u rg h a nd released following die FOI request, says: “At the chancellor’s request you took a call from Greensill last night [May 14], Yo u set out that no decision had yet been taken but the chancellor had asked you to revert to them on two points.” By early May, the FT had flagged the rising num ber of defaults linked to Greensill. On May 18 Roxburgh broke the news th at a proposal to expand the Bank of England scheme to allow Greensill to use it to write credit to small businesses would “not be likely to bring sufficient benefits to UK SMEs ”. Sunak believed diat the government should instead prio rit ise other sc he mes, die official told the company. A mo nth later t here was a final nieet-
ingon June 26 where again Roxburgh told die company its request had been rebuffed. Greensill then made a new request, asking if the Treasury could allow it to write bigger loans under the separate Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Greensill had been adm itted to the programme in June. But while lenders such as Barclays could issue CLBILS loans of up to £200m , supply chain finance companies such as Greensill were limited to a cap of £50m. Greensill requested th a t its cap be raised to £ 2 0 0 m . T h a t d em an d a lso w ent nowhere, withRoxburgh saying £200m would represent “significant exposure”. However, even a t the low er lim it Greensill still lent hundreds of millions of pounds through m ultiple loans to
companies linked to Sanjeev Gupta, the steel tycoon behind GFG Alliance. w hile Cameron’s lobbying attem pts were fruitless, they will raise concerns about the “revolving doors” between government and the private sector. The Treasury said officials regularly met stakeholdersto discussCovid loans. The Greensill meetings were “about broadeningthescopeofccFF. . . which following a call for evidence and discus sions with several other firms within the sector we decided against.” As part of his pay from Greensill, Cam eron was granted share options that could have been worthtensof millionsof pounds had th e com pany floated. Instead, after Greensill filed for administ ration this month, they were worthless. Greensill fallout page 10
National Grid has sharpened its focus by buying the country’s biggest electricity networkgroup for £14.2bn and puttinga majority stake in its UK gas network up for sale.—p a g e 12: le x , p a g e 24
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Danone shows difficulty of matching ESG with profits This week’s ousting of Danone chief Emmanuel Faber was a victory for shareholder activists who have long complained of underperformance. Faber was an advocate o f ESG values, pushing for groups to forge a social purpose alongside making profits. His philosophy had investor support, but the French company's sagging share price and the clamour tor improved results ultim ately led to his downfall.
Analysis ^ p a g e 11 FT View ► p a g e 22
It is the second intervention by Britain’s security services against Chinese suppli ers, following thegovem m ent’ssurprise U -turn last year banning th e use of Huaweikit in 5Gtelecoms networks. Ill the security, defence and diplo m atic strategy published this week, Downing Street laid the groundwork for future restrictions, s tati ngthe UK would “remain open” to trade and investment from Beijing, bu t would protect itself from deals that would have "an adverse effect on prosperity a nd security". Smart city technology, which includes
conn ectiv ity system s ranging from automated transport to traffic manage ment and CCTV, is widely deployed In Chinese cities. Suppliers for UK smart city projects include camera-maker Hikvision, ecom merce group Alibaba and Huawei. H alf of London’s boroughs have bought and deployed surveillance sys tems made by suppliers including Hikvi sion, which has been blacklisted by the US over Beijing’s repression of Uyghur Muslims in China. Critics said China’s approach to smart cities was driven by Beijing’s desire to keep its own citizens under surveil lance. In some regions, for exam ple, com m uters are charged for th eir bus ride using facial recognition technology. The National Cyber SecurityCentre a branch of signals intelligence agency GCHQ - and MI5 have both raised con-
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UK intelligence agencies are pushing for new curbs on local authorities’ use o f Chinese “sm art cities” technology over concerns th at Beijing could use it for espionage, surveillance o r collectiou of sensitive data.
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cems about the risks presented by this technology. The agencies are keen on curbs, potentially through legislation, that would bar certain vendors from bidding or ban management contracts allowing companies to run an entire sendee on behalf of a local authority, according to several people with knowl edge ofthe discussions. One of the main threats is m isuse of personal data. “Because you’ve got all this population-scale data anonymised in different ways, th e re ’s a risk that som eone could recom bine them to identify . .. the types of people visiting particular bu ildi ngs or accessing partic ular services,” a security official said. Thegovenunent said tliatthe security and resilience of SG and other emerging technologies was a “top priority”. A libaba, H uaw ei and H ikvision declined to comment.
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Late Edition Today, skies clearing, windy, cold, high 42. Tonight, clear, cold, diminishing wind, low 30. Tomorrow, sunny, a milder afternoon, high 54. Weather map appears on Page B11.
VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,002
$3.00
NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2021
© 2021 The New York Times Company
Drug Regulator U.S. TO SHIP DOSES Assures Europe SOUTH OF BORDER Vaccine Is Safe
IN STRATEGIC STEP
Some Nations Resume AstraZeneca Shots PUSH TO LIMIT MIGRANTS By MARC SANTORA and MONIKA PRONCZUK
CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Nancy Riley-James at a memorial in Atlanta for the eight people who were killed. Six of the dead were women of Asian descent.
Sex and Guilt Asian-Americans Ask: Why Not Call It Hate? happening.” Defined Life The rally reflected the tortured A Plea for Recognition public conversation over how to a rise in reports of vioOf a Suspect On a cold evening last month, a That ‘These Are Not confront lence against Asian-Americans, By NICOLE HONG and JONAH E. BROMWICH
This article is by Richard Fausset, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Ruth Graham and Jack Healy.
ATLANTA — He checked himself into a rehab clinic for a self-described sexual addiction. He was so intent on avoiding pornography that he blocked websites from his computer and only used a flip phone. He worried to a roommate about falling “out of God’s grace.” Months before Robert Aaron Long was charged with carrying out a bloody rampage at three massage parlors that horrified the nation and stoked a furious outcry over anti-Asian violence, the 21year-old suspect who had grown up in a conservative Baptist church appeared fixated on guilt and lust. As investigators on Thursday pieced together whether and how racism and sexism might have motivated Tuesday’s attacks, people who knew Mr. Long offered new details about a dangerous collision of sexual loathing and what a former roommate described as “religious mania” that marked his life in the years before the shooting spree. Mr. Long, whose church strictly prohibited sex outside of marriage, was distraught by his failed attempts to curb his sexual urges, said Tyler Bayless, a former roommate who lived with Mr. Long at a halfway house near Atlanta for about five months beginning in August 2019. Nearly once a month, Mr. Long would admit he had again relapsed by visiting a massage parlor for sex, Mr. Bayless said, and he once asked Mr. Bayless to take his computer away from him. The Atlanta police said on Thursday that Mr. Long had been a customer at two spas in the city that were targeted in the attacks that killed eight people over all, including six women of Asian descent. They did not specify whether he had sought anything more than a massage at the two businesses, Aromatherapy Spa and Gold Spa. When Mr. Long was arrested, he said he was on his way to FlorContinued on Page A17 HISTORY Many Asian-American
women saw racialized misogyny behind the killings. PAGE A18
Chinese man was walking home near Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood when a stranger suddenly ran up behind him and plunged a knife into his back. For many Asian-Americans, the stabbing was horrifying, but not surprising. It was widely seen as just the latest example of racially targeted violence against Asians during the pandemic. But the perpetrator, a 23-yearold man from Yemen, had not said a word to the victim before the attack, investigators said. Prosecutors determined they lacked enough evidence to prove a racist motive. The attacker was charged with attempted murder, but not as a hate crime.
Random Attacks’
The announcement outraged Asian-American leaders in New York City. Many of them protested outside the Manhattan district attorney’s office, demanding that the stabbing be prosecuted as a hate crime. They were tired of what they saw as racist assaults being overlooked by the authorities. “Let’s call it what it is,” said Don Lee, a community activist who spoke at the rally. “These are not random attacks. We’re asking for recognition that these crimes are
who have felt increasingly vulnerable with each new attack. Many incidents have either not led to arrests or have not been charged as hate crimes, making it difficult to capture with reliable data the extent to which Asian-Americans are being targeted. That frustration erupted on a national scale this week after Robert Aaron Long, a white man, was charged with fatally shooting eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at spas in the Atlanta area on Tuesday night. Investigators said it was too early to determine a motive. After Mr. Long’s arrest, he denied harContinued on Page A19
THE NEW YORK TIMES
As another pandemic wave staggers Europe, the continent’s top drug regulator said on Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe, hoping to allay fears of possible side effects from a shot that is a vital weapon in the anticoronavirus arsenal, and prompt more than a dozen countries to resume using it. But the regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said a new warning label would be added to the vaccine so that people in the medical community could be on the lookout for a potential rare complication leading to blood clots and bleeding in the brain. Despite reports of a small number of cases of dangerous blood clots in people who had received the vaccine, a review of millions of cases found that it does not increase the overall risk of clots, though “there are still some uncertainties,” said Dr. Sabine Straus, who heads the agency’s risk assessment committee. The E.M.A., an arm of the European Union, signaled that even if that threat proves to be real it is a small one, and the AstraZeneca shot, like many other drugs considered effective and safe, will prevent vastly more illness and death than it might cause — the same message conveyed by the World Health Organization and independent experts. Officials want to bolster confidence in a crucial vaccine, and in a stumbling European inoculation campaign that has fueled mistrust of governments across the continent. The stakes are enormous: Even as it recedes in the United States and elsewhere, the virus is once again on the rise in Europe, killing more than 20,000 people per week, filling hospitals and prolonging the economic suffering from shutdowns. The W.H.O. said on Thursday that Europe was not inoculating people quickly enough to slow transmission, new infections had risen for three straight weeks, and more people in the region were dying from Covid-19 than a year ago. Trust in the AstraZeneca vaccine is essential to fighting the pandemic worldwide. The shot, more easily stored and less expensive than Pfizer’s or Moderna’s, and sold for now without the goal of earning a profit, is a keystone of the W.H.O.’s effort to inoculate poor and middle-income countries. Last week and early this week, several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a pause that, however brief, threatens lingering consequences both on that continent, which is struggling to contain a Continued on Page A7
Millions of Vaccinations Sitting Idle Would Be Sent to Mexico This article is by Natalie Kitroeff, Maria Abi-Habib, Zolan KannoYoungs and Jim Tankersley.
The United States plans to send millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada, the White House said Thursday, a notable step into vaccine diplomacy just as the Biden administration is quietly pressing Mexico to curb the stream of migrants coming to the border. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the United States was planning to share 2.5 million doses of the vaccine with Mexico and 1.5 million with Canada, adding that it was “not finalized yet, but that is our aim.” Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine have been sitting in American manufacturing sites. While their use has already been approved in dozens of countries, including Mexico and Canada, the vaccine has not yet been authorized by American regulators. Ms. Psaki said the shipments to Mex-
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
The White House is quietly pressing Mexico on migration. ico and Canada would essentially be a loan, with the United States receiving doses of AstraZeneca, or other vaccines, in the future. The announcement of the vaccine distribution came at a critical time in negotiations with Mexico. President Biden has moved quickly to dismantle some of former President Trump’s signature immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, stopping the swift expulsion of children at the border and proposing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States. But he is clinging to a central elContinued on Page A7 CITIZENSHIP HOPE The House
voted to give millions a pathway to legal status. PAGE A20
Cuomo Leans on Black Support To Navigate Deepening Scandal
Alefesha Hadusha lost her brothers and parents last month after troops opened fire in her home. By LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ
Panic and Terror in Besieged Ethiopian Region By DECLAN WALSH
The calm is deceptive. A stubbled crater attests to a recent artillery barrage, but with its bustling streets and shops, the highland Ethiopian city of Mekelle has an air of relative peace. Then the stories start spilling out. Of the hospital that begins its days with an influx of bodies bearing gunshot or knife wounds — people killed, relatives and Red
INTERNATIONAL A9-12
A French Revolution The mayor of Lyon, a gastronomic capital, introduced no-meat menus in schools. Let the anguish begin. PAGE A9
The Royals and the Gumshoe An investigator says a British tabloid paid him in 2016 for confidential information on Harry’s new flame. PAGE A10
Casualties Mount in Offensive by Military Cross workers say, for breaching the nightly curfew. Of the young man who made the mistake of getting into a heated argument with a government soldier in a bar. Hours later, friends said, four soldiers followed him home and beat him to death with
beer bottles. Of a nightlong battle between government forces and local militia fighters in a nearby town and its aftermath, when soldiers returning to collect their dead stormed into nearby homes, firing indiscriminately. “I’m lucky to be alive,” said Alefesha Hadusha, her head swaddled in bandages, as she gave a whispered account in a hospital ward. Her parents and two brothers were killed instantly, she said. Continued on Page A12
As he faced the worst political crisis of his tenure, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo visited a Black church in Harlem this week to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. But he clearly had another agenda as well. One Black minister or political figure after another rose to offer praise for Mr. Cuomo, with the leader of the state’s chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., Hazel N. Dukes, even referring to the governor as her son, insisting that “he ain’t white.” Then Charles B. Rangel, the former longtime congressman and New York political icon, heralded the importance of due process, telling people to “back off until
you get some facts.” When opposition starts “piling up,” said Mr. Rangel, now 90, “You go to your family, you go to your friends because you know they will be with you.” As Mr. Cuomo navigates a deepening scandal over allegations of sexual harassment, he has leaned on his deep well of support in the Black community, which has reliably backed him and twice helped him win re-election. The governor and his associates have been working the phones, seeking the support of Black leaders and elected officials who could serve as a firewall against the barrage of Continued on Page A16
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8
BUSINESS B1-6
SPORTSFRIDAY B7-11
U.K.’s Vaccination Drive Stalls
A Clue From California
New Media Deals for N.F.L.
Britain was forced to push back plans to start vaccinating those under 50 after a delay in supply from India. PAGE A4 NATIONAL A14-21
If businesses are reopening, why do weekly jobless claims remain stubbornly high? A state study shows that many who receive benefits have been laid off multiple times. PAGE B1
The league signed new agreements with CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and Amazon that are worth about $110 billion over 11 years, nearly doubling the value of previous contracts. PAGE B8
An Infusion of Aid for Tribes
Teen Vogue Editor Resigns
The $1.9 trillion relief package provides $31 billion for tribal nations to address problems like poor health care. PAGE A14
The hiring of Alexi McCammond, who was to start at the Condé Nast publication next week, drew complaints because of racist and homophobic tweets she had posted a decade ago. PAGE B1
A New Kind of Political Spouse From the second gentleman to the first openly gay cabinet husband, ideas about supporting roles are being challenged. Washington Memo. PAGE A15
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25
Molly Webster
PAGE A25
WEEKEND ARTS C1-14
A Different Perspective Superblue, an exhibition space about to open in Miami, presents a new way to experience, and pay for, art. PAGE C1
Busy at the Keyboard Satoko Fujii is arguably the most prolific pianist in jazz — if also among the most underrecognized. PAGE C12
An N.C.A.A. Orange Crush The Midwest region features six teams in various hues of orange, a color embraced as bold in Europe but seen as utilitarian in the United States. PAGE B10
U(D54G1D)y+#!?!,!?!#
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2021 ~ VOL. CCLXXVII NO. 64
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As Atlanta Mourns, Asian-Americans Feel Under Attack
What’s News Business & Finance
T
he NFL unveiled media deals that people familiar with the matter said are valued at over $100 billion, providing a windfall for the league and significantly expanding the availability of games on streaming platforms. A1
Initial jobless claims rose last week to 770,000, still elevated above the pre-pandemic peak of 695,000, but have dropped since January. A2 Google said it would spend $7 billion this year on expanding its footprint of offices and data centers in the U.S. B4 FedEx reported that profit nearly tripled and revenue jumped 23% in the company’s latest quarter. B6 NASA’s plans for a lunar mission this year remain on track after it said a deepspace rocket made by Boeing passed a key engine test. B3 Leslie Wexner and his wife, Abigail Wexner, won’t stand for re-election to L Brands’ board, the company said. B6 The former co-chiefs of bankrupt lab-testing startup uBiome were charged with healthcare and securities fraud, among other offenses. B6
World-Wide The EU’s health agency said AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine was safe and effective and didn’t increase the risk of blood clots, a decision that prompted four major bloc members to say they would resume inoculation campaigns. A1 The Biden administration plans to send a total of 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada. A6 The U.S. and China began their first high-level meeting under the Biden administration with an acrimonious exchange of words, setting an abrasive tone as the two powers try to stabilize relations. A8 The House passed two bills providing pathways to citizenship for certain categories of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The fate of both bills in the Senate is uncertain. A4 Federal prosecutors are investigating a push by New York Gov. Cuomo’s administration to enact broad protections for nursing homes from lawsuits and criminal prosecution early in the pandemic. A3 Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, was confirmed as HHS secretary in a 50-49 Senate vote. A4 The Senate, on a voice vote, confirmed William J. Burns to be CIA director. A4 Biden is likely to nominate former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson to lead NASA, a person familiar with the decision said. A4 Two Canadians facing espionage charges in China will stand trial in the next few days. A8 CONTENTS Arts in Review A10-11 Banking & Finance B10 Business News B3,5-6 Crossword............... A11 Heard on Street. B12 Mansion............. M1-14
Markets..................... B11 Opinion.............. A13-15 Sports........................ A12 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-6 Weather................... A11 World News....... A7-8
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YEN 108.89
EU Says Halted Vaccine Is Safe BY DANIEL MICHAELS
SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
Chubb has made a preliminary proposal to acquire rival insurer Hartford Financial Services. B1
EURO $1.1918
France, Italy among countries resuming AstraZeneca shots as clot risk is played down
U.S. stocks fell amid another selloff in the government bond market. The Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow lost 3%, 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively. B11 Goldman is talking to JetBlue about taking over the airline’s credit-card program from Barclays, which is seeking to hold on to its deal. B1
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SOMBER MOMENT: Flowers are left at makeshift memorials Thursday at Gold Spa and across the street at Aromatherapy Spa, two of the three sites attacked Tuesday. A gunman is charged with killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent, in the shootings, which have mobilized efforts across the country to fight hate crimes against Asian-Americans. A3
NFL Strikes New Media Deals Worth More Than $100 Billion BY JOE FLINT AND ANDREW BEATON
day, one of the people said. Amazon.com Inc. will become the new home of Thursday night football. The major broadcast and cable TV packages are staying with the same networks, with CBS and Fox retaining Sunday afternoon games and NBC keeping “Sunday Night Football.” ESPN will hold on to “Monday Night Football” and its sister network ABC will join the rotation of broadcasters who televise the Super Bowl. The new contracts show the balance the league is try-
The National Football League unveiled long-term media deals that people familiar with the matter said are valued at more than $100 billion, providing a windfall for the league and significantly expanding the availability of games on streaming platforms. The league secured a combined average increase of 75% to 80% in fees from its media partners in the 11-year deals that were made public Thurs-
Netflix Tightens Password Use After years of turning a blind eye to password sharing, Netflix has started asking some of its users to verify their identity through a text message to deter unauthorized logins. B1 U.S. households’ source of streaming subscriptions, per service Free promotion
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ing to strike by embracing digital platforms, as younger audiences migrate to them, without alienating fans used to watching games on TV. Viewership of NFL games fell 7% in the 2020-21 regular season, amid the pandemic. Beyond the Amazon deal, all the TV networks will get new rights to air certain games on their nascent subscriptionstreaming platforms. “This is about the future,” Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner who leads the NFL’s media committee, said
in an interview, adding that the deals allow the league and its partners to adapt to an “environment that’s changing so fast.” The deals give the league a financial boost after a season in which revenue plummeted amid the pandemic. They also have implications for players and teams. The NFL’s labor deal with its players ties the salary cap Please turn to page A4 Sinclair launches Bally Sports networks....................................... B5
Dependence on tourism was a vulnerability during shutdowns BY KATHERINE SAYRE AND KIM MACKRAEL
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LAS VEGAS—Inside a strip mall here, blackjack students practiced flipping cards onto tables empty of gamblers. Nearby, a few people leaned over a craps table, the thrill of the game replaced by quiet study as the dice rolled. At CEG Dealer School, an academy for would-be casino dealers, the pipeline of workers aiming to join Las Vegas’s battered tourism economy is robust, even though the city has the highest unemployment rate of any major metro area in the U.S. Las Vegas is slowly climbing out of a steep hole, lifted by tentative reopenings and the vaccine rollout. The Las Vegas area’s unem-
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In Battle of Mortgage Titans, Winner Is Michigan State i
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Billionaire alums are in a brawl, but both support Spartans basketball team BY BEN EISEN
bert is the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Call it a different kind of On the other side is PonMarch Madness. tiac, Mich.-based United Michigan State University’s Wholesale Mortgage, which Spartans are seeing millions of has been hot on Rocket’s tail. dollars come through the door, CEO Mat Ishbia, a former the money flowing from two walk-on to the MSU basketball mortgage titans long locked team, has grown the comin a battle for loan volpany by issuing loans ume and name recogthrough an army of nition. A key benefibrokers. It was the ciary is the men’s No. 4 mortgage basketball team, lender in the U.S. which was schedlast year, according uled to play Thursto industry research day night in the group Inside MortNCAA tournament. Green for green gage Finance. On one side of the Both say their reoff-court feud is Detroit-based cent commitments to the uniRocket Cos., the parent com- versity were motivated by pany of Quicken Loans. nothing more than their loyalty Founded in the 1980s by MSU to MSU and its athletics. Still, alum Dan Gilbert, Rocket is the optics are a reminder of now the biggest mortgage their brawl outside the arena. lender in the U.S. and Mr. GilPlease turn to page A9
U.S. plans to send AstraZeneca doses to Mexico, Canada..... A6 J&J working on new versions to bolster its vaccine............ A6 Many nations embrace shot EU countries suspended..... A7
Las Vegas, After Latest Bust, Aims for Another Boom
Netflix
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The European Union’s health agency said the Covid-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca PLC was “safe and effective” and didn’t increase the risk of blood clots, a decision that prompted four major bloc members to say they would resume inoculation campaigns. France, Italy, Spain and Portugal said they would start vaccinating residents again with the AstraZeneca shot after the European Medicines Agency said Thursday new expert analysis concluded that the benefits of using this Covid-19 vaccine outweigh its potential risks. EU authorities are hoping the EMA’s statement could put a problem-plagued vaccination campaign back on track, although it remains to be seen whether the new analysis will overcome mistrust of the AstraZeneca shot—the world’s most widely used vaccine— among many Europeans. Many European countries, including Germany, suspended the vaccine’s use over the past week following reports that people who had received it developed rare blood clots, and some had died, further slowing Europe’s vaccination rollout. Those reports compounded delays and Please turn to page A7
ployment rate was 10.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis in December, the latest month available—the worst of any metro area in the country with more than a million residents. That’s a major improvement since the rate hit 34.2% at its worst point last year. January figures are scheduled to be released Friday. The leisure and hospitality sector, which used to employ more than a quarter of the region’s nonfarm workers, ground to a halt last spring. By January, there were roughly 30% fewer leisure and hospitality jobs here. Yet laid-off workers are signing up for training at the dealer school, new casinos are opening and big entertainment events and convenPlease turn to page A9
EV Push Fuels Shares Of Legacy Car Makers BY WILLIAM BOSTON BERLIN—Investors are piling into a long-neglected sector: old-school car makers that are reinventing themselves as electric-vehicle producers. After years lamenting that their shares were undervalued, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and other blue-chip car manufacturers are seeing sharp shareprice gains this year as they embrace the new technology. Ford is up 42% so far this year, while GM’s shares have also surged 42%. VW’s stock is up 46% and even briefly rose 29% in intraday trading one day this week when the company held a “Power Day” event, saying it would build six EV battery factories in Europe alone over the next 10 years. VW has this week also pushed ahead of SAP SE to become the most valuable stock on the German DAX index. By comparison, the S&P
500 index is up just 6.16% so far this year. The new infatuation with established auto makers, many of which have been in business for more than a century, follows an earlier rush into electric-vehicle stocks that has driven shares of Tesla Inc. and other electric-vehicle and battery manufacturers into territory that some analysts said is reminiscent of the dot-com bubble of the 1990s. Conventional auto makers have long stewed in the shadow of Tesla, whose market capitalization remains twice that of VW, GM and Ford combined. But as the incumbents deepen their commitment to electric cars, they are beginning to persuade investors that they are serious about turning away from fossil fuels and embracing green technology. As a result of greater investor confidence in the EV plans of conventional auto makers, Please turn to page A6
INSIDE
MANSION New Manhattan condo owners are upgrading to bigger spaces in the same building. M1
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DJIA 32862.30 g 153.07 0.5%
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BUSINESS & FINANCE Goldman vies to win JetBlue credit-card program away from Barclays. B1