Friday, March 12, 2021

Friday Briefing: Number of migrant children in U.S. border facilities soars

Today's top stories

Backyard barbecue parties could be on for July 4, an eye-popping price tag for a digital artwork, and the sea slugs losing their heads

More than 3,600 migrant children are being held in U.S. border facilities, more than four times the number in late February, a sign of a growing humanitarian and political crisis for President Joe Biden’s new administration.

Biden has moved swiftly to start dismantling a cornerstone of former President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy, a program that sent thousands of asylum seekers back to Mexico to await their immigration court hearings. But many migrants on the border have been left in limbo.

The House of Representatives approved a pair of gun control bills as Democrats seized upon a shifting political landscape that they said improved chances for enacting new laws after years of failed attempts.

Biden has told states to make all adults eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by May 1 and urged Americans to stay vigilant or face more restrictions, hours after he signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill into law.


Demonstrators take part in a protest organized by The People's Vaccine Alliance outside the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics demanding just global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 11, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WORLD

Seham Hamu's granchildren sit together at their home in Douma, in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, Syria, March 9, 2021. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Seham Hamu lost her husband, son and grand-daughter on the same night when a missile struck their home in a rebel stronghold near the Syrian capital in 2016. We look back at ten years of conflict, from protest to war to economic decline, and visit a family torn apart.

Gunmen in northwest Nigeria have kidnapped around 30 students from a forestry college near a military academy, in the fourth mass school abduction since December. Here’s our factbox on the violence and insecurity affecting the country.

The popularity of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan has tumbled in Britain following their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, according to a poll. Meanwhile, Prince William has denied that the royals are racist after Meghan said one unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin might be.

Japanese researchers have shown that a type of sea slug is able to self-decapitate and regrow its body, a discovery that could have ramifications for regenerative medicine.


Business

Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab Holdings is in talks to go public through a merger with a U.S. special purpose acquisition company that could value it at nearly $40 billion, sources have told Reuters. A deal, if confirmed, would make it the largest ever blank-check transaction.

With summer in sight, Goldman Sachs is starting a return-to-office push. Bringing people back, however, presents a range of challenges, even as countries lift many of last year's coronavirus restrictions.

A digital artwork sold for nearly $70 million at Christie’s, in the first ever sale by a major auction house of a piece of art that does not exist in physical form. 'Everydays - The First 5000 Days' is a work by American artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, who now moves into the top three most valuable living artists.

In a special report, we look at how organized crime is siphoning billions from gas stations in Brazil. Crooks have infiltrated the four largest gasoline chains, and are estimated to control hundreds, if not thousands, of stations.

Video

Netflix looks at password-sharing crackdown

Giant hands painted at former African slave hub

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