WORLD

• The Kremlin denied that Vladimir Putin had promised French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia would stage no further maneuvers near Ukraine for now, pouring cold water on a tentative French assertion of diplomatic progress. We report from Ukraine’s eastern frontiers, where citizens are trying to get on with their daily lives amid the fear of a Russian invasion.
• Hong Kong announced stringent new coronavirus restrictions and record new infections, while a shortage of vegetables added to the misery as truck drivers who tested positive for COVID-19 were unable to bring them from mainland China.
• Police in Canada’s capital said they had seized thousands of liters of fuel and removed an oil tanker as part of a crackdown to end an 11-day protest against COVID-19 measures, adding truck and protester numbers had fallen significantly. Hundreds of people protesting vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions blocked streets outside New Zealand’s parliament with trucks and campervans, inspired by the demonstrations in Canada.
• The Saudi-led coalition has deployed newly formed units near Yemen’s Marib where battles have abated, according to military and government sources, as the warring sides hold their positions in the fight for energy-rich areas that has led to the war’s biggest escalation in years.
• Campaigning for the Philippines’ general election gets underway officially, with COVID-19 curtailing the traditional fanfare and big rallies and turning the focus to social media as the key battleground for the May 9 contest. Here are the key contenders.

U.S.

• Officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, California and Oregon said they will lift indoor mask mandates for schools and other public places in coming weeks, seeking a return to “normalcy” as soaring COVID-19 infections fueled by the Omicron variant abate. The changes signal a growing inclination by political leaders in those states, all led by Democrats, to take pandemic-weary residents off an emergency footing.
• Dozens of U.S. Democratic lawmakers with the Congressional Black Caucus have urged the Justice Department to step up legal efforts to protect voting rights across the country, condemning what they say are “anti-democratic” Republican efforts to restrict ballot access for voters of color. The Supreme Court let Alabama use a Republican-backed map of the state’s congressional districts that a lower court found likely discriminates against Black voters.
• Right-wing television network Newsmax Media countersued Smartmatic, an election security firm that says it was defamed by Newsmax’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Smartmatic sued Newsmax in November for amplifying false claims that Smartmatic voting machines rigged the election against then-President Donald Trump.
• The United States faces heightened threats from extremist groups domestic and foreign, underscored by last month’s hostage standoff crisis in a Texas synagogue and bomb threats at many historically Black colleges and universities, a government agency said. The warning comes after some schools across the United States canceled classes and issued shelter-in-place orders last week.
• Abortion providers in liberal states are expanding clinics, training more staff and boosting travel assistance to prepare for an influx of patients from conservative states if the U.S. Supreme Court ends the constitutional right to the procedure.

BUSINESS

SoftBank has shelved its blockbuster sale of Arm to U.S. chipmaker Nvidia valued at up to $80 billion citing regulatory hurdles and will instead seek to list the company. The Japanese conglomerate acquired Arm, whose technology powers Apple’s iPhone and nearly all other smartphones, in 2016 for $32 billion.

BP’s profits hit their highest in eight years in 2021, lifted by soaring gas and oil prices, as the company boosted share repurchases and accelerated plans to cut emissions with increased spending on low carbon energy.

Reverends, rabbis and other religious leaders urged Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to permanently stop the company’s plan for an Instagram version aimed at young users, in a letter sent by advocacy group Fairplay and their Children’s Screen Time Action Network. Meanwhile, TikTok is working on ways to rate and restrict content by age in order to prevent adult content from reaching teenage users of its short video app.

When Japan handed Tokyo bus driver Keiki Nambu and his wife, Takako, $870 for each of their nine children, they spent it exactly as the government had feared: paying down a mortgage instead of going shopping. That kind of financial prudence represents a headache for policymakers, who are struggling to kick-start consumption and boost a moribund economy.

As bitcoin drifts towards mainstream maturity in 2022, daring crypto investors are eyeing up new sources of explosive action: “altcoins” that power online games and worlds. But, be warned, the foothills of the unformed metaverse are no place for the faint-hearted.

Quote of the day

“If you inject poison into politics that has a whole set of unintended consequences”

Brendan Cox

Husband of Jo Cox, a British lawmaker stabbed to death in 2016

After Labour leader hounded, British PM Johnson under pressure over slur .

Video of the day

Collection of Black history memorabilia up for auction

The massive personal collection owned by 90-year-old Elizabeth Meaders traces the history of Black Americans and ranges from rare civil rights posters to Muhammad Ali’s shoes.

And finally…

World’s glaciers contain less ice than thought