| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Monday, April 26, 2021 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Grim scenes in India as COVID surge chokes hospitals, 'Nomadland' wins big at pared-back Oscars, and the most preposterous rebrand ever? | | | | | Today's biggest stories  'Nomadland' director Chloe Zhao poses in the press room at the Oscars, in Los Angeles, April 25, 2021 U.S. 'Nomadland', the story of van dwellers in America, won the best picture Oscar and two other Academy Awards on a triumphant night for women that also saw a return to Hollywood glamour after a long pandemic shutdown.
The telecast, stripped to its bare essentials by constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, exhibited a look and feel like no others - devoid of the usual comedy and musical performances but chock full of lengthy oratory from the winners.
A Pennsylvania teenager whose profanity-laced outburst on social media got her banished from her high school's cheerleading squad is in the spotlight at the Supreme Court this week, arguing "I shouldn't have to be afraid to express myself."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today in a challenge by two conservative groups to a California requirement that tax-exempt charities disclose to the state the identity of their top financial donors.
A top European Union official says that Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be able to travel to Europe by summer, easing existing travel restrictions.
|  A patient wearing an oxygen mask is seen inside a car waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave WORLD India's new coronavirus infections have hit a record peak for a fifth day as countries including Britain, Germany and the United States pledge to send urgent medical aid. The city of Bengaluru, home to the technology operations of hundreds of global companies, is to enter a two-week lockdown.
The Indonesian navy is trying to work out how it can salvage the remains of a submarine from the bottom of the Bali Sea and retrieve the bodies of the 53 sailors who died onboard. Experts say it will be a daunting task to lift the submarine to the surface from the deep water.
An Iranian Revolutionary court has sentenced British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to a one-year jail term. She was released from house arrest last month at the end of a five-year sentence, but immediately ordered back into court to face the new propaganda charges.
For candidate Angus Robertson, helping his Scottish National Party win a majority in May 6 elections would be a dream come true. Beyond that lies a far bigger prize - another referendum and the prospect of breaking from the United Kingdom.
| BUSINESS Sweden's Lundin Energy has sold what it says is the world's first oil cargo certified as carbon neutral at the point of production to Italian refiner Saras. Residual emissions from producing the 600,000 barrel cargo, amounting to 2,302 tonnes of CO2, will be offset via "nature-based" carbon capture.
In China’s commercial hub Shanghai, six big state banks are quietly promoting digital yuan ahead of a May 5 shopping festival, carrying out a political mandate to provide consumers with a payment alternative to Alipay and WeChat Pay.
U.S. taxi and limousine services are seeing a boom in business from customers seeking to enter Canada by land to avoid a restriction on international travel that applies only to air traffic. "We've had so many requests for border crossings that we're turning them down," said John Arnet, general manager of 716 Limousine in Buffalo.
British asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen is changing its name to 'Abrdn', abandoning the letter 'e' in phone-text fashion as part of a plan to modernize its brand. The move has been met with bemusement, with one Twitter user asking "Is it the most preposterous rebrand ever?".
| | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Camel library brings books to Pakistan desert Plodding his way through the desert in remote southwest Pakistan, Roshan the camel carries priceless cargo: books for children who can no longer go to school because of coronavirus lockdowns. | | | | And finally… Women become U.S. Marines after surviving the 'crucible'  For the first time, women from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego have gone through 'the crucible' - a 54-hour test of strength and spirit - breaking one of the last gender barriers in the U.S. armed forces. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
