| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, May 27, 2021 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Biden wants answers on COVID, Macron seeks forgiveness, and big defeats for Big Oil | | | | | Today's biggest stories  FILE PHOTO: Camille Bennett poses for a photo in front of the confederate statue that she is trying to have moved to the confederate cemetery in Florence, Alabama, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant U.S. Ever since Camille Bennett started her campaign to relocate a Confederate statue from outside the county courthouse in her hometown, she has seen it all: threats, violent online messages and intimidation attempts. But those aren't the only obstacles for activists committed to removing Confederate symbols.
U.S. Senate Republicans, hoping to strike a deal with President Joe Biden on infrastructure, are expected to unveil a new offer today that would spend about $1 trillion to revitalize America's roads, bridges and broadband systems.
Biden has ordered aides to find answers to the origin of the virus that causes COVID-19, saying that U.S. intelligence agencies are pursuing rival theories potentially including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China.
U.S. motorists will see the highest gasoline prices in seven years when they hit the roads this Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer driving season, as fuel demand surges alongside coronavirus vaccination rates.
Women's health provider Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit challenging Arkansas' ban on all abortions except in medical emergencies, one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the United States.
| BUSINESS CLIMATE FIGHT
Shareholders rebuked the top two U.S. oil companies for dragging their feet on fighting climate change, while a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell needs to accelerate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
Exxon Mobil lost at least two board seats to tiny activist hedge fund Engine No.1, shareholders at Chevron endorsed a call to further reduce its emissions and a court deemed Royal Dutch Shell's emissions targets insufficient.
"Today was a stark warning for Big Oil," said Bess Joffe, which manages the Church of England's investment fund, with executives "being held to account by investors and lawmakers."
Meanwhile, several Total shareholders plan to demonstrate their concern that the French firm is not doing enough to curb carbon emissions at its shareholder meeting today.
After the stunning blow to top management at Exxon, we tell the story of the little engine that could - and the oil giant that couldn’t. And we explain what the Dutch court carbon emissions ruling means for Shell.
MARKETS
World stocks will continue to rise this year on robust economic and earnings recoveries but any quickening of inflation would temper that enthusiasm, according to Reuters polls of analysts, a majority of whom said a near-term correction was unlikely.
Shares of GameStop and cinema operator AMC Entertainment have rallied to their highest levels in months, with some market-watchers saying the recent surge is forcing bearish investors to unwind their bets against the video game retailer.
A crackdown by Beijing is rapidly accelerating a shift in focus by makers of machines that 'mine' cryptocurrencies like bitcoin from China to North America and Central Asia as Chinese clients face an uncertain future.
And we explain what to watch as the Federal Reserve ramps up its exploration of a digital dollar.
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