News Headlines - 10 March 2021

▽Brazil hits new daily COVID deaths record as crisis escalates | Al Jazeera

Brazil has once again recorded a single-day record for deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, as the head of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned that nearly all states across the country are seeing a rise in infections.
The Brazilian Health Ministry said on Wednesday that 2,286 people had died in the previous 24 hours - up from 1,972 deaths reported a day earlier.
More than 268,000 people have died in Brazil since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data - the second-highest fatality rate in the world after the United States.

▽Brazil Supreme Court Justice Annuls Corruption Conviction Against Former President : NPR

A justice on Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled corruption convictions against the country's former leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — a move that could be the first step toward clearing him to run next year against an increasingly vulnerable President Jair Bolsonaro.
The former president, widely known as Lula, who held office from 2003 through 2010, was found guilty in 2017 on corruption and money-laundering charges allegedly for helping a Brazilian engineering company secure lucrative contracts with Petrobras, the country's state-owned oil company. In exchange, the former president allegedly received a beachfront apartment from the firm. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The conviction – part of a far-reaching corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash — knocked the popular Lula out of the 2018 presidential race, where he had hoped to make a comeback. His absence from the race created an opportunity for the novice politician Bolsonaro, a brash right-wing nationalist who has frequently been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

▽Hunger Games salute: The symbol of protest against Asia’s military regimes - BBC News

As thousands of protesters in Myanmar continue to demonstrate against the military coup, one hand gesture has emerged as the movement's defining symbol - the three finger salute.
Popularised by the Hollywood film series and books The Hunger Games, the salute - which also has roots in the Scout movement - has been adopted widely in Thailand as well in activists' protests against their military government.

▽Japan Private Kindergarten Group Suffers Loss of Funds - JIJI PRESS

An association for private kindergartens in Japan has revealed that money totaling some 320 million yen became unaccounted for in the three years until fiscal 2019.
According to the Tokyo-based association, the total damage is expected to exceed 400 million yen, including money that went missing in fiscal 2020.
The association is considering lodging a criminal complaint against its former head, Kei Kagawa, 69.

▽Piers Morgan has quit Good Morning Britain, ITV confirm | Daily Echo

The move comes as Ofcom launched an investigation into comments made by Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan flowing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview.
The controversial presenter made dismissive comments about Meghan’s claims to have had issues with her mental health during the show.
His remarks sparked a wave criticism with the TV watchdog receiving more than 41,000 complaints since Monday morning’s instalment of the ITV show.