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Hong Kong ends its long-standing mask mandate.

As Marlboro Maker, Altria aims to buy e-cigarette startup in joy, and a student debt showdown reaches the US Supreme Court.

Both the powers of Congress and of the executive are at stake because the Supreme Court has been saying that Congress has to be a lot more explicit about giving authority to the executive to do things.

It's Tuesday, February 28th. I'm Luke Vargas with the Wall Street Journal, and here's the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

After almost three years, Hong Kong has announced that it will scrap its mask mandate beginning on Wednesday.

The removal of one of the world's longest-standing pandemic restrictions comes as the city tries to rebuild its image as an international financial center.

Hong Kong has reopened its border with mainland China in recent weeks in a bid to reboot an economy that shrank 3.5 percent last year.

The city was also affected by strict quarantine rules for arrivals that were only lifted in the fall.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Belfast today to present details of a breakthrough deal reached yesterday between the UK and the European Union.

Journal UK correspondent Max Colchester says the trade pact not only stands to end years of friction caused by Brexit, but could help to alleviate tensions in Northern Ireland.

After Brexit, the UK agreed to put a border within its own country to avoid putting a border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the European Union, to avoid inflaming sectarian tensions in that region.

This is a compromise that has been hashed out that through very technical ways reduces the amount of checks, customs checks on products travelling from Britain into Northern Ireland, and also gives the Northern Irish Assembly some way to try and stop EU laws being implemented in Northern Ireland without their consent.

But the aim here is to reassure the Unionists in Northern Ireland to a pro-UK that they're not being cut off from the rest of the country and that they should rejoin the Northern Irish Assembly of Stormont and put that back up and running again, which is seen as vital for maintaining the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace back in 1998.

Canada has joined the US and Europe in banning the Tiktok app from government-issued devices effective today.

Canada's public service minister said that officials determined that the app, which is owned by Beijing-based bite-dance,

quote, presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.

A Tiktok spokeswoman said that Canada blocked the app without contacting the company with questions.

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