Author: Admin

The Hill

Canada on Friday formally approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), taking the last legislative step to implementation of the deal to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The trade deal, ratified by the Mexican legislature last June and by Congress in January, was formally ratified by the Canadian Senate Friday, and shortly thereafter received royal assent, the Canadian governor general’s approval.  Continue reading “Canada approves North American trade deal”

CNN

The order came from Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, who said she was ordering “the polling locations in the State of Ohio closed on March 17” in order to “avoid the imminent threat with a high probability of widespread exposure to COVID-19 with a significant risk of substantial harm to a large number of the people in the general population, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems and chronic medical conditions.”  Continue reading “Ohio governor announces polls will be closed Tuesday over coronavirus”

CNN

San Francisco’s mayor is ordering residents to stay home in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Mayor London Breed announced in a tweet that residents will be required to stay home starting at midnight, except for essential needs. Continue reading “San Francisco orders residents to shelter in place”

Stars and Stripes – by John Vandiver

The Pentagon has ordered a halt to the deployment of forces for Defender-Europe 20, which would have been the military’s largest exercise on the Continent in a generation, because of concerns about the coronavirus, U.S. European Command said Monday.

Parts of the exercise have been completely eliminated including Dynamic Front, Joint Warfighting Assessment, Saber Strike and Swift Response, which involved paratroops dropping into the Republic of Georgia and the Baltics, officials said.  Continue reading “Coronavirus fears force Pentagon to curtail large Defender-Europe 20 exercise”

Live Science – by Nicoletta Lanese

A clinical trial for an experimental coronavirus vaccine has begun recruiting participants in Seattle, but researchers did not first show that the vaccine triggered an immune response in animals, as is normally required.

Now, biomedical ethicists are calling the shortcut into question, according to Stat News. Continue reading “Researchers fast-track coronavirus vaccine by skipping key animal testing first”

Mental Floss – by Byron Dugan

Using the bathroom has come a long way from when ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay for personal hygiene. Toilet paper is one of those things that often gets taken for granted in modern times, except for places Charmin has yet to infiltrate. This is definitely one of those unavoidable things in life, so through many centuries and in many cultures, everyone had their own method of staying clean.  Continue reading “What Did People Use Before Toilet Paper?”

Yahoo News

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man was asleep in his bedroom when police opened fire from outside his house, killing him and wounding his girlfriend, an attorney for the 21-year-old man’s family said Friday.

The Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release Friday that Duncan Socrates Lemp “confronted” police and was shot by one of the officers early Thursday. Rene Sandler, an attorney for Lemp’s relatives, said an eyewitness gave a “completely contrary” account of the shooting. She said police could have “absolutely no justification” for shooting Lemp based on what she has heard about the circumstances. Continue reading “Lawyer: Man asleep when police fired on house, killing him”

Yahoo News

The U.S. military conducted airstrikes in various locations inside Iraq on Thursday targeting an Iranian-backed militia group it says is responsible for Wednesday’s rocket attack that killed two American service members, a British service member and wounded 14 others.

In a statement, the Pentagon characterized the strikes as “defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups” to coalition bases in Iraq. Continue reading “US military conducts airstrikes in Iraq in retaliation for rocket attack that killed 2 Americans”

ABC News

A former Los Angeles Police Department officer was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the murder of a 23-year-old man.

Henry Solis said he was acting in self-defense while attempting to arrest Salome Rodriguez on March 13, 2015, in Pomona, California, for an alleged assault and robbery, according to court documents.  Continue reading “Ex-police officer sentenced to 40 years to life for murder of a man outside a bar”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

After increases its repo bailout facility twice this week already (from $100billion to $150billion to $175billion per day) and added some longer-term facilities, The New York Fed just went full-retard, with $1 trillion of liquidity in 3-month repo.

For some context of how that compares to what they have been doing… Continue reading “Bazooka Fired: Fed To Conduct $1 Trillion Repo Over 2 Days, Expands “Not QE” To QE4″

Yahoo News

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gun rights supporters are suing Connecticut officials over part of a 2013 state gun control law passed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, saying it unconstitutionally bans people from loading more than 10 rounds of ammunition into their firearms.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court cites the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the ability of people to better defend themselves with more bullets in their guns. Continue reading “Suit filed over Sandy Hook-inspired law limiting gun rounds”

NBC Boston

The NBA has suspended its season “until further notice” after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league’s owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player who tested positive was center Rudy Gobert. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team confirmed the presumptive positive test. Continue reading “NBA Suspends Season After Player Tests Positive for Coronavirus”

Fox News

The World Health Organization has declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global “pandemic.”

During a media briefing Wednesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, said there are now more than 118,000 cases of COVID-19 in 114 countries, with 4,291 deaths. Continue reading “WHO declares coronavirus global ‘pandemic’”

Fox News

A stimulus package bill meant to boost the economy amid coronavirus fears will be introduced on the floor of the House Wednesday but seems unlikely to include a temporary halt to the payroll tax that the Trump administration has been touting.

The bill, which lawmakers have been furiously working on for days, comes as the U.S. economy and global markets have faced severe instability since the global outbreak of the coronavirus.  Continue reading “House to move on coronavirus-related stimulus package, but Hoyer says payroll tax cut a nonstarter”

Reuters

A U.S. Bureau of Land Management auction of 25 oil and gas leases in Northeast Utah received mostly minimum bids of just $2 an acre a day after oil prices collapsed due to the impact of the spreading coronavirus outbreak.

The sale representing 32,713.76 acres (13,238.79 hectares) drew total bids of $237,559.60, according to energy marketplace EnergyNet, which conducted the online sale. The average bid per acre offered was $7.26.  Continue reading “U.S. oil and gas lease sale in Utah draws few bidders”

Fox News

An Arkansas police officer was killed in the line of duty during a traffic stop Tuesday night, according to multiple reports.

Officer Brent Scrimshire of the Hot Springs Police Department was taken to a hospital and later died from his injuries. Continue reading “Arkansas police officer fatally shot during traffic stop; suspect’s condition unclear”

CNN

US oil prices crashed as much as 34% to a four-year low of $27.34 a barrel as traders brace for Saudi Arabia to flood the market with crude in a bid to recapture market share.  Continue reading “Oil crashes by most since 1991 as Saudi Arabia launches price war”