Wednesday, March 12

News

Chipotle downplays looming Trump tariffs, says only half of its avocados are from Mexico
News

Chipotle downplays looming Trump tariffs, says only half of its avocados are from Mexico

Noting that just roughly half of its avocados come from Mexico, Chipotle Mexican Grills stated on Tuesday that it does not anticipate significant cost increases if tariffs on essential imported products take effect next month. President Donald Trump postponed his intentions to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico one day earlier. Restaurants would undoubtedly attempt to pass on the higher cost to their patrons if imports like avocados and meat were made more expensive after the one-month embargo. However, Chipotle management dismissed the concerns about tariffs during Tuesday's earnings conference call. Chief Financial Officer Adam Rymer estimates that Chipotle's cost of sales will increase by around 60 basis points, or 0.6 percentage points, if tariffs targeting China, Can...
DOT Secretary says he spoke with Elon Musk on U.S. airspace reforms
News

DOT Secretary says he spoke with Elon Musk on U.S. airspace reforms

After a catastrophic crash last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he discussed the country's airspace reform with SpaceX CEO and Trump administration advisor Elon Musk. He also voiced worries about the military's use of helicopters in crowded airspace in Washington, D.C. I spoke with Elon Musk yesterday; he's a very amazing man. Duffy stated Wednesday at a road transportation event in Washington that although he thinks differently than I believe most of us do, he has access to the world's top engineers and technologists. Remaking our airspace is something we intend to undertake as soon as possible. A week after an Army Black Hawk chopper collided with an American Airlines regional airliner that was arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Duffy made these r...
Trump expected to sign executive order banning trans women from women’s sports
News

Trump expected to sign executive order banning trans women from women’s sports

An executive order banning transgender women from participating in women's sports is anticipated to be signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday. White House officials refer to the policy as the "No Men in Women's Sports Executive Order." Wednesday is the 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, which was established in 1987 to honor female athletes and encourage girls to play sports. The timing doesn't seem to be coincidental. Before the November elections, the topic of transgender women playing women's sports was a recurring and contentious one. Trump promised to keep men out of women's sports and referred to trans women as men both during and after his campaign. White House officials told reporters on a call Wednesday morning that they anticipate the word "transgender" ...
Chinese migrant smuggled to Florida shares why she was desperate to flee to U.S.
News

Chinese migrant smuggled to Florida shares why she was desperate to flee to U.S.

A woman who had spent the majority of her life in a busy city and her husband soon became critical of China's zero-Covid policy during the country's COVID lockdowns. She fled to the United States last month after they spoke out and were retaliated against by officials. The woman didn't follow the usual path and asked not to be named for fear of receiving more reprimands. Many Chinese migrants travel north through the Darien Gap, a section of jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, to reach the United States. She claimed to have taken a boat from the Bahamas instead. She said that last month, in an attempt to enter the United States and submit an asylum application, she flew from China to London, then to the Bahamas, before boarding a boat to Coral Gables, Florida. She remembered coming ...
Some tariff concessions from Canada and Mexico touted by Trump lack substance, experts say
News

Some tariff concessions from Canada and Mexico touted by Trump lack substance, experts say

President Donald Trump and his followers have praised his use of tariff threats to pressure Canada and Mexico into making concessions on border security and drug trafficking. However, some of the agreements reached by America's two biggest economic partners and key allies are not as significant as the hype suggests, according to experts. Trump predicted that the 25% tariffs on the two nations would go into effect on Tuesday when he announced them on Saturday. He claimed to have achieved a deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum by Monday, agreeing to send 10,000 Mexican national guard officers to the U.S. border to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the country. Sheinbaum stated that she and the Trump administration had reached an agreement to form a bilateral working group to ...
Lara Trump to host weekend show on Fox News
News

Lara Trump to host weekend show on Fox News

Fox News announced Wednesday that Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump, will host her own weekend program. It is anticipated that "My View with Lara Trump" will debut on February 22 and air on Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET, replacing "One Nation with Brian Kilmeade." According to a news release from Fox News Channel, Kilmeade's show will now air on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET. "I m thrilled to bring my voice back to FOX News, talk directly with the American people, and highlight what makes this country so great," Trump said in a press release. "As I cover the success of The Golden Age of America, I look forward to where this time will lead our country and where this opportunity will lead me in the future." The hour-long program, according to Fox News, will "focus on the return of c...
Here’s how Musk’s access to Treasury system may impact Social Security, other government payments
News

Here’s how Musk’s access to Treasury system may impact Social Security, other government payments

Democratic lawmakers and campaigners have criticized the Department of Government Efficiency, run by Elon Musknow, for having access to a government payment system that handles $6 trillion in federal payments annually, including Social Security and Medicare benefits. However, the Treasury Department stated in a recent letter to Congress that those benefit payments have not been postponed or redirected as a result of the recent event. According to reports last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave DOGE, an entity in the president's executive office, access to the government payment system. Finding strategies to save federal spending and boost government efficiency is the responsibility assigned to DOGE. Concerns regarding the implications for the continuation of federal funds and acce...
Year of the Snake comes with a bite for Chinese consumers facing an economic slowdown
News

Year of the Snake comes with a bite for Chinese consumers facing an economic slowdown

BeijingThese days, every yuan matters to those in China who are experiencing an economic slump. Huang Peng, a construction worker, traveled more than 500 kilometers in roughly six hours on a high-speed rail to his birthplace in Heilongjiang Province for the most recent Lunar New Year vacation. Instead, he paid 160 yuan ($22) to sit straight for eighteen hours on a sluggish train this year. That was significantly less expensive for Huang than a bed on the slow train ($40) or even the high-speed train ($92). The cost of living in Beijing is exorbitant, even if Huang earns more money there than he would at home. In an interview at the Beijing Railway Station, he stated that saving money is simply very difficult. As part of the world's largest annual human migration, hundreds of millions of pe...
NFL referees forced to respond to Kansas City Chiefs ‘conspiracy theories’ about bias
News

NFL referees forced to respond to Kansas City Chiefs ‘conspiracy theories’ about bias

On Tuesday, the NFL referees' labor organization denounced "conspiracy theories" that officials have been slanting games in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has to confront the widespread and unfounded claims that referees are the bag for Kansas City this week as the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl. NFLRA executive director Scott Green stated that Commissioner Goodell's remarks that it is absurd to assume that NFL officials are not making every effort to call the correct play are accurate. During a regular season, officiating crews only work the same team twice. Hearing conspiracy theories that claim that 17 officiating crews, totaling 138 officials, are conspiring to support one team...
Some tariff concessions from Canada and Mexico touted by Trump lack substance, experts say
News

Some tariff concessions from Canada and Mexico touted by Trump lack substance, experts say

President Donald Trump and his followers have praised his use of tariff threats to pressure Canada and Mexico into making concessions on border security and drug trafficking. However, some of the agreements reached by America's two biggest economic partners and key allies are not as significant as the hype suggests, according to experts. Trump predicted that the 25% tariffs on the two nations would go into effect on Tuesday when he announced them on Saturday. He claimed to have achieved a deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum by Monday, agreeing to send 10,000 Mexican national guard officers to the U.S. border to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the country. Sheinbaum stated that she and the Trump administration had reached an agreement to form a bilateral working group to ...