Nasdaq and S&P mark lowest numbers since 2020
National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG
Canada’s parliament on lockdown after man barricades himself inside, authorities urge public to ‘hide’ | 5 April 2025 | The Canadian Parliament was put on lockdown Saturday after a man barricaded himself inside — prompting authorities to urge the public to “hide.” Ottawa Police and Parliamentary Protective Services responded to the scene just before 3 p.m. local time and have since evacuated the East Block, Ottawa Police said in a X post. The Parliamentary Protective Services issued an alert at 2:45 p.m. urging people inside to “seek shelter in the nearest room, close and lock all doors and hide,” according to CTV News.
Dow plunges over 2,000 points, Nasdaq enters into bear market on tariff and recession fears | 4 April 2025 | Two days of market carnage wrapped up one of the most volatile weeks for U.S. stocks since 2020, the height of COVID, as U.S. tariffs and retaliation spook global investors. The S&P 500 slipped deeper into correction territory, falling 5.9% on Friday. There was a similar pattern for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which lost 2,231 points, or 5.5%. And the Nasdaq Composite entered a bear market, off 20% from its December high, falling 5.8% to end the week.
Stock market plunges over Trump tariffs, Nasdaq and S&P mark lowest numbers since 2020 | 3 April 2025 | The stock market dropped drastically on Thursday over President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite to mark their lowest numbers in almost half a decade. The Nasdaq saw the largest drop, closing at a nearly six percent loss, marking its largest decrease since March 2020, according to CNBC.The S&P 500 closed at a 4.84% loss, marking its biggest one-day decline since June 2020, and the Dow dropped 1,679 points, which equaled a 3.98% loss. The Dow’s loss was its biggest drop since June 2020. The numbers come after U.S. stocks tumbled in after-hours trading on Wednesday, immediately following the president’s sweeping tariffs.
Trump posts video of U.S. strike in Yemen | 5 April 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump has shared footage of what he contends was a strike on Houthi personnel in Yemen. The video, apparently filmed by a drone, shows dozens of people standing in an oval in rural terrain. A munition falls from the sky, causing an explosion and leaving a large crater. Two vehicles and no bodies are visible in the aftermath. “These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!” the president wrote. “They will never sink our ships again!” Some were quick to suggest online that the people in the video were civilians participating in a tribal gathering.
State-run Iranian paper issues graphic call for assassinating Trump after his stern warning | 5 April 2025 | The Islamist revolutionary newspaper that is widely considered the voice of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday stoked a targeted assassination of President Donald Trump. According to the Persian language article published in the Kayhan newspaper of Khamenei, the following statement was made: “He’s [Trump’s] way out of line! Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death.” The Kayhan article comes days after Trump said he would launch bombing attacks against Iran’s government if they refused to dismantle their atomic weapons program. Trump said that “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” he said. “But there’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.” Trump added the U.S. and officials from the Islamic Republic are “talking.”
Hamas ready to free all hostages at once for end to war – Palestinian official | 3 April 2025 | Hamas is prepared to release all of the remaining hostages at once in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing truce talks told The Times of Israel on Wednesday. Amid Israel’s longstanding rejection of this type of trade, Hamas is still prepared to release a number of hostages as part of a renewed temporary ceasefire. However, Hamas wants guarantees from the mediators that Israel will agree to subsequently enter negotiations on ending the war, said the Palestinian official, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to date refused to do… While Hamas for months refused to accept proposals to extend phase one of the deal, the senior Palestinian official told The Times of Israel that the militant group recently submitted such a proposal.
‘Free Le Pen’ – Trump to France | 4 April 2025 | US President Donald Trump has accused the French political establishment of employing lawfare against right-wing figure Marine Le Pen, urging Paris to “free” her. On Monday, a Paris court sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison and imposed a five-year ban on her eligibility for public office, effectively preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election. In a post on Truth Social late Thursday, Trump declared Le Pen a victim of a “witch hunt.” He asserted that the prosecution of Le Pen was orchestrated by “European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent.” “It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco,” he remarked, referring to attorneys who were involved in [insane] litigation against him since his first term as president.
Trump tariffs kick in as Treasury prepares to collect billions in new revenue for U.S. –U.S. customs agents started enforcing Trump’s baseline 10% tariff at 12:01am on Saturday. | 5 April 2025 | President Trump’s tariffs kicked in as the U.S. Treasury prepares to collect billions in new revenue for the U.S. U.S. customs agents started enforcing Trump’s baseline 10% tariff at U.S. seaports, airports and customs facilities at 12:01am on Saturday. The tariff applies to imports from many countries including China.
Trump says Vietnam wants to slash its tariffs ‘down to zero’ after ‘productive call’ | 4 April 2025 | President Trump said Friday he had a “productive call” with a top Vietnamese official, adding that the Communist Southeast Asian nation “wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO” pending a free trade agreement. Trump’s statement on his call with To Lam, Communist Party of Vietnam general secretary, helped boost shares in key apparel brands — which have large manufacturing operations in the country — as all major indexes plunged for a second consecutive day. “Just had a very productive call with To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the U.S.,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I thanked him on behalf of our Country, and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future.”
Trump slaps at least 10% tariffs on almost all imports in ‘Declaration of Economic Independence’: ‘Half of what they are charging us’ | 2 April 2025 | President Trump declared a national emergency Wednesday to impose his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on almost all imports — with a new 10% baseline rate and harsher “reciprocal” levies on dozens of countries including key allies such as European Union members, Japan, and Israel. Trump called the move a “Declaration of Economic Independence” and waited until stock trading ended for the day at 4 p.m. ET to announce the details. “This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our Declaration of Economic Independence,” the president, 78, said in the Rose Garden. “Factories will come roaring back into our country — and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base.”
Those cooperating with Trump admin may be treated like Nazi collaborators after WWII – James Carville | 5 April 2025 | Democratic strategist James Carville warned on Friday that those who cooperate with President Donald Trump’s administration may be treated the way Nazi collaborators were at the end of World War II. The former Bill Clinton adviser made the comparison during a recent segment of his Politicon podcast, noting that the humiliating treatment that the Europeans who helped Hitler’s forces faced at the end of the war may be instructive as a historical comparison. Carville singled out influential Americans and institutions aiding the Trump administration. “I’m not saying that these people should be placed in pajamas and have their head shaved, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and spit on. I’m not saying that, but I’m saying that that did happen,” Carville said.
NSA director Timothy Haugh fired in major shakeup at wiretapping agency – report | 3 April 2025 | Director of the National Security Agency, Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, was reportedly fired Thursday from his post as the head of the agency. Haugh’s removal as director of the NSA, the nation’s primary cyber espionage and electronic eavesdropping agency, comes on the same day at least three White House National Security Council staffers were also reportedly shown the door. The ousted NSA director’s civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, was also let go Thursday, according to the Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials. Noble was reassigned to a role within the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, according to the outlet.
Top Democrat says ‘conspiracy theory’ long pushed by Trump is true | 4 April 2025 | New York City Mayor Eric Adams, fresh off his corruption case being dismissed by a federal judge, appeared on a podcast and said he believes the “deep state” is real. President Donald Trump and his closest allies have spent the last eight years talking about how to dismantle this so-called shadowy group of unelected bureaucrats bent on sabotaging Trump’s policies. Those who believe in the deep-state “conspiracy theory” generally posit that unelected officials embedded in agencies like the CIA and FBI are the ones really pulling the strings of the US government — not the president or Congress. Adams now counts himself as a believer, crediting FBI director Kash Patel’s 2023 book on the subject as the thing that swayed him.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams, ditching Democratic Party, says he will run for reelection as an independent | 3 April 2025 | New York City Mayor Eric Adams is ditching the Democratic Party as he seeks a second term. Adams, who was a Republican before he became a Democrat, formally announced his mayoral reelection campaign in a video Thursday, saying he plans to run as an independent. “Though I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forego the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an Independent candidate in the general election,” Adams said in the video. The move, which comes less than 24 hours after a judge permanently dismissed a federal corruption case against the mayor, sets up what is likely to be a frenzied, fast-paced race toward the general election in November.
Congressman urges FBI to investigate whether New York defrauding Medicaid: ‘Large financial scheme’ | 5 April 2025 | Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a member of the House Oversight Committee and DOGE task force, is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate whether New York state is defrauding Medicaid with a “large financial scheme” involving matching payments for hospitals. “Recent evidence suggests that for nearly two decades, the State of New York has deprived Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) of more than 1 billion in Medicaid funds,” Burlison wrote in a letter to America’s top two law enforcement officials on Thursday. “The state stands accused of violating federal Medicaid law and intentionally breaching contracts with the federal government, specifically in relation to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program,” he added.
RFK Jr. Fires Fauci’s Wife Christine Grady from NIH Bioethics Department – Report | 3 April 2025 | President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has fired Anthony Fauci’s wife, Christine Grady, from her post heading up the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center’s bioethics department, according to reports. Kennedy reportedly fired Grady on Tuesday, according to Politico, which spoke to several individuals familiar with the matter. Further, Kennedy is also said to have “reassigned” a handful of Fauci’s colleagues. Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and served as a medical adviser to the White House during the pandemic, has come under fire for the past few years for giving out controversial advice, as he supported lockdowns, mass masking, and vaccines — none of which prevented transmission of the coronavirus.
Rabbi tells Senate hearing it’s ‘not enough’ to be ‘not anti-Semitic’ – ‘one must be anti-anti-Semitic’ | 31 March 2025 | Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who has been dubbed “the rabbi of Capitol Hill,” told senators at a hearing on anti-Semitism that it’s “not enough” for “individuals and institutions” to be “not anti-Semitic” — “one must be anti-anti-Semitic.” “Anti-Semitism is not just an age-old prejudice, it is a contemporary crisis manifesting on campuses across the nation,” Shemtov said at the Senate hearing on Thursday. “It is not enough for individuals or institutions to merely claim they are not anti-Semitic. As my father once taught me, it is not enough for people, especially public figures, to be neutral or not be anti-Semitic — one must be anti-anti-Semitic. We must demand the same of our universities and government institutions,” he added. …”This is a page right out of the BLM playbook,” Matt Walsh said. “The same rhetoric almost word for word.”
ICE agents nab 133 illegal migrants – including 3 convicted killers – during NY mass deportation raid | 4 April 2025 | More than 100 illegal migrants were nabbed as part of a five-day mass deportation operation in New York state, the feds said Friday. Of the 133 people busted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 20 had criminal charges or convictions on their records, including three convicted killers, the agency said in a statement. Nine of those swept up in the raids, which took place March 24-28, and been previously deported before getting back into the US, ICE said. The group of murderers snatched by ICE included a 49-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago, a 32-year-old from El Salvador and a 70-year-old from the Dominican Republic.
Judge holds ICE agent in contempt after he detained suspect during a trial | 3 April 2025 | A judge in Boston is holding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt after he detained a suspect while the man was on trial. ICE agent Brian Sullivan detained Wilson Martell-Lebron last week as he was leaving court. But a Boston Municipal Court judge issued a ruling Monday against Sullivan, arguing that he had deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and a fair trial by taking him into custody. Judge Mark Summerville dismissed the charge against Martell-Lebron of making false statements on his driver’s license application — namely that he wasn’t Martell-Lebron. After that, Summerville filed the contempt charge against Sullivan, which could lead Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden review the case to determine if any charges should be filed.