🌀 Rock You Like a Hurricane

📝 George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

The House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by a 220-212 vote late Wednesday (2 Dems voted against, while 1 R voted ‘yes’ by mistake). Among other things, the wide-ranging police reform bill would:

• Ban chokeholds, along with no-knock warrants in certain cases.
• Overhaul qualified immunity for law enforcement.
• Redirect funding to community-based policing programs.

The legislation appears unlikely to win the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

🇭🇰 Pro-Democracy Activists Denied Bail

A Hong Kong judge yesterday denied bail to 32 out of 47 pro-democracy activists charged under the new national security law after four days of marathon court hearings.

• The other 15 defendants remained in custody after government prosecutors said they would appeal those decisions.

More: This represents the city’s biggest case thus far under the new national security law enacted last June, which imposes punishments of up to life in prison.

🇳🇿 Earthquakes in New Zealand

Authorities issued tsunami warnings in the Pacific yesterday after three powerful earthquakes were detected near New Zealand, including one that registered an 8.1 on the Richter scale.

• Some islands in the South Pacific were warned to prepare for waves as high as ten feet, while parts of South America were warned of waves up to four feet.

More: Tsunami warnings were temporarily issued for Hawaii and American Samoa, but retracted hours later.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

😷 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended the state’s mask mandate until April 9, saying the requirement would end for good that month. (Left-Center | Right-Center)

🇲🇲 Myanmar security forces killed 38 protesters on Wednesday, according to the UN. It was the deadliest day of protests since the military seized power in a coup last month.

🇺🇸🇬🇧 The U.S. and UK are suspending tariffs related to a 17-year-long dispute over aircraft subsidies, per a jointly released statement. Affected products include Scotch and Irish whiskies, British cheeses, machinery, and cashmere. (Left-Center | Right-Center)

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Pope Francis embarks on his historic trip to Iraq later today.

• Among other things, Pope Francis will take part in what is believed to be the first-ever meeting between a pope and an Iraqi grand ayatollah. (His full agenda.)

🤝 A Square Deal

Square announced the purchase of a “significant majority ownership stake” in Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal in a cash-and-stock deal worth $297M.

• Square, owned by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, said Tidal will operate independently alongside the fintech company’s other ventures.

More: Jay-Z will join Square’s board. Other artist-owners of Tidal include Coldplay, Rihanna, Daft Punk, and Madonna – they all remain stakeholders in Tidal following the deal.

🏀💸 Overtime Pay

Short-form video content company Overtime announced plans to start a basketball league for 16-to-18-year-olds. The players would earn at least $100,000 per year along with a stake in the company.

• The Overtime Elite league will start in September with 30 players, and will be based in a single location (which is still under discussion).

More: Overtime investors include current NBA players Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, along with Silicon Valley VC firm Andreesen Horowitz.

📱 Apple’s App Audit

The UK’s antitrust regulator opened an investigation into whether Apple imposes unfair or anticompetitive conditions on app developers using its App Store.

• The authority said it did so after receiving complaints from developers about some of Apple’s terms, such as the requirement that some types of apps use Apple’s in-app payment system (from which Apple takes commissions of up to 30%).

More: Arizona’s House approved a bill Wednesday that would restrict large app marketplaces from requiring developers to exclusively use the marketplace's payments processing system for in-app purchases.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

📉 The Nasdaq fell 2.1%, sending the index into the negatives for 2021 (-1.3%). The S&P 500 closed down 1.3%, while the Dow fell 1.1%. The moves came as Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke at the WSJ Jobs Summit yesterday.

📺 ViacomCBS launched its Paramount+ streaming service yesterday, the last remaining service to launch from a big entertainment company for the foreseeable future.

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Schematic of the space hurricane (Credit: Zhang Qinghe)

• Scientists last week observed a “space hurricane” – a previously unknown phenomenon featuring a 620-mile-wide swirling mass of plasma in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

🐑 Furry Friends Friday: Un’baa’lievable

It’s understood sheep need to be shorn at least once a year to keep their coat light enough for optimal health – if not maintained, the wool will continue to grow and grow.

• When Baarack the sheep was found wandering last month in a forest near Melbourne, Australia, he sported a overgrown coat you have to see to believe:

Image via USA Today

Weighing in at an astonishing 77 pounds, Baarack received a much overdue shearing thanks to his rescuers at Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary.

• The sanctuary believes that Baarack used to have an owner, but the thickly matted coat around his face caused his ear tag to fall off somewhere in the wild.

The farm sanctuary posted a TikTok of the sheep’s amazing transformation, which quickly went viral and captured hearts around the globe.

Baarack is now recovering and happily settling into farm life at his new home. Images: USA Today & Twitter

It “all goes to show what incredibly resilient and brave animals sheep really are,” said Kyle Behrand, a sanctuary employee. “We could not love them any more if we tried.” 🥰