Olympic flag arrives in Paris ahead of 2024 Games

Trump touts USMCA win in state of the union

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump declared his scorched-earth political style an unmitigated success Tuesday in a fiercely partisan, made-for-TV state of the union speech that made it clear he expects to be back in the White House next year on the strength of the U.S. economy and his trade deals with Canada, Mexico and China.

Trump, addressing a joint session of Congress in the very chamber where House Democrats voted to impeach him less than two months ago, became only the second president in American history — Bill Clinton was the first — to deliver a state of the union while standing trial in the Senate.

Unrepentant, he pointedly refused to shake the offered hand of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the dais before singing the praises of what he billed as "the great American comeback," pointing to strong job growth, a soaring stock market and low unemployment as evidence of his leadership. And when he was done, Pelosi ripped up the speech in full view of the television cameras.

"America's enemies are on the run, America's fortunes are on the rise, and America's future is blazing bright. The years of economic decay are over," Trump declared, taking full credit for the country's "roaring economy," including what he billed as seven million new jobs and the lowest jobless rate in half a century — a "blue-collar boom" that he's counting on to help his re-election chances in November.

Neo-Nazi group members plotted to kill Free Press reporter

Disturbing details of a plan to kill a Free Press reporter who had infiltrated a white nationalist hate group were revealed for the first time Wednesday.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Cancer.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Avoid heated discussions regarding kids, social plans, shared expenses or dealing with authority figures. (This covers a wide swath.) People are touchy! Pull in your reins and tread carefully. You don’t have to be right. You don’t even have to be wrong.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Regulator urged to force MPI to lower rates, tackle claims costs

A citizen-led coalition has urged the Public Utilities Board to order Manitoba Public Insurance to lower its rates, which it says would force the Crown corporation to tackle rising claims costs.

The Consumers Coalition described MPI as “risk-averse,” at a hearing this week to discuss its application for a rate increase.

“The last three (general rate applications) have demonstrated that the corporation is running out of ideas and tools to mitigate rate increases and are executing a strategic plan grounded in their legacy business model,” said Katrine Dilay, a lawyer for the Public Interest Law Centre who spoke on behalf of the coalition.

Dilay said the coalition believes MPI is riding out the cost pressures and passing them on to ratepayers rather than preparing for the future.

Westman to lose sole medical oncologist

BRANDON — Western Manitoba is about to lose its only medical oncologist, leaving just 22 in the province — all of whom are in Winnipeg.

Brandon West MLA Wayne Balcaen raised the issue during question period Thursday, saying the departure of Dr. Brady Anderson will be a “major loss” for the region.

After four years working out of the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre in Brandon, Anderson’s last day will be Nov. 13.

“He literally sees hundreds of patients within the Westman area, and now those individuals will have to travel to Winnipeg to get that personal service,” Balcaen said, calling Anderson’s impending departure “catastrophic.”

State of Manchester United goes beyond ‘favourite soap opera’ status

Last Sunday, during Manchester United’s embarrassing 3-0 loss at home to Bournemouth, supporters in the Stretford End of Old Trafford unveiled a giant banner in protest of their club’s decline.

Beneath depictions of three iconic captains — Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson — it presented a single word: “STANDARDS.” It wasn’t lost on anyone, as the Red Devils slumped to their meek defeat, that the banner represented the only “standards” in the stadium that afternoon.

The players were booed off the field, and the rest of the week was spent rehashing the inquiry of what, this time, might be wrong with England’s biggest club — an ongoing conversation the BBC has described as “one of the nation’s favourite soap operas.”

Inevitably, the public looked to the trio of greats whose likenesses looked down on the Bournemouth debacle to help make sense of the performance, of the ever-lowering bar of expectations and of the club’s more deep-rooted problems.