Vox Sentences: Don’t call it NAFTA

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The US revises its trade deal with Canada and Mexico; Iran’s armed forces fire missiles and drone bombers into Syria.

Enter the USMCA

• The US struck a successful trade deal with Canada and Mexico to replace NAFTA late Sunday, allowing the Mexican president to potentially sign the agreement on his final day in office. [Washington Post / David J. Lynch]
• After more than a year of tough negotiations, the three nations reached a consensus hours before a self-imposed midnight deadline. Now revamped as the “USMCA” (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement), the deal will likely allow American farmers greater access to Canada’s dairy market. [CNN / Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak, Paula Newton, and Donna Borak]
• The new pact will also impose higher minimum wage requirements on auto factories in Mexico and raise the share of North American auto parts needed to qualify a vehicle as NAFTA-compliant. [Vox / Matt Yglesias]
• President Trump, who had been highly critical of NAFTA in the past, praised the efforts of the trade-negotiating team on Monday morning and tweeted that the USMCA is a “historic transaction.” [Fox News / Andrew O’Reilly]
• Markets reacted favorably: The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped by nearly 200 points, and Canada and Mexico’s currencies surged against the US dollar. [Reuters UK / Laila Kearney]
• The deal must be approved by all three governments before going into effect. Congress will likely act on it next year. [Vox / Jen Kirby]

Iran fires missiles across Iraq and into Syria

• A branch of Iran’s armed forces fired six ballistic missiles and several drone bombers into Syria as retaliation for an attack organized by militants during a military parade last month. [NYT / Hwaida Saad and Rod Nordland]
• This event marks the second instance of a missile attack carried out by Iran in a month’s time. Local Iranian news sites report that the missiles have “killed and wounded” militants, without going into further detail. [AP / Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell]
• The projectile weapons had notes like “death to America” and “death to Israel” written on them. [CNN / Barbara Starr, Spencer Feingold, Shirzad Bozorgmehr, and Susannah Cullinane]
• The September 22 attack, which Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps cited as the reason for the missile launch early Monday, killed 12 of its members. Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of the Guards, tweeted that future attacks would be coming. [Reuters / Babak Dehghanpishehm, Laila Bassam, and Angus McDowall]

Miscellaneous

• After a contentious year between techies and the US government, California lawmakers restored the net neutrality rules that prohibit internet service providers from slowing down online content. [NBC News / Alex Johnson]
• Rapper Cardi B turned herself in to New York City police Monday morning after an incident at a strip club where she reportedly threw chairs and bottles at employees and clients. Authorities later said she’s been charged with reckless endangerment and assault. [BuzzFeed News / Michael Blackmon]
• Ticketmaster is facing a class-action lawsuit after an exposé found that the ticket-selling platform actively encourages scalpers. [Hollywood Reporter / Ashley Cullins]
• At $20 per kilogram, fake Martian dirt is being designed and sold by University of Central Florida astrophysicists to help researchers test different ways to grow crops on extraterrestrial lands. [Mashable / Mark Kaufman]

Verbatim

“I’m a victim of sexual assault. I don’t expect Judge Kavanaugh or Jake Tapper or Jeff Flake or anybody to be held responsible for that. You have to be responsible for your own conduct.” [Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings should not be a “meeting” of the #MeToo movement / CNN]

Watch this: How Jackson Pollock became so overrated

There’s an overlooked reason for Pollock’s fame. Even if you love him, you might not know the name of the man who made him famous. [YouTube / Phil Edwards]

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