Epoch Times

LONDON—The dollar nudged lower on Monday, pulling back from six-month peaks against the yen as a U.S. debt ceiling deal lifted risk appetite across world markets and dented the greenback’s safe-haven appeal. U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, and said...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that China would be the beneficiary of the U.S. defense budget proposed in the tentative debt ceiling deal. “I respect Kevin McCarthy. I want to raise the debt ceiling. It would be irresponsible not to do it. I want to control spending. I’d like to have a smaller IRS. I’d...

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Virginia—Republican-aligned candidates running for positions on Loudoun County’s school board gathered to share their vision for the county on Thursday, in the wake of the “Loudoun Love Warrior” (LLW) controversy, where a group affiliated with some of Loudoun’s elected officials targeted and allegedly harassed and doxed parents after they spoke out against the school board’s policies. These candidates say...

Commentary Signed bits of paper abound at international conferences. Serious-looking leaders signing their names to documents that would never pass the examination of a first-year law student abound. Statements of intent, flowing phrases, and wonderful words, which at the end of the day are neither enforceable nor meaningful, tend to go from headline to dustbin with great rapidity. Time will...

President Joe Biden championed the new bipartisan budget agreement to avoid a default on the national debt, saying it “prevents the worst possible crisis.” The administration and House Republican leaders looked to garner support for a tentative deal to increase the country’s borrowing limit amid ballooning government debt following weeks of intense negotiations. Following the announcement that both sides reached...

News Analysis The lesson of Russia’s war in Ukraine has forced the Group of Seven (G-7) countries to confront Beijing head-on this year, and the unified statement from the Hiroshima summit represents a big step that, according to some experts, was “unthinkable” two years ago. The big question, though, is whether the G-7 countries can stay united and strong when...

With Memorial Day approaching, Americans will be purchasing ketchup, mustard, and other condiments en masse—and inflation will play a role. A 32-ounce bottle of ketchup went from an average of $4.08 for the week of May 16, 2022, to $5.22 for the week of May 15, 2023, according to data that was compiled by Datasembly, which measures grocery price changes in stores...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was noncommittal on whether Democrats would support a debt ceiling deal negotiated between Republicans and the White House. On the evening of May 27, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced during a press conference that he and President Joe Biden had reached what he called “an agreement in principle that’s worthy of...

An analysis of primetime ratings shows that Fox News has seen an approximate decline of 1 million total viewers on average for its primetime lineup after the departure of Tucker Carlson in late April. In the four weeks before Carlson left the network, Fox News’ primetime hours averaged some 2.6 million total viewers. But in the four weeks after his...

Insurance company State Farm is halting new property insurance policies in the state of California as the firm battles inflationary pressures and increasing exposure to wildfire risks. In California, State Farm will “cease accepting new applications including all business and personal lines property and casualty insurance, effective May 27, 2023,” the firm said in a May 26 statement. The company...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called IRS a “corrupt organization” and said he would welcome a bill abolishing the agency if elected president in 2024. DeSantis made the comments during an interview with conservative radio host Dana Loesch on May 25, a day after the governor announced his White House bid on Twitter. “If Congress defunded the IRS and sent such...

SYDNEY, Australia—Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, said it was “disappointing” that the individual who leaked an exchange between Labor MPs and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe, saying that they were trying to damage the government. “There’s plenty of ways to have a fight in Parliament. But breaching the confidentiality of a government committee...

Commentary I don’t know when the debt ceiling will be raised, but it will be raised. Every time federal spending bumps up against the debt ceiling, we witness the same drama, a drama so predictable that you could almost call it a ritual: Republicans, citing a need for fiscal restraint, demand some cuts to federal spending; Democrats resist the proposed...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has accused the previous state administration of misappropriating $50 million in government funds. The funds were part of what the federal government provided to Arizona under the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” an effort by the Biden administration, signed into law in March 2021, that intended to mitigate the economic impacts of government-mandated restrictions and...

Former President Donald Trump and conservative heavy-hitters took to social media to defend Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even as the GOP-led Texas House voted to impeach him. Republican Speaker Dade Phelan and fellow Republicans joined with Democrats to temporarily remove Paxton, a staunch GOP conservative, from office on accusations of bribery, obstruction of justice, and abuse of public trust....

Commentary I went to a CAMFT (California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists) training conference on May 5 and 6 in order to get an in-person account of what is happening in my profession, in particular regarding gender ideology. I attended because I wanted to hear firsthand what is being taught to my colleagues. They said some wild stuff in...

The White House and House Republicans have reached an agreement in principle, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Saturday evening. “We still have a lot of work to do. But I believe this is an agreement in principle that’s worthy of American people,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That’s historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out...

Commentary Just about everywhere you go, you’re being encouraged to give money to an organization that needs it to operate and benefit people who are less fortunate than yourself. Our concept of helping is relinquishing our hard-earned money as a sacrifice for a greater good, which is a sacrifice we often gladly participate in. However, for us, the line of...

NEW YORK—As concerns grow over increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, the nation’s financial watchdog says it’s working to ensure that companies follow the law when they’re using AI. Already, automated systems and algorithms help determine credit ratings, loan terms, bank account fees, and other aspects of our financial lives. AI also affects hiring, housing, and working conditions. Ben...

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) treats people of faith “as though they carry an infectious disease needs to be cured … ‘Reeducation’ is a code word for human reengineering,” says Nury Turkel, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). He was born in a reeducation camp in China during the Cultural Revolution. It’s been 19 years since...