Amid a rising national debt and fears about the fiscal stability of Social Security, the idea of raising the retirement age to balance the program’s books is garnering more attention. But doing so would be a heavy lift politically. The projected reserves of the combined Social Security trust fund and the Disability Insurance Trust Fund […]
Tag: usa
Iran calls US involvement a”strategic mistake’
Iran has stepped up its fiery rhetoric towards the United States and the West amid concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could spill over into the wider region. Tehran gives moral and financial support to Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip and whose militants attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,400 people and taking 200 hostages, according […]
Zelensky pushes US for long term security deal “like Israel”
As Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, officials far away from the frontlines in Washington and Kyiv are quietly negotiating a formal alliance that could reshape Europe’s security landscape. The negotiations have been overshadowed by Kyiv’s push this summer to retake Russian-held territory in southern Ukraine, but the discussions drew fresh attention recently when Ukrainian President Volodymyr […]
Migrants say America is not what they imagined
For one 29-year-old Venezuelan woman, who left her two children and partner behind in her home country to embark on a six-month journey to New York City, America represented hope. There, she thought, she would find safety and the opportunity to make a living. But four months after arriving in the U.S., she says it’s […]
China is imbedding ‘spy tech’ in US smart devices
When police, firefighters and other first responders across the U.S. rush to emergencies, they rely on special devices to avoid overwhelmed public networks. Chinese spies could be listening in. Chinese-made components in devices certified for use on the federally managed FirstNet public safety network are designed to be able to send information back to servers […]
50,000 US suicides reported in 2022, a record
A total of 49,449 Americans died by suicide in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. This is a 2.6% increase from 48,183 in 2021 and the highest number ever recorded, according to provisional numbers released in a new report from the federal health agency. The greatest increase was seen among adults […]
US inflation rises in July
Prices for many items continued to rise in the US last month, despite a sharp increase in interest rates to stamp out inflation. The rate of inflation rose at 3.2% over the year to July, driven by higher housing, car insurance and food costs, the Labor Department said. That was up from 3% in June, […]
China’s latest salvo in the microchip war
China is due to start restricting exports of two materials key to the semiconductor industry, as the chip war with the US heats up. Under the new controls, special licences will be needed to export gallium and germanium from the world’s second largest economy. The materials are used to produce chips and have military applications. […]
US will send Ukraine ‘banned’ cluster munitions
The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to help its military push back Russian forces entrenched along the front lines. The Biden administration is expected to announce on Friday that it will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth $800 million, according to people familiar […]
China now owns 300,000 acres of US soil
In 2021, a Chinese company bought land near an Air Force base in Grand Fork, N.D., sending lawmakers into a frenzy. Lawmakers feared that China, which many policymakers view as a strategic adversary even though it’s the country’s top trading partner outside North America, could gain control over the U.S. food and energy supply, as […]
Biden calls Xi ‘A Dictator’ fueling Chinese anger
President Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” on Tuesday, sparking an angry reaction from Beijing in a sudden flare-up after talks between the two superpowers aimed at easing their geopolitical animosity. Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in California, Biden suggested that Xi was embarrassed because he did not know about the alleged Chinese […]
Blinken arrives in China for high stakes talks
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing at the start of two days of talks with Chinese officials. The visit is the first by an American diplomat to China in almost five years. US officials say the main goal of the talks is to stabilise a relationship […]