President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that would increase Social Security benefits for millions of U.S. citizens who have worked in eligible public service fields.  |
- President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that would increase Social Security benefits for millions of U.S. citizens who have worked in eligible public service fields.
- Infographic: A Who's Who of All Trump's Cabinet Level Nominees
- The man who carried out the New Year's Day terrorist attack in New Orleans that left 14 people dead traveled to Egypt in 2023.
- Wild horses can help prevent wildfires, advocates say.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a thought-provoking tale worth reading by any young adult, art enthusiast, or manga fan. Graphic novel review after the news.
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President Joe Biden signs the Social Security Fairness Act during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) |
President Joe Biden on Jan. 5 signed into law a bill that would increase Social Security benefits for millions of U.S. citizens who have worked in eligible public service fields. The bill, dubbed the Social Security Fairness Act, specifically boosts benefits for about 3 million U.S. citizens who have worked in public jobs, particularly affecting those who received state and local pensions separate from Social Security. "By signing this bill, we're extending Social Security benefits for millions of teachers, nurses and other public employees and their spouses and survivors," Biden said at the signing of the bill on Jan. 5. A White House official, in an email to The Epoch Times, said Biden's signing of the legislation made him "the first president in twenty years to expand Social Security benefits." Both Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have repeatedly expressed support for Social Security and opposition to substantial revisions that reduce benefits or raise the retirement age. The legislation passed the House on Nov. 12 with overwhelming bipartisan support in a 327–75 vote. Later, it passed the Senate in a similarly bipartisan 76–20 vote. Even Republicans, who are more hawkish on government spending and Social Security issues, largely supported the bill. (More) The Transition: |
The FBI released more details on Jan. 5 about the man who carried out the New Year's Day terrorist attack in New Orleans that left 14 people dead, saying the suspect had traveled to Egypt in 2023. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, traveled to Cairo, the capital of the country, from June 22 to July 3, 2023, before flying to Canada and returning to the United States days later, the FBI said in a press conference. He also made at least two visits to New Orleans in October and November 2024, capturing a video on Bourbon Street—where he would carry out the attack—with Meta Platforms' smart glasses, officials said. It's not clear whether those trips to New Orleans or overseas were connected to the attack, Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said at the press conference. Early on Jan. 1, Jabbar, a former U.S. Army soldier from Houston, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year revelers on Bourbon Street, in New Orleans's historic French Quarter. Police fatally shot Jabbar during a firefight at the scene of the deadly crash. "Meta glasses appear to look like regular glasses, but they allow a user to record videos and photos hand-free," FBI Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil said on Jan. 5. "They also allow the user to potentially livestream through their video." Jabbar wore the glasses during his New Year's Day attack, but they were not activated for a livestream, according to Myrthil. There was no indication that he was recording the attack at all, though the glasses were found on Jabbar. (More) More U.S. News |
- A blast of snow, ice, wind, and plummeting temperatures produced dangerous travel scenarios in areas across the central United States on Jan. 5 because of a heavy winter storm that is slated to move east to the Mid-Atlantic states, as multiple governors declared states of emergency.
- The price of natural gas is trading at elevated levels as cold weather sweeps across the United States, triggering higher heating demand from consumers.
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Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times |
Allison Robbert/AFP via Getty Images |
A watercolor illustration of Nausicaä by Hayao Miyazaki, from the "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" boxed set. |
"Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" is a thought-provoking tale worth reading by any young adult, art enthusiast, or manga fan. The Japanese manga series, written by filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of animation company Studio Ghibli, is considered by many to be his greatest work. The series was published from 1982 to 1994, selling 10 million copies in Japan alone and spawning a 1984 movie of the same name. It was awarded the 1994 Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize. The story follows the compassionate and idealistic princess Nausicaä. She lives in a world where most of the Earth has been covered by a huge poisonous forest that crawls with giant insects. Rival empires battle for precious resources, scarce land, and populations. The use of ancient technology, from a time before the forests of lung-rotting miasma, threatens to wipe out the last of humanity. Nausicaä has the power to talk to the great insects of the forest and telepathically communicate with humans. Her journey from the small kingdom of the Valley of the Wind into the bleak world, where humans fight each other and nature to keep afloat, is one plagued by tragedy, struggle, and loss.
Nausicaä's idealism, kindness, and hope light the way through a world that otherwise seems hopeless. (More)
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