The New Year's Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revelers stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate the start of 2025 in New York City.  |
- The New Year's Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revelers stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate the start of 2025 in New York City.
- President-elect Donald Trump urged Republicans to block Democrat efforts to delay Senate confirmation of his cabinet choices.
- Democrats and Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party have said China's state-sponsored hacking of the U.S. Treasury Department is unacceptable and cannot go unchecked.
- The World Health Organization on Dec. 30 restated its request for China to share data and access to help determine the origins of COVID-19, as the organization marked five years since the infection first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
- Five tips for reading more books in 2025 after the news.
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☀️We wish you a happy and healthy New Year! Thank you for reading Morning Brief. |
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President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump arrive on New Year's Eve at his Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 31, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images) |
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Republicans to try to overcome possible Democrat efforts to delay Senate confirmation of his cabinet choices. Republicans are slated to have a 53–47 majority over Democrats in the Senate, the chamber that confirms presidential appointments. Several of Trump's selections for cabinet positions have faced resistance from Senate Democrats and some Republicans. The president-elect wrote on social media on Dec. 31 that he "just won a Historic Landslide and Mandate from the American People, but Senate Democrats are organizing to improperly stall and delay the confirmation process of many of our Great Nominees." "They will try all sorts of tricks starting very soon," Trump wrote in his post. "Republicans must not allow them to do that." Trump said his administration has "a Country to run, and many big problems to solve," before calling on GOP lawmakers to be "SMART AND TOUGH." While Republicans have the majority, Democrats may question some of Trump's selections during confirmation meetings that are likely to start next month after Trump takes office. Senators can also use procedural measures to slow down the confirmation process. More Politics: |
- Trump supporters are debating the H-1B visa. What is it?
- The mayor of the District of Columbia said she had a "great meeting" with Trump discussing his upcoming term in office.
- Former President Jimmy Carter, who died at the age of 100 on Dec. 29, charted a more than 70-year legacy that began with his Navy service and continued into the present day with his international conflict resolution group, the Carter Center.
- The special counsel who had led two federal cases against Trump indicated on Monday in court filings that he is transferring the classified documents case against two co-defendants to a local U.S. attorney's office.
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Shen Yun dancers on stage during a performance. (Courtesy of Shen Yun) |
While most performing arts companies struggle financially, relying on government or corporate grants to operate, Shen Yun Performing Arts has beaten the odds, running a self-sustaining business model, allowing it to grow from one performing arts company to eight now touring the world. The company was started by practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. Through its art, Shen Yun also raises awareness about the persecution Falun Gong faces in communist China. Yet this artistic and financial success has drawn repeated attacks by The New York Times—at least nine articles directed against the company in less than five months, including several this week. This time, The New York Times cast the company in a negative light for keeping cash reserves. The article also attempted to explain away Shen Yun's success by saying some Falun Gong practitioners have volunteered time or money to host and promote Shen Yun shows. In its opening paragraphs, The New York Times goes as far as to suggest that Shen Yun "may have" obtained some money illegally, but then leaves the allegation unsubstantiated. The New York Times reporters also made false statements in the article and concealed from readers that they were made aware of the inaccuracies before publication, The Epoch Times has learned. "It is true that our company has experienced remarkable success," Shen Yun said in a statement. "It is also true that we have built, on our own, the fastest-growing performing arts company in American history." "What the [New York] Times gets completely wrong is why, and, in many regards, how we did it." (More) More U.S. News |
- A federal judge in California has rejected an effort by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to overturn a jury verdict that awarded $7.8 million to six former employees who were fired for refusing to comply with the agency's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds.
- Medicare recipients will pay no more than $2,000 annually for covered prescription drugs starting Jan. 1, a change that could potentially benefit millions of older Americans.
- The New York Police Department on New Year's Eve identified the woman who was killed after being set on fire on a stopped New York City subway train earlier this month as Debrina Kawam, whose last known address was in Toms River, New Jersey.
- The U.S. Department of Defense's appeals court has turned down the Pentagon's attempt to rescind the plea deals for the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and several alleged accomplices, paving the way for the men to avoid the death penalty.
- A look back at the 24 moments that helped define 2024.
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The World Health Organization on Dec. 30 restated its request for China to share data and access to help determine the origins of COVID-19, as the organization marked five years since the infection first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. "This is a moral and scientific imperative," the organization said in a statement. "Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics." The world remains in the dark about how the pandemic erupted in China, where the ruling Communist Party holds tight control over the information about the virus and punished doctors, journalists, and others who attempted to relay unfiltered information relating to the pandemic. Earlier this month, a Republican-led oversight subcommittee released findings from a two-year investigation, highlighting that the Chinese regime, along with U.S. government agencies and members of the international scientific community, sought to cover up facts about the pandemic's origins. Even the identity of "patient zero" is still shrouded in mystery. While the health authorities in Wuhan said the first case was detected on Dec. 8, 2019, media reports indicated that the earliest documented patient—a man in his 70s—fell ill several days earlier, on Dec. 1. A trove of leaked documents obtained by The Epoch Times has raised further questions about the official timeline, showing that hospitals in Wuhan began treating patients with COVID-like symptoms as early as September 2019. (More) More World News: |
- U.S. warships and aircraft conducted multiple airstrikes on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 targeting Houthi rebel sites in Yemen.
- The United States has imposed new sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of trying to interfere in the 2024 elections.
- Russian gas will stop flowing to Europe through Ukraine on Jan. 1, 2025, after Kyiv's state-owned Naftogaz gas company elected not to renew a recurring contract to act as a transit point for Moscow's energy exports.
- A major power outage struck Puerto Rico in the early hours of Dec. 31, leaving nearly 1.3 million customers without electricity as the island prepared to welcome the new year, LUMA Energy said in a statement posted to social media.
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✍️ Opinion: A Response to Falun Gong Critics by Terri Marsh 🍿 Documentary: "Maine: America's Coast" probes the culture and legacy of the Maine coast, exploring the many ways in which American history truly began on these rockbound shores. (Watch free on Gan Jing World) 🍵 Health: "Dampness" is a condition in traditional Chinese medicine that leads to many undesirable health effects. Here's how to effectively reduce it. 🎵Music: Ludwig van Beethoven—Symphony No. 5. Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Carlos Klieber in 1974. (Listen)
📷 Photo of the Day: Fireworks light up above Prambanan Temple, a 9th-century Hindu temple complex and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on Jan. 1, 2024.👇
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Devi Rahman/AFP via Getty Images |
Reading is a habit that can be built and nurtured, just like any other activity. (twomeows/Getty Images) |
A lot of us want to read more books. We just seem to find it increasingly difficult to do so. Work, family, and especially TV and phone usage suck up so much time that little is left for reading. As a society, we've largely fallen out of the reading habit. But fear not. Reading habits can be rebuilt; literary pursuits can be rekindled.
That said, here are five tips for reading more books in 2025.
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- Find Your Motivation—When you're tempted to give up reading a weighty book, you need some reason to keep going. As with any endeavor, when you set out to read more, you need to stake out clear goals to help you stay motivated.
- Schedule Your Reading Time—Many experts emphasize the importance of scheduling your reading time. By blocking off specific chunks of time to turn pages, you guarantee that you'll get through more books.
- Read Books That Genuinely Interest You, Especially at First—Pick up something that hooks your interest and don't let it go, especially as you're getting back in the swing of things. Once the habit has been established (or reestablished), it will be easier to tackle more challenging books.
- Read Multiple Books at the Same Time—Fueling your mind with a variety of intellectual foods helps keep things fresh and keeps eyes on pages. If you get tired of one book, you can pick up another one.
- Keep Devices Turned Off or in Another Room—The pinging phones in our pockets constantly distract us when we try to read. For this reason, multiple experts recommend turning off your devices, keeping them in another room when you read, or at least removing distracting apps.
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Click here to read the full article by our colleague Walker Larson. |
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Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day. |
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