Good morning, happy Wednesday! Here are today’s top stories.
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Voters’ decisions in the November midterms are set to shape the balance of power in Washington and beyond. Here’s a rundown of the top races to watch that will decide control of the House and Senate.
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U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned following a request by the Trump administration amid allegations of misconduct.
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Pope Leo XIV was diagnosed with lung cancer following surgery to remove a section of his lung, the Vatican announced. The pope was diagnosed with “lung adenocarcinoma,” a common type of non-small cell lung cancer, after testing confirmed the finding.
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Epoch survey: We want to hear your views on U.S. involvement in conflicts in the Middle East.
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🍵 Health: Push-ups are magnificent body-weight exercises, but they can do more harm than good when poorly performed. Here are nine common mistakes and how to do push-ups properly.
TOP STORY
The Top 37 Races to Watch This Midterm
Voters’ decisions in the November midterms are set to shape the balance of power in Washington and beyond. Democrats are seeking to capitalize on favorability ratings that fell below 40 percent for Republicans in the latest RealClearPolitics summary of polling.
That’s expected for the sixth year of a president’s tenure, called the “six-year itch,” a time when the president’s party has historically lost seats in the House. With the House already closely divided, observers expect Democrats to reclaim the lower chamber this year. However, Democrats’ new margins in the House could also be slim, as a flurry of mid-decade redistricting has resulted in a slight edge for Republicans.
The Senate is seen as a more hotly contested battleground. Currently, Republicans hold 53 seats to Democrats’ 47. Just four pick-ups for Democrats—who are leading or holding their own in red states such as Iowa and Ohio—would flip the balance of the upper chamber.
And several progressive and outsider Democrats—some of whom have open ties to the Democratic Socialists of America or democratic socialist ideas—have made headlines in races across the nation. Republicans have said that Democrats are shifting too far left for the average American.
According to polling by Pew Research, Americans’ top concern at present is the economy, and by a wide margin. That poll found that economic issues were the driving political force this cycle for 29 percent of Americans. Data centers are also a top priority for voters as the primary season comes to a close.
Here are the top elections and candidates to watch this cycle.
Georgia
In Georgia, Republicans are again seeking to flip one of the state’s two Senate seats, which have been held by Democrats since 2020.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), elected to his first six-year term in a January 2021 runoff, is up for reelection. Republicans selected Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) to take him on.
Polls taken in the state have shown that Ossoff is favored to hold the seat, leading Collins in almost every poll so far.
In 2024, President Donald Trump won Georgia by about 2.2 percentage points, Republicans’ lowest margin of victory in the Peach State since 1996. (More)
POLL
America’s Priorities, At Home or Abroad
A deadly attack on Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh airport has renewed concerns about how Middle East conflicts could affect Americans—from gas prices to military readiness. How should the United States balance its commitments overseas with needs at home? With the midterm elections approaching, we want to hear your views. The results will be featured in an article published this Saturday. (Take the Survey)
POLITICS
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Early voting began Tuesday in Georgia, where residents are choosing whether a 23-year streak of Republican governorships will continue and if their representation in the U.S. Senate will remain solely held by Democrats. The Epoch Times spoke with many early voters across the state who were mainly split between the two main political parties, holding vastly different opinions on hot-button issues such as the economy, Iran, and immigration.
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Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, gave her first news briefing yesterday after starting her new role on Monday. It was a brief presser, lasting less than 15 minutes. After delivering her opening remarks, she called on only three reporters for questions before announcing that she was ending the briefing.
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The U.S. Treasury fined Bank of America $1.21 billion for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
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The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a federal judge improperly ordered broad discovery against DOGE in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that pits a watchdog group’s demand for records against the government’s claim that the order reaches too deeply into internal executive branch advice.
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Federal regulators are proposing revised emergency restrictions for four opioid-like compounds associated with kratom, a plant from Southeast Asia.
LATEST NEWS
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Cornell University has banned parties at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year amid a reopened investigation into an alleged rape on campus two years ago.
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A former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for his part in the 1996 death of rapper Tupac Shakur.
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Artificial intelligence models may soon be able to self-replicate on devices many people have in their homes, Anthropic researchers said.
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A Saudi national and software engineer working for OpenAI in San Francisco was arrested by federal authorities after company employees found a sophisticated recording device inside one of their offices, prosecutors and company officials confirmed.
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Federal prosecutors charged 10 people based in China in an alleged North Korean fraud scheme that secured remote technology jobs at more than 70 American companies using stolen identities and concealed overseas connections.
WORLD
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China’s central bank has granted preliminary approval to Visa, the American credit and debit card payment network, to establish a domestic card-processing business after years of delays.
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The Hamas terror group is stepping up preparations to resume fighting in Gaza, recruiting teenage boys and using a hospital as a major operational hub, senior Israeli security officials told Epoch Magazine Israel.
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The number of new annual dementia cases worldwide is estimated to increase more than twofold by 2050 from 2023 levels, according to a recently published peer-reviewed study.
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Swedish climate activist and pro-Palestinian campaigner Greta Thunberg joined protesters gathering to blockade a school in a suburb north of Paris with a large immigrant population that has become one of the main centers of the protest movement.
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Trump said that he might meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his planned visit to Asia next month.
OPINION
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Florida Paid Down Half Its Debt. Washington Should Take Notes—by Siri Terjesen (Read)
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College Matters: Liberal Education Should be Everyone’s Business—by William Brooks (Read)
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Do America’s Adversaries Understand America?—by Lamont Colucci (Read)
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Less Government Demands Greater Personal Responsibility for Strangers in Need—by Mollie Engelhart (Read)
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The Case for Cabbage—by Jeffrey A. Tucker (Read)
📸 Day in Photos: Iguazu Falls Flooding, Protest in Albania, and a Gaelic Triumph (Look)
🇺🇸 American Thought Leaders: How a Vague Provision of Human Trafficking Law Is Threatening Religious Communities | John Lauro (Watch)
🍿 Documentary: “Ghost in the Machine”: Artificial Intelligence and Transhumanists Going Berserk (Read)
💛 Lifestyle: The Overlooked Power of a Sincere Compliment (Read)
📕 Literature: “Winnie-the-Pooh”: A Microcosm of Human Nature (Read)
🏠 Home: 7 Easy-to-Fix Reasons Your Dishwasher Is Not Cleaning Like It Should (Read)
HEALTH
Push-Ups: 9 Common Mistakes and How to Do Them Properly
I worry about form. Having performed thousands of treatments over the years, I’ve spent endless hours coaching patients through proper form during movements, including exercises. In the end, good form is critical not only for getting the best overall benefit from exercises, but also for staying safe. Performing a good exercise with bad form risks missing its best benefits, but also potentially injuring yourself.
Let’s dissect the classic push-up. It’s a magnificent body-weight exercise—one of the all-time greats. It has many nuances that need to be kept in check to keep it effective and safe—though it isn’t difficult with a little practice.
I’ve always been a major fan of the classic body-weight exercises, and push-ups hold a dear place in my heart. Why? Because they offer many benefits:
Convenience: Readers of my articles will understand that I love exercises you can do almost anywhere, almost any time, and that almost anyone can do. The push-up falls firmly into that category, either in its classic form or in modified versions.
Bone Health: Routine exercises such as push-ups can help maintain bone density, especially as we age.
Heart Health: The continuous exertion during push-ups can help strengthen your cardiovascular system. Once you try some, you’ll quickly understand how fast they can leave you short of breath. A study found an association between push-up ability and the risk of future cardiovascular disease.
Upper Body and Arm Strength: Given that your core, chest, shoulder, and arm muscles are involved in the exercise, much of your upper body gets a share of the strengthening. (More)
RECIPE
Pumpkin Sheet Cake Feeds a Crowd With Almost No Fuss
Nothing says the season has arrived quite like the warm spices in a pumpkin dessert.
Baked in one pan with no layers to stack, this cake comes together easily and is finished with a rich brown butter cream cheese frosting that takes the classic tangy topping up a notch.
🎲 GAMES
Spot the Difference is our readers’ favorite. Play it here.
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—Cathy He, Madalina Hubert, and Kenzi Li.
