This year’s PISA results show that the United States ranked 13th in reading and science and 27th in math. Reading scores fell by 14 points since the last test in 2022. It’s not just the U.S. that’s moving in the wrong direction. The decline is part of a broader global trend, with the OECD average across 23 countries down 16 points.
Read the full story
Carla Sands, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, called the newly signed U.S.-Greenland-Denmark security agreement an “absolute amazing deal” during an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump reportedly called off planned U.S. airstrikes against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis at the last minute Sunday, even as American personnel were loading bombs onto aircraft, The New York Times reported.
The Trump administration had prepared to launch the strikes after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman renewed his request for American military assistance against the Houthis, the NYT reported. Trump ultimately decided against joining Saudi Arabia in the strikes, at least for the time being, according to the outlet.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump has struck a wide-ranging agreement with Denmark and Greenland, granting the United States permanent military rights on the strategically located Arctic island.
Trump has confirmed the agreement in a post on Truth Social.
Read the full story
Many narratives swirl around the U.S. war with Iran as the November 3 midterm elections loom.
The Left is giddy with confidence that Democrats may take control of Congress. It is therefore planning a circus of impeachments, lawfare, and investigations to neuter the last two years of the Trump administration.
Read the full story
Over the last quarter of a century, American universities have allowed their Middle East scholars to abandon any pretense of objectivity, exchanging the free and unfettered pursuit of ideas for an increasingly dogmatic worldview that praises and supports not America but its deadliest opponents and their murderous ideologies.
Read the full story
The last remaining 15 terrorist detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison are considered the “worst of the worst,” “high-value detainees,” and “forever prisoners,” but Gitmo parole records reveal that at least three of the violent jihadists have been recommended for release recently despite high recidivism rates.
Read the full story
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared himself “the house” and dared currency traders to bet against his efforts to strengthen the Japanese yen Tuesday, arguing his position gave him an information advantage over the market.
Read the full story
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said recently that Iranian assets seized by the U.S. Treasury could be held for the Iranian people or be distributed to victims of Iranian state terrorism.
Read the full story
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced that a four year sentence was issued to Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, a Ukrainian lawyer who pleaded guilty to participating in the Russia-based Conti ransomware group, which has been blamed for attacks against more than 1,000 victims globally, including Tennessee businesses and law enforcement agency.
The original indictment against Lytvynenko states that “Conti conspirators” claimed credit for attacks on a Middle Tennessee sheriff’s department, another Middle Tennessee government entity, and gaining access to systems of another local law enforcement agency in Tennessee, while the plea agreement states that Lytvynenko admitted his email address connected him to stolen material from eight American victims and four from other countries.
Read the full story
The U.S.-Iran war has erupted into another major round of fighting after weeks of relative calm, with American forces destroying Iranian oil tankers as Tehran launches ballistic missiles at U.S. forces and attacks commercial shipping across the Persian Gulf.
The latest exchange represents the largest declared wave of attacks on shipping by Iran and the U.S. since the war began roughly six months ago. The renewed fighting has already pushed Brent crude above $100 per barrel and again threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Read the full story
As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues, Americans may blame Russian leader Vladimir Putin for starting “World War III.” It is correct that World War III has started, but its cause is the People’s Republic of China (PRC), not Russia.
The war did not start with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 or with the appeasement of Russia in the years before Putin’s foolish aggression. It started with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP has been at war with the U.S. since coming to power in 1949 and has employed many fronts in this war to undermine America and the West. The CCP’s May 2019 declaration of “People’s War” against the U.S. was CCP leader Xi Jinping’s call for a maximal effort against America. Not coincidentally, the COVID-19 outbreak soon followed. The CCP lied about COVID’s origins, refused to share information with the world, and used Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), as its willing accomplice. Another front is CCP election interference.
Read the full story
Pundits on cable news keep insisting that President Trump’s economic strangulation campaign against Iran cannot work. Sanctions, they say, have never brought down a regime. They note that Iran has survived decades of economic sanctions due to weak compliance and selling discounted oil through a shadow fleet, mostly to China.
That argument misses what is happening now. After the Iranian regime rejected President Trump’s diplomatic offers—including a generous Memorandum of Understanding and the substantial financial incentives that accompanied it—he turned to a different strategy. This is not another round of paper sanctions. It is a naval blockade, backed by asset seizures and targeted strikes. It does not merely ask governments and banks to comply. It stops tankers. That is why the campaign has a realistic chance of forcing a political rupture in Tehran that sanctions alone cannot produce.
Read the full story
At first glance, the current American-Canadian trade “war” is absurd. We are neighbors with a long history of close friendship, speak the same language (for the most part), and spring from the same British civilization.
Read the full story
The Ohio State University has agreed to pay the federal government a $2.1 million settlement over allegations the school didn’t disclose employee affiliations with China when seeking federal research funding, becoming the latest university to settle over such allegations.
Read the full story
South Korean intelligence officials believe the U.S. and North Korea are showing signs of moving toward renewed dialogue, raising the possibility of another meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers Tuesday that a U.S.-North Korea summit should be considered possible “at any time,” although the agency has not confirmed concrete talks between Washington and Pyongyang, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing Democratic Party Rep. Youn Kun-young and People Power Party Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha. The assessment arrives after Trump publicly pushed to revive his personal diplomacy with Kim while scaling back U.S. military exercises with South Korea.
Read the full story
Oil giant Chevron is expected to expand its operations in Venezuela as the Trump administration deepens its push into the country’s vast oil sector, a U.S. official told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Chevron officials and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are expected to travel to Venezuela on Wednesday, where the company’s new investment is expected to be formally announced, according to the AP. Chevron is currently the only major U.S. oil company with a significant presence in Venezuela.
Read the full story
New data on arrests of illegal immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals that the Trump Administration is delivering on deportation, with nearly 50,000 arrests of illegal aliens made in the month of July alone.
Read the full story
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s personal visit to Moscow this week saw him warn Russia against any strikes on NATO nations, multiple outlets have reported.
Ratcliffe visited Russia this week and met with intelligence officials, but not President Vladimir Putin. The meeting came amid reported concerns from Washington that Russia could attack one of the Baltic States, all of which are in NATO, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Read the full story
The U.S. military’s assistance of oil tankers has allowed more than 660 million barrels of crude oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since early May.
Approximately 1,300 vessels have sailed through the strait with the U.S. military’s assistance in that time, U.S. Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson, told CNBC.
Read the full story
Congress could pass a law that converts the treasuries into marketable treasuries, and then are sold to the Federal Reserve or phased through Treasury or a new government vehicle in exchange for cash that is delivered to the Treasury — which are then used to buy a non-voting stake in the S&P 500.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Wednesday told reporters that he planned to meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un sometime this year.
“Yeah, I will,” Trump told reporters when asked if he planned to meet with Kim this year.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Friday stated that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. territory after the end of the Iran war.
Trump made the remarks during a speech at the Nassau County Police Academy in New York.
Read the full story
Student visa fraud will be reduced under a new Trump policy limiting how long foreigners can attend college, an expert told The College Fix.
Set to go into effect on September 15, the “duration of status” rule will now set a fixed, four-year limit on student visas or shorter, depending on the normal length of the program. Prior to this change, students could stay here as long as they were enrolled in school.
Read the full story
A senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence official is the new owner of a historic building overlooking the White House Complex, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.
Read the full story
The federal government is refusing to turn over records related to an investigation conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement into allegations of immigration fraud by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., citing a legal exemption for ongoing investigations.
Read the full story
The Department of War announced on Tuesday the launch of the Golden Dome for America Ecosystem Hub (Hub), a new digital portal at designed to connect commercial innovators, traditional defense contractors, venture capital, startups, academia, and research labs directly with the Golden Dome Program Office.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Monday reacted to the Iranian demand that the U.S. compensate Tehran for the damage it sustained in the ongoing Iran war by demanding that Iran, in turn, pay restitution for the Americans they killed over many years.
“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” he posted on Truth Social.
Read the full story
The U.S. Senate confirmed Dave Brat to serve as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Australia on Friday.
Read the full story
As the world continues its search for power sources to feed an ever-expanding technological boom, China is racing to develop its own “artificial sun.”
China’s Institute of Plasma Physics completed and tested a 582-ton doughnut-shaped superconducting magnet in Hefei, on June 27, clearing a key hurdle in the country’s push to have fusion power by 2030, Forbes reported Tuesday. Manufactured entirely in China, the magnet is the largest ever built for a fusion reactor, highlighting the country’s diminishing reliance on the West for key technological developments.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the Departments of State and Homeland Security to halt “birth tourism,” the practice of foreign nationals entering the United States on temporary nonimmigrant visas primarily to give birth on U.S. soil and secure citizenship for their children.
Read the full story
The Spanish immigration crisis has exposed cracks in the European Union and an opportunity for right-wing leaders heading into elections next year in Spain, Italy and France.
Last week, tens of thousands of migrants poured over the Spanish border at Ceuta, a North African exclave ruled by Spain since 1580. The small coastal city is situated on a narrow peninsula on the southern edge of the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco — the only place where a European border touches Africa.
Read the full story
Along, long time ago—27 years, to be exact—my boss (the inimitable Mark Melcher) and I predicted that the European Monetary Union would be the death of the EU. The Euro, we wrote for our clients at a now-defunct big brokerage house, would be a disaster and would destroy everything that the post-war Europeans had spent the previous several decades working to build. Specifically, we wrote:
Psst! You wanna know a secret? The Euro, and the mess it represents, is going to be a social, economic and political catastrophe. Indeed, we think it is probable that the adoption of the Euro will be to 21st century Europe, what the killing of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was to 20th century Europe; i.e., that point in time when history will record that the unraveling began in earnest.
Read the full story
The Spanish government on Friday said that most of the migrants from Morocco that stormed Ceuta this week had returned to Morocco.
The government also confirmed that the death toll had reached at least 57, CNN reported.
Read the full story
The Italian government on Friday announced the suspension of free travel with Spain amid the storming of the country’s African exclaves by migrants from Morocco.
Tens of thousands of people have overrun the borders between Spain and Morocco and Melilla and Ceuta this week, with footage of violent riots going viral. Italy, which has sought to curb illegal immigration to Europe, previously warned that it could suspend freedom of movement if Madrid failed to deal with the situation.
Read the full story
Tesla’s ongoing electricity usage prompted two energy agreements related to solar projects in Arizona and Texas.
Read the full story
The U.S. Immigration and Enforcement agency sent out a request for information seeking contractors who could operate detention facilities near Denver, Miami and Seattle, and central Pennsylvania.
Read the full story
China invested up to $33.5 billion within the last six months, a recent report found.
The record investment exposes China’s expanding economic influence across Africa through the Belt and Road Initiative, as Beijing pours into green projects in Africa, according to the China Belt and Road Initiative Investment report.
Read the full story
The Trump administration is accusing a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company of conducting a “covert” plot to steal Anthropic’s data to boost its AI models.
Read the full story
Republican Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA-07) introduced a bill Thursday that seeks to ban birth tourism in the U.S., the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Read the full story
A Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence official is the head of a U.S. taxpayer-funded facility in the Mojave Desert where authorities dismantled a massive illegal marijuana operation, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.
Police seized over 15,000 marijuana plants and arrested 14 people — including eight Chinese nationals — while conducting a July 2022 raid on a 75-acre Barstow, California facility owned by China-based quartz slab manufacturer American Quartz Inc. (AQ), which secured a multimillion-dollar Sunshine State grant earlier that year with support from Treasurer Fiona Ma and remains operational, according to the criminal complaint and state records.
Read the full story
Intelligence community files released by the White House claim that China paid American journalists, social media influencers, and leveraged relationships with American businesses in order to sabotage President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, with a CIA document claiming the foreign government went as far as to pay journalists to print negative articles.
In a Thursday speech delivered to the nation, Trump cited a CIA document that showed the agency determined, beginning in 2019, China “sought to identify U.S. journalists who had reported negatively on the U.S. president and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him,” adding that the adversarial government “wanted the U.S. president to lose the next election.
Read the full story
Andy Burnham will become British prime minister Monday after the ruling left-wing Labour Party formally declared him its new leader on Friday.
Burnham ran unopposed, with 379 of Labour’s 403 members of Parliament backing his bid, according to CBS News. He replaces deeply unpopular outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who faced weeks of pressure to quit after Labour’s disastrous showing in May’s local elections.
Read the full story
Earlier this year, some state lawmakers pushed for new mandates to block Tennesseans from receiving medical treatments that use mRNA technology.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Monday said that the U.S. would reimpose its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed hostilities with Iran.
“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” he posted on Truth Social.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump on Friday announced that Iran had sought to resume peace talks with the United States and that he had agreed to do so, but would not halt combat operations in the interim.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he posted on Truth Social.
Read the full story
In December 2025, India seized over 100,000 forged diplomas from 28 universities that had been accepted by American companies for employment.
Read the full story
The United States Central Command said Tuesday it has launched new airstrikes on Iran after it targeted three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day.
The U.S. said the strikes were on commercial vessels that were transiting the strait, which were “crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
Read the full story
Manufacturers around the world are leveraging AI to create drone swarms that could change the reality of war forever.
Both defensive and offensive drone swarm systems are going to be hitting battlefields across the globe soon. As companies such as Swarm Defense create new systems that will launch tidal waves of drones at targets, other companies like XCaliber Technologies are rapidly working to build a wall of drones and other defensive systems that can defeat the new offensive threat.
Read the full story
A South Texas hospital has been openly advertising maternity services directly to pregnant women living outside the U.S., encouraging them to travel across the border to give birth at its facility.
Mission Regional Medical Center, located in Mission, Texas, has been promoting maternity packages to international patients, including through reported Spanish-language billboards targeting families in Latin America.
Read the full story