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President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion spending cuts package survived a key hurdle on Wednesday afternoon, setting the measure up for a final House-wide vote later this week.

Trump’s proposal, which was introduced as legislation by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., would cut $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and just over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting distributes federal funding to NPR and PBS.

The House of Representatives made a procedural motion known as a ‘rule vote,’ which passed mostly along party lines. 

The rule passing now allows for debate on the $9.4 billion spending cut measure, followed by a final House-wide vote.

But it’s not atypical for House leaders to include unrelated measures in rule votes, as is the case with the spending cuts package – House GOP leaders included a provision with minor changes to Trump’s ‘one big, beautiful bill’ to account for the Senate needing to amend the bill.

That latter piece of legislation, a vast tax and immigration bill, is moving through the budget reconciliation process.

By dropping the Senate’s threshold for advancement from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to skirt the minority – in this case, Democrats – on vast pieces of legislation, provided they adhere to a specific set of budgetary rules.

House GOP leaders said they needed to make the recent changes to the bill to better adhere to the Senate’s ‘Byrd Bath,’ when the Senate parliamentarian reviews the bill and removes anything not adhering to reconciliation guidelines.

Whereas that deals with the government’s mandatory spending processes that are more difficult to amend, the $9.4 billion spending cuts package tackles discretionary spending that Congress controls every year.

It’s called a ‘rescissions package,’ which is a formal proposal by the White House to claw back federal funds already allocated for the current fiscal year.

Like reconciliation, the mechanism allows for a 51-vote majority in the Senate rather than 60. Congress has 45 days to consider it, or it is deemed rejected.

Republican leaders have held up this rescissions package as the first step to codifying the billions of dollars of government waste identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Trump allies have also made clear they view this first package as a test of what kind of cuts congressional Republicans can stomach.

And while the rule vote was expected to pass, the bill could have trouble ahead of its expected Thursday afternoon vote.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., pointed out in a bipartisan statement that the media funding represents less than 0.01% of the federal budget and said taking that money away would ‘dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans.’

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters on Tuesday that he got assurances that USAID cuts would exclude critical medical funding.

‘I feel better than what I was hearing last week, that was gonna be a total cut,’ he said, without revealing whether he would support the bill.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Taiwan’s top envoy to the U.S. urged the Senate to ease tax burdens between the two countries and asked Congress to fast-track foreign military sales, following a closed-door lunch Wednesday with the House.  

Ambassador Alexander Tah-Ray Yui, Taipei’s top representative in Washington, told Fox News Digital that he is encouraged that U.S. leaders recognize the urgent existential threat China poses, but emphasized the need to get weapons into the hands of the Taiwanese military more quickly and to address issues impeding two-way investment. 

‘We appreciate the United States prioritizing Taiwan and helping us strengthen our defense capabilities,’ Yui said. ‘We’re cheering on more military commitments to the states and [a] joint effort to speed up the delivery of the products that we bought.’

Yui called on the Senate to advance a stalled double taxation agreement, which has already cleared the House.

‘That’s an important incentive for Taiwanese companies to come to the United States and invest – but also vice versa for U.S. companies to go to Taiwan,’ he said. ‘We are the only one of the large trading partners without this treatment, which is worrying for the whole country right now.’

By a vote of 423 to 1, the House last Congress passed the United States-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act, legislation that prevents double taxation on cross-border investments. 

The ambassador also offered a sobering assessment of China’s increasingly belligerent posture in the Taiwan Strait and across the Indo-Pacific.

‘We are concerned,’ Yui said. ‘The [People’s Liberation] Army and Navy are increasing their activities around Taiwan, harassing our territorial waters and airspace. These provocations are constant.’

While emphasizing that ‘we don’t want war,’ he noted that the U.S. and regional partners have begun ramping up their own defenses, recognizing the threat.

Rep. August Pfluger, who chairs the influential RSC, told Fox News Digital that the meeting was a show of solidarity with Taiwan’s democratic government and a rebuke of China’s authoritarian policies.

‘China is an existential threat to Taiwan,’ said Pfluger, a Texas Republican. ‘The difference between mainland China and Taiwan is how they treat human life. Taiwan values openness. China suppresses free speech, targets groups like the Uyghur Muslims – it’s deeply concerning.’

The lunch meeting, attended by dozens of House Republicans, comes amid rising tensions in the region – but just as President Donald Trump announced a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease the trade war. 

While Pfluger did not commit to further supplemental aid, he said he supports efforts by both nations to strengthen military readiness, including Taiwan’s move to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP.

‘It stands to reason that Taiwan increasing their own internal spending on defense, as well as the U.S. recapitalizing our Navy and Air and Space Forces, is vitally important,’ he said.

Asked what message Congress wants to send to the Taiwanese people, Pfluger was unequivocal:

‘We stand by them – as an ally, as a trading partner, as a democracy facing tyranny just next door.’

The conversation came at a time when U.S. military officials are warning China is readying for battle in the Indo-Pacific in an effort to ‘dominate’ the region. 

‘Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,’ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress this week. He added that such an outcome could put the U.S. economy and its supply chains in a choke hold. 

‘China is undertaking a historic military buildup and actively rehearsing for an invasion of Taiwan,’ he said.

‘These aggressive maneuvers are not routine exercises, they are rehearsals for a forced unification,’ Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added in his own testimony. 

Taiwan has recently renewed an effort to purge its ranks of Chinese sympathizers, indicting four people on Tuesday suspected of spying for China that had infiltrated the presidential office. 

Two Chinese aircraft carriers spotted conducting operations in the Pacific demonstrated the country’s ‘expansionist’ aims, Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo said Wednesday.

‘Crossing from the first island chain into the second island chain sends a definite political message and their expansionist nature can be seen,’ he told reporters in Taipei.

The first island chain refers to the region from Japan to Taiwan and the Philippines to Borneo and the second island chain spreads farther into the Pacific, toward the U.S. territory of Guam. 

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The American Bar Association asked the Department of Justice on Tuesday to reconsider its historic decision to shut the organization out of the judicial nomination process and insisted it rates potential judges fairly.

ABA President William Bay wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi that he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by her decision, which Bondi revealed in a letter two weeks ago.

‘It is deeply disturbing that the Justice Department has decided to restrict access to judicial nominees without justification or basis,’ Bay wrote.

Bondi accused the ABA, which comprises hundreds of thousands of lawyers and other legal professionals, of favoring Democratic administrations’ nominees and refusing to ‘fix the bias in its ratings.’

The ABA has for seven decades been involved in rating presidents’ nominees to serve as judges in the district and appellate courts and the Supreme Court.

An ABA committee rates potential judges as ‘well qualified,’ ‘qualified’ or ‘not qualified’ based on their experience level, legal writings, and dozens of interviews with the candidates’ colleagues and peers.

Bay noted the ABA rated all three of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees as ‘well qualified’ and that it has given ‘well qualified’ or ‘qualified’ ratings to at least 97% of rated nominees for the last two decades.

The ABA has also received nonpublic information about nominees, including their bar records, through DOJ waivers. Bondi said the department will no longer provide those.

Bay’s remarks were the latest development in a protracted legal fight that Trump and Republicans have waged against the ABA and big law over allegations they are plagued by bias. The ABA has on occasion promoted liberal initiatives, including abortion access, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the LGBTQ agenda. Bay said the rating committee is walled off from the rest of the organization.

‘The Standing Committee’s work is insulated from all other activities of the ABA to ensure its independence and impartiality,’ Bay wrote.

Presidents nominate federal judges, and the Senate votes on them. The judges, once confirmed, serve lifetime appointments.

Presidents and the Senate have for decades included the ABA in the nomination process, but Trump and President George W. Bush declined to give the ABA a first look at potential nominees before announcing them.

Former President Joe Biden continued Trump’s practice but clarified that he valued the ABA’s ratings and only gave it post-nomination access to nominee information to save time.

A DOJ spokesman said in response to Bay’s letter: ‘It’s clear that the American Bar Association has lost its way and no longer treats all nominees in a fair and impartial manner.’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Senate panel tasked with vetting potential judges, said in response to Bondi’s decision that it was ‘hardly surprising’ and that the legal organization has ‘consistently taken partisan stances on political issues.’ Grassley noted the ABA could still weigh in on nominees independently of the administration.

‘The Judiciary Committee will still accept letters from the ABA, the same as we do for all outside organizations, but it doesn’t make sense for this administration to be giving favored access to an organization that’s consistently shown political bias,’ Grassley said.

Grassley’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a statement online that the ABA’s ratings process was objective.

‘The Trump Administration is clearly just trying to cover for unqualified and extreme nominees,’ Durbin said.

Among those once rated as ‘not qualified’ by the ABA was DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle’s wife, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who serves as a federal judge in Florida. The rating was due to her lack of experience, as the ABA’s criteria for federal judges includes 12 years of experience practicing law.

The ABA had mixed reviews for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, ultimately giving him its mid-level ‘qualified’ rating.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The bodies of two deceased hostages were recovered from southern Gaza in a military operation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet security agency announced Wednesday evening.

Yair Yaakov was killed during by Islamic Jihad militants during the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7, 2023. Yaakov, who was 59 years old at the time, was killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz and his body taken into Gaza.

His partner, Meirav Tal, and two of his children were taken hostage and subsequently released during a previous hostage agreement.

The body of an additional hostage has also been recovered, according to the IDF and Shin Bet, but the second name has not yet been made public at the request of the family.

“Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their dearest,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.

“Alongside the pain and mourning, we feel a measure of relief knowing that the two will be laid to rest with dignity — and that the unbearable suffering their loved ones have endured for 614 days may now be eased, if only slightly,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement.

“We repeat our demand to the decision-makers to reach a full and comprehensive agreement that will bring home all 53 remaining hostages — even if that requires ending the fighting.”

The recovery of these two bodies comes less than a week after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of Judy Weinstein-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, who were also killed during the attack on Nir Oz. Last week, the Israeli military also recovered the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta.

According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, 53 hostages remain in Gaza, one of whom has been held since 2014. Of these, at least 20 are believed to be alive and 31 dead, according to the Israeli government. There are grave concerns about the conditions of two hostages, the government has said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Nintendo sold more than 3.5 million units of its flagship Switch 2 gaming system in the four days following its launch, with online stores of major U.S. retailers putting up “out of stock” signs.

The record-breaking start for the company’s first new console in eight years, puts Nintendo on the path to realizing its aim of selling 15 million units of the Switch 2 console in the fiscal year ending March 2026.

However, analysts continue to believe that those expectations are modest, and forecast the strong initial demand to sustain.

“The market expected a record from Nintendo, and as it turns out, Nintendo delivered,” Serkan Toto, CEO and founder of gaming industry consultancy Kantan Games, told CNBC.

“All signals prior to launch pointed to significant demand, and I believe we will see further records broken over the next weeks or months,” he added.

Toto has maintains that the Switch 2 will sell over 20 million units in its first 12 months. David Gibson, senior research analyst at MST Financial told CNBC that he expects 20 million sales for the year ending March 2026.

The Switch 2, which was released on June 5, has been met with much fanfare, with people lining up for hours ahead of midnight releases at Nintendo stores.

“Fans around the world are showing their enthusiasm for Nintendo Switch 2 as an upgraded way to play at home and on the go,” Nintendo of America President and Chief Operating Officer Doug Bowser said in a statement, adding the company was thankful for the response.

Tokyo-listed shares of Nintendo, which have gained nearly 30% so far this year, were down 3.5% on Wednesday, LSEG data showed. The company has seen its shares rise nearly fivefold since the original Switch debuted in early March 2017.

It remains to be seen if the Switch 2 can recapture the magic of its predecessor, which had set the bar with 15 million unit sales in its first year. It went on to sell more than 152 million units to become the second-highest selling Nintendo device ever, behind the Nintendo DS.

The record initial sales of the Switch are in line with the strong demand analysts had predicted. However, the rush has put into question Nintendo’s ability to meet demand.

Retailers including Walmart, GameStop, Target and Best Buy were out of stock of the consoles, their online stores showed Wednesday.

In April, Nintendo’s Bowser told CNBC that the company had been working with “retail partners to ensure there’s ample supply for not only the launch weekend, but well beyond.”

However, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated the same month that 2.2 million people in Japan had entered the lottery to purchase the Switch 2 on launch day, exceeding expectations and what the company had initially planned to deliver to stores.

Kantan Games’ Toto said shortages in Japan were expected to persist, but would be less impactful elsewhere.

“Except for Japan where demand for Switch 2 is extraordinarily high, it looks like fans who really want the console and invest time in trying to secure one actually can get one,” he said. “It might take a while, but as far as can be monitored, supply seems to be more robust than around the launch of the original Switch in 2017.”

President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” on most countries around the world also present headwinds for the Switch 2.

In April, the company announced that it would delay preorders of the Switch 2 in the U.S. while it considers the impact of tariffs.

The Switch 2 retails for $449 in the U.S., which makes it Nintendo’s priciest console to date.

Nintendo’s Bowser said in April the company was going to “monitor where tariffs are going” before making any further decisions on price hikes.

MST Financial’s Gibson said that a resolution to Trump’s tariffs and lower duty rates could see the Switch 2 prices drop in the U.S.

The Switch 2 builds on the success of the original Switch, featuring a larger screen and improved performance. The system also introduces the new GameChat2 feature, which allows players to voice or video chat with friends online and share game screens.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

– Sixteen Palestinian children, 10 of whom are cancer patients, were evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday as part of an ongoing Jordanian initiative to help civilians amid the war, Fox News has learned.

The humanitarian effort is part of a larger initiative called the ‘Jordan Medical Corridor’ that was developed by King Abdullah II and announced during a White House meeting between the Jordanian leader and President Donald Trump in mid-February.

‘Jordan is keen to bring more child patients from Gaza in each evacuation batch and to expedite the process,’ a Jordanian source told Fox News. ‘There are limitations due to technical and logistical challenges facing the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as Israeli restrictions.’

Despite the limitations, a total of 64 Palestinians were able to leave Gaza on Wednesday for Jordan. The youngest is a 5-month-old baby suffering from severe malnutrition. Other patients include a 6-year-old with explosive injury burns and a 2-year-old with blood cancer. 

Four of the patients were taken by helicopter from the Israel-Jordan border. In Amman, the entire group of children, with the exception of two who will be flown to nearby countries, will receive free medical treatment and housing until the completion of their care.

The current Jordanian mandate aims to evacuate 2,000 children from the Palestinian enclave, while continuing internal efforts to provide field hospital treatment and aid to those still trapped in Gaza.

‘The ongoing Israeli operations make it hard to ensure the safety of the child patients and their families during their transportation to the assembly point and inside the assembly point,’ a Jordanian source added. 

An Israeli official confirmed the evacuation took place at the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, adding that there is cooperation between Israel and Jordan despite the security challenges.

Earlier in the war, Jordan used C-130 aircraft to drop food into Gaza using pallets attached to large parachutes. Some of these drops were done in coordination with U.S. Central Command.

More than 600 days into the war, regional conversations continue to take place aiming for a ceasefire that would end the suffering of Palestinian civilians and bring the remaining 55 hostages held by Hamas home.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has spoken out against discussions of forced displacement for Palestinians living in Gaza.

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an HHS official familiar with the matter.

The rehired workers come from four different operational divisions within the CDC: the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP); the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH); the Immediate Office of the Director (IOD), and the Global Health Center (GHC). 

The move to bring these employees back follows the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to reorganize HHS and its sub-agencies during its first few months, which reports said included as many as 10,000 layoffs at various health agencies. It also follows multiple actions by the Trump administration following those layoffs to rehire some of the HHS staffers who were initially let go, such as those within the CDC’s World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Institutes of Health.

‘Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut,’ HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April. ‘We’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the – at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.’

NCHHSTP will see the greatest number of its workers rehired out of the four divisions, with 214 returning. This HHS division consists of several smaller groups, including the Division of HIV Prevention, which media reports said was cut in half by the Trump administration. 

NCEH will see the next greatest number of returned employees, with 158 coming back. NCEH consists of multiple groups, including one titled the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which the Trump administration initially eliminated altogether as part of its reforms.

IOD will see the third most returning with 71 and CDC’s Global Health Center will see the fewest employees return out of the four divisions with 24 rehired workers.

HHS is just one of several agencies that have rehired employees following reductions in force spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the State Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have all taken actions to rehire employees who were initially fired as a result of the reduction in force, per the Washington Post. 

‘Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective. The Trump administration is committed to protecting essential services – whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,’ HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said. 

‘HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The Trump administration slammed the U.K., Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia after the five nations imposed sanctions and travel bans—along with other actions—against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

‘These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. ‘We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organization that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace. We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.’

Ben-Gvir praised Rubio for his statement, saying that ‘the American administration is a moral compass in the face of the confusion of some Western countries that choose to appease terrorist organizations like Hamas.’ He added that Israel would continue its fight against terrorism.

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar also thanked Rubio for being ‘a clear moral voice’ and said the U.S. official’s statement ‘should be a compass to the international community, to all those preaching [to] Israel, ignoring realities.’

Sa’ar condemned the U.K., Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia’s ‘outrageous’ actions against Ben-Gvir and Smotrich on Tuesday. He said the ‘actions and decisions against Israel also contribute to hardening Hamas’ stance in the negotiations for the hostage deal—and distance it and the ceasefire.’

In a joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of U.K., Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were accused of inciting ‘extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.’ 

All five nations whose foreign ministers issued the joint statement have been critical of Israel as it pursued its post-Oct. 7 war against Hamas.

In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.K., France and Canada of ‘enabling Hamas’ after the countries demanded that Jerusalem halt its military campaign in Gaza. 

‘I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer: When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice,’ Netanyahu said in a video statement. ‘You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history.’

Australia and New Zealand also issued a joint statement on the Israel-Hamas war in December 2024 in which they called for a ceasefire in Gaza and scolded Israel over its treatment of U.N. agencies, such as the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

In his Tuesday statement, Sa’ar said Israel will convene a government meeting early next week to discuss its response to the actions taken against the ministers.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Monday (June 11) as of 9:00 a.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$109,199, slightly up 0.5 percent in 24 hours. The day’s range for the cryptocurrency brought a low of US$108,633 and a high of US$110,237.

Bitcoin price performance, June 11, 2025.

Bitcoin price performance, June 11, 2025.

Chart via TradingView

Bitcoin briefly surpassed the US$110,000 level as risk-on sentiment returned to markets ahead of key US inflation data. Investors are positioning ahead of the May CPI report, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path, an important driver for crypto.

Continued inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs and easing global tensions also supported the move, with Bitcoin now trading just below its all-time high.

Ethereum (ETH) ended the day at US$2,679.16, a 2.1 percent increase over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency reached an intraday low of US$2,712.96 and saw a daily high of US$2,821.70.

Altcoin price update

  • Solana (SOL) closed at US$158.14, up 4.5 percent over 24 hours. SOL experienced a low of US$157.02 and reached a high of US$167.13 on Wednesday.
  • XRP was trading at US$2.31, up 1.1 percent over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency reached a daily low of US$2.27 and a high of US$2.33.
  • Sui (SUI) was trading at at US$3.43, showing an increaseof 0.8 percent over the past 24 hours and its highest valuation of the day. Its lowest as of Wednesday was US$3.40.
  • Cardano (ADA) is trading at US$0.7213, up 3.0 percent over the past 24 hours. Its lowest price of the day was US$0.6924, and it reached a high of US$0.7267.

Today’s crypto news to know

Bullish confidentially files for US IPO amid pro-crypto climate

Crypto exchange Bullish has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, signaling renewed optimism in digital assets as Donald Trump’s administration ushers in a more crypto-friendly regulatory landscape.

Backed by billionaire Peter Thiel and led by former NYSE president Tom Farley, Bullish’s IPO plans mark a major comeback after its failed SPAC merger in 2021.

The company’s move follows Circle’s blockbuster US$1.1 billion IPO and coincides with a wave of new filings, including Gemini’s confidential application last week.

Jefferies is slated to lead underwriting for Bullish, though the bank has declined to comment.

Ondo brings tokenized US treasuries to XRP ledger

Ondo Finance has officially launched its tokenized short-term US Treasury product, OUSG, on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), using Ripple’s new RLUSD stablecoin for settlement.

This marks the first time tokenized Treasuries are accessible on XRPL, allowing institutional investors to mint and redeem around the clock with instant settlement. OUSG provides exposure to low-risk, short-term US Treasuries and is already live on Ethereum and Solana, with a combined US$670 million in assets across chains.

With US$30 million in TVL already on XRPL, this expansion could significantly scale institutional DeFi on public ledgers.

Strategy hit with lawsuit over alleged misleading Bitcoin strategy

Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) is facing a class action lawsuit alleging the firm misled shareholders about the risks of its Bitcoin-heavy investment approach.

Law firm Levi & Korsinsky filed the suit on June 10, calling on investors who bought shares between April 2024 and April 2025 to join the case, with a lead plaintiff deadline set for July 15.

The complaint cites the company’s recent US$5.91 billion unrealized loss due to Bitcoin’s volatility and claims executives downplayed risk while hyping upside potential.

On April 7, the stock dropped nearly 9 percent after disclosing the Q1 loss; by May 1, the company formally admitted to the nearly US$6 billion hit.

A second lawsuit, filed by Anas Hamza, is also underway for alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act.

CEO Michael Saylor has defended the firm’s strategy, arguing its capital structure is resilient even in the face of a 90 percent Bitcoin crash. Strategy has not issued an official comment on the lawsuits.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

A national security-focused nonprofit organization has released a comprehensive report detailing the workings of a well-funded nominally U.S.-based organization that it says is undermining American energy, pushing left-wing green initiatives and ultimately advancing Chinese interests. 

The report, published by State Armor, outlines the money trail of Energy Foundation China (EFC), registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is technically headquartered in San Francisco but with employees mostly based in Beijing.

‘Energy Foundation China used to be known as the Energy Foundation before it spun off most of its U.S.-based operations in 2019 into a separate organization called the U.S. Energy Foundation,’ the report explains. ‘While still formally organized as the Energy Foundation, since 2019, the organization has used the alias ‘Energy Foundation China’ or ‘EF China’ to differentiate from the now-separate U.S. Energy Foundation. The group was founded by Hal Harvey, a climate activist and entrepreneur with deep ties to numerous left-wing organizations and to China.’

State Armor found that EFC has ‘spent millions each year to bankroll climate advocates who promote phasing out fossil fuels and implementing green energy alternatives like the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the latter of which was the target of a 2018 Congressional inquiry into whether it should register as a foreign agent based on its Chinese funding.’

The Rocky Mountain Institute produced one of the most prominent studies used by many Democrats to justify cutting down on gas stoves and was cited by President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy. 

Earlier this year, multiple committees joined to begin an investigation into EFC, and requested files from EFC President Zi Chou about financial resources given to American organizations after Fox News Digital reporting on the group funneling millions of dollars to fund climate initiatives and environmental groups in the U.S.

The report details how EFC ‘led a U.S. state-level legislative drive’ against Bayer, the leading Western fertilizer company, that pushed for lawsuits against the company over a potentially carcinogenic pesticide with the aim of driving the company out of the U.S. and in turn forcing reliance on Chinese suppliers. 

The report goes on to outline how the organization has ‘provided millions’ to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) to support ‘a clean energy future’ and how ICCT was an ‘active supporter’ of climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act targeting increased battery electric trucking infrastructure. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that The Energy Foundation sent $480,000 to the Washington, D.C.-based International Council on Clean Transportation, which advocates for widespread EV adoption and policies decarbonizing the transportation sector broadly. It also wired grants – one to the University of Maryland and another to the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs – worth a total of $450,000 and earmarked for projects to phase out coal power reliance.

Josh Hodges, commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and former national security advisor to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and NSC senior director in the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital that EFC is a ‘textbook example of the CCP’s asymmetric warfare strategy and drive to deepen its dominance over American companies.’

‘Communist China is manipulating a supposed philanthropic network to steer the U.S. away from reliable domestic energy sources and into dependence on Chinese supply chains,’ Hodges said. ‘Whether it’s solar panels, mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, or agricultural chemicals, Beijing’s fingerprints are all over the ‘green transition’ being pushed on America.’

The report quotes Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin, who suggested that Biden’s green energy policies will remain even under a more skeptical Trump administration and said, ‘even if the new Trump administration reverses climate change policies, it is unlikely to completely change the green transition actions that have already begun in various parts of the U.S.’

‘In other words, the CCP’s penetration of the U.S.’ political and industrial systems runs so deep that CCP officials believe that not even a skeptical White House could halt America’s growing dependence upon Chinese technologies,’ the report states. 

Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, told Fox News Digital that the report ‘exposes a disturbing truth’ that EFC is part of a broader push to undermine American energy independence and ‘stifle’ the Trump energy agenda to benefit the CCP. 

EFC is weaponizing woke ideology to pull off this scheme and force American consumers to rely on the Chinese Communist Party for energy sources,’ Hild said. ‘Americans deserve to know the truth about our foreign adversary’s campaign that is poisoning our economy and reshaping our energy future. We applaud organizations like State Armor that are working to expose these grifts against consumers.’

In addition to the EFC’s climate activism, the report focuses on how, by ‘co-opting climate activism and dominating new so-called green supply chains, Beijing converts a domestic weakness into a global strength’ while also detailing the ties between EFC and the CCP. 

For example, EFC’s CEO Zou Ji has served in previous roles at top leadership positions in China’s official National Center for Climate Change Strategy within the National Development and Reform Commission of the State Council. 

‘He was so deeply tied into CCP leadership that he was included as a part of China’s delegation to the 2015 Paris Climate Talks,’ the report says. ‘Zou’s other affiliations include a position at Tsinghua University at a center where his colleagues include a retired senior PLA officer and a former deputy director of an MSS think tank.’

Zou is not the only EFC figure with ties to the CCP, the report says, pointing to EFC board member and Washington, D.C. based attorney Hongjun Zhang, who serves as a member of China’s Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously a legislative director for the China National People’s Congress. 

Zhang, according to his law firm’s bio page, spent ‘many years in the Chinese government’ that included work at the ‘Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and National Development and Reform Commission.’ 

The report states that EFC’s operations in China are overseen by the CCP’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and that the organization’s Beijing headquarters are located in a building owned by a state-owned investment corporation tied to Chinese state media propaganda. 

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sounded the alarm over the report, telling Fox News Digital, ‘This report confirms what we’ve long warned: the Chinese Communist Party is using seemingly innocuous nonprofits to influence American policy and undermine U.S. interests – in this case, our energy independence.’

‘Energy Foundation China operates at the direction of the CCP and is exploiting our charitable system to push policies that benefit Beijing, not the American people,’ Moolenaar continued. ‘The Select Committee continues to investigate how CCP-linked organizations infiltrate U.S. institutions, shift critical supply chains toward China, and shape environmental agendas that aim to make America weaker while China gets stronger. We will continue to expose these influence operations and work with Congress and the administration to safeguard U.S. energy security and national sovereignty.’

The report also points to examples of EFC collaborating with U.S. entities and officials, including in 2023 when it ‘provided support’ for an event that featured California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a visit to China and then hosted a forum a month later for a discussion promoting ‘low-carbon cooperation between the two nations.’

Vance Wagner, the vice president for strategic partnerships at Energy Foundation China, pushed back on the report, telling Fox News Digital, ‘Energy Foundation China (EFC) is an independent grantmaking charitable organization that provides funding for research and capacity building related to climate change and China.’

‘Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our world. Our work is currently focused on China given the scale of its energy sector and its role in global emissions. Despite geopolitical tensions, meaningful engagement with China on climate change and emissions reductions is in everyone’s interests,’ Vance continued. ‘All grants we make support projects related to climate change and China, and are in no way related to influencing U.S. energy policy. EFC does not accept funding from any government or political party.’

‘Neither the Chinese government nor the CCP fund, direct, or control EFC or our grant-making decisions,’ he added. ‘We are compliant with all U.S. and Chinese laws and regulations and do not lobby or support electoral activities in any country.’

The report states that between 2020 and 2021, EFC gave over $1 million to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for funding ‘green energy research’ and laboratory training increasing the efficiency of China’s industrial sectors. 

The Biden administration, according to the report, gave $60 million in grants to the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which is a group ‘frequently in collaboration with Energy Foundation China.’

‘America’s energy security is national security,’ Jason Isaac, CEO of American Energy Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The State Armor report lays bare how the Chinese Communist Party has co-opted climate activism to shift the U.S. onto so-called ‘green’ technologies that are manufactured, mined, and controlled by China. From solar panels to EV batteries and rare earth minerals, our supply chains are increasingly entangled with a foreign adversary that uses forced labor, ignores environmental safeguards, and openly aims to dominate the global energy future. This isn’t progress – it’s dependence. Real energy dominance means leveraging America’s vast domestic energy resources, not outsourcing our future to Beijing.’

Along with the report, State Armor has sent letters to Republican committee chairs in Congress that call for prompt oversight on the matter. 

‘Congress must act,’ the letter, authored by Lucci, implores. ‘Oversight is urgently needed to expose the full extent of this operation, beginning with Energy Foundation China. The EFC is not a passive observer; it is an active player in a geopolitical contest where America’s energy security and global leadership hang in the balance.’

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report

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