President Donald Trump had warned he may move to primary Tillis after the senator voted against the GOP spending package.
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Read Online  |  June 30, 2025  |  E-Paper  | 🎧 Listen

 

“I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.”

— Albert Einstein

The Headlines

  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced Sunday that he won’t run for reelection in the 2026 midterms. President Donald Trump had warned he may move to primary Tillis after the senator voted against the GOP spending package.
  • President Trump said that he has found a buyer for the Chinese-owned short-video application TikTok and that he will reveal the group in roughly two weeks.
  • The Supreme Court’s ruling to restrict nationwide injunctions impacts a broad range of federal cases concerning President Donald Trump’s agenda. Here are six executive policies that may proceed after the decision on the proper authority of district courts.
  • A months-long probe over the death of a Chinese medical whistleblower ended with authorities labeling it a suicide. But neither the parents nor the public are convinced.
  • 🍵 Health: Polycystic ovary syndrome now affects one in five women. Here’s the missing piece in caring for the condition.

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Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor

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🏛️ Politics

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) departs a meeting with Senate Republicans in the U.S. Capitol on June 28, 2025. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Sen. Thom Tillis Says He Won’t Run for Reelection

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced Sunday that he won’t run for reelection in the 2026 midterms. President Donald Trump had warned he may move to primary Tillis after the senator indicated he won’t support the GOP spending package.

 

In a lengthy statement, the senator said, “In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.”

 

“As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term. That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.”

 

Tillis, who has been a critic of the Trump-backed spending and budget bill, voted against advancing the package on Saturday night.

 

After the vote, Trump criticized Tillis in a social media post and signaled he would campaign against the senator during the 2026 midterms.

 

“Thom Tillis has hurt the great people of North Carolina,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday morning. “Even on the catastrophic flooding, nothing was done to help until I took office. Then a MIRACLE took place! Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER!” (More)

 

More Politics:

  • Elon Musk again criticized the Republican Party and the Trump-backed GOP spending package, weeks after he engaged in a public war of words with the president.
  • President Trump said his administration will soon send letters to trading partners detailing the tariffs to be imposed on their exports to the United States.
  • The Trump administration is working on a solution to allow farmers and hospitality business owners to potentially retain some illegal immigrant workers if they’re not involved in crime and pay taxes.
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🇺🇲 U.S.

Americans Carry Median Non-Mortgage Debt of Nearly $19,000

Americans in 100 of the largest metropolitan areas now have a median non-mortgage debt of $18,762 across four generations—baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z—which is down by 23.9 percent compared with $24,668 in 2024, financial services company LendingTree said in a June 24 report.

 

Non-mortgage debt includes personal loans, auto loans, credit card debt, student loans, and other debt.

 

Gen Xers, aged 45 to 60 years, have the highest median debt, at $26,207. This was followed by millennials (aged 29 to 44 years), with a debt of $24,810; Gen Zers (aged 18 to 28), with $12,715; and finally baby boomers (aged 61 to 79), with $10,272.

 

The median debt fell in all four generations, with baby boomers seeing the largest decline at 45.3 percent. For the remaining three generations, debt fell by about 18 percent to 23 percent.

 

Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, called the decline in debt across generations a significant decrease.

 

“I think it’s a further sign that people are being cautious and looking to firm up their financial foundation amid all the economic uncertainty we’re facing today,” he said.

 

“They’re trying to focus on paying down high-interest debt and building their emergency fund. With that in mind, they may choose to put off bigger-ticket purchases such as cars and kitchen appliances.” (More)

 

More U.S. News:

  • Charter schools across the nation are scoring better than traditional public schools in math, reading, and college readiness assessments.
  • Stanford Medicine has stopped offering “gender-related surgical procedures” for minors and youths under age 19 as of June 2, according to a statement Stanford sent to The Epoch Times on June 25.

🌎 World

Questions Mount Over Death of Medical Student Who Alleged Organ Trade in Chinese Hospital

A months-long probe over the death of a Chinese medical whistleblower ended with authorities labeling it a suicide. But neither the parents nor the public are convinced.

 

Luo Shuaiyu, a medical intern at the Second Xiangya Hospital, was weeks short of completing his graduate study when he was found dead outside his school dormitory building in May 2024, with two buttons missing from his shirt. A pair of his glasses were found broken on his bed.

 

His death occurred amid the investigation of a Chinese physician from the same hospital who had operated on patients who didn’t require surgery. The physician, Liu Xiangfeng, was sentenced to 17 years in prison months after Luo’s death.

 

Luo had collected a large trove of materials implicating Liu and others in the hospital in intentionally harming patients and engaging in organ trade.

 

A person close to the Luo family told The Epoch Times that Luo had resisted complying with the hospital’s demands to find child donor organs. He died just after he expressed his intention to report the hospital.

 

In a June report on the probe, Chinese officials, along with the hospital-affiliated Central South University, jointly concluded that Luo had jumped off the building.

 

Luo’s parents, who are dedicated to uncovering the cause of their son’s death, found the authorities’ pronouncement hard to accept.

 

“Not much issue here, just that the announcement doesn’t line up with reality,” Luo’s father wrote on Chinese social media Weibo.

 

The Luo family later issued a joint statement challenging the official narrative. The makeup of the investigation group itself already had conflicts of interest, they said. Aside from the university having a stake in the matter, the family suspected bias in at least one other team involved in the probe. A branch of the Changsha public security bureau that co-led the effort had previously dismissed suspicions around Luo’s death.

 

“This investigation is, at its core, them investigating themselves,” the statement read. (More)

 

More World News:

  • The Chinese automakers are exporting new cars as “used” to absorb the auto industry’s overcapacity amid low domestic demand and increased tariffs, raising renewed concerns of dumping.
  • Iran could start enriching uranium again in a matter of months, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said on June 29.

☀️ A Few Good Things

📷 Photo of the Day: Wild horses are rounded up before getting branded and having their manes shaved during the `Rapa das Bestas` (Shaving of the mares) event in the Spanish northwestern village of Mondonedo, on June 29, 2025. Horses that live free in the mountains in a semi-feral state are rounded up into enclosures called `curros` in several Galician villages to be shaved and marked and set free again. (Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images)

📸 Day in Photos: Rocket Launch, National Paddy Day, and Fifa Club World 2025 (Look)


✍️ Opinion: We Need to Double the Production Rate of the B-21—by Robert Peters (Read)

 

🎵 Music: Vivaldi - Concerto for Lute, 2 Violin & Basso Continuo (Listen)

 

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🍵 Health

goffkein.pro/Shutterstock

PCOS–A Rising Condition Affecting 1 in 5 Women and the Missing Piece in its Care 

The global rate of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been on the rise year after year, with up to 21 percent of women affected. This rise is accompanied by severe long-term complications as women age, including infertility, diabetes, heart disease, and mental health challenges.

 

Yet when PCOS is mentioned, it’s often reduced to acne, irregular periods, or weight gain. That narrow view can delay care. PCOS runs deeper than hormones and cycles—it’s a full-body condition that demands full-body care.

 

PCOS has been associated with a higher risk of mental health and cognitive difficulties, including symptoms that overlap with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

 

A meta-analysis involving approximately 31,000 women confirmed that PCOS is associated with depression, anxiety, and decreased quality of life.

 

“The increased prevalence of mental health disorders in women with PCOS may be partly explained by hormonal imbalances,” said Mpho Tshukudu, an integrative and functional nutritionist, in an interview with The Epoch Times.

 

Women with PCOS often have elevated levels of androgens—male hormones like testosterone—which can influence brain function. They may also have problems with how their bodies process tryptophan, a nutrient needed to make serotonin, the feel-good brain chemical. Instead of making enough serotonin, excess tryptophan increases inflammation and raises the risk of depression.


Insulin resistance—a common feature of PCOS—may interfere with neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and gamma-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA. Disruption of these brain chemicals can impair mood regulation and reduce the brain’s energy availability, contributing to anxiety and depression, said Tshukudu. (More)

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