And finding the missing children
|
|
|
| Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor |
|
|
| Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor |
|
|
Good morning! It’s Friday. Here are today’s top stories. |
- A bill tackling systematic forced organ harvesting in China got the Senate green light from the U.S. Senate earlier this week. Here are the key things to know about the legislation and why Americans should care—in the words of those behind the bill.
- Convicted murderer Christa Pike is in a critical condition after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee, her lawyers said.
-
As a Florida county works to remove all of its Flock Safety automated license-plate readers from local roads, officials discovered several mystery cameras that were installed without their knowledge or approval.
-
School blockades in France turned violent on Thursday, with student rioters attacking police and schools set on fire.
-
🍵 Health: Flexible backs can optimize movement and help avoid pain. These trunk rotation exercises can maximize your spine’s flexibility and your overall quality of life.
|
Tom Homan is facilitating the most aggressive transformation of immigration enforcement America has ever seen.
The White House border czar, who has worked under six presidents from both sides of the aisle, sat down with Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek. He talked about what to expect in the coming weeks and months, rising self-deportations, missing children, his concerns about Russia and China, and why he has twice come out of retirement for the president.
Watch the exclusive interview on EpochTV. |
|
|
In times of crisis, it’s easy for your mind to feel bombarded—notifications, headlines, endless scrolling. It feels like information overload, but science shows it’s worse: shallow, fragmented content actually changes your brain, training it for distraction.
Stanford research proves the opposite is also true: deep, focused reading boosts blood flow in critical brain regions, providing a “truly valuable exercise of people’s brains.” And a study published in Neuroscience News shows that consistent cognitive engagement such as reading can even delay cognitive decline by years.
What you feed your brain defines how it performs. Shallow content trains distraction. Deep, quality reading trains focus and insight.
At The Epoch Times, we don’t serve you noise. We deliver intelligent, independent journalism—content that sharpens memory, enriches thought, and gives your mind the clarity it deserves.
If you’re ready for a real mental detox, stop scrolling and start reading news that strengthens your mind. |
|
|
|
Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting hosts a film screening of its documentary “Silent Harvest: The Courage to Speak Up,” at the Senate Dirksen building in Washington on May 15, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times) |
A bill tackling systematic forced organ harvesting in China is now headed to the House after getting the Senate green light on Sept. 28. S.4009 passed the Senate with unanimous consent. Dubbed the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, the bill addresses an issue that is gaining growing attention in the United States. Forced organ harvesting refers to the involuntary extraction of organs, often resulting in the victim’s death. As early as 2006, whistleblowers raised the alarm about the abuses taking place in China under Beijing’s auspices.
In 2019, the London-based China Tribunal concluded a year-long investigation into the issue. Forced organ harvesting, it found, had taken place in the country for years “on a significant scale.” A major victim group is practitioners of Falun Gong, according to the tribunal ruling. It also said Uyghur Muslims were at risk while being detained in “re-education camps” in China’s Xinjiang region.
Falun Gong, a spiritual practice with meditative exercises based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, was first introduced to the public in China in 1992. By the end of the decade, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people in China had taken up the practice. The Chinese Communist Party, considering Falun Gong’s popularity a threat to the regime’s power, initiated a nationwide campaign in 1999 to wipe it out, and practitioners in China have faced harsh suppression since then.
Survivors from both campaigns have recounted arbitrary arrests, forced labor, and grueling torture in prison. Meanwhile, China’s organ transplant industry continues to grow, drawing patients from all over the world with waiting times as short as days—compared with possibly years in the West. “We call it an ‘on-demand system,’” Dr. Torsten Trey, executive director for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, told The Epoch Times. A request for organs would trigger the search for a matching donor, who could be a political prisoner with the right blood type and tissue factors, he said.
He likened it to “a living pool of non-consenting donors who will be slaughtered like cattle.” (More) |
|
|
President Donald Trump speaks to the media after landing on Air Force One at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in DFW Airport, Texas, on Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) |
-
President Donald Trump landed in Texas on Thursday to kick off a 32-day campaign across the United States aimed at boosting support for Republicans facing tough races in the November midterms.
-
A convoy of truck drivers circled the National Mall in the nation’s capital as part of an annual event to draw awareness to the faces behind the industry that keeps America’s commerce moving. The rising cost of diesel—which reached average prices of more than $6 per gallon last month—the difficulties that those costs place on the big-rig operators, and the trickle-down effects that lead to higher prices at the grocery store were all top of mind at the event.
- The Department of War doubled the hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay for U.S. military members, the first such increase in the stipends since 2002.
-
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Antifa as terrorist organizations under a law enacted earlier this year, a move that bars them from public funding and is already facing a First Amendment challenge.
-
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to keep using the term “artificial intelligence,” one day after President Donald Trump directed the federal executive branch to replace it with “super intelligence.”
|
General view of the manufacturing facilities of the Independent Can Company in Belcamp, Md., on June 25, 2025. (Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images) |
-
U.S. manufacturing activity expanded for a ninth straight month, while factories continued to report rising costs, supply delays, and uncertainty tied to tariffs and the war in Iran.
-
Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children across three dioceses in Massachusetts, the state’s attorney general said in a report.
-
The judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder case denied a motion by her lawyer asking to find his client not guilty in the deaths of her three children.
-
A District Court judge in Connecticut has issued an injunction against the state’s ban on pistols that can be easily converted from semiautomatic to fully automatic machine guns using illegal devices.
|
U.S. Navy sailors conduct flight operations on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on Sept. 7, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Bussman) |
-
A carrier strike group and an amphibious ready group carrying a contingent of Marines deployed from the West Coast this week en route to the Middle East, a U.S. defense official told The Epoch Times.
-
The U.S. government imposed additional sanctions against Tehran on Oct. 1, targeting Iran’s automotive and rail industries as the Trump administration continues to pressure the regime to make a deal.
-
Iran has “lost control” of the Strait of Hormuz as Persian Gulf exports inch closer to pre-conflict levels, analysts say.
-
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called on European nations to release their diesel reserves, as the price of the vital fuel continues to soar.
-
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Oct. 1 that the co-pilot who allegedly attempted to hijack a Flydubai flight carrying primarily Israeli passengers on Sept. 30 was an “Omani national” who went through “Islamist radical indoctrination.”
-
An Israeli passenger who assisted in taking down a co-pilot after he allegedly stabbed the aircraft’s captain said watching “Air Crash Investigation” helped him know how to stabilize the diving FlyDubai jet.
-
Moscow has extended its ban on fuel producers exporting diesel and marine fuel until the end of October, the latest curb following Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
-
Starbucks-branded stores have opened in China’s Xinjiang region for the first time, prompting the chairman of a House committee focused on China to call on the company to close the locations over the communist regime’s treatment of Uyghurs.
|
- What Trump and Xi Can’t Settle on a Piece of Paper—by Tamuz Itai (Read)
-
Don’t Punish an American Industry That’s Doing Things Right—by Armstrong Williams (Read)
- Always Watching—by John Stossel (Read)
-
The Tragic End of Dinner Parties—by Jeffrey A. Tucker (Read)
- My Stomach Is Not Racist—by Mollie Engelhart (Read)
-
3 Easy Ways to Reduce Pain at the Pump—by Stephen Moore (Read)
- A Rebuttal to Juan Williams on Justice Clarence Thomas—by Armstrong Williams (Read)
|
If you love chile rellenos but dread the work of deep-frying, this casserole offers an easier way to enjoy them. It layers roasted poblano peppers, browned chorizo, and Monterey Jack cheese in a light, puffed batter. Instead of stuffing individual peppers, everything bakes together in a single 9-inch-by-13-inch dish. Serve with your favorite salsa for dinner or a hearty weekend breakfast. |
|
|
“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.” |
|
|
|
🚨 If you enjoyed Morning Brief, subscribe today to get access to everything we have to offer, and support more great stories like this one. You'll get daily news and analysis, health insights, original documentaries, interviews with interesting people, lifestyle advice, delicious recipes, and much more. |
— Simon Veazey, Ivan Pentchoukov, Madalina Hubert, and Kenzi Li |
|
|
Copyright © 2026 The Epoch Times, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is: The Epoch Times, 129 West 29th Street, Fl 8, New York, NY 10001 | Contact Us
Our Morning Brief newsletter is one of the best ways to catch up with the news. Manage your email preferences here or unsubscribe from Morning Brief here.
|
|
|
|
