The Chinese represent these construction projects as acts of good will, but not everyone is convinced. In January 2018, Le Monde, citing anonymous African Union sources, reported that data from AU computers had been transferred nightly to Shanghai servers from 2012 to 2017. Le Monde also reported the discovery of numerous bugs. Beijing strongly denies the allegations, and the African Union has chosen to disregard them, after initially simply maintaining that it has no secrets to spy on. Allegations of spying on the AU are not new or confined to China; there is an earlier Le Monde report that British intelligence had been targeting African Union officials.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released its latest baseline-projections – the first since last June and the first to incorporate the recent tax cuts and spending increases. CBO's baseline confirms our recent projections that permanent trillion-dollar deficits will soon return and that debt will continue to grow rapidly as a share of the economy.

China's State Council, its central government, has laid out goals to build an artificial intelligence industry worth nearly $150 billion within the next two years, much of it to enhance domestic security.

"The government's using this technology to catch people who are considered threats to social stability," says Ji. "Are they using it to catch thieves? Yes. But it's mostly used to maintain stability."

In Philadelphia, the new progressive district attorney has launched an experiment. He's asking his prosecutors to raise another factor with judges: the cost of incarceration. The move has ignited a debate about whether the pricetag of punishment belongs in courtrooms.

It’s not Moscow’s warfighting ships and submarines that are making NATO and U.S. officials uneasy. It’s Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research, whose specialized surface ships, submarines, underwater drones and mini subs conduct reconnaissance, underwater salvage and other work.

The next president will come into office in early 2021, and the nation will be facing the most dangerous budget situation in peacetime history. If policies are not changed between now and then, he or she will be looking at 10-year deficits of $20 trillion or more. If you think Washington is a dysfunctional mess now with members at each other’s throats, I am guessing that today is a picnic compared to federal policymaking down the road.

Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday China and the United States should maintain negotiations and he reiterated pledges to ease access for American businesses, as China scrambles to avert a trade war.

Policymakers recently announced an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government for the remaining six months of Fiscal Year 2018. The bill funds ordinary defense and non-defense spending at $1.208 trillion, which is $143 billion higher than the levels set by the Budget Control Act (BCA) sequester-level caps and $52 billion above the original BCA caps. Not surprisingly, the deal also relies on a number of gimmicks and workarounds to spend in excess of these caps – the details of which we’ll discuss in future analysis.

You could say that the (nominally spendthrift) Democrats took the (nominally frugal) Republicans to the cleaners. But the real problem is that the great majority of members in both parties love federal spending. They think it unambiguously helps people; they are oblivious to constitutional federalism; they are willing to load more debt onto young people; and they have no idea about the negative consequences of government spending, such as the crowding out of private-sector activities.

The U.S. Congress raced on Thursday to approve a massive spending bill and send it to President Donald Trump before a midnight Friday government shutdown deadline, in a move that would significantly boost defense and non-military funding through Sept. 30, but also severely contribute to annual deficits.

The Federal Open Market Committee just announced its decision to further raise the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.5-1.75 percent. As interest rates rise, they will have a significant effect on the budget.

A top Chinese official visited Kyiv this week to announce a host of new infrastructure projects and investments in Ukraine, underscoring a burgeoning economic relationship between the two countries that could nudge Kyiv away from the West—a scenario that would ultimately benefit Moscow, some say.

Legal analysts claim that Carpenter v. United States, argued earlier this week before the Supreme Court, is one of the most important Fourth Amendment cases in a decade. The Court has been asked to review whether the government could rely on cell phone location data obtained without a warrant to prosecute a person for armed robbery.

Overall, 32% of Americans now take a roughly equal number of conservative and liberal positions on a scale based on 10 questions asked together in seven surveys since 1994. As recently as 2015, 38% had this mix of values – and 49% did so in 1994 and 2004.

In both legislative chambers, members’ ideology is a strong predictor of the number of people who follow them on Facebook.

Congress and the White House have until the end of September to raise the national debt limit before the federal government is faced with the prospect of either not paying its bondholders on time or deferring other bills. Here’s a primer on the U.S. national debt, the debt limit and interest payments on the nation’s credit line:

What if we could scale up evidence-based practices, shift the reform conversation in a more positive direction, and boost student outcomes, all at the same time?

Today, the Social Security program turns 82 years old. Social Security helps millions of Americans, and the program has a lot to celebrate.

But the best birthday present policymakers could give is a comprehensive plan that ensures it will last to provide future generations with retirement security and avoid abrupt benefit cuts.

It turns out that the 2016 election was historic in more ways than one. A report released today by the Pew Research Center shows that for the first time ever, Millennial and Gen X voters outnumbered Boomers and older voters, 69.6 million to 67.9 million. This gap will only widen in future elections: death and infirmity will steadily thin the ranks of older cohorts while rising turnout rates among younger voters will continue to swell their share of the electorate. In addition, naturalization will steadily increase the number of Millennials born outside the United States who are on track to attain citizenship.

Chairmen of the U.S. House’s most-coveted committees—the so-called “A” committees that include Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Rules, and Ways and Means—are each expected to raise at least $1.2 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to satisfy the “party dues” slapped on members by GOP leaders. Less-coveted gavels on “B” committees like the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee come with a price tag of $875,000 for House Republicans.

House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black (R-TN) today released the Chairman’s mark of the FY 2018 House budget resolution. The budget proposes $4.3 trillion of policy savings ($5.4 trillion in spending reductions and $1.1 trillion of tax cuts from Obamacare repeal), which along with $1.5 trillion in claimed savings from increased economic growth would lead to $5.8 trillion of total savings, enough to balance the budget on paper by 2027. It also calls for deficit-neutral tax reform and at least $203 billion of mandatory savings through reconciliation instructions.

If Orwell were alive today, the country which might best conform to “1984” might well be Turkey. The issue isn’t simply President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s corruption or authoritarianism. In that, he is really no different from Russian President Vladimir Putin or Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Rather, it is how Erdogan has seized control of the media in order to impose narratives that change as rapidly as Oceania’s wars against Eastasia and Eurasia.

Tuesday is July 4—TWE’s favorite holiday. To mark the occasion, here is the annual TWE July 4 trivia quiz. There are thirteen questions in honor of the thirteen colonies that threw off the yoke of British tyranny. If you want to further test your knowledge of Independence Day, check out the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 quizzes. Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 31 strikes consisting of 45 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Missile tests, bellicose rhetoric, a US detainee's mysterious death: Could diplomacy work with Pyongyang's rogue regime? Former US defense chief and North Korean envoy William Perry offers insights in a DW interview.

Senate Republicans released their draft version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. This is the Senate version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare"). Enclosed is quick summary of what major changes the Senate would make to the House-passed bill; a more comprehensive analysis will be available, including the fiscal effects, when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores the bill next week.

In previewing this week’s inaugural U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, acting Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton took a question from Anne Gearan of The Washington Post about the Trump Administration’s approach to the South China Sea. Thornton’s short response neatly embodied two major deficiencies in current U.S. policy that are paving the way for a Chinese sphere of influence in Southeast Asia.

Bipartisan groups of lawmakers are still pushing for reform in Washington. In addition, criminal justice reform efforts at the state level—especially in red states—continue to advance.

On June 12, the small Central American nation of Panama announced it was severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan so that it could establish relations with the People’s Republic of China. Now, only 19 countries and the Vatican recognize Taiwan. Why did this happen? How does it affect Taiwan’s relationship with the mainland? Should the United States get involved in preventing the further diplomatic isolation of Taiwan?

Achieving 3 percent sustained annual growth would be incredibly difficult, yet that assumption is embedded in President Trump’s proposed budget. In an episode of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, CRFB senior vice president and senior policy director Marc Goldwein discussed how unlikely it would be to accelerate growth up to 3 percent.