First Run News

Nearly half of all middle-class families would pay more in taxes in 2026 than they would under current rules if the proposed House tax bill became law, and about one-third would pay more in 2018, according to a New York Times analysis, a striking finding for a bill promoted as a middle-class tax cut. President Trump and congressional Republicans have pitched the plan unveiled last week as a tax cut for most Americans. But millions of middle-class families — particularly those with children — would see an immediate tax increase, averaging about $2,000.

WASHINGTON — The Republican tax bill picks winners and losers across the income scale, including among millionaires. It is good news for people like President Trump but bad news for professional athletes. The bill delivers large breaks to high-earning owners of certain businesses, known as pass-through entities, which comprise most of Mr. Trump’s business empire, and to heirs of large estates, such as Mr. Trump’s children.

TOKYO — President Trump said on Monday that Japan could protect itself from a nuclear-armed North Korea by buying billions of dollars of American military equipment, drawing an explicit link between trade and security as he began a complex, politically charged tour of Asia. By turns generous and challenging, Mr. Trump saluted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as among his best friends in the club of world leaders. But he railed against what he said were chronic trade imbalances with Japan. And he implicitly acknowledged his disappointment that Mr.

BEIJING — Chinese leaders have long sought to present themselves as equals to American presidents. Xi Jinping has wanted something more: a special relationship that sets China apart, as the other great power in an emerging bipolar world. The Obama administration declined to play along, worried that it implied an American retreat from Asia. But Mr.

BEIJING — Chinese leaders have long sought to present themselves as equals to American presidents. Xi Jinping has wanted something more: a special relationship that sets China apart, as the other great power in an emerging bipolar world. The Obama administration declined to play along, worried that it implied an American retreat from Asia. But Mr.

From the stately rows of palm trees on its 52-acre grounds to the grand double staircase to the glittering ballroom chandeliers, it is easy to see why the six-year-old Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, has played host to billionaires, heads of state and members of the Saudi royal family. Which is why it is all the more jarring that former government ministers, prominent businessmen and members of the royal family — the House of Saud — are being held captive in the five-star hotel, which was swiftly converted over the weekend into what is almost certainly the world’s most lux

A United States congressman fell for a long-running hoax on Sunday, mistakenly telling CNN that the gunman who had killed 26 Texas churchgoers, including a pregnant woman and several children, was a man named Sam Hyde. Soon after the lawmaker, Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, made the remark, the gunman was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26,

The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how.