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澳洲社媒禁令起始效用不彰 青少年继续浏览社媒

2026年6月25日 17:55 / 联合早报

最新研究发现，澳洲政府去年禁止16岁以下青少年浏览社交媒体，几乎未影响他们刷手机的习惯，不少人还通过假帐号或他人账号继续浏览社媒。 （法新社）

（悉尼综合电）最新研究发现，澳大利亚去年底禁止16岁以下青少年浏览社交媒体后，他们刷手机的习惯几乎不受影响，不少人还通过假帐号或他人账号继续浏览社媒。

澳洲政府去年12月禁止16岁以下青少年使用脸书、Instagram和TikTok等平台，以保护他们免受网上霸凌及掠夺性算法的危害。不过，一组澳洲研究员星期四（6月25日）在英国医学期刊发表研究报告指出，至今找不到足够证据显示青少年因此而远离社交媒体。

研究发现，有9%至29%的未足龄用户借用成年人的账号；使用虚假账号的用户有15%至19%；也有11%使用隐身浏览器登录等方式来规避社媒限制。

这项研究是澳洲落实社媒禁令后的首个评估之一。全球多国紧密关注澳洲的政策能否提供可效仿的蓝本，限制科技巨头经营的社媒。近期已有越来越多国家推出或考虑推出类似的禁令，包括英国、法国、西班牙、挪威、印度尼西亚、阿拉伯联合酋长国和新西兰等。

禁令落实有限 长期效果或需多年显现

研究员是在青澳洲社媒禁令生效前，以及生效三个月后，对408名12至17岁社媒用户进行调查，结果发现12至13岁用户的社媒浏览习惯没什么改变，14至15岁用户的浏览量略微减少，而16岁及以上用户的浏览量反而增加了。

报告说：“禁令生效后这段期间的政策落实有限，对法规的遵循不足，以及出现显著的规避社媒禁令的行为。”

研究员认为，禁令是否有效取决于能否坚定执行强韧的年龄鉴证系统，禁令的长期效果或须好几年才能显现，须长期追踪评估。

根据法令，如果科技公司无法证明已采取合理行动剔除不足龄的用户，可能被罚款高达4950万澳元（约4430万新元）。不过澳洲政府在今年3月指责脸书、TikTok和YouTube未履行责任，并称这些估值动辄上万亿美元的创新科技公司要做到这点完全不难。

社媒平台使用人工智能来根据照片判断用户是否足龄，用户也可选择上传政府发出的身份证件来证明自己足龄。它们虽承诺将遵循法律，但也警告禁令反而可能把青少年推向暗黑及不受监管的互联网空间。

Watchdog report alleges red-state university trained executives tied to China’s defense sector

2026-06-25T06:00:43-04:00 / Fox News

The watchdog report alleges Missouri State University trained over 1,500 Chinese executives tied to China’s military-industrial complex

By Kiera McDonald , Andrew Mark Miller Fox News

Published June 25, 2026 6:00am EDT

Sen. Kennedy rips Chinese Communist Party: They’ll ‘steal your socks without taking off your shoes’

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., unpacks U.S. relations with China under President Donald Trump on ‘Hannity.’

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A public university in the American heartland spent more than two decades educating executives tied to China’s military-industrial complex through a business program that allegedly received taxpayer support, a new watchdog report claims.

The report, titled Heartland for Hire, compiled by the geopolitical research firm Strategy Risks, alleges that Missouri State University (MSU) operated an MBA and Executive MBA pipeline that trained more than 1,500 Chinese executives, government officials and state-owned enterprise managers beginning in 2001, including personnel connected to China’s defense sector.

Graduates of the program, according to the report, included executives linked to Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), China’s largest state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate. AVIC has been designated by the U.S. Defense Department as a Chinese military company and has faced U.S. sanctions and investment restrictions over its ties to Beijing’s military establishment.

MAJOR COLLEGES FACE HEAT OVER CHINESE SCHOLARSHIP TIES AS ESPIONAGE CONCERNS MOUNT

A watchdog report alleges Missouri State University trained over 1,500 Chinese executives tied to China’s military-industrial complex via an MBA program.(missouristate.edu ; Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

The report’s authors argue the program occupied a blind spot in Washington’s scrutiny of U.S.-China academic ties, which Fox News Digital has extensively reported on.

“Congressional and executive branch attention to American universities’ ties to the CCP has been focused almost entirely on three areas: STEM research theft, issues involving free speech and harassment of Chinese students, and Chinese military-affiliated graduate students in defense-relevant doctoral programs,” the report states. “This cadre training problem falls into a gap between existing oversight frameworks.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Missouri State University said the school was aware of the report and denied that any taxpayer dollars were used to fund the program.

“As the report further acknowledges, the students studied a ‘conventional business curriculum’ with no evidence of espionage, intellectual property theft, misconduct, false affiliations or complaints of harassment,” the spokesperson said. “Students admitted to the program were required to comply with all student visa regulations administered by the U.S. State Department.”

The report also alleges that participants were largely recruited and selected through Chinese government agencies, state-owned enterprises and CCP-linked organizations rather than through the university’s standard admissions process.

“One of the most significant features of this program is that the CCP – and not MSU – selected the students,” the report said.

According to the report, Chinese government documents described the partnership as a “China-U.S. state-to-state cooperation project.” The report also identified graduates who later held positions at U.S.-restricted organizations, including AI company iFLYTEK. It alleges the partnership continued after some participating entities were added to U.S. restriction lists.

The report cited Chinese recruiting materials that described portions of the program’s costs as being covered by U.S. government or Missouri state-supported subsidies, potentially amounting to tens of millions of dollars. However, the report acknowledges that no public U.S. records confirm those taxpayer-funded payments and that the total amount cannot be independently verified.

‘SERIOUS CONCERNS’: GOP SOUNDS ALARM ON TAXPAYER FUNDS GOING TO ‘HIGH RISK’ UNIVERSITIES VULNERABLE TO CCP

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after visiting the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing on May 15, 2026.(Evan Vucci/Pool Photo via AP)

“What we uncover instead is evidence of China’s state apparatus using a public American university, American accreditation, and American taxpayer dollars to enhance the management and technical capabilities of the individuals who run the CCP’s defense industrial base,” according to the report.

The report concludes that the Missouri State program reflects a gap in oversight.

“No comparable attention has reached degree-granting pipelines, defense industry participants, or the regional public universities under which the system actually took place,” the report said.

Amid growing alarm over Chinese influence in higher education, the report raises fresh questions about national security risks and foreign interference on college campuses.

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON PLAN FOR 600,000 CHINESE STUDENT VISAS DESPITE MAGA BACKLASH

China’s President Xi Jinping arrives to welcome President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026.(Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

A December report from Strategy Risks and the Human Rights Foundation warned that top U.S. universities, including MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton, have partnered with Chinese AI labs tied to Beijing’s surveillance state and, in some cases, co-authored thousands of papers with entities linked to efforts targeting Uyghur Muslims.

Last year, the House Select Committee on China launched an investigation into universities partnering with PRC’s China Scholarship Council (CSC), citing concerns that the program serves as a covert pipeline for Beijing to gain access to sensitive American research and technology and contributes to “systemic CCP infiltration” in U.S. academia. In a September report, American universities were found to be educating thousands of Chinese nationals with ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Two months later, multiple Chinese nationals were charged in November with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States while working at a University of Michigan laboratory, prompting renewed calls for stronger safeguards at U.S. research institutions.

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the National Science Foundation in March to review a $67 million research security initiative over universities’ ties to Chinese military-linked institutions.

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Chinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.(Wang Zhao/AFP)

Lawmakers have also introduced legislation aimed at limiting Chinese influence. In June, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced the Espionage Protection Act, which would prohibit federal funding for university intelligence-related programs if schools maintain relationships with organizations alleged to have ties to the CCP.

Following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump said he is not in favor of banning Chinese students from studying in the United States, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the move would strain relations with China.

More than 260,000 Chinese students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2024–25 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report.

Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.

IBM unveils technology for chips it says pack performance leap and use much less power

June 25, 2026 7:38 AM EDT / AFP

IBM unveiled semiconductor technology Thursday that it says could deliver computer chips with 50 percent better performance while dramatically lowering power consumption.

The technology developed by IBM isn’t ready for industrial use yet, but the Armonk, New York-based company said it “sees a path to production in as early as the next five years.”

The breakthrough could mean a major leap forward as the industry races to cram more computing power into smaller devices even as worries grow over the tech industry’s huge energy needs.

Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s leading chip manufacturer, has recently begun mass-producing “2-nanometer” chips, the current cutting edge of the industry.

IBM’s new “0.7-nanometer” technology would represent a dramatic step beyond that.

The nanometer, an atomic-scale unit of measurement, doesn’t refer to the literal size of chips or their components, but to how densely transistors — the tiny electronic switches that make up processors — can be packed together.

The smaller the number, the more transistors can fit on a chip the size of a fingernail.

IBM’s apparent breakthrough packs nearly 100 billion transistors onto a chip that size — nearly twice the density of the 2-nanometer chip.

More transistors mean faster and more powerful computing and can help drive advances like faster smartphones and laptops, more efficient data centers, better self-driving cars, and more capable artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

IBM’s new chip is projected to offer “up to 50 percent more performance, or 70 percent greater energy efficiency than IBM’s 2-nanometer node chips,” the company said.

That’s considered a critical advantage as data centers worldwide grapple with artificial intelligence’s enormous power demands, with local communities expressing increasing worry over the consequences of the facilities.

Chip’s layering arrangement the key

IBM’s breakthrough uses a new three-dimensional architecture called “nanostack,” which stacks transistor layers on top of each other rather than arranging them in a single layer.

“IBM’s latest chip breakthrough marks a landmark moment in computing, pushing technology beyond the nanometer era to the scale of atoms,” said Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research.

“We’re not just making smaller transistors, we’re reinventing how chips are built to deliver dramatically more power and energy efficiency.”

The technology also delivers a 40 percent improvement in SRAM memory chips — “something that we haven’t seen in decades,” said Huiming Bu, IBM’s vice president of semiconductors.

SRAM chips act like a processor’s short-term memory and are a critical component in electronic devices from gaming consoles to laptops.

IBM’s technology isn’t ready for mass production yet, with the company expecting to reach the manufacturing stage within five years.

Producing such chips is a highly complex process requiring advanced manufacturing equipment, deep technical expertise and billions of dollars in investment.

IBM doesn’t manufacture chips itself, instead licensing its designs to companies like Japan’s Rapidus, with which it is working to scale 2-nanometer production.

TSMC is currently developing “1.4-nanometer” technology targeted for mass production around 2028.

Trump is racing to finish his border wall. Here’s how he is planning to do it

2026-06-25T09:00:26.805Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/trump-border-wall-eminent-domain

President Donald Trump is accelerating his effort to finish his border wall and setting an ambitious goal of completing it by the end of his administration. He’ll need landowners whose property runs along the US-Mexico border to hand over their land to finish it.

Over recent months, the Department of Justice has been hiring attorneys whose primary job includes invoking eminent domain to seize private land for the administration to build barriers. It’s an acknowledgement of the reality federal officials face along certain parts of the border, primarily in Texas, where a lot of the land is not federally owned.

“It’s taken too long to buy land at the pace they’re building. They’re running out of land faster than they can get land,” a former Homeland Security official familiar with the current efforts told CNN.

The US-Mexico border is 1,954 miles long. By the end of the Trump administration, officials project that around 1,400 miles of that will be covered with barriers, with additional miles reinforced with technology. It’s an enormous task that will require the administration to build around 775 miles of new wall by the end of 2027, and several hundred more miles of secondary and waterborne barrier by the end of 2028. Former and current US Customs and Border Protection officials say they’re on track to achieve it.

One hurdle, though, is land acquisition. Generally, the government is allowed to acquire privately owned land for public use, under the legal principle known as eminent domain. Border barriers built under previous administrations have largely gone up in areas where land was federally owned, but extending the wall, as Trump pledged to, requires taking privately owned land.

‘Ahead of schedule and below budget’

US Customs and Border Protection is expecting to have “all real estate available for construction by June 2027,” according to a federal document reviewed by CNN, which notes that as land becomes available, construction will occur “on a rolling basis.”

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said this month that border wall construction is “ahead of schedule and below budget,” citing previous border wall money appropriated by Congress and the president’s “big beautiful bill” which allocated $46.5 billion for construction.

When Trump took office last year, there was around 644 miles of primary wall, meaning barriers where none previously existed, and about 75 miles of secondary wall along the US southern border. Since then, the administration has added roughly 80 miles of new primary wall and about 24 miles of new secondary border wall, according to CBP.

“CBP is planning to construct an additional ~695 miles of primary and ~608 miles of secondary wall. These total numbers may change slightly until all construction contracts are awarded,” an agency spokesperson told CNN in a statement, adding that approximately 535 miles of the border will be covered by technology.

“The primary border wall — I’ve made a commitment to the president — will be done by the end of 2027,” Scott said at a Center for Immigration Studies event, referring to wall that was built along parts of the border where no barriers previously existed.

That would cover San Diego to the Gulf of Mexico, with some gaps, according to Scott.

“The only places we’re not building border wall is places where we’ve made a conscious decision that we don’t need it,” he said, citing remote areas where there’s rough terrain. The whole system, including secondary barriers and technology, is expected to be finished by the end of 2028.

The agency, for example, is not planning to build 30-foot-high barrier in Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, or the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.

The administration is projected to build around 10 miles of barrier a week in August and increase the number of miles erected weekly moving forward, according to a source familiar with the planning.

“They want to say they’re finished by the end of this administration,” the former Homeland Security official said.

The Department of Homeland Security has also moved to expedite construction by waiving certain laws.

The epicenter of eminent domain cases

The process of acquiring privately owned land, meanwhile, can be laborious.

In Trump’s second term, the Department of Justice has filed 39 land condemnation cases, primarily through the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, according to a department spokesperson. The department is also “actively working with landowners in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California” to obtain property for purposes of border barrier, the spokesperson added.

Stephen Adler, a Texas-based attorney, is currently involved in eminent domain cases where the federal government is trying to seize land in Laredo, Texas and the Big Bend area.

Adler is working with property owners who are looking for information on whether the wall will have a gate so they can still easily access their property, others who are willing to sell but want to maximize what they can get for the property, and some clients who don’t want their property to be taken at all.

“I think that one of the reasons they’re allocating or trying to find more attorneys right now is they’re trying to put more manpower against the processing of these cases, so they could move more quickly,” Adler said, noting cases can take several years before they’re resolved.

“It looks like they have a lot of pieces of property they want to acquire, and the more the property owners seek to fully exercise the rights that they have, the longer and more involved the process gets,” he added.

While eminent domain cases can be lengthy, they generally don’t keep the agency from being able to proceed with construction. Landowners are often fighting for what is known as just compensation – what they deem a fair price for their property.

The Rio Grande Valley is largely privately owned and therefore an epicenter of eminent domain cases.

The city of Laredo, which shares roughly 14 miles with the Mexico border, is among the areas where the administration is trying to acquire land through condemnation. The city has been in ongoing discussions with federal officials since the administration sought to acquire the city’s land for wall construction last October.

“We can give them the information that will make them do the correct designs better than just putting the structure as they propose,” said City of Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor D. Treviño. “We understand what happens here, and we understand that they’ve changed some of the designs already because of our information and our collaboration and our dialogue.”

That’s particularly important for the city’s downtown area where city officials are trying to avoid the administration putting up bollard wall, which the mayor described as “more detrimental than functional.” But officials are also concerned about the city’s water source and international trade, which could be impacted by barriers and river buoys.

“We really don’t think it’s needed because we’re one of the areas that has one of the least illegal crossings in the whole southern border, so if you have that situation, there’s really no need for a border wall,” Treviño said.

美官员：以色列军撤离黎南部部分“缓冲区”

2026年6月25日 17:56 / 联合早报

6月24日，黎巴嫩南部斯里法村（Srifa）的居民回返以色列空袭时摧毁的家园和商铺。 （AFP）

一名美国国务院官员说，以色列已从它在与真主党交战时占领的黎巴嫩南部所谓“缓冲区”部分地区撤军。

路透社报道，这名国务院官员星期四（6月25日）透露消息时没有说明以色列撤离多少领土，也没有说明撤军的具体地点。以色列和黎巴嫩一直在华盛顿举行由美国斡旋的会谈，会谈的部分目的是为了停止以色列与伊朗支持的真主党民兵之间的战斗。

这名官员说：“以色列已经采取了切实行动，从部分缓冲区撤军。这有力地展现了它对黎巴嫩合法政府的诚意。”官员补充说，黎巴嫩武装部队现在应该介入。

官员说：“黎巴嫩武装部队现在应该采取行动，以可核查的方式清除恐怖分子的武器和基础设施。这一模式将在黎巴嫩南部地区推广，从而使流离失所的家庭能够安全返回家园，南部地区得以重建，黎巴嫩的主权得以完全恢复。”

以色列方面尚未对此发表评论。一名黎巴嫩高级安全官员说，他们并不知晓以色列军队已从它在黎巴嫩南部的所谓“缓冲区”撤离。

美官员：以色列军撤离黎南部部分“缓冲区”

2026年6月25日 17:56 / 联合早报

6月24日，黎巴嫩南部斯里法村（Srifa）的居民回返以色列空袭时摧毁的家园和商铺。 （AFP）

一名美国国务院官员说，以色列已从它在与真主党交战时占领的黎巴嫩南部所谓“缓冲区”部分地区撤军。

路透社报道，这名国务院官员星期四（6月25日）透露消息时没有说明以色列撤离多少领土，也没有说明撤军的具体地点。以色列和黎巴嫩一直在华盛顿举行由美国斡旋的会谈，会谈的部分目的是为了停止以色列与伊朗支持的真主党民兵之间的战斗。

这名官员说：“以色列已经采取了切实行动，从部分缓冲区撤军。这有力地展现了它对黎巴嫩合法政府的诚意。”官员补充说，黎巴嫩武装部队现在应该介入。

官员说：“黎巴嫩武装部队现在应该采取行动，以可核查的方式清除恐怖分子的武器和基础设施。这一模式将在黎巴嫩南部地区推广，从而使流离失所的家庭能够安全返回家园，南部地区得以重建，黎巴嫩的主权得以完全恢复。”

以色列方面尚未对此发表评论。一名黎巴嫩高级安全官员说，他们并不知晓以色列军队已从它在黎巴嫩南部的所谓“缓冲区”撤离。

US prices for new drugs fell in 2025 as fewer costly gene therapies were launched

2026-06-25 10:02:24 / Reuters

June 25 (Reuters) – Launch prices for prescription medicines approved by U.S. regulators in 2025 fell from the previous year, but remained high at a ​median of $216,000 due to expensive drugs for rare diseases, a new analysis shows.

In 2024, the median annual list price of a new drug was over $370,000, up from $300,000 ‌in 2023 and $222,000 in 2022.

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Drug pricing experts attributed the dip to the mix of types of drugs approved rather than a significant shift in pricing strategy or government policies aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. The Food and Drug Administration last year approved five cell and gene therapies versus seven in both 2024 and 2023. Gene therapies, which are given once, can have prices in the millions of dollars.

Many new medicines target serious, complex ​diseases with few or no treatment options, and it is “misleading” to compare those prices to other drug types, trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in ​an email.

More than 67% of FDA approvals in 2025 were for

small- molecule, opens new tab
drugs, such as pills, which are made from chemicals, rather than costly, ⁠complex biologics derived from living cells. That number was up from 2024, when small molecules accounted for 62% of approvals, and 2023, when it was 57%.

New biologics are often first-in-class and do ​not have competitors, allowing drugmakers to charge high prices, said Richard Frank, director at the Brookings Institution’s Center on Health Policy.

The average launch price for a drug approved in 2025 was $416,000, as ​lower-cost products like $1,050 for LENZ Therapeutics’ Vizz eye drops for blurry vision and $5,400 cholesterol drug Lerochol from LIB Therapeutics offset expensive treatments for rare genetic disorders like Mighty Therapeutics’ Forzinity for Barth syndrome, priced at nearly $800,000 a year.

POLITICS PLAYS A ROLE

“It is hard to make a lot of assessments about trends based on a single year,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who researches drug prices, adding that “2025 was ​an odd year.”

He said the FDA was buffeted by Trump administration reorganization efforts, including staff cuts and leadership changes. The agency rejected several gene therapies, leading to a backlash from patient advocates and political controversy. Earlier this ​year, the FDA said it would take a more

flexible, opens new tab
approach.

Drugmakers came under pressure from President Donald Trump, who has sought to claim victory in tackling high U.S. pharmaceutical prices with the TrumpRx platform for direct-to-consumer sales, and deals ‌with large ⁠companies to bring U.S. prices in line with those in other developed nations.

Those agreements are unlikely to last beyond the current administration, said Brookings’ Frank.

Rome also said that without legislation, the agreements will not significantly impact pricing decisions.

“There’s been this broad trend to say look what I’m doing to lower drug prices,” but a lot of it is “performative,” said Geoffrey Joyce, director at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

NEW DRUGS FOR CANCER, RARE DISEASES

The FDA approved 51 new drugs last year, 46 at its main division and the five cell and gene therapies. ​The agency approved 57 new drugs in 2024 ​and 55 in 2023. Those tallies do ⁠not include imaging agents, blood testing reagents or vaccines.

The analysis of 42 drug prices compiled by 3 Axis Advisors also excluded drugs used intermittently like antibiotics and products that have not yet launched commercially.

Cancer drugs remained the most represented therapeutic area, accounting for about a third of 2025 ​FDA approvals.

As in recent years, more than half of the approvals were “orphan” drugs, meaning they treat conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans. Drugmakers ​are given incentives to ⁠invest in research for rare diseases, including longer market exclusivity, and often charge premium prices for the niche products.

While calling that “wise public policy,” USC’s Joyce noted that drugmakers have “gamed” those incentives.

They can develop a drug that’s effective for a wide range of conditions but seek approval for “a low-prevalence disease… and get all the benefits and all the tax write-offs,” he said. “The logic is to launch (at a price) as ⁠high as you ​think you can get away with.”

Drug companies emphasize that new medicines can offer cost-saving value, including potentially fewer emergency ​room visits and hospital stays.

The analysis looked only at list prices and did not include the undisclosed discounts and rebates that insurers can receive from manufacturers.

“You’re still paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for most new drugs… irrespective of ​whether they offer a huge benefit over existing drugs or are sort of novel products that don’t offer much benefit,” Harvard’s Rome said.

Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

What we know about Trump’s Great American State Fair

2026-06-25T10:00:25.384Z / CNN

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Julia Benbrook

PUBLISHED Jun 25, 2026, 6:00 AM ET

The Freedom 250 Ferris Wheel is seen before the opening of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

The Trump administration’s 16-day-long Great American State Fair has begun, offering visitors to the National Mall in Washington, DC, the chance to visit pavilions showcasing every US state and territory.

President Donald Trump first teased the project, a modern World’s Fair, on the campaign trail in 2023. Three years later, the project has come to life, with military flyovers, movie screenings and a giant 110-foot Ferris wheel on the packed schedule. Trump’s stamp will be evident, including a scaled-down replica of Trump’s proposed 250-foot “triumphal arch.”

“This is the beginning of the golden age of America,” Trump declared at the fair kick off on Wednesday evening.

Who is putting on the fair?

The 16-day-long festival has been organized by Freedom250, a Trump-aligned nonprofit that has organized a plethora of 250th-anniversary events backed by the president, such as the Rededicate 250 prayer event on the National Mall in May.

Is there an entry fee?

The fair is free. Freedom250 has encouraged those who plan to attend to RSVP.

What states will be there?

All 50 states and territories will be represented, but several states are not directly taking part. Participating states sought sponsors, donations or state funding to decorate their booths.

Officials from Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, North Carolina and Connecticut told CNN they declined to organize booths for their state, citing limited finances. Groups from each state have volunteered to represent them at the fair.

While officials said their states’ decisions were largely due to costs, a spokesperson for Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, shared concerns that event was “shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented.”

What will the pavilions look like?

Until July 10, large white tents decorated with neoclassical columns will house dozens of state pavilions featuring interactive experiences designed to represent each state’s culture, heritage and natural landscapes.

The display for New Jersey.

Courtesy Freedom 250

Arizona’s pavilion will take visitors through a “sensory journey,” explained Paul Behnen, creative director at Off Madison Ave, the advertising agency that helped the Arizona Office of Tourism design the display.

“You start with the warm, cathedral light in Antelope Canyon,” he said. “Then you transition into the cool, dappled light of a Ponderosa pine forest. And lastly, you wander into a Sonoran Desert nightscape, where blacklights subtly illuminate stars and saguaro cactuses.”

A display for Nevada.

Courtesy Freedom 250

In Montana, visitors will be able to explore a fossil-digging station. In Minnesota, they’ll win prizes by selecting from a pond full of miniature versions of the North Star State’s official bird, the common loon. Florida’s pavilion will showcase the state’s citrus industry and include a mini-golf putting green.

A display for Florida.

Courtesy Freedom 250

A display for Tennessee.

Courtesy Freedom 250

Oklahoma’s pavilion will replicate the smells of the prairie and use lighting to show the transition from a sunrise to dark evening. Fans will also be placed throughout the tent to evoke the lyrics –“where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.” – from the musical “Oklahoma!”

What kind of attractions are available?

The fairgrounds also will include a daily reminder of the American West. There will be rodeo shows featuring precision-riding demonstrations and traditional Mexican charro performances. Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in meet-and-greets with American Miniature Therapy Horses.

[image_8]

The 110-foot Freedom 250 Ferris wheel was brought to Washington by Talley Amusements, a Texas-based amusements company.

Courtesy Freedom 250

[image_9]

A close up of the Ferris wheel at the Great American State Fair.

Courtesy Freedom 250

Meanwhile, Freedom 250’s mobile museums, known as the Freedom Trucks, will tell the story of America’s founding using AI-generated videos and artwork. They feature content from Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts school in Michigan, and PragerU, a conservative media organization that publishes educational materials aimed at combating a “dominant left-wing ideology.”

Earlier this month, Freedom250 was forced to jettison some concerts following the withdrawal of artists who had been scheduled to perform, but the group has said there will still be musical performances.

“We’re literally gonna have hundreds of performers,” Freedom250 CEO Keith Krach told CNN. “We’ve got something for everybody, you know what I mean. We’ll have great speakers, military bands, amazing entertainers, amazing singers, magicians, all that stuff.”

What is on the menu?

Visitors will be able to feast on a variety of state fair classics, including jumbo corn dogs, turkey legs and buckets of fries. Pancakes from Judy’s Family Cafe, an Illinois diner known for its viral social media videos, will also be available.

最后期限前 欧盟批准与美国的贸易协议

2026年6月25日 18:34 / 联合早报

欧洲议会曾两次暂停批准欧盟与美国贸易协议的程序。图为6月17日，欧洲议会议员在法国东部斯特拉斯堡的议会大厦就一项粮食提案进行投票。 （AFP）

欧洲联盟与美国的贸易协议在欧盟最终批准后势将生效，在当前经济关系持续紧张的背景下，欧盟希望这份协议能为双边关系注入一些稳定性。

欧盟成员国星期四（6月25日）批准与美国的贸易协议，结束近一年来批准程序断断续续，一度险些导致整个协议告吹的局面。根据协议，欧盟将取消对美国工业品和部分农产品的关税，作为交换，美国对欧盟商品的关税上限将设定为15%。

彭博社报道，协议的落实可能会使紧张的跨大西洋关系得到一些立竿见影的缓和。美国总统特朗普曾威胁，如果欧盟不能在7月4日前履行协议，将对其加征新关税。不过，双方在金属关税和科技监管等问题上仍存在分歧，可能会在未来几个月动摇双方关系。

欧盟竭力避免关税战，并希望在包括乌克兰问题在内的安全事务上继续与特朗普保持沟通。但欧盟在批准贸易协议方面遇到波折。欧盟议员曾两次暂停批准程序，一次是因为特朗普威胁要吞并格陵兰，另一次是因为美国法院宣布特朗普的全球关税无效。

最后期限前 欧盟批准与美国的贸易协议

2026年6月25日 18:34 / 联合早报

欧洲议会曾两次暂停批准欧盟与美国贸易协议的程序。图为6月17日，欧洲议会议员在法国东部斯特拉斯堡的议会大厦就一项粮食提案进行投票。 （AFP）

欧洲联盟与美国的贸易协议在欧盟最终批准后势将生效，在当前经济关系持续紧张的背景下，欧盟希望这份协议能为双边关系注入一些稳定性。

欧盟成员国星期四（6月25日）批准与美国的贸易协议，结束近一年来批准程序断断续续，一度险些导致整个协议告吹的局面。根据协议，欧盟将取消对美国工业品和部分农产品的关税，作为交换，美国对欧盟商品的关税上限将设定为15%。

彭博社报道，协议的落实可能会使紧张的跨大西洋关系得到一些立竿见影的缓和。美国总统特朗普曾威胁，如果欧盟不能在7月4日前履行协议，将对其加征新关税。不过，双方在金属关税和科技监管等问题上仍存在分歧，可能会在未来几个月动摇双方关系。

欧盟竭力避免关税战，并希望在包括乌克兰问题在内的安全事务上继续与特朗普保持沟通。但欧盟在批准贸易协议方面遇到波折。欧盟议员曾两次暂停批准程序，一次是因为特朗普威胁要吞并格陵兰，另一次是因为美国法院宣布特朗普的全球关税无效。