Read Online  |  April 29, 2026  |  E-Paper  | 🎧 Listen

“Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”

— Confucius, “Analects”

Cathy He

Politics Editor

Good morning! Happy Wednesday, here are your top stories today:

• Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted over a social media postthat showed seashells arranged as “86 47” on a beach.  The indictment charges Comey with threatening to kill or harm the president. “86” is slang for “get rid of” or “refuse service to,” and in some contexts has been used as a euphemism for killing someone. Comey maintains his innocence. He previously said that he didn’t know the numbers indicated a call to violence. 
• The United Arab Emirates will be leaving OPEC on May 1. The departure of the cartel’s third-largest producer may weaken the group’s control over global oil supplies and prices. 
• The attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has raised fresh questions about the adequacy of presidential protection and exposed significant security flaws at the event, held at the Washington Hilton hotel.
• Absolving Cisco of its alleged complicity in aiding human rights abuses in China would risk encouraging more corporations to sell out business ethics for money, the Supreme Court heard. The lawsuit before the high court accused the California tech giant of knowingly developing a surveillance network for Beijing to go after practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement the regime has persecuted heavily since 1999.
• 🍵 Health: A study of more than 11,000 adolescents found those who used cannabis had reduced gains in memory, attention, and processing speeds.

James Comey, former FBI director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side in New York City on May 19, 2025. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Former FBI Director James Comey Charged With Threatening to Kill or Harm President

The Department of Justice on April 28 announced that former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on charges relating to threatening to kill or harm President Donald Trump.

“Today, a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned an indictment against James Comey on two counts,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at an April 28 news conference.

Blanche announced that Comey had been charged with one count of making threats against the president for a social media post he made in 2025 that was interpreted as a call for violence against Trump. The charge is a criminal offense under 18 U.S. Code Section 871 that carries penalties ranging from a fine to five years in federal prison.

Comey was also charged with a count related to threatening criminal conduct across state lines through online or other interstate communications. The related offense under 18 U.S. Code Section 875 carries the same penalties as the initial charge.

“Threatening the life of the president of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice,” Blanche said.

“While this case is unique and this indictment stands out because of the name of the defendant, his alleged conduct is the same kind of conduct that we will never tolerate, and that we will always investigate and regularly prosecute.”

Comey has maintained that he is innocent of any intentional wrongdoing in the case.

“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago,” Comey said in a video posted to his Substack on April 28, referencing the social media post that sits at the center of the case.

The post showed the numbers “8647” written in seashells on sand. To “86” is to get rid of, discard, or remove. In some contexts, it has been used as a euphemism for killing someone. Administration officials and other Trump allies say Comey’s post was a call for violence against Trump, the 47th president. (More)Sponsored by NativePath

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A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent looks on passengers queue to go through security at New York’s LaGuardia airport on March 22, 2026. (Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

DHS Shutdown Drags On

The Department of Homeland Security has been in a funding crisis since Feb. 14, when Congress failed to pass a full funding bill. In March and April, Trump authorized the use of emergency funds to pay TSA personnel and keep airport security running. That temporary funding is now running out, with no replacement in place—putting airport operations and other DHS functions at immediate risk as the dispute in Congress continues.

What is your view? The results will be featured in an article published this Saturday. (Take the Survey)

IRAN CEASEFIRE

• Trump said that Iran informed his administration that it is in a “state of collapse” and wants the Strait of Hormuz to be opened amid what he said are leadership problems.
• China is racing to secure alternative oil supplies after prolonged disruptions in the strait. The conflict is now squeezing imports and straining key sectors of its economy, according to regime insiders familiar with the situation.
• The Iran war is pushing Gulf allies to request currency swap lines with the United States, which the administration is considering. 
• The United States objected stronglyafter Iran was selected as one of the 34 vice presidents of the U.N. Nonproliferation Treaty conference. 

POLITICS

• King Charles III, during an address to Congress, highlighted the enduring relationship between the United States and the UK, emphasizing its deep historical roots and shared values.
• The Senate halted a resolution to bar Trump from being able to direct military action against Cuba without first obtaining congressional approval.
• Organizers of California’s billionaire tax proposal say they turned in over 1.5 million signatures to state election officials, which could be enough to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

LATEST NEWS

• A former aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci has been charged with illegally conspiring to destroy records. The indictment alleges that Dr. David Morens, a senior adviser to Fauci, conspired to destroy and conceal records in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. They include records about an individual who was not identified in the indictment but matches Peter Daszak, who helped funnel government money to the high-level laboratory in the Chinese city where COVID-19 first appeared. Morens has previously acknowledged that he deleted emails, but said that he thought they weren’t public records. 
• Federal, state, and local law enforcement agents raided 22 sites in Minnesota as part of investigations into alleged fraud in social-welfare programs.
• Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel has defended a joke he made about the first lady last week, in response to calls by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for his firing. 
• A U.S. advisory committee remade by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended that health agencies revamp guidance for diagnosing and treating people with autism spectrum disorder.
• Main Street is bracing for a “silver tsunami” as waves of small business owners plan to retire within the next 10 years. Sixty percent of small business owners do not have a formal succession plan, while 41 percent would permanently close their doors if they cannot find a buyer.

MORNING READ: Soccer fans in the U.S. and abroad are suffering serious sticker shock over the cost of attending the World Cup this summer—and that’s before calculating airfare and accommodations.

Workers load goods for export into a container at a logistics hub in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, on April 29, 2025. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

WORLD

• Amid China’s persistently sluggish economy, Zhejiang Province, a major production and industrial base in eastern China, is seeing a decline in trade orders as private enterprises struggle to stay afloat, according to industry professionals who spoke with The Epoch Times.
• A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to planning a thwarted Islamist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna on the opening day of his trial near the Austrian capital. 
• Ten countries have jointly warned that China-linked hackers are using everyday internet devices, home routers, web cameras, and smart gadgets to carry out hidden malicious activity.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Israel’s purchase of grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory “cannot be legitimate business,” adding that Ukraine is preparing sanctions against those profiting from the sale.
• The United States objected stronglyafter Iran was selected as one of the 34 vice presidents of the United Nations Nonproliferation Treaty conference. 

 

OPINION

• We Need More Exit Ramps From Medical Insurance—by Jeffrey A. Tucker (Read)
• Sovereignty Starts Inside—by Mollie Engelhart (Read)
• Trump Has Left Iran With 3 Options—by Victor Davis Hanson (Read)
• What’s Up With China’s Trade Figures?—by Milton Ezrati (Read)
• China Endangered the Flight of Taiwan’s President to Africa—by Anders Corr (Read)

A couple with a dog ride a motorbike at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, on April 28, 2026. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)

📸 Day in Photos: King Charles III in US, Train Accident, and Elon Musk’s Trial (Look)

⬆️ The Upgrade: The First Rule in All Martial Arts—It’s Not What You Think (Watch)

💸 Money: Donor-Advised Fund or a Private Foundation: Which Is Right for You? (Read)

💛 Inspiration: In this silent movie comedy, a modern day Charlie Chaplin takes a job at a theater bar only to find himself on a mission to stop a saboteur—without even realizing it. (Watch)

🎵 Music: Mozart’s Piano Trio In C (Listen)

HEALTH

(Craig F Scott/Shutterstock)

Cannabis Slows Brain Development in Teens, Largest US Study Shows 

Most teenagers become cognitively sharper through adolescence.

However, in teens who use cannabis, cognitive growth appears to slow—leveling off earlier than in their peers—according to a new study.

The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, found that middle and high school-age teens who used cannabis showed 20 percent to 50 percent slower gains across memory, attention, processing speed, and other core cognitive abilities.

Rather than sharp drops in ability,researchers describe a “flattening” of the typical developmental curve—skills continue to improve, but less steeply.

“Adolescence is a critical time for brain development, and what we’re seeing is that teens who start using cannabis aren’t improving at the same rate as their peers,” Natasha Wade, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and the study’s lead author, said in a statement.

“These differences may seem small at first, but they can add up in ways that affect learning, memory, and everyday functioning.”

The findings come as cannabis use remains common among U.S. teenagers, with about one in three high school seniors reporting use in the past year, often beginning around age 16. Legalization has expanded across many states, and cannabis products have become more potent, raising concerns about regular use during this sensitive period of brain development.

The researchers used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development, or ABCD Study, which follows children starting at ages 9 and 10 and tracks their cognitive development over time. The analysis covered seven years of data collected from late 2016 through early 2024, including more than 2,200 participants who used cannabis at least once and 9,600 who did not. (More)

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Thanks for reading 🙏

Have a wonderful day!

—Cathy He, Madalina Hubert, and Kenzi Li.

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