Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some compelling stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
The U.S. House of Representatives holds a vote and a House speaker has been elected, President Joe Biden makes a critical decision regarding the controversial sale of a vital U.S. company, and he also says he’ll soon visit the site of the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans.
Also, our nation’s top physician issues a dire warning regarding alcohol, and a technology giant agrees to a huge financial settlement concerning the privacy of its users.
Johnson Wins Speakership in Dramatic First Ballot
The House of Representatives has reelected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to continue in his role as the speaker of the House. Johnson was elected on the first ballot by a 218–215 vote, despite some short-lived hiccups early in the proceedings.At first, several members of the House GOP caucus either expressed reservations or voiced their opposition to Johnson, even though he’d recently been endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.
Near the end of the first, and only, round of voting for the speaker—a task the House must perform before members can be sworn in—Johnson seemed poised to fall short of the 218 votes he needed. Three Republicans initially voted for candidates other than Johnson, making it impossible for him to receive the necessary votes.
One of those lawmakers, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), later told reporters that Trump was crucial to Johnson’s victory by convincing him to change his vote. He said the president-elect personally called two of those defectors and promised them that conservatives would be “at the table” regarding any future negotiations on legislation.
Additionally, Johnson promised lawmakers that he would press for a number of significant spending reforms, and he vowed to make the America First Agenda a top priority.
After winning, he gave a speech and promised that this new Congress will renounce the status quo, will listen to the voices of the people, and will act quickly to secure the border.
Following the vote, Trump congratulated Johnson, and said the country will benefit from his election as House speaker.
Biden to Block Sale of US Steel
Biden says that he’s blocking the proposed $15 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by the Japanese company Nippon Steel.The president said that a number of leading security and trade experts have determined that the deal would create a significant risk for both our national security and our critical supply chains by placing one of America’s largest steel producers under foreign control.
He also says that we need our largest American steel-making companies to continue to lead the fight on behalf of our country’s national interests.
Last month, a federal agency called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States referred the matter to Biden after they were unable to decide whether or not the deal should go through. After that referral, the president had 15 days to either block or approve the deal, and if he had done nothing, the deal would have been approved.
Incidentally, a couple of years ago, Nippon signed an agreement to help facilitate the deal, and it included several substantial concessions, including giving the U.S. government veto power over any changes to the output of U.S. Steel.
Last year, the shareholders of U.S. Steel voted in favor of the deal, while the United Steelworkers union was against the proposal.
Earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump said that he would also block the proposed takeover, and that he’s “totally against” the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being purchased by a foreign company.
Biden to Travel to New Orleans
The White House says that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to New Orleans on Monday, where they’ll mourn with families and community members affected by the attack that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 30 others.The president called the attack “despicable,” and said that he speaks for all Americans when he says our hearts are with the people of New Orleans. He went on to say that our nation grieves with them, and that we’re going to stand beside them throughout the entire healing process.
Biden also thanked law enforcement personnel who immediately responded to the attack and prevented the suspect from killing or injuring more people. He said the FBI told him that the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Texas and served in the U.S. Army for many years.
By the way, one former FBI agent and current homeland security expert also says that Jabbar, who was in his 40s, did not fit the typical profile of the people who are ordinarily radicalized by ISIS.
Jabbar was married at least three times over the past two decades, and according to court documents, he had at least three children. Divorce records show that he also faced a deteriorating financial situation regarding both his home mortgage and his businesses.
US Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warning Labels on Alcohol
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is calling for updated warning labels on all alcohol products, saying that drinking alcohol can lead to a risk of developing cancer.Murthy said that alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, and that each year, it’s responsible for 100,000 cancer cases along with 20,000 deaths.
He went on to say that there’s a direct link between drinking alcohol and at least seven different types of cancer; that the risk occurs regardless of the type of alcohol you drink; and that beer, wine, and spirits can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and voice box.
He wants alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed, so that people can weigh the risk of getting cancer if they decide whether or not to drink alcohol.
By the way, a number of previous medical studies support the surgeon general’s current assessment. However, one recent analysis from Harvard University found that some of those reports “cherry-picked” material from other studies, and they say that more high-quality evidence is needed in order to fully assess the health impacts of moderate alcohol consumption.
Right now, alcohol products sold in the United States carry a health warning label that advises pregnant women not to drink them and that their consumption impairs a person’s ability to drive a car or operate machinery.
Also, changing that label to include a surgeon general’s warning for alcohol regarding its potential cancer risk would require approval from Congress.
Apple Agrees to Pay $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit
Newly filed court documents in California show that Apple has just agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit filed over its Siri voice assistant.A number of people sued Apple after they said Siri recorded their conversations without their permission and then shared those conversations with third-party advertisers.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said that Apple illegally recorded their confidential conversations despite promising that Siri would only listen to, record, and share those private conversations if the voice assistant had their permission.
They said that some of those conversations were then used by Apple and its partners to target them with advertisements for Olive Garden, Air Jordans, and other products.
In response, Apple said in court filings that Siri lets users know when it is recording, and it asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit; however, a federal judge only threw out part of the suit, leading to the new proposed settlement.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs recently told a federal court that Apple agrees with their new proposed settlement and the substantial payout.
A notice sent to both current and former users of Siri who are impacted by this settlement will direct them to submit a claim form through a website, where they’ll find out if they’re eligible to be included in the payout. Additionally, according to the proposed settlement, the lawyers for the plaintiffs can seek nearly $30 million in fees and expenses.
Before we head out for the weekend, a few more headlines we’re tracking here in the News Brief newsroom:
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Saturday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and we’re always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from the late President Jimmy Carter, who said: “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
Carter was an American politician and humanitarian who served as our nation’s 39th president from 1977 to 1981.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your day, and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
For now, it’s imperative that we all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
