New home construction falls to nine-month low
New U.S. home construction slipped in June to the lowest level since September 2021, underscoring a housing market slowdown. Housing starts fell 2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million units, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. The decrease was driven by an 8.1 percent decline in single-family housing construction. Residential construction permits for future projects fell 0.6 percent. Higher mortgage rates stemming from the Federal
Read MoreNavy’s Blue Angels name first woman demonstration pilot
Story at a glance Lt. Amanda Lee of Mounds View, Minn., was selected to be a demonstration pilot for the Blue Angels aerobatic team for the upcoming 2023 season. Hundreds of women from the Navy and Marine Corps have served with the Blue Angels for 55 years but never as a demonstration pilot. The elite flying team serves as ambassadors
Read MoreBeijing warns Pelosi's Taiwan visit will have 'severe negative impact' on US-China relations
China is calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to cancel her scheduled visit to Taiwan next month, promising “strong and resolute measures” agains the Unites States to protect its territorial integrity. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Tuesday that China opposes any official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan, and warned Pelosi’s visit would “seriously violate” the “
Read MoreThe Abe legacy and the China and North Korea threats
Immediately after Japan’s newly elected prime minister, Shinzo Abe, met with President Barack Obama in February 2013, he delivered a major policy address at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In his talk, which he entitled, “Japan is Back,” Abe laid out his thinking on why he decided to seek Japan’s highest position again in 2012, after having retired from his first stint as prime minister in 2007. His though
Read MoreInaugural DC Power Index Prize to honor Ukrainian ambassador, Capitol Police officer
A powerful New York tradition is making its Washington debut, with the launch of the inaugural D.C. Power Index Prize. The annual awards ceremony will honor six “trailblazing women” when it’s held Wednesday at Café Milano, ITK can exclusively reveal. The first recipients of the D.C. Power Index Prize are: Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova; Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who defended the Capitol during last year’s deadly Jan. 6 riot; Christine Grady, the chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health and the w
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