A sign with a notice of closure on the fence to the National Zoo in Washington on Oct. 12, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo closed their doors on Oct. 12 because of the nearly two-week-long government shutdown, said the Smithsonian Institution on its website. In a brief message, the institution
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One for a trip to the Middle East, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Oct. 12, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Donald Trump on Sunday departed Washington, D.C. for a trip to the Middle East announced earlier this week following the achievement of a deal between
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One for a trip to the Middle East, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Oct. 12, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Hamas terrorist group may release their remaining Israeli and American hostages “a little bit early” as the president
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One for a trip to the Middle East, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Oct. 12, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Donald Trump on Sunday night is en route to the Middle East as Israelis await the release of those who have been held in captivity
Vice President JD Vance and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during a press briefing at the White House on Oct. 1, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times Vice President JD Vance on Sunday said there will be deeper cuts to the federal workforce the longer the government shutdown goes on, adding to the uncertainty facing
White House deputy chief of Staff Dan Scavino sits in the Situation Room as they monitor the mission that took out three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, at the White House on June 21, 2025. Daniel Torok/The White House via Getty Images One of President Donald Trump’s longtime advisers, Dan Scavino, is going to be in
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Mass., on May 25, 2025. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has declined to sign onto the Trump administration’s proposed compact, which would mandate campus reforms in exchange for preferential access to federal funding. MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced the decision on