Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild
This push for new-old buildings is global: In Dresden, Germany, whole sections of the city's historic center have been rebuilt to resemble the city's pre-World War II self, a form of project being repeated across Germany, Russia and France. Often these initiatives are promoted both by mainstream right-wing parties such as Germany's CDU, and through culture war agitation from figures on the far right. Perhaps the most high-profile example of this phenomenon is underway in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, where the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is rebuilding the Buda Castle district, a complex of ornate 19th century palaces and buildings on a fortified hill commanding the heights above Budapest. The project, initially estimated at $590 million but likely to cost far more, has been billed as restoring the area to its prewar glory. But critics have pointed out that the revamp — referred to as the National Hauszmann Program — is anything but historically accurate.
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28 minutes ago
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China Social Spending Hits Highest Level in Nearly 2 Decades
(Bloomberg) -- China's government spending has pivoted toward social welfare to a degree unseen for at least a generation, as it runs a record budget deficit with a focus on boosting consumption to cushion the blow from Donald Trump's tariffs. Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy The latest evidence arrived on Monday, when China announced it will start offering nationwide cash handouts to families as an incentive for couples to have children. While Beijing is channeling less on-budget investment into infrastructure, expenditure that covers outlays ranging from education to employment and social security climbed to nearly 5.7 trillion yuan ($795 billion) in the first half — the highest for the period since the data series began in 2007. That represents an increase of 6.4% from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on figures published by the Ministry of Finance. Authorities could renew their pledge to prioritize support for domestic demand, as top officials prepare to meet this month to set the economic agenda for the rest of the year while trade talks with Washington continue. The splurge was almost double the increase in total spending under the general public budget, the first and biggest account among the government's four fiscal books. Infrastructure-related expenditure in the account — allocated for costs such as environmental protection, irrigation facilities and transportation — was 4.5% less than a year earlier. Fiscal priorities have shifted after the trade war unleashed by Trump threatened China with millions of job losses and put pressure on its patchy social safety net. Under the new policy of childcare subsidies, the government will spend 3,600 yuan a year per kid under the age of three, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Citigroup Inc. estimates a total lump-sum payout of 117 billion yuan in the second half of 2025, while Morgan Stanley puts the program's annual cost at 100 billion yuan, assuming about 9 million births a year. Although President Xi Jinping has in the past resisted large-scale handouts to families over what he's called 'welfarism,' China responded in recent months by ramping up government support for households. The goal is partly to bolster domestic demand in the face of US tariffs, which have sent the country's shipments to the world's biggest consumer market slumping this year. 'Better supporting people's well-being will help boost domestic demand and is part of the rebalancing of the Chinese economy,' said Tommy Xie, head of Asia macro research at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. At the same time, China launched construction of a 1.2 trillion yuan mega-dam in Tibet this month, a massive project that will likely take years to complete. 'The room for infrastructure expansion in the future will shrink marginally' even though it can play a 'supporting role at critical times,' OCBC's Xie said. Social security and employment saw the biggest gain in spending related to people's well-being, up almost 8% in the first half from a year earlier. A survey carried out by China's central bank showed an employment sentiment index hit a record low in the second quarter, illustrating the need for more government aid for job seekers. Outlays on education increased 5.9% and rose 4% on medical treatment and health care. Meanwhile local governments' tapping of the annual quota of new bonds meant mainly for infrastructure investment slowed. Provinces have issued about 56% of new special local bonds allowed for this year, down from an average of 61% for January-July in the five years through 2024, according to Bloomberg calculations based on MOF numbers. Previously, the favored way to jumpstart growth was by spending on areas like roads, railways or industrial parks, much of it done by provincial governments. Instead, the government has accelerated the issuance of sovereign notes this year, primarily to cover the budget shortfall for routine public expenditure. Chinese provinces also sold substantial volumes of bonds in the first seven months to refinance their so-called hidden debt, as Beijing seeks to contain credit risks from deteriorating local finances. What Bloomberg Economics Says... 'An uneven consumption recovery in the first half highlights a key risk for China's growth outlook: a sustained improvement in domestic demand may require time to take hold. The experience from 1998–2003 suggests that even with strong policy support, lasting gains in consumer spending can be slow to emerge — with false starts along the way.' — David Qu and Chang Shu. For full analysis, click here Government borrowing was crucial for replenishing state coffers depleted by China's years-long property slump. Revenue from real estate-related taxes, including deeds and urban land use, fell 5.6% on year in the first half to 975.3 billion yuan. Provinces earned 1.43 trillion yuan in the period from selling land, a contraction of 6.5% despite a rebound of over 20% in June thanks to market recovery in some big cities. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cautioned, however, on 'the sustainability of land sales revenue improvement' and maintained their forecast that government land sales revenue may decline further this year by up to 10%. Total tax revenue shrank 1.2% on year in the first half to 9.29 trillion yuan, with income from levies on such transactions as vehicle purchases posting double-digit declines. Non-tax revenue — which includes compensation for the use of state-controlled resources and assets and fines — rose 3.7% to 2.27 trillion yuan. It grew despite a decline in the money collected from fines, a Finance Ministry official said at a Friday briefing. Revenue from the tax on vehicle purchases plunged 19.1% in January-June from a year ago, the biggest drop among all categories and more than triple its decline in the same period of 2024. Slumping income from the vehicle purchase tax shows the impact of the government's decision to extend the suspension of a levy on buying new energy vehicles, such as electric cars, to 2027, Huachuang Securities analysts including Zhang Yu wrote in a note on Friday. The shift away from fuel-powered cars also weighed on revenue from the consumption tax by reducing demand for gasoline and diesel, they said. The government is losing a total of 265 billion yuan per year in revenues from the vehicle purchase tax and the consumption levy due to the pivot to cars powered by alternative-energy sources, Huachuang Securities estimates. (Updates with detail on government bond issuance this year.) Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
34 minutes ago
Court restricts who can bring voting rights challenges in a case involving voters with disabilities
WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court panel on Monday ruled that private individuals and organizations cannot bring voting rights cases under a section of the law that allows others to assist voters who are blind, have disabilities or are unable to read. It's the latest ruling from the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying only the government can bring lawsuits alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act. The findings upend decades of precedent and will likely be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case centered on whether an Arkansas law that limits how many voters can be assisted by one person conflicts with Section 208 of the landmark federal law. The opinion from the three-judge panel followed the reasoning of another 8th Circuit panel in a previous case from 2023. That opinion held that the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Conference could not bring cases under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 'Like the provision at issue in Arkansas State Conference, we conclude the text and structure of (Section) 208 do not create a private right of action,' said the decision written by Judge L. Steven Grasz, a nominee of President Donald Trump. 'Likewise, we conclude no private right of action is created by the Supremacy Clause.' In the previous case, the district court judge said he could not reach an opinion on the merits because the plaintiffs did not have standing under Section 2 and gave the Justice Department five days to join the case. The circuit court panel agreed with his reasoning in a 2-1 decision. The 8th Circuit, which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, has issued three rulings holding that individuals and private entities don't have standing to bring challenges against voting laws. The other came in May in a lawsuit over North Dakota redistricting. In that case, the Spirit Lake Tribe and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, with reservations 60 miles apart, argued that the state's 2021 legislative map violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting their voting strength and ability to elect their own candidates. The appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that only the U.S. Department of Justice could bring such lawsuits, and the full circuit declined to take up the case. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the ruling last week while it decides whether to hear the case. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether it would be intervening in the Arkansas case. It earlier declined to comment on the case involving the two North Dakota tribes. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin applauded the decision by the 8th Circuit panel, saying the 2009 state law revolving around voters with disabilities 'protects the right to vote free from undue influence or manipulation.' In the statement, he said Monday's ruling 'means that officials can continue to enforce Arkansas's laws and voters can have confidence in our elections.' The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, declined to comment. Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the Voting Rights Project for the ACLU, said she wasn't surprised by the ruling given the decisions in the earlier cases. 'I think it's important to keep focus on the fact that the 8th Circuit's decisions are radical and completely at odds with decades of precedent, including from the Supreme Court itself, as well as the text, history and purpose of the Voting Rights Act,' said Lakin, who was one of the attorneys in the initial Arkansas State Conference case. 'Private litigants have been the engine of enforcement of the Voting Rights Act for sixty years.' Section 2 is considered one of the more consequential parts of the Voting Rights Act that remains intact, after a 2013 Supreme Court decision removed Section 5. That section required that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting get approval from the federal government before changing their voting and election laws.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Viral video showing Trump in Scotland leads to golf cheating accusations
Longstanding accusations of President Donald Trump cheating at golf have resurfaced after a video of him in Scotland over the weekend went viral. Trump golfed with his son Eric Trump and others at the Trump Turnberry resort, according to a pool report. Video footage of Trump on a golf course posted on X July 27 by left-leaning account PatriotTakes has gone viral on social media, with people claiming it shows Trump cheating at golf. (Trump posted his own sizzle reel of his golf swings on his social media platform Truth Social earlier in the weekend.) In the video, Trump pulls his golf cart to a stop in the rough before a sand trap. His caddie, walking ahead of him, appears to drop a golf ball in the grass beside him. Trump approaches the ball, but the video cuts off before Trump hits it. USA TODAY could not immediately verify the time or origin of the video and there is no context or video showing where Trump actually hit his previous shot. The post by PatriotTakes has garnered 4.5 million views on X as of July 28 midday. Trump has long boasted of his golf game and claimed victory in several golf tournaments against seemingly impossible odds. This video is not the first time he has been accused of outright cheating in the sport. More: Trump celebrates golf tournament win and Chelsea FIFA Club World Cup win on same day Trump has been accused of cheating in the past This is not the first time the president has been accused of cheating at golf. In fact, sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote a whole book about it in 2019: "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump." "Trump doesn't just cheat at golf," Reilly wrote. "He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: 'Pele.'' Another Winged Foot member who played with Trump said that Trump would cheat because he thought he was being cheated by other players, too, according to an excerpt from the book as reported by For the Win. Trump often boasts about his golf tournament victories, even when his win seems impossible. He once said he won a club championship when he didn't play the first round. In another instance, he said he won an event with a score lower than many LIV golf pros. In response to USA TODAY's inquiry about the video, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers pointed to the recent trade deal with the EU and the ceasefire in Thailand and Cambodia. "Instead of covering the news that matters to everyday Americans, the legacy media is peddling a false narrative about the President's legendary golf game," Rogers said in an emailed statement. Why did Donald Trump travel to Scotland? Trump discussed trade with EU and UK leaders on his trip to Scotland as the Aug. 1 deadline approaches for reciprocal tariffs, which were delayed for the second time in early July. On July 27, Trump announced the U.S. had reached a trade deal with the European Union: most goods would be tariffed at 15%, lower than the 30% Trump had previously threatened but higher than the 10% Europeans had hoped for. The Trump Organization also owns two golf courses in Scotland: Trump Turnberry and Trump International Scotland. The Trump International Scotland resort is poised to open a second golf course next month. The resort includes buildings bearing the name of Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who emigrated from Scotland to New York in the 1930s. This trip precludes a more elaborate formal state visit in the fall. (This story has been updated with a response from the White House.) Contributing: Tom D'Angelo, Zac Anderson, Savannah Kuchar, Bart Jansen, Medora Lee, USA TODAY Network Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump cheating at golf? Video, accusations go viral on Scotland trip
