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Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza, countering Trump’s call to depopulate the territory– abcnews.go.com
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CAIRO — Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza without forcing Palestinians out of the strip in a counter to President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate the territory so the U.S. can take it over.

Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said the proposal calls for establishing “secure areas” within Gaza where Palestinians can live initially while Egyptian and international construction firms remove and rehabilitate the strip’s infrastructure.

Egyptian officials have been discussing the plan with European diplomats as well as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to two Egyptian officials and Arab and Western diplomats. They are also discussing ways to fund the reconstruction, including an international conference on Gaza reconstruction, said one of the Egyptian officials and an Arab diplomat.

The officials and diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal is still being negotiated.

The proposal comes after an international uproar over Trump’s call for the removal of Gaza’s population of some 2 million Palestinians. Trump said the United States would take over the Gaza Strip and rebuild it into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” though Palestinians would not be allowed back.

Fight to stop UK assisted suicide bill is far from over despite setbacks– www.lifesitenews.com
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On this week’s episode of The Van Maren Show, Jonathon speaks with Alithea Williams, public policy manager of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), about the latest on the United Kingdom’s assisted suicide bill.

Williams emphasized that the bill still needs to pass a third reading after being scrutinized by a parliamentary committee and then pass the House of Lords. But if it passes the third reading, it’s unlikely the House of Lords would vote against it.

Jonathon also asked Williams what pro-lifers, particularly those in the UK, can do to stop the bill from passing a third reading. Tune in to find out what she thinks.

U.S. Passes China as Germany’s Single Biggest Trading Partner– www.breitbart.com
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Move over China, America is coming through. That was the message Wednesday when new figures showed Germany’s biggest single trading partner is now the U.S. for the first time since 2015, displacing China from the top spot as exports to the Asian power declined.

AP reports trade between the U.S. and Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, ticked up 0.1 percent compared with $264.3 billion in 2023, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office said.

Trade with China, which was Germany’s biggest trading partner every year from 2016 to 2023, dropped 3.1 percent to 246.3 billion euros.

The Netherlands took third place with a total trade volume of 205.7 billion euros, a 4.2 percent drop.

The AP report notes Germany hasn’t seen significant economic growth in five years. The country for years expanded exports and dominated world trade in engineered products like industrial machinery and luxury cars.

Report: Space Force strategy, resources insufficient to counter China – SpaceNews
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The U.S. Space Force lacks the resources and warrior mentality needed to compete with China in an increasingly militarized space domain, according to a new report that challenges the service’s fundamental strategy.

The report, released Feb. 19 by the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence, takes direct aim at Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman’s “theory of success” framework, arguing that his emphasis on competitive endurance over victory could leave America vulnerable in the new space race.

“Systemic issues exist within the Space Force and Department of Defense that threaten the success of the Space Force in a long-term competition with China,” write authors Charles Galbreath and Jennifer Reeves, both retired military officers and senior fellows at the Mitchell Institute, a nonpartisan think tank affiliated with the Air & Space Forces Association.

At the heart of their criticism is what they see as a culture problem: While other military branches embrace their combat roles, the five-year-old Space Force has struggled to develop a similar war-fighting ethos among its guardians, as Space Force personnel are known.

Chinese Communist Party-linked group sends ‘clean energy’ money to American universities– www.thecollegefix.com
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UC Berkeley says foreign money doesn’t influence research, harm academic freedom

An energy foundation linked to Chinese Communist Party officials has poured $630,000 into four American universities for “clean energy” projects, according to a new report.

The University of California Berkeley, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Maryland, and Harvard University all received a portion of $630,000 from the Energy Foundation, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

The foundation opened in San Francisco decades ago but split into an American group and a Chinese group. The Energy Foundation China did not respond to an email on Friday seeking comment on the report and what it hopes to achieve with its grants. The Free Beacon identified a handful of foundation executives tied to the CCP, including CEO Ji Zou.

However, UC Berkeley said the money does not influence academic freedom.

“UC Berkeley has strict protocols and policies that protect the independence of university researchers, as well as their academic freedom,” Assistant Vice Chancellor for Executive Communications Dan Mogulof told The College Fix via email. “The terms in UC Berkeley’s research contracts reserve decision-making authority and freedom to publish for the university.”

China criticizes Trump’s tariffs at WTO, U.S. calls Beijing’s economy ‘predatory’ – Profit by Pakistan Today
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China condemned tariffs imposed or threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump during a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on Tuesday, warning that such “tariff shocks” could destabilize the global trade system.

The U.S. dismissed the concerns as hypocritical, with U.S. envoy David Bisbee criticizing China’s economic policies.

Trump has announced 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory measures and a WTO dispute against Washington. At the closed-door meeting, China’s ambassador to the WTO Li Chenggang said, “These ‘Tariff Shocks’ heighten economic uncertainty, disrupt global trade, and risk domestic inflation, market distortion, or even global recession.”

Exclusive: Iraq Militia Issues Warning to US as Regional Tensions Soar – Newsweek

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The political chief of an Iraqi militia involved in attacks on U.S. troops has told Newsweek that strikes could resume as tensions continue to mount over a war in Gaza that has sparked crises across the Middle East.

The Nujaba Movement, also known as Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, is one of several groups operating under the collective banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The coalition is part of the broader Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance, and its fighters have fired rockets and drones at both Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria throughout the war raging between Israel and the

The Iraqi militia campaign against U.S. troops was largely paused in February, however, after the deaths of three U.S. soldiers in one such attack at the border between Jordan and Syria drew intensive U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic Resistance in Iraq’s positions.

Russia reportedly frees American Kalob Byers, detained for alleged cannabis, as Trump seeks Ukraine deal – CBS News
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Russia freed a U.S. citizen arrested earlier this month on drug smuggling charges and he has returned to the U.S., according to Russian media reports, his mother, and a U.S. official who spoke with The Associated Press. CBS News learned Tuesday that Kalob Byers, 28, from Ohio, was back in the U.S.

The move appeared to be an effort to ease tension between Moscow and Washington ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, which are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine and the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

Byers was detained on Feb. 7 at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after customs officials allegedly found cannabis-laced gummies in his baggage. Byers’ mother, Tonya Shuler, said in a social media post on Saturday that Byers was “now in American custody and at the US embassy waiting for his flight home” from Russia.

According to Shuler’s Facebook post and the Russian media reports, Byers had traveled from Istanbul with his Russian fiancee, who was also detained. The authorities said he had attempted to smuggle a “significant amount” of drugs into the country and put him in custody on the charges of drug smuggling, punishable by a prison term of up to 10 years.