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President Donald Trump continues to enjoy income streams from scores of luxury properties and business ventures, many of which are worth tens of millions of dollars, according to a financial disclosure form filed late Friday.

Released by the Office of Government Ethics, Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure spans 234 pages in all, including 145 pages of stock and bond investments. It is dated Friday with Trump’s signature.

One of the largest sources of income is the $57,355,532 he received from his ownership stake in World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency platform launched last year. The form shows that World Liberty’s sales of digital tokens have been highly lucrative for Trump and his family. Trump’s three sons, Donald Jr., Eric and Barron, are listed on the company’s website as co-founders of the firm.

Separately, Trump’s meme coin, known on crypto markets simply as $TRUMP, was not released until January and is therefore not subject to the disclosure requirements for this form, which covered calendar year 2024.

It was a lucrative year for Trump when it came to royalty payments for the various goods that are sold featuring his name and likeness.

Among the royalty payments:

The filing also includes a listing of liabilities, including at least $15,000 on an American Express credit card and payments due to E. Jean Carroll, the woman who successfully sued Trump over sexual abuse and defamation, though he is still seeking to appeal the decision.

The rest of the document includes dozens of pages of lengthy footnotes about his various assets.

The form was filed to comply with federal requirements for executive branch office holders. By comparison, the form former President Joe Biden filed in 2024 was 11 pages and consisted largely of conventional sources of income like bank and retirement accounts, while Kamala Harris’ was 15 pages.

Many of Trump’s key assets are held in a revocable trust overseen by Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son. They include more than 100,000 shares of Trump Media and Technology Group, the social media company that went public in 2024. Trump is the largest shareholder, and his nearly 53% is worth billions of dollars. Those holdings were still disclosed in the form.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

As Starbucks aims to bring back customers and assuage investors with its turnaround strategy, it is also winning over its store managers with promises to add more seating inside cafes and promote internally.

Since CEO Brian Niccol’s first week at the company, he’s been pledging to bring the company “back to Starbucks” to lift sluggish sales. That goal was in full view at the company’s Leadership Experience, a three-day event in Las Vegas for more than 14,000 store leaders this week.

Starbucks unveiled a new coffee called the 1971 Roast, a callback to the year that its first location opened at Pike Place in Seattle. The finalists at Starbucks’ first-ever Global Barista Championships referred to “back to Starbucks” as they prepared drinks for judges. Even the Wi-Fi password was “backtostarbucks!”

To investors, Niccol has already presented a multi-part strategy that involves retooling the company’s marketing strategy, improving staffing in cafes, fixing the chain’s mobile app issues and making its locations cozier. The company also laid off roughly 1,100 corporate workers earlier this year, saying it aimed to operate more efficiently and reduce redundancies.

Starbucks shares have climbed nearly 20% since April and are trading just shy of where they were after a nearly 25% spike the day Niccol was announced as CEO.

While Starbucks has taken major steps to win back customers and Wall Street, it’s also trying to regain faith among its employees. Staffers have had concerns about hours and workloads for years, sparking a broad union push across the U.S.

To excite the chain’s store managers, Starbucks executives’ pitch this week focused on giving them more control. Before launching new drinks, like a protein-packed cold foam, the company is first testing them in five stores to gain feedback from baristas.

When the chain increases its staffing this summer, managers will have more input on how many baristas they need. And next year, most North American stores will add an assistant manager to their rosters.

“You are the leaders of Starbucks. Your focus on the customer is critical. Your leadership is critical. And as you return to your coffeehouses, please remember: coffee, community, opportunity, all the good that follows,” Niccol said on Tuesday.

Niccol’s “back to Starbucks” strategy centers on the idea that the company’s culture has faltered. Its Leadership Experience, typically held every couple of years, was the first since 2019 — three CEOs ago.

“We are a business of connection and humanity,” Niccol said on Tuesday afternoon, addressing a crowd of more than 14,000 managers. “Great people make great things happen.”

As more customers order their lattes via the company’s app, its cafes have lost their identity as a “third place” for people to hang out and sip their drinks.

To return to Starbucks’ prior culture, the company is unwinding previous decisions — like removing seats from its cafes. In recent years, the chain has removed 30,000 seats from its locations. Those renovations have irritated both customers and employees; the manager of Niccol’s local Starbucks in Newport Beach, California, even asked him to remove her store from its renovation list because she wanted to keep the seating, according to Niccol.

“We’re going to put those seats back in,” Niccol said, bringing a big wave of applause from the audience.

He earned more applause from the audience when discussing the chain’s plans to promote internally as it eventually adds 10,000 more locations in the U.S.

Although historically roughly 60% of Starbucks store managers have been internal promotions, the company wants to raise that to 90% for its retail leadership roles. Thousands of new cafes means 1,000 more district managers, 100 regional directors and 14 regional vice presidents for the company — and more upward career mobility for its store leaders.

Staffing more broadly has been a concern for Starbucks and its employees, fueling a wave of union elections across hundreds its stores. Past management teams have cut down on the labor allotted to stores, helping profit margins at the cost of burning out baristas and slowing service.

Under Niccol, Starbucks is changing the trend. The company is accelerating plans to roll out its new Green Apron labor model by the end of the summer, because tests have shown that it improves service times and boosts traffic. As part of the model, managers will have more input on how much labor their store needs.

And Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly received a standing ovation from the crowd for her announcement that most North American locations will receive a full-time, dedicated assistant store manager next year.

“For much of the time, your store is operating without you there, and you share that even when you’re not in the store, you’re not able to fully disconnect, and it can feel like the weight of everything is on your shoulders. … It affects everything, the partner experience, the customer experience, the performance of your store,” Kelly said, addressing the store managers in the audience.

Underscoring the challenges Niccol faces in recapturing the company’s brand, the two speakers who scored the most applause from store managers are no longer actively involved in the company.

Former chairwoman Mellody Hobson scored standing ovations during both her entry and exit onto the arena’s stage. Hobson, wiping tears from her eyes, thanked the Starbucks employees whom she said always made her feel welcome in their stores.

She stepped down from her position earlier this year, ending a roughly two-decade tenure that culminated with her becoming the first African American woman to become the independent chair of a Fortune 500 company. Hobson also serves as co-CEO of Ariel Investments.

Hobson ceded her position as chair of the board to Niccol when he joined the company in September. Niccol credited her with poaching him from Chipotle as Starbucks sought to find a leader who could turn around its flailing business.

“A quick conversation [with Hobson] turned into something really special for me,” Niccol said.

And Hobson’s longtime friend Howard Schultz also earned standing ovations from store managers.

Schultz, the three-time CEO who grew Starbucks from a small chain into a coffee powerhouse, made a surprise appearance at the Leadership Experience on Wednesday morning. It marked the first time that he’s appeared with Niccol publicly since the board tossed out his handpicked successor, Laxman Narasimhan, and selected the then-Chipotle CEO to take the reins.

Starbucks has long been plagued by questions about its succession, given Schultz’s former willingness to return to the helm of the company. But since Niccol’s appointment, industry analysts have thought that he might finally be the CEO who manages to escape Schultz’s lingering influence over the coffee giant.

The ghost of Schultz lingered earlier in the event. Niccol shared a story about being inspired hearing Schultz speak at Yum Brands, Niccol’s then-employer, back in 2008. The 71-year-old chairman emeritus also appeared in video form on Tuesday afternoon to thank Hobson for her service to the company.

During his conversation with Niccol on Wednesday, Schultz co-signed his plan to get “back to Starbucks,” saying that he did a cartwheel in his living room the first time that he heard about it.

He also asked managers to bring that energy back to their own Starbucks locations.

“Be true to the coffee, be true to your partners,” Schultz told the audience. “And I know we’re going to come out of here … like a tidal wave and surprise and delight the world and prove all those cynics wrong again, just as we did in 1987.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

It took 11 years since Facebook acquired it for $19 billion, but Meta is finally bringing ads to WhatsApp, marking a major change for an app whose founders shunned advertising.

Meta announced Monday that businesses will now be able to run so-called status ads on WhatsApp that prompt users to interact with the advertisers via the app’s messaging features. The ads will only be shown to users within WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab to separate the promotions from people’s personal conversations. Additionally, Meta will begin monetizing WhatsApp’s Channels feature through search ads and subscriptions.

The debut of ads on the messaging app represents a significant step in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to make WhatsApp “the next chapter” in his company’s history, as he told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in 2022. The move to monetize WhatsApp also comes amid Meta’s high-profile antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission over the company’s blockbuster acquisitions of the messaging app and Instagram.

Already, Meta allows advertisers to run so-called click-to-message ads on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to WhatsApp where they can directly engage with businesses. Messaging between brands and consumers “should be the next pillar of our business,” Zuckerberg told analysts in April, adding that WhatsApp now has over 3 billion monthly users, including “more than 100 million people in the U.S. and growing quickly there.”

Now, companies can run those kinds of ads within WhatsApp itself. The new status ads appear in a user’s Updates tab within that tab’s “Status” feature that can be used to share pictures, videos and text that vanish after 24 hours, akin to Instagram Stories.

Since Meta bought WhatsApp in 2014, the popular messaging app has continued to grow worldwide. But unlike Facebook, Instagram and most recently Threads, WhatsApp has never allowed advertising.

WhatsApp’s co-founders, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, were public in their scorn for the advertising industry, and the duo left Facebook after reportedly clashing with executives who were eager to inject the app with advertising and other practices they shunned.

The social media company does not reveal WhatsApp’s specific sales, but analysts have previously estimated the app’s revenue to be between $500 million and $1 billion from charging businesses for tools and services so they can message customers on the app.

Meta will “use very basic information” to recommend which ads to show WhatsApp users, Nikila Srinivasan, Meta’s head of product for business messaging, said Friday. This includes a person’s country, city, device, language and data like who they follow or how they interact with ads.

The company debuted WhatsApp’s Updates tab in June 2023 along with an accompanying Channels feature that allows people and organizations to send broadcast messages and updates to their followers as opposed to personal conversations. Meta will also monetize the Channels feature, the company said Monday.

Organizations and people who are Channel administrators will now be able to spend money to boost the visibility of their respective Channels when a person searches for them via a directory, similar to ads on Apple’s and Google’s app stores.

Additionally, channel administrators will be able to charge users monthly subscription fees to access exclusive updates and content, Meta said Monday. The company will not immediately make money from those monthly subscription fees, but it plans to eventually take a 10% cut of those subscriptions, a spokesperson said.

Meta hopes that by limiting its new ads to WhatsApp’s Updates tab it will disrupt users as little as possible, Srinivasan said. Users’ status updates as well as personal messages and calls on WhatsApp will remain encrypted, she said.

“We really believe that the Updates tab is the right place for these new features,” Srinivasan said.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, will be led by a woman for the first time in its history, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.

Blaise Metreweli will take up the position of Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in the fall. She is currently head of the service’s technology and innovation teams, a position immortalized as “Q” in the James Bond movies.

It was revealed in 2017 that “Q” was a woman – but Metreweli was not named at the time.

Metreweli, a graduate of Oxford University, has previously held senior positions in both the domestic and foreign intelligence services.

Starmer described the appointment as “historic.”

“I know Blaise will continue to provide the excellent leadership needed to defend our county and keep our people safe,” he said in a statement.

Metreweli said she was “proud and honored” to be appointed to the role.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off Peru’s central coast Sunday, rattling Lima and the port city of Callao, has left one person dead and five injured, authorities said.

The earthquake happened at 11:35 a.m. local time in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicenter was located 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of Callao, west of the capital Lima.

A 36-year-old man died in northern Lima while “standing outside his vehicle waiting for a passenger” when a wall from the fourth floor of a building under construction detached and fell on his head, Police Col. Ramiro Clauco told RPP radio.

The five people injured are being treated in hospitals, the Emergency Operations Center said. The agency also reported damage to roads and educational centers.

President Dina Boluarte is heading to Callao to monitor developments, the Peruvian presidency said on X.

Footage shared by local media also showed cars hit by falling debris, damaged houses and collapsed billboards.

All of Lima’s districts felt the earthquake, Hernando Tavera, executive president of the Geophysical Institute of Peru, told local TV channel N.

Local radio stations reported that a professional football match at Lima’s Alberto Gallardo Stadium was paused for several minutes.

A mass at Lima’s cathedral was also interrupted, after frightened worshippers fled the scene.

Peru is located along the Ring of Fire, a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by frequent earthquakes and active volcanoes.

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As an unprecedented Israeli attack on Iran last week sparks a spiraling conflict between the two enemy states, China has seen an opportunity to cast itself as potential peace broker – and an alternative voice to the United States.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi took up this mission over the weekend, speaking with both his Iranian and Israeli counterparts in separate phone calls, where Wang decried the attack that sparked latest conflict and telegraphed China’s offer to “play a constructive role” in its resolution.

“China explicitly condemns Israel’s violation of Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity … (and) supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, defending its legitimate rights and interests,” Wang said in a call Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, according to Beijing’s official readout.

China’s self-described “explicit” opposition to Israel’s attack stands in sharp contrast to the country’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which Beijing refused to condemn as it ramped up its close ties with Moscow.

It also underscores the hardening of geopolitical lines that have placed China in opposition to the US across a host of global issues.

Israel launched its aerial attack targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile and military complex early Friday in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was an operation to “roll back” the Iranian threat to his country’s survival.

Multiple waves of deadly assaults launched by both sides in the days since have seen mounting casualties and raised the risk of a broader regional conflagration that could involve the United States, which has so far only assisted in Israel’s defense against an onslaught on Iranian missiles and drones.

In Beijing’s eyes, all this gives ample reason to be outspoken on a conflict playing out in a part of the world where it has steadily worked to increase its own economic and diplomatic sway, but where experts say its heft as a powerbroker remains limited.

‘Play a constructive role’

For one, as the Trump administration’s “America First” policy has shaken up the US’ traditional position on the international stage, Beijing sees an opportunity to further expand its clout. That’s especially true in the context of countries across the Global South, where Israel has received stark condemnation over its ongoing assault on Gaza.

Beijing is also a key diplomatic and economic backer of Iran and has moved to further deepen collaboration in recent years, including holding joint naval drills, even as it’s sought to balance those ties with its growing relations with countries like Saudi Arabia. Chinese officials long voiced opposition to US sanctions on Iran and criticized the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while accusing Washington of being a source of instability and tensions in the region.

Wang took veiled aim at the US in his call with his Iranian counterpart Saturday, according to the Chinese readout of the call, saying that “China also urges the countries that have influence over Israel to make concrete efforts to restore peace.”

“China is ready to maintain communication with Iran and other relevant parties to continue playing a constructive role in de-escalating the situation,” he added.

Speaking to Israeli Foreign Minsiter Gideon Sa’ar on Saturday, Wang said China “urged both Israel and Iran to resolve differences through dialogue” and added “that China is willing to play a constructive role in supporting these efforts,” a Chinese readout said.

Beijing is unlikely to see benefits from the deepening of tensions in the region, which it relies on for energy and where it has looked to show itself as an emerging powerbroker. For example, it took on a surprise role in facilitating a diplomatic rapprochement between archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023.

It’s unclear what role Beijing could play in the resolution of the current conflict, including how much leverage Beijing has over Tehran, even as lawmakers in Washington have warned of a deepening “axis” between China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.

But when it comes to managing the direction of this escalation of an entrenched regional conflict, chances are that players both within the Middle East and the US – which plays a key role in regional security – will ultimately drive that effort.

Trump on Sunday posted on social media that Iran and Israel “will make a deal,” adding that “many calls and meetings” were “now taking place,” without providing details.

But the US president had also suggested another potential leader could have a role to play brokering peace: Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump said he discussed the escalating situation on Saturday.

In an interview with ABC News, Trump said he was open to the Russian leader, whose forces invaded Ukraine and who has resisted a US-brokered ceasefire in that conflict, serving as a mediator – another sign of the warming ties between Washington and Moscow, which maintains close relations with Tehran and has condemned Israel’s attack.

“I would be open to it,” Trump said. Putin “is ready.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

For the past month Chinese aircraft carrier strike groups have been operating further from home shores and in greater strength than ever before, testing state-of-the-art technology and sending a message they are a force to be reckoned with, analysts and officials say.

Since early May, a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) flotilla led by the carrier Shandong has conducted exercises north of the Philippines; its newest carrier, the soon-to-be commissioned Fujian, has been on sea trials in disputed waters west of the Korean Peninsula; and its oldest carrier, the Liaoning has led exercises in the Pacific waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

During the drills the Fujian for the first time conducted aircraft take-off and landing operations at sea using its advanced electromagnetic catapult system (EMALS), regional defense officials said.

That’s a significant development. Only one other carrier in the world has that system – the US Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford.

Last Monday, the Japanese Defense Ministry said the Shandong and its support ships had been exercising in the waters southeast of the island of Miyako Island in southern Okinawa prefecture, putting two Chinese carrier strike groups in the open Pacific for the first time.

At the center of that box of exercises is Taiwan, the democratically ruled island claimed by China’s Communist Party despite never having controlled it.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to “achieve reunification” with the island, using force if necessary.

Analysts noted that the Pacific exercises specifically covered areas through which US naval support of Taiwan, in the event of conflict there, would have to pass.

“The projection of power is beyond China’s own defensive needs,” the Taiwanese official said, unless it wants to assert the entire first island chain is its internal waters.

The first island chain stretches from Japan to the Philippines and further down to Indonesia as is seen as a strategically vital line to both China and the US.

Some analysts say Beijing may be laying the groundwork for that with so-called “salami slicing” tactics, or pushing its claims and presence in small but unrelenting steps until it’s too late for an opponent to stop them.

Besides Taiwan, the waters inside that first island chain include the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, called the Diaoyus in China and, like Taiwan, claimed by it as sovereign territory.

Chinese maritime forces have been increasing their visibility around those islands. According to statistics from the Japanese Defense Ministry, more than 100 Chinese vessels have appeared in the contiguous zone of the islands – the waters between them – for all but one of the past 24 months.

Also within the first island chain are disputed islands in the South China Sea that have seen violent flare-ups between Chinese and Philippine forces as Beijing tries to aggressively assert its claim over geographical features in the waterway through which trillions of dollars in trade passes each year.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called out Beijing tactics at a recent defense forum in Singapore.

“Any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the South China Sea and the first island chain by force or coercion is unacceptable,” Hegseth said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, noting the persistent PLA presence around Taiwan and harassment and intimidation tactics in the South China Sea.

“It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth said.

Reaching well into the Pacific

While Hegseth focused on China’s activities inside the first island chain, the PLA Navy’s recent movements have it operating carriers beyond the second island chain, which runs from the Japanese main island of Honshu southeast to the US territories of Saipan and Guam and then southwest to Yap, Palau and New Guinea.

Japanese officials reported last week two Chinese carrier groups operating well out into the open Pacific.

“It is believed that China is planning to improve the operational capability of its aircraft carriers and their ability to conduct operations in distant areas of the sea,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said last Monday, noting that China has demonstrated for the first time the ability to operate a carrier in the waters east of Iwo Jima and close to Japan’s easternmost island Minamitorishima.

“The PLA is demonstrating a capability for sustained carrier ops outside of the first island chain. This is certainly a significant milestone for the PLAN,” said Ray Powell, director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.

“Beijing is using the PLAN to signal its growing maritime power and willingness to use it,” said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and Hawaii-based analyst.

A PLA Navy press release on Tuesday acknowledged the carrier activity in waters well out into the Pacific and emphasized that they are defense-minded.

“The Chinese Navy’s Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carrier formations recently went to the Western Pacific and other waters to conduct training to test the troops’ far sea defense and joint combat capabilities. This is a routine training,” the release quoted Chinese navy spokesperson Wang Xuemeng as saying, adding that the exercises are “not targeting specific countries.”

Overall, Schuster said China is making a very clear statement with the series of exercises.

“Although Beijing has characterized these activities as routine training and trials, its neighbors did not miss the related strategic message: China has become a major naval power that can and will apply that power in their waters if it chooses,” Schuster said.

New ships, new reach

Only one other naval power, the United States, has the capability to operate two or more carrier strike groups at such distances.

US Navy carrier strike groups usually consist of the carrier plus cruisers and/or destroyers equipped with the Aegis missile system to defend the prized asset at their heart.

Analysts noted the Chinese carrier groups in the Pacific have a similar formation and include some of the PLAN’s newest and most powerful surface ships, large Type 055 guided-missile destroyers as well as new but smaller Type 052DM destroyers.

With a displacement of around 12,000 tons, the Type 055s are considered by many naval analysts to be the most powerful surface combatants afloat and a centerpiece of what is now the world’s largest naval force, a title the PLAN took from the US Navy around 2020.

A report Tuesday in the state-run Global Times said the PLAN may be looking to operate carrier strike groups in all the world’s oceans like the US Navy does.

Chinese military affairs expert Zhang Junshe told the tabloid that Beijing’s expanding overseas business and cultural interests justify its naval expansion, including the ability of carriers to operate far from Chinese shores.

New carrier training may be seen in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, Zhang said.

The newest carrier

The Fujian, China’s newest aircraft carrier, is likely to be pivotal in the any PLA Navy plans to operate well out into the Pacific or other oceans.

Estimated to displace 80,000 tons, it’s believed to the largest non-American warship ever built and able to carry a fleet of about 50 aircraft, up from 40 on Liaoning and Shandong.

During its sea trials in the Yellow Sea last month, the Fujian conducted aircraft take-off and landing operations, according to South Korean defense officials.

The trials marked the first time a Chinese carrier had conducted such an activity inside the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ), a disputed area where China and South Korea have agreed to both oversee fisheries management, but where friction between Beijing and Seoul persists.

The take-off and landing operations are significant as it marks the first time the Fujian has done so at sea, using its electromagnetic catapult system.

The system allows carrier aircraft to take off with heavier weapon and fuel loads than those operating off the Shandong and Liaoning, which feature ski-jump type take-off ramps, enabling Fujian’s aircraft to strike enemy targets from greater distances.

The Fujian is expected to carry the naval version of the J-35, a twin-engine stealth fighter jet that can’t operate off a China’s older carriers.

And China is building another carrier, for now known as the Type 004, which is expected to not only employ EMALS technology, but also – unlike Fujian but like the USS Ford – be nuclear-powered.

Nuclear power will extend the range of Chinese naval air fleet significantly because, as the carrier doesn’t need to be refueled, it can stay at sea longer and farther away from replenishment tankers.

“Beijing’s carrier program, like its fleet, is expanding and improving rapidly, not just with new ships but with new aircraft. That trend signals Beijing’s maritime intent,” Schuster said.

But even with the new equipment and expanded range, analysts expressed caution on overestimating the PLA Navy’s abilities.

Compared to the US, which has been operating carrier strike groups in the far seas for decades, China is very much at the beginning of the learning curve.

“China’s carrier force is still very much developmental at this stage. Still, China is closing the gap,” said Powell, the SeaLight analyst.

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President Donald Trump issued a full-throated endorsement of Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., backing the lawmaker for re-election less than half a year into the freshman House member’s first term in office.

‘Abe Hamadeh has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election – HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!’ the president declared in a Truth Social post in which he described the congressman as ‘an America First Patriot.’

Trump endorsed Hamadeh in December 2023, ahead of the 2024 GOP U.S. House primary in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

But then later he issued an unusual dual endorsement of both Hamadeh and another GOP primary candidate, Blake Masters, just ahead of the 2024 contest that Hamadeh ultimately won.

Back in February Hamadeh introduced a resolution to limit the types of flags that may be displayed in House facilities, though the text of the proposal stipulates that it would not ‘apply to the individual personal office space of a Member of the House of Representatives.’

The resolution would allow for displaying the American flag and various other kinds of flags, some of which would include ‘The State flag of the represented district of a Member of the House of Representatives, displayed adjacent to the office of such Member’ and ‘The flags of visiting foreign dignitaries during an official visit.’

‘Congress is supposed to embody the AMERICAN people. That’s why I’ve introduced a resolution to ban foreign and ideological flags in the Halls of Congress. It’s pathetic that I even have to introduce this resolution,’ Hamadeh declared in a tweet this month.

Six other House Republicans are listed as cosponsors on congress.gov, including three original cosponsors and three other lawmakers listed as backing the measure this month.

‘You have inspired me and so many other young men and women to fearlessly serve our country in our nation’s Armed Services and the halls of Congress,’ Hamadeh wrote in a June 14 letter to Trump marking the president’s 79th birthday and the Army’s 250th.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

On October 7, 2023, like many around the world, I awoke to news of the horrific attacks perpetrated by Hamas against more than 1,200 innocent Israeli, American and other civilians who that day were doing nothing other than going about their lives. The television newscasts were bone-chilling – pictures of mutilated babies; of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers slain in front of family members; of peace activists murdered in cold blood; and of the taking of 250 hostages, some of whom more than 20 months on are still being held.  

Later that day, the United States called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to address this mass terror attack, the largest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. As the American ambassador to the UN responsible for Security Council matters, I represented the United States at the October 8 emergency meeting and demanded the council issue a statement expressly condemning Hamas for the ruthless terrorist attacks.  

Unfortunately, Russia, China and a few other council members refused to endorse such a statement. To put it simply, their refusal to call a spade a spade was abhorrent and incomprehensible. Note: To this day, the Security Council has yet to formally declare Hamas a terrorist group. 

Going into the October 8 emergency Security Council meeting, there had rightfully been much global sympathy for Israel – and certainly an expectation that Israel would have to respond militarily. However, once Israel took measures to defend itself, a right enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, many nations, most notably from the Global South, condemned Israel’s response as disproportionate and used it as a rallying cry to further isolate Israel in the multilateral system and beyond.  

To me and many of my U.S. government colleagues, this was not unexpected. Since joining the UN in 1948, there has been an unfortunate decline in support for Israel at the world body, a decline that began to accelerate following the period of decolonization in the 1960s. Many former colonies wrongly began to view the Israel-Palestinian conflict through the prism of their own struggles against European colonizers, with Israel viewed as a colonizer and the Palestinians as being colonized. 

Israel’s relationship with the UN reached a nadir in 1975, when the UN General Assembly passed a highly politicized resolution equating Zionism with racism, a document that was finally revoked by the UNGA in 1991. Regrettably, efforts by the Palestinians and their supporters to isolate Israel at the UN have not abated and in fact have intensified since October 7, 2023.  

During my two-plus years in New York as ambassador, I engaged in a great deal of difficult diplomacy on the situation in Gaza and cast the sole veto of two UNSC draft resolutions related to the war, both of which lacked a clear condemnation of Hamas, a direct linkage of a ceasefire to the release of hostages, and a reference to Israel’s Article 51 rights. 

Had these texts been adopted by the council, they would not have delivered an immediate ceasefire or a release of the hostages – but certainly would have given Hamas the time and space to rearm. Other council representatives privately agreed but nevertheless felt increasing pressure from their capitals to produce a council document calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

From the beginning of the conflict through the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. regularly proffered creative alternatives on ceasefire language, while most other council members insisted on an explicit reference to an immediate ceasefire. On rare occasions, the council was able to find common ground on Gaza wording when it focused on upholding the principles of humanitarian assistance and protection of civilians. 

But when some members opted to abandon council unity and force votes on resolutions containing unacceptable ceasefire language, the U.S. was left with no choice but to exercise its veto. Before each veto was cast, we recognized the potential collateral damage to America’s international reputation; however, in our view the adoption of an unbalanced council resolution would have made a ceasefire neither practicable nor implementable given the highly charged and extremely complex situation on the ground.  

In the United States’ view, the establishment of a limited and credible negotiation channel was essential for achieving an effective, durable and sustainable end to the war. While the Biden administration didn’t achieve an end to the war on its watch, it did negotiate a three-phase diplomatic framework to pause the fighting and release the hostages, which was ultimately blessed by the council and backed by the Trump administration. 

To this day, one key factor hampering council unity on Gaza is Moscow and Beijing’s exploitation of the situation there for a clear geopolitical end: deflect international attention away from Russia’s savage war against Ukraine. In response to Russian statements in the Council on Gaza, which habitually condemned the U.S. for allegedly facilitating Israeli actions, I constantly reminded council members that Russia was in no position to criticize any country given the horrific war of aggression it was conducting in Ukraine.  

I also publicly warned Chinese diplomats that should they continue making false accusations about the U.S. concerning Gaza, I would immediately call out their country’s support to Russia’s military industrial base, refuting Beijing’s fictitious claim that it supports neither party to the conflict. Russia and China must end their politicization of Gaza and either contribute constructively to peace efforts or simply get out of the way. 

While I had expected Russia and China to take adversarial positions, I was extremely disappointed that three U.S. partners on the council, Slovenia, Algeria and Guyana, chose to regularly piggyback on Russian and Chinese political shenanigans to push for more urgent council action on the issue. Their aim was to shame the U.S. and compel it to change course from its steadfast support of Israel in the war with Hamas.  

All the while, the three had been keenly aware that Washington was conducting sensitive negotiations behind the scenes with Israel, Qatar and Egypt on steps to facilitate a durable end to the fighting and ease civilian suffering in Gaza. But instead of getting fully behind those steps and working with us in good faith, they preferred to ratchet up public pressure on the U.S. and ignore American concerns about how their actions would be manipulated by Hamas and other malign actors in the region – Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis – to the detriment of regional peace and security.  

Given persistent council divisions over the war in Gaza, some UN member states continue to lay the diplomatic predicate for a future General Assembly resolution (non-legally binding) calling for sanctions, an arms embargo and other tough international measures against Israel. 

The recent U.S. veto of another council resolution on Gaza will certainly provide fuel for those efforts. As I write, the Palestinians and their allies continue to ponder additional pathways to go after Israel throughout the UN system. There is even discussion in some UN circles about suspending Israel’s voting rights in the General Assembly, an act that would deeply anger Washington and trigger severe political consequences for the UN.  

Since this tragic conflict began, I have been mystified as to why many UN officials believe that all the U.S. has to do is instruct Israel to end its pursuit of Hamas and then somehow a magical end to the fighting would materialize.  

On their part, I sense a genuine reluctance to treat Israel as a legitimate state with its own national security concerns. While the United States does indeed have influence with Israel, it is naïve at best for these colleagues to think America can simply dictate to Jerusalem what it should and shouldn’t do in response to what it perceives as existential threats.  

Russia and China must end their politicization of Gaza and either contribute constructively to peace efforts or simply get out of the way. 

Misguided pressure on the U.S., relentless efforts to isolate Israel, Russian and Chinese diversionary tactics, blatant antisemitism, and a reluctance by some states to compromise continue to stymie the Security Council’s ability to speak with one voice on ending the Gaza war. Until these unfortunate practices cease, the council will remain irrelevant to a resolution to Gaza and the broader Israel-Palestinian conflict. 

While no one can ignore the terrible tragedy that is now Gaza, it remains a fact that those UN member states that have influence with Hamas have made a strategic decision not to use it. The hesitancy of many countries over the years to publicly condemn Hamas as a terrorist group has only given it the oxygen it needs to carry on, no matter how much death and suffering Palestinians in Gaza continue to experience.   

To end this war, Hamas must disarm and disband. There will not be peace in Gaza until it does. Gazans deserve an opportunity to live in peace and to seek a prosperous future. Hamas’ continued rule will bring them neither. 

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In 1823, President James Monroe drew a firm line in the sand: the Western Hemisphere would be closed to further European interference and, most importantly, America’s primary domain of industrial, political, and military control. The Monroe Doctrine, while audacious, proved effective and laid the groundwork for the Western Hemisphere as America’s stepping stone to the rest of the world. America was not yet a superpower and could not enforce it alone, however. Instead, America aligned British naval dominance with our interests to build a coalition of opportunity. America asserted its position, secured a partner through alignment against common rivals, and laid the groundwork for its emergence as a global superpower.

We find ourselves at a similar inflection point. The battleground isn’t about territory or shipping lanes, however. Today, it’s about computing power and associated techno-industrial dominance. Given the rate of change and speed of adoption, the stakes are higher than ever. 

Artificial intelligence turns data centers into industrial hubs for exponential innovation. Today, a country’s value lies not only in human capital and raw resources but also in hardware, the sovereignty to choose its own destiny, and control of the global AI technology ecosystem. 

To maintain dominance in this new era, America needs a new Monroe Doctrine, for AI: one founded on realism, committed to fostering hemispheric stability, and laser-focused on expanding our technological sphere of influence to secure the future.

Three Core Operating Principles for a Monroe Doctrine of AI

1. Flood the world with American AI Hardware

Export controls have become the default tool for U.S. policymakers attempting to contain China’s rise in AI, but they are backfiring. Instead of crippling China, they have harmed America’s most important tech company: NVIDIA. Its market share in China has plummeted from 95% to 50% in just four years, not due to superior Chinese competition, but because U.S. policy rendered the sale illegal. 

This created a vacuum in the world’s second-largest AI market. Into that vacuum stepped Huawei, offering not only rival chips but also building an entire AI ecosystem from the ground up: rare earth mining, chip design, infrastructure, and models. They aren’t just catching up. We’re handing them the advantage.

Rather than making ourselves an unreliable trading partner for countries eager to buy our most critical export, the U.S. should saturate the free world with American chips, which are hardened at the hardware level for security and compliance. This isn’t merely about defeating China. It’s about becoming the system that others rely on. The goal is to make our stack, our chips, our software, our standards, as indispensable as the dollar. Power comes from ubiquity, not scarcity.

2. Re-anchor the Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere remains America’s home-field advantage. Leaders like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and Javier Milei in Argentina are discarding outdated anti-American orthodoxies. They are pragmatic, growth-focused, and receptive to deeper cooperation. Now is the time to act.

Nearshoring involves more than just mitigating supply chain risks; it represents an industrial strategy. The U.S. should concentrate on high-end manufacturing: data center infrastructure, power systems, and semiconductors. Meanwhile, our neighbors in the Americas can handle lower-margin but crucial production that supports AI infrastructure at a lower cost than China, along with enhanced trust and transparency. Mexico is among the most affordable locations globally for manufacturing and assembly.

Artificial intelligence turns data centers into industrial hubs for exponential innovation. Today, a country’s value lies not only in human capital and raw resources but also in hardware, the sovereignty to choose its own destiny, and control of the global AI technology ecosystem. 

Re-anchoring our hemisphere to America’s AI ecosystem is how we create a foundation for the AI age, a Marshall Plan for computing, chips, and code. Let China maintain its Belt and Road of low-cost spyware. We’ll develop a hemisphere of excellence and trust.

3. Protect the Indo-Pacific Front, The Ring of Fire

Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are the front lines of U.S.-China tech competition. Their fabrication facilities, standards, and developer ecosystems shape the global AI ecosystem. If we don’t support them with open access to U.S. technology and customers for U.S. products, China will. China is willing, and increasingly able, to fill any vacuum we leave behind.

And it’s not just the big three who are part of the Ring of Fire. Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are all in play. Each has a tense, complex relationship with Beijing and is actively seeking deeper tech and trade ties with the U.S. The window is open, but not forever.

That means rethinking how we deploy tools like export controls and tariffs. Tariffs misalign incentives, punish allies, and raise the cost of the very inputs we need to reshore advanced manufacturing. Export restrictions that limit friendly access only help China’s competitors build alternatives. Export controls and tariffs should hamper our adversaries, not our companies and platforms.

Let’s be clear: the primary goal isn’t to slow China down. China is going to China. The goal is to stay ahead and play to our strength: open markets that scale. That’s how we win.

The Strategic Moment

With America’s AI lead established and our exports increasingly central to global tech supply chains, it’s time to seize the moment, not squander it. If the goal is to contain China, rather than ceding market share and fueling anti-American resentment, then we need to reassess what AI means to us and the world.

With America’s AI lead solidified and our exports increasingly anchoring global tech supply chains, now is the moment to act boldly, not cautiously. If the goal is to contain China, not cede ground or fuel anti-American resentment, we must rethink what AI represents, not just as a tool, but as a geopolitical weapon of alignment.

Misguided export controls and blanket tariffs don’t protect us—they shrink U.S. market share, raise production costs, and hand China the time and space to build behind a wall of protectionism. That’s not industrial strategy. That’s industrial retreat.

The solutions are simple. What’s required is political will. If China achieves independent AGI and exports its standards to our current allies, we won’t just lose influence; we’ll lose the framework that made us a superpower. But if we establish the U.S. as the default AI stack, flood friendly markets with our computers, and build a hemispheric manufacturing base around it, we won’t just hold the lead and we’ll lock it in for a generation.

The original Monroe Doctrine laid the groundwork for the American century. It worked because we had aligned allies and clear strategic priorities. In the AI era, we need the same: nearshored production, fortified Indo-Pacific alliances, and a trade regime that builds markets, not walls.

That’s how you make Beijing panic.

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