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Panama denied a claim made by the State Department on Wednesday that the Central American nation had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government ships to transit the country’s famous canal.

“In response to a publication released by the United States Department of State, the Panama Canal Authority, which is authorized to set tolls and other fees for transiting the Canal, reports that it has not made any adjustments to them,” the authority said in a statement, adding that it stood ready to establish a dialogue with the US.

Panama’s statement directly contradicted the State Department’s claim earlier in the evening.

“US government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year,” the State Department said in a statement posted on X alongside an image of a naval vessel entering the canal’s locks.

Over the past 26 years the US has paid a total of $25.4 million dollars for the transit of warships and submarines, equivalent to less than one million dollars per year, according to a statement from Panama’s embassy in Cuba.

The latest controversy came just days after President Donald Trump reiterated his vow to “take back” the Panama Canal, warning of “powerful” US action in an escalating diplomatic dispute with the Central American country over China’s presence around the vital waterway.

“China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement, and we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.

Hours earlier, the diplomatic stir caused by Trump’s repeated and publicly stated desire for the US to retake control of the canal had appeared to ease after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, making his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat, met with Panama’s President Raúl Mulino.

Though Mulino told Rubio that Panama’s sovereignty over the canal was not up for debate, he also said he had addressed Washington’s concerns over Beijing’s purported influence.

Panama would not renew a 2017 memorandum of understanding to join China’s overseas development initiative, known as the Belt and Road initiative, Mulino said, also suggesting that the deal with Beijing could end early.

The canal was returned to Panama under a 1977 treaty, which allows the US to intervene militarily if the waterway’s operations are disrupted by internal conflict or a foreign power. Today, more cargo than ever runs through the canal than it did during the years of US control.

Since 2000 the canal has been operated by the Panama Canal Authority, whose administrator, deputy administrator and 11-member board are selected by Panama’s government but operate independently.

Panama Ports – part of a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings – operates terminals on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal. So do several other companies.

Hutchinson was first granted the concession over the two ports in 1997 when Panama and the US jointly administered the canal.

The company is publicly traded, not known to be on any US blacklists and their subsidiary Hutchinson Ports is one of the world’s largest port operators, overseeing 53 ports in 24 countries, including for other US allies such as the UK, Australia and Canada. Hutchison also does not control access to the Panama Canal.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Shakoofa Khalili was waiting for her husband to return home with bread from the market when she heard their eight-year-old daughter scream from the balcony.

The girl had seen police approach her father in the street outside their safe house in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and ran to confront them.

The family fled Afghanistan in 2022 to escape the Taliban – militant fighters who filled a leadership vacuum left by the withdrawal of the US and its allies after a 20-year war.

Now the family fears they’ll be deported to Afghanistan, following US President Donald Trump’s order to suspend the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), effectively locking out refugees worldwide who had been on a pathway to US resettlement.

Soon after the executive order was signed, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office drafted a three-stage repatriation plan for “Afghan nationals bound for 3rd country resettlement.”

If they’re not removed by that date, they will be “repatriated to Afghanistan.”

The plan will impact Afghan nationals who fled to Pakistan fearing possible reprisals from the Taliban for their affiliations with the United States and NATO forces.

Khalili is one of them.

For some Afghans, deportation is ‘a death sentence’

While living in Afghanistan, Khalili worked on a child abuse protection program funded by the US Embassy. She hoped to gain a US visa but ended up trapped in Pakistan, with few options to leave.

This time, her daughter’s pleas to police worked, but although the father and child made it back to the safehouse they call home, Khalili’s daughter has not spoken a word since.

“For two days, because of this terrible incident … my daughter fell into a deep silence. She didn’t eat for two days. She talks and screams in her sleep at night,” said Khalili.

Many Afghans who worked for the US but were unable to escape Afghanistan now live in hiding, in fear of their lives. Those in Pakistan are terrified of being killed on their return.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, said in a statement Wednesday those forced to return face retribution from the Taliban – especially ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists, and members of artistic professions.

Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a leading coalition of resettlement and veteran groups, says 10,000 to 15,000 Afghans are in Pakistan waiting for visas or resettlement in the US.

In a post on X, VanDiver said the pause in the USRAP disproportionately affects Afghan women in Pakistan, leaving them without work, legal protections and without hope.

“Since the fall of Kabul, Afghan women have been systematically erased from public life —banned from education, work, and even basic freedoms for many, USRAP was the only viable path to safety. With the pause, that door has slammed shut,” he said.

It urged countries sponsoring Afghan nationals for resettlement to complete the process quickly, or “the sponsored Afghans will be deported.”

The document also threatens to deport Afghans holding an Afghan Citizen Card, another form of registration for Afghan refugees in Pakistan issued almost a decade ago.

Pakistan wants Afghan refugees to leave

Pakistan is home to one of the world’s largest refugee populations – most of them from Afghanistan. But the country has not always welcomed Afghan refugees, subjecting them to hostile living conditions and threatening deportation over the years.

According to the UNHCR, more than 3 million Afghan refugees, including registered refugees and more than 800,000 undocumented people are living in Pakistan.

Many fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. A new generation went to Pakistan in the aftermath of September 11 attacks, ebbing and flowing during the near two decades of conflict that followed.

The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 following the United States’ chaotic withdrawal sparked another wave of some 600,000 refugees.

Pakistan began a fresh crackdown on Afghan refugees in November 2023 to pressure the Taliban to do more to curb militant attacks launched from Afghanistan.

According to the UNHCR, 800,000 Afghan nationals have since left Pakistan.

The crackdown on those who are neither registered with the UNHCR nor awaiting resettlement to a third country is continuing in phases, with thousands of Afghans sheltering in safehouses and slums hoping to resist repatriation to their home country.

According to Khalili “the Taliban views us as enemies, and we face the grim reality of arrest, torture, or death if we are forced back.”

“This suspension (of the visa program) denies us the shelter and protection we were promised, leaving us vulnerable to unimaginable consequences and at the mercy of the Taliban.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

More than 150 female prisoners were raped and burned to death during a jailbreak last week when fleeing male inmates set fire to a prison in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a United Nations spokesperson has said.

Between nine and 13 female inmates, “all of whom had also been raped,” survived the blaze, Magango added, citing a judicial source in the DRC.

The male inmates, some of whom were killed by prison guards, plotted a mass escape on January 27 as the M23 rebel alliance battled with Congolese forces in Goma over control of the city, the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi reported Monday.

More than 4,000 detainees fled the Muzenze prison that day, it added, stating that the facility was now “completely empty” and left in ruins.

The killings and mass rape mirror recurring scenes of conflict-related sexual violence that have plagued the DRC for decades.

On Friday, the UN’s Human Rights Office said it had received reports of other cases of sexual violence involving the DRC’s army and its allied forces.

“We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gangrape,” said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement Friday.

This week, the M23 rebel group, which has claimed to have captured the city of Goma, called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire after clashes with government forces left nearly 3,000 people killed.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), just 18% of women are formally employed, according to the World Bank, far below the global average of 49%.

Women in the region face varied barriers to entering the workforce, including legal restrictions, cultural pressures and violent conflicts. But one of the major factors behind the lack of women in the workforce is traditional gender roles, which place the burden of unpaid care work on them, said Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen, director of Women Employment in the Green, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and Care Economy for UN Women.

Unpaid care work, which can include childcare, eldercare and domestic chores, is a drastically undervalued part of the economy in the Arab world, and is the biggest barrier to women’s participation in the workforce globally, according to the International Labour Organization.

Bolstering the care economy, which encompasses care services, health and education, is one of the major focuses of an initiative launching this year, involving 22 governments and more than 100 private sector and international finance institutions. It is the next phase of UN Women’s goal to raise women’s employment in the region by 5% by 2030 by creating 400,000 jobs in key markets, such as the green and STEM sectors, which are rapidly growing in the region, in addition to the care economy.

Eldhagen said it’s not just about the economic benefits: “When a woman is economically and financially independent, it also affects other areas in her life, whether it’s political participation, decision-making powers domestically, or the public space.”

“High return on investment”

Currently, the MENA region’s care services are estimated to meet just 10% of demand, said Eldhagen.

Many governments are already taking action. In 2021, Egypt recategorized nurseries as micro-, small- and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which provides greater business benefits, including tax markdowns, and in 2024, Jordan streamlined the registration process for home-based nurseries, making it simpler to start a child-minding business from home.

Improving access to childcare alone is not enough to reduce the burden of care, which often involves other housework, said Ragui Assaad, a research fellow at the Economic Research Forum, a network that promotes economic research to boost sustainable development in the region.

He believes investment is needed across the entire health, education and social care sector to reduce the burden of unpaid care work from multiple angles.

Reframing the way governments view spending on education or health — as “investment” rather than “expenditure” — could also create an environment for more future-thinking decision-making, said Assaad: “There’s a huge amount of research that shows that investing in, let’s say, early childhood care and education, has a very high return on investment.”

Last year, Saudi Arabia’s female workforce hit a record high of 36%, significantly more than the regional average – due to the nation’s investment into comprehensive care policies, including “interventions such as the Qurrah childcare subsidy, increased maternity leave, flexible work options, and expanded vocational training for women in traditionally male-dominated occupations,” said El-Kogali, who delivered a keynote speech that highlighted the Kingdom’s rapid gender reforms in the workplace at the Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh last week.

“In MENA, closing the gender gap in employment could increase GDP per capita by 51% in the average economy. In this context, women’s economic empowerment and opportunities must be at the center of the agenda for inclusive growth in our region,” she added.

An undervalued sector

Workforce participation rates for women vary wildly across the region, from 5% in Yemen to 63% in Qatar, and in some countries, much of that is in the form of foreign workers: in Qatar, for example, excluding foreign female workers, the participation rate was just 37% in 2018.

Migrant workers, both male and female make up a huge proportion of the region’s labor force, particularly in the Arab states. More than 1.6 million migrant women are employed in the Arab states as domestic workers, elevating female labor participation rates and enabling more local women to enter the workforce.

But this has its issues. Migrant domestic workers in the Arab states are often explicitly excluded from labor laws, or accounted for in legislation that provides lower labor standards than for citizens.

Charlotte Karam — a professor at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and leader of the Beirut-based SAWI Project, which aims to improve data on Arab women in the workplace — said many women in the region feel frustrated that the only way they can have a successful career is through “marginalized” foreign domestic workers. This is a global problem, she said, adding that even paid care work is undervalued. “There needs to be some sort of revolution to recognize the importance of care work, and how it’s fundamentally the foundation upon which all other economies function.”

While robust care policies and infrastructure are still lacking in many nations, Karam says she’s witnessed huge progress since she began working in the MENA region a decade ago.

“The rate of change in some of these more stable nations that have resources is very quick in comparison to the trajectory of women in the workforce in many other countries across the world,” she said.

There’s a cultural shift happening with men in the region, too, according to surveys conducted by UN Women.

“Seventy-six percent of all men in the Arab states region claim very explicitly that they spend too little time with their children,” said Eldhagen, adding that 86% of decision-makers in the Arab states are in favor of longer paternity leave.

Changes like this could help redistribute domestic work more evenly between couples, allowing more women to enter the formal economy and lessening the dependency of households on a single income, said Eldhagen.

“There’s a very clear indication around when you get that second income, you can invest more in education and health. That’s good for the community, for the family, and, of course, for the nation overall,” she added.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Living in Australia means you might have to accept coming across a snake or two on your property at some point. But one Sydney homeowner got more than he bargained for when a snake catcher unearthed 102 of the slithery reptiles hiding in his garden.

David Stein had spotted a few snakes in a pile of mulch in his backyard in suburban Sydney and called Reptile Relocation Sydney to take a look.

Red-bellied black snakes are a kind of venomous snake, and the females are known to congregate to give birth, said Kerewaro.

What is unusual in this case is the fact that someone witnessed the collective birth of dozens of snakes.

“It’s never really been seen,” said Kerewaro. “It’s pretty bizarre.”

One of the pregnant females who had been removed from the mulch pile gave birth to more newborn snakes inside the removal bag, added Kerewaro, who said that it took about three hours for Cooper to remove all of the snakes on Friday.

Stein called the snake catchers at an opportune moment, according to Kerewaro, as the snakes would have dispersed around the neighborhood.

“They’d just been born and were ready to venture out into the world,” said Kerewaro. “He got us at the right time.”

Stein, who lives in Horsley Park, around 20 miles from the center of the city, told the “Sunrise” morning show on Thursday that he had spotted the creatures last week in the areas he had put down mulch to keep his trees healthy.

“I saw a pile of snakes on the mulch pile… which gave me the shivers,” he said. “By the time I got my camera… they went into the pile of mulch.”

Stein said he initially thought there were about six snakes, adding: “It was terrifying.”

He said that the slithery reptiles had “relocated to the other side of the mulch, in two separate piles” a couple of days later.

He said his wife did some digging on the internet and found that the females often congregate when they’re about to give birth, meaning there could be many more on the way, prompting him to contact Reptile Relocation Sydney.

Stein said that, while it had been “exciting to watch the whole thing,” he felt “good now they’re gone.”

The snakes will now be released in a national park, said Kerewaro.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

In this exclusive StockCharts video, Joe presents a trading strategy using the simple moving average. Explaining what to watch and how it can tell you what timeframe to trade, he shares how to use it in multiple timeframes. Joe covers the QQQ and IWM and explains the levels to monitor in both indices. Finally, he goes through the symbol requests that came through this week, including KR, IBM, and more.

This video was originally published on February 5, 2025. Click this link to watch on Joe’s dedicated page.

Archived videos from Joe are available at this link. Send symbol requests to stocktalk@stockcharts.com; you can also submit a request in the comments section below the video on YouTube. Symbol Requests can be sent in throughout the week prior to the next show.

The trading week started with investors worried about tariffs, but the 30-day delay of tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico shook off those worries. The three broad stock market indexes — S&P 500 ($SPX), Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ), and Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) — closed higher. Then came the retaliation on US tariffs from China, but that didn’t do much damage to the market.

 Let’s face it; the stock market is headline-driven at the moment. Based on the news, investors may favor healthcare stocks one day and tech stocks the next. For individual investors, playing the sector musical chair game makes for a difficult investment environment. So, instead of getting caught up in catching the right sector at the right time, it’s best to focus on the big picture and look at the longer-term trends and patterns. One way to do this is to examine the performance of different sectors, industry groups, and indices through the Bullish Percent Index (BPI).


StockCharts Tip: If you haven’t done so, download the Essentials ChartPack (Charts & Tools tab > ChartPacks). The Market & Index Bullish Percent Indexes list has seven charts in the ChartList (see below).


FIGURE 1. DOWNLOADING CHARTPACKS. From the Charts & Tools tab, select ChartPacks to download the Essentials ChartPack.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

You could add more charts to the list. For example, I use a BPI ChartList each day to determine which sectors are bullish, overbought, or oversold. The image below displays some of the charts in my BPI ChartList.

FIGURE 2. VIEWING THE BULLISH PERCENT INDEX (BPI) CHARTLIST. The Summary view helps to see which sectors are bullish, bearish, overbought, or oversold.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Viewing the ChartList in the Summary view helps to identify if the BPI is bullish, bearish, overbought, or oversold. You can also identify which sectors had the biggest changes for the day.

In the above image, the S&P Financial Sector BPI was the only one above 70, and Consumer Staples Sector BPI or $BPSTAP (not visible in the image; you’ll have to scroll to the next page) was the only one below 30.

Which Sectors Are Feeling the Love?

On Wednesday, the Predefined Alerts panel flashed that the Consumer Staples Sector BPI crossed above 30. This was a bull alert trigger warranting a closer look.

The chart below displays $BPSTAP with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP).

FIGURE 3. CONSUMER STAPLES BPI VS. CONSUMER STAPLES SELECT SPDR ETF (XLP). The BPI for the Consumer Staples Sector has crossed above 30, which is a bull alert trigger. The XLP chart still has to confirm a bullish move.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Although the $BPSTAP has crossed above 30, the XLP chart doesn’t display a bullish trend. Given that inflation is a big concern among US consumers, it’s worth monitoring the Consumer Staples sector for a chance to buy some stocks.

We posted an article on three stocks in the Consumer Staples sector, focused on Walmart, Inc. (WMT), Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), and Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM). These stocks are still looking strong, but come with a high price tag. So, instead of purchasing the stock outright, I decided to explore options strategies for these stocks.

Options To the Rescue

After analyzing all three stocks using the Options tool (see image below), I considered a call vertical spread on COST and WMT. SFM wasn’t under consideration since it had a low-scoring strategy.

  • COST had an OptionsPlay score of 108. The call vertical trade would cost me $4,250 with an 182.35% potential return.
  • WMT had an OptionsPlay score of 106. The trade would cost me $508 with a 172.05% potential return.

WMT was the lower-risk play, so I placed the April 17 100/115 call vertical, a strategy displayed in the OptionsPlay Explorer tool, with my broker (see image below). I got filled at a price slightly higher than $508 due to price fluctuations and broker fees.

FIGURE 4. OPTIONSPLAY EXPLORER DISPLAYS THREE OPTIMAL TRADES FOR WMT. The April 17 100/115 call vertical was the most optimal trade with a good risk/reward tradeoff. Image source: OptionsPlay Add-on at StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Closing Position

There are 71 days till expiry. If WMT closes above $105.08 the trade will be profitable. The target price is $113.82.

There’s a 38.89% probability of the stock closing above $105.08 by expiration, all else equal. I’ll monitor the position and, if the price target is reached, I will close my position. Another point to keep in mind is that WMT reports earnings on February 20 before the market opens. Volatility will likely increase around that time and could significantly move the stock price in either direction.

On Wednesday morning, the markets wavered, with cautious trading across the board, except for the Dow, which outpaced the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Looking for stocks showing strength amid the uncertainty, I turned to the Market Movers tool on my Dashboard. What I found caught my attention.

FIGURE 1. MARKET MOVERS TOOL. AMGN, third from bottom, caught my attention, as the sector has been showing up on quite a few bullish StockCharts scans.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

The Health Care sector has been showing up on various scans over the past week, and Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) has been on my radar for quite some time due to several developments that I’ve been following.

To begin, I needed to get a wider perspective, so I switched to MarketCarpets and zoomed-in on the one-day performance of the Health Care sector.

FIGURE 2. MARKETCARPETS FOR THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR. Notice AMGN at the top of the list on the table to the right.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Amgen’s stock surged over 5% (top of the table on the right) despite an FDA hold on its obesity drug trial, as strong Q4 earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations. On top of this, its sales for Repatha soared 45%, and its promising weight-loss drug MariTide is set for late-stage trials in mid-2025.

At this point, I wanted a clearer picture of how AMGN stacked up against its peers. I compared its performance to the biotech industry ($DJUSBT), the pharmaceutical sector ($DJUSPR), and the broader healthcare market (XLV) using PerfCharts. Here’s what I got:

FIGURE 3,. PERFCHARTS COMPARING THE HEALTH CARE SECTOR WITH BIOTECH AND PHARMA INDUSTRIES AND AMGEN. The one-year comparative lookback shows AMGN dragging significantly.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Over the past year, AMGN significantly underperformed both industries and the broader sector. So, does Wednesday’s rally indicate strong optimism on weak prospects, or does it present an undervalued opportunity with plenty of room to run?

Let’s take a longer-term view of AMGN’s price action and analyze its weekly chart.

FIGURE 4. WEEKLY CHART OF AMGN. Note how price respected the 100- and 200-period EMAs.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

AMGN’s fluctuations over the last five years may have been volatile, but the underlying trend has been relatively steady and bullish. Notice how AMGN’s price respected the 100-period and 200-period exponential moving averages (EMAs). Also notice how this dynamic is captured by the Stochastic Oscillator, which reflects the upward bounces in its oversold range below the 20 level signaling renewed buying pressure. Based on the current reading, the indicator is barely reaching the 50-line, suggesting that if AMGN maintains its bullish momentum, it has plenty of room to run before it’s in overbought territory.

But things may look different on a daily scale, so let’s shift over to a daily chart.

FIGURE 5. DAILY CHART OF AMGN. Watch the support and resistance levels for entry and exit points.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Following a steep descent last November, AMGN found support the next month near $257.50, coinciding with its April 2024 low. That level was retested twice before the sharp rally that culminated in Wednesday’s price spike.

While the On Balance Volume (OBV) shows strong buying pressure fueling the surge, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggests the current swing is overbought. Considering the parabolic trajectory of the move, it’s likely that momentum will stall and price will eventually pull back in the next few sessions.

Key levels to watch:

Upside Resistance:

  • AMGN faces resistance at $310 and $327.50, which mark the lower and upper boundaries of its most recent consolidation range.

Downside Support:

  • If AMGN pulls back before breaking these resistance levels, the first key support to watch is $291, a level that held multiple times during May–June 2024, signaling strong buying interest.
  • The second level of support would be at $275, the November swing low.

If price falls below $275, the likelihood of a bullish reversal becomes uncertain, as this breakdown could signal weakening technical (and also fundamental) momentum.

At the Close

AMGN is another relatively expensive stock. If this is the case, then you might want to take a look at the OptionsPlay Strategy Center to find alternative strategies that better align with your capital resources and risk tolerance. AMGN’s recent rally, while impressive, raises important questions about its sustainability. You can use the tools mentioned above to find similar stocks if AMGN doesn’t interest you. If it does, however, the key levels discussed above should help guide you in your analysis.


Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

A pro-Trump group is changing its name after President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. ‘take over’ Gaza. The group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, is now going by the name Arab Americans for Peace.

‘We believe that his ideas, as well-intentioned as they might be, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,’ Bishara Bahbah, the founder of the organization formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, told Reuters. ‘We’re opposed to any transfer of Palestinians, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, out of their homeland.’

On Tuesday, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump introduced the idea of the U.S. taking control of the Gaza Strip.

‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,’ Trump said during Tuesday evening’s joint press conference. ‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.’

The president emphasized the need to ‘do something different’ in Gaza, where Hamas and Israel have fought for nearly 16 months.

‘If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years,’ Trump warned during the press conference.

Trump’s plan to build ‘an economic development’ in the war-torn Gaza Strip has been met with mixed reactions. The group now known as Arab Americans for Peace is far from alone in its rejection of the idea. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., slammed Trump’s proposal, saying that it did not put ‘America first.’

Hamas, whose Oct. 7 massacre kicked off the latest war with Israel, called Trump’s proposal a ‘recipe for creating chaos.’ The terror group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, one year after Israel gave up the strip of land and expelled its citizens from the area.

‘What President Trump stated about his intention to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip outside it and the United States’ control over the Strip by force is a crime against humanity,’ a senior Hamas official also told Fox News on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Trump’s idea during an appearance on ‘Hannity’ on Wednesday.

‘I think it will create a different future for everyone,’ Prime Minister Netanyahu told ‘Hannity.’

‘The actual idea of allowing for Gazans who want to leave, to leave. I mean, what’s wrong with that?’ Netanyahu asked. ‘They can leave. They can then come back. They can relocate and come back, but you have to rebuild Gaza. If you want to rebuild Gaza, you can’t have — this is the first good idea that I’ve heard.’

After nearly 16 months of war, Hamas and Israel are engaging in a ceasefire deal, which has already seen the release of several hostages, including an American citizen. In the first phase of the deal, 33 hostages are set to be released. Details of the second phase have not been made public.

Israel’s war against Hamas became a divisive issue within Democratic circles ahead of the 2024 election. The ‘uncommitted’ movement in Michigan encouraged protest votes against former President Joe Biden when he was running for a second term. 

After Biden ended his reelection bid and former Vice President Kamala Harris took his place, the group Abandon Harris – which started as Abandon Biden – endorsed Jill Stein and urged Americans to vote against pro-Israel candidates. There were also several anti-Israel protests during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The organization then-known as Arab Americans for Trump played a large role in Trump’s campaign outreach to the Arab American community in 2024. Many believe the group played an instrumental role in Trump’s ability to break Republicans’ losing streak in Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population.

Trey Yingst contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the next U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, is slated to appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. 

Greer, who previously served as the chief of staff to the trade representative during Trump’s first term, played a key role in implementing tariffs during Trump’s first administration, the president said when unveiling Greer’s nomination. 

Specifically, Trump said Greer assisted with imposing tariffs on China and other nations and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. 

A lawyer and Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps veteran with one deployment to Iraq, Greer’s role as U.S. trade representative would require him to negotiate with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes and membership of international trade bodies like the World Trade Organization. 

 

Greer’s confirmation hearing comes just after Trump announced he would impose new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. 

The White House announced Friday that in response to an ‘invasion of illegal fentanyl’ to the U.S., it would impose a 25% tariff on all goods entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and a 10% tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from China. 

Tariffs against China went into effect Tuesday, although Trump agreed to push back tariffs against Mexico and Canada by at least one month after discussions with each respective country about securing the border.

While Trump acknowledged on Friday the tariffs might result in ‘temporary, short-term disruption,’ Democrats claim American taxpayers will end up hurting and paying the price. 

According to one Washington think tank, the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics, these rounds of tariffs are expected to cost U.S. households roughly $1,200 a year annually.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS