Author

admin

Browsing

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to formally lift all sanctions on Syria on Monday afternoon. 

‘The United States is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors,’ the order stated, while directing the secretaries of State, Commerce and Treasury to relieve sanctions and waive export controls. 

‘This is in an effort to promote and support the country’s path to stability and peace. The order will remove sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanctions on the former president Assad or his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. 

Trump is ‘committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified and at peace with itself and its neighbors,’ Leavitt said. 

Ambassador Tom Barrack, Trump’s envoy to Syria, called the new order a ‘tedious, detailed, excruciating process’ of unraveling the sanctions that had been in place for decades on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who oversaw a nation at civil war for more than a decade. 

Brad Smith, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said sanctions would remain ‘where appropriate,’ including on Assad and his associates and any other destabilizing regional actors. 

Smith said the fall of Assad represented a ‘new beginning’ for the Syrian people and Trump had decided U.S. sanctions ‘would not stand in the way of what could be a brighter future for the country.’

But he warned: ‘The United States will remain ever vigilant where our interests and security are threatened, and Treasury will not hesitate to use our authorities to protect us and international financial systems.’

Some sanctions will still need to be lifted by Congress, and others date to 1979, when Syria was designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The administration has not yet lifted that designation. 

Trump met last month with Syria’s new interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during a Middle East visit. 

From having a $10 million bounty on his head to sitting down with the U.S. president, the turnaround of the Syrian leader has been remarkable.

Al-Sharaa’s group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian militant organization founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda, overthrew Assad in March. 

Al-Sharaa had been campaigning hard for a relationship with Washington and sanctions relief: he offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus, détente with Israel, and U.S. access to Syria’s oil and gas. He worked to soften the image of HTS and promised an inclusive governing structure. 

U.S. sanctions have included financial penalties on any foreign individual or company that provided material support to the Syrian government and prohibited anyone in the U.S. from dealing in any Syrian entity, including oil and gas. Syrian banks also were effectively cut off from global financial systems. 

The new order comes as Israeli and Syrian officials are engaged in back-channel talks on a potential security and normalization deal. 

Israel and Syria have long been foes, and some Israeli officials worry that lifting all sanctions on Syria means giving up ‘leverage’ to pressure them into a deal to normalize ties with Israel. 

To that point, one senior administration official shot back: ‘We have consistently said we’re not nation-building. It’s to Syria’s benefit to lean toward Israel.’ 

‘The president ripped off the sanctions without any preconditions,’ the official said. ‘Leverage is not what we’re interested in doing.’ 

War between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has complicated any movement on normalization deals between Israel and its neighbors. But the official predicted: ‘There’s going to be peace in Gaza.’ 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are warning they have serious issues with the Senate’s version of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ as it’s currently written.

The group of GOP rebels argued in a public statement on Sunday that the Senate bill adds $1.3 trillion to the federal deficit, whereas the House-passed bill would increase the federal deficit by $72 billion.

‘Even without interest costs, it is $651 billion over our agreed budget framework,’ the statement read.

The Senate is currently working through the bill and is expected to finish sometime later Monday or even on Tuesday. 

The Senate bill would add an extra $1 trillion to raise the debt limit, compared to the House version and permanently extend certain corporate tax cuts in President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that the House only extended temporarily.

It also includes several specific new additions aimed at easing Senate Republicans’ own concerns with the bill, including a $25 billion rural hospital fund to offset issues with Medicaid cuts, and a tax break for whalers that appears aimed at Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

The Senate is operating under a mechanism called ‘current policy baseline,’ which would effectively zero-out the cost of extending TCJA tax cuts by calculating them as the de facto operational policy rather than calculating the cost as if they were not in place.

Absent congressional action, TCJA tax cuts expire at the end of 2025.

Conservatives in the House have warned they have serious issues with the bill, however. 

Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Eric Burlison, R-Mo., both House Freedom Caucus members, said the bill could face steep odds — even fail — in the lower chamber if changes were not made.

Both said it could fail in a House-wide procedural vote before lawmakers could even contend with the measure itself. A rule vote is traditionally taken to allow for debate on legislation before lawmakers weigh in on it.

‘If it gets through [the House Rules Committee], I don’t think it survives on the floor in the current form it’s in. You know, we told the senators that,’ Norman told Fox News Digital. ‘They knew this all along.’

Norman said Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had done a ‘good job,’ but added of the Senate, ‘They’ve got fighters… but we’ve just got to have certain things that comply with our House version.’

The legislation could still change before it gets to the House, however, as the Senate works through a parade of amendments from both Democrats and Republicans.

Burlison said it could depend on the fate of an amendment by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., which would significantly hike the Medicaid financial burden for states that expanded their Medicaid population under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

The change, if passed, would roll back the current 90% rate that the government pays for the Medicaid expansion population through the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) back down to the non-expansion rate, which hovers as low as 50%.

Scott’s proposal could add hundreds of billions in savings to the plan, in addition to the nearly $1 trillion the Senate plan already saves in Medicaid spending.

‘I don’t see how what the Senate is doing will pass the House if [Rick Scott’s amendment] does not pass at the minimum. It’s probably going to take more spending reductions than that, but that would get the majority of us there,’ Burlison told Fox News Digital, without commenting on House GOP leaders.

He predicted the bill could be ‘killed’ in the House-wide rule vote otherwise.

Indeed, several House Freedom Caucus members have taken to X to publicly urge Senate Republicans to approve Scott’s amendment.

‘All Republican Senators should vote YES on Senator Rick Scott’s very reasonable ‘elimination of theft from Medicaid’ FMAP amendment,’ Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., posted.

Fox News Digital reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for comment on House Freedom Caucus members’ comments.

Notably, key provisions originally in the House bill were stripped out of the legislation for not being ‘Byrd-compliant.’

The ‘Byrd Bath’ is a process during the budget reconciliation process in which the Senate parliamentarian, a non-partisan, unelected official tasked with advising on Senate policy, combs through the bill for whether it adheres to the strict budgetary guidelines of the reconciliation process.

Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to advance Trump’s agenda on taxes, the border, energy, defense, and the debt limit via one massive piece of legislation.

Budget reconciliation allows Republicans to bypass any Democratic opposition to pass their bill by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

They’re aiming to have a bill on Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July.

A GOP aide told Fox News Digital, ‘The Senate version contains more in Byrd-compliant savings than the House, and correctly scores extending current tax policy as revenue-neutral — and assumes the kind of growth that was also massively underestimated last time around.’

The aide noted that the White House Council of Economic Advisers said the bill will generate $4.1 trillion in economic growth thanks to tax permanence, which is more than the House version.

Senate Republicans argue the bill would lead to $1.6 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years — above the House Freedom Caucus’ demanded $1.5 trillion threshold.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The State Department has revoked the visas for members of the Bob Vylan band, after the British punk-rap duo called for ‘death to the IDF’ during a Saturday performance in England’s Glastonbury Music Festival. 

The band Bob Vylan, made up of two musicians with the stage names Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan, is slated to tour the U.S. later in 2025. But the State Department announced Monday it had pulled the visas for the band’s members after the group led chants calling for the end of the Israel Defense Forces. 

‘Bob Vylan’s visas have been revoked,’ a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital Monday. ‘The secretary of state has been clear – the U.S. will not approve visas for terrorist sympathizers.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued multiple warnings that the State Department will rescind visas for ‘terrorists’ and those affiliated with them. 

For example, Rubio said in a June 2 X post after the antisemitic terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, that all ‘terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers’ in the U.S. on a visa would have their visas revoked and face deportation. 

During the Glastonbury, England, performance, Bobby Vylan also led the crowd with chants of ‘Free, Free, Free Palestine,’ and wrapped up the chant saying, ‘Hell yeah, from the river to the sea. Palestine must be, will be inshallah, it will be free.’

In response, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, ‘There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech,’ according to the BBC. 

Meanwhile, Bobby Vylan appeared to double down on his statements during the Glastonbury performance, and wrote in a social media post Sunday: ‘I said what I said.’

‘It is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us,’ Bobby Vylan said in a Sunday Instagram post. ‘Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organizing online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.’

Additionally, the BBC issued a Monday statement apologizing for continuing to air Bob Vylan’s performance live, and condemned the antisemitic chants during the performance. 

‘The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen,’ the BBC said in a Monday statement. ‘The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Investor Insight

Equity Metals offers investors exposure to high-grade silver and gold discoveries in British Columbia through a dual-track strategy of expanding its flagship Silver Queen resource and advancing the newly acquired Arlington district.

Overview

Equity Metals (TSXV:EQTY,OTCQB:EQMEF,FSE:EGSD) is fast-tracking exploration at its 100 percent owned Silver Queen project in British Columbia, targeting resource expansion and derisking of one of the province’s most prospective high-grade polymetallic deposits. Located within the prolific Skeena Arch near the historic Equity Silver and Huckleberry mines, Silver Queen boasts an NI 43-101 compliant resource of 62.8 million ounces (Moz) silver equivalent (indicated) and 22.5 Moz silver equivalent (inferred), with 2024 drilling extending known zones and identifying new mineralized areas.

Complementing this is the Arlington gold-copper-silver project, a newly acquired district-scale, never-before drill-tested project located in southern BC’s Greenwood Mining Division. With analogues to historic producers like Phoenix and Buckhorn, Arlington is being aggressively explored with 3,000 meters of drilling underway, focused on delineating high-grade gold-enriched polymetallic mineralization.

Parameters for the NI 43-101 Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate are in the Appendix and in the EQTY News Release, dated Dec 1, 2022

Together, Silver Queen and Arlington offer a balanced exposure to high-grade polymetallic and gold-rich systems. The former provides near-term resource expansion and development optionality, while the latter opens up district-scale discovery potential.

In addition, Equity Metals holds interests in the Monument and WO diamond properties in the Lac de Gras region (Northwest Territories), proximal to the Diavik and Ekati mines, and the La Ronge silica project in Saskatchewan. These projects offer upside optionality for strategic partnerships or asset sales.

Company Highlights

  • Flagship High-grade Project – Silver Queen: Over 85 million silver-equivalent ounces defined in the heart of BC’s Skeena Arch mineral belt, surrounded by Tier 1 infrastructure and historical producers.
  • New Gold Discovery Potential – Arlington project: A district-scale, early-stage gold-copper-silver system with analogues to major past-producing skarn and vein-hosted mines in the region.
  • Fully Funded for 2025: 9,000 meters of combined drilling is underway across both Silver Queen and Arlington with assay results expected to drive news flow through Q3 and Q4 2025.
  • Experienced Management and Technical Team: Track record of discovery and mine development across North America, including the Penasquito and Eskay Creek mines and the Wind Mountain project.
  • Exposure to Critical and Precious Metals: Balanced portfolio spanning silver, gold, copper and diamonds with optionality in battery materials (silica) and critical minerals.

Key Projects

Silver Queen Project

The Silver Queen project is Equity Metals’ 100 percent owned flagship asset located in central British Columbia’s prolific Skeena Arch, approximately 35 km south of Houston. This 18,871-hectare property consists of 17 crown-granted titles and 46 tenure claims in the Omineca Mining Division. Surrounded by past-producing and active mines, including the Equity silver mine, Berg, Endako and Mt. Milligan, the project benefits from established infrastructure such as roads, power and rail access.

Silver Queen hosts a high-grade polymetallic system featuring silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc mineralization. The project is underpinned by a robust NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate (as of December 2022) consisting of 62.8 million ounces (Moz) silver-equivalent (AgEq) in the indicated category grading 565 grams per ton (g/t) AgEq, and 22.5 Moz AgEq in the inferred category grading 365 g/t AgEq. This includes 3.46 million tons (Mt) of indicated resources averaging 189 g/t silver, 2.13 g/t gold, 0.24 percent copper, 0.6 percent lead, and 3.5 percent zinc, and 1.92 Mt of inferred resources grading 167 g/t silver, 0.82 g/t gold, 0.23 percent copper, 0.5 percent lead, and 2 percent zinc.

The mineralization occurs in multiple steeply dipping epithermal vein systems, subdivided into the No. 3, NG-3, Camp and Sveinson veins. Each exhibits distinct metal zonation – the Camp veins are silver-dominant, while the Sveinson, No. 3 and NG-3 show a stronger gold bias. Bonanza grades have been intercepted at multiple locations, including down-hole drill core intervals assaying up to 56,115 g/t silver over 0.3 metres in recent drill results. High sulphide and low sulphide vein environments have both been identified, suggesting a long-lived and multi-phase mineralizing event.

Since late 2020, Equity has completed 52,877 meters of drilling in 146 holes, targeting extensions and new zones of mineralization. In 2024 alone, four target areas – George Lake, Camp North, No. 3 North and Camp-Sveinson – were tested via 17,209 meters across 42 holes. Drilling resulted in the delineation of a 550-metre strike-length for mineralization in the George Lake target and a 400-metre strike-length for mineralization in the No. 3 North target, as well as several extensions of earlier identified veins in the Camp Deposit and a new discovery in the Camp North target. A 6,000-meter 2025 drilling program will further test these zones with updated modeling and resource growth expected in Q3 2025.

Metallurgical testing completed in both 1988 and 2022 yielded positive recoveries: 83 percent gold, 95 percent silver, 93 percent copper, 91 percent lead, and 98 percent zinc. A follow-up metallurgical program is planned to support preliminary development studies. With extensive underground development (~9 km of historic workings) and proximity to key infrastructure, the Silver Queen project is well positioned for advancement toward economic studies and ultimately, a potential strategic transaction.

Arlington Project

The Arlington project is a 3,584-hectare, early-stage exploration asset located in southern British Columbia’s Greenwood Mining Division, approximately 65 km south of Kelowna. The project sits within the prolific Quesnel Terrane and is accessible year-round via Highway 33 and a network of logging roads. The region hosts several historical producers including the Buckhorn, Phoenix, and Beaverdell mines, which have collectively yielded more than 2 Moz gold, 6 Moz silver and 500 Mlb copper.

Arlington encompasses multiple mineral occurrences and at least four deposit styles across a more than 5 km strike length. Historic and recent surface work has confirmed high-grade mineralization with rock samples returning values up to 11.67 g/t gold, 211 g/t silver, and 3.22 percent copper. The 2025 exploration program, currently underway, includes a 3,000-metre drill campaign primarily targeting the Fresh Pots gold-silver anomaly – a large (2 km x 1 km) intrusion-related gold system delineated by multi-element soil geochemistry and magnetic lows.

Other high-priority targets include:

  • Rona Porphyry Target: A copper-molybdenum-gold system with pyroxenite intrusive-hosted mineralization. Rock chip assays have returned >1 percent molybdenum, 0.6 g/t gold, and 32.4 g/t silver. The area is characterized by a large copper-nickel soil anomaly and widespread argillic alteration in adjacent sedimentary rocks.
  • Arlington Polymetallic Veins: A structurally controlled vein system with documented historic workings. Highlights include Arlington South (11.67 g/t gold, 3.22 percent copper) and Arlington North (1.86 g/t gold, 1.07 percent copper), suggesting vertical metal zonation and potential for stacked vein systems.
  • Skarn and Replacement Targets: Notably at the Bru and Arlington zones, analogous to Buckhorn and Phoenix, where gold-copper magnetite skarns produced over 1 Moz historically.

In early 2025, Equity Metals completed a property-wide airborne magnetic/radiometric survey and LiDAR mapping campaign to refine targeting. Soil and till geochemistry, IP surveying and mapping continue across the license area to delineate follow-up drill targets for 2026.

Management Team

Lawrence Page – Chairman and Director

A seasoned mining executive with over four decades of experience, Lawrence Page has helped finance and develop several major discoveries including Penasquito (Mexico), Eskay Creek and Hemlo. He brings strategic oversight and a deep network within the exploration and capital markets community.

Joseph A. Kizis Jr. – President and Director

With over 40 years of mineral exploration experience, Joseph Kizis has been instrumental in advancing gold, silver and base metal projects across North America. He is also president of Bravada Gold and has played key roles in advancing Wind Mountain in Nevada and Homestake Ridge in BC.

Robert W.J. Macdonald – VP Exploration

Robert Macdonald leads Equity Metals’ technical team and brings extensive epithermal and porphyry system expertise. His past project experience includes Homestake Ridge in BC and Cerro Las Minitas in Mexico, and he is the Qualified Person for all technical disclosures.

Killian Ruby – CFO and Director

As president and CEO of Malaspina Consultants and a former senior manager at KPMG LLP, Killian Ruby brings financial discipline, governance strength and tax expertise. He also serves as CFO for several junior resource companies.

John Kerr – Director

A professional engineer with five decades of exploration experience, John Kerr has contributed to the discovery and development of projects such as Santa Fe and Mindora in Nevada, and Frasergold in BC.

Courtney Shearer – Director

Courtney Shearer has served in executive and advisory roles with multiple Canadian mining companies, including San Gold Corporation, where he led strategic evaluations and project planning initiatives.

Arie Page – Corporate Secretary

Arie Page provides legal and corporate compliance support and has served as corporate secretary for numerous public companies within the Manex Resource Group.

Appendix:

Silver Queen Mineral Resource Estimate (NI 43-101 Compliant, Dec. 1, 2022) (C$100 NSR cut-off)

  1. The current Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd and Eugene Puritch, P. Eng., FEC, CET and Fred Brown, P, Geo. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”), Independent Qualified Persons (“QP”), as defined by National instrument 43-101.
  2. All Mineral Resources have been estimated in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) definitions, as required under National Instrument 43-101 (“NI43-101”).
  3. Mineral Resources were constrained using continuous mining units demonstrating reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.
  4. Silver and Gold Equivalents were calculated from the interpolated block values using relative process recoveries and prices between the component metals and silver to determine a final AgEq and AuEq values.
  5. Silver and Gold Equivalents and NSR$/t values were calculated using average long-term prices of $20/oz silver, $1,700/oz gold, $3.50/lb copper, $0.95/lb lead and $1.45/lb zinc. All metal prices are stated in $USD. The C$100/tonne NSR cut-off grade value for the underground Mineral Resource was derived from mining costs of C$70/t, with process costs of C$20/t and G&A of C$10/t. Process recoveries used were Au 70%, Ag 80%, Cu 80%, Pb 81% and Zn 90%.
  6. Grade capping was performed on 1m composites for the No. 3 and NG-3 veins and whole vein composites for the Camp and Sveinson veins. For the No. 3 and NG-3 veins Inverse distance cubed (I/d3) was utilized for grade interpolation for Au and Ag and inverse distance squared (I/d2) was utilized for Cu, Pb and Zn. Inverse distance squared (I/d2) was used for all metals in the Camp and Sveinson veins.
  7. A bulk density of 3.56t/m3 was used for all tonnage calculations in the No. 3 and NG-3 veins. A variable density with a 3.15 average was used for the Camp and Sveinson veins.
  8. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves until they have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral Resource Estimates do not account for a Mineral Resource’s mineability, selectivity, mining loss, or dilution.
  9. An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
  10. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate and therefore numbers may not appear to add precisely.
This post appeared first on investingnews.com

President Donald Trump is confident that democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani would ‘crush’ New York City if he is elected mayor, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says.

Leavitt made the statement during a Monday press briefing while fielding multiple questions from reporters about Mamdani’s victory in the democratic mayoral primary.

Fox News’ White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt about recent calls for Mamdani to be deported, citing calls from one lawmaker who said Mamdani should be denaturalized.

‘I haven’t heard him say that. I haven’t heard him call for that. But certainly he does not want this individual to be elected. I was just speaking to him about it and [Mamdani’s] radical policies that will completely crush New York City, which is obviously a city that the president holds near and dear to his heart,’ Leavitt responded.

Leavitt went on to say that Trump would be willing to work with Mamdani if he is elected, though she predicted that the relationship would be difficult.

‘Look, the president is always willing to work with everyone. He’s working with Democrats across the country, Democrat governors. And he said he’ll work with people on the far left. He works with Republicans. He works with people in the middle. He wants to do what’s right for America,’ Leavitt said.

‘But surely someone who holds these values and is quite literally a communist and condemns every value that makes this country great: common sense, law and order, low taxes, working hard, and earning your keep in this country. He’s against all of that. And I think the president would find it difficult to work with someone like that, if he is elected. I’m sure you’ll hear more from the president on that, but we’ll have to see. Hopefully, the voters of New York City choose wisely,’ she finished.

Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, defeated establishment favorite and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a crowded field of other candidates, in the Democratic mayoral primary last week.

Liberal podcast host Donny Deutsch called out Mamdani on Monday for refusing to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ during an appearance on MSNBC.

‘I’m outraged that we have a candidate for mayor of New York, Mr. Mamdani, that cannot walk back or cannot condemn the words ‘globalize the intifada’ and his nuance of, ‘Well, it means different things for different people.’ Well, let me tell you what it means to a Jew — it means violence,’ Deutsch said, citing the October 7 terrorist attacks, as well as the Boulder, Colorado, attacks.

‘That’s the connotation. That’s the essence of it, and that’s what it means to Jewish people. And if any other group came forward and said, ‘You know these words are offensive to us. It means violence. It frightens us,’ I think there would be a response, but for some reason, if Jewish people find it offensive, it’s not offensive,’ Deutsch continued. 

Mamdani had several opportunities to condemn the ‘globalize the intifada’ phrase during an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, but he refused.

Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to formally lift all sanctions on Syria on Monday afternoon. 

‘This is in an effort to promote and support the country’s path to stability and peace. The order will remove sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanctions on the former president Assad or his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. 

Trump is ‘committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified and at peace with itself and its neighbors,’ Leavitt said. 

Some sanctions will still need to be lifted by Congress, and others date to 1979, when Syria was designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The administration has not yet lifted that designation. 

Trump met last month with Syria’s new interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during a Middle East stint. 

From having a $10 million bounty on his head to sitting down with the U.S. president, the turnaround of the Syrian leader has been remarkable.

Al-Sharaa’s group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian militant organization founded as an offshoot of al Qaeda, overthrew Assad in March. 

Al-Sharaa had been campaigning hard for a relationship with Washington and sanctions relief: he offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus, détente with Israel, and U.S. access to Syria’s oil and gas. He worked to soften the image of HTS and promised an inclusive governing structure. 

The new order comes as Israeli and Syrian officials are engaged in back-channel talks on a potential security and normalization deal. 

U.S. sanctions have included financial penalties on any foreign individual or company that provided material support to the Syrian government and prohibited anyone in the U.S. from dealing in any Syrian entity, including oil and gas. Syrian banks also were effectively cut off from global financial systems. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are warning they have serious issues with the Senate’s version of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ as it’s currently written.

The group of GOP rebels argued in a public statement on Sunday that the Senate bill adds $1.3 trillion to the federal deficit, whereas the House-passed bill would increase the federal deficit by $72 billion.

‘Even without interest costs, it is $651 billion over our agreed budget framework,’ the statement read.

The Senate is currently working through the bill and is expected to finish sometime later Monday or even on Tuesday. 

The Senate bill would add an extra $1 trillion to raise the debt limit, compared to the House version and permanently extend certain corporate tax cuts in President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that the House only extended temporarily.

It also includes several specific new additions aimed at easing Senate Republicans’ own concerns with the bill, including a $25 billion rural hospital fund to offset issues with Medicaid cuts, and a tax break for whalers that appears aimed at Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

The Senate is operating under a mechanism called ‘current policy baseline,’ which would effectively zero-out the cost of extending TCJA tax cuts by calculating them as the de facto operational policy rather than calculating the cost as if they were not in place.

Absent congressional action, TCJA tax cuts expire at the end of 2025.

Conservatives in the House have warned they have serious issues with the bill, however. 

Reps. Ralph Norman, R-Texas, and Eric Burlison, R-Mo., both House Freedom Caucus members, said the bill could face steep odds — even fail — in the lower chamber if changes were not made.

Both said it could fail in a House-wide procedural vote before lawmakers could even contend with the measure itself. A rule vote is traditionally taken to allow for debate on legislation before lawmakers weigh in on it.

‘If it gets through [the House Rules Committee], I don’t think it survives on the floor in the current form it’s in. You know, we told the senators that,’ Norman told Fox News Digital. ‘They knew this all along.’

Norman said Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had done a ‘good job,’ but added of the Senate, ‘They’ve got fighters… but we’ve just got to have certain things that comply with our House version.’

The legislation could still change before it gets to the House, however, as the Senate works through a parade of amendments from both Democrats and Republicans.

Burlison said it could depend on the fate of an amendment by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., which would significantly hike the Medicaid financial burden for states that expanded their Medicaid population under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

The change, if passed, would roll back the current 90% rate that the government pays for the Medicaid expansion population through the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) back down to the non-expansion rate, which hovers as low as 50%.

Scott’s proposal could add hundreds of billions in savings to the plan, in addition to the nearly $1 trillion the Senate plan already saves in Medicaid spending.

‘I don’t see how what the Senate is doing will pass the House if [Rick Scott’s amendment] does not pass at the minimum. It’s probably going to take more spending reductions than that, but that would get the majority of us there,’ Burlison told Fox News Digital, without commenting on House GOP leaders.

He predicted the bill could be ‘killed’ in the House-wide rule vote otherwise.

Indeed, several House Freedom Caucus members have taken to X to publicly urge Senate Republicans to approve Scott’s amendment.

‘All Republican Senators should vote YES on Senator Rick Scott’s very reasonable ‘elimination of theft from Medicaid’ FMAP amendment,’ Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., posted.

Fox News Digital reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for comment on House Freedom Caucus members’ comments.

Notably, key provisions originally in the House bill were stripped out of the legislation for not being ‘Byrd-compliant.’

The ‘Byrd Bath’ is a process during the budget reconciliation process in which the Senate parliamentarian, a non-partisan, unelected official tasked with advising on Senate policy, combs through the bill for whether it adheres to the strict budgetary guidelines of the reconciliation process.

Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to advance Trump’s agenda on taxes, the border, energy, defense, and the debt limit via one massive piece of legislation.

Budget reconciliation allows Republicans to bypass any Democratic opposition to pass their bill by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.

They’re aiming to have a bill on Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July.

A GOP aide told Fox News Digital, ‘The Senate version contains more in Byrd-compliant savings than the House, and correctly scores extending current tax policy as revenue-neutral — and assumes the kind of growth that was also massively underestimated last time around.’

The aide noted that the White House Council of Economic Advisers said the bill will generate $4.1 trillion in economic growth thanks to tax permanence, which is more than the House version.

Senate Republicans argue the bill would lead to $1.6 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years — above the House Freedom Caucus’ demanded $1.5 trillion threshold.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

More than 40 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a cafe near the port in Gaza City, according to the head of the territory’s largest hospital.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Silmiya, the director of Al-Shifa hospital, said in an update on Monday night that at least 41 people had been killed and 75 injured in the strike.

The Al-Baqa cafe was a well-known spot for students, journalists and remote workers, as it offered internet and a place to work by the Mediterranean coast.

He also said the hospital was short of ICU beds and anesthetics to treat the casualties. The death toll increased Monday night after some people died from their injuries.

“We are treating the injured on the hospital floor as no rooms and hospital beds are available,” the hospital director added.

Among those killed was a freelance journalist, Ismail Abu Hatab, according to other journalists at the scene.

The Hamas-controlled Government Media Office said his death brought to 228 the number of journalists killed by Israeli military action in Gaza since October 2023.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Investor Insight

With a clear, discovery-focused strategy, Terra Clean Energy is advancing one of the most unique near-surface uranium opportunities in the Athabasca Basin, targeting rapid resource growth and re-rating potential through continuous exploration, aggressive drilling, and disciplined capital deployment.

Overview

Terra Clean Energy (CSE:TCEC,OTCQB:TCEFF,FSE:C9O0) is unlocking value from its wholly owned South Falcon East project, located in the southeastern Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. The project uniquely positions Terra among uranium juniors due to its shallow mineralization and proximity to world-class infrastructure.

Map of Athabasca Basin highlighting uranium operations inlcuding Terra Clean Energy project

With a historical uranium resource of nearly 7 million lbs (Mlbs) U₃O₈ at Fraser Lakes Zone B, and multiple zones of confirmed mineralization and structural alteration, Terra is targeting an updated NI 43-101 resource in 2025, aiming to significantly grow its asset base. The project’s location along the Way Lake Conductor – a folded, fertile corridor – offers blue-sky potential for additional discoveries.

As global demand for uranium surges due to energy security concerns and the electrification boom (AI, EVs, nuclear baseload), Terra offers investors a rare combination of historical resource foundation, shallow mineralization, and transformational growth potential at a micro-cap valuation.

Company Highlights

  • Unique, Shallow Uranium System: Only micro-cap in the Athabasca Basin advancing a near-surface uranium deposit, with significantly reduced exploration and potential development costs.
  • Pounds-in-the-ground Upside: Historical resource of 6.96 Mlbs U₃O₈ and 5.34 Mlbs ThO₂, with considerable expansion potential from historical and recent drilling.
  • Prime Location: Situated 55 km east of the Key Lake Mill within the prolific Athabasca Basin – home to the world’s highest-grade uranium deposits.
  • Strong Technical Leadership: Led by a team with extensive uranium exploration and capital markets experience, including veterans from Skyharbour Resources and Azincourt Energy.
  • Resource Update Underway: 2024–25 infill and step-out drilling will support an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate, incorporating higher-grade intercepts from Terra’s 2024 campaign.
  • Re-rating Potential: Market cap under $5 million despite having a historical uranium resource, confirmed mineralized zones, and near-term catalysts.

Key Project

South Falcon East – Fraser Lakes B Deposit

Located in the southeastern margin of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, South Falcon East is Terra Clean Energy’s flagship project, covering approximately 12,234 hectares of prospective uranium ground. The property lies 55 km east of the historic Key Lake uranium mill and hosts the Fraser Lakes B deposit, which hosts an inferred historical resource of 6.96 Mlb U₃O₈ at 0.03 percent and 5.34 Mlb thorium dioxide (ThO₂) at 0.023 percent, within 10.35 Mt of material using a 0.01 percent U₃O₈ cutoff grade. While this resource is not currently classified under NI 43-101, Terra believes the data is reliable and serves as a robust foundation for continued exploration.

Map showing Terra Clean Energy

The mineralization is hosted in fractured and altered pegmatites and graphitic pelitic paragneiss, with the uranium accompanied by thorium and elevated concentrations of copper, nickel, vanadium, zinc, bismuth, molybdenum, lead and cobalt. Alteration assemblages include illite, dickite, kaolinite, chlorite, fluorite and hematite; these are classic markers of basement-hosted unconformity uranium systems. This setting, along with widespread clay alteration and structural disruption, mirrors some of the most prolific uranium systems in the basin, including Eagle Point, Millennium and Roughrider.

Fraser Lakes B sits on the central limb of the Way Lake Conductor, a folded EM corridor extending more than 25 km across the project area. This conductor hosts three major fold limbs (West, Central, and East), but only the central limb, where Fraser Lakes B is located, has been materially drilled. The deposit currently exhibits a strike length of approximately 1,400 meters, dipping northwest, and remains open in all directions. A north-northeast-trending fault, known as the T-Bone Lineament, intersects the deposit’s eastern margin, suggesting additional structural complexity and potential uranium conduits along strike.

Historic drilling from 2008 to 2015 by Skyharbour Resources and JNR Resources identified numerous mineralized intervals. Highlights include:

  • 0.165 percent U₃O₈ over 2 m (within a broader 6 m grading 0.103 percent U₃O₈) in FP-15-05.
  • 0.183 percent U₃O₈ over 1 m in WYL-50.
  • 0.242 percent U₃O₈ over 0.5 m in WYL-61.
  • 0.057 percent U₃O₈ over 5.5 m in the same hole.
Terra Clean Energy

These results demonstrate multiple stacked mineralized horizons over widths up to 65 m, open to depth and laterally.

In early 2024, Terra’s Phase 1 drill program confirmed the presence of uranium-bearing pegmatites in close proximity to historical intercepts. Hole SF-0059 intersected 13.5 m of mineralization, including 0.07 percent eU₃O₈ over 1.1 m, while SF-0060 returned intervals such as 0.02 percent eU₃O₈ over 1.3 m at 142.15 m. These intercepts confirm the extension of mineralization along strike and at depth from FP-15-05 and support the hypothesis of lateral continuity and stacked mineralized bodies.

Planning for an extensive summer 2025 drill program is underway, which consists of approximately 2,500 meters. The program will test areas identified during the winter 2024 program, where it is interpreted that a north-northwest trending brittle structure, a north dipping structure with strong clay alteration, and mineralized pegmatites with hydrothermal hematite alteration hosted in graphitic pelitic gneiss all intersect.

Terra Clean Energy

In addition to Fraser Lakes B, the company is evaluating regional targets such as T-Bone Lake, which has returned values up to 0.055 percent U₃O₈ over 0.9 m and features promising clay alteration and structural complexity similar to known high-grade deposits.

The overarching exploration thesis is that the Way Lake Conductor may host a clustered uranium system, with multiple deposits along its folded structure. Very little drilling has been conducted outside the current Fraser Lakes B footprint, giving Terra significant discovery potential across the entire 25 km strike length.

Management Team

Greg Cameron – President, CEO and Director

A seasoned capital markets professional, Greg Cameron has two decades of experience in business development, strategy and M&A. He is a former senior banker at Canaccord Genuity and Macquarie, and managing director at Colby Capital. He brings transactional and restructuring expertise critical to junior exploration growth.

C. Trevor Perkins – VP, Exploration

A professional geologist, C. Trevor Perkins has a track record in uranium exploration, including major results in the Athabasca Basin. He also serves as VP exploration for Azincourt Energy and has led exploration strategy and drill execution across multiple high-impact programs.

Alex Klenman – Director

Alex Klenman is a veteran junior mining executive with 30+ years’ experience, including uranium-specific roles. He is the CEO and director of Azincourt Energy, and has raised more than $18 million for Athabasca exploration. Klenman brings deep investor relations and financing expertise.

Tony Wonnacott – Director

Tony Wonnacott is a Toronto-based securities lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in capital markets. Instrumental in multiple successful listings and over $1 billion in financings and M&A transactions.

Brian Shin – CFO

Brian Shine is a chartered professional accountant with 15 years’ experience across roles in public companies. He specializes in reporting, risk management and corporate finance.

Jordan Trimble – Technical Advisor

Jordan Trimble is the CEO of Skyharbour Resources and a leading voice in the uranium investment community. He brings global capital markets insight and technical expertise, enhancing Terra’s industry reach and credibility.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Terra Clean Energy (CSE:TCEC,OTCQB:TCEFF,FSE:C9O0) is advancing its 100 percent-owned South Falcon East Project, strategically located in the southeastern Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan — one of the world’s premier uranium districts. The project stands out among uranium juniors for its shallow mineralization, strong discovery potential, and proximity to established infrastructure.

Anchored by a historical resource of nearly 7 million pounds (Mlbs) U₃O₈ at the Fraser Lakes Zone B, the project also hosts multiple zones of confirmed mineralization and structural alteration. Terra is advancing toward a NI 43-101-compliant resource update in 2025, with the goal of materially expanding its resource base. Situated along the highly prospective Way Lake Conductor — a folded, uranium-enriched corridor — the project offers significant upside for new discoveries beyond the existing resource.

Map of Athabasca Basin highlighting uranium operations inlcuding Terra Clean Energy project

South Falcon East, Terra Clean Energy’s flagship project, spans 12,234 hectares on the southeastern margin of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, just 55 km east of the historic Key Lake uranium mill. The project hosts the Fraser Lakes Zone B deposit, with a historical inferred resource of 6.96 Mlbs U₃O₈ at 0.03% and 5.34 Mlbs ThO₂ at 0.023 percent, contained within 10.35 Mt using a 0.01 percent U₃O₈ cutoff. While not yet classified under NI 43-101, Terra considers the resource data reliable and a strong foundation for future exploration and growth.

Company Highlights

  • Unique, Shallow Uranium System: Only micro-cap in the Athabasca Basin advancing a near-surface uranium deposit, with significantly reduced exploration and potential development costs.
  • Pounds-in-the-ground Upside: Historical resource of 6.96 Mlbs U₃O₈ and 5.34 Mlbs ThO₂, with considerable expansion potential from historical and recent drilling.
  • Prime Location: Situated 55 km east of the Key Lake Mill within the prolific Athabasca Basin – home to the world’s highest-grade uranium deposits.
  • Strong Technical Leadership: Led by a team with extensive uranium exploration and capital markets experience, including veterans from Skyharbour Resources and Azincourt Energy.
  • Resource Update Underway: 2024–25 infill and step-out drilling will support an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate, incorporating higher-grade intercepts from Terra’s 2024 campaign.
  • Re-rating Potential: Market cap under $5 million despite having a historical uranium resource, confirmed mineralized zones, and near-term catalysts.

This Terra Clean Energy profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*

Click here to connect with Terra Clean Energy (CSE:TCEC) to receive an Investor Presentation

This post appeared first on investingnews.com