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Ukraine, U.S. have signed a critical minerals deal. What we know so far – National
Ukraine and the United States on Wednesday signed a deal heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The following is an overview of the critical minerals, including rare earths, and other natural resources in Ukraine:
What are rare earths and what are they used for?
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes.
The U.S. Geological Survey considers 50 minerals to be critical, including rare earths, nickel and lithium.
Critical minerals are essential for industries such as defense, high-tech appliances, aerospace and green energy.
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What mineral resources does Ukraine have?
Ukraine has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified by the European Union as critical, according to Ukrainian data. They include industrial and construction materials, ferro alloy, precious and non-ferrous metals, and some rare earth elements.
According to Ukraine’s Institute of Geology, the country possesses rare earths such as lanthanum and cerium, used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, used in wind turbines and EV batteries; and erbium and yttrium, whose applications range from nuclear power to lasers. EU-funded research also indicates that Ukraine has scandium reserves. Detailed data is classified.
The World Economic Forum has said Ukraine is also a key potential supplier of lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite and nickel.
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The State Geological Service said Ukraine has one of Europe’s largest confirmed reserves, estimated at 500,000 metric tons, of lithium – vital for batteries, ceramics, and glass.
The country has titanium reserves, mostly located in its northwestern and central regions, while lithium is found in the center, east and southeast.
Ukraine’s reserves of graphite, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors, represent 20% of global resources. The deposits are in the center and west.
Ukraine also has significant coal reserves, though most are now under the control of Russia in occupied territory.
Mining analysts and economists say Ukraine currently has no commercially operational rare earth mines.
China is the world’s largest producer of rare earths and many other critical minerals.
![Click to play video: '‘I think we have a deal with Russia,’ but Ukraine negotiations have ‘been harder’: Trump']()
What do we know about the deal?
The two countries signed the accord in Washington after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, with uncertainty persisting until the last moment with word of an eleventh-hour snag.
The accord establishes a joint investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction as Trump tries to secure a peace settlement in Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko were shown signing the agreement in a photo posted on X by the Treasury, which said the deal “clearly signals the Trump Administration’s commitment to a free, sovereign, prosperous Ukraine.”
Svyrydenko wrote on X that the accord provides for Washington to contribute to the fund. She also said the accord provides for new assistance, for example air defense systems for Ukraine. The U.S. did not directly address that suggestion.
Svyrydenko said the accord allowed Ukraine to “determine what and where to extract” and that its subsoil remains owned by Ukraine.
Svyrydenko said Ukraine has no debt obligations to the United States under the agreement, a key point in the lengthy negotiations between the two countries. It also complied with Ukraine’s constitution and Ukraine’s campaign to join the European Union, she said.
The draft did not provide any concrete U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, one of its initial goals.
What Ukrainian resources are under Kyiv’s control?
The war has caused widespread damage across Ukraine, and Russia now controls around a fifth of its territory.
The bulk of Ukraine’s coal deposits, which powered its steel industry before the war, are concentrated in the east and have been lost.
About 40% of Ukraine’s metal resources are now under Russian occupation, according to estimates by Ukrainian think-tanks We Build Ukraine and the National Institute of Strategic Studies, citing data up to the first half of 2024. They provided no detailed breakdown.
![Click to play video: 'After blow up with Zelenskyy, Trump says minerals deal isn’t over: ‘No, I don’t think so’']()
Since then, Russian troops have continued to advance steadily in the eastern Donetsk region. In January, Ukraine closed its only coking coal mine outside the city of Pokrovsk, which Moscow’s forces are trying to capture.
Russia has occupied at least two Ukrainian lithium deposits during the war – one in Donetsk and another in the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast. Kyiv still controls lithium deposits in the central Kyrovohrad region.
What opportunities does Ukraine offer?
Oleksiy Sobolev, first deputy economy minister, said in January that the government was working on deals with Western allies including the United States, Britain, France and Italy on projects related to exploiting critical materials. The government estimates the sector’s total investment potential at about $12-15 billion by 2033.
The State Geological Service said the government was preparing about 100 sites to be jointly licensed and developed but provided no further details.
Although Ukraine has a highly qualified and relatively inexpensive labor force and developed infrastructure, investors highlight a number of barriers to investment. These include inefficient and complex regulatory processes as well as difficulty accessing geological data and obtaining land plots.
Such projects would take years to develop and require considerable up-front investment, they said.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Neil Fullick)
How stagnant vaccine funding caused measles to explode in Texas – National
The measles outbreak in West Texas didn’t happen just by chance.
The easily preventable disease, declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs, officials say.
“We haven’t had a strong immunization program that can really do a lot of boots-on-the-ground work for years,” said Katherine Wells, the health director in Lubbock, a 90-minute drive from the outbreak’s epicenter.
Immunization programs nationwide have been left brittle by years of stagnant funding by federal, state and local governments. In Texas and elsewhere, this helped set the stage for the measles outbreak and fueled its spread. Now cuts to federal funding threaten efforts to prevent more cases and outbreaks.
Health departments got an influx of cash to deal with COVID-19, but it wasn’t enough to make up for years of neglect. On top of that, trust in vaccines has eroded. Health officials warn the situation is primed to get worse.
Recent cuts by the Trump administration have pulled billions of dollars in COVID-19 related funding — USD $2 billion of it slated for immunization programs for various diseases. Overseeing the cuts is Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who rose to prominence leading an anti-vaccine movement. While Kennedy has said he wants his agency to prevent future outbreaks, he’s also declined to deliver a consistent and forceful message that would help do so — encouraging people to vaccinate their children against measles while reminding them it is safe.
At the same time, lawmakers in Texas and about two-thirds of states have introduced legislation this year that would make it easier to opt out of vaccines or otherwise put up barriers to ensuring more people get shots, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. That further undercuts efforts to keep infectious diseases at bay, health officials said.
The more than 700 measles cases reported this year in the U.S. have already surpassed last year’s total. The vast majority — more than 540 — are in Texas, but cases have popped up in 23 other states. Two Texas children have died. A 6-year-old girl from Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, died in February, the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. An 8-year-old girl from the same town, Seminole, died earlier this month.
Children in the U.S. are generally required to be vaccinated to go to school, which in the past ensured vaccination rates stayed high enough to prevent infectious diseases like measles from spreading. But a growing number of parents have been skipping the shots for their kids. The share of children exempted from vaccine requirements has reached an all-time high, and just 92.7 per cent of kindergartners got their required shots in 2023. That’s well below the 95 per cent coverage level that keeps diseases at bay.
Keeping vaccination rates high requires vigilance, commitment and money.
Though the outbreak in Texas started in Mennonite communities that have been resistant to vaccines and distrustful of government intervention, it quickly jumped to other places with low vaccination rates. There are similar under-vaccinated pockets across the country that could provide the tinder that sparks another outbreak.
“It’s like a hurricane over warm water in the Caribbean,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development in Houston. “As long as there’s warm water, the hurricane will continue to accelerate. In this case, the warm water is the unvaccinated kids.”
![Click to play video: 'Health Matters: RFK Jr. visits Texas amid measles outbreak']()
Flatlined vaccine funding in Texas
Lubbock receives a USD $254,000 immunization grant from the state annually that can be used for staff, outreach, advertising, education and other elements of a vaccine program. That hasn’t increased in at least 15 years as the population grew.
It used to be enough for three nurses, an administrative assistant, advertising and even goodies to give out at health fairs, Wells said. “Now it covers a nurse, a quarter of a nurse, a little bit of an admin assistant, and basically nothing else.”
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Texas has among the lowest per capita state funding for public health in the nation, just USD $17 per person in 2023, according to the State Health Access Data Assistance Center.
Vaccines are among the most successful tools in public health’s arsenal, preventing debilitating illnesses and lowering the need for expensive medical care. Childhood vaccines prevent 4 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the measles vaccine will save some 19 million lives by 2030.
U.S. immunization programs are funded by a variable mix of federal, state and local money. Federal money is sent to every state, which then decides how much to send to local health departments.
The stagnant immunization grant funding in Texas has made it harder for local health departments to keep their programs going. Lubbock’s health department, for example, doesn’t have the money to pay for targeted Facebook ads to encourage vaccinations or do robust community outreach to build trust.
In Andrews County, which borders Gaines County, the biggest cost of its immunization program is personnel. But while everything has gotten more expensive, the grant hasn’t changed, Health Director Gordon Mattimoe said. That shifts the burden to county governments. Some kick in more money, some don’t. His did.
The problem: keeping people safe from outbreaks requires high vaccination rates across a broad region, and germs don’t stop at county borders.
Andrews County, population 18,000, offers a walk-in vaccine clinic Monday through Friday, but other West Texas communities don’t. More than half the people who come to the clinic travel from other counties, Mattimoe said, including much larger places and Gaines County.
Some had to drive an hour or more. They did so because they had trouble getting shots in their home county due to long waits, lack of providers and other issues, Mattimoe said.
“They’re unable to obtain it in the place that they live. … People are overflowing, over to here,” Mattimoe said. “There’s an access issue.”
That makes it more likely people won’t get their shots.
In Gaines County just 82 per cent of kindergartners were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. Even in Andrews County, where, at 97 per cent, the vaccination rate is above the 95 per cent threshold for preventing outbreaks, it has slipped two percentage points since 2020.
![Click to play video: 'Measles outbreaks renew push for Ontario vaccine registry']()
The health departments millions of Americans depend on for their shots largely rely on two federal programs: Vaccines for Children and Section 317 of the Public Health Services Act. Vaccines for Children mostly provides the actual vaccines. Section 317 provides grants for vaccines but also to run programs and get shots into arms.
About half of kids qualify for Vaccines for Children, a safety-net program created in response to a 1989-1991 measles epidemic that sickened 55,000 people and killed 123. Section 317 money sent to state and local health departments pays for vaccines as well as nurses, outreach and advertising.
Health departments generally use the programs in tandem, and since the pandemic they’ve often been allowed to supplement it with COVID-19 funds.
The 317 funds have been flat for years, even as costs of everything from salaries to vaccines went up. A 2023 CDC report to Congress estimated USD $1.6 billion was needed to fully fund a comprehensive 317 vaccine program. Last year, Congress approved less than half that: USD $682 million.
This, along with insufficient state and local funding, forces hard choices. Dr. Kelly Moore, a preventive medicine specialist, said she faced this dilemma when directing Tennessee’s immunization program from 2004 to 2018.
“What diseases can we afford to prevent and how many people can we afford to protect? Those decisions have to be made every year by every state,” said Moore, who now runs the advocacy group Immunize.org.
A rural clinic may have to be closed, or evening and weekend hours eliminated, she said. “It becomes difficult for them to staff the clinics they have and difficult for the people in those communities to access them, especially if they’re the working poor.”
At the same time, health officials say more funding is needed to fight misinformation and mistrust about vaccines. In a 2023 survey by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, 80 per cent of local health departments reported vaccine hesitancy among patients or their parents in the previous year, up from 56 per cent in 2017.
“If we don’t invest in education, it becomes even more difficult to get these diseases under control,” Moore said.
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Facing these headwinds, things got much worse in March when Kennedy’s health department canceled billions of dollars in state and local funding. After 23 states sued, a judge put a hold on the cuts for now in those states but not in Texas or other states that didn’t join the lawsuit.
But local health departments are not taking chances and are moving to cut services.
HHS said the money, allocated through COVID-19 initiatives, was cut because the pandemic was over. But CDC had allowed the money to be used to shore up public health infrastructure generally, including immunization programs.
Before he was confirmed as health secretary, Kennedy vowed not to take vaccines away. But in Texas, his department’s cuts mean state and local health departments are losing USD $125 million in immunization-related federal funding as they deal with the measles outbreak. A spokesperson for the federal health department did not respond to an AP request for comment.
Dallas County, 350 miles from where the outbreak began, had to cancel more than 50 immunization clinics, including at schools with low measles vaccination rates, said Dr. Philip Huang, the county’s health director.
Near the center of the outbreak, Lubbock’s health department said seven jobs are on the line because they were paid by those grants. Included in the affected work are immunizations.
Across the border in New Mexico, where the outbreak has spread, the state lost grants that funded vaccine education.
Kennedy’s cuts also hit vaccination programs in other states
It’s still unclear how the recently announced USD $2 billion in cuts will affect immunization programs across the country, but details are starting to trickle out from some states.
Washington state, for example, would lose about USD $20 million in vaccination-related funding. Officials were forced to pause mobile vaccine efforts on their “Care-A-Van,” which has administered more than 6,800 COVID-19 vaccines, 3,900 flu vaccines and 5,700 childhood vaccines since July. The state also had to cancel more than 100 vaccine clinics scheduled through June, including more than 35 at schools.
![Click to play video: 'Measles outbreak in Canada']()
Connecticut health officials estimate if the cuts stand, they will lose USD $26 million for immunization. Among other reductions, this means canceling 43 contracts with local health departments to increase vaccination rates and raise confidence in vaccines, losing vaccination clinics and mobile outreach in underserved neighborhoods, and stopping the distribution of vaccine-related educational materials.
Several of the 23 states suing the federal government, including Minnesota, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, cite losses to vaccine programs.
As the cuts further cripple already struggling health departments, alongside increasingly prominent and powerful anti-vaccine voices, doctors worry that vaccine hesitancy will keep spreading. And measles and other viruses will too.
“My whole life’s purpose is to keep people from suffering. And vaccines are a tremendous way to do that,” Moore said. “But if we don’t invest in them to get them in arms, then we don’t see their benefits.”
Gretzky’s Trump ties stir Canadian loyalty debate amid threats
John Davidson has difficulty remembering the last time Wayne Gretzky visited his childhood home across the street in this small city a couple hours’ drive southwest of Toronto.
The modest home with a one-car garage in a quiet residential neighborhood remains in the family, but the Great One’s visits have been fewer and farther between, especially since his beloved father Walter died in 2021. The backyard ice rink where Gretzky developed his generational talent has since been replaced by a pool.
Now 85, Davidson still chases away the occasional curiosity seeker, a far cry from the days when busloads of children would pull up, or the time Wayne and his wife Janet showed up with an entourage, three limousines strong. The retired steelworker then lowered his hand to his knee to indicate how long he’s known Gretzky, before saying: “Wayne’s changed a lot since he went down to the States.”
Like many in this city of 105,000 and across a nation of 39 million, Davidson has difficulty squaring the child he once knew, the player who won four Stanley Cups in Edmonton and re-wrote the NHL’s scoring records, and the person he sees now.
At 64, Gretzky is now the subject of a once-unimaginable debate over his loyalty to his native Canada due to his ties to President Donald Trump, whose brazen comments about the nation’s sovereignty have angered Canadians.
Pictures of Gretzky celebrating Trump’s election night victory at Mar-a-Lago and attending his inauguration don’t sit well at a time Canadians face an existential crisis in the wake of rising tariffs and the president’s comments about turning its northern neighbor into a 51st state. Many find it unsettling that Gretzky is silent on the topic, even with Trump suggesting Gretzky run for office for the eventuality of becoming the nation’s governor once it joins the U.S.
“I always thought the hell out of him,” Davidson said of Gretzky. “Hate is a terrible word. Dislike is a better word.”
![Click to play video: 'Wayne Gretzky draws mixed reaction during appearance at 4 Nations Final']()
Gretzky’s on-ice exploits remain legendary and they begin at an early age. When he was 11, he scored 378 goals and 517 points in 85 games for the atom division Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers. His parents relocated him to play in Toronto, before Gretzky made the jump to the Ontario Hockey League, where in his only full season in 1977-78 he scored 70 goals and piled up 182 points, which still ranks second on the league’s list.
Though he played on four NHL teams, ending his career with the New York Rangers in 1999, befitting his No. 99, Gretzky is best known for his 10 seasons in Edmonton, including his first when the Oilers played in the World Hockey Association. Gretzky became an icon in Alberta’s capital for the championships and attention; his marriage to American actor Janet Jones in July 1988 was broadcast live across Canada.
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Gretzky’s influence abounds in Brantford. His charitable foundation provides for numerous local causes, including Special Olympics and distributing free hockey sticks to children. Outside the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre is a statue of Gretzky raising the Stanley Cup with three smaller statues looking on, representing his parents and a young Gretzky wearing a Red Wings’ Gordie Howe jersey.
All this in honor of a person who has been gone for a majority of his life, and makes his home in the U.S. Of his five children, daughter Paulina is best known for her marriage to top golfer Dustin Johnson. And while the Gretzkys are a far cry from the Kardashians, there is a Hollywood shine to the family that previously served as a mild curiosity to most Canadians until the turmoil of today.
![Click to play video: '‘Bad news:’ Wayne Gretzky draws mixed reaction as honorary captain during 4 Nations Final']()
Recently, CTV reported, the face of Gretzky’s statue outside of the Edmonton Oilers arena had been smeared with feces, part of a polarizing debate that’s raised ire among his detractors and eye-rolls from his defenders.
“He’s done so many good things in both of these countries, he doesn’t need to explain himself to anybody,” said Brantford councilor Dan McCreary, whose ward includes Gretzky sports complex. He referred to Gretzky’s critics as being part of a “cancel culture” movement.
Not lost on McCreary is how Brantford sits in the crosshairs of the cross-border dispute. The city serves as a transportation hub — a two-and-a-half-hour drive from three border crossings — and with a manufacturing base linked to the auto industry, now facing potential fallout from U.S. tariffs.
“You might suggest that to him,” McCreary said when asked if Gretzky could put in a good word to Trump about his hometown. Gretzky did not respond to messages seeking comment from The Associated Press for this story.
![Click to play video: 'Trump reiterates call for Wayne Gretzky to run for Canadian prime minister']()
A sense of national pride led to Kat Philp launching a petition to rename Brantford’s Wayne Gretzky Parkway after Walter, who held the honorary title of Brantford’s Lord Mayor for his extensive community work.
The issue is not whose Wayne Gretzky’s friends are — “You do you,” Philp said. Instead, she feels betrayed by his failure to voice support for Canada.
“We always felt he was still Canadian. We don’t feel that way anymore,” said Philp, 50, who grew up playing hockey, attended Gretzky’s celebrity slow-pitch tournaments as a teenager and was proud in telling people she was from Gretzky’s hometown.
![Click to play video: 'Edmonton statue of Wayne Gretzky smeared with poop']()
Peter Pocklington, the former Edmonton Oilers owner, is stunned by the backlash directed at someone he’s known since purchasing the 17-year-old player’s rights in 1978 and bringing him to Edmonton to usher in the franchise’s heyday before trading him to Los Angeles.
“Wayne is not a politician. He’s a hockey player. Period. And his heart has always been in Canada, with Canada,” Pocklington said from his home in Desert Palm, California. “I’m not sure he’d stand up in his own defense but I think he probably feels sorry for them more than anything.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Enola Gay, which dropped Hiroshima atomic bomb, hit in Pentagon DEI purge – National
References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content. The official said it’s not clear if the database has been finalized.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following President Donald Trump’s executive order ending those programs across the federal government.
The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months — such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.
But a review of the database also underscores the confusion that has swirled among agencies about what to remove following Trump’s order.
![Click to play video: '‘It just turns your stomach’: Democrats slam Trump for blaming D.C. plane crash on DEI']()
Aircraft and fish projects are flagged
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ”gay,” including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish — including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, the Boeing B-29 named the “Enola Gay” is seen on Tinian in the Marianas Islands.
U.S. Air Force via AP
In addition, some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit, were listed on the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content.
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The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon after Trump’s order. That drew the White House’s ire over “malicious compliance,” and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.
Many of the images listed in the database already have been removed. Others were still visible Thursday, and it’s not clear if they will be taken down at some point or be allowed to stay, including images with historical significance such as those of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, “We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”
He noted that Hegseth has declared that “DEI is dead” and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.
In some cases, the removal was partial. The main page in a post titled “Women’s History Month: All-female crew supports warfighters” was removed. But at least one of the photos in that collection about an all-female C-17 crew could still be accessed. A shot from the Army Corps of Engineers titled “Engineering pioneer remembered during Black History Month” was deleted.
Other photos flagged in the database but still visible Thursday included images of the World War II Women Air Service Pilots and one of U.S. Air Force Col. Jeannie Leavitt, the country’s first female fighter pilot.
Also still visible was an image of then-Pfc. Christina Fuentes Montenegro becoming one of the first three women to graduate from the Marine Corps’ Infantry Training Battalion and an image of Marine Corps World War II Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Harold Gonsalves.
In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, Pfc. Christina Fuentes Montenegro prepares to hike to her platoon’s defensive position during patrol week of Infantry Training Battalion near Camp Geiger, N.C. Oct. 31, 2013.
Sgt. Tyler Main/U.S. Marine Corps via AP
It was unclear why some other images were removed, such as a Marine Corps photo titled “Deadlift contenders raise the bar pound by pound” or a National Guard website image called “Minnesota brothers reunite in Kuwait.”
The database of the 26,000 images was created to conform with federal archival laws, so if the services are queried in the future, they can show how they are complying with the law, the U.S. official said. But it may be difficult to ensure the content was archived because the responsibility to ensure each image was preserved was the responsibility of each individual unit.
In many cases, workers are taking screenshots of the pages marked for removal, but it would be difficult to restore them if that decision was made, according to another official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details that were not public.
A Marine Corps official said every one of its images in the database “either has been taken down or will be taken down.” The Marines are moving on the directive as fast as possible, but as with the rest of the military, very few civilian or contractor employees at the Pentagon can perform content removal, the official said.
In the Marine Corps, just one defense civilian is available to do the work. The Marine Corps estimates that person has identified at least 10,000 images for removal — and that does not count more than 1,600 social media sites that have not yet been addressed.
Many of those social media sites were military base or unit support groups created years ago and left idle. No one still has the administrative privileges to go in and change the content.
The Marine official said the service is going through each site and getting new administrative privileges so it can make the changes.
On Feb. 26, the Pentagon ordered all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that “promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
If they couldn’t do that by Wednesday, they were told to “temporarily remove from public display” all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office.
AP reporters Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Christina Cassidy in Atlanta, Will Weissert and Ayanna Alexander in Washington and Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.
Rubio says Hamas must be ‘eradicated,’ throwing ceasefire into doubt – National
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday fully endorsed Israel’s conflict aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the shaky ceasefire into further doubt as talks on its second phase are yet to begin.
Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza and redevelop it under U.S. ownership.
Netanyahu has welcomed the plan, and said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza. Echoing Trump, he said “the gates of hell would be open” if Hamas doesn’t release dozens of remaining hostages abducted in the militant group’s attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the 16-month conflict.
The ceasefire’s first phase is set to end in two weeks and the second phase has yet to be negotiated, though talks were meant to begin two weeks ago. In the second phase, Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces
Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News that “phase two is absolutely going to begin” and he had ”very productive” calls Sunday with Netanyahu and officials from Egypt and Qatar, which serve as mediators, about continuing talks this week. He also said hostages to be released include 19 Israeli soldiers and “we believe all of them are alive.”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security Cabinet would meet Monday to discuss the second phase. Netanyahu also instructed negotiators to leave for Cairo on Monday to discuss further implementation of the first phase.
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Rubio said Hamas can’t continue as a military or government force.
“As long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can administer or as a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible,” he said. “It must be eradicated.”
Hamas reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire took hold last month despite suffering heavy losses.
Rubio is also set to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, political heavyweights in the region.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it carried out an airstrike Sunday on people who approached its forces in southern Gaza. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the strike killed three of its police officers while they secured the entry of aid trucks near Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Resuming the conflict could doom hostages
This week marks 500 days of the conflict. Netanyahu has signaled readiness to resume the fighting after the ceasefire’s current phase, though it could be a death sentence for remaining hostages.
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Netanyahu has offered Hamas a chance to surrender and send its top leaders into exile. Hamas has rejected that scenario and insists on Palestinian rule. Spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told The Associated Press the group accepts a Palestinian unity government or a technocratic committee to run Gaza.
Last week, Hamas threatened to hold up this weekend’s release of hostages because Netanyahu has yet to approve the entry of mobile homes and heavy machinery into Gaza as required by the ceasefire agreement. An Israeli official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations that the issue would be discussed in the coming days, and Israel was coordinating with the United States.
In another sign of closing ranks, Israel’s Defense Ministry said it received a shipment of 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) MK-84 munitions from the United States. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of such bombs last year over concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza.
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‘If someone has a better plan … that’s great’
In an interview last week, Rubio indicated that Trump’s Gaza proposal was in part aimed at pressuring Arab states to make their own post-conflict plan that would be acceptable to Israel.
Rubio also appeared to suggest that Arab countries send troops to combat Hamas.
“If someone has a better plan, and we hope they do, if the Arab countries have a better plan, then that’s great,” Rubio said Thursday on the “Clay and Buck Show.”
But “Hamas has guns,” he added. “Someone has to confront those guys. It’s not going to be American soldiers. And if the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it.”
Rubio wasn’t scheduled to meet with Palestinians on his trip to the Middle East.
Arabs have limited options
For Arab leaders, facilitating the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or battling Palestinian militants on behalf of Israel are nightmare scenarios that would bring fierce domestic criticism and potentially destabilize an already volatile region.
Egypt will host an Arab summit on Feb. 27 and is working with other countries on a counterproposal that would allow for Gaza to be rebuilt without removing its population. Human rights groups say the expulsion of Palestinians would likely violate international law.
Egypt has warned that any mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its nearly half-century peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of U.S. influence in the region.
![Click to play video: 'Israel’s army withdraws from central Gaza, leaves behind trail of destruction']()
Arab and Muslim countries have conditioned any support for post-conflict Gaza on a return to Palestinian governance with a pathway to statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast conflict.
Israel has ruled out a Palestinian state and any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out when Hamas seized power there in 2007.
Rubio to visit regional heavyweights
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians and would be key to any regional response.
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords in which four Arab states — Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan — normalized relations with Israel during Trump’s previous term. Trump hopes to expand the accords to include Saudi Arabia, potentially offering closer U.S. defense ties, but the kingdom has said that it won’t normalize relations with Israel without a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Rubio won’t be visiting Egypt or Jordan, close U.S. allies at peace with Israel that have refused to accept any influx of Palestinian refugees. Trump has suggested that he might slash U.S. aid to them if they don’t comply, which could be devastating for their economies.
Rubio is also skipping Qatar.
—Natalie Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy contributed to this report from Cairo.
Could the U.S. actually make Canada a 51st state? How the process works – National
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Canada should be the 51st U.S. state as he proposes to erase the 5,525-mile-long border that separates the two countries. The very notion is ludicrous to Canadians and the hurdles to transforming it into a state are sky high.
But in Trump’s thinking, the traditional Lower 48 states would become the contiguous 50 as the Canadian territory between the U.S. mainland and Alaska disappears, leaving Hawaii as the only non-continental state.
“If people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100% certain that they’d become a state,” Trump said recently.
Canada at first reacted as though Trump must be joking, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said flatly his country would never be the 51st state. Trudeau more recently suggested behind closed doors that Trump’s sustained annexation calls may not be just light talk and appear to be “a real thing.”
Here’s what it would take to transform Canada from a nation to a state:
What’s the process for adding a state?
Congress has to approve accepting a new state.
It takes only a House majority, but Senate filibuster rules require a minimum of 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to bring a bill to the floor — an insurmountable threshold for all kinds of key legislation.
The Constitution’s Admissions Clause, Article IV, Section 3, states: “New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”
Any measure approving a new state that clears Congress would also have to be signed into law by the president. In the case of Canada, Trump has made it clear he would be eager to do so.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally, joked on X when all 50 states certified Trump’s Electoral College victory last month, “They skipped Canada. We’ll fix that next time!”
No major legislation is advancing that would extend an invitation to statehood to America’s northern neighbor.
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Doesn’t Canada have a say?
To say that most Canadian leaders aren’t interested in becoming a state would be an understatement. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, head of Canada’s most populous province, has spun out a counteroffer for Trump.
“How about, if we buy Alaska, and we’ll throw in Minnesota and Minneapolis at the same time,” he said, adding of Trump’s suggestion: “It’s not realistic.”
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There have been multiple past pathways to statehood — from the absorption of the 13 colonies under the Articles of Confederation, to Congress formally agreeing to Texas’ request to be annexed as the 28th state.
Most states were added after Congress accepted a petition from some territorial legislative body, which could include legislatures that Congress itself suggested forming as part of the process.
![Click to play video: 'Trump declares new tariffs, repeats threats to annex Canada']()
Canada would probably have to have a referendum to gauge voters’ interests in joining the U.S. before more detailed aspects of the process could begin — and that’s almost certainly a non-starter.
While not addressing Canada as the 51st state directly, polling last year from Gallup and the Pew Research Center shows that Americans overwhelmingly have a positive view of Canada — and that while Canadians view the U.S. more positively than negatively, their view may be a little more muted.
Trump’s threats of tariffs have left Canadians feeling betrayed, and sports fans in Canada have begun voicing their displeasure by booing the U.S. national anthem at NBA and NHL games.
How would adding Canada affect U.S. elections?
Profoundly — and that’s without speculating about whether a majority of Canadians might back Democrats or Republicans for president and in Congress.
If Canada were to join the U.S. — again, a highly unlikely prospect — its population of 41.6 million would make it the largest state, outpacing California’s 39.4 million residents. Canada would get two senators but also 55 House seats based on the average congressional district population following the 2020 U.S. census, which was 761,169 individuals.
That would make Canada the presidential race’s richest prize, with 57 Electoral College delegates — exceeding California’s 54.
The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, meanwhile, caps the number of House seats at 435, meaning that other state delegations would have to shrink to make room for the new Canadian members of the House — and, by extension, its delegates to the Electoral College.
Suddenly, make-or-break swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin would not look so important if there were tens of millions of Canadians waiting to be wooed with a presidential election on the line.
What about other potential new states?
Before Trump took office for his second term, debate around adding State No. 51 traditionally centered around Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, and its voters have approved statehood in nonbinding referendums. Proposals to allow it become a state have repeatedly been introduced in Congress but not approved.
Washington, D.C., residents have voted in support of statehood and approved a state constitution and proposed boundaries. A bill admitting into the union the city as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, passed the Democratic-controlled House as recently as 2021 but not the Senate.
![Click to play video: 'Majority of Canadians think less of U.S. amid Trump tariff threat: Ipsos']()
Republicans now control both chambers, meaning they’ll likely oppose adding states that could be majority Democratic like Puerto Rico or D.C.
The nation’s capital gets three Electoral College votes for president under the Constitution’s 23rd Amendment, though it lacks voting representation in Congress. That’s why the Electoral College has 538 total delegates: 435 House members, 100 senators and three for D.C.
When was the last time the United States added a state?
Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, nearly 18 years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
The island chain about 2,400 miles (3,900 kilometers) from the mainland United States was annexed as a U.S. territory by Congress in 1898. Many bills offering Hawaii statehood were subsequently introduced, but they stalled for decades amid racial discrimination and partisan disagreement.
By the early 1950s, Hawaii leaned Republican, and Democrats opposed its admission to the union without including Alaska, which was seen as more favorable to their party.
Alaska, separated from the mainland U.S. by about 500 miles (800 kilometers) of Canadian territory, was eventually admitted as State No. 49 in January 1959. That opened the door for Congress to approve Hawaii’s statehood that March, and Hawaiians voted to join the union on Aug. 21, 1959.
It turned out that Alaska has backed Republicans in every presidential election except 1964, while Hawaii has voted Democratic every presidential cycle but 1972 and 1984.
4 Nations Face-Off tournament set against backdrop of Canada-U.S. political tensions
Canada and the United States share the world’s longest border at nearly 9,000 kilometres.
The countries have interlinked economies and plenty in common culturally. The Peace Arch, straddling British Columbia and Washington state, is meant to symbolizes that friendship. The Peace Bridge, meanwhile, links Ontario and New York state.
The last few weeks haven’t felt all that peaceful.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced crippling tariffs — a 30-day reprieve was negotiated Feb. 3 — and continues to muse about making America’s northern neighbour its 51st state.
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Despite the pause on a blanket tariff on Canadian goods, Trump said on Sunday that he will formally announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday, including those coming from Canada.
There have been, of course, plenty of disagreements and flashpoints in the past. Away from the political arena, that rivalry has perhaps been the fiercest when the countries’ athletes compete — especially on the ice.
The 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament involving NHL players and featuring the North American rivals, starts Wednesday in Montreal.
Canada players (left to right) Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby talk on the bench during 4 Nations Face-Off hockey practice in Montreal on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Canada will face Sweden on February 12.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
So what will the current unease and tit-for-tat threats mean for a matchup that already has plenty of fuel?
“Canadians are nationalistic and proud,” said Daniel Rubenson, a political science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. “They don’t want to be told they’re going to be subsumed by another country. The chances are pretty slim, but that rhetoric puts things on edge.”
Canadian crowds booed the American anthem at both NHL and NBA games in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
![Click to play video: 'Majority of Canadians think less of U.S. amid Trump tariff threat: Ipsos']()
That trend slowed after both sides — Canada indicated it would respond with retaliatory tariffs if the U.S. followed through — took a step back from the ledge. Fans in Halifax didn’t jeer the anthem ahead of the countries’ recent women’s Rivalry Series hockey games.
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The crowd in Montreal for a pair of Canadiens’ contests over the weekend were largely respectful of the anthem.
But the city, where the Canadians and Americans square off Saturday in 4 Nations action, has a history of booing The Star-Spangled Banner, including in 2003 after the U.S. invaded Iraq.
“The political landscape is so unstable in the United States,” said Amy Bass, a professor of sports studies at Manhattanville University in Purchase, N.Y. “Having a definitive idea of what this game is going to mean and how it’s going to go down … we don’t know.”
![Click to play video: 'Trump’s tariff threats making border towns nervous']()
Aaron Ettinger, an associate political science professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said nationalism is always the subtext of international sports.
“That’s what makes it fun,” he said.
“It’s our country and our people against your country and your people.”
Ettinger, whose published work includes the intersection of sports and politics, added pride can play a big factor.
“Canadians like beating Americans at sports because we’re not really going to beat them at much else,” he said. “This time around, there’s some real stakes because the United States and its president are (threatening) something harmful to Canadian national interests.”
Canada’s main hockey rival was once the Soviet Union. Russia picked up the banner, but the U.S. has nudged its way to the top of the list over the last 30 years.
![Click to play video: '1972 Summit Series: Marking 50 years since iconic Team Canada-Soviet Union battle']()
Canada hasn’t been unseated in the men’s game — at least not yet. The women have gone back and forth, while the Americans own three of the last the world junior hockey championships.
“That’s one place, maybe the only place, where Canada has been the big brother,” Rubenson said of the rink. “It’s been easy for Canadians to be generous toward Americans there.”
The rivalry has been tough yet friendly, he added, but the change in tone from the White House might signal a change in that relationship.
“Political and social issues can spill over,” Rubenson said.
Fans and politicians could get riled, but will the players actually care?
Many Canadians suit up for American-based teams. U.S. captain Auston Matthews, meanwhile, wears the ‘C’ for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I don’t know if they live in the real world,” Ettinger said of NHL stars. “They generally live in the elite republic of hockey without much sense of what’s going on in the real world.”
Rubenson, whose specialization includes sports and politics, doesn’t expect much change in terms of the on-ice clash.
“That rivalry is already super intense,” he said. “Hardcore fans don’t need excuses. The media is going to drum this up and the fans are going to get riled up.
“Might make for great atmosphere — nothing wrong with that.”
While not a direct comparable or on the same scale, Bass said a Canadian victory at the 4 Nations could have a feel north of the border similar to the Americans’ triumph over the Soviets — the “Miracle on Ice” — at the 1980 Olympics.
“It was a Cold War victory,” she said. “Has the United States become the ‘big bad’? Taking down the United States is going to feel good for a whole new reason.”
Ettinger said that, in the end, the current cooling of relations is not so much Canada versus U.S. as Canada versus Trump.
“Americans, generally, have very favourable views of Canada,” he said. “The economic relationship is extraordinarily beneficial to both. It just happens to be that the guy manning the White House has really antagonistic orientations towards most foreign countries.
“Especially Canada.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
