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‘Serious concerns’: GOP sounds alarm on taxpayer funds going to ‘high risk’ universities vulnerable to CCP

‘Serious concerns’: GOP sounds alarm on taxpayer funds going to ‘high risk’ universities vulnerable to CCP

FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Committee on China is calling on the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pause a $67 million research security initiative, citing concerns that the universities leading the effort have engaged in problematic collaborations with Chinese military-linked institutions. In a Tuesday letter to NSF Interim Director Brian Stone obtained by Fox News Digital, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, urged the agency to suspend funding for the “Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem” (SECURE) initiative and conduct a comprehensive review of the participating institutions. Moolenaar’s concern, expressed in the letter, is that several of those participating institutions, including Texas A&M University and the University of Washington, receive tens of millions from the grant despite ties to the CCP that the committee finds concerning. “The program is intended to develop tools, data infrastructure, and analytic capabilities for assessing research-security risks,” Moolenaar wrote. “Faculty from UW and TAMU – the same institutions now charged with designing systems and processes to protect taxpayer-funded research – have been collaborating with People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense research and industrial base entities, many of which are on various U.S. government national security entity lists, as detailed in this letter.” NEW REPORT SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘STAGGERING’ AMOUNT OF FOREIGN MONEY POURING INTO US UNIVERSITIES  The committee alleges the University of Washington collaborated on research with Chinese institutions tied to the CCP’s military and defense sector, including entities on U.S. government watchlists. The committee cited joint publications with PLA-linked organizations, China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and universities known as the “Seven Sons of National Defense,” involving work in AI, advanced materials and other dual-use technologies. The letter describes the university’s ties as “high-risk research relationships with PRC military- and defense-linked institutions.” The University of Washington is designated to be awarded $50 million from the grant.  Additionally, the note claims that Texas A&M partnered with Chinese defense-affiliated institutions, including the PLA’s National University of Defense Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology. They argue these collaborations, some involving federally funded research, raise national security concerns and could conflict with U.S. research security and export control laws. Texas A&M is designated to be awarded $17 million from the grant.  HOUSE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED FAKE RESEARCH THREATENING US TAXPAYER-FUNDED SCIENCE “Institutions entrusted with U.S. taxpayer dollars to safeguard the nation’s research enterprise should not simultaneously enable foreign adversaries to access and exploit sensitive research and taxpayer-funded scientific advances,” Moolenaar wrote. “These joint research projects detailed above raise serious concerns about allocating taxpayer dollars for research security initiatives to institutions like TAMU and UW—institutions with documented and ongoing failures in safeguarding U.S. research from PRC defense entities,” Moolenaar said, adding that it is “troubling that U.S. institutions that collaborate with China’s defense research and industrial base, its nuclear weapons programs, its mass surveillance infrastructure, and institutions on U.S. government national security lists are being entrusted to co-lead the development of national research security frameworks.” Moolenaar’s letter urges NSF to assess whether the institutions are complying with a range of federal requirements, including National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, and U.S. export control laws. Moolenaar also raised concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment, an appropriations restriction in effect since 2012 that prohibits NASA from engaging in bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government or Chinese government-affiliated organizations in NASA-funded research without specific certification. Moolenaar’s letter concludes with four requests for NSF to respond to by March 31. First, the congressman asks if NSF will pause its SECURE contract funding to conduct a “full review” and also requests that NSF provide the committee with the results of that review. The letter also requests that NSF “provide the award and contract details for the SECURE Initiative” and asks whether NSF believes that “it is appropriate for universities to use U.S. taxpayer funds to conduct research in collaboration with known Chinese defense research and industrial base entities or entities implicated in human rights violations?” “Will NSF update its terms and conditions to expressly prohibit the use of award funds to conduct research with, or for the benefit of, any entity that appears on a publicly available U.S. government entity list?” the last question in the letter asks. “If not, please explain why.” Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M University for comment, as well as Stanford University, who is mentioned in the letter as being a participant in the program. “NSF will respond directly to the Committee’s letter,” an NSF spokesperson told Fox News Digital.  In a statement to Fox News Digital, a University of Washington spokesperson said, “SECURE is a dynamic program that is not prescriptive but can assist universities of all sizes and other research entities to address research security concerns. The University of Washington takes research security and integrity very seriously. The UW directs significant effort and resources toward being leaders in research security and integrity, and goes above and beyond SECURE’s guidance and recommendations. Given the evolving landscape, we are regularly reviewing our guidelines and protocols.” Fox News Digital has extensively reported on rising concerns about the CCP’s attempts to infiltrate the education system in the United States, including a sweeping report last year warning that America’s top universities have been quietly partnering with Chinese artificial intelligence labs deeply embedded in Beijing’s surveillance and security state and in some cases co-authoring thousands of papers with entities tied to oppressive efforts against Uyghur Muslims.

Trump says he’s ‘not happy’ with Iran’s choice of new supreme leader

Trump says he’s ‘not happy’ with Iran’s choice of new supreme leader

President Donald Trump said he is “not happy” with Iran’s choice of a new supreme leader but that early results from Operation Epic Fury have been “way beyond expectation.” Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been installed as the next supreme leader. “I don’t believe he can live in peace,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst. TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH IRAN’S CHOICE OF NEW SUPREME LEADER The president touted what he described as the success of the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation. “Way beyond expectation in terms of result this early,” Trump told Fox News. More than 5,000 targets have been hit by the U.S. military since the operation was launched on Feb. 28, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Monday. “When we attacked them first, we knocked out 50% of their missiles and if we didn’t, it would have been a much harder fight,” Trump said. HEGSETH BLASTS BRITS, SAYS IRAN’S CHAOTIC RETALIATION HAS DRIVEN ITS OWN ALLIES ‘INTO THE AMERICAN ORBIT’ He framed the opening strike as decisive and necessary. “No other President had the guts to do it… I don’t want some president who hasn’t got the courage in five years or in ten years to go in. It’s like a gun slinger, where he draws his gun first,” Trump told Yingst. “If we waited three days, I believe we would have been attacked,” he added. Trump described what he called a surprise element in the timing of the operation. “Breakfast attacks are unusual, and they were misled because they thought we weren’t going at that time and all that… And they just met. It was very, very surprising. And they all met together, and it was open,” he said. “If they would’ve had a bomb, they’d have used it on Israel and other parts of the Middle East, Trump said. “I think, and probably us, if they could get it there, but it would have been tough.” Trump said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner told him Iran claimed it had enough enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs. “I said, you know, they’re not playing this smart. Because they’re basically saying that I have to attack them. They should have just said, ‘We’re not going to build a nuclear missile’,” Trump said. LIZ PEEK: IRAN WAR COULD BECOME THE ACHIEVEMENT THAT ENSURES TRUMP’S LEGACY Asked whether he would be willing to speak with Iranian leaders, Trump said: “I’m hearing they want to talk badly.” “It’s possible, depends on what terms, possible, only possible… You know, we sort of don’t have to speak anymore, you know, if you really think about it, but it’s possible,” he told Fox News. Trump also said he was taken aback by Iran targeting Gulf countries in response to the American and Israeli attacks. “One of the things that surprised me most was when they attacked countries that were not attacking them,” he said. The president also weighed in on reports of a strike hitting a girls’ school. Iranian state media and UNICEF estimates put the death toll at roughly 165 to 180 people, most of them young schoolgirls, with dozens more injured. The figures have not been independently verified. “It’s only under investigation, but we are not the only ones with that particular rocket,” Trump said.

Republican says ‘Muslims don’t belong in American society,’ draws fierce Democratic backlash

Republican says ‘Muslims don’t belong in American society,’ draws fierce Democratic backlash

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee declared in a post on X that “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” and later defended his remarks as Democrats condemned them. “Pluralism is a lie,” Ogles also wrote in his controversial post. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., slammed the GOP lawmaker. MAGA HARDLINER PUSHES BAN ON IMMIGRATION FROM ISLAMIC COUNTRIES, US ADVERSARIES IN WAKE OF TEXAS SHOOTING “Andy Ogles is a malignant clown and pathological liar who has fabricated his whole life story. Disgusting Islamophobes like you do not belong in Congress or in civilized society. And that’s why House Democrats will defeat you in November,” Jeffries wrote on X. ‘UNDER SIEGE’: INSIDE THE GROWING RADICAL ISLAM THREAT CRITICS SAY IS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT IN DEEP RED TEXAS House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., also condemned Ogles’ comments. “This disgusting s— doesn’t belong in American society. And Republicans who support it don’t belong in Congress,” Clark wrote. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office also decried Ogles’ post, writing: “Disgusting comments. America was founded on the idea of religious freedom. Republicans must denounce this now!” Ogles was unmoved by the barrage of Democratic criticism. EXPERT WARNS RADICAL ISLAMIST NETWORKS COULD SHIFT WEST AFTER IRAN REGIME SHAKEUP “To Hakeem Jeffries, Gavin Newsom, and the high-ranking Democrats flooding X to condemn me: A Muslim shot and killed three Americans in Texas. Two Muslims tried to blow up New York City…again. Meanwhile, all DHS counterterrorism programs are unfunded because you shut them down,” he wrote in a post.

‘No middle ground’: Israelis back Iran war, despite taking mounting hits

‘No middle ground’: Israelis back Iran war, despite taking mounting hits

Itamar Greenberg laughed when asked if he thought he should be afraid. The 19-year-old Israeli antiwar activist had just described being spat on in the street and is the target of an online hate campaign. “Yes!” he finally responded. “If I thought about it, I probably should be. I just don’t have time.” Voices like Greenberg’s are rare in Israel at a time when public clamour for war is growing, and genocidal language already familiar to millions of Palestinians is reemerging, but with a different target – Iran. Officially, 11 Israelis have been killed in Iranian strikes since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28. What the actual number might be, or how many of Iran’s ballistic missiles may have penetrated the country’s Iron Dome defence shield, is unknown. Speaking at the site of an Iranian missile strike in West Jerusalem, shortly after the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to the use of apocalyptic language that has characterised the genocide his country has conducted in Gaza. Comparing Iranians with the Jewish people’s biblical foe, Amalek, who the Jews had been divinely ordered to wipe from the face of the planet, Netanyahu told reporters: “In this week’s Torah portion, we read, “‘Remember what Amalek did to you.’ We remember, and we act.” So far, Iran claims to have launched strikes across Israel, saying its missiles and drones hit military sites, symbolic infrastructure, and even Netanyahu’s office. Tehran has described the attacks as precise and strategic, rather than indiscriminate and part of a broader regional response. Iran also claims to have targeted locations such as Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and Haifa. Advertisement However, Israeli officials have denied many of the specific claims. Netanyahu’s office dismissed Iranian assertions about hitting his office, or affecting his condition, as “fake news”, with stringent reporting restrictions on Iranian strikes within Israel making confirmation either way difficult. What is clearer is that against the drumbeat of Iranian strikes, the fervour for war appears to be increasing among the public. A poll carried out last week by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) suggested overwhelming public support for the war, with 93 percent of Jewish-Israeli respondents expressing support for the strikes on Iran, and 74 percent expressing support for Netanyahu, the country’s historically divisive prime minister. “No one’s talking about opposition to the war,” Greenberg said, describing an environment in which figures from across Israel’s media and political landscape – with the exception of the left-wing Hadash party and antiwar organisations such as Greenberg’s Mesarvot – had lined up behind the war. “It’s also getting increasingly violent,” he said. “We held a protest on Tuesday, where the police were already waiting. They beat and arrested us. I was illegally strip-searched,” he said, describing it as efforts intended to humiliate him. Greenberg is no stranger to such tactics. Six months ago, after being arrested for protesting the genocide in Gaza, prison guards had threatened to carve a Star of David on his face, a permanent reminder of what they thought his priorities should be. It’s not just antiwar activists who have faced the brunt of the Israeli security establishment’s force. “The atmosphere is very violent,“ lawmaker Ofer Cassif of the Hadash party told Al Jazeera. “When I leave the house, I’m more worried by the danger posed by a physical attack by fascists than I am by any missile,” he said. Hadash and lawmakers like Cassif have been targeted by physical threats and attacks throughout the Gaza war. But criticism of the Netanyahu government’s handling of Israeli captives in Gaza meant that opposition to the Gaza war was – comparatively – more socially acceptable. When it comes to Iran, the current climate is toxic, Cassif said. “We’re often accused of supporting the regime in Tehran,” Cassif explained of the attempts to delegitimise their opposition to the war. “We’re unequivocally not. We want to see that regime go, but we’re not going to allow Netanyahu to say he’s doing this for the Iranian people. He isn’t. That’s not just rhetoric, that’s fact. The Israeli leadership was just as supportive of the shah as the US, and he was a murderous dictator no less than the current regime,” Cassif said, referring to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the leader of Iran before the Islamic revolution. Advertisement For now, analysts and observers in Israel describe a society that believes it is almost engaged in a holy war. “They brought an antiwar activist onto one of the light news programmes,” political analyst Ori Goldberg said from near Tel Aviv, “and she was treated like you would a flat-earther. It’s as if it’s inconceivable that anyone would oppose this war. “Israel has become a society with no middle ground, no capacity for conversation. It’s as if our entire existence is dependent on our ability to do anything we want. And if the world tries to stop that, then the world’s anti-Semitic, and we all burn.” Adblock test (Why?)

Iran war may end ‘pretty quickly’: What Trump told Republicans

Iran war may end ‘pretty quickly’: What Trump told Republicans

Listen to this article Listen to this article | 5 mins info US President Donald Trump has told congressional Republicans that the war with Iran could be over “pretty quickly”, as he defended the military campaign and outlined Washington’s objectives in the conflict. The United States and Israel launched the campaign against Iran on February 28, with large-scale air and missile strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, including air-defence systems, missile launchers and naval assets. The first day of the operation killed Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Recommended Stories list of 1 itemend of list The war has now entered its second week, and in his latest speech, Trump has highlighted what he described as the successes of Operation Epic Fury and suggested that it could end soon. Here are some key takeaways from his remarks. Trump calls Iran’s operation a ‘short-term excursion’ Trump framed the recent military action against Iran as a “little excursion” that was necessary to eliminate “some evil”. He said that due to the incredible capabilities of the US military, this engagement would be strictly a “short-term excursion”. While this action had caused a “little pause” in the economy, he said, it was not a big one, and the economy would quickly surge and “blow it away”. The war will end ‘pretty quickly’ Trump also declared that the war on Iran is “going to be finished pretty quickly”. He explained that such a rapid conclusion would be due to the highly effective and “brilliant work” of the US military, noting the following progress: The military has already wiped out roughly “80 percent” of Iran’s missile launchers, reducing its capabilities to a “trickle”, with the remaining launchers being eliminated very quickly. “The missiles have been largely knocked out… the drones have been knocked out, and we’re hitting where they make the drones,” he said. Advertisement He emphasised that as soon as this operation is finished, it will result in a “much safer world”. Trump also claimed that the US military sank “46 top-of-the-line” Iranian naval ships over three and a half days. Recounting a conversation with a military official, Trump said he had asked why the ships were sunk instead of captured. “’We could have used it. Why did we sink them?’” Trump had apparently asked the official. “He said, ‘It’s more fun to sink them’. “They like sinking them better. They say it’s safer to sink them. I guess it’s probably true.” A screengrab from a video released by US Central Command (CENTCOM), which accompanied a media release describing the US-Israeli operation against Iran, dubbed Epic Fury, shows an unmanned aerial vehicle on a runway at an unknown location [File: Reuters] The US prevented an imminent attack ‘within a week’ on US and allies Trump also asserted that the US had to strike Iran because Tehran had been preparing to attack the US, though neither the US president, nor anyone else in his administration, has presented any evidence to back the claim. “Within a week, they were going to attack us, 100 percent. They were ready,” Trump said. He also claimed that Iran had missiles aimed at neutral Middle Eastern nations, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which ultimately sided with the US. “I think they were looking to take over the Middle East, because when you look, and we have pretty good proof, all of those missiles were… aimed at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE,” he added. Trump celebrated the killing of leadership He celebrated the killing of several Iranian leaders, stating that they are “gone” and that “nobody has any idea who the people are that are going to lead that country”. He connected this speech to his first-term operation that assassinated Qassem Soleimani, whom he called the “father of the roadside bomb”. Soleimani was the longtime commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Quds Force, and was widely seen as a key architect of Iran’s regional network of allied groups. ‘We haven’t won enough’ Trump said the US could now declare its military campaign against Iran a success, but the US is going to go further. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” Trump said. “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all. Forty-seven years, it should have been done a long time ago,” he added. Trump looks from the stage after delivering remarks to members of the Republican Party, at Trump National Doral Miami in Miami [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters] ‘Disappointed’ Mojtaba Khamenei is Iran’s new supreme leader Trump says ⁠he is “disappointed” that ⁠Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei, as the supreme leader of the country. Advertisement “We ⁠think it’s going ⁠to lead to just more ⁠of the same problem ⁠for ⁠the country,” Trump said. When asked ⁠whether the new ⁠leader had a target on his back, Trump said it ‌would be “inappropriate” to say. Israel has said it will attempt to assassinate any new Iranian leader chosen to replace Ali Khamenei. Trump had earlier declined to provide details about his plans for dealing with Mojtaba Khamenei. “Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump threatens to hit Iran harder if it blocks energy supplies

Trump threatens to hit Iran harder if it blocks energy supplies

NewsFeed US President Donald Trump threatened to escalate attacks on Iran if it disrupted global oil supplies, saying “they’ll get hit at a much, much harder level.” Published On 10 Mar 202610 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)