Category: Security

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

Representatives of closed Asian societies without free press on Monday welcomed the U.S. administration’s decision to halt broadcasts by Voice of America and freeze funding to Radio Free Asia, while democracy activists and dissidents expressed disbelief and dismay.

China’s state-backed Global Times published an editorial focusing on VOA which it called “a lie factory” and “a thoroughly biased propaganda poison.”

“The so-called beacon of freedom, VOA, has now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag,” it said.

In a Facebook post, former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is Senate president and the father of the current premier, called the closure of U.S.-funded “propaganda” outlets “a major contribution to eliminating fake news, disinformation, lies, distortions, incitement, and chaos around the world.”

Meanwhile, human rights activists in some of the world’s most repressive countries spoke out in support of what they see as “beacons of hope” and upholders of the truth.

“There’s something I will remember forever … When my mother was told I’d be released after having served my sentence, she was sitting outside on the patio the whole day to wait for me. The first sound of my voice she heard was on Radio Free Asia and that made her cry out loud,” Le Quoc Quan, a Vietnamese dissident lawyer who served 30 months in prison and who now lives in the United States, recalled on Facebook.

‘Significant setback for the democracy’

Another Vietnamese democracy activist, who spent seven years in jail on subversion charges, said RFA and Voice of America had freed his thinking from the strictures of communist rule before he was imprisoned.

“These two stations played a pivotal role in helping me break free from the propaganda and indoctrination of the Communist Party of Vietnam, shaping my beliefs and actions,” Nguyen Tien Trung wrote from exile in Germany.

The discontinuation of RFA and VOA “represents a significant setback for the democracy and human rights movements in Vietnam, China, Asia, and globally,” he wrote.

“Communist parties in China and Vietnam will dominate narratives unchallenged, preventing Asian audiences from hearing alternative perspectives – stories of democratic progress, freedom, and the dignity that comes from respecting human rights.”

An executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump late Friday called for the reduction of non-statutory components of the United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, the federal agency that funds RFA, VOA and several other independent global news organizations that broadcast in more than 60 languages.

VOA Director Michael Abramowitz wrote Saturday that virtually the entire staff had been placed on administrative leave.

Staff at RFA were still working Monday and the Washington-based news organization has yet to announce how the funding freeze would impact operations.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said it was “devastating to lose Radio Free Asia from the media landscape in Asia.”

“RFA has many courageous reporters who shone a light on rights abuses that authoritarian governments would prefer to hide,” she said in a social media post. “This is a gift to abusive governments in the region.”

RFA covers some of the countries in Asia where press freedom is the most restricted, including China, North Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. It sends news in 10 languages through text, social media, radio and television.

Chinese journalist and human rights activist Gao Yu said in a post on X that authorities had warned her against talking to VOA and RFA.

“This made me realize that these two American media outlets are what the Chinese Communist authorities fear the most,” she said. “This is undoubtedly a moment that the Chinese Communist regime will celebrate.”

A fan of RFA’s Cantonese service, the main language spoken in Hong Kong, where opposition politicians and Western governments say political freedoms have been severely curtailed, expressed disappointment about the possible closure.

“I read your RFA Cantonese news every day. You’re doing a great job! It’s such a pity for it to end like this. I hope there’s a turnaround. Keep going!” said the poster, identified as Lukacat Lime.

Messages of support from Cambodians, Burmese

Thousands of messages of support for RFA and VOA flooded Khmer-language internet forums, with readers and listeners expressing their dismay.

“Khmer people need help because if there is no RFA or VOA we don’t know which news we can listen to,” a woman named Sokra wrote.

The United States and other countries have criticized the suppression of democracy in Cambodia in the years since the U.N.-organized an election in 1993, hoping to heal the decades of conflict and genocide after Cambodia became embroiled in the Vietnam War.

“The news of the potential shutdown is devastating,” said Viriya Lim, another RFA Khmer listener.

“Your reporting has been a crucial source of truth and information for so many. Please know that your efforts have made a real difference, and we are incredibly grateful for your service,” Lim wrote on RFA Khmer’s Facebook.

In Myanmar, where successive generations have struggled to throw off military rule, people expressed their appreciation for RFA.

“Because my father listened to RFA early in the morning and late at night since I was young, so I knew about the dictatorship, democracy, civil society organizations and different countries,” Moe Aung wrote on Facebook.

“I will always give thanks to RFA. I pray you continue to stand.”

In South Korea, Ha Tae-kyung, a three-term lawmaker and vocal critic of North Korea’s woeful human rights record, said it felt as if Washington was undermining its standing by shutting RFA and VOA.

“These organizations have been dedicated to North Korean human rights and democratization for decades,” said Ha. “It takes decades to build a well-constructed tower but only a single day to bring it down.”

Beijing’s criticism

The Chinese government did not immediately react to Friday’s executive order. But the Global Times editorial took aim at VOA, claiming that its independence and credibility “have long been questioned and criticized.”

“Known for stirring up conflicts, inciting social divisions, and even participating in regime change efforts, VOA is widely recognized as Washington’s carefully crafted propaganda machine for peaceful evolution, earning itself a notorious reputation on the global stage,” the Global Times said.

It mentioned RFA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, too, saying that the organizations’ primary function is “to serve Washington’s need to attack other countries based on ideological demands.”

Hu Xijin, a top Chinese propagandist and former Global Times editor, praised the decision, calling RFA “malicious toward China” and the funding cut “greatly satisfying.” He shared his remarks on his WeChat channel, which quickly spread across Chinese state-owned media outlets like iFeng.com and other Chinese social media platforms.

Those remarks were amplified on social media by China’s army of nationalistic “little pink” commentators, who have started targeting VOA’s Chinese and Taiwanese journalists, posting their photos and accusing them of doing “dirty work” and being “yellow-skinned with white hearts.”

On Monday, an op-ed from Beijing Daily, a state-owned media outlet, mocked the shutdown of RFA, RFE, and VOA declaring, “The ‘beacon of freedom’ has collapsed.” and “U.S. hegemony will eventually perish under global condemnation.

Some journalists working for Chinese media, such as Andy Boreham at the state English-language newspaper Shanghai Daily, said the prospect of RFA having to lay off staff over funding cuts was “excellent news.”

The New Zealand-born journalist labelled RFA “one of the U.S.’s most insidious anti-China propaganda outlets.”

RFA is funded by the U.S. Congress but retains full editorial independence from the government. All editorial staff are expected to conduct themselves professionally and ethically and promote the highest standards of journalism.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

Authorities in Myanmar forcibly recruited more than 70 young men from a single town in the south-central Ayeyarwady region, residents said Monday, as the junta launched a new round of training for the country’s draftees.

It’s the latest round-up under Myanmar’s military service law, which the junta began implementing last April as a way of shoring up its dwindling ranks amid mounting losses to rebel groups.

On March 14, junta troops in Ayeyarwady’s Mawlamyinegyun township arrested more than 70 men — including some as young as 17 years old — and sent them to depots in the Yangon region to take part in the 11th round of military training, residents told RFA Burmese.

The arrests were carried out by troops from the junta’s 534th Infantry Battalion based in Mawlamyinegyun, said one resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

“Young people in the villages are too afraid to sleep at home at night due to fear of conscription,” he said. “Soldiers are forcibly arresting them. The local battalion is carrying out the arrests, and at times, parents have no idea where to look for their children [after they are taken].”

The identities of the young men were not immediately clear, and RFA was unable to independently verify who was taken in the dragnet.

Attempts by RFA to contact Khin Maung Kyi, the junta’s spokesperson and social affairs minister for the Ayeyarwady region, for comment on the situation went unanswered Monday.

The forced recruitment comes after residents of Ayeyarwady’s Hinthada, Laputta, and Kangyidaung townships last month said that several young men fled the area after they were summoned by name for conscription, instead of an earlier used lottery system.

Administrators targeted over draft

Under the mandatory military service law, men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve a minimum of two years in the military. Young people have been looking for ways to leave the country ever since the law was enacted.

Many new recruits have been sent for training after being detained at gunpoint by junta troops. They face torture or execution if they are caught trying to escape.

In late February, rebels in Myanmar’s Bago region assassinated two local administrators who forcibly recruited civilians for military service, residents and other sources said, bringing the number of officials killed for their involvement in carrying out the draft to at least 110.

Prior to the incidents, the latest killing of an administrator for their involvement in military recruitment was that of Than Htwe, of Khwet Ma village in Magway region’s Minhla township, who was shot dead on Feb. 15.

Between February and September 2024, anti-junta forces killed 108 ward and village administrators involved in recruiting, compiling name lists and extorting money for military service, according to data compiled by RFA.

To commemorate the bravery and sacrifices of Vietnam War veterans, Humane Pennsylvania unveiled a piece of art, “Memories of Herb,” at the Berks County Etchberger Veterans Affairs Center in Wyomissing on Jan. 16.

This unveiling is a celebration of art’s power to preserve history and honor the legacies of veterans. Members of the community, local veterans and supporters were invited to attend this event.

“We are tremendously privileged to receive and permanently display this amazing tribute to those who fought and sacrificed for our nation in and around Vietnam,” Berks County Veterans Affairs Director Jay Ostrich said in the announcement of the unveiling. “Our commitment to our Vietnam veterans continues to prioritize welcoming them home, and ensuring they receive the thanks they so richly deserve, which is something they didn’t properly receive when they first came back.”

The artwork, created by Vietnam War veteran and artist Gary Wanner, stands 32 inches tall and vividly captures the destruction and heroism of the Battle of Kontum on March 26, 1968.

This pivotal moment in history saw the first use of a flamethrower in combat, which resulted in significant loss and sacrifice. The piece tells the story of Herb Appleby, a soldier who fought alongside Gary during this harrowing battle. Herb saved Gary’s life by shielding him from shrapnel, and despite his own injuries, Gary managed to save Herb as well.

The battle claimed 19 lives and left 51 soldiers wounded.

Gary has been a dedicated supporter of Humane Pennsylvania’s Art for Arf’s Sake Auction for years, contributing his powerful and emotive works to the cause.

In 2023, Memories of Herb was one of the most sought-after pieces in the auction. Instead of allowing one bidder to win the piece, it was decided to use it as a way to raise funds in support of Humane PA’s veterans programs.

Coincidentally, the 2023 auction took place on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Through the generosity of donors, the artwork has found its rightful home at the Berks County Etchberger Veterans Affairs Center, where it will serve as a tribute to the courage and resilience of those who served.

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(c) 2025 Berksmont News

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A lithium-boron project on Friday closed on an almost $1 billion loan from the Department of Energy.

Ioneer Limited is receiving a $996 million loan from the DOE through its Loan Programs Office under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program to support on-site processing of lithium-boron at its Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, according to a news release from the company.

“The need for domestically sourced and processed lithium and boron has never been greater,” said James Calaway, executive chairman of Ioneer Limited, in a statement. “The United States requires Rhyolite Ridge and more projects like it if we want secure domestic critical mineral production. It’s as simple as that.”

The loan is $968 million principal and $28 million in capitalised interest. This is an increase from LPO’s first loan principal in January 2023, which was a conditional commitment of up to $700 million.

The goal of the loan is to strengthen the United States mineral supply chain, create rural jobs and “rebalance the global supply of lithium and boron production and processing currently dominated by China and Turkey,” Ioneer Limited said in a news release.

Lithium mine Rhyolite Ridge, the largest known lithium and boron deposit in North America, is expected to be under construction this year and take 36 months, with first production starting in 2028. The mine will power around 370,000 electric vehicles per year, create around 500 construction jobs and 350 jobs during the mine’s life cycle.

The lithium mine is expected to be “state-of-the-art,” recycling half of all water use and avoid the use of evaporation ponds to limit water used during operations.

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© 2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal

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This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

Ukraine said its military struck three long-range artillery guns supplied to Russia by North Korea, underlining the extent of the authoritarian Asian nation’s involvement in Russian efforts to defeat the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kursk.

The Ukrainian military said Wednesday that an aerial reconnaissance unit from the 14th Separate Drone Regiment identified the M-1978 howitzers hidden among trees and coordinated fire from Ukrainian rocket artillery.

“The M-1978 Koksan self-propelled artillery system is North Korea’s longest-range tubed artillery. Equipped with a 170mm gun, it has a range of up to 60 kilometers,” the unit said on its official Telegram channel.

“The system was originally designed with the capability to strike Seoul from the north of the demilitarized zone. Now, the Russian Armed Forces are using it in the war against Ukraine to offset their artillery losses,” it said.

As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Kursk in an August counterattack, according to the U.S. and Ukraine. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged their presence.

Evidence also has mounted that impoverished North Korea has supplied weaponry to Russia, likely to offset Russian artillery losses.

In February, Ukraine reported that its drone squad struck a North Korean self-propelled howitzer in the Luhansk region of Ukraine.

The Khortytsia, or east, group of forces said it was the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that a “very rare” North Korean M-1978 Koksan howitzer had been hit by a Ukrainian drone.

A troop formation with North Korean equipment was spotted in Russia’s Tyumen region in December. It had 10 modernized Koksan howitzers known as the M-1989.

South Korea said in October that the North had sent about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia over the previous two months, bringing the total number of containers at that point to 20,000.

The Washington Post this week cited Ukrainian soldiers and officials as saying that a fresh influx of North Korean troops along with air superiority, and overwhelming numerical advantage enabled Russia to recapture the town of Sudzha last week, Ukraine’s final stronghold in Kursk.

The heavy reliance on North Korean forces and equipment to reclaim nearly the entire Kursk region after seven months of Ukrainian control highlights the Kremlin’s determination to regain lost territory at any cost, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Since the signing of a mutual defense treaty in Pyongyang in June, North Korea and Russia have deepened relations across various sectors.

A Russian delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, visited North Korea last week, holding meetings with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu.

The North’s state media did not provide details, but the two sides were expected to discuss defense matters related to North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia amid a U.S.-proposed ceasefire for the war.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

The North Korean army is ordering soldiers to stop scrounging the streets for cigarette butts to smoke even as commanders keep some of the soldiers’ monthly cigarette rations for themselves, members of the country’s military told Radio Free Asia.

The subject was broached during a video conference of the General Political Bureau of the army on March 14, a member of the military in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“The meeting very seriously discussed the issue of lax discipline among commanders and soldiers,” the military member said, adding that desertion and theft were also brought up as examples of lax discipline.

“At this meeting, soldiers were strongly warned against picking up cigarette butts,” he said. “It was officially declared that any soldier caught picking up cigarette butts on the street would be punished with revolutionary labor for at least three months,” a reference to getting the toughest chores.

According to the military member, people sifting through cigarette butts to salvage unsmoked tobacco is a recent problem, but it’s a breach of decorum for a uniformed soldier to do it.

“Each soldier is provided with 15 packs of cigarettes per month, but the commanders take them all up. So, the soldiers are left picking up the butts because they don’t have any cigarettes to smoke,” he said.

“In the past, it was just the lower-ranked soldiers who looked for butts, but now even the higher-ranked soldiers are doing it too.”

Cigarette rations have declined, another member of the military from the same province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“In the case of the border guards, each soldier used to be supplied with 15 packs of Baekseung-brand cigarettes per month, but since last fall, they have only been supplied with 10 packs,” he said.

“After the commanders skim off the top, the soldiers are left only 7 packs per month,” he explained.

He said that every afternoon the leaders of the border guards send two soldiers to go collect cigarette butts because every unit has a shortage of cigarettes.

“Even the border guard units, which are supposedly well-supplied, is in this state, and situations are much worse with other infantry units,” the second source said. “What is more troubling is that this year, even female soldiers have been spotted out on the streets, picking up cigarette butts.”

Male units of the border guard are after the tobacco, but the female guards are after the filters, which contain cotton that can be used to make clothes or ceremonial blankets for newlyweds, a customary gift at weddings, he said.

So the women — who aren’t allowed to smoke at all — trade the tobacco they collected in exchange for the filters that the men collected. With the money they get for selling the filters, they buy food for their unit.

“The supply chain for soldiers is in such a sad state that soldiers are selling cigarette butts for food,” he said. “I wonder if threats like revolutionary labor can even work against these soldiers.”

Two heavyweight arch rivals in the world of Bay Area workforce-management startups are locked in a legal battle with one accusing the other of planting a spy within its ranks, and claiming in a federal lawsuit filed Monday that it caught the alleged mole after baiting its rival with a trap.

When the alleged corporate spy was handed a court order to preserve his phone and all its data, he fled to a bathroom and locked himself in. Despite being told through the door that deleting data from his phone would break the order, he purportedly answered, “I’m willing to take that risk.” Then he fled the premises, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by San Francisco-headquartered Rippling against chief competitor Deel.

Rippling claimed in the lawsuit that competitor Deel, also based in San Francisco, committed “a brazen act of corporate theft.” Deel “cultivated a spy” inside Rippling in a “deliberate attack” to steal trade secrets and other sensitive information, the lawsuit in San Francisco U.S. District Court claimed. Rippling is accusing its rival of fraud, conspiracy, racketeering, trade-secrets misappropriation, and unfair competition, and is seeking unspecified damages.

A Deel spokesperson called the lawsuit’s claims “sensationalized” and said, “We deny all legal wrongdoing and look forward to asserting our counterclaims.”

Reported valuations of the two private companies indicate this is a battle between rival “decacorns,” a term coined after so-called unicorn tech companies worth $1 billion or more became commonplace. Rippling said in April 2024 it was valued at $13.5 billion, and Deel in 2022 claimed a $12 billion valuation, putting both companies in the $10 billion-and-up decacorn category. Dueling announcements last year by Rippling and Deel, each calling out the other by name, testify to the pointed competition between the two companies.

Rippling, the lawsuit said, unwittingly hired the alleged spy as a manager in 2023 because he was experienced in global payroll systems. The man, identified only by the initials “D.S.” for being an alleged “Deel spy,” had access to Rippling’s internal messaging, and to its database with confidential information about current and prospective customers, the lawsuit said.

But last month, a hunt by Rippling for a suspected leaker turned up suspicious searches by D.S. on Rippling’s Slack messaging platform, the lawsuit alleged.

The man, based in Rippling’s Dublin, Ireland office, started searching for the word “deel” in November 2024 “at an unprecedented rate, sometimes more than 20 times a day,” the lawsuit claimed. Often, D.S. used “preview” mode to conceal the searches from colleagues, the lawsuit alleged.

The Slack channels D.S. viewed had nothing to do with his job, but instead concerned “all aspects of Rippling’s business development, sales, and customer retention strategies” plus “competitive intelligence concerning Deel” that could be “exploited to Deel’s advantage,” the lawsuit claimed.

Between November and this month, D.S. downloaded information from Slack about prospective clients more than 1,300 times, and viewed or downloaded data about Rippling’s existing customers more than 600 times, the lawsuit alleged.

The “spy” also stole key proprietary information about sales leads, Rippling’s sales procedures, and “its entire playbook for pitching prospective clients,” the lawsuit claimed.

Rippling — led by CEO Parker Conrad, who previously led Bay Area insurance-tech startup Zenefits until resigning in 2016 after reports of in-office boozing and employee sex in a stairwell — laid a trap, the lawsuit said.

Early this month, Rippling’s head lawyer sent a letter to three people: Deel’s board chair, its head of U.S. legal affairs, and an employment lawyer at a law firm used by Deel, the lawsuit said. Included in the letter was a fabricated screenshot of a message from Rippling’s chief revenue officer Matt Plank referring to a non-existent Slack channel named “d-defectors” to suggest it was for use by former Deel employees employed at Rippling.

“Rippling believed this would be extremely interesting to Deel,” the lawsuit said.

Deel, the lawsuit claimed, “took the bait.” Within hours after the letter was sent, D.S. began searching Slack for the non-existent channel, and for Plank’s name, the lawsuit alleged.

“The results of Rippling’s honeypot operation left no doubt: Deel’s senior leadership or those closest to them were directing D.S.’s actions, in furtherance of Deel’s business interests and to harm Rippling and its customers,” the lawsuit claimed.

Rippling had a “smoking gun,” but worried that if it confronted D.S. directly, he and Deel would erase allegedly incriminating evidence, the lawsuit alleged. So on March 12, Rippling obtained a court order in Ireland “directing seizure and inspection of D.S.’s phone,” the lawsuit said. The court ordered that the alleged spy must hand over his phone to an independent lawyer, in advance of a hearing to determine whether Rippling could access the device’s data, the lawsuit said.

The lawyer showed up at Rippling’s Dublin office, handed the order to D.S. and explained that he must relinquish his phone. At first, D.S. said the device was in a bag on another floor, but the bag contained only a notebook, the lawsuit alleged. The alleged spy, Rippling believes, had the phone on his person, and locked himself in the bathroom “seemingly in order to delete evidence,” the lawsuit claimed.

What became of D.S. and his phone after he allegedly “stormed out of the office and fled the scene” is not made clear in the lawsuit.

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Consumers aren’t turning to comfort foods like Lucky Charms or Chex Mix to quell their economic anxieties, forcing General Mills to enter cost-cutting mode.

“Our imperative is to get back to growth,” CEO Jeff Harmening said. “It’s very clear to us we have an opportunity to improve the way we go about our business and become more efficient and effective. And our employees have told us that.”

On Wednesday, the Golden Valley-based company reported a lackluster winter quarter and lowered financial expectations. The cereal maker isn’t alone in its grim outlook, as many businesses that rely on discretionary spending are managing expectations, including other Minnesota companies like Sun Country Airlines and Target.

The lingering effects of inflation still have shoppers turning to store brands and other cheaper alternatives, even as General Mills invests in price reductions.

So the frozen dough manufacturer is looking for ways to cut $100 million in costs starting this summer, though it declined to provide more specifics beyond that. Earlier this month, the company ended its internal G-Works innovation program and paused new investments through its 301 Inc. corporate venture arm.

“The purpose of the $100 million-plus in cost savings is to free up resources to invest in growth,” Chief Financial Officer Kofi Bruce told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday.

The money saved will need to go back into marketing and promotions, something the company has seen success with in Totino’s, Pillsbury and Blue Buffalo.

“Our categories are growing,” Harmening said. “The most important job we have to do is get back to being competitive.”

The company’s snacking business has also flagged as consumers focus more on grocery staples and less on non-essential treats like Gushers. But Harmening isn’t attributing that to the uptick in Americans on weight-loss drugs.

“Consumers, even those on GLP-1s, still want stuff that tastes good,” he said. “They just want them in the right portions.”

On top of continued price sensitivity, the food industry at large is also facing a new hostility from federal regulators. Harmening was among the food executives who met with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this month.

“I’m actually pleased he wanted to have a dialogue,” Harmening said. “When it comes to the health of the American people, he has an interest, and so do we. The fact that we can work together, I think, is a huge positive.”

General Mills now expects sales for the fiscal year that ends in May to drop 2% compared with the previous outlook of flat to slight growth. Earnings per share will also fall as much as 8%. That forecast doesn’t include higher costs from tariffs, which could further dent the bottom line.

About 90% of the oats used in Cheerios and Nature Valley products come from Canada, and those are now subject to a 25% tariff.

“For this fiscal year, we don’t anticipate a material impact from tariffs,” Harmening said. “As we get into the future, it’s a little bit tough to say what impact we’re going to see.”

He said White House officials have been receptive to the idea that there isn’t enough domestic supply of oats to meet the company’s needs. Already, the Trump administration has provided tariff relief for potash imports, a key fertilizer ingredient.

However, counter tariffs Canada has placed on American goods could hurt General Mills’ exports, Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery wrote. Global steel and aluminum import taxes could also increase the cost to make Progresso soups.

For the third fiscal quarter that ended in February, General Mills’ sales dropped 5% to $4.8 billion. Profits fell 7% to $625 million but beat analyst expectations.

A big part of the sales drop came from retailers drawing down inventories, an issue seen across the industry. But it will take smart investments on marketing and discounts to pick up the pace through the long term, analysts said.

“The consumer remains stretched. They remain value-seeking, and that’s a trend we’ve seen over the past couple of years, and that continues to be the case,” said Edward Jones analyst Brittany Quatrochi. “They may be even more value-seeking now.”

Still, General Mills’ stock price was down a bit more than 2% at market close Wednesday, thanks to the lowered outlook.

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© 2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune.

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President Donald Trump and multiple administration officials have denied reports that Tesla CEO and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk received a Friday briefing on the Pentagon’s potential war plans with China.

Asked about Musk’s meeting on Friday at the Pentagon, Trump told reporters, “He’s there for DOGE, not there for China, and if you ever mentioned China, I think he’d walk out of the room.”

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Musk was planning on visiting the Pentagon on Friday for a meeting with administration officials. The outlet cited two U.S. officials who claimed that the meeting would involve a briefing regarding the U.S. military’s potential plans for war against China in the event of a future conflict.

Three defense officials told NBC News on Friday that Musk was scheduled to receive a briefing at the Pentagon and that China would be one of the topics discussed; however, the officials did not confirm whether the meeting would address potential war plans. Additionally, two of the defense officials told the outlet that the briefing was expected to be unclassified.

READ MORE: Video: Pentagon cuts $580 million in ‘wasteful spending’

Addressing reports of Musk’s meeting at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said The New York Times article was a ‘fake story” meant to “sort of undermine whatever relationship the Pentagon has with Elon Musk.”

“We welcomed him today to the Pentagon to talk about DOGE, to talk about efficiencies, to talk about innovations,” Hegseth added. “It was a great, informal conversation. The rest of that reporting was fake. There was no war plans, there was no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans.”

TRUMP: “Elon Musk was at the Pentagon today to address costs, a thing called DOGE.

PETE: “Elon Musk is a patriot. He provides a lot of capabilities our government and our military rely on and I’m grateful for that. We welcomed him today at the Pentagon to talk about DOGE.” pic.twitter.com/kbnol1mIVL

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) March 21, 2025

In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump slammed The New York Times for publishing another “Fake News” story.

“They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China,’” Trump stated. “How ridiculous?’ China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!”

In a Thursday post on X, formerly Twitter, Hegseth confirmed that the Pentagon would be “welcoming” Musk on Friday; however, the secretary of defense said Friday’s meeting was “NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans” but was an “informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”

Additionally, Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, confirmed in a post on X that The New York Times story was “100% Fake News” and was “Just brazenly & maliciously wrong.”

Legislation that would allow people to carry a concealed handgun in North Carolina without a permit is moving forward quickly, having cleared one committee Tuesday and being scheduled for another on Wednesday.

Current state law allows people over 21 to carry concealed handguns only after they obtain a permit from their sheriff’s office that involves completing a firearms safety and training course and passing a background check. Senate Bill 50 would remove the permit and training requirements and lower the age after which concealed carry is legal without a permit to 18.

The bill would still keep the permitting system in place “for the purpose of reciprocity when traveling in another state, to make the purchase of a firearm more efficient, or for various other reasons.”

Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican who is one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said the permit requirement is unnecessary and doesn’t stop criminals from using guns, but instead infringes on the rights of responsible gun owners.

Much of the discussion among lawmakers over the bill during Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee focused on the current permitting process.

Britt and other Republican sponsors of the bill said the approval of concealed carry permits can be arbitrary and take months. They also questioned whether the safety training that is currently required to obtain a permit is necessary.

Supporters say permit requirement infringes on constitutional rights

Asked what problem the bill is trying to solve, Britt said that people have a constitutional right to be able to carry a concealed handgun for their protection “without having to jump through the hoops that you do for a concealed carry permit.”

Britt pointed to, as an example, a victim of domestic violence who may want to start carrying a handgun to protect themselves and keep it concealed “because they don’t know where that next attack might occur.”

In response to another question about why the bill lowers the age after which concealed carry is legal from 21 to 18, Britt said lawmakers wanted to match that to current law that allows open carry in the state after 18 as well.

Democrats, speaking against the bill, said that if the current permitting process is flawed or takes too long at certain sheriff’s offices, lawmakers should be focused on fixing it instead of removing the requirements that people undergo training and a background check.

Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, a Charlotte Democrat, said that getting rid of the permit requirement would make the jobs of police officers more dangerous, and lead to more officer deaths.

“You don’t ever know what type of person you’re going to be interacting with,” Mohammed said of traffic stops and other situations police officers find themselves in every day. “You don’t know if someone’s had a bad day, you don’t know if someone’s been involved in a road rage incident.”

Raleigh police officer tells committee permits keep people safe

A number of gun safety advocates also spoke against the bill, as did Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead. The committee also heard from Hattie Gawande, a Raleigh police officer who attended Tuesday’s meeting with a few other members of her patrol squad.

Gawande, who said she was only speaking for herself and not the Raleigh Police Department, told lawmakers that the permit requirement currently in place keeps police officers and the public safe by allowing officers to “intervene when someone dangerous is carrying concealed and shouldn’t be.”

She gave the example of a 911 call she responded to this past Sunday, when she said a woman returning home with her baby reported “two strange men in her apartment parking lot,” one of whom had a gray handgun tucked in his pants.

Gawande said the men saw the woman had a baby with her and walked away. When she located them a few blocks away, she noticed the handle of the gun. The man with the concealed gun ran away when he saw her patrol car.

Under current law, Gawande said, she could have pursued the man and detained him on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, confiscate the gun, “and if the situation warranted, arrested him for the concealed carry violation.”

“Law-abiding North Carolinians get the permit and carry openly; criminals do not,” Gawande said. “If this bill passes, when the same situation occurs again, I have to just let them go.”

Where the concealed carry bills go from here

After clearing Tuesday’s committee, SB 50 will next be taken up by the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday afternoon. That’s the final stop for the bill before it can get a vote by the full chamber. That’s likely to happen, since the bill this year has the backing of Senate leader Phil Berger.

Lawmakers in the House have filed their own bill that would also allow concealed carry of handguns without a permit.

A similar bill filed by House Republicans in 2023 appeared to have enough support to advance that year and quickly passed two committees ahead of a key legislative deadline, but was ultimately pulled.

House Speaker Destin Hall, meeting last week with gun rights advocates who have been calling for the permit requirement to be done away with, said he believes the House GOP is close to ready to move their bill forward as well.

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