US President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop producing penny coins, presenting it as an effort to cut down on government spending.

For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents.

This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” he added.

The so-called Department of Government Efficiency — a cost-cutting initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk that has helped slash federal spending — highlighted the cost of producing pennies in a post on X in January.

Debates about the production cost of pennies are not new in the United States, with several bills having been introduced in Congress that have failed to pass.

Trump’s order would likely require lawmakers’ approval but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies, economics professor Robert Triest of Northeastern University wrote in January.

Prices would likely be rounded to the nearest five cents if pennies are removed, Triest said.

Canada announced in 2012 it was eliminating pennies from its coinage system, citing a production cost of 1.6 cents each and its falling purchasing power because of inflation.

Trump has made cutting the federal budget a prominent part of his new administration, with Musk’s DOGE team being tasked with investigating government spending.

It is promise fulfilled as Venezuela on Monday sent two planes to bring undocumented migrants back from the United States, days after it came to an agreement with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Recall that immediately Trump made his order to flush out irregular migrants, Venezuela promised to provide planes for it’s citizens.

The planes were on their way home, a foreign ministry statement said, after President Nicolas Maduro — keen for an end to crippling US sanctions — agreed with a visiting Trump envoy to accept the return of deported migrants and offered to provide the transport.

The government had been notified by the United States, the statement added, that some of the deportees were suspected of having ties to the Tren de Aragua gang or other criminal groups.

It did not specify how many Venezuelans were being brought home.

The day after Maduro met US envoy Richard Grenell in Caracas on January 31, Trump announced the South American country “has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the US, including gang members of Tren de Aragua.”

“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.

Grenell had traveled to Caracas despite Washington having not recognized Maduro’s reelection in a vote last year he is widely accused of stealing.

The envoy returned home with six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela.

It was not clear what Caracas had gained from the talks, after which Maduro called for a “new beginning” in bilateral relations.

Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history, vowing to expel millions of undocumented immigrants, many from Latin American nations.

…. cautions Israel on Gaza move

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has firmly stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot displace Palestinians from Gaza as they are not immigrants.

Netanyahu had agreed with US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace all Palestinians residing in Gaza.

Trump’s proposal is to take over the Gaza Strip, resettle Palestinians elsewhere, and create a “Riviera of the Middle East”.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed its appreciation for the widespread condemnation of Netanyahu’s remarks by other countries.

Saudi government emphasized its categorical rejection of such statements, which it believes aim to divert attention from the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Kingdom highlighted that the Israeli occupation’s extremist mentality fails to understand the emotional, historical, and legal connection between the Palestinian people and their land.

The statement also highlighted the devastating impact of the Israeli occupation on Gaza, where over 160,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed or injured.

The Kingdom affirmed the Palestinian people’s right to their land and rejected the notion that they can be expelled at the whim of the Israeli occupation.

The Saudi government also reiterated its commitment to the two-state solution as the only path to lasting peace.

The statement reads: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates the condemnation, disapproval and total rejection announced by the brotherly countries towards what Benjamin Netanyahu stated regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land and the Kingdom values the positions that emphasize the centrality of the Palestinian issue to the Arab and Muslim countries.

In this context, the Kingdom stresses its categorical rejection to such statements that aim to divert attention from the continuous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are subjected to.

“The Kingdom also points out that this extremist, occupying mentality does not understand what the Palestinian land means to the brotherly people of Palestine and their emotional, historical and legal connection to this land, and it does not think that the Palestinian people deserve to live in the first place, as it has completely destroyed the Gaza Strip, killed and injured more than 160,000, most of them children and women, without the slightest human feeling or moral responsibility.

“The Kingdom affirms that the Palestinian people have a right to their land, and they are not intruders or immigrants to it who can be expelled whenever the brutal Israeli occupation wishes.

“The Kingdom notes that the proponents of these extremist ideas are the ones who prevented Israel from accepting peace by refusing peaceful coexistence, rejecting the peace initiatives adopted by the Arab countries, and systematically practicing injustice towards the Palestinian people for more than 75 years, with disregard to the truth, justice, law and the values established in the United Nations Charter, including the human’s right to live in dignity on his land.

“The Kingdom reiterates that the right of the Palestinian People will remain firmly established and no one will be able to take it away from them no matter how long it takes.

“The Kingdom also asserts that lasting peace will not be achieved except by returning to the logic of reason and accepting the principle of peaceful coexistence through the two-state solution.”