President Donald Trump's restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programs around the world may be offering an opening to America's biggest adversary — China.

From the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trump's drastic "America First" moves have raised concerns among some lawmakers and experts about whether the U.S. is ceding global influence to its rivals, especially at a time when Washington is fretting over Beijing's growing clout at the cost to American interests.

Winson Lau has always had contingency plans. But he wasn't prepared for data centers.

Lau relies on water and electricity to operate his thriving export business in Malaysia's Johor province. His contingency plans in the event of an outage involve an intricate system of purifying wastewater through friendly bacteria and an alarm system to quickly switch to backup power.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it is open to a new loan agreement with Lebanon following discussions with its recently-appointed finance minister.

Wall Street is flirting with a record again as U.S. stock indexes creep higher on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading and just above its all-time closing high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 59 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

Japan's economy grew at a better-than-expected annual rate of 2.8% in October-December, underlined by steady exports and moderate consumption.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the world's fourth largest economy grew 0.7% for its third straight quarter of growth, the Cabinet Office reported Monday in its preliminary data.

The mineral ilmenite is extracted from mounds of sand deep in the earth and refined using a method that summons the force of gravity, resulting in a substance that glimmers like a moonlit sky.

Ukraine boasts vast reserves of ilmenite — a key element used to produce titanium — in the heavy mineral sands that stretch for miles along the country's embattled east.

Global shares traded mixed on Monday as investors continued to watch economic data and policy moves from U.S. President Donald Trump, as both are likely to impact upcoming central bank moves.

France's CAC 40 dipped nearly 0.1% in early trading to 8,171.59, while Germany's DAX added 0.4% to 22,560.00. Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 8,742.97.

China's President Xi Jinping met with private sector business leaders on Monday, offering them assurances that policies regarding the private sector would not change, state media reported, as government officials work to revive an economy disrupted by a pandemic, regulatory crackdowns and a real estate crisis.

Among those present was Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who was part of a focus on a crackdown on the tech industry in recent years.

Germany hasn't seen significant economic growth in five years. It's a stunning turnaround for Europe's biggest economy, which for much of this century had expanded exports and dominated world trade in engineered products like industrial machinery and luxury cars.

So what happened?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals because the document was too focused on U.S. interests.

The proposal, which was a key part of Zelensky's talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks.