Argentine President Javier Milei secured a decisive victory Sunday in midterm elections, expanding his control of Congress and giving his government fresh momentum to push forward with deep spending cuts and sweeping free-market reforms.

The result gives Milei’s libertarian movement a boost and marks another sharp turn for one of Latin America’s largest and most volatile economies.

Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, won about 41.5% of the vote in Buenos Aires province, a historic upset in a region long dominated by the Peronist opposition. The rival coalition took 40.8%, according to figures cited by Reuters and The Associated Press.

Nationwide, La Libertad Avanza increased its seats in the lower house from 37 to 64, positioning Milei to more easily defend his vetoes and executive decrees that have defined his economic agenda.

‘The result is better than even the most optimistic Milei supporters were hoping for,’ Marcelo Garcia, Americas director at the risk-analysis firm Horizon Engage, said in comments reported by Reuters. ‘With this result, Milei will be able to easily defend his decrees and vetoes in Congress.’

Political consultant Gustavo Cordoba told Reuters the outcome reflected a cautious optimism among voters who appear willing to give Milei’s economic policies more time.

‘Many people were willing to give the government another chance,’ Cordoba said. ‘The triumph is unobjectionable, unquestionable.’

Reuters reported that inflation has fallen from 12.8% before Milei’s inauguration to 2.1% last month. His government has also posted a fiscal surplus and pushed through broad deregulation measures — a dramatic reversal after years of economic turbulence.

According to The Associated Press, the U.S. government under President Donald Trump offered Argentina a $40 billion aid package, including a $20 billion currency swap and a proposed $20 billion debt-investment facility, after tying future U.S. support to Milei’s performance in the midterms.

Investors reacted positively to the results. Reuters reported that Argentine bonds and stocks are expected to rally as Milei’s stronger hand in Congress gives him the political capital to accelerate his reforms

Milei called the election ‘a turning point for Argentina,’ according to AFP via the Times of Israel.

In a political environment where little is agreed upon, there stands one exception: China. That country is cited by nearly every national security expert as the No. 1 geopolitical threat to the U.S. The question is how to coexist without being codependent, how to compete without conflict, and how to protect American producers and consumers while China plays by its arbitrary rules.

No sooner had a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping been announced before China threatened U.S. access to rare earth minerals. The U.S. countered by threatening an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports.

Most Americans could not conjure why China would make such a provocative move after both presidents agreed to meet. Surely, the Chinese government must know Trump would react. Xi has been the leader of China for well over a decade with no sign of relenting.

Conversely, Trump is nearly a year into his final term in office. China has always played the long game, assuming Americans lack the will to wait out a prolonged contest. China thinks patience will win — that Americans can’t sustain pressure. It may wind up being surprised that patience is an overrated virtue and how quickly this administration can act.

The Trump administration has already resolved conflicts around the globe, as evidenced by its history-defying peace agreement in the Middle East. The administration has used tariffs and the threat thereof to increase revenue for the U.S., balance the trade playing field and reposition the U.S. for increased domestic manufacturing.

It has been clear about the threats posed by Venezuela, repositioned our relationship with Colombia, opened dialogue between Israel and moderate Arab states, bombed Iranian nuclear ambitions and closed a porous border. All of that in less than a year.

The conflict left to be resolved is in Eastern Europe, and the ‘white whale’ among outstanding trade agreements is China. The two are interconnected. While the U.S. was trying to isolate Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, China was providing both military and economic assistance to Russia.

Next on the administration’s agenda is ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine and negotiating a trade agreement with China that can withstand the reality that the problematic forces within today’s Chinese Communist Party aren’t going anywhere.

Even if Xi steps down or his power wanes, there is no Chinese equivalent to America’s 22nd Amendment — no constitutional limit to the number of terms or years a leader can serve. That means Beijing’s leadership can remain in power indefinitely, which is a central pillar of the Communist Party’s strategy. The United States must live with that reality and yet negotiate from a position of strength to achieve our interests.

While recent reports suggest Xi’s grip may be weakening amid internal purges and speculation about dissent within the Chinese Communist Party, history teaches such reports are often exaggerated. And even if Xi were to fall, his successor would continue the long-term authoritarian policies that define modern China.

China perceives time and our democratic system as allies in its strategy. The key is to make Beijing recognize Trump’s impatience with that country’s malingering and duplicity is not a weakness but rather a threat to their own interests.

The administration’s China pressure strategy isn’t confined to tariffs. It extends to the technological front, where the next great battles for global power will be fought.

The Trump administration has already resolved conflicts around the globe, as evidenced by its history-defying peace agreement in the Middle East. 

Recognizing that China’s dominance in communications and artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to U.S. security, the Trump administration has moved to aggressively end Beijing’s control of critical infrastructure.

For example, the Department of Justice has taken decisive steps to counter the dominance of Huawei, a company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, over global telecommunications. Huawei still controls the global telecom market (and, by extension, the AI and 5G future) and has repeatedly been found by the Department of Defense and our security agencies to include backdoors and security vulnerabilities.

To level this playing field, the Trump administration — working together with U.S. intelligence officials — approved the HPE-Juniper merger, giving America a credible competitor and a real chance to out-innovate China while securing critical communications infrastructure.

There were opponents to this merger — both the usual suspects and a few new ones. Democrat attorneys general, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser — are crying foul but doing so without access to any of the information necessary to make an informed decision. Too often, visceral disdain for the president has supplanted a reasoned consideration of national security realities.

When the president perceived national security threats in the computer chip realm, he took the unprecedented step of teaming with Intel. Unconventional? Yes. But these are not traditional times, and the next conflicts will not be waged in conventional terms.

While progress has been made both practically and in principle with China, more remains to be done, which is why the president and his economic, trade and national security teams are willing to meet with China. Next may come tightening export controls on other sensitive technologies and strengthening military partnerships in the Indo-Pacific to deter Chinese ambitions.

Beijing has watched Trump re-invigorate NATO, end several wars, impose tariffs and meet intended pain with imposed pain. Beijing has seen patience when warranted, power when called for, and an overarching preference for peace.

While recent reports suggest Xi’s grip may be weakening amid internal purges and speculation about dissent within the Chinese Communist Party, history teaches such reports are often exaggerated. 

Do not mistake diplomacy for weakness or discussion for a lack of resolve. Trump can make peace, level the playing field, stop intellectual property theft, punish currency manipulation and allow for healthy, fair competition, even among perceived opponents.

The fact that someone seeks peace does not mean he isn’t preparing for a world without it. China would be wise to know that while democracy limits a person’s time in office, it does nothing to deter the speed with which actions can be taken to preserve that democracy.

President Donald Trump shot down speculation that he would run as a vice presidential candidate in 2028, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that Republicans already have ‘great’ prospective candidates.

Trump made the statement during a gaggle with reporters on Sunday, brushing off questions about whether he would fully pursue such an option. Trump pointed to Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as two potential successors, while denigrating potential Democratic candidates as ‘low IQ.’

‘We have great people. I don’t have to get into that, but we have one of them standing right here. We have JD, obviously. The Vice President is great. Marco is great, I think. I’m not sure if anybody would run against those. I think if they ever formed a group, it would be unstoppable,’ Trump said.

‘They have Jasmine Crockett, a low IQ person. They have AOC’s low IQ. If you give her an IQ test, have her pass, like, the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed. I took those very hard, they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against him,’ he continued.

‘The first couple of questions are easy. A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn’t come close to answering any of those questions,’ he asserted.

Asked about whether he would run as vice president in 2028, Trump noted that he would be ‘allowed to do that,’ but he called the plan ‘too cute.’

‘Is it the White House, or the White House counsel’s, or your legal position, I guess, that you could do that?’ a reporter pressed.

‘You’d be allowed to do that, but I wouldn’t do that. I think it’s too cute,’ Trump responded.

Trump’s comments come as he flies across Asia meeting with world leaders in a five-day tour this week. The president landed in Japan early Tuesday morning, and he is expected to meet with newly-elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo. Takaichi is Japan’s first female prime minister.

Trump also confirmed on Sunday that he would be open to meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un during his visit to South Korea.

President Donald Trump said he’d be willing to extend his trip abroad to Asia if North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to meet with him.

‘But I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet. I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him, he liked me,’ Trump said during a gaggle on Air Force One.

When asked if he’d extend his trip in order to meet with the North Korean figure, Trump indicated that he would be willing to do so.

The president had previously noted during a prior gaggle aboard Air Force One that he would be open to meeting with Kim Jong Un.

‘I got along very well with him,’ he said of the foreign leader.

North Korea is one of the few nations around the globe armed with nuclear weapons.

During his first term, Trump met with Kim Jong Un several times.

He even made history as the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea.

In late September 2017, Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, once the darling of the Women’s March and the self-declared face of the ‘resistance’ against Donald Trump, was facing mounting criticism for antisemitic remarks and her embrace of extremist views. 

But, beaming in a photograph taken on a city sidewalk, Sarsour appeared unfazed, her iconic fist pumped in the air as she knelt shoulder-to-shoulder with campaign volunteers for City Council candidate Khader El-Yateem. The photo was posted by El-Yateem on the Facebook page he used to promote his campaign, which he lost, but among the smiling faces was a young organizer named Zohran Mamdani.

That photo would mark the start of a carefully constructed political project that, in less than a decade, would propel a now-34-year-old socialist newcomer to the precipice of running America’s largest city – even while campaigning with radical imams, some of whom have supported terrorists and terrorist financiers.

A Fox Digital investigation reveals that Mamdani’s rise was no accident. It was engineered.

A database of 110 groups backing Mamdani exposes a tight inner circle of organizations that identify as Muslim or socialist, working hand-in-glove with 76 Democratic Party affiliates, allied groups and unions. Particularly important in this political machine are two networks – Sarsour’s MPower organizations and another constellation of groups called Emgage, with which she works closely.

The organizations have been generously funded. In total, billionaire George Soros’ Open Society philanthropies have given MPower and Emgage nearly $2.5 million in recent years, according to tax filings. 

‘We fund a range of civil society organizations that work to deepen civic engagement through peaceful democratic participation, counter discrimination including against Muslim Americans and advance human rights,’ a spokesperson for Open Society Foundations told Fox News Digital. ‘The grants that you cite all occurred years before the mayoral race, and we are a nonpartisan organization that does not fund political candidates and their campaigns.’

Mamdani, Sarsour and the groups supporting Mamdani’s campaign didn’t return requests for comment.

MPower and Emgage have been part of a tight inner circle of 30 ethnic and religious groups, that also includes CAIR Action, the 501(c)(4) political wing of the 501(c)(3) Council on American-Islamic Relations nonprofit, the Islamic Circle of North America,’ ‘Muslim Action Coalition,’ Yemeni American Merchants Associations Inc., the ‘Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group’ and ‘Desis Rising Up and Moving.’ They have pumped up Mamdani’s campaign with social media campaigns, canvassing, voters and buzz.

Altogether, they have annual revenues of about $24 million, and they have worked to promote Mamdani’s campaign with endorsements, fund-raising, social media campaigns and canvassing.

The result: a carefully constructed political career that mainstreams the socialist goals long embraced by Sarsour and fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

It’s a machine that is expressing itself in races from New York to Virginia, Minnesota, Texas and California with MPower and Emgage aligning with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic Party to propel candidates who may share their views. In a campaign called ‘Defend and Advance,’ Emgage SuperPac is pushing Mamdani and Democratic Virginia Lt. Governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi as its ‘star candidates.’

Emgage’s ‘Defend and Advance’ roster of supported candidates and office holders includes Dearborn, Mich., Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.

‘I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,’ Hammoud recently told a Christian pastor who objected to a proposal to name a street in honor of a local man who had allegedly praised terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. ‘And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.’

Emgage’s donations include $175,000 from a group little-noticed by political observers but important in Islamist circles: Sterling Charitable Gift Fund, based in Herndon, Va. It is part of a network of groups that FBI agents raided in 2002 as part of wider investigations into the funding of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. Federal prosecutors ultimately didn’t file criminal charges against any officials at Sterling Charitable Gift Fund.

Over almost a decade, Sarsour and her allies have orchestrated a network of well-financed and tightly connected socialist activists, radical imams, political organizers and nonprofit organizations funded with millions of dollars by major philanthropies, including Foundation to Promote Open Society, the Ford Foundation, Macarthur Foundation and the Tides Foundation.

The confluence of big philanthropy, partisan operatives and clerical authority has helped drive Mamdani’s ascent. Its architecture combines nonprofit activism with faith-based politics and the precision of a professional campaign operation. 

‘To the casual observer, Zohran Mamdani’s rise might appear meteoric – a story of grassroots energy and demographic change in America’s largest city,’ said Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American Muslim who is running against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, with Omar supported by the same kind of political machine being unleashed to propel Mamdani to office.

‘The data, the money trail and the affiliations, from the Democratic Socialists of America to the Islamists, tells a different story.’

‘Mamdani’s ascent is the product of deliberate design: a sophisticated collaboration between socialist activism and Islamist organizing, lubricated by millions in foundation grants and political donations and normalized through a revolving door of political operatives and nonprofits who embrace Islamists, the destruction of the state of Israel and hostilities to the police, the U.S. and the West,’ Al-Aqidi said.

The timeline of Mamdani’s rise tracks precisely with the growth of this network. In 2012, as a student at Bowdoin College, in Maine, he cofounded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the campus organization known for its rabid anti-Israel activism. By 2017, he was canvassing for El-Yateem’s campaign with Sarsour’s mentorship.

In 2018, Mamdani formally entered Sarsour’s orbit through the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, an organization she co-founded in 2013 to mobilize Muslim voters and elect progressive Democrats to local office. The Muslim Democratic Club of New York served as both incubator and amplifier for Sarsour’s political brand, one that fused progressive politics with an explicitly Islamist social identity. By December 2018, Mamdani joined the board, in an announcement in which the group said, ‘Help build Muslim power across the city with us!’

With his new role, Mamdani gained access to an emerging infrastructure of influence: voter lists, donor networks and organizing muscle that would later power his campaign to a seat on the New York General Assembly. The Muslim Democratic Club endorsed Mamdani.

Around that time, Sarsour was building her own empire, founding MPower Change as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit housed at Neo Philanthropy Inc. Public filings show MPower Change took in at least $2.4 million between 2017 and 2024, the latest year available, with Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society giving her organization $1.125 million and the Macarthur Foundation funneling her $450,000. It would become a flagship digital organizing hub for not just Sarsour but Mamdani. 

Meanwhile, Emgage Action was expanding its footprint nationally. Also backed by the Open Society network, Emgage Action received a share of $42.5 million that Soros’ foundations pledged to Muslim, Arab and South Asian civic groups beginning in 2021. It has received $1.8 million from the Open Society Policy Center and another $1.35 million from the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Together, MPower Change and Emgage created an unprecedented financial and political ecosystem, leveraging big philanthropy’s dollars and digital strategy to elevate candidates like Mamdani under the banner of Muslim empowerment.

In 2020, Mamdani won his first election to the New York State Assembly, with Sarsour’s explicit endorsement and fundraising help.

By 2020, Mamdani was being featured in Sarsour’s #MyMuslimVote summit, promoted by MPower Change as the face of a new generation of unapologetic Muslim progressives. By this year, his campaign for mayor became the culmination of that project — backed by PAC money, boosted by clerical endorsements and legitimized by an activist ecosystem that had spent a decade grooming him for this very moment.

To push Mamdani toward the helm of the nation’s biggest city, the network extended far beyond activist circles. Central to Mamdani’s political ascent was a series of carefully cultivated relationships with clerics with some troubling views.

In January, Mamdani courted Imam Muhammad Al-Barr of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, visiting his mosque just months after Al-Barr had publicly prayed to ‘annihilate’ Israel.

In May, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the longtime imam of Brooklyn’s Masjid At-Taqwa, personally donated $1,000 to the Unity and Justice Fund. More recently, Mamdani met with Wahhaj and called him ‘one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community.’

Wahhaj, who served as a character witness in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the ‘Blind Sheikh’ later convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has a long history of calling for the exploitation of America’s democracy to further a conquest for Islam.

‘You don’t get in politics because it’s the American thing to do,’ he said in a videotaped 1991 sermon. ‘You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.’ 

Wahhaj has also denounced the U.S. government as ‘controlled by Shaitan,’ the Arabic word for the devil, urged Muslims not to befriend ‘non-believers,’ condemned homosexuality as ‘a disease of this society,’ and supported Islamic laws that punish sex outside of marriage with 100 lashes and stoning. In 2011, Wahhaj urged Muslims to donate to the legal defense of the since-convicted Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist dubbed ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ for attempting to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Over the years, Wahhaj’s sermons have praised ‘jihad’ without ‘a gun,’ called for an Islamic America governed by sharia law and urged the creation of an ‘army of 10,000 men in New York City.’

Other imams now backing Mamdani’s mayoral run have also been controversial. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, a cleric leading the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, co-founded the Muslim Alliance in North America, alongside Wahhaj. In 2005, Abdur-Rashid publicly defended Rafiq Sabir, an American doctor who joined al Qaeda and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In 2008, Abdur-Rashid defended Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian American professor whom the U.S. later deported to Turkey for ‘conspiring to provide services’ to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Still in the U.S., Al-Arian’s wife joined the anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University.

In September, Mamdani appeared as the special guest speaker at Abdur-Rashid’s annual gala. A month earlier, Muslim Association of North America’s social media featured Abdur-Rashid visiting Wahhaj’s mosque, underscoring the continued collaboration between the two imams.

In Manhattan, Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic Center at New York University, has been another prominent Mamdani backer. Latif publicly endorsed Mamdani on Facebook in June, calling him ‘a bearer of compassion in a time where it is far too rare.’

In 2012, Latif led a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that included Omar Mateen, who would later murder 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest anti-LGBTQ attack in U.S. history. He has denied radicalizing Mateen and he hasn’t faced the same type of allegations that surround the other imams.

For many Muslim political organizations backing Mamdani, these clerics are not liabilities but assets, serving as trusted gatekeepers to the city’s growing community of Muslim voters.

After Mamdani visited Wahhaj’s mosque earlier this month, he tweeted out a photo of the two with the caption: ‘Pleasure to meet Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.’ When a firestorm ensued, several allies rose to his defense: Sarsour, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the leaders at Emgage Action.

Sarsour shared a selfie with Mamdani, beaming, like they did back in 2017, and wrote, ‘May Allah continue to bless and protect you.’

A defiant Wa’el Alzayat, the executive director of Emgage Action, sent out a dispatch to followers on Tuesday, amid criticism for their political work, promising, ‘We are in this for the long haul.’

Back in Minnesota, Al-Aqidi closely watched the defense of Mamdani.

‘For over a decade, Linda Sarsour and her network of allies have built the Mamdani machine piece by piece: the institutions, the donors, the narratives and now, the candidate. There was no way they were going to throw him under the bus for one photo with one imam whom they happen to love,’ said Al-Aqidi. ‘Mamdani is the fresh face of a radical coalition, and I hope New Yorkers will reject him. Win or lose, one fact remains undeniable. His rise was not spontaneous. It was engineered and the machinery behind it is only getting stronger.’

Al-Aqidi said; ‘I hope New Yorkers will shut the Mamdani machine down.’

President Donald Trump is shifting his attention to key allies Japan and South Korea as his Asia tour enters its next phase, with trade, regional security and military cooperation expected to top his agenda this week.

Trump’s five-day Asia tour will include talks with Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo and a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the final stop in South Korea.

The trip comes at a time of renewed uncertainty in the region, with North Korea ramping up missile tests and China asserting greater control in the South China Sea.

Economic ties are expected to play a central role in Trump’s meetings, with trade imbalances, technology cooperation and energy security topping the agenda. The administration has signaled an interest in expanding semiconductor and critical minerals partnerships with Japan and South Korea to counter China’s dominance in global supply chains.

The Trump administration said Sunday that the world’s two largest economies are close to reaching an agreement to avert a new 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods, with both sides expected to meet in person soon.

‘President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100% tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’

Before heading north, Trump began his trip in Malaysia, where he was greeted with traditional music and dancing, even joining performers in celebration. 

He also oversaw the signing of a peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand on Sunday, a development viewed as a key step in reducing regional tensions and bolstering U.S. diplomatic influence in Southeast Asia.

As part of the agreement, Thailand agreed to release 18 Cambodian soldiers held captive and for both countries to begin removing heavy artillery from their shared border. The Thai prime minister called the signing of a ceasefire deal ‘the building blocks for a lasting peace,’ and Cambodia’s prime minister described the events as a ‘historic day.’

‘We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,’ Trump said. 

The White House has framed the trip as a showcase of Trump’s foreign policy approach: ending conflicts, striking deals and reasserting U.S. leadership abroad.

President Donald Trump discussed the results of a recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan he had with reporters on Air Force One while on his way to Tokyo on Monday.

‘It was perfect, yeah,’ he said. ‘I mean, I gave you the full results. We had an MRI and the machine, you know, the whole thing. And it was perfect.’

Trump, 79, was the oldest person to be inaugurated as U.S. president when he retook the White House in January, and he is the second-oldest person to serve as U.S. president.

Earlier this month, the president’s doctor said Trump was found to be in ‘exceptional health’ following a ‘routine’ semiannual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said Trump ‘remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.’ 

Barbabella also said Trump received updated COVID-19 and flu shots in preparation for international travel.  

The medical checkup was Trump’s second this year. He had a similar exam in April, during which his physician stated that he ‘remains in excellent health.’

In July, the president was diagnosed with a vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. At the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had noticed ‘mild swelling’ in his lower legs and was evaluated by the White House medical unit.

Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when veins in the legs struggle to allow blood to flow back up to the heart.

Leavitt also attributed bruising on the president’s hand to ‘frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,’ which Trump takes as part of a ‘standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.’

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Reuters contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump kicked off the week meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and closed out the week jetsetting to Asia. And at home, the White House launched constructing its new ballroom — much to the ire of many Democrats. 

Trump said construction started Monday and that the project would be funded privately. The project is estimated to cost $300 million, up from the $200 million estimate first provided in July when the project was unveiled. 

‘For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway — with zero cost to the American Taxpayer!’ Trump said in a social media post. ‘The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!’

Still, the project has faced criticism as the White House’s historic East Wing was completely demolished. The wing has served as the official entrance to the White House, and is designated as space for the first lady. 

On Monday, Trump signaled he wants to expedite outfitting Australia with nuclear submarines under the trilateral agreement between the U.S., Australia and the U.K. that seeks to enhance Australia’s submarine force to deter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The agreement, known as AUKUS, stipulates the U.S. will sell up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia that are scheduled for delivery as soon as 2032. The deal also outlines that Australia and the U.K. will work to build additional attack submarines for Australia’s fleet.

However, Trump told reporters that he is looking at equipping Australia with the submarines soon, when asked if he was interested in speeding up the process.

‘Well we are doing that, yeah … we have them moving very, very quickly,’ Trump told reporters Monday.

However, Trump also said that he didn’t believe the deal was necessary to undermine China.

‘I don’t think we’re going to need it,’ Trump said about the trilateral agreement. ‘I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that. First of all, the United States is the strongest military power in the world by far. It’s not even close, not even close. We have the best equipment. We have the best of everything, and nobody’s going to mess with that. And I don’t see that at all with President Xi.’

Meanwhile, Trump departed for Asia Friday, as he is slated to meet with Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The meeting comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries, which escalated when Beijing announced Oct. 9 it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets. Rare earth magnets are used in products ranging from electric cars to F-35 fighter jets. 

As a result, Trump said the U.S. would impose a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods, which is slated to take effect Nov. 1.

However, Trump has sought to neutralize tension, and has regularly spoken highly of his relationship with Xi in recent weeks. Additionally, he has said he believes a deal will be reached between the two countries.

‘I think we are going to come out very well and everyone’s going to be very happy,’ Trump said Thursday.

Trump and Xi have not met in person since Trump took office in January. Their last meeting took place in June 2019 in Japan.

Trump will also visit Malaysia, Japan and South Korea as part of the trip.

Trump also met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday, just after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and after calling off a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said that he didn’t want a ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin in Hungary, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump didn’t see enough progress toward peace from Russia.

‘We canceled the meeting with President Putin,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Rutte Wednesday. ‘It just it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it. But we’ll do it in the future.’

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for painting himself as a victim because he is a Muslim, saying the rival mayoral candidate has spent his campaign offending 9/11 families, Jews and various other groups of New Yorkers. 

‘He claims that he is the victim of attacks because he is a Muslim. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is not a victim, he is the offender,’ Cuomo said Saturday. ‘This entire campaign, he has been dividing and attacking and offending different New York groups.’

While speaking at an event in which he received the endorsements of several faith leaders, Cuomo lambasted Mamdani, who he called his ‘main opponent.’ Cuomo listed a number of groups he says have been hurt by Mamdani, including Jews, Blacks, Italians, members of the LGBTQ community and even some Muslims.

Cuomo first addressed the Jewish community, saying Mamdani had hurt it ‘in a truly painful way.’ The former governor recounted a recent interaction with a Jewish New Yorker who said he was afraid of wearing a Star of David in the city. In 2023, the UJA-Federation of New York said in a report there were just over 1.3 million Jews living in New York City. 

He then took issue with Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ which many see as a call for violence against Jewish people. Mamdani has faced criticism for his refusal to condemn the phrase early in the mayoral race.

The former governor also said his opponent, who could become New York City’s first Muslim mayor, hurt the Sunni Muslim community by advocating for the decriminalization of prostitution. Cuomo added that, according to the Quran, prostitution is haram, which means ‘forbidden’ in Arabic.

After condemning Mamdani’s gesture toward the Columbus statue and invoking its offense to Italian Americans, Cuomo broadened his criticism. He pointed to a photo of Mamdani with a Ugandan official who backs harsh anti-gay laws, framing it as an affront to the LGBTQ community.

He didn’t stop there. Mamdani’s friendship with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said ‘America deserved 9/11,’ also drew scrutiny from the former governor.

‘You offend 9/11 families. You offend every New Yorker because 9/11 was an attack on all New Yorkers, and it traumatized all New Yorkers. So, no, he’s not the victim. He is the offender, and he has done a great deal of damage,’ Cuomo said.

On Friday, Mamdani accused Cuomo of using ‘Islamophobic rhetoric’ after the former governor joined a radio show in which the host said Mamdani would be ‘cheering’ if New York City faced another 9/11-style attack.

‘While my opponents in this race have brought hatred to the forefront, this is just a glimpse of what so many have to endure every day across the city,’ Mamdani said. ‘And while it would be easy for us to say that this is not who we are as a city, we know the truth. This is who we have allowed ourselves to become.’

Cuomo and Mamdani also took several jabs at each other on Wednesday night during the final debate of the NYC mayoral race. Mamdani focused on Cuomo’s past scandals, such as the sexual harassment allegations that led to his abrupt exit from office. Cuomo, on the other hand, blasted self-proclaimed socialist Mamdani over his lack of experience and past anti-law enforcement statements.

New Yorkers began casting their ballots Saturday and have until Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. to decide which of the three candidates — Cuomo, Mamdani or Republican Curtis Sliwa — will be the next to lead America’s most populous city.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Saturday said he won’t waste time meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin again unless a deal on the war in Ukraine is likely.

‘I’m going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after taking off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, when asked about securing a meeting with Putin. ‘I’m not going to be wasting my time. I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing.’

He said he thought the war in Ukraine would have been resolved ‘long before’ the peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

‘We have Azerbaijan and Armenia. That was very tough,’ Trump added, referring to the peace summit he hosted at the White House between the two countries last summer.

He continued, ‘In fact, Putin told me on the phone, he said, ‘Boy, that was amazing,’ because everybody tried to get that done, and they couldn’t. I got it done. You had others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I’ve already done, I thought would have been more difficult than Russia, than Ukraine, but it didn’t work out that way.’

‘There’s a lot of hatred between the two, between [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and Putin, there’s tremendous hatred.’

Earlier this week, Trump said he had called off a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest to discuss the war because he saw it as a ‘waste of time.’

Trump announced the Budapest meeting last week, saying it could happen within the next two weeks.

He also announced sanctions against Russia this week.

Trump and Putin last met in Alaska in August, but no deal was reached following the summit.

Trump met with Zelenskyy last week at the White House, where he seemingly denied Ukraine’s request for Tomahawk long-range missiles. 

The president also said that in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week he wants a ‘complete [trade] deal.’ 

‘I want our farmers to be taken care of, and he wants things also,’ Trump said. ‘We’re going to be talking about fentanyl, of course. Fentanyl is killing a lot of people, a lot people. It comes from China, and we’ll be talking a lot about that. We’ll be talking about a lot things. I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal.’