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China has a message for Trump: the US won’t stop its rise

As US President Donald Trump ratcheted up economic pressure on China over the past week, Beijing sent back its own message: Its rise won’t be interrupted.

A major political meeting taking place in the capital was the ideal backdrop for Beijing to respond. The “two sessions” gathering of China’s rubber-stamp legislature and its top political advisory body is where the government reveals its plans and sets the tone for the year ahead.

The top item on its priority list? Boosting consumer demand to ensure China doesn’t need to rely on exports to power its vast but slowing economy. And the next: driving forward leader Xi Jinping’s bid to transform the country into a technological superpower, by ramping up investment and enlisting the private sector.

Beijing is making these moves as it prepares for what could be a protracted economic showdown with the United States. Trump doubled additional tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20% on Tuesday and has threatened more to come – as well as tighter controls on American investment in China.

“We can prevail over any difficulty in pursuing development,” China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang told thousands of delegates seated in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People at the opening meeting of the National People’s Congress Wednesday. The “giant ship of China’s economy” will “sail steadily toward the future,” he said.

A foreign ministry spokesperson was more direct when asked about trade frictions on Tuesday: “If the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war, or any other kind of war, China will fight till the end,” he told reporters.

Members of China’s political advisory body, known as the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, attend a meeting on March 4.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

And while Beijing’s priorities – and rhetoric – may echo those of years past, this time they are coming from a country that is starting to regain its swagger after being battered by its own Covid restrictions, a property sector crisis and by a tech war with the US.

“Confidence” has been an unofficial buzzword of the weeklong event, which ends Tuesday. It was used nearly a dozen times during a press conference held by China’s economic tsars on Thursday, splashed across state media coverage and included in a pointed reminder – that “confidence builds strength”– during the closing lines of Li’s nationally broadcast speech.

That optimism might be more aspiration than reality. Many in China are looking to the future with uncertainty. They’re more willing to save than spend, while young people are struggling to find jobs and feeling unsure whether their lives will be better than those of their parents.

But unlike last year, the country is entering 2025 buoyed by the market-moving successes of Chinese firms and technology. And while Trump’s return has Beijing concerned about economic risks, it’s also eyeing opportunity for its own rise.

Confidence boost

This mood isn’t just percolating in the halls of power.

On the streets of the capital, gleaming homegrown electric vehicles weave through traffic, including those from carmaker BYD, which now goes toe-to-toe with Elon Musk’s Tesla for global sales – a reminder of China’s successful push to become a leader in green tech.

Then there’s the box office record-smashing animation “Ne Zha 2” and the breakout success of privately owned Chinese AI firm DeepSeek. Its large language model shocked Silicon Valley and upended Western assumptions about the costs associated with AI.

In Beijing this week, “you can ask DeepSeek” has been a playful and proud punchline in casual conversation.

“Last year, people may have been impacted by the US narrative that China is declining, that China has peaked,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University in Beijing. “We still have many difficulties. We still have many problems, of course, but it’s not that we’ve reached peak China.”

“China is developing quickly now and that’s attracted international attention, especially from the United States,” but that may not be a bad thing, said a medical graduate student surnamed Xia. “Trump’s increase on tariffs is competition … (and) if there’s no competition maybe China’s independent development is not sustainable.”

High stakes rivalry

But even as Chinese officials seek to project confidence, international observers say the economic stimulus measures announced this week show Beijing is girding itself for major challenges to come.

Premier Li alluded to that in his opening address. “The external environment is becoming more complex and severe, which may have a greater impact on the country’s trade, science and technology and other fields,” he said.

China doesn’t want to deal with that volatility while also grappling with a weak economy at home. That’s one reason why it’s trying to boost consumption and spur growth, setting an ambitious expansion target of “around 5%” this year. Beijing is also aware that trade frictions mean the economy needs to rely less on exports.

“It is likely that Beijing has thought through the scenarios of Trade War 2.0, but whatever happens, it is clear that China’s growth will have to rely more on domestic demand,” said Bert Hofman, a professor at the East Asian Institute at the National University Singapore and former World Bank country director for China, in a note.

Still, some analysts say Beijing’s initiatives are short on details and much less aggressive than needed to rev up the economy and boost consumer confidence.

“It adds up to a sense by the leadership that they want to refocus on growth and development, but still a desire to do only as much as necessary in terms of stimulus to get there,” said Michael Hirson, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

Xi may also be balancing this goal with another concern: a need to save some firepower to support the economy if China faces “a nasty four years dealing with Donald Trump,” he said.

A humanoid robot entertains the crowd at a robotics exhibition in eastern China’s Nanjing last month.
Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Beijing also wants to direct resources toward the high-tech transformation of its economy and industries. That’s another key part of the government’s 2025 agenda – and a long-term objective of Xi, who unlike US presidents is not subject to term limits on his leadership.

Beijing is pushing for innovations in AI, robotics, 6G and quantum computing, announcing a state-backed fund to support tech innovation and even welcoming foreign enterprises – in a significant tone shift for Xi – to play a role.

China is still smarting from the first Trump administration’s campaign to keep its tech champion Huawei out of global mobile networks and from the Biden administration’s efforts to convince allies to join it in cutting Chinese access to advanced semiconductors.

Last month, Washington said it was considering expanding restrictions on US investment in sensitive technologies in China.

But Beijing this week has also touted its confidence in advancing no matter the barriers.

“Be it space science or chip making, unjustified external suppression has never stopped,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters Friday. “But where there is blockade, there is breakthrough; where there is suppression, there is innovation.”

“We are witnessing an ever-expanding horizon for China to become a science and technology powerhouse,” he said.

The Trump threat?

How much Trump’s policies will challenge China remains an open and urgent question for Beijing.

The US president has refrained so far from slapping Chinese imports with the blanket 60% or more tariffs that he had threatened on the campaign trail.

He’s been focused elsewhere, including on unleashing sweeping changes to US global leadership by decimating US foreign assistance, threatening to take control of other countries’ sovereign territory, and upending US alliances in Europe, while pulling closer to Russia at the expense of Ukraine.

There are potential risks for Beijing in that shake-up. For example, if a Washington-Moscow rapprochement pulls Xi away from Russian President Vladimir Putin, his closest ally, or if an American dial-down of security in Europe allows it to ramp up attention on Asia.

But Chinese diplomats have also been taking advantage of the changes to play up their country as a responsible and stable global leader, despite criticisms of Beijing’s own aggressive behavior in Asia.

When it comes to tariffs, observers say Beijing is trying to moderate its response, holding out for a potential meeting between Xi and Trump or perhaps even a deal that could avert an escalating trade war.

A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas sails into a port eastern China’s Shandong province last month.
FeatureChina/AP

While China immediately retaliated against two sets of US tariffs this year, including with levies on US energy and key agricultural goods, it has remained measured in its reprisals.

The country’s deficit with the US means it will have less room to hit back if a trade war escalates, but Beijing is expected to be calculating other measures like export controls that it could use for leverage.

And the view from some parts is that even if tariffs cause the Chinese economy short-term pain, it will be the US which loses in the long run. China is still an indispensable part of global supply chains. It’s also better prepared to weather this trade war than the last one, because it’s sending goods to more markets globally now, data show.

“If you play (imposing tariffs) with a peer competitor, it actually would not work that well compared to if you’re doing this with small countries or medium powers,” said Zhou in Beijing, who is also the author of the forthcoming book “Should the World Fear China?”.

China, he said, wants cooperation not friction.

“But since the US is still the stronger side in this relationship, (it will) decide which kind of relationship this is … so China has to say ‘OK – if this has to be to be one of competition, then we must dare to fight,’” he said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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A US-run system alerts the world to famines. It’s gone dark after Trump slashed foreign aid

A vital, US-run monitoring system focused on spotting food crises before they turn into famines has gone dark after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) monitors drought, crop production, food prices and other indicators in order to forecast food insecurity in more than 30 countries.

Funded by USAID and managed by contractor Chemonics International, the project employs researchers in the United States and across the globe to provide eight-month projections of where food crises will emerge.

Now, its work to prevent hunger in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and many other nations has been stopped amid the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“These are the most acutely food insecure countries around the globe,” said Tanya Boudreau, the former manager of the project.

Amid the aid freeze, FEWS NET has no funding to pay staff in Washington or those working on the ground. The website is down. And its treasure trove of data that underpinned global analysis on food security – used by researchers around the world – has been pulled offline.

FEWS NET is considered the gold-standard in the sector, and it publishes more frequent updates than other global monitoring efforts. Those frequent reports and projections are key, experts say, because food crises evolve over time, meaning early interventions save lives and save money.

This screenshot shows the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) website on March 6, 2025.
From Famine Early Warning Systems Network

US Secretary of State Macro Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, has repeatedly said he has issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs, including food and medical aid.

“But very soon, if the food assistance does continue to flow, but FEWS NET is not there, then there isn’t any good mechanism, at least no internal mechanism within the US, to help determine where that assistance is most needed.”

“It serves the US government, but it also serves the rest of the humanitarian community too. So, its absence will be felt pretty much right away,” said Maxwell, a professor of food security at Tufts University and a member of the Famine Review Committee for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system.

The IPC, another mechanism to monitor food insecurity, is a global coalition backed by UN agencies, NGOs and multiple governments, including the United States.

While the two systems’ functions have become more overlapping in recent years to some degree, a key difference is that the IPC analysis for specific countries is conducted on a volunteer basis, while FEWS NET has full-time staff to focus on early warning of future crises.

Maxwell said that while there are other famine monitoring mechanisms, FEWS NET was the system that “most regularly updates its assessments and its forecasts.”

‘Decades’ of data taken offline

FEWS NET was created following the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, which killed an estimated 400,000 to 1 million people – and caught the world off guard. President Ronald Reagan then challenged the US government to create a system to provide early warning and inform international relief efforts in an evidence-based way.

The system going dark means that “even other governments that were using our [US] data to try to provide food relief to their own people can’t even access this,” said Evan Thomas, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“This is, at this point, quite petty – we’re not even spending money to host a website that has data on it, and now we’ve taken that down so that other people around the world can’t use information that can save lives,” Thomas said.

The team at the University of Colorado Boulder has built a model to forecast water demand in Kenya, which feeds some data into the FEWS NET project but also relies on FEWS NET data provided by other research teams.

The data is layered and complex. And scientists say pulling the data hosted by the US disrupts other research and famine-prevention work conducted by universities and governments across the globe.

“Imagine that that data is available to regions like Africa and has been utilized for years and years – decades – to help inform divisions that mitigate catastrophic impacts from weather and climate events, and you’re taking that away from the region,” Muthike said. He cautioned that it would take many years to build another monitoring service that could reach the same level.

“That basically means that we might be back to the era where people used to die because of famine, or because of serious floods,” Muthike added.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Russia is advancing in Kursk, threatening Ukraine’s sole territorial bargaining counter

Ukraine’s presence in Russia’s Kursk region has deteriorated sharply, with the advance threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining counter at a crucial time in the war.

Military bloggers from both sides say Ukraine is on the back foot – reports say Russian forces used a gas pipeline to launch a surprise raid in one area. Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said its forces had captured three more settlements.

Ukraine launched its shock incursion into Kursk in August, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.

As well as capturing land that could potentially be swapped for Russian-occupied territory, the campaign aimed to divert Moscow’s resources from the frontline east.

But since then, Ukraine has struggled to hold onto its territory in Kursk and faces a fundamentally transformed diplomatic picture, with US President Donald Trump piling pressure on Kyiv to agree peace by halting military aid and intelligence sharing.

Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers warn Kyiv’s hold on the region is more tenuous than ever, with Russian troops backed by North Korean forces launching incessant attacks.

The latest reports suggest Russia is targeting Sudzha, a town on the border, in an attempt to cut off a key logistical supply route to Ukraine’s forces.

Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian military blogger, said Russian forces had on Saturday entered Sudzha through a gas pipeline.

“The Russians used a gas pipeline to deploy an assault company undetected by drones and wedged themselves into our combat formations,” Butusov wrote. He added that the pipeline was now under reinforced surveillance and that Moscow’s troops there were being “eliminated.”

However, Butusov warned that Russian and North Korean troops in Kursk region are at a “significant advantage in strength” and are “attacking continuously.”

Some 12,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk, and their arrival has bolstered Russia’s offensive operations inside its own borders. Should Russia retake all of Kursk it could potentially pour its manpower into eastern Ukraine.

An unofficial Russian military blogger gave a similar account in the town of Sudzha, claiming that around 100 Russian soldiers had infiltrated the settlement after sneaking in via the pipeline – a move which he said was made possible after Kyiv shut off Russian gas supplies to the European Union via Ukraine on January 1.

Russian forces are attacking Sudzha from several directions, according to Yuriy Kotenok, a Russian military blogger.

“Any movements of the enemy in this area are detected by our drones and the enemy’s personnel and equipment are being struck,” he wrote on Telegram.

Kotenok also claimed that there is “information” that Ukraine is going to withdraw from the Kursk region, “based on the current situation.”

Sternenko, a Ukrainian blogger, said the logistics situation was “already critical.”

Another difficulty was the “poor conditions of the roads,” Sternenko said. With spring bringing warmer temperatures, the ground will thaw, making roads muddier and even harder to traverse, he said. “All these circumstances are very favorable to the Russians,” he added.

Kyiv’s fear is that Russia’s gains could cut off supplies to Ukrainian troops in Kursk. In a major report last month, the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, estimated that Ukraine has at most 30,000 troops stationed in the region.

The Kursk incursion was embarrassing for Moscow and raised questions over its ability to protect its own borders. Russian President Vladimir Putin has since repeatedly pledged his forces would regain full control of the region.

Kyiv has since lost about half of the territory it once occupied in Kursk.

In the face of Russia’s gains, some Ukrainian bloggers have suggested that the Kursk incursion may have exhausted its strategic value.

“I didn’t think I would ever say this. But maybe it’s time to ‘close the shop’ from the Kursk direction. It’s hard for our guys there,” said Serhii Flesh. “As a diversion of enemy resources, I think this operation has long since justified itself. As a political bargaining card, it is now questionable.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol freed from prison after canceled arrest

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was freed from prison on Saturday after a court canceled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for rebellion without being physically detained.

This comes after Yoon was arrested and indicted by prosecutors in January over his martial law decree on Dec. 3 — leading to political turmoil in the country — that the National Assembly voted to reverse just hours later. The National Assembly also voted to impeach him, resulting in his suspension from office.

Yoon was seen on Saturday waving his hand, clenching his fists and bowing to his supporters who were shouting his name and waving South Korean and U.S. national flags. He entered a black van to travel to his residence in Seoul.

In a statement, Yoon said he ‘appreciates the courage and decision by the Seoul Central District Court to correct illegality,’ in what appeared to be a reference to questions over his arrest. He also thanked his supporters and urged people who are on hunger strike against his impeachment to end it.

The Constitutional Court has been deliberating whether to formally dismiss or reinstate Yoon as president. If the court upholds his impeachment, an election for a new president will be held within two months.

The Seoul Central District Court said Friday it accepted Yoon’s request to be freed from prison, pointing to the need to address questions over the legality of the investigations of the president.

Yoon’s lawyers have argued that the investigative agency that detained him prior to his formal arrest lacked legal authority to probe rebellion charges.

The court in Seoul also said the legal period of his formal arrest expired ahead of his indictment.

Yoon’s release from prison came after prosecutors opted against appealing the ruling by the Seoul Central District Court. South Korean law allows prosecutors to continue to hold a suspect in custody as they pursue an appeal, even after the arrest is canceled by a court.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which led Yoon’s impeachment in December, criticized the prosecutors for their decision not to appeal, labeling them as ‘henchmen’ of Yoon, who is a former prosecutor general.

Democratic Party spokesperson Cho Seung-rae called on the Constitutional Court to dismiss Yoon as soon as possible to avoid further public unrest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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UN draft report on children in conflict zones raises eyebrows with framing of Israelis

The United Nations’ annual report on children in conflict zones isn’t set to come out until June, but the draft report obtained by Fox News Digital is already causing concern. The report excludes several examples of Israeli victims of the ongoing war, while lobbing accusations at the Jewish state.

Throughout the section of the report on Israeli and Palestinian children, there are instances of the U.N. conflicting verified and unverified data. Though the report admits that there is unverified data, it does not give any information on who was responsible for verifying the other figures. This lack of transparency leaves room to doubt the report’s accuracy.

‘We will not cooperate with a report that serves as a platform for baseless slander against Israel,’ Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement sent exclusively to Fox News Digital. 

The report claims that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) kidnapped a Palestinian girl. While it is stated that the incident was verified, the U.N. provides no information on who did the verification. There are also no details about the incident in the report. It does not say where the child was allegedly abducted or whether she is alive.

In one of its more egregious claims, the report accuses IDF soldiers of using 27 Palestinian children as human shields in the West Bank and Gaza. Once again, the report claims these cases have been verified but does not say who confirmed them. The use of human shields is not a known IDF practice, but it is something Hamas has been accused of doing for years.

‘There are reports of the use of human shields by Hamas’ Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip,’ the draft of the report reads.

There is another Hamas tactic that the U.N. appears to pin on Israel in its report — the use of schools and hospitals as military outposts. Both Israel and the U.S. have verified that Hamas used hospitals in Gaza for military purposes. 

In November 2023, just weeks after the war began, IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus posted a video tour of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza showing weapons caches, Hamas paraphernalia and ammunition scattered throughout the facility.

Israel is also slammed in the report for denying Palestinians humanitarian aid. However, there is no mention of Hamas and Palestinian armed groups looting aid trucks. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said in November 2024 that of the 109 aid trucks that crossed from Israel into Gaza, 97 were ‘violently looted.’

What the U.N. left out of the report is also telling. While it does say that two Israeli boys were killed in captivity in Gaza, it does not name Kfir and Ariel Bibas, nor does it mention that they were killed by their captors. Additionally, the draft report contains no mention of the 12 Druze children killed by Hezbollah rocket fire while playing soccer in northern Israel.

‘The secretary-general once again chooses to blatantly ignore the violence and harm done to Israeli children. Based on this report, Israeli lives do not matter and are not worthy of attention. Israel will not let diplomatic terrorism prevail,’ Ambassador Danon told Fox News Digital.

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Gaza plan criticized by US and Israel gets European support

A $53 billion Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza has garnered support from France, Germany, Italy and the U.K., after receiving pushback from the U.S. and Israel. 

‘The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises – if implemented – swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza,’ the foreign ministers wrote in a joint statement. 

The foreign ministers called for a post-war plan based on ‘a solid political and security framework,’ but reiterated the need for Hamas to not be able to govern Gaza. Additionally, the European leaders said that they are supportive of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) ‘central role’ in a post-war Gaza and ‘the implementation of its reform agenda.’

The $53 billion Egyptian plan was meant as a counter to President Donald Trump’s U.S. takeover idea and comes after Cairo rejected the idea of accepting displaced Gazans for ‘national security’ reasons. While Trump’s plan would resettle Palestinians outside the Strip, Egypt’s proposal focuses on Palestinian-led reconstruction efforts. 

Both the U.S. and Israel have rejected the Arab-backed plan for Gaza reconstruction. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said in a statement that the plan ‘fails to address the realities of the situation following October 7th, 2023, remaining rooted in outdated perspectives.’

Marmorstein’s statement also criticized the plan for its reliance on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). He says that both the PA and UNRWA ‘have repeatedly demonstrated corruption, support for terrorism, and failure in resolving the issue.’

While U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff called the plan a ‘good faith first step,’ State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that it ‘does not fulfill the requirements, the nature of what President Trump is asking for.’

Additionally, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes expressed concerns about the plan in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

‘The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable, and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance. President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas.’

Trump received heavy criticism last month when he suggested the U.S. take over Gaza during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu. Trump’s proposal would involve the relocation of Palestinians and turning the enclave into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’ 

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

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President Trump highlighting US military in a unique way

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The White House has always been the most noble stage to present some of America’s finest performers, including musicians, singers, composers and more, while presidents have always interjected their favorite styles, artists and genres into entertaining at the White House. And our current president is no different.  

One thing that President John F. Kennedy and President Donald J. Trump have in common is a love for musicals. It was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy who coined her husband’s administration the name ‘Camelot,’ due to President Kennedy’s love of the song. Fast-forward more than six decades and First Lady Melania Trump has reintroduced the connection of musicals to the White House, in what has recently become a viral subject on social media. 

President and Mrs. Trump have continued the tradition of hosting the nation’s governors at the White House during the National Governors Association’s annual winter meeting, which was held in late February. Instead of the customary review of the event being the unifying elements of bringing the nation’s governors together or the beautifully planned and executed candlelight dinner by the First Lady and the Executive Residence staff, and the stunning choice of Mrs. Trump’s Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo suit, much attention has been made to the selection of music performed by the United States Army Chorus.  

As the military chorus processed down the majestic red carpet of the Cross Hall of the President’s House into the East Room in their crisp uniforms surrounded by the audience of governors, cabinet officials and White House senior staff, the familiar sounds of ‘God Bless the USA’ and ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ from the iconic Broadway musical, ‘Les Misérables’ were brilliantly performed.  

Across a variety of media platforms, some have been quick to assume that the performance of the musical number had some sort of alternative meaning or was a protest by the military, assuming they had chosen the music. But, in actuality, the truth is, President Trump loves musicals and that particular song. Additionally, President and Mrs. Trump have a deep appreciation for highlighting our magnificent United States military, which is why they were selected to perform over an individual artist.  

By most accounts, President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first to invite the nation’s governors to dinner at the White House. According to an AP report, Johnson felt ‘the chief executives of the states and the chief executive of the federal system ought to work with the same information,’ a sentiment that still holds true today. It was the Nixons, enthusiastic entertainers, however, who turned the event into the modern-day Governors Ball, a beautiful black-tie evening, often with a receiving line, a formal dinner and after-dinner entertainment.  

In 1974, President Richard Nixon’s final year in office, the Governors Ball included one of the liveliest after-dinner shows of his White House tenure, courtesy of Pearl Bailey, one of the president’s favorite performers. The 50-minute performance was supposed to end with her hit ‘Hello Dolly.’ However, once the song had concluded, as Nixon went onto stage to thank her, Bailey began kidding him about his piano playing, reportedly saying: ‘You don’t play as well as I sing, but I don’t sing as well as you govern.’  

She then fast-talked him into playing the piano, and invited the president to choose his own song, but she protested when he played ‘Home on the Range.’ Eventually, the entire audience stood up and joined in a chorus of ‘God Bless America.’

Show tunes and great entertainment at the Governors Ball did not end with the Nixon administration. President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford had only planned on dancing in the East Room to the music of Mike Carney, a New York-based pianist, but it quickly took a livelier note, as did most Ford galas, thanks again to Pearl Bailey. Following dancing and music, Bailey treated and delighted the crowd to her vintage hits.  

Even the Carter administration, which was not known for its entertaining, put on a show to bring America’s governors together. In 1978, the Carter White House secured for the entertainment Beverly Sills, who was about to open a revival of ‘Merry Widow’ at the Metropolitan, and built the entire evening around her.  

 

The Washington Evening Star reported, ‘Sills transformed it into a truly elegant ball. In her turn-of-the-century style gown of ivory satin with giant leg-of-mutton sleeves, the soprano with the strawberry blonde hair began to sing the beautiful music of ‘The Merry Widow.’ Together with baritone Alan Titus, she sang her way through several songs from the Viennese operetta.’ 

More recent presidents have also invited top performers. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush invited Vince Gill and Amy Grant once to entertain their guests. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, well-known music lovers, enjoyed legends such as Gladys Knight, Dianne Reeves, and Earth, Wind & Fire to the White House for the dinner honoring the nation’s governors. 

Sometimes our presidents are not sending a political message, they are simply enjoying music. President Trump is widely known for being an admirer of musical theater, and for having a rather eclectic playlist where thousands of supporters hear songs like ‘YMCA’ as well as ‘Phantom of the Opera’ at his rallies.  

What made President and Mrs. Trump’s most recent gubernatorial dinner special was not the music selection, but who performed it. The Trump White House is continuing its tradition of using military bands for nearly all events, and they have chosen to highlight them more so than any other administration.  

The bands have performed at events at all levels, from the annual White House Easter Egg Roll to the most formal state dinners, including the State Dinner in honor of Australia, which was the largest gathering in the history of premier United States military musicians for such an occasion at the White House. 

More than any other modern-day White House, President and Mrs. Trump have created a signature hallmark of their entertaining by placing America’s finest up on the greatest stage, the People’s House, with our United States military musicians.  

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White House unleashes on ‘rogue bureaucrats’ after agency head refuses DOGE entry to headquarters

The White House is calling out ‘rogue bureaucrats’ at a small federal agency for attempting to bar members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from entering their headquarters this week.

Elon Musk’s DOGE team members and acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Peter Marocco, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order to downsize the federal government, sought to enter the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) building on Wednesday, but were denied entry after reportedly being intentionally locked out by members of the staff.

The cost-cutting team returned to USADF the next day with U.S. marshals after the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that they had a right to enter the building, a White House official told Fox News Digital, prompting a lawsuit from USADF President Ward Brehm, who asked a district court to bar the administration from removing him from his position.

Brehm, who admitted to directing employees to deny DOGE entry, is attempting to block DOGE from entering the USADF offices, but the White House responded that ‘entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy executive orders by the President of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run.’

‘President Trump signed an executive order to reduce the federal bureaucracy, which reduced the USADF to its statutory minimum, and appointed Peter Marocco as acting Chairman of the Board,’ White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

In the lawsuit, filed on Thursday, Brehm alleges ‘unlawful overreach’ from DOGE and asks the court to give him a ‘clear entitlement to remain in his office as the President of USADF’ after Trump, according to the White House, appointed Marocco to serve as acting Chairman of the Board.

‘The threatened termination of Brehm from his position as President of USADF, whether by Marocco, President Trump, Director Gao, or any of the remaining Defendants, is unlawful,’ the 26-page complaint reads.

On Friday, District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington, D.C., issued a temporary restraining order preventing Brehm’s removal.

Trump has applauded DOGE’s efforts to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘waste’ from the federal government as he makes ‘bold and profound change’ within the federal government.

‘My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again,’ Trump said during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. 

‘Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately, because we are draining the swamp. It’s very simple,’ the president said. ‘The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Brehm and USADF for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

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Republicans demand Trump cut American legal association out of nominee process

Several Republican senators have taken issue with the American Bar Association (ABA) and are calling for President Donald Trump to take drastic action against the group. In a letter to ABA President William Bay, lawmakers said the group, which plays a key role in judicial nominations, had become ‘biased and ideologically captured.’ Now, those lawmakers want President Trump to ‘remove the ABA from the judicial nomination process entirely.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Bernie Moreno and Sen. Mike Lee are also calling on their fellow senators to ‘disregard the ABA’s recommendations.’

In the explosive letter there are allegations, including that the ABA has taken political stances against the Trump administration and that the group has been quiet about its taking funds from USAID. The federal aid group has been a target of the Trump administration, something the ABA has criticized.

‘The ABA states, ‘Americans expect better.’ But President Trump won both electoral and popular votes. It seems Americans expect — and want — the Trump administration,’ the senators’ letter reads.

Sen. Schmitt tweeted out the letter along with several criticisms of the ABA’s recent actions and statements. In particular, Schmitt took issue with statements the ABA published on Feb. 10 and March 3, both of which were critical of the Trump administration.

‘It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law,’ the ABA wrote in its Feb. 10 statement. Additionally, the Feb. 10 statement condemns the ‘dismantling of USAID.’

The senators reference this statement in their letter, saying that the ABA made ‘inflammatory claims’ against the Trump administration ‘without citing legal reasoning for those arguments.’  One of these claims is that the ‘dismantling of USAID’ is illegal, but the senators note that the ABA does not explain why these actions are not permitted under the law.

‘It is questionable whether the ABA is committed to defending liberty or its own sources of funding,’ the senators wrote, referring to the organization’s defense of USAID.

The lawmakers also criticized the ABA’s March 3 statement in which the group slams purported ‘efforts to undermine the courts.’ In their letter, the lawmakers note that the association did not issue any statements against former President Joe Biden when he defied the Supreme Court on student loan forgiveness.

In their letter, the senators call out the ABA’s implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which the Trump administration has been working to root out of the government.

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Tulsi Gabbard’s warning to Senate on Syria proves prophetic as Al Qaeda-linked regime slaughters minorities

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s warning of a terrorist takeover in Syria looks to be coming true amid reports that al Qaeda-linked terror forces aligned with Syria’s interim new president—a former al Qaeda terrorist—are being accused of massacring Alawites as well as members of the country’s dwindling Christian community. 

Syrian security forces and affiliated gunmen have killed more than 340 civilians, the vast majority of them from the Alawite minority, over the last two days, Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Saturday.

At Gabbard’s Senate confirmation hearing she said ‘I have no love for Assad or any dictator. I just hate al-Qaeda. I hate that our leaders cozy up to Islamist extremists, calling them ‘rebels’, as Jake Sullivan said to Hillary Clinton, ‘al Qaeda is on our side in Syria.’ Syria is now controlled by al-Qaeda offshoot HTS, led by an Islamist Jihadist who danced in the streets on 9/11, and who was responsible for the killing of many American soldiers.’

An Alawite woman from the region of Al-Ghab plain, where there is a majority Alawite population, told Fox News Digital that the forces said, ‘Alawites are pigs, and they have to execute all of them and the small children before the elderly people.’ 

The witness spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from the authorities. She said that two militias had entered her house on Thursday and searched her residence for weapons. One of the members ‘put a gun to my head and asked for all my money. They took all the money and took money from our neighbors.’

She confirmed reports that the Islamist forces murdered the prominent Alawite 86-year-old cleric Shaaban Mansour and his son Hussein Shaaban. Reuters reported that Mansour was killed on Friday with his son in the village of Sahlab in western Syria. Residents there accused fighters aligned with Damascus of killing them.

A sizable Christian population living in the area has also reportedly been under attack. Greco-Levantines Worldwide media reported that a young family, including their infant child, was killed on Friday.  A father and son, Tony and Fadi Petrus, were also executed by Islamists.

The witness said that in other Alawite towns—Nahr al-Bared and Deir Shamil—the Islamist militias ‘are entering houses and killing people and stealing everything. They are covering their faces.’ 

‘I feel there is no safety. There is no homeland. There is nowhere to escape to, and no one to defend us. I feel fear and horrifying feelings.’

The witness added that the Islamists are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other such groups affiliated with HTS, who stormed her region. She said HTS terrorists were Syrian Arabs, because of their spoken Arabic.

Ahmed al-Sharaa and his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated Sunni terrorist organization, toppled the former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December. Assad is a member of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Alawites comprise roughly 10% of the Syrian population.

The Alawite source told Fox News Digital that the community is seeking support from the U.S., noting that the Islamists ‘want to kill all of us. They don’t want us in Syria. We have to flee Syria. They are seeking revenge from the former regime. I am asking for protection and to live in dignity, because we can be killed at any moment.’ 

One Alawite, who asked to remain anonymous, and who lives in Europe and is in constant contact with her community in Syria, claimed that in the coastal region and Alawite, more than 4,000 people are estimated to have been killed. She claimed to have received lists of people from Alawites who have documented the mass murder.

She and her group wrote on Telegram that al-Sharaa’s ‘fighters have unleashed a wave of terror against civilians in Syria’s coastal cities. Reports from Alawite community sources indicate hundreds of casualties, with Christians also among the victims.’

In his first comments on the violence, interim President al-Sharaa said that government forces would pursue ‘remnants’ of the ousted Bashar Assad government.

‘We will continue to pursue the remnants of the fallen regime. . . . We will bring them to a fair court, and we will continue to restrict weapons to the state, and no loose weapons will remain in Syria,’ Sharaa added in a pre-recorded speech.

The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, European politicians and diplomats from the former Biden administration have sought to woo Sharaa with sanctions relief and diplomatic relations since December. Critics argue that a former Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist, Sharra, can’t simply sport a suit and pretend he has abandoned his terrorist ideology and methods.

Just two days before the slaughter of Alawites, Guterres met with Sharaa on Tuesday in Cairo where they discussed views about a new course for Syria.

While an official statement has yet to come from the U.N. chief, his special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he was ‘deeply concerned’ by the reports of killings.

A group of Alawite clerics, the Alawite Islamic Council, blamed the violence on the government, saying that fighters had been sent to the coast ‘with the pretext of (combating) ‘regime remnants,’ to terrorize and kill Syrians.’ It called for the region to be put under U.N. protection.

Syrian authorities said the violence began when remnants loyal to Assad launched a deadly and well-planned attack on their forces on Thursday.

The violence has shaken Sharaa’s efforts to consolidate control as his administration struggles to get U.S. sanctions lifted and grapples with wider security challenges, notably in the southwest, where Israel has said it will prevent Damascus from deploying forces.

The violence spiraled on Thursday when the authorities said groups of Assad-aligned militias had targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh area and surrounding countryside, before spreading.

Moussa al-Omar, a Syrian media figure close to the country’s new leadership, told Reuters that tens of thousands of fighters in Syria’s newly constituted security forces had been deployed to the coast in the operation and that order had been largely restored as of Friday night.

He said the crackdown was ‘a message to anyone in the south or east of Syria that the state . . . is capable of a military resolution at any time, even as it seeks peaceful solutions.’

Alawite activists say their community has been subjected to violence and attacks, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia, since Assad was overthrown in December after decades of repressive family rule and civil war.

Saudi Arabia condemned ‘crimes being undertaken by outlaw groups’ in Syria and their targeting of security forces.

Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s new government, also stated its support for Damascus, saying, ‘The tension in and around Latakia, as well as the targeting of security forces, could undermine the efforts to lead Syria into the future in unity and solidarity.’

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz blasted Syria’s Islamist rulers on Friday for their campaign to smash a nascent insurgency by fighters from ousted President Assad’s Alawite group.

‘[Abu Mohammed] al-Julani switched his robe for a suit and presented a moderate face,’ Katz said in a statement on X, using the nom de guerre of Ahmed al-Sharaa. ‘Now he’s taken off the mask and exposed his true face: A jihadist terrorist of the al-Qaeda school who is committing horrifying acts against a civilian population.’

Katz added, ‘Israel will defend itself against any threat from Syria. We will remain in the security zones and Mount Hermon and protect the communities of the Golan and Galilee. We will ensure that southern Syria remains demilitarized and free of threats, and we will protect the local Druze population—anyone who harms them will face our response.’

The Syrian Alawite source in Europe told Fox News Digital that the Alawites want Israel to protect them like Israel’s offer of aid to the Syrian Druze population, who are also being targeted by the Islamist government in Damascus.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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