China denounced the United States for approving an $11.1 billion weapons package for Taiwan, warning that the deal risks turning the island into a ‘powder keg’ and driving the region toward ‘military confrontation and war.’

The unprecedented sale includes 82 HIMARS launchers paired with 420 ATACMS long-range missiles, a combination that would give Taiwan new deep-strike capability across the Taiwan Strait, along with 60 self-propelled howitzers, advanced UAV systems, military software packages and anti-armor weapons.

Beijing accused Taiwan’s leadership of ‘seeking independence through force’ and claimed Washington is using the island to ‘contain China,’ rhetoric that signals heightened tensions even as the U.S. frames the package as essential to bolstering Taiwan’s self-defense.

‘The ‘Taiwan independence’ forces on the island seek independence through force and resist reunification through force, squandering the hard-earned money of the people to purchase weapons at the cost of turning Taiwan into a powder keg,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

‘This cannot save the doomed fate of ‘Taiwan independence’ but will only accelerate the push of the Taiwan Strait toward a dangerous situation of military confrontation and war. The U.S. support for ‘Taiwan Independence’ through arms will only end up backfiring. Using Taiwan to contain China will not succeed.’

U.S. officials have not yet detailed delivery timelines, but the sale reflects Washington’s push to accelerate Taiwan’s defenses amid growing concern over China’s military pressure campaign. The HIMARS and ATACMS combination is expected to draw particular attention from Beijing because it would allow Taiwan to target PLA staging areas, ships and infrastructure from mobile launchers, a capability China has repeatedly warned against.

In its notification to Congress, the State Department said the proposed sales would advance ‘U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.’ 

The department added that the weapons would ‘help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region.’

Under longstanding U.S. policy, Washington provides Taiwan with arms it deems necessary for the island’s self-defense while maintaining a ‘One China’ policy and not supporting a declaration of formal independence. China argues that any enhancement of Taiwan’s defenses encourages separatism, while U.S. officials say the purpose of such sales is to preserve stability and deter conflict.

The package now enters a 30-day congressional review period, during which lawmakers could file a resolution attempting to block it, a step Congress has never taken for an arms sale to Taiwan. Once the review period ends, contracting and production begin, a process that typically stretches over several years and contributes to a backlog that once reached $20 billion in undelivered U.S. weapons Taiwan has already purchased.

China has a track record of responding to major Taiwan arms sales with military demonstrations, including large-scale PLA drills, increased air and naval activity near the island and sanctions on U.S. defense firms. Analysts say Beijing’s sharp rhetoric suggests additional military signaling is likely, though China did not immediately announce specific countermeasures.

The latest sale marks a significant boost to Taiwan’s conventional firepower. In recent months, Beijing has stepped up pressure across the strait with near-daily PLA air and naval patrols, record incursions around the island and high-profile exercises meant to signal its ability to encircle Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the U.S. Wednesday for its ‘long-term support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,’ which he said are key to deterring a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

In a Thursday press conference, federal authorities in Minnesota announced new charges in the fraud scandal that has grabbed national headlines and spoke on the scope of the crisis, saying that it goes beyond what has previously been reported.

‘Minnesotans and taxpayers deserve to know the truth of the fraud,’ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson told reporters at a press conference.  ‘The fraud is not small. It isn’t isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated. What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering industrial-scale fraud. It’s swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state.’

Thompson explained that 14 programs have been identified as containing fraud and those programs have cost taxpayers $18 billion overall since 2018.

When asked specifically by a reporter how much of that $18 billion is suspected to be fraudulent, which reports have previously suggested could be around $1 billion, Thompson suggested that number will be higher when the investigations are concluded. 

‘I think a significant portion,’ Thompson responded.

Thompson later said, ‘When I say significant, I’m talking in the order of half or more. But we’ll see.’

Six new defendants have been charged in connection with a Minnesota housing services fraud, Thompson revealed on Thursday.

Two defendants pocketed $750,000 instead of helping Medicaid recipients find stable housing, Thompson said. Prosecutors allege they used the proceeds to travel to international destinations, including London, Istanbul and Dubai.

One defendant submitted $1.4 million in fraudulent claims, using some to purchase cryptocurrency, Thompson said. Federal officials say he fled the country after receiving a subpoena.

The six new defendants join eight others charged in September for their alleged roles in the scheme to defraud the Minnesota Housing Stability Services Program.

Two dependents mentioned by Thompson sent significant sums of money overseas to Kenya, in one case over $200,000.

‘There’s been a significant amount of money sent abroad, mostly to East Africa, much of it to Kenya and to Nairobi, that the money that we’ve traced most, most of which has been used to purchase real estate in Nairobi,’ Thompson said, mentioning the ‘large Somali diaspora’ in those areas.

Prosecutors also named a new defendant accused of defrauding another state-run, federally funded program that provides services for children with autism, alleging he submitted millions of dollars worth of claims for Medicaid reimbursement. One woman previously charged with exploiting that program pleaded guilty Thursday morning, officials said.

Thompson said that two of the dependents aren’t from Minnesota but came from Philadelphia because ‘they heard that Minnesota and its housing stabilization services program was easy money.’

‘What we’re seeing is programs that are just entirely fraudulent,’ Thompson said. ‘These aren’t companies that are providing some services, but overbilling Medicare, Medicaid. These are companies that are providing essentially no services. They’re essentially shell companies created to defraud the program created to submit on a wholesale level, fraudulent claims for services that aren’t necessary and are provided.’

In a press release, dependents were identified as Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, Anthony Waddell Jefferson, Lester Brown, Hassan Ahmed Hussein, Ahmed Abdirashid Mohamed, and Kaamil Omar Sallah.

Minnesota’s fraud crisis has been in the spotlight in recent weeks as the Trump administration and local Republicans have blasted Minnesota’s elected officials over the scandal, which dates back to at least 2020 and involves fraudulent billing for a wide range of government services, mostly involving, but not limited to, the state’s Somali community. 

‘When I was on the Feeding Our Future case, the big thing that jumped out to me was, honestly, how easy this fraud was to do,’ former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, who worked on the fraud investigation into Feeding our Future, one of the most high-profile examples of organizations that prosecutors say was propped up by fraud, recently told Fox News Digital. 

‘I mean, these fraudsters were just saying that they were spending all this money on feeding kids, and they were just making up these PDFs, putting false names into Excel sheets. I could do that in five minutes on a computer if I had absolutely no conscience.’

The Trump administration has launched a variety of efforts to crack down and investigate the fraud at a federal level and Fox News Digital first reported that Education Secretary Linda McMahon had sent a letter to Walz calling on him to resign over the scandal. 

‘It’s been allowed to go on for far too long, and we need to do whatever we can to stop it in its tracks,’ Thompson said in the press conference. 

Associated Press contributed to this report.

More than 200 House Democrats voted against banning Medicaid dollars from funding transgender treatments for minors.

The Do No Harm in Medicaid Act was introduced by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and received support from all House Republicans when it was put to a vote Thursday afternoon.

The measure passed 215-201, with all opposition coming from Democrats. All Republicans who voted approved the bill.

Four Democratic representatives voted for the bill — Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas; Don Davis, D-N.C.; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.

Transgender issues, particularly related to minors, have been one of the topics driving a wedge between moderate and progressive Democrats. 

The bill would block federal reimbursement for specific gender surgeries performed on minors and treatments such as hormone therapies, according to the legislative text.

The legislation could also block Medicaid funding to states that do allow federal funds to be used for transgender medical treatments for minors.

But the bill provides exceptions for puberty blockers prescribed during precocious puberty and gender-related surgeries performed to fight injury, illness and the potential death of a child, among others.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said the legislation would save $445 million over a decade for the Medicaid program during debate on the bill Thursday.

Guthrie said it did not prevent children from getting medically necessary treatment, adding it ‘simply prohibits the use of Medicaid funding on specified procedures that are medically unnecessary.’

‘I’m not sure my colleagues even believe what they’re saying,’ Crenshaw said during his turn to speak. ‘Today’s great sin in medicine is perhaps one of the worst that we’ve seen in human history — a sick, twisted ideology parroted by social media, fueling social confusion.’

But Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called it an ‘extreme attack on medically necessary treatment for children.’

‘This is Congress seeking to ban healthcare for the most vulnerable among us,’ Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said. ‘The healthcare that trans youth receive is a decision that they should be able to make in consultation with their parents, therapists and doctors, not politicians.

‘The hypocrisy of this legislation is staggering,’ he added, arguing the medical procedures it bans ‘allows for the same exact care for non-transgender youth.’

The International Criminal Court, or ICC, is in the fight of its life. Its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, faces serious allegations of criminal misconduct, including claims of repeated sexual assault. Khan has strongly rejected the accusations, instead blaming Israel for his problems.

The ICC is scrambling for an off-ramp, one that cuts Khan loose while salvaging its long-criticized posture toward Israel and the United States. The question is: Will it work?

Khan is accused of sexually assaulting a junior ICC employee for more than a year, including on ICC premises, and then engaging in reprisals against the whistleblower and those who supported the alleged victim. A second alleged victim from a previous professional relationship with Khan has also come forward.

The ICC apparatus has slow-walked its response for more than 18 months, with Khan on paid leave since May. On Dec. 12, 2025, officials announced that the fact-finding stage of a confidential U.N. investigation was complete and that a legal analysis phase by unnamed ‘judicial experts’ would take another 30 days.

Both Khan and his alleged ICC victim support the strategy of analogizing democratic Israel to genocidal Hamas and using the ICC to pursue criminal charges against Israeli officials. Hence, Khan’s reported suggestion that his accuser — who is also Muslim — was influenced by Israeli intelligence has drawn skepticism. Reports of a Qatar-backed covert operation aimed at uncovering an Israeli link apparently found nothing.

The problem for the ICC is not only that its top international criminal lawyer is now engulfed in damaging criminal allegations, but that the institution itself has been undeniably stained.

On May 2, 2024, Khan learned that word of the allegations had circulated within the ICC. At the time, he and his staff were preparing for a trip to Israel at the end of May, following an extraordinary offer of cooperation from Jerusalem. The plan was to obtain key information for his ongoing investigation. Instead, on May 20, Khan abruptly canceled the trip and very publicly announced on CNN that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Americans, Israelis and even ICC staff speculated about the timing, especially after the allegations became public in fall 2024.  Many observers argue that Khan has sought to cast his response to the scandal in political terms, hoping framing  Israel would circle the wagons around him.  And for a time, it appeared to work.

The alleged victim told investigators a primary reason  she did not speak up sooner. She is quoted as saying: ‘I held on for as long as I could because I didn’t want to f— up the Palestinian arrest warrants.’ It is a sickening testament to how political pressures can erode even basic human dignity.

On Nov. 17, 2025, Israel asked the ICC Appeals Chamber to disqualify Khan and void the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. By contrast, on Dec. 10, 2025, the ICC’s own Office of Public Counsel for Victims — widely seen as preparing to distance the Court from Khan — argued that his removal should have no effect on the Israeli warrants.

The quandary the ICC faces is this: Before the Appeals Chamber sits a prosecutor running an investigation against the state of Israel  that culminated in arrest warrants based on material compiled under his supervision. And, at the same time,  he has been using Israel as a foil  to defend himself against personal allegations

Will anyone of sane mind believe that the explosive accusations against Khan and his public responses did not taint the investigation, the arrest requests or the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision that relied upon Khan to confirm the warrants in November 2024?

As the British would say, ‘Not bloody likely.’

The Appeals Chamber’s problem goes deeper. The ICC was created in 1998 by a sharply contested vote that saw the United States, Israel and several others vote against it. The central issue: The ICC would upend the fundamental building block of international law — consent. Under the Rome Statute, the Court can assert criminal jurisdiction over nationals of states that never signed the treaty and consented to be bound.

Israel and the United States knew exactly where that would lead. And it did — Americans in Afghanistan (for starters), and Israelis from day one.

As a result, on a bipartisan basis, the United States has implemented measures to shield Americans (and allies, including Israelis) from ICC overreach. The truth is, those protections have proved inadequate, as political targeting and fallout have grown under the ICC’s expansive criminalization enterprise.

The Trump administration promised to do more. On Feb. 6, 2025, the president signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against individuals involved in ICC efforts to target Americans and allies. To date, the order has been applied to only 12 people.

New U.S. demands reportedly call for amending the Rome Statute to limit ICC authority. It’s common knowledge that the process — and the international politics — make such an amendment a nonstarter.

So the ball is only partially in the Appeals Chamber’s court. Of course, the allegations against Khan and the ICC’s halting and opaque oversight mechanisms have battered the institution’s credibility. But the real question remains: What is the United States prepared to do about it?

Second lady Usha Vance worked to ensure a provision limiting the use of cellphones in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) classrooms was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The Senate passed the NDAA Wednesday — a bill that authorizes $901 billion for the Department of Defense, provides a pay raise for U.S. troops, and more.

‘Education is foundational to a child’s future, and the Second Lady has long believed that classrooms should be places of focus, curiosity, and meaningful connection,’ a spokesperson for Vance told Fox News Digital.

‘She was proud to support efforts to ensure the National Defense Authorization Act included provisions that limit cellphone use in DoDEA classrooms, recognizing that reducing distractions is essential for young learners,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This issue reflects her deep passion for early education and her commitment to giving children the best possible environment to learn, grow, and thrive.’

DoDEA schools were created by the U.S. military after the end of World War II for the children of service men and women.

DoDEA is one of the only two federally operated school systems and is responsible for planning, directing, coordinating and managing pre-K through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense. DoDEA serves more than 67,000 children of active duty military and DoD civilian families.

Vance worked with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., to have the provision included. The two senators had introduced a bipartisan measure that was aimed at prohibiting smartphone use during instructional hours in DoDEA schools.

Vance collaborated and worked with Banks’ team, the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to ensure the provision would be included in the final NDAA.

With the addition of the provision in the final NDAA, DoDEA schools will update and standardize cellphone policies to ensure that mobile devices are used in a limited capacity during school hours.

During her time in the Trump administration, the second lady has spearheaded a number of projects — like her Summer Reading Challenge — to focus directly on improving early childhood literacy.

Fox News Digital has learned that the second lady plans to continue championing child literacy by expanding efforts that help young learners build strong reading foundations early in life.

The second lady is expected to work closely with educators, families and community partners to support innovative programs and collaborations that improve literacy outcomes for children across the country.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the Kennedy Center’s board voted unanimously to rename the institution to the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ in recognition of what she described as President Donald Trump’s efforts to save the building over the past year.

‘Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,’ said Levitt.

During a visit to the Kennedy Center in early December, Trump was asked whether he believed the performing arts center would eventually bear his name. 

‘I don’t know. I hear that, but I don’t know,’ he said, adding that any such decision would be made by the center’s ‘very prestigious’ board.

The current Kennedy Center board includes numerous figures closely aligned with Trump, from current administration officials to media personalities and political advisers, according to the center’s website.

‘The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to name the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,’ Vice President of public relations Roma Daravi told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

‘The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come,’ she added.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended an event at the Kennedy Center on December 7, highlighting the work of stars like Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, Michael Crawford and KISS band members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss.

An official with the center told Fox News Digital the name change follows recent precedent, pointing to the State Department’s decision earlier in December to add Trump’s name to the U.S. Institute of Peace and to past presidential administrations that have renamed military bases.

The official also pointed to Trump’s record on arts policy, noting that during his first term he signed the Music Modernization Act, supported emergency funding to help venues through Save Our Stages,as well as more recent measures to crack down on ticket scalping, and his backing of the American Music Fairness Act.