INTERNACIONAL
WATCH: Hearing erupts after Dem chair tries to sidestep GOP transgender sports bills: ‘They’re petrified’
Trump admin pushes for fairness in women’s sports as DOJ sues Minnesota
The Trump administration, through the Justice Department, sues Minnesota over Title IX compliance issues, aiming to protect fairness in women’s sports. Collegiate softball player Kendall Kotzmacher shares her heartbreaking experience playing against a biological male, highlighting the need to protect female athletes’ hard-earned achievements. Many young people, including Kendall, support this stance, demanding change to ensure fair competition.
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A Pennsylvania hearing on transgender sports legislation erupted in chaos Monday, as Republicans accused Democrats of trying to sidestep votes on two related bills.
Pennsylvania became a focal point of the transgender sports debate in 2022, as UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas competed against female athletes including the University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines. Since then, conservatives have sought to codify the separation of biological sexes in scholastic sports and public restrooms nationwide.
The top Republican on the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee told Fox News Digital that the scene captured on official video showed the Democratic chairman trying to «re-refer» two bills to the House Health Committee without fully explaining which bills he was citing.
Ranking member Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Chambersburg, said that Republicans ultimately determined the two bills focused on separating scholastic athletes by biological sex and that Democrats resisted any debate before sending them to another committee to restart the process.
GOP LAWMAKERS, RILEY GAINES SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR VOTING AGAINST PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2026, to oppose transgender athletes competing in women’s sports as the court reviews related bans in a landmark case. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
«It’s fascinating. But the key is, in the legislative process, whether it be on the House floor or in any committee meeting, they’ll say the number of the bill and then they’ll give a title or brief description of the bill before anyone votes on it. You don’t just call up a bill by number,» Kauffman told Fox News Digital in a Tuesday interview.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Timothy Briggs was doing just that in a Monday hearing, Kauffman said.
Briggs, D-King of Prussia, sought to move two bills out of the committee quickly, announcing that all Democrats would vote to re-refer them while identifying the measures only by bill number.
Republicans said they were unaware of the bills’ contents because their titles were not read as Briggs tried to re-refer them to the House Health Committee.
Briggs asked the clerk to call the roll for the «sole purpose of referring [them] to the Health Committee» and added that «all Democrats will be voting ‘Yes’.»
«Could we kinda know what the bills are?» interjected Kauffman, before someone in the gallery called out that they were related to transgender athletes in children’s sports.
HB 158 is the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act from Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Mechanicsburg, and HB 1849 is the related Dads Defending Daughters Act by Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga.
Briggs sighed and began to speak before Kauffman continued.
«We can’t vote on a re-referral when we don’t even know what the title of the bill is. Obviously, you don’t want us to know what the title of the bill is,» he said, chuckling as Briggs cut in that the committee is «running out of time.»
Kauffman quipped that if he ever pulled such a move as chairman, Briggs’ caucus would have «lost your mind.»
DEMOCRATS HAVE LOST THEIR WAY ON WOMEN’S SPORTS – AND HERE’S THE POLITICAL PRICE THEY’LL PAY
After another pointed exchange between Briggs and Kauffman, the Democrat ordered the clerk to call the roll on the bills and then claimed aloud that some Republicans were refusing to vote.
One of those named, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz of Lock Haven, objected after learning the bills’ true identities:
«Now you’re deciding how we’re voting?» said Borowicz, who co-sponsored Gleim’s bill.
«We might as well be better off in the Russian Duma at this point,» Kauffman added as Briggs plowed through their objections and tried to move past the two bills.
The blow-up showed that Democrats are «petrified of this issue [so much] that they broke legislative protocol, parliamentary norms and everything I’ve learned in this legislature in 20 years,» Kauffman told Fox News Digital.
He said that if the bills were moved to another committee without first being voted out of his own, the parliamentary «clock» would restart and Democrats could continue moving the measures through committee without taking a direct vote on the underlying transgender sports issue.
Kauffman said the kerfuffle was indicative of the national debate over transgender sports, calling it an «80-90%» issue in favor of separating youth athletes by sex.
ILLINOIS SCHOOL BOARD MEETING MADNESS CONTINUES AS TENSIONS ESCALATE OVER TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS
Kauffman added that Democrats will eventually have to confront the issue because the state Senate is advancing its own transgender sports bill, which will be taken up by the House.
«It’s a mom and dad issue. It’s a biological fact issue. So we’re going to keep at it,» he said, adding that critics are «cater[ing] to the far-progressive fringe» of their party and «generally don’t care what the people want.»
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Fox News Digital reached out to Briggs for a response to the situation.
A representative for the King of Prussia Democrat said he was «regrettably unavailable» for comment.
The clash came just weeks after a Republican lawmaker’s attempt to define «woman» in a Women’s Month resolution led Democrats to pull the commemoration.
Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.
pennsylvania, sports, senate, bills, republicans, politics
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WHO head ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola spread, says emergency committee will meet
WHO issues WARNING after DEADLY ebola outbreak
The CDC is coordinating the ‘safe withdrawal’ of at least six Americans exposed to a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the WHO declared a global health emergency.
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The head of the World Health Organization announced a meeting of his emergency committee regarding the «scale and speed» of the Ebola outbreak in the Congo and Uganda on Tuesday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited data saying there have been over 500 suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent weeks, and 33 confirmed cases. There have been two confirmed cases in Uganda. The outbreak has seen a total of 131 fatalities.
«I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,» Tedros said in a Tuesday statement.
Tedros is meeting with the WHO’s Emergency Committee later Tuesday.
US ISSUES URGENT TRAVEL WARNING AS DEADLY EBOLA OUTBREAK SPREADS OVERSEAS
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, speaks during an event. (Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty Images)
There are several factors that have made the WHO concerned about the potential for further spread, such as cases in urban areas, including Kampala, Uganda, and Goma in the DRC, as well as the conflict-affected province of Ituri.
The WHO has approved $3.9 million in emergency funding to support national authorities as they respond to the outbreak.
The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency on Sunday, and the U.S. issued an urgent travel warning for the DRC shortly after on Monday.
UGANDA STARTS CLINICAL TRIAL OF VACCINE FOR SUDAN STRAIN OF EBOLA AMID NEW OUTBREAK
A health worker sprays disinfectant on a colleague after working at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on Sept. 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)
Officials said the outbreak was caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, a rarer variant for which existing vaccines may be less effective.
The State Department warns that Ebola is a «rare, severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever illness.»
The virus can spread through direct contact with infected individuals, bodily fluids, infected corpses and objects contaminated with the virus.
CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE
«The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Ituri province,» the advisory noted. «Do not travel to this area for any reason.»
Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship tied to a hantavirus outbreak after a stop in Argentina that left three passengers dead. (Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)
The development comes as global health officials continue monitoring a rare hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius cruise ship, which left multiple passengers and crew members sick, and caused three deaths.
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As of May 13, the WHO said 11 hantavirus cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case.
Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Michael Sinkewicz and Reuters contributed to this report.
world health organization, ebola, hantavirus, africa, outbreaks
INTERNACIONAL
Vladimir Putin llegó a Beijing para reunirse con Xi Jinping y reafirmar la alianza con China
El presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, aterrizó este martes en Beijing para reunirse con su par chino, Xi Jinping.
El encuentro busca dejar en claro que la relación entre ambos países atraviesa se mantiene después de la reciente visita de Donald Trump a China.
La llegada de Putin se confirmó apenas unos días después de que Trump concluyera la primera de un mandatario estadounidense a China en casi diez años.
El objetivo del viaje del líder republicano fue intentar estabilizar los lazos entre Washington y Beijing, que atraviesan una etapa de fuertes tensiones.
Una alianza estratégica que se profundizó tras la guerra en Ucrania
Según el Kremlin, Putin y Xi tienen previsto discutir cómo “fortalecer aún más” la asociación estratégica entre sus países e intercambiar opiniones sobre los principales temas internacionales y regionales.
Desde la invasión rusa a Ucrania en 2022, los lazos entre Moscú y Beijing se profundizaron notablemente.
Putin visitó China cada año desde entonces, en un contexto en el que Rusia quedó diplomáticamente aislada y depende cada vez más de la economía china.
Hoy, China es el principal comprador del petróleo ruso sancionado, un dato clave para sostener el esfuerzo bélico del Kremlin.
Putin viaja a China tras la visita de Donald Trump. (Foto: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov).
Para marcar el tono de la visita, ambos líderes intercambiaron “cartas de felicitación” el domingo, celebrando los 30 años de la asociación estratégica.
Xi remarcó que la cooperación bilateral “se ha profundizado y consolidado continuamente”, según medios estatales chinos.
En un mensaje de video dirigido al pueblo chino, Putin aseguró que las relaciones alcanzaron “un nivel verdaderamente sin precedentes” y que “el comercio entre Rusia y China sigue creciendo”.
El mandatario ruso subrayó: “Sin aliarnos contra nadie, buscamos la paz y la prosperidad universal”, evitando mencionar a Estados Unidos o a otros países.
“Viejos amigos” frente al mundo
La relación personal entre Putin y Xi es un punto central de la visita. Cuando el presidente ruso estuvo en Beijing por última vez, en septiembre de 2025, Xi lo recibió como a un “viejo amigo”, un gesto que no repitió con Trump la semana pasada.
Putin, por su parte, suele llamar a Xi su “querido amigo” y busca mostrar que la alianza con China no se ve afectada por la presencia de Trump en la región. El presidente estadounidense Donald Trump, a la derecha, sonríe junto al mandatario chino Xi Jinping luego de visitar el Jardín Zhongnanhai, el viernes 15 de mayo de 2026, en Beijing. (Evan Vucci/Foto compartida vía AP)
Aunque no se espera que la visita de Putin tenga la misma espectacularidad que la del expresidente estadounidense, analistas remarcan que “la relación entre Xi y Putin no requiere ese tipo de gesto de tranquilidad”.
Ambas partes consideran que sus lazos son “estructuralmente más fuertes y estables” que los que China mantiene con Estados Unidos.
Ucrania, petróleo y el tablero global
Beijing pidió en varias ocasiones que se abran conversaciones para poner fin a la guerra en Ucrania, pero nunca condenó a Rusia por la invasión y se presenta como un actor neutral.
La semana pasada, Trump y Xi Jinping hablaron sobre el conflicto, pero el presidente estadounidense se fue de China sin avances concretos.
Expertos aseguran que el mandatario chino probablemente informará a Putin sobre su cumbre con Trump, y que la falta de resultados claros “tranquiliza a Moscú”, ya que no hubo acuerdos que puedan afectar los intereses rusos.
Putin llega a China con la expectativa de que Xi profundice su compromiso con Moscú, especialmente después de que Trump anunciara que Beijing acordó comprar petróleo estadounidense.
Rusia depende de las ventas a China para sostener su economía y su esfuerzo militar, por lo que el respaldo chino es fundamental.
Diferencias sobre Medio Oriente y el futuro de la alianza
El presidente ruso también buscará conocer la postura de China sobre el futuro de Oriente Medio, luego de que Trump señalara que espera un rol más activo de Beijing en la región.
Sin embargo, los intereses de ambos países no siempre coinciden: mientras China necesita que las rutas marítimas sigan abiertas para su economía, Moscú se benefició de la flexibilización de sanciones por los combates en Irán.
Leé también: Preparativos para la visita de Putin a China y calor extremo en Nueva Delhi: el mundo en imágenes
En abril, tras reunirse con Xi, el canciller ruso Serguéi Lavrov afirmó que Rusia podría “compensar” la escasez energética de China a medida que la guerra afecta los suministros mundiales.
Putin y Xi buscan mostrar al mundo que su alianza es sólida y que, pese a los movimientos de Estados Unidos, la relación entre Moscú y Beijing sigue siendo un eje central en el tablero global.
Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Rusia, China
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A progressive state legislator vying to be Michigan’s next U.S. senator voiced openness to supporting an Iron Dome for Palestinians.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Mich., made the eyebrow-raising remark, first reported by Jewish Insider, during a recent interview with pro-Palestinian podcasters Matt Bernstein and Emma Vigeland.
«I don’t think anybody should live in fear of being bombed or killed,» McMorrow said when the hosts grilled her on her support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. «I would look at how do we support defensive systems for Palestinians? How would we support defensive systems for Lebanese?»
Asked by Fox News Digital whether that would apply to Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, a spokesperson for McMorrow replied, «No.»
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts projectiles over Tel Aviv on Feb. 28, 2026, amid strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran and retaliatory missile barrages from Iran targeting Gulf states and Israel. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE HOPEFUL SAYS HER PARTY NIXING ROGAN INTERVIEW IS WHY PEOPLE ARE ‘TURNING AGAINST’ IT
«Her priority remains ending this war and securing lasting peace in the region,» the spokesperson added.
During the interview, McMorrow also omitted mention of the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah, which fires missiles indiscriminately at Israel from Lebanon.
After Vigeland appeared to mockingly suggest Palestinians having access to Iron Dome missile technology, McMorrow enthusiastically replied, «Let’s have that conversation.»
When McMorrow’s comments drew an audible groan from Bernstein, who continued to press the Senate hopeful to disavow her support for Israel’s defensive weaponry, she appeared to double down.
«I mean the horror of living in fear of being bombed constantly,» McMorrow said. «Let’s work with the outcome of how do we end the violence, period.»
McMorrow later said she hopes missile defense systems eventually become unnecessary altogether.
«I would love to get to a place where it’s not needed, period, for anybody,» she told the podcasters, referring to the Iron Dome.
She also told the podcasters that she would have supported a resolution sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that blocked certain weapons sales to Israel. The measure failed in April due to overwhelming opposition from Senate Republicans and a handful of pro-Israel Democrats.
Mallory McMorrow campaigns at the Michigan Democratic Nominating Convention in Detroit on April 19, 2026. (Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group)
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE CLAIMS ISRAEL ‘JUST AS EVIL’ AS HAMAS
McMorrow’s remarks come as she is vying for the Democratic nomination in a bruising three-way primary contest that counts Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities as important constituencies.
Rep. Haley Stevens, an establishment Democrat backed by pro-Israel groups, and Bernie Sanders-backed Abdul El-Sayed are also running in the August primary.
The Senate hopeful did not appear to push back when the podcasters railed against «Zionist indoctrination» or accused Israel of being an «apartheid state.»
During the interview, McMorrow sought to cast herself as a bridge candidate who could keep the Democratic coalition from fracturing over Israel-Palestine issues.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow are running to the left of Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and have sharply criticized the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
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«If we let it tear us apart, we get Mike Rogers,» McMorrow said, referring to the presumptive GOP nominee who is endorsed by the president. «[Donald] Trump gets a win.»
El-Sayed sparked backlash earlier this year after leaked audio, reported by The Washington Free Beacon, showed the far-left candidate voicing concern about constituents who were allegedly upset about the assassination of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a U.S.-Israeli airstrike.
politics, middle east foreign policy, war with iran, israel, hamas, rashida tlaib
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