UNITED STATES

The Philippines lodged its "strongest protest" against Beijing on Monday and summoned a senior Chinese diplomat over a water cannon assault by the Chinese coast guard that injured Filipino navy crew members and heavily damaged their boat in the disputed South China Sea, officials said.Two Chinese coast guard ships hit a Philippine navy-operated supply boat with water cannons Saturday in the latest and most serious confrontation between the rival Asian claimants near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, which is surrounded by Chinese vessels in a bid to dislodge Philippine forces from there.The repeated high-seas confrontations since last year have sparked

Former President Trump is expected in a downtown New York City courtroom today for a hearing related to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money payments case. The hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. and last several hours. Trump's trial was originally scheduled to begin today with jury selection. But earlier this month, Judge Juan Merchan delayed the trial until mid-April in order to give the former president and his lawyers more time to go through 15,000 records of potential evidence the Justice Department shared from a previous federal investigation. TRUMP TRIALS: HERE’S WHERE EACH CASE AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENT AND PRESUMPTIVE

A Democratic congressman in an Illinois battleground district said he has no regrets about hosting drag shows for children after years of promoting drag events on social media. "No," Rep. Eric Sorensen said in a recent video obtained by Fox News Digital when asked if he regrets hosting drag shows for children. Earlier this month, popular social media account Libs of TikTok posted previous photos of Sorensen both dressed in drag and hosting a drag show for children in Illinois in 2021, which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times since it was posted on March 11. "I was so honored to help

Dan Hurley wants everyone to know that the Big East was robbed.On Sunday, after seeing the performances of his conference as opposed to others, the UConn head coach said he wasn’t pleased with the committee's decision to exclude Big East teams, notably St. John’s and Seton Hall."Look what we’ve done in non-conference games. Seton Hall beat us by 15. We’ve won eight-straight in this tournament, all by significant margins, but they were good enough to beat us, they were good enough to beat Marquette. There should have been five or six Big East teams in this tournament," Hurley said after

Pope Francis broke tradition during the start of Holy Week on Sunday, skipping a reading of his annual Palm Sunday homily during Mass at the last minute.Reuters reported that the pontiff was in front of tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square when he skipped the homily but continued to run the service before heading out in the popemobile and circling the crowd.The 87-year-old pope has suffered in recent weeks from bronchitis and influenza, leading to him having an aide read his addresses for him.On Sunday, though, Francis’ prepared text was not read at all.US CATHOLIC BISHOPS REQUEST

The pouring rain from Saturday in Brooklyn turned into threes on Sunday in the second round of March Madness.Duke's Jared McCain put on a masterclass at Barclays Center in the Round of 32, helping the fourth-seeded Blue Devils destroy No. 12 James Madison, 93-55.Duke dominated the first half, thanks to lights-out three-point shooting from the true freshman. McCain had a green light all night, as he drilled each of his first six from behind the perimeter. Meanwhile, JMU were 1-for-7 from three in the first half.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMIn the meantime, after James Madison hit five