Trump signs proclamation to restrict student visas at Harvard
Last month, the U.S. State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters.
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Daily Mail
a few seconds ago
- Daily Mail
Future Queen of Belgium's future at Harvard revealed amid President Donald Trump's move to ban foreign students
Princess Elisabeth is set to resume her studies at Harvard University following Donald Trump 's move to ban international students. The academic fate of the Belgian royal, 23, appeared to be hanging in the balance earlier this year when in May, the US president revoked Harvard's ability to enroll international students. But the prestigious Massachusetts university has resisted the lawsuit meaning the rule has been temporarily blocked. This means the future Queen will be able to return to her studies in September, when she is due to begin her second year of studying. 'I can confirm that, for now, all the conditions seem to be in place for the princess to continue her studies at Harvard,' the Belgian Royal Palace's communication director Xavier Baert said on Tuesday, confirming a newspaper report. The princess previously said she didn't want any 'special treatment' regarding her continued stay at Harvard. She believes it is essential to 'show solidarity with other international students,' some of whom are her close friends, a source told HLN. The sources added that Elisabeth is conscious about the message she sends to other students, as well as ensuring happy relations between Belgium and the United States. In June, a federal judge blocked the administration from implementing the proclamation Trump signed that sought to bar foreign nationals from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard. The future queen of Belgium is set to begin her second year of a two-year master's program in Public Policy at Harvard, a course designed to broaden students' perspectives and sharpen their skills for 'successful careers in public service', according to Harvard's website. Almost 6,800 international students attended the 388-year-old university in its most recent school year, comprising about 27 per cent of its student population. News that the princess would be able to continue her course on campus was reported on Tuesday by Belgian royal journalist, Wim Dehandschutter. 'The palace told me, "All indicators are currently green for her. There are no concrete reasons why she would not be able to return to Harvard in September",' he said. They added that sources close to the family had always been confident there would be a positive outcome. It is said that the family believed even in the 'worst case scenario' that it would at least be possible for the Princess to attend online lectures - or find a different campus in another country. Meanwhile Princess Elisabeth's parents King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were said to have found themselves in a difficult diplomatic situation - as they wouldn't want to create tensions with the US, according to Dehandschutter. Additionally, for Elisabeth - who has already has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford - a return to Belgium would have posed further issues such as having to choose between Dutch-speaking and a French-speaking university, and between a Catholic and a liberal one. Continuing her studies abroad is a priority for the Princess, as her father King Phillipe spent a semester studying at Oxford and three years in the US at Stanford University. After she completes her studies, Elisabeth is expected to take up a more active role in Belgium and become an active Crown Princess. Following the announcement made by President Trump in May earlier this year, the family released a statement saying they were 'investigating the situation' and were awaiting a decision. Trump's ban would force foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status in the US. The president had threatened to expand the crackdown to other colleges. Elisabeth, who has spent the summer in her native country, will be Belgium's first reigning Queen when she ascends the throne. The eldest of four children born to King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she also has studied at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels. She speaks Dutch, French, German and English. At Harvard, the princess is studying Public Policy, a two-year master's degree program that prepares students for a life of public service. Before studying in the United States, she earned a degree in history and politics from Oxford University in the United Kingdom. The Trump administration has said it is trying to force change at Harvard and other top-level universities across the US, contending they have become bastions of leftist 'woke' thought and antisemitism, which they deny. The administration has appealed the judge's ruling, but with the new school year set to begin on Sept 2, the injunction against the foreign student ban remains in effect. Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accounting for more than a quarter of its student body. Most are graduate students, coming from more than 100 countries. The Harvard Kennedy School has almost half its student body from abroad and Harvard Business School is about one-third international students. The university has several notable alumni who are not American-born, including Canadian author Margaret Atwood, Indian billionaire philanthropists Ratan Tata and Anand Mahindra, and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Following the announcement made by Trump, the university filed a lawsuit un federal court in Boston, saying the the government's action violates the First Amendment and will have an 'immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.' Since then, a federal at Boston court released a block on the White House's ban, allowing international students to return to school while court proceedings play out. It was reported last week that Harvard and the Trump administration are getting close to an agreement that would require the Ivy League university to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and to end investigations.
BBC News
a minute ago
- BBC News
Appeals court tosses Trump's $500m civil fraud penalty
An appeals court has thrown out a $500m (£372m) penalty that President Donald Trump was ordered to pay in a New York civil fraud trial last year. Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Trump to pay the fee for massively inflating the value of the Trump Organization's properties in order to secure favourable loans. A panel of five judges in New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division stated that, while Trump was indeed liable for the fraud, the fine of nearly half a billion dollars was excessive, which meant it violated protections in the US Constitution against severe punishment. Judge Engoron had ordered Trump to pay a fine of $355m, but with interest, the sum grew to more than $500m. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
Reuters
a minute ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: US, Europe create military options on Ukraine, intend to present to national security advisers next
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Military chiefs from the United States and a number of European countries have completed military options on Ukraine and will now present the options to their respective national security advisers, the U.S. military said on Thursday. Reuters has previously reported that U.S. and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, following President Donald Trump's pledge to help protect the country under any deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine. "These options will be presented to each nation's respective national security advisers for appropriate consideration in ongoing diplomatic efforts," a U.S. military statement said. The meetings between the chiefs of defense for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine took place in Washington, D.C., between Tuesday and Thursday. Reuters was first to report on the completion of the plans that will be presented to the national security advisers. Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump's promise during a summit on Monday of security guarantees for Kyiv, but many questions remain unanswered. Officials have cautioned that it would take time for U.S. and European planners to determine what would be both militarily feasible and acceptable to the Kremlin. One option was sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the United States in charge of their command and control, sources have told Reuters. Russia's Foreign Ministry has ruled out the deployment of troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal. Trump has publicly ruled out deploying U.S. troops in Ukraine but on Tuesday appeared to leave the door open to other U.S. military involvement. U.S. air support could come in a variety of ways, including providing more air defense systems to Ukraine and enforcing a no-fly zone with U.S. fighter jets. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have both spoken in favour of troop deployments in a post-war settlement as part of a coalition of the willing, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also signaling openness to his country's participation The head of Germany's soldiers' union said on Thursday that European NATO leaders must not be naive when discussing a Ukraine peace force but face up to the reality that they would need to deploy tens of thousands of troops to the country for the long term. Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, and Kyiv and its allies have worried he could seek to force an agreement on Russia's terms after the president last week rolled out the red carpet for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Russia says it is engaged in a 'special military operation' in Ukraine to protect its national security, claiming NATO's eastward expansion and Western military support for Ukraine pose existential threats. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Despite Trump's push to end the war, Russia attacked a gas compressor station in eastern Ukraine that is important for getting gas into storage facilities for the winter heating season.
