BREAKING NEWS Trump suspends Harvard University's foreign student visa program for 'undermining' national security
President Donald Trump has declared he is restricting foreign nationals from studying at Harvard University in the latest escalation on his attacks at the Ivy League institution.
The president issued an executive order Wednesday entitled Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University, which suspends the Ivy League's student visa program - declaring that is a 'privilege granted by our government, not a guarantee.'
He also doubled down on his claims that the school violated federal law, and argued it is important to limit international students for national security.
'The Federal Bureau of Investigation has long warned that foreign adversaries and competitors take advantage of easy access to American higher education to, among other things, steal technical information and products, exploit expensive research and development to advance their own ambitions and spread false information for political or other reasons,' the executive order states.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
14 minutes ago
- The Sun
Kemi Badenoch BACKS Donald Trump-style travel bans and says Britain is being ‘mugged' by migration
KEMI Badenoch has said she would back Trump-style travel bans — as she warned Britain is being 'mugged' by illegal immigration. The Tory leader said there are scenarios where blocking people from certain countries is 'viable'. 3 3 3 It comes days after the US President signed an executive order banning citizens from 12 countries from entering America — in the name of national security. Asked by The Sun if she would ever consider following suit, Ms Badenoch said: 'Parliament needs to be able to decide who comes into the country, for how long, and who needs to leave — and that does include travel bans. 'On a country-specific basis it's much tougher, it's often more vague. "But I think there are scenarios where that is viable.' She added: 'That doesn't mean that I agree with what Donald Trump has done… I haven't actually seen the list of countries that he's banned people from. "I'm much more focused on what's happening here.' Mr Trump's new executive order blocks entry to nationals from 12 countries — including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan — citing the threat of foreign terrorism. The crackdown revives his first-term 'Muslim ban' and forms part of his hardline immigration pledge. Back in London, the Tory leader delivered a fiery speech declaring the UK had 'lost control' of its asylum system and said she would "likely" pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights to fix it. She warned: 'We cannot become the destination for everyone looking for a new home or a better life. Nor can we be the world's softest touch. 'In some years our approval rate was above 80 per cent. Last year, Japan's was 2 per cent. "Britain is being mugged.' She said human rights laws had been 'stretched and distorted' by activist lawyers and were now being used to block deportations of dangerous criminals. The Tory chief announced a commission, led by Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson, to draw up plans for how the UK could leave the ECHR — with a final decision due by the autumn Tory Party conference. Ms Badenoch said: 'I have always said that if we need to leave the Convention, we should. "And having now considered the question closely, I do believe that we will likely need to leave — because I am yet to see a clear and coherent way to fix this within our current legal structures.' She also confirmed the Tories are working on a new third-country deportation scheme to replace the scrapped Rwanda plan. Her intervention comes amid growing anger over blocked deportations - with Nigel Farage 's Reform UK already pledging to quit the ECHR altogether. Calls to overhaul the ECHR are also gaining traction across Europe - with the treaty's own chief yesterday saying there should be 'no taboo' on rewriting the rules. Council of Europe boss Alain Berset told The Times the 75-year-old convention must 'adapt' to tackle the scale of modern migration. He urged governments - including Britain - to open political talks, saying: "We need discussion about the rules that we want to have, and there is no taboo.' It comes after leaders in Italy, Denmark and seven other nations have demanded more power to deport criminals and block irregular migration. Downing Street this morning welcomed discussion about changing the Convention. The Labour Government has always vowed to pass laws ordering courts to throw out ridiculous appeals to European laws by foreign offenders or illegal migrants. A No 10 spokesman said: 'Border security is vital to national security, and we welcome efforts to ensure the European Convention on Human Rights is being applied correctly and allowing countries to protect their borders. 'It's important there is discussion on how the ECHR operates to ensure it can safeguard human rights while meeting the needs of democracies. The Prime Minister has been clear on this, it should be Parliament that makes the rules on immigration and Government that makes the policy. 'That's why this Government is actually taking action on the ECHR. Our immigration White Paper sets out new plans through legislation to tighten the application of the ECHR, giving courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are no longer abused, and as the Prime Minister has said, we want to ensure the right balance is made in migration cases in relation to the national interest.'
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The real inspiration of terrifying attacks on US soil... and an ex-FBI chief's warning the worst is yet to come
Heinous attacks in Colorado and Washington DC show a new face of US political violence that's closer to last year's college campus radicalism than the Islamist extremism of yesteryear, lawmen and experts told the Daily Mail. Chris Swecker, an assistant FBI director in the 2000s, and others said the recent spate of outrages, often aimed at Israelis or Jews, marks a departure from the global wave of jihadist violence of the 9/11 era. Recent strikes were instead inspired by the protests against Israel 's war in Gaza that upended Harvard, Columbia, and other top schools in the months after Hamas militants launched their 7 October, 2023, raids, Swecker said. He spoke after the outrage in Boulder, Colorado, where an attacker tossed petrol bombs at supporters of Israeli hostages, and a deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC. The suspects in those attacks both yelled 'Free Palestine' before they were arrested — echoing the chants from US college campuses and anti-Israel rallies in the months since fighting erupted there in October 2023. Together with the arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania 's Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, again over the Israel-Hamas war, they may showcase a paradigm shift in political violence in America. Swecker says the men behind these attacks were likely answering the calls to 'Free Palestine from the river to the sea,' and for a 'global intifada' that rang out across US college campuses under the Biden administration. 'The universities have become incubators and enablers,' said Swecker, who led the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division from 2004-2006. 'They are creating an environment that seems to be activating people on the fringes. They hear this coded language of 'Free Palestine,' and they're going to act on it.' He added: 'It's not subtle, we know what it means. It means we're going to kill Jews.' America's so-called 'student intifada' began in earnest at Columbia University last April and spread to some 60 campuses. Students, egged on by radical professors and outside anti-Zionist groups, erected encampments and brought campuses to a standstill as the Gaza war escalated. Some Jewish students described being attacked, harassed and intimidated. Activists say there's a disproportionate use of force in the decades-long territorial conflict. Palestinian Hamas fighters left some 1,200 dead and took 251 others as hostages during their macabre raids on southern Israel. A few dozen remain in Gaza. Israel's assault on Hamas-run Gaza, however, has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, flattened whole towns, and left the population in famine-like misery, leading to credible allegations of war crimes. Estimates of the actual death toll vary widely. That logic appears to have motivated Mohamad Sabry Soliman, 45, the married Egyptian dad-of-five accused of the Boulder attack. Police say he lobbed Molotov cocktails and used a homemade flamethrower to burn attendees of a Jewish demonstration in support of those taken hostage by Hamas, injuring a dozen. He reportedly yelled 'Free Palestine' and 'end Zionists' during the attack. Still, he has not professed a link to ISIS or another jihadist group, and yelled political, not religious slogans, such as the 'Allahu Akbar' often associated with Islamists. Soliman faces federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder that could see him caged for life. His wife and children, dependents on his visa, face deportation. There are similarities to Elias Rodriguez, the college-educated Chicago man accused of shooting and killing two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC on May 21. Rodriguez likewise shouted 'Free Palestine,' and also held a red keffiyeh during the attack, it is claimed. His Latino, rather than Muslim, heritage, and long track record as a social justice warrior point to a political motivation. The 31-year-old was in the past aligned to the anti-war Answer Coalition, and the ultra-progressive Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — groups that led pro-Palestine rallies across the US, including on college campuses. He faces two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. The diplomatic workers were a couple; Lischinsky had bought a ring and was set to propose marriage to Milgrim on a trip to Jerusalem the following week. The trend may also encompass Cody Balmer, the man accused of setting Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro's residence ablaze in Harrisburg in April. The 38-year-old is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses. Balmer wrote extensively about Israel's war in Gaza before the attack and reportedly described Shapiro as a 'monster' who had 'plans' to harm Palestinians. Balmer also has a track record of minor crimes, mental illness, and marital strife. Julio Rosas, author of Fiery But Mostly Peaceful, a study on far-left activism, said recent attacks show how radical groups are 'elevating their tactics' to stop Israel's 19-month-old assault on Gaza. Activist leaders regularly urge rally attendees to 'bring the war home to the United States' — language that he says barely disguises a blatant call for violence. 'They've been protesting and marching, but the war in Gaza hasn't stopped, so they have to do more radical things to get what they want,' Rosas said. He blamed Answer, PSL, and the Democratic Socialists of America, which have staged protests both on and off college campuses, and which all describe themselves as non-violent movements. Those pro-Palestine campaign leaders 'overlap' with those who once coordinated Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other far-left causes of recent years, he said. 'Whether it's Gaza, immigration, or George Floyd, the grievances they hyperventilate about are all the same,' he added. 'It's white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism.' Ian Miles Cheong, a social commentator and influencer, blames police, politicians and academics for keeping their 'hands off' the rabble rousers who've pushed their followers toward violence. 'Too few college administrations are willing to speak out against them because they're afraid of being canceled,' Cheong said. He, Rosas, and other conservatives praise the Trump administration for cracking down on campus activism, restricting visas for foreign students, and other steps to stop dangerous immigrants from entering the US. 'Protest is fine, but there's nothing peaceful about harassing Jewish students or blockading classrooms and libraries,' said Cheong.
BreakingNews.ie
34 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Trump administration open to discussion on key issues, Merz says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said his meeting with President Donald Trump convinced him that the US administration is open to discussion on key issues. Mr Merz described his Oval Office meeting and extended lunch with Mr Trump on Thursday as constructive but also candid, noting the two leaders expressed different views on Ukraine. Advertisement He said: 'Yesterday, in the meeting at the Oval Office, I expressed a distinctly different position on the topic of Ukraine than the one Trump had taken, and not only was there no objection, but we discussed it in detail again over lunch.' The White House meeting marked the first time the two sat down in person. Mr Merz, who became chancellor in May, avoided the kind of confrontations in the Oval Office that have tripped up other world leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. The German chancellor presented Mr Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of the president's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Kallstadt, Germany. Advertisement Mr Trump called Mr Merz a 'very good man to deal with'. The American administration, Mr Merz said, is open to discussion, listens and is willing to accept differing opinions. He added: 'Let's stop talking about Donald Trump with a raised finger and wrinkled nose. You have to talk with him, not about him.' Mr Merz said he also met with senators on Capitol Hill, urging them to recognise the scale of Russian rearmament. Advertisement 'Please take a look at how far Russia's armament is going, what they are currently doing there; you obviously have no idea what's happening,' he said he told them. 'In short, you can talk to them, but you must not let yourself be intimidated. I don't have that inclination anyway.' Donald Trump (left) greets Friedrich Merz upon his arrival at the White House (Alex Brandon/AP/PA) Mr Merz, who speaks English fluently, stressed the need for transatlantic trust and said he reminded Mr Trump that allies matter. 'Whether we like it or not, we will remain dependent on the United States of America for a long time,' he said. Advertisement 'But you also need partners in the world, and the Europeans, especially the Germans, are the best-suited partners. 'This is the difference between authoritarian systems and democracies: authoritarian systems have subordinates. Democracies have partners — and we want to be those partners in Europe and with America.' He reiterated that the US remains committed to Nato, particularly as Germany and others boost their defence spending. Mr Trump has in the past suggested the US might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries do not meet defence spending targets. Advertisement Mr Merz said: 'I have absolutely no doubt that the American government is committed to Nato, especially now that we've all said we're doing more. 'We're ensuring that we can also defend ourselves in Europe, and I believe this expectation was not unjustified.' 'We've been the free riders of American security guarantees for years and we're changing that now.'
