Who is Tammy Duckworth, the US senator who grilled Trump's pick for ambassador to Singapore?
Who is Tammy Duckworth, the US senator who grilled Trump's pick for ambassador to Singapore?
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Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- Straits Times
White House seeks fines from other universities after Columbia deal
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Columbia University disciplined more than 70 student protesters who occupied a campus library in May. WASHINGTON - The White House is seeking fines from several universities it says failed to stop antisemitism on campus, including Harvard University , in exchange for restoring federal funding, a Trump administration official said on July 25. The administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown, the source said, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration is close to striking deals with Northwestern and Brown and potentially Cornell. A deal with Harvard, the country's oldest and richest university, is a key target for the White House, the official added. A spokesperson for Cornell declined to comment. Other universities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr Trump and his team have undertaken a broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at US universities, which the Republican president says are gripped by antisemitic and 'radical left' ideologies. Mr Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses last year. Columbia University said on July 23 it will pay more than US$200 million to the US government in a settlement with the administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored. The Trump administration has welcomed the Columbia deal, with officials believing the university set the standard on how to reach an agreement, the official said. Harvard has taken a different approach, suing the federal government in a bid to get suspended federal grants restored. REUTERS
Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump administration plans changes to skilled worker visas and citizenship tests
The H-1B visa program for foreign workers has been the subject of a fierce debate within the Republican Party. WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is planning to change the visa system for skilled foreign workers, a program at the center of a dispute between immigration hard-liners and tech industry leaders, said the new director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In an interview with The New York Times, Mr Joseph Edlow, the director of USCIS, also said the test to become a US citizen was too easy and should change. 'It's very easy to kind of memorise the answers. I don't think we're really comporting with the spirit of the law,' Mr Edlow said July 24. He illuminated how the agency at the heart of the country's immigration system would operate in President Donald Trump's second term, at a moment when the president has ordered a sweeping crackdown on immigration and mass deportations. The H-1B visa program for foreign workers has been the subject of a fierce debate within the Republican Party. Mr Edlow said it should favour companies that plan to pay foreign workers higher wages. The proposed changes to the system could help alleviate criticism from those in the right wing of the Republican Party who say the program brings in workers who are willing to accept lower salaries than American workers. This week, Vice-President JD Vance criticised companies who lay off their own employees and then hire foreign workers. But some of Mr Trump's most prominent backers in the tech industry have said they rely on the program because they can't find enough qualified American workers. 'I really do think that the way H-1B needs to be used, and this is one of my favorite phrases, is to, along with a lot of other parts of immigration, supplement, not supplant, US economy and US businesses and US workers,' Mr Edlow said. Mr Doug Rand, a former Biden administration official, said changing the H1-B process to favour higher-wage earners was misguided. 'Like it or not, the H-1B program is the main way that US companies can hire the best and brightest international graduates of US universities, and Congress never allowed DHS to put its thumb on the scale based on salary,' he said. NYTIMES
Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Pakistan says it's close to US trade deal, Washington gives no timeline
WASHINGTON - Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday the United States and Pakistan were "very close" to a trade deal that could come within days, but comments from the U.S. after Dar met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned no timeline. "I think we are very close to finalizing a deal with U.S. Our teams have been here in Washington, discussing, having virtual meetings and a committee has been tasked by the prime minister to fine-tune now," Dar said in a discussion at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. "It's not going to be months, not even weeks, I would say (just) days," he said. Under U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington has attempted to renegotiate trade agreements with many countries that he threatened with tariffs over what he calls unfair trade relations. Many economists dispute Trump's characterization. The U.S. State Department and Pakistan's foreign ministry, in separate statements after Rubio's meeting with Dar, said the two stressed in their discussion the importance of expanding trade and ties in critical minerals and mining. A post by Rubio on X after the meeting and the State Department's statement mentioned no timeline for finalizing a trade deal. The Pakistan foreign ministry also said Dar "appreciated the pivotal role" by Trump and Rubio "in de-escalating tensions between Pakistan and India by facilitating a ceasefire." The State Department statement did not mention India. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides. India disputes Trump's claims that the ceasefire resulted from his intervention and trade threats. India's position is that New Delhi and Islamabad must resolve problems directly with no outside involvement. An April 22 militant attack in India-administered Kashmir killed 26 men and sparked heavy fighting between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry. India struck Pakistan on May 7 and the two nations exchanged hostilities, killing dozens across three days. The ceasefire was declared on May 10. New Delhi blamed the April attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility and called for a neutral investigation. Washington condemned the attack but did not blame Islamabad. REUTERS
