Latest news with #McCarthyism
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chinese students face anxious wait for visas under US crackdown
By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) -Caught in the middle of Washington's renewed visa crackdown on Chinese international students, Beijing postgraduate Lainey is anxiously waiting to resume the visa process to study a PhD at her dream school, the University of California. "We feel helpless and unable to do anything," said the 24-year-old sociology student, who declined to give her surname for privacy reasons. "The situation in North America this year is not very good. From applying for my PhD until now, this series of visa policies is not very favourable to us. But we have no choice but to wait." The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it would not tolerate the "exploitation" of American universities or theft of U.S. research and intellectual property by Beijing. Spokesperson Tammy Bruce did not elaborate on how many Chinese students would be affected by a new plan announced on Wednesday to "aggressively" revoke visas. The visa crackdown is the latest in a series of moves targeting the international student community, especially Chinese nationals, who make up roughly 1 in 4 of all international students in the U.S., as the Trump administration pursues its hardline immigration agenda. If applied to a broad segment of the 277,000 Chinese students already at U.S. colleges, the visa revocations could disrupt a major source of income for universities and a crucial pipeline of talent for U.S. technology companies. Chinese students make up 16% of all graduate science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) students in the United States. DEFER ENROLMENT? The announcement on Chinese student visa holders came after the Trump administration ordered its missions worldwide to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants. If the visa appointment system is not resumed soon, Lainey wishes to defer enrolment for a year. "Although everyone says the U.S. admissions system may be biased against Chinese students, in reality U.S. schools are indeed the top in terms of academic quality," she said. "I may also consider (applying to) some places outside the U.S., such as Europe, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore." The measures are a sign of the increasing spillover from a bruising trade war between the two global superpowers, and threaten to derail a fragile truce reached mid-May in Geneva. A Friday editorial by China's state-owned Global Times newspaper said the new visa measures raised "the spectre of McCarthyism" and likened them to an "educational witch-hunt". "In recent years, the suppression of Chinese students has increasingly become an important part of the U.S. strategy to contain China," the commentary said. Potentially even more damaging than the immediate economic impact for the U.S. could be a long-term erosion of the appeal of U.S. universities and the subsequent brain drain. International students - 54% of them from India and China - contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. "If I really have to wait until 2026 to reapply, I might not have such positive feelings towards America," said Lainey. "If I can't even get a visa, then I'd have no choice but to go somewhere else."
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Chinese students face anxious wait for visas under US crackdown
BEIJING -Caught in the middle of Washington's renewed visa crackdown on Chinese international students, Beijing postgraduate Lainey is anxiously waiting to resume the visa process to study a PhD at her dream school, the University of California. "We feel helpless and unable to do anything," said the 24-year-old sociology student, who declined to give her surname for privacy reasons. "The situation in North America this year is not very good. From applying for my PhD until now, this series of visa policies is not very favourable to us. But we have no choice but to wait." The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it would not tolerate the "exploitation" of American universities or theft of U.S. research and intellectual property by Beijing. Spokesperson Tammy Bruce did not elaborate on how many Chinese students would be affected by a new plan announced on Wednesday to "aggressively" revoke visas. The visa crackdown is the latest in a series of moves targeting the international student community, especially Chinese nationals, who make up roughly 1 in 4 of all international students in the U.S., as the Trump administration pursues its hardline immigration agenda. If applied to a broad segment of the 277,000 Chinese students already at U.S. colleges, the visa revocations could disrupt a major source of income for universities and a crucial pipeline of talent for U.S. technology companies. Chinese students make up 16% of all graduate science, technology, engineering and maths students in the United States. DEFER ENROLMENT? The announcement on Chinese student visa holders came after the Trump administration ordered its missions worldwide to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants. If the visa appointment system is not resumed soon, Lainey wishes to defer enrolment for a year. "Although everyone says the U.S. admissions system may be biased against Chinese students, in reality U.S. schools are indeed the top in terms of academic quality," she said. "I may also consider some places outside the U.S., such as Europe, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore." The measures are a sign of the increasing spillover from a bruising trade war between the two global superpowers, and threaten to derail a fragile truce reached mid-May in Geneva. A Friday editorial by China's state-owned Global Times newspaper said the new visa measures raised "the spectre of McCarthyism" and likened them to an "educational witch-hunt". "In recent years, the suppression of Chinese students has increasingly become an important part of the U.S. strategy to contain China," the commentary said. Potentially even more damaging than the immediate economic impact for the U.S. could be a long-term erosion of the appeal of U.S. universities and the subsequent brain drain. International students - 54% of them from India and China - contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. "If I really have to wait until 2026 to reapply, I might not have such positive feelings towards America," said Lainey. "If I can't even get a visa, then I'd have no choice but to go somewhere else."
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Good Night, and Good Luck' Remembers When TV Had a Conscience, and a Spine
In the Broadway play 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' the CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow (George Clooney) allows himself a moment of doubt, as his program 'See It Now' embarks on a series of reports on the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s. 'It occurs to me,' he says, 'that we might not get away with this one.' It is a small but important line. We know Murrow's story — exposing the red-baiting demagoguery of Senator Joseph McCarthy — as history. And history, once set down on the page and stage, can seem inevitable. But Murrow's success was not preordained. It required hard, exacting work. It required guts. It required journalists to risk personal ruin and some of them to experience it. It's a point worth remembering. And it hits especially hard at this moment, when CBS News, headquartered just blocks away from the Winter Garden Theater, is again under political and financial pressure to rein in its coverage of the powerful. History is repeating, this time perhaps as tragedy. (CNN is airing the play's June 7 evening performance live, as if to give the news business a shot in the arm.) In 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' adapted from the 2005 screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov, all ends well, more or less. (The 'less' is implied in the stage production by a 'We Didn't Start the Fire'-like closing montage that ties the division and chaos of the past several decades to the cacophony of media.) Murrow ultimately received support — however nervous and limited — from his network. Its chief, William S. Paley (Paul Gross), fretted about pressure from politicians and from the 'See It Now' sponsor, the aluminum company Alcoa. But while Paley complained about the agita Murrow brought him, he did not pull the plug on the McCarthy investigation. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Crucible review – Miller's resonant tale of terror given radical sense of humour
There is never a time when Arthur Miller's play about a world turned upside down by collective hysteria and scapegoating does not bear some resonance. But the present moment – of dangerously disputed truths and lies – is an especially pertinent moment to revisit Miller's analogy between accusations of witchcraft and McCarthyist terror. This production is faithful to the original 17th-century setting, amid the heat and panic of the Salem witch trials. There is period dress: bonnets for women, pointed hats for men and ribbons for the judges, along with a range of broad British accents for these original American pilgrims. But director Ola Ince brings a quietly radical touch in the form of humour – more absurdist than comic, with accusations of flying girls and demon possession taking on preposterous tones. The men, mostly the judges of the last two acts, appear bumbling, like yokels arguing over the fate of their chattel at a country fair. Deputy Governor Danforth (Gareth Snook) is particularly clownish, though no less awful for it. A few songs by composer Renell Shaw give the town's girls and women a greater voice in an otherwise dutiful revival which flies in the first half but slows to a trudge by the third act. Maybe because of the laughter, there is also less creepiness to the band of girls who accuse the adults of satanism, and less terror to the court scenes, too. You see the panicked calculation in Tituba (Sarah Merrifield)'s original, forced 'confession' but you do not feel her visceral fear. The note of absurdism makes it less terrifying, more ridiculous. Still, there is some fine acting from Gavin Drea as John Proctor and Hannah Saxby as his sometime lover, Abigail Williams, who burns with the young, single-minded passion of the spurned. The showdowns in court, with the judges and those between John and Elizabeth Proctor (the a played compellingly by Phoebe Pryce), come weighted with emotion and tragedy. It is also painful to see Mary Warren (Bethany Wooding) as she tries to explain the peer pressure that made her lie in court and be disbelieved by the men around her. Amelia Jane Hankin's set design has a Quaker bareness, pious and unadorned, with wooden bedsteads and big kitchen tables. There is an almost painterly quality to some scenes with a top window on the stage featuring a tableau of the accused: women standing as still as statues, waiting for their fate to be decided by the men in power. It is a shame the pace slows to such a degree (performed at three hours on press night). Even so, discretely powerful scenes go some way to bringing the tension back, and as the first Miller play to be staged at the Globe it is a powerfully pertinent choice. At Shakespeare's Globe, London, until 12 July
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fannin County school play canceled over copyright violation, principal says
A play being put on by students at Fannin County High School was canceled after one performance, frustrating parents. The production of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible,' an examination of both the Salem Witch Trials and an allegory for the dangers of McCarthyism during the Red Scare of the 1950s, premiered Friday. Its Saturday night performance, however, was canceled by Fannin County High School, leaving parents perplexed and, according to some posts responding to the announcement, frustrated with the school. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] In a statement posted Saturday afternoon, the high school did not provide details about why the show would no longer be staged. 'I'm extremely disappointed in this decision. For whoever had a problem with the play, they should have been more proactive about learning that information way before our kids put hours and effort into their show. They should not be penalized for doing a play that was approved months ago,' one commenter said. After an outpouring of support by the community, the show went on at a local theater and on Monday, the school explained why the show was canceled. TRENDING STORIES: Parents sue after they say 6-year-old daughter was racially attacked at school: 'It's disturbing' 'It just smelled funny': Uber drivers unwittingly used as drug mules in metro Atlanta Gwinnett County shelter for unhoused community reopens 2 years after flooding damage 'When this news became available on Facebook earlier today, a number of people stepped into action to make the play happen and as a result, THE SHOW WILL GO ON!!!!!' a parent told Channel 2 Action News on Saturday night. In a statement released by the high school, Principal Dr. Scott Ramsey and other school leaders said they'd 'received several complaints as to an unauthorized change in the script of the play.' While the changes themselves were not detailed, and Channel 2 Action News has reached out for more information, school officials said the copyright violation from their license of the play made their decision for them. 'Upon investigation, we learned that the performance did not reflect the original script. These alterations were not approved by the licensing company or administration. The performance contract for The Crucible does not allow modifications without prior written approval. Failing to follow the proper licensing approval process for additions led to a breach in our contract with the play's publisher,' school officials said. 'The infraction resulted in an automatic termination of the licensing agreement. The second performance of The Crucible could not occur because we were no longer covered by a copyright agreement.' The school also confirmed in their statement that the script is taught in English classes at the institution, though it is not a required text. 'It is regretted that there was a copyright violation that resulted in our inability to perform the play,' officials said. Channel 2 Action News asked the school for more information about the script changes, and how they were found and investigated and are waiting for a response from the school. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
