After Harvard rejects Trump demands, Columbia still in talks over federal funding

Graduating students hold Palestinian flags and chant as they walk out in protest over the 13 students who have been barred from graduating due to protest activities, during commencement in Harvard Yard, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP)
Graduating students hold Palestinian flags and chant as they walk out in protest over the 13 students who have been barred from graduating due to protest activities, during commencement in Harvard Yard, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 15 April 2025
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After Harvard rejects Trump demands, Columbia still in talks over federal funding

After Harvard rejects Trump demands, Columbia still in talks over federal funding
  • Shipman did not address the assertions by Harvard and some Columbia professors, who are suing the Trump administration through their labor unions, that the government's actions are illegal

NEW YORK: Columbia University said it was holding "good faith" negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to regain federal funding, hours after Harvard rejected the administration's demands to audit the "viewpoint diversity" of its students and faculty, among other overhauls.
Columbia's interim president, Claire Shipman, on Monday night said the private New York school would not cede ground on its commitment to academic freedom during talks with the administration.
Beginning with Columbia, the Trump administration has threatened universities across the country over their handling of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled campuses last year following the 2023 Hamas-led attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The Trump administration has said antisemitism flared amid the protests. Demonstrators say their criticism of Israel and U.S. foreign policy has been wrongly conflated with antisemitism.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Columbia says funding negotiations with government are in 'good faith'

• Harvard rejects Trump administration's demands as lawless, unconstitutional

• Columbia says some academic freedoms are 'not subject to negotiation'

• Trump mulls trying to end Harvard's tax-exempt status

In a Monday letter, Harvard President Alan Garber rejected the Trump administration's demands that Harvard end diversity efforts and take other steps to secure funding as unprecedented "assertions of power, unmoored from the law" that violated the school's constitutional free speech rights and the Civil Rights Act.
He wrote that the threatened funding supported medical, engineering, and other scientific research that has led to innovations that "have made countless people in our country and throughout the world healthier and safer."
Hours after Garber released his letter, the Trump administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said it was freezing contracts and grants to Harvard, the country's oldest and richest university, worth more than $2 billion, out of a total of $9 billion.
Later on Monday, Shipman, a Columbia trustee, said Columbia will continue with what it viewed as "good faith discussions" and "constructive dialog" with the U.S. Justice Department's antisemitism task force, which began with the government's announcement in early March that it was terminating Columbia grants and contracts worth $400 million.
"Those discussions have not concluded, and we have not reached any agreement with the government at this point," Shipman wrote. She wrote that some of the things the Trump administration has demanded of universities, including changes to shared governance and addressing "viewpoint diversity," were "not subject to negotiation."
"We would reject any agreement in which the government dictates what we teach, research, or who we hire," she wrote.
She also wrote that Harvard, in Massachusetts, had rejected demands by the government that "strike at the very heart of that university's venerable mission."
Shipman did not address the assertions by Harvard and some Columbia professors, who are suing the Trump administration through their labor unions, that the government's actions are illegal.
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by recipients of federal funding based on race or national origin, federal funds can be terminated only after a lengthy investigation and hearings process, which has not happened at Columbia.
One of Columbia's most famous alumni, former U.S. President Barack Obama, praised Harvard's response to an "unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom."
"Let's hope other institutions follow suit," Obama, a Democrat, wrote in a Monday night statement.
Trump, a Republican, said in a social media post on Tuesday he was mulling whether to seek to end Harvard's tax-exempt status if it continued pushing what he called "political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'"
The standoff between the Trump administration and universities comes as he faces court challenges to his immigration policies, and pushback from state attorneys general trying to block his firing of government workers and suspension of trillions of dollars in federal grants, loans and financial support.
Later on Tuesday, one of the immigration cases that has raised questions about whether the administration will respect judges and the constitutional order could come to a head as U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis considers her next steps on what she called Trump's failure to update her on efforts to return a man illegally deported to El Salvador.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld an order from Xinis that the administration facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return from El Salvador, where he is being housed in a high-security prison. The Trump administration has said it is powerless to bring Abrego Garcia back.

 


Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years

Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years
Updated 55 min 26 sec ago
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Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years

Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years
  • Aziz had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune
  • Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced

NOUAKCHOTT: An appeals court sentenced Mauritania’s former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for abuse of office and illicit enrichment.

Aziz, who came to power in a 2008 coup, had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune.

The former leader, who has been in custody since his original trial began in January 2023, appeared alongside several former top officials and advisers also facing charges of abuse of office, illicit enrichment, influence peddling and money laundering.

The court in the capital Nouakchott also upheld the confiscation of Aziz’s assets and the stripping of his civic rights.

Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced, an AFP journalist saw.

Investigators estimate that Aziz, who led the northwest African country of 4.5 million people for more than a decade, accumulated assets and capital worth $70 million during his presidency.

He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail in December 2023.

Aziz was excluded from the 2019 presidential election, won by his former right-hand man, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, who had been at his side for the coup and acted successively as his chief of staff then defense minister.

Aziz led the country linking the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa until 2019, returning to general stability a nation once prone to coups and jihadist activities.

He groomed Ghazouani as his successor and handed over to him after elections in 2019 in what was the first peaceful transition of power in a country that proclaimed independence from France in 1960 but then saw decades of political unrest.

At the time of his indictment investigators estimated that Aziz, the son of a merchant, had amassed wealth and capital of 67 million euros ($75 million) over his time in power.

Although not denying his wealth, Aziz has always strenuously contested the accusations against him, seeing a conspiracy to oust him from political life.

His successor has always denied any interference in the case. After remaining discreet about where he had obtained his wealth, Aziz surprised everyone toward the end of his trial by implicating his successor.

He claimed that, the day after the 2019 election, Ghazouani had handed him two suitcases filled with several million euros.


Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues

Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
Updated 14 May 2025
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Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues

Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
  • Court in Britain convicts three far-right extremists who stockpiled more than 200 weapons

LONDON: Three far-right extremists were convicted in a UK court on Wednesday of planning terrorist attacks against mosques and synagogues.

The men were part of an online neo-Nazi group that had stockpiled more than 200 weapons and were close to finishing a 3-D printed semi-automatic gun.

Brogan Stewart, 25, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Christopher Ringrose, 34, were found guilty of multiple terrorism and firearms offenses, following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court. They will be sentenced in July.

The group were arrested in February last year after an investigation by counter terrorism police found that the men were intent on carrying out a violent attack.

“These extremists were plotting violent acts of terrorism against synagogues, mosques and Islamic education centers,” said Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division. “By their own admission, they were inspired by SS (Nazi) tactics and supremacist ideology.”

Counter terrorism police said that the men belonged to an online group that provided an echo chamber of extreme right-wing views. They shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence.

The group, which idolized the Nazi Germany regime, prepared for what they claimed would be a “race war” by sourcing body armor and weapons including machetes, hunting knives, swords and crossbows.

“They were a group that espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset,” said Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East. “All three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”


Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors

Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors
Updated 14 May 2025
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Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors

Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors
  • India and Pakistan exchanged missiles, drone attacks and artillery fire last week before agreeing to ceasefire
  • Saudi Arabia was one of several countries that defused tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday hoped the recent ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan would contain escalation and “restore calm” between the two neighbors, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Pakistan has credited Saudi Arabia and several other nations for playing a constructive role in defusing its tensions with India last week after fighting erupted between the two. US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Washington had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, calming fears of an all-out war between the nuclear-armed states.

The Saudi crown prince welcomed the ceasefire during his opening address at the GCC-USA summit in Riyadh on Wednesday, which was held in Trump’s presence.

“We welcome the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India and hope that it will contain escalation and restore calm between the two countries,” the crown prince said as per the SPA.

The Saudi crown prince said the Kingdom aimed to work with Trump and GCC countries to de-escalate tensions in the region, end the war in Gaza and seek a “lasting and comprehensive solution” to the Palestinian cause.

“Our objective is to ensure security and peace for the peoples of the region,” he said. “We reiterate our support for all endeavors aimed at resolving crises and halting conflicts through peaceful means.”

The fragile ceasefire has temporarily halted hostilities with India and Pakistan trading blame for the conflict.


Judge says Georgetown student can be released from immigration detention as case proceeds

Judge says Georgetown student can be released from immigration detention as case proceeds
Updated 14 May 2025
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Judge says Georgetown student can be released from immigration detention as case proceeds

Judge says Georgetown student can be released from immigration detention as case proceeds
  • Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17

VIRGINIA, USA: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that a Georgetown scholar from India be released from immigration detention after he was detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college students.

Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. Officials said his visa was revoked because of his social media posts and his wife’s connection to Gaza as a Palestinian American.

They accused him of supporting Hamas, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization.

By the time Khan Suri’s petition was filed, authorities had already put him on a plane to Louisiana without allowing him to update his family or lawyer, Khan Suri’s attorneys said.

A few days later, he was moved again to Texas.


German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive

German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive
Updated 14 May 2025
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German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive

German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive
  • Merz said that in principle it should be possible for an Israeli prime minister to visit Germany

BERLIN: Germany wants to see the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including Germans, brought back alive and Israel should consider this in its military actions in the strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.

Asked whether Germany would implement an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Merz said that in principle it should be possible for an Israeli prime minister to visit Germany.

How this could happen would be clarified when necessary, he said at the joint press conference with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Berlin, adding that no bilateral visits by him or Netanyahu were currently planned.

Merz said future financial support for UNRWA, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, was conditional on the organization being reformed.