Category: International

NEW YORK: Elite US university Harvard was hit with a $2.3 billion freeze in federal funding on Monday after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House said was intended to crack down on campus anti-semitism.

The call for changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures expands on a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.

Harvard president Alan Garber vowed in a letter to students and faculty to defy the government, insisting that the school would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights”.

Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism responded with a statement announcing the $2.2 billion hold in multi-year grants, plus a freeze on $60 million in government contracts.

“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges — that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws,” it said.

“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”

Campuses across the country were rocked last year by student protests.

The Department of Education announced in March that it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged “anti-semitic harassment and discrimination.”

Garber’s letter came after the administration placed $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard and its affiliates under review, making its first demands.

On Friday, the government sent Harvard a much more detailed list demanding an “audit” of the views of students and faculty, which the university made public.

‘Raging antisemitism’

Harvard generated an operating surplus of $45 million on a revenue base of $6.5 billion in the last financial year.

Garber said the school was “open to new information and different perspectives” but would not agree to demands that “go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.”

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said.

However, he also said, viewing allegations of antisemitism, “As we defend Harvard, we will continue to nurture a thriving culture of open inquiry on our campus; develop the tools, skills, and practices needed to engage constructively with one another; and broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within our community.”

The issue of antisemitism on campus erupted before Trump took office for his second term, following pro-Palestinian student protests last year at several universities.

Top Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was lauded by Trump last year for aggressive questioning of universities over anti-semitism, called for Harvard to be defunded, calling it “the epitome of the moral and academic rot in higher education”.

The New York firebrand, seen as one of the most vocal supporters in Congress of Israel and US Jewish causes, accused the university of tolerating “raging antisemitism”.

Harvard’s response to the White House’s demands was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by Columbia University, the epicentre of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.

The Trump administration cut $400 million in grants to the private New York school, accusing it of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment as pro-Palestine protesters rallied.

The school responded by agreeing to reform student disciplinary procedures and hiring 36 officers to expand its security team.

As well as the funding cut, immigration officers have targeted two organisers of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia: Mahmoud Khalil, whom the government is seeking to deport, and Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested on Monday as he attended an interview to become a US citizen.

Additional input from Reuters

US President Donald Trump has warned Iran that it must swiftly abandon any nuclear ambitions or face a military response as diplomatic efforts between the two nations resume, Reuters reported.

Trump made the comments following a meeting in Oman on Saturday between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and a senior Iranian representative. Both nations described the session as “constructive,” with a follow-up round expected this weekend, potentially in Rome.

Speaking to reporters, Trump voiced scepticism over Iran’s intentions. “I think they’re tapping us along,” he said. Despite the positive tone from the talks, he stressed Iran must fully renounce nuclear weapon development.

“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

Asked if a military strike remains on the table, he replied, “Of course it does,” underlining the seriousness of his administration’s stance.

According to a source briefed on the discussions, the current talks are exploratory, aimed at gauging the potential for a broader agreement. Still, Trump insisted time is running out. “They’re fairly close” to developing a weapon, he said, calling for quick action to avoid a “harsh response.”

While the Biden administration held indirect talks with Iran, little progress was made. The last direct negotiations occurred under President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 nuclear agreement that Trump later withdrew from.

With tensions rising, the outcome of the next round of discussions may prove critical in determining the future of US-Iran relations.

TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign minister is set to visit Moscow later this week for discussions on the country’s nuclear programme, just before a new round of indirect talks with the United States.

On Saturday, Abbas Araghchi held talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman — the highest-level negotiations since the 2015 nuclear accord collapsed.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the deal, has brought Iran back into the spotlight since returning to office in January.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.

Western countries, including the United States, have long suspected Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its programme is for peaceful purposes.

Russia, a close ally of Iran and party to the 2015 deal, and China have engaged with Tehran in recent weeks over its nuclear programme.

“Dr Araghchi will travel to Moscow at the end of the week,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that the pre-planned trip would be “an opportunity to discuss the latest developments related to the Muscat talks”.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Araghchi would meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and other officials.

Iran and the United States have both described Saturday’s discussions as “constructive”.

Moscow welcomed the Iran-US talks as it pushed for a diplomatic solution and warned that military confrontation would be a “global catastrophe”.

Another round of talks between Iran and the United States is to be held in Oman on Saturday, the foreign ministry spokesman told the official IRNA news agency. Rome had earlier been cited as a possible venue.

‘Red lines’

Baqaei said the next set of talks would continue to be indirect with Omani mediation, adding that direct talks were “not effective” and “not useful”. Oman’s foreign minister shuttled between the two delegations at the last talks.

Baqaei had previously said the only focus of the next talks would be “the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions”, and that Iran “will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue”.

Late Sunday, IRNA reported that Tehran’s regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its “red lines” in the talks.

Washington reinstated biting sanctions on Tehran following its withdrawal from the 2015 deal three years later.

Iran continued to adhere to the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal but later began rolling back its compliance.

Iran has consistently denied it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Trump addressed reporters on Monday regarding Iran, saying “I’ll solve that problem” and “That’s almost an easy one.”

However, it remains unclear whether his remarks referred specifically to nuclear negotiations or broader issues involving the Islamic Republic.

Baqaei reiterated that Iran would host United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi in the coming days but noted that the details of his trip were still “to be decided on”.

In a post on X, Grossi confirmed that he would be heading to Tehran “later this week”.

“Continued engagement and cooperation with the Agency is essential at a time when diplomatic solutions are urgently needed,” he said.

IRNA later reported that Grossi would arrive on Wednesday and meet Araghchi and Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency last visited Iran in November when he held talks with top officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian.

In its latest quarterly report in February, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, which far exceeds the 3.67 percent limit set under the 2015 deal and is much closer to the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.

BUENOS AIRES: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said there is still room for a major trade deal with China, despite growing tensions and a deepening tariff dispute between the two countries.

“There’s a big deal to be done at some point,” Bessent said on Monday when asked by Bloomberg TV about the possibility that the world’s largest economies would decouple.

“There doesn’t have to be” decoupling, he said, “but there could be.”

Bessent stressed that a deal with China would be more difficult than with other nations because “China is both our biggest economic competitor and our biggest military rival.”

The world’s two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.

Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, with Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on US imports.

The US side has sent mixed messages about what it wants to achieve and whether tariffs that would rock the world economy can be avoided.

The White House had appeared to dial down the pressure recently, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.

But Trump and some of his top aides said Sunday that the exemptions had been misconstrued and would only be temporary as his team pursued fresh tariffs against many items on the list.

“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’… especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

Bessent warned that Trump’s tariffs were “not a joke.”

“These are big numbers. I think no one who thinks they’re sustainable wants them to remain here.”

China’s Xi Jinping on Monday kicked off a Southeast Asia tour with a visit to Vietnam — where he warned that protectionism “will lead nowhere” and a trade war would “produce no winner.”

“We must strengthen strategic resolve, jointly oppose unilateral bullying, and uphold the stability of the global free trade system as well as industrial and supply chains,” Xi told Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam.

The White House has said Trump remains optimistic about securing a trade deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.

The trade war is raising fears of an economic downturn as the dollar tumbles and investors dump US government bonds, normally considered a safe haven investment.

ATHENS: The bodies of two women and 39 other migrants were found by the Greek coast guard on the tiny island of Farmakonisi in the Aegean Sea on Monday.

The authorities said that an investigation was underway to determine what had occurred. The circumstances of the deaths were unclear, they said.

Greek authorities were informed that the migrants had earlier in the day reached the island, just 6 miles (9.7 km) off the Turkish coast, coast guard officials said, adding they were still searching for other survivors of a potential shipwreck.

Those rescued were transferred to the island of Leros nearby.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favoured gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The coast guard has rescued over 250,000 people since 2015, when Greece was at the frontline of Europe’s migration crisis and nearly one million people landed on its islands, including Farmakonisi, from Turkey. Thousands have died at sea, according to the U.N refugee agency.

This month, at least seven migrants drowned, including one boy, one girl and two women, when their boat sank off the island of Lesbos.

KOLKATA: Protests triggered by new controversial law on Muslim land turned violent as police vehicles were torched in Kolkata, capital of India’s West Bengal State, on Monday.

Authorities said violence claimed at least three lives over the weekend.

The unrest began in the Murshidabad district, where Muslim protesters set fire to shopping malls, attacked a Hindu home and stabbed two people on Saturday, police said, forcing authorities to suspend internet services in the area.

On Monday, protesters in the Bhangar area of Kolkata clashed with police after officers stopped a protest rally. A major highway was blocked by protesters during the disturbances.

The protesters were angry about a new law passed by the Indian parliament this month, which makes sweeping changes in the management of vast tracts of land set aside solely for Muslim use, potentially stoking tensions between the government and minority Muslims.

Muslim groups and political parties say the law, like many of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, aims to alienate and discriminate against Muslims. Modi and officials in his party deny the allegations, and have said the law is a “pro-Muslim reform”.

Modi’s party has accused the Trinamool Congress, its bitter rival which rules West Bengal, of appeasing Muslims in order to win votes. The Trinamool Congress denies this and says Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is polarising people on religious lines.

(Reporting Subrata Nag Choudhary, writing by by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, editing by Giles Elgood)

HANOI: China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements on Monday, strengthening ties between the communist-run countries after Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would have “no winners”.

Xi is in Vietnam for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, as Beijing tries to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic US President Donald Trump, who announced — and then mostly reversed — sweeping tariffs this month.

The Chinese president was welcomed to Hanoi on Monday with a 21-cannon salute, a guard of honour and rows of flag-waving children at the presidential palace, before holding talks with Vietnam’s top leaders including General Secretary To Lam.

The two neighbours signed 45 cooperation agreements, including on supply chains, AI, joint maritime patrols and railway development.

Xi’s visit comes almost two weeks after the United States — manufacturing powerhouse Vietnam’s biggest export market in the first three months of the year — slapped a 46% levy on Vietnamese goods as part of a global trade blitz.

Although the reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam and most other countries have been paused, China still faces enormous levies and is seeking to tighten regional trade ties and offset their impact during Xi’s first overseas trip of the year.

Xi will depart Vietnam on Tuesday, travelling onwards to Malaysia and Cambodia on a tour that “bears major importance” for the broader region, Beijing has said.

Speaking during a meeting with Lam, Xi said Vietnam and China were “standing at the turning point of history… and should move forward with joint hands”.

Xi earlier urged the two countries to “resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment”.

He also reiterated Beijing’s line that a “trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere” in an article published on Monday in Vietnam’s major state-run Nhan Dan newspaper.

Vietnam’s Lam said in an article posted on the government’s news portal on Monday that his country “is always ready to join hands with China to make cooperation between the two countries more substantive, profound, balanced and sustainable”.

‘Bamboo diplomacy’

Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s biggest buyer of Chinese goods in 2024, with a bill of $161.9 billion, followed by Malaysia with Chinese imports worth $101.5 billion.

Firming up ties with Southeast Asian neighbours could also help offset the impact from a closed United States, the largest single recipient of Chinese goods last year.

Xi is visiting Vietnam for the first time since December 2023.

China and Vietnam, both ruled by communist parties, already share a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, Hanoi’s highest diplomatic status.

Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach — striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.

The two countries have close economic ties, but Hanoi shares US concerns about Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own but this is disputed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei.

The Chinese leader insisted in his article on Monday that Beijing and Hanoi could resolve those disputes through dialogue.

“We should properly manage differences and safeguard peace and stability in our region,” Xi wrote.

“With vision, we are fully capable of properly settling maritime issues through consultation and negotiation,” he said.

Vietnam’s Lam said in his article that “joint efforts to control and satisfactorily resolve disagreements… is an important stabilising factor in the current complex and unpredictable international and regional situation”.

After Vietnam, Xi will visit Malaysia from Tuesday to Thursday.

Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Xi’s visit was “part of the government’s efforts […] to see better trade relations with various countries including China”.

Xi will then travel to Cambodia, one of China’s staunchest allies in Southeast Asia and where Beijing has extended its influence in recent years.

NEW DELHI: Mehul Choksi, the fugitive jeweller wanted in connection with one of India’s largest bank frauds, has been arrested in Belgium, a source at the Enforcement Directorate told Reuters.

Choksi, who has been on the run for several years, was taken into custody nearly seven years after the scandal first surfaced. The Indian government had already submitted an extradition request prior to his arrest, though the source noted that Choksi is expected to contest the move on medical grounds.

The case dates back to 2018, when Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s second-largest state-owned lender by assets, revealed that it had uncovered fraudulent transactions amounting to $1.8 billion at a single branch in Mumbai.

The bank had filed a criminal complaint with India’s federal investigative agency against several entities, including billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and Choksi, his uncle and the managing director of Gitanjali Gems, saying they had defrauded PNB.

Indian federal police filed fraud charges against Choksi, Nirav Modi and others in connection with suspected involvement in fraudulent transactions that led to huge losses for PNB.

The two diamond tycoons have denied any wrongdoing.

Choksi said in a letter in 2018 that the “investigating agencies were acting with pre-determined minds and interfering with the course of justice.”

Reuters was unable to immediately contact his lawyer on Monday.

Nirav Modi fled India in 2018 before details of his alleged role in the case became public. He was arrested in Britain in 2019 and remains in custody there, although he has lost one extradition appeal.

Last week, a Pakistani-born Canadian businessman accused of helping orchestrate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai landed in New Delhi after the US extradited him in the first such transfer in a terrorism case.

SEOUL: South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday denied he had committed insurrection, as the impeached leader appeared in court on the first day of his criminal trial over his martial law declaration.

Yoon was formally stripped of office earlier this month, after being impeached and suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament.

He became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in January in connection to the criminal case against him, although he was later released on procedural grounds.

Yoon attended the trial at Seoul Central District Court on Monday morning and was asked by the justices to state his name, date of birth and other personal information, according to pool reports.

Yoon is accused of insurrection over his abortive martial law declaration, but his legal team denied all the charges, with the former president then taking to the stand to defend himself.

“To frame an event that lasted only a few hours, was non-violent, and immediately accepted the dissolution request from the National Assembly as insurrection… strikes me as legally unfounded,” Yoon told the court.

Yoon, himself a former prosecutor, asked the court to display the prosecution’s presentation on a courtroom monitor, and proceeded to rebut their opening statement point by point, according to pool reports.

The prosecution argued that Yoon “planned to incite an uprising with the intent to subvert the constitutional order”.

They gave evidence including Yoon’s planning of the martial law in advance and his deployment of the military to the parliament, with orders to break windows and cut the power.

Long trial ahead

The court will hear witness testimonies from two military officers called by prosecutors, including one officer who claims he was instructed by top commanders “to drag out the lawmakers gathered in the National Assembly to lift the martial law”.

Lawmakers defied armed soldiers and climbed over fences in order to gather in parliament and vote down Yoon’s martial law declaration, forcing him to backtrack in a matter of hours.

Experts say his criminal trial is likely to be a lengthy one.

“The first verdict is likely to be delivered around August, but the case involves around 70,000 pages of evidence and numerous witnesses. So if deemed necessary by the court, the trial may be extended,” lawyer Min Kyoung-sic told AFP.

Former president Park Geun-hye, for example, was impeached in December 2016 — but it wasn’t until January 2021 that the Supreme Court finalised her sentence for influence peddling and corruption.

If found guilty, Yoon would become the third South Korean president to be found guilty of insurrection — after two military leaders in connection to a 1979 coup.

“Legal experts say that the precedent coup could be applied in the current case, as it also involved the coercive deployment of military forces,” said Min.

For charges of insurrection, Yoon could be sentenced to life in prison or the maximum penalty: the death sentence.

But is it highly unlikely that sentence would be carried out. South Korea has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 1997.

WASHINGTON: After an attack at the official residence of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, US police said Sunday they had arrested a man for alleged arson and “terrorism”.

Widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, Shapiro was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, state police said.

“While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence,” the force said in a statement. No casualties were reported.

Shapiro said that he and his sleeping family were woken up by a police trooper who “banged on our door” at around 2:00am local time (0600GMT) and that they were evacuated from the building.

“Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished,” he said.

Speaking to reporters outside the residence, a broken window blackened by the fire visible behind him, Shapiro made a forceful appeal for an end to political violence.

“This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society, and I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other… it is not OK, and it has to stop,” he said.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, held a ceremony with family and friends earlier in the night to mark the first night of the Passover holiday.

While noting the arsonist’s motive was not yet known, Shapiro said he would not be intimidated in observing his faith.

Police said they arrested a man suspected of having carried out the attack, naming him as Cody Balmer, 38.

“Cody Balmer is in custody. We are preparing a criminal complaint to charge him,” said district attorney Fran Chardo, adding that the charges would include “attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person.”

The term “enumerated person” is usually used for law enforcement officers or other public officials.

Authorities said Balmer accessed the property by coming over a fence, and that he had “homemade incendiary devices” on his person.

He spent several minutes on the property evading police before he broke in and set the fire, top state police officials Christopher Paris and George Bivens said.

Top Republican officials reacted to the attack Sunday afternoon, with US Attorney General Pam Bondi saying she was “deeply relieved that Governor Shapiro and his family are safe.”

Vice President JD Vance called the attack “really disgusting violence” and said he hopes “whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice.”

President Donald Trump, when asked about the attack Sunday night while returning to Washington aboard Air Force One, said he had just heard about it.

The 51-year-old Shapiro was in the race to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid — a position that instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by Trump.