A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump's administration illegally withheld about $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The ruling by Judge Alison Burrows in Boston is a major legal victory for Harvard as the university tries to strike a deal that could end the White House's conflict with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, the agency said.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institution has become a central focus of the administration's campaign to use federal funding to force changes at American universities, which are Trump's words are being overtaken by anti-Semitic and “radical left” ideologies.
Three other Ivy League universities have struck deals with authorities, including Columbia University, which in July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research funding that was suspended over allegations that the university had allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on campus.
As with Columbia, the Trump administration has taken action against Harvard over the pro-Palestinian protest movement that has rocked its campus and other universities since Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel's war in Gaza.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security took steps on Wednesday to end the Biden-era Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants in the United States, Reuters reported.
The department said Venezuela no longer qualifies for it.
Temporary Protected Status The status is available to people whose home countries have experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary event. It provides work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
“Having weighed the issues of public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it is clear that allowing Venezuelan citizens to remain temporarily in the United States is not in the best interest of America,“ a department spokesperson said in a statement.
The status is set to expire on September 10. According to data released by Congress in December, more than 256,000 Venezuelans have been granted such status under the 2021 ruling.
President Donald Trump’s administration first took steps to remove protections against deportation for Venezuelans in February.
Although a federal court blocked the move in March, the U.S. Supreme Court later gave the federal government permission to proceed with deportations.
An unusual coalition has formed in the House of Representatives as lawmakers who rarely agree on other issues joined forces to support a bill that would ban members of Congress and their families from owning and trading in company stock, the Associated Press reported.
The group includes representatives from the far right, the left, moderates and many others in between. They gathered to support the ban, which enjoys strong public support and appears to be gaining momentum after being blocked in previous sessions of Congress.
“It's not every day you see this kind of mix of personalities together,“ said Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate congressman who represents a swing district in Pennsylvania. “You're all smiling there. That's a good thing. It shows the strength of this cause,” he added.
Congress has been debating proposals for years to restrict stock trading by lawmakers because of the potential conflict of interest - they often have access to information and decisions that can dramatically move markets.
A Senate committee has already approved a bill by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri that would also expand the stock trading ban to include future presidents and vice presidents - but remarkably exempts President Donald Trump from it. The bill introduced in the House this week is limited to Congress, but sponsors have said they are open to including the executive branch if enough support can be mustered.
Current law requires federal lawmakers to disclose their stock trades. The STOCK Act was passed in 2012 with the idea that publicity would discourage lawmakers from actively trading. But that didn’t happen.
The sponsors of the new bill said they had merged their separate proposals to ban stock trading into a single bipartisan bill. The lead sponsor, Republican Chip Roy of Texas, said the group had been meeting for months, and some of the sponsors had been working on the idea for years.
While the bill would not allow lawmakers to own individual stocks and bonds, they would be able to hold diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and certain commodities. Lawmakers who currently own individual stocks and bonds would have 180 days to divest themselves of their holdings. Newly elected members will have 90 days to do so after taking office.