����ֱ��

CAMBRIDGE: The US State Department on Tuesday ordered the suspension of student visa processing, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks unprecedented control of the nation’s universities by slashing funding and curbing international enrollment.
It is the latest escalation in the White House’s crackdown on foreign students, which has seen it revoke visas and deport some of those involved in protests against the war in Gaza.
A cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.
The New York Times reported that the suspension of interviews with visa applicants was temporary.
Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans.
Japan and Hong Kong have both urged local universities to accept foreign students from US universities in light of the crackdown.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday said Beijing urged Washington to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour.
The suspension of visa processing came as Harvard students protested on Tuesday after the government said it intended to cancel all remaining financial contracts, Trump’s latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight.
A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university’s commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
The White House, meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers.
“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,” Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening. “We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”
Tuesday’s protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby.
“All my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and (are) threatened with being deported — or their option is to transfer” to another university, said Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown.
One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students.
“I don’t know if I’d pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time,” he said.
Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump’s measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts.
Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students.


The cutting of contracts announced Tuesday — estimated by US media to be worth $100 million — would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and the country’s oldest university.
Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard.
In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up.
The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding.
A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action.
“The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this... to go forward,” said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia.
He said the Trump administration’s assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign if the Trump administration were to challenge it on appeal.
On Monday, Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard include “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.”
gw-bur/cms/sco

BRUSSELS: The European Union is nearly on track to reach its main climate target for this decade, with countries’ existing CO2-cutting plans set to bring the bloc within one percentage point of the goal, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

The EU is on course to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 54 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels – just shy of its legally-binding goal of a 55 percent cut, the Commission said in an analysis of existing policies in the EU and its member countries.

The analysis showed governments have upped their efforts to curb emissions in the last two years, even as Brussels faces a political backlash from some countries demanding the EU weaken its green agenda.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with crop-wrecking floods and deadly wildfires linked to climate change hitting EU nations with increasing frequency.

But with industries reeling from high energy prices after Russia slashed gas deliveries in 2022, and the prospect of US tariffs, the EU faces mounting calls from governments to soften green measures for struggling businesses.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the EU would invest more in clean technologies to ensure industries can prosper from Europe’s green transition.

“Emissions are down 37 percent since 1990, while the economy has grown nearly 70 percent, proving climate action and growth go hand in hand. Now we must build on this momentum,” Hoekstra said.

By 2023, the EU had reduced its emissions by 37 percent from 1990 levels, the latest available data show.

The Commission cited strong progress in the energy sector, with renewable sources covering 24 percent of EU energy consumption in 2023.

Agriculture and transport are among the sectors lagging behind, it said.

Farmers staged months of protests across Europe last year, criticizing EU green policies. The agriculture sector has largely escaped EU climate measures, and Brussels weakened some environmental rules for farmers in response to the protests.

The environmental impact of land use – which includes farming and forestry – has also been exacerbated by record-breaking wildfires, which deplete the land’s ability to store carbon. The EU’s “sink” of carbon stored in natural ecosystems like grasslands and forests is now not expected to improve by 2030, the Commission said.

The EU’s 2030 climate goal is one of the most ambitious among major economies worldwide. The Commission is preparing to propose a 2040 climate target, but has delayed the proposal for months amid political pushback.