News & Current Events

[ad_1] The Trump administration decided to cancel $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University, citing the institution's inadequate response to antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination incidents.The health and human services department on Monday said that they are terminating multiple multi-year grant awards over their full duration."HHS is taking decisive action to uphold civil rights in higher education. Due to Harvard University’s continued failure to address anti-Semitic harassment and race discrimination, HHS is terminating multiple multi-year grant awards—totaling approximately $60 million over their full duration," the health department said in a post on X."In the Trump Administration, discrimination will not be tolerated on campus. Federal funds must support institutions that protect all students," it added.The Trump administration has recently suspended or terminated federal grants and contracts for the university, amounting to approximately $3 billion, Reuters reported.Since assuming the presidency in […]

[ad_1] Shocking images revealed during the federal trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, showing the disgraced rap mogul preparing for "freak offs" at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, despite knowing he was about to be arrested in September 2024.During the proceedings, his former partner Cassie provided testimony, following her previous allegations of coercion and mistreatment. Law enforcement images revealed Combs had arranged baby oil and ambient lighting in his hotel room, even though he had agreed to surrender to authorities, Dailymail reported.The evidence presented included small bags containing pink substances, pharmaceutical items, heating equipment and currency. Prosecutors identified some substances as ketamine and MDMA.Cassie detailed Combs' specific requirements for intimate encounters, including constantly burning aromatic candles that she described as 'super pungent and were mixed with oil and all of the other scents.' She also mentioned his preference for […]

[ad_1] LISBON: Portugal's third general election in three years has failed to deliver the result that could break the worst spell of political instability for decades in the European Union country of 10.6 million people. Sunday's vote delivered another minority government for the center-right Democratic Alliance, which will be at the mercy of opposition parties. The significant rise in support for the hard-right populist party Chega (Enough) adds more uncertainty.Why was there an early election? The Democratic Alliance, led by the Social Democratic Party, lost a vote of confidence in parliament in March as opposition lawmakers teamed up against it. That triggered an election, which had been due in 2028. The confidence vote was sparked by a political storm around potential conflicts of interest in the business dealings of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro's family law firm. Montenegro, who is poised […]

[ad_1] Representative Image (AI) WASHINGTON: When armed immigration agents made a surprise visit earlier this month to Pupatella, a trendy pizzeria in the US capital's Dupont neighborhood, they may not have made any arrests, but they delivered a clear message.The show of force, part of an "enhanced operation" by President Donald Trump's hardline administration, has had ripple effects through an industry reliant on immigrant labor, owners and others in the sector say.The agents asked to see employment eligibility forms known as I-9s, said Natasha Neely, vice president of Pupatella, which has several locations in the Washington area."They did not have a warrant, and they did not have any form of paperwork, so they were turned away," she told AFP.A few hours later, agents showed up at Pupatella's Capitol Hill location, this time with a "notice of inspection," Neely said. The […]

[ad_1] The Newark Liberty International Airport was hit by another air traffic control outage on Monday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. According to the FAA, the Philadelphia air traffic control centre, which manages flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, experienced a brief radio system failure for two seconds. This marks the fourth such disruption at Newark Airport since April 28, amidst ongoing technical and personnel challenges. Following the April incident, a 90-second communication interruption occurred on May 9, causing flight disruptions. Another outage on May 11 halted flights, while staff shortages related to the April incident caused extensive delays, CBS News reported.The Philadelphia facility controlling Newark flights currently faces understaffing issues. These issues highlight the critical shortage of air traffic controllers across the United States.US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced this month that modernisation of the national air […]

[ad_1] NEW DELHI: The US on Monday imposed a visa ban on errant Indian travel agencies and their owners who facilitate illegal immigration to the country. US State Department's statement on Monday said it's taking steps to impose visa restrictions on owners, executives and senior officials of travel agencies, based and operating in India, for knowingly facilitating illegal immigration to the US."Mission India's consular affairs and diplomatic security service work every day across our embassies and consulates to actively identify and target those engaged in facilitating illegal immigration and human smuggling and trafficking operations. We will continue to take steps to impose visa restrictions against owners, executives and senior officials of travel agencies to cut off alien smuggling networks," said the department, adding that US immigration policy aims to inform foreign nationals about dangers of illegal immigration and to hold […]

[ad_1] James Comey posted controversial 86 47 insta post James Comey says he's just a sweater-wearing grandfather who likes beach walks and has no idea why people are furious over a photo of seashells.The former FBI director responded this week to the controversy surrounding a now-deleted Instagram post that many interpreted as a threat to US President Donald Trump. In the post, Comey had shared an image of shells arranged to spell out “86 47” — a combination some interpreted as meaning “get rid of the 47th president.”“I was a grandfather and an author wearing sweaters and jeans. And then went for a walk on the beach and posted a silly picture of shells,” Comey said. Comey said each number was made of differently coloured shells and that he didn’t believe there were any “dark intentions” on his or his […]

[ad_1] First flight under Trump's $1,000 "self-deport" deal left Monday, Axios reported. The first charter flight carrying 65 immigrants took off from Houston early Monday, Axios reported exclusively, calling it the first flight of President Donald Trump's new program offering migrants a free trip back home and $1,000. As Donald Trump announced the program a few days ago, he said it will make easy for illegal migrants to leave America. But if they choose to stay in the US, they would get arrested as the administration is cracking down on migrants, checking their social media, past criminal record in the country etc. Monday's flight left Houston about 9:30 a.m. and took 65 people from Honduras and Colombia to their respective home countries, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. To participate in the program, the immigrants logged into the […]

[ad_1] WASHINGTON: Images taken of Mars from orbit dating back as far as the 1970s have captured curious dark streaks running down the sides of cliffs and crater walls that some scientists have construed as possible evidence of flows of liquid water, suggesting that the planet harbours environments suitable for living organisms.A new study casts doubt on that interpretation. Examining about 500,000 of these sinewy features spotted in satellite images, researchers concluded they were created probably through dry processes that left the superficial appearance of liquid flows, underscoring the view of Mars as a desert planet currently inhospitable to life - at least on its surface. The data indicated that formation of these streaks is driven by the accumulation of fine-grain dust from the Martian atmosphere on sloped terrain that is then knocked down the slopes by triggers such as […]

[ad_1] Supreme court rules in Trump's favour regarding deportations The US Supreme Court on Monday gave the green light to the Trump administration to remove legal protections from nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants.These individuals were previously shielded from deportation under a programme called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), designed to help people from countries hit by war or disaster.The court’s unsigned order gave no explanation for the decision. It puts on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the government’s attempt to end TPS for Venezuelans.TPS ruling puts Venezuelans’ US stay in jeopardyTPS was first introduced in 1990 and offers eligible migrants the right to live and work in the US when their home countries are unsafe. Venezuelans were granted an 18-month extension of this status by the former US President Biden's administration, but in February, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem […]