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Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard

Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard
A federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign students. (AFP/File)
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Updated 29 May 2025

Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard

Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard
  • Judge Burroughs extended the block she imposed last week with a temporary restraining order
  • “Harvard will continue to take steps to protect the rights of our international students and scholars,” a university spokesman said

BOSTON: A federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign students.

US District Judge Allison Burroughs extended the block she imposed last week with a temporary restraining order, which allows the Ivy League school to continue enrolling international students as a lawsuit proceeds.

Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security on Friday after Secretary Kristi Noem revoked its ability to host foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Harvard will continue to take steps to protect the rights of our international students and scholars, members of our community who are vital to the University’s academic mission and community — and whose presence here benefits our country immeasurably,” a university spokesman said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration introduced a new effort to revoke Harvard’s certification to enroll foreign students. In a letter sent by the acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, Todd Lyons, the government gave Harvard 30 days to respond to the alleged grounds for withdrawal, which include accusations that Harvard coordinated with foreign entities and failed to respond sufficiently to antisemitism on campus.

The developments unfolded in a courtroom not far from the Harvard campus, where speakers at Thursday’s commencement ceremony stressed the importance of maintaining a diverse and international student body.

The dispute over international enrollment at Harvard is the latest escalation in a battle between the White House and the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college. In April, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a letter to the school, demanding a range of records related to foreign students, including discipline records and anything related to “dangerous or violent activity.” Noem said it was in response to accusations of antisemitism on Harvard’s campus.

Harvard says it complied. But on May 22, Noem sent a letter saying the school’s response fell short. She said Harvard was being pulled from the federal program that allows colleges to sponsor international students to get US visas. It took effect immediately and prevented Harvard from hosting foreign students in the upcoming school year.

In its lawsuit, Harvard argued the government failed to follow administrative procedures and regulations for removing schools from eligibility to host international students, which include giving schools the opportunity to appeal and a 30-day window to respond.

Noem’s earlier letter to Harvard notified the school that its eligibility was revoked immediately. It did not cite any regulations or statutes that Harvard allegedly violated. The Wednesday letter accuses Harvard of violating regulations around reporting requirements and violating an executive order regarding combatting antisemitism.

Already, despite the restraining order, the Trump administration’s efforts to stop Harvard from enrolling international students have created an environment of “profound fear, concern, and confusion,” the university’s director of immigration services said in a court filing on Wednesday.

In a court filing, immigration services director Maureen Martin said that countless international students had asked about transferring.

Martin said that international Harvard students arriving in Boston were sent to additional screening by Customs and Border Protection agents, and that international students seeking to obtain their visas were being denied or facing delays at consulates and embassies.

More than 7,000 international students, exchange scholars and alumni participating in a post-graduate career training period rely on Harvard for their sponsorship and legal status in the United States.

The sanction, if allowed to proceed, could upend some graduate schools that draw heavily from abroad. Among those at risk was Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth, who just finished her first year in a Harvard graduate program.

Trump railed against Harvard on social media after Burroughs temporarily halted the action last week, saying “the best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!) — But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!”

The Trump administration has levied a range of grievances against Harvard, accusing it of being a hotbed of liberalism and failing to protect Jewish students from harassment. The government is demanding changes to Harvard’s governance and policies to bring it in line with the president’s vision.

Harvard was the first university to reject the government’s demands, saying it threatened the autonomy that has long made US higher education a magnet for the world’s top scholars. In a pair of lawsuits, Harvard accuses the government of retaliating against the university for rebuffing political demands.


Beautiful Rajanpuri Nukra goats highly prized, and costly, at Islamabad’s Eid market

The picture taken on June 3, 2025, shows Rajanpuri goats in a cattle market in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AN Photo)
The picture taken on June 3, 2025, shows Rajanpuri goats in a cattle market in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AN Photo)
Updated 30 sec ago

Beautiful Rajanpuri Nukra goats highly prized, and costly, at Islamabad’s Eid market

The picture taken on June 3, 2025, shows Rajanpuri goats in a cattle market in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AN Photo)
  • South Punjab natives are large, muscular, with striking white coats
  • Popular for meat, Eid Al-Adha sacrifices, some sell for over $7,000

ISLAMABAD: With their snow-white coats, drooping pink ears and regal build, Rajanpuri Nukra goats are turning heads and emptying wallets at Islamabad’s bustling Eid Al-Adha cattle market this year.

A strain of the Beetal goat native to the Rajanpur region of Pakistan’s Punjab province, they are also known for their large size and muscular build.

Highly prized for their meat, and a popular choice for Eid Al-Adha sacrifices, some have sold for as much as Rs2 million ($7,140) this season.

At Islamabad’s cattle market on Bhatta Chowk earlier this week, many people gathered around the goats to admire their appearance and snap pictures, while others negotiated deals.

“We have come here from Rajanpur as people in Islamabad and Rawalpindi prefer Rajanpuri goats over other breeds due to their white and pink coloration and impressive height,” said merchant Hamza Ali.

He added that he had brought 20 of the prized animals to the market and sold most of them within four days.

“We’re getting good prices for them here. Of the 20 goats we brought, one sold for Rs2 million last night.”

Traders at the market have been selling the Rajanpuri goats for anywhere between $715 and $7,140, several merchants said.

Highlighting the care involved, Muhammad Umair, a cattle trader, said the goats are nurtured from birth, referring to them as a “purebred line.”

“We divide them into two groups. Those with good height and large size receive a special diet that includes wanda, choker, desi ghee and other nutritious ingredients,” he told Arab News as he petted one of his animals.

Goats similar in size to regular breeds are available at lower prices but still higher than other strains.

“It has large pink ears, white eyes, and a pink nose, along with a pure white coat, which makes it highly attractive to buyers,” Umair added.

Muhammad Bilal, a 23-year-old student from Islamabad, said he wanted to buy a Rajanpuri goat because of its white coat and long ears.

“Although the price is a bit higher, we will still buy it because we really like it,” he told Arab News.

Another customer Ilyas Khan, 40, expressed frustration over the high prices, saying they were unaffordable for most market visitors.

“My children took pictures with them,” Khan, a businessman, said. “But these are out of our reach as even the smallest ones are starting at Rs150,000, which is too much.”

 


Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’
Updated 05 June 2025

Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’
  • Question prompts public criticism from party’s chairman

LONDON: A row has erupted within the right-wing British party Reform UK after its newest member of Parliament, Sarah Pochin, used her maiden question during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to call for a nationwide ban on the burqa, it was reported on Thursday.

The question prompted public criticism from Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s chairman, who rebuked the move, calling it a “dumb” question.

Pochin, who recently won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer whether the UK would follow European nations such as France, Belgium, and Denmark in banning the burqa “in the interests of public safety.”

Her remarks were met with audible disapproval from some MPs, with cries of “shame” heard in the chamber of the House of Commons.

Lee Anderson, Reform UK’s chief whip, expressed support for Pochin’s suggestion, saying: “Ban the burqa? Yes we should. No one should be allowed to hide their identity in public.”

However, Yusuf was less than supportive, writing on X: “Nothing to do with me. Had no idea about the question, nor that it wasn’t policy. I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.”

A Reform spokesperson later clarified that Yusuf had not been criticizing Pochin personally, but highlighting the inconsistency of raising a proposal not endorsed by the party.

The spokesperson reiterated that a burqa ban was not official Reform UK policy but acknowledged it was an issue that “deserves national debate.”

Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s leader, speaking on GB News, was more cautious and distanced himself from an outright endorsement, but suggested public discomfort around face coverings warranted discussion.

He said: “I don’t think face coverings in public places make sense, and I think we do deserve a debate about that, of which I see the burqa as being a part.”

Pochin, a former Conservative councillor, later suggested her question had been sourced from public suggestions submitted online. “Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for the prime minister,” she posted.

The incident has reignited concerns about internal divisions within Reform UK. It comes just months after former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe was expelled from the party following a falling out with both Yusuf and Farage.

Lowe, who has expressed hardline views on immigration and has backed calls to ban the burqa, now sits as an independent.

Reform has also been plagued by tension at the grassroots level. Following the recent local elections, Donna Edmunds, a Shropshire councillor, resigned from the party in protest, describing Farage as a “terrible leader” and warning that he “must never be prime minister.”

Amid the latest fallout, a Labour spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage could fit all of his MPs in the back of a cab, yet he can’t stop them fighting among themselves.”

Reform UK and Sarah Pochin were approached by , , and for further comment.


Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention
Updated 05 June 2025

Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention
  • Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September
  • The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land

HELSINKI: Decades of pollution and climate change have caused fish to disappear from the Baltic Sea at an alarming rate, with the European Union on Thursday vowing to make the sea an “urgent priority.”

Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September.

The semi-enclosed sea is surrounded by industrial and agricultural nations Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the three Baltic states.

Connected to the Atlantic only by the narrow waters of the Danish straits, the Baltic is known for its shallow, low-salinity waters, which are highly sensitive to the climate and environmental changes that have accumulated over the years.

“Today, the once massive Baltic cod stocks have collapsed, herring stocks in several sub-basins are balancing on critical levels, sprat recruitment is at a record low and wild salmon stocks are in decline,” Swedish European MP Isabella Lovin, rapporteur for the EU Committee of Fishing, warned in a report, calling the situation “critical.”

The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land — a challenge the sea has long grappled with.

The runoff has primarily been phosphorus and nitrogen from waste water and fertilizers used in agriculture, as well as other activities such as forestry.

It causes vast algae blooms in summer, a process known as eutrophication that removes oxygen from the water, leaving behind dead seabeds and marine habitats and threatening species living in the Baltic.

Today, agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient pollution.

Marine biodiversity in the relatively small sea has also deteriorated due to pollution from hazardous substances, land use, extraction of resources and climate change, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM).

“The state of the Baltic Sea is not good,” Maria Laamanen, a senior adviser at the Finnish environment ministry, told AFP.

Climate change poses “a massive additional challenge” for the marine environment, she said.

Of the world’s coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest.

A 2024 study said sea surface and sea floor temperatures have increased by 1.8 and 1.3 degrees Celsius respectively in the Finnish archipelago in the northern Baltic Sea, in the period from 1927 to 2020.

The consequences of rising temperatures already affect species, while increased rainfall has led to more runoff from land to sea.

Better waste water treatment and gypsum treatment of agricultural soil, as well as an expansion of protected marine areas in Finland, have had a positive effect on the maritime environment, according to Laamanen, who said environmental engagement had grown in recent years.

“The situation would be much worse without the measures already implemented,” she said.

In her report, Lovin called for an ambitious reform of fisheries, with stronger attention paid to environmental and climate change impacts.

The report also questioned whether the Baltic could continue to sustain industrial-scale trawling, and suggested giving “priority access to low-impact fisheries and fishing for human consumption.”

The head of the Finnish Fishermen’s Association (SAKL) Kim Jordas said eutrophication was to blame for the declining fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, not overfishing.

“Looking at cod for example, it is entirely due to the state of the Baltic Sea and the poor oxygen situation,” Jordas told AFP.

In Finland, the number of commercial fishermen has been declining, with a total of around 400 active today.


Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats
Updated 05 June 2025

Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats
  • UNAMA confirmed that UN staff had been threatened
  • “Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats,” it said

KABUL: Afghan women working for the United Nations in Kabul have been threatened by unidentified men because of their jobs, the organization and several women told AFP on Thursday.

Multiple women working for various UN agencies told AFP on condition of anonymity they had been threatened on the street and over the phone by men warning them to “stay home.”

UN staffer Huda — not her real name — said that for weeks she has been bombarded with messages abusing her for “working with foreigners.”

“The messages keep coming and they are always harassing us... saying, ‘Don’t let me see you again, or else’,” the young woman told AFP.

She said her office had advised her to work from home until further notice.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that UN staff had been threatened.

“Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats by unidentified individuals related to their work with the UN,” it said in a statement.

Considering the threats “extremely serious,” the UN has taken “interim” measures “to ensure the safety and security of staff members,” it added.

The Taliban government, accused by the UN of imposing a “gender apartheid” against women since returning to power in 2021, has denied any involvement.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said such threats were a “crime” and that police would take action.

UNAMA said the authorities had opened an investigation.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have severely restricted Afghan women from working and it is the only country in the world where women are banned from education beyond primary school.

The government in 2022 banned women from working for domestic and international NGOs, which was extended to include the UN’s offices in the country the following year.

The policy has some exceptions including for women working in health care and education, and has not been consistently enforced.

The UN has previously called the policy “deeply discriminatory.”

Selsela, in her 30s, said while returning from the office last week she was approached by unknown men who told her she should be “ashamed” and that she must “stay home.”

“They said, ‘We told you nicely this time, but next time you’ll have another thing coming’,” she told AFP.

“I was very scared,” she said, explaining how she struggles to work efficiently from home in a country where electricity and Internet are unreliable.

“The situation for women is getting worse every day.”

Another woman, Rahila, said she and two other women colleagues were stopped by men while traveling home in a UN vehicle and told not to go to the office anymore.

“They said, ‘Don’t you know that you are not allowed?’,” Rahila said, adding that she has also received threatening messages from unknown numbers.

“I am very worried, I need my job and my salary,” she said.

Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population of some 45 million people struggle to meet their daily needs, according to the UN, with the country facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.


New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo
Updated 05 June 2025

New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo
  • Ban hits nationals of 12 countries, including Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen
  • 25,000 Afghans approved for relocation to the US are stranded in Pakistan

KABUL: A new US travel ban, which lists Afghans among nationals of 12 affected countries, has put on hold the lives of thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American-led troops in 2021.

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country — part of a broader immigration crackdown launched by his administration earlier this year at the start of his second term.

The move has placed in a state of indefinite waiting some 25,000 Afghans who have been approved for relocation to the US and are awaiting departure in Pakistan.

One of them, Mohammad Iqbal, a 35-year-old former government employee, told Arab News that his refugee resettlement application has been active for the past two years. Having completed two interviews with the UN refugee agency and the necessary medical check-ups, he was waiting for his final visa appointment.

He is not allowed to work in Pakistan, and he also cannot go back to Afghanistan — both for safety reasons and since that would halt the refugee process.

“I am running out of money and there is no work for Afghans here in Pakistan. We are also facing an increasing risk of deportation. My passport will expire if I don’t make it to the US in a few months. It will be very difficult to go back to Afghanistan. I won’t be safe there,” Iqbal said.

“I have done my master’s degree abroad and worked in some highly technical positions before 2021 ... The current decision by the US president is very unfair and is against the promises made to us by the US government.”

Besides those in Pakistan, thousands more Afghans are in the same situation stranded in Qatar and in the UAE, and another few hundred have been kept waiting at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo — the largest US military base in the Balkans.

The US travel ban will be in effect from June 9, according to a presidential proclamation released by the White House, which said that it was needed to protect the US from “from terrorist attacks and other national security or public-safety threats.”

Justifying the decision on Afghanistan, Trump cited its lack of a “competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents” and screening and vetting capabilities. Another reason was that the Taliban, “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group,” controls Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, when its Western-backed administration collapsed as American-led international forces withdrew after two decades of occupation that started with the US invasion of the country in 2001.

The troop withdrawal was followed by an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Afghans — many of whom had worked as translators or local staff for foreign governments, organizations or for the previous administration, and feared potential retribution by the Taliban.

“The US played a direct role in creating this situation. As a result of the 20-year US occupation, Afghan society was divided into hostile groups that turned against each other,” said Nasir Ahmad Nawidy, political science professor at Salam University in Kabul.

“Because of the improper policy of the US — without an agreement and peace being reached — the country collapsed, and the systems and order were destroyed. As a result, many people who were prominent figures or experts in the previous regime, or other people who had held important positions in this country, were forced to leave Afghanistan.”

He was still hopeful that the US justice system would challenge Trump’s decision.

“The US has a commitment to these people,” he said. “They have been promised it, and their visas are in process. Ignoring these commitments and halting or delaying ongoing processes is against all humanitarian laws.”