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In the news today: The Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard; both the US and El Salvador refuse to return a mistakenly deported Maryland man to the US; and China’s Xi makes a case for free trade. Also, elephants at San Diego zoo huddle to protect calves during a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. |
Demonstrators gather for a rally at the historic park in Cambridge, Mass., Saturday, calling on Harvard University to resist what organizers described as attempts by President Trump to influence the institution. (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via AP)
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Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over its defiance in limiting campus activism
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The hold on Harvard’s funding marks the seventh time the Trump administration has taken the step at one of the nation’s most elite colleges, as they argue universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza. Trump’s administration has normalized the extraordinary step of withholding federal money to pressure major academic institutions to comply with the president’s political agenda and to influence campus policy. Read more.
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In a letter to Harvard Friday, Trump’s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs. The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total was at risk if Harvard did not comply.
On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community. “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.” Hours later, the government froze billions in Harvard’s federal funding.
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Both the US and El Salvador refuse to return wrongly deported man to the US
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President Donald Trump’s administration officials emphasized that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a notorious gang prison in El Salvador last month, was a citizen of that country and that the U.S. has no say in his future. And Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador who has also been a vital partner for the Trump administration in its deportation efforts, said “of course” he would not release him back to U.S. soil. Read more.
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The Supreme Court has called for the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. Trump indicated over the weekend that he would return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. if the high court’s justices said to bring him back, saying “I have great respect for the Supreme Court.” But the tone from top administration officials was sharply different Monday. “He’s a citizen of El Salvador,” said Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff. “So it’s very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”
In a court filing Monday evening, Joseph Mazzara, the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said it “does not have authority to forcibly extract” Abrego Garcia from El Salvador because he is “in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.” Should El Salvador want to return Abrego Garcia, the U.S. would “facilitate it, meaning provide a plane,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
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The president has said openly that he would also favor El Salvador taking custody of American citizens who have committed violent crimes. Trump said in a video posted on social media by Bukele that he wanted to send “homegrowns” to be incarcerated in El Salvador, and added that “you’ve got to build five more places,” suggesting Bukele doesn’t have enough prison capacity for all of the U.S. citizens that Trump would like to send there.
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Xi makes a case for free trade, presenting China as a source of ‘stability and certainty’
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China’s President Xi Jinping is making the case for free trade as he tours Southeast Asia this week. In Hanoi, Xi met with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, his counterpart, where he said the two countries “have brought the world valuable stability and certainty” in a “turbulent world.” Read more.
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China and Vietnam signed a series of memorandums on cooperation in supply chains and a joint railway project, and Xi also promised greater access for Vietnamese agricultural exports to China, although few details were made public about the agreements.
U.S. President Donald Trump complained about the Vietnam meeting, which comes days after his tariffs upended global markets and left governments across the world scrambling. Reacting to the meeting Monday, Trump said China and Vietnam were trying “to figure out how do we screw the United States of America.”
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The timing of the visit sends a “strong political message that Southeast Asia is important to China,” said Huong Le-Thu of the International Crisis Group think tank. She said that given the severity of Trump’s tariffs and despite the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian nations were anxious that the tariffs, if implemented, could complicate their development.
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Enzo Restovic steams a hat at “Donde Golpea el Monito” in Santiago, Chile, April 5. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
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Chile’s capital has the oldest hat maker in South America
Some 110 years have passed since the business began, but passersby, tourists, celebrities and even presidents still gravitate to this 19th-century mansion nestled in the heart of Santiago, Chile. The store, called Where the Monkey Hits, is a surprising fashion hotspot in modern-day Chile given its tradition, claiming to be the oldest hat maker in South America.
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