The US Department of State announced on Wednesday that it opened an investigation at Harvard University for its admission and sponsorship of international visas to students and teachers as part of the Exchange Visitor Program.

According to the statement of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, the Government requires all sponsors of this program “full compliance with the regulations on exchange visitors, transparency in the presentation of reports and a demonstrated commitment to the promotion of the principles of cultural exchange and mutual understanding”.

In addition, he adds that its exchange programs must be carried out “in a way that does not undermine foreign policy objectives or compromise the interests of US national security,” so educational centers are expected to “defend national security, comply with the law and provide safe environments for all students.”

“The investigation will ensure that the State Department’s programs are not contrary to the interests of our nation,” he said.

This is the latest attack by President Donald Trump’s Administration on one of the most prestigious and oldest universities in the country, in a battle in which the tension between both parties has been escalating for months.

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This Monday, the hearing on the legality of the Trump Administration’s funding blockade for Harvard took place, which was concluded in a Boston court without a ruling on the matter. However, the federal judge who took the case openly questioned the government measure.

Previously, Trump tried to ban the enrollment of foreign students in this educational center, a measure that this same federal judge blocked indefinitely.

Last June, the Republican said that “it was possible” that his government would announce an agreement with Harvard and assured that he was working closely with the institution, although there are still no details about these negotiations.

The US Government had previously announced the opening of an investigation against five universities in the country, including Miami, to determine whether they award their scholarships exclusively to undocumented young people or beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, known as ‘dreamers’.

Specifically, the Department of Education set the University of Miami, Louisville, Nebraska Omaha, Michigan and West Michigan in its sights.

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The European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, Michael McGrath, said on Wednesday that the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, has asked Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenski, for explanations for the controversial reform that places Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies under the control of the State prosecutor’s office.

“Von der Leyen conveyed (to Zelenski) her deep concern and asked for explanations,” McGrath said during a press conference after an informal meeting of the Council of Ministers of Justice of the European Union (EU) in Copenhagen.

The National Anti-Corruption Office (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) are “pillars” of the rule of law in Ukraine, “crucial” for the reform agenda in that country, and must maintain their independence to be effective in their task and preserve the confidence of the population, the commissioner said.

The standards that the EC demands from EU countries and candidates for access must be “consistent”, he remarked, despite the circumstances in which Ukraine finds itself.

In addition, McGrath stressed that the approach of the accession process involves first meeting the fundamental requirements and that the path to EU entry begins with a commitment to democracy, the rule of law and a strong anti-corruption regime.

“We do not want to see a setback in the progress made by Ukraine with hard work over the past few years,” said the commissioner, who described it as “very worrying” that the two agencies may be subordinate to the attorney general, who is appointed by the president’s office.

“We expect Ukraine to fully comply with (European) standards,” said the commissioner, according to whom there can be no “commitment” in this regard.

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Many NGOs denounced the passage as a process of erosion of the mechanisms of control of the Executive.

Several European ministers, including those from Germany and Sweden, have also expressed concern about the measure, which removes independence from Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.

Hundreds of Ukrainians took to the streets again in Kiev and other cities across the country on the second day of protests against a law approved on Tuesday by Parliament and later initialed by Zelenski that gives power to the attorney general appointed by the Executive over two anti-corruption agencies and thus deplens their independence.

Images broadcast live on Ukrainian public television show citizens, especially young people, who concentrate in squares and streets throughout Ukraine, shout slogans against corruption and abuses of power and show banners demanding Zelenski to repeal the law.

In his evening address to the nation on Wednesday, Zelenski stated that he is listening to the message he receives from the street and announced that he will propose to Parliament a bill to preserve the powers of investigative agencies while eliminating Russian influence in these structures.

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Previously, Zelenski had announced that he will present a plan to fight corruption within two weeks.

The need to remove Russian influence is the reason invoked by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to justify the dozens of raids against detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Office of Ukraine (NABU) carried out this Monday, which were interpreted by the NABU itself and by much of civil society as an attack on the institution.

Ukraine’s main international partners have expressed concern about both the legal reform and the SBU operation, in which two senior NABU officials were arrested for alleged collaboration with Russia.

Israel announced this Wednesday at the UN Security Council that it will limit visas to only one month for employees of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which it accused of having “a continuous bias against the State of Israel”.

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, assured that the OCHA has within it several workers affiliated with Hamas, some of whom even participated in the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 that cost the lives of almost 2,000 people.

However, he did not provide evidence of his accusations.

The session was convened to discuss the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and the increasing cases of death from starvation, but Danon used his speech to counterattack the alleged hostility of the UN to his country, since the alleged collusion with Hamas was already used to organize an effective campaign to discredit UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Danon also announced that his country will not automatically renew visas to international OCHA staff, and that “hundreds of employees” of that agency have been examined in what he called a “security veto” that led Israel to withdraw their work permits from several officials “for clear evidence of a solid affiliation with Hamas”.

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He also confirmed that the head of the OCHA in the Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, will not be able to renew his visa “and will leave the country on July 29,” after complaining about what he called “an endless campaign of defamation” against his country.

The diplomat took the opportunity to launch a global attack on the entire UN: “What the UN does is cling to a political agenda, protect its biases and defend its agencies that have long since abandoned neutrality.”

And he boasted that Israel “makes the Middle East safer for all those who value peace and tranquility. In other words, we are doing the work of the UN,” he proclaimed.

The accusations against the OCHA are reminiscent of those that Israel launched against UNRWA for the same cases – complicity with Hamas and terrorist attacks – that cost this agency a discredit and withdrawal campaign that it took many months to overcome, and only partially, since the United States withdrew all its funding and even banned it with a vote in Congress.

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