The Donald Trump Administration informed Harvard University on Monday that, after developing an investigation into the institution’s inclusion policies, they found that it had violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students.
U.S. government lawyers concluded that Harvard knew these students felt threatened and allegedly acted with deliberate indifference, the US press reported.
The Executive led by Donald Trump has also warned the richest university in the United States to permanently withdraw all federal funding if it does not make changes in this regard, related to its protocols on anti-Semitism and inclusive policies known as DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).
“Not implementing adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and will continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in the letter received today.
The letter indicates that Harvard remained impassive after Israeli students were allegedly assaulted during the last two years, and that the campus was vandalized with graffiti showing a dollar sign inside a David Star or an Israeli flag with a swastika instead of the Star of David.
These formal notifications of violation of civil rights law are usually followed by a lawsuit from the Department of Justice or a voluntary resolution with the university.
Seen with perspective, this warning of the Trump Administration against Harvard is one more step in a tense relationship between the parties, after earlier this year the Executive demanded that the institution be able to supervise its admissions, hiring and the ideology of students and staff.
Harvard opposed the requirement and the Trump Administration announced that it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funds for the prestigious university, so the institution has sued the US government for alleged violation of the First Amendment and due process.
Harvard published its own internal reports on anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim prejudices on campus in April, finding that Jewish but also Muslim students felt insecure in the months after October 7, and that it was working to solve the situation.
The Trump Administration issued another such notification in May to Columbia University, whose protests against the Gaza massacre reached an international dimension, for not protecting Jewish students from alleged harassment.
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
A Peruvian woman was arrested on the popular Indonesian tourist island of Bali for allegedly attempting to traffic 1.4 kg of cocaine, part of which was hidden inside a sex toy in her vagina, police announced on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old woman, identified only by her initials N.S., arrived at Bali’s international airport from Qatar on August 12.
“Customs officers became suspicious of her behavior and, after consulting with the police, conducted additional checks,” said Radiant, head of Bali’s narcotics unit, during a press conference.
Authorities discovered 1.4 kg of cocaine, partly concealed in the sex toy. She was also accused of carrying dozens of ecstasy pills.
The Peruvian confessed to the police that she had been hired by a man she met in April on the dark web to transport the drugs to Indonesia in exchange for $20,000.
Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug trafficking laws and imposes the death penalty on drug traffickers. Currently, more than 90 foreign nationals are on death row in the country for drug-related offenses, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
In July, a court in Bali sentenced an Argentine woman to seven years in prison for attempting to smuggle 244 grams of cocaine into the island in a condom hidden in her vagina.
The last executions for drug trafficking in Indonesia occurred in 2016, when an Indonesian and three Nigerians were executed.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that Russia is willing to accept security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.
After the talks, Zelensky described the discussions as positive, while Trump took a moment to speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and confirmed a trilateral summit between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia.
Trump expressed optimism about the prospects of ending the Russian invasion.
Zelensky, who also held a separate meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, called the discussions with the U.S. leader “the best to date.” He emphasized the importance of “strong signals” from the United States regarding Western security guarantees.
The atmosphere between the two leaders was reportedly more relaxed than in February, when Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance, publicly rebuked Zelensky for not appearing “grateful” for U.S. support.
“In one or two weeks, we will know if we are going to resolve this or if this horrible fight will continue,” Trump said at the start of the meeting.
The presence of leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission, and NATO highlighted ongoing concerns about Washington’s stance on Ukraine.
Before the meeting, Trump had pressured Kyiv to relinquish Crimea and abandon its NATO membership ambitions, two of Moscow’s main demands. However, he stated that the Alaska summit with Putin had brought progress.
“I like the ceasefire. From another perspective, it immediately stops the killing. But I think a peace agreement at the end of all this is very achievable and could be reached in the near future,” Trump said.
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