AFP USA

China vowed Tuesday to “fight to the end” after US President Donald Trump threatened to further ramp up tariffs but the EU warned against escalating a trade war as hard-hit global markets steadied.Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his aggressive trade policy despite a dramatic market sell-off.Beijing — Washington’s major economic rival but also a key trading partner — responded by announcing its own 34 percent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, deepening a showdown between the world’s two largest economies. The swift retaliation from China sparked a fresh warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies of 50 percent if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs — a move that would drive the overall duties on Chinese goods to 104 percent.”I have great respect for China but they can not do this,” Trump said at the White House.”We are going to have one shot at this… I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the United States and vowing “countermeasures” if Washington imposes tariffs on top of the 34 percent extra that were due to come in force on Wednesday.”If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday.- ‘Ignorant, impolite’ -In a mounting war of words between Beijing and Washington, China’s foreign ministry also condemned “ignorant and impolite” remarks by US Vice President JD Vance in which he complained the United States had for too long borrowed money from “Chinese peasants”.The ministry said that “pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China”.The European Union sought to cool tensions, with the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen warning against worsening the trade conflict in a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.She stressed the “vital importance of stability” for the world’s economy, urged a “negotiated solution” and emphasised “the need to avoid further escalation,” according to a readout from EU officials.The bloc said Tuesday that it expects to present as soon as next week its response to the 20-percent levies it is facing under Trump’s latest tariff wave, with Germany and France advocating a tax targeting US tech giants.But Brussels has also proposed an exemption from tariffs on industrial products, including cars, which Trump said Monday was not enough to resolve the US trade deficit with the EU.”The European Union has been very, very bad to us,” Trump said.In retaliation for US levies introduced in mid-March on steel and aluminium, the EU plans tariffs of up to 25 percent on US goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles and make-up, according to a document seen by AFP.But US bourbon was spared after Trump threatened to hit European alcoholic drinks with massive retaliatory duties.A 10 percent “baseline” tariff on US imports from around the world took effect Saturday, and a slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, including China and EU nations.Trump’s tariffs have roiled global markets, with trillions of dollars wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.Stock markets staged a mild rebound on Tuesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 1.5 percent after crashing 13.2 percent the previous day in its worst performance since 1997.Shares in Tokyo leapt after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that Japan would get “priority” in negotiations as they had sought talks quickly.European markets also clawed back some ground, with London, Paris and Frankfurt all up more than two percent in afternoon trade while oil prices edged higher.Trump believes the tariffs will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing foreign companies to relocate to the United States, rather than making goods abroad.But most economists question that and say his tariffs are arbitrary.Despite the turmoil, Trump said Monday he was “not looking” at any pause in tariff implementation.He also scrapped any meetings with China but said Washington was ready for talks with any country willing to negotiate. More than 50 nations have sought reach out to the US leader, according to the White House. While meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first leader to lobby Trump in person over the levies, Trump said: “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”burs-sr/rl

Prince Harry’s lawyer told a UK appeal court on Tuesday that paring back the royal’s personal security during his visits to Britain was “unjustified”.Harry, who is appealing against the government decision, watched proceedings unfold from inside London’s Royal Courts of Justice during a rare visit to the British capital.Following Harry’s dramatic split with the royal family in 2020 and subsequent move to North America, the British government said he would no longer be given the “same degree” of publicly funded protection when in the UK.But the 40-year-old prince took legal action against the interior ministry and, after his initial case was rejected last year, has now brought the challenge before the Court of Appeal in central London.”The appellant does not accept that ‘bespoke’ means ‘better’,” the Duke of Sussex’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, told the hearing when she opened the case.”In fact, in his submission, it means that he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.”Harry and his American wife Meghan are no longer classified as working royals following their acrimonious departure from the UK in 2020, which has left them largely estranged from the family. They have started a new life in California but King Charles III’s younger son has said security concerns have hampered his ability to visit home and he has only rarely returned to the UK for short visits.- ‘The UK is my home’ -“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children,” Harry said in a written statement read out by his lawyers at a hearing in 2023.”That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe. I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.The prince’s legal battle centres on a February 2020 decision to downgrade his security, made by the UK’s interior ministry and a committee that deals with the protection of royals and public figures.Britain’s High Court was previously told the decision followed a change in Harry’s status after he stopped being a working member of the royal family.The High Court ruled in February 2024 against Harry’s case, saying the government had acted lawfully. The prince’s initial bid to appeal was refused in April 2024 and he was ordered to pay about £1,000,000 ($1.27 million) in legal costs, according to The Times newspaper. However, the following month, a judge said Harry could in fact challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.Fatima argued that the committee had failed to carry out an assessment of the risks posed to Harry and that the High Court had been wrong to overlook that.- ‘Bespoke’ -“This appeal concerns the most fundamental right — to safety and security of person,” Fatima said on Tuesday. Harry, dressed in a dark suit with blue patterned tie, looked on, occasionally whispering into the ear of another member of his legal team.The government has argued the committee was entitled to conclude Harry’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.The hearing is expected to finish on Wednesday, with parts held in private due to security concerns. Harry, who has pursued several legal suits against British UK tabloid dailies, is also embroiled in a separate row over a charity he co-founded in southern Africa. A bitter boardroom battle has seen the prince resign as patron of the Sentebale charity.Its chair, Sophie Chandauka, has accused him of “bullying” and being involved in a “cover up”.Harry has in turn hit out at what he called “blatant lies” and the UK-based charity watchdog has launched an investigation.

Robert De Niro is set to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes festival this year, with rumours that Tom Cruise will join him and other stars on the French Riviera.The industry is buzzing with speculation about who will attend the world’s premier film event one month before it kicks off in the south of France.Cinemas are desperate for some stardust and sparkling new films after a weak start to 2025.Cannes president Iris Knobloch and long-time director Thierry Fremaux will unveil the selection of in-competition films and other major premieres at a press conference in Paris on Thursday.They confirmed on Monday that De Niro, star of “Taxi Driver” and “Godfather Part II”, was to be given an honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony on May 13 for his contribution to cinema.”With his restrained style, expressed through the softness of a smile or the hardness of a glance, Robert De Niro has become a legend of cinema,” the festival said in a statement in French.Fellow Hollywood icon Tom Cruise, now 62, has also been tipped to appear in Cannes three years after making a dramatic helicopter entrance at the festival for “Top Gun: Maverick.” Rumours suggest he may return with the latest instalment of “Mission: Impossible”, which has been billed as the final chapter in the saga.The film is slated for release in French cinemas on May 21, which would be perfect timing for a Cannes launch out of competition.Many cinema owners are in need of a blockbuster and are banking on Cruise’s star power to sell tickets after a terrible start to 2025 that has been marked by a series of expensive Hollywood flops.These include Disney’s live-action “Snow White,” superhero sequel “Captain America: Brave New World” and bizarre sci-fi movie “Mickey 17”. The much-hyped “A Minecraft Movie”, released last week, was panned by critics but might help to lift the gloom after a record-breaking opening weekend in the United States.That saw fans of the legendary computer game flock to cinemas. – Contenders -The head of the Cannes jury this year is French screen legend Juliette Binoche, who will hand out the famed Palme d’Or for best film. Around 20 movies are set to compete in the top category, looking to emulate the success of last year’s winner, “Anora” by Sean Baker. Terrence Malick, who won the Palme d’Or for “The Tree of Life” 14 years ago, has been tipped to return with a long-awaited project inspired by biblical stories.Other festival veterans could also return, such as Jim Jarmusch (“Broken Flowers”, “Dead Man”), whose latest film stars Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver. Wes Anderson, 55, has also assembled yet another star-studded cast for his latest film, featuring Benicio Del Toro, Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson.Johansson, 40, could bring a breath of fresh air to the festival by presenting her directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great”. Another actress-turned-director, Kristen Stewart, 34, has also recently completed her first feature film.Experts have also suggested the new master of American horror, 38-year-old Ari Aster -— known for his chilling films “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” -— could make his Cannes debut with a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone.Three French female directors, Julia Ducournau (2021 Palme d’Or winner for “Titane”), Rebecca Zlotowski (“Other People’s Children”, “An Easy Girl”) or Alice Winocour, who has made a film about Paris Fashion Week starring Angelina Jolie, have also been named as contenders.Exiled Russian filmmakers such as Kirill Serebrennikov, Andrey Zvyagintsev and rising talent Kantemir Balagov could also feature.The festival has yet to announce its opening film or the full composition of the jury.

Prince Harry was in a UK court on Tuesday for the latest stage of his legal challenge against a government decision to downgrade his personal security when he visits Britain.The self-exiled royal entered the Royal Courts of Justice in central London around 9:30 am (0830 GMT), AFP reporters saw, where judges at the complex’s Court of Appeal were to begin considering his case.Following Harry’s dramatic split with the royal family in 2020 and subsequent move to North America, the British government said he would no longer be given the “same degree” of publicly funded protection when in the UK.But the 40-year-old prince took legal action against the interior ministry and, after his initial case was rejected last year, he has now brought the challenge before London’s Court of Appeal.Harry and his American wife Meghan are no longer classified as working royals following their acrimonious departure from the UK in 2020, which has left them largely estranged from the family. They have started a new life in California but King Charles III’s younger son has said security concerns have hampered his ability to visit home and he has only rarely returned to the UK for short visits.- ‘The UK is my home’ -“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children,” he said in a written statement read out by his lawyers at a hearing in 2023.”That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe. I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.Last week, the Court of Appeal said sections of the hearing, which is set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, would be held in private due to security concerns. Tuesday’s hearing comes on the same day as “Confessions of a Female Founder”, a new podcast by Harry’s wife, was due to be launched.- ‘Singled out’ -The prince’s legal battle centres on a February 2020 decision to downgrade his security, made by the UK’s interior ministry and a committee that deals with the protection of royals and public figures.Britain’s High Court was previously told the decision followed a change in Harry’s status after he stopped being a working member of the royal family.The High Court ruled in February 2024 against Harry’s case, saying the government had acted lawfully. The prince’s initial bid to appeal was refused in April 2024 and he was ordered to pay about £1,000,000 ($1.27 million) in legal costs, according to The Times newspaper. However, the following month, a judge said Harry could in fact challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.Harry’s lawyers told the High Court he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the committee’s decision, claiming that alleged flaws made the downgrade “unlawful and unfair”.The government argued the committee was entitled to conclude Harry’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.Harry, who has taken several legal suits against British UK tabloid dailies, is also embroiled in a separate row over a charity he co-founded in southern Africa. A bitter boardroom battle has seen the prince resign as patron of the Sentebale charity.Its chair, Sophie Chandauka, has accused him of “bullying” and being involved in a “cover up”.Harry has in turn hit out at what he called “blatant lies” and the UK-based charity watchdog has launched an investigation.

A prominent American academic was detained on Tuesday and charged with insulting Thailand’s monarchy, his lawyer told AFP, in a rare case of a foreign national falling foul of the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste law.Paul Chambers, who has spent more than a decade teaching Southeast Asia politics in Thailand, is in pre-trial detention awaiting a decision on his bail request, lawyer Wannaphat Jenroumjit said.”He denied the charge,” Wannaphat told AFP.Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family are protected from criticism by the lese-majeste law, with each offence punishable by up to 15 years in jail.The Thai military filed a complaint earlier this year against Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, over an article linked to an online discussion. He was informed of the charge last week and told to report to a police station in the northern Phitsanulok province Tuesday to formally respond.”We have to check all details, but the defendant said he didn’t do it and I believe the law will protect him,” Wannaphat said. Chambers told AFP last week he felt “intimidated” by the situation, but was being supported by the US embassy and colleagues at his university.Charges under Thailand’s royal defamation law have surged in recent years and critics say it is misused to stifle dissent. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) told AFP it is “rare” for a foreign national to face such charges.International watchdogs have expressed concern over its increasing use against academics, activists, and even students.One man in northern Thailand was jailed for at least 50 years for lese-majeste last year, while a woman got 43 years in 2021.And in 2023 a man was jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that a court said defamed the king.

China vowed on Tuesday to “fight to the end” against fresh tariffs of 50 percent threatened by US President Donald Trump, further aggravating a trade war that has already wiped trillions off global markets.Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his aggressive trade policy despite a dramatic market sell-off.Beijing — Washington’s major economic rival but also a key trading partner — responded by announcing its own 34 percent duties on US goods to come into effect on Thursday, deepening a showdown between the world’s two largest economies. The swift retaliation from China sparked a fresh warning from Trump that he would impose additional levies if Beijing refused to stop pushing back against his barrage of tariffs — a move that would drive the overall levies on Chinese goods to 104 percent.”I have great respect for China but they can not do this,” Trump said in the White House.”We are going to have one shot at this… I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”China swiftly hit back, blasting what it called “blackmailing” by the US and vowing “countermeasures” if Washington imposes tariffs on top of the 34 percent extra that were due to come in force on Wednesday.”If the US insists on going its own way, China will fight it to the end,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday.In a mounting war of words between Beijing and Washington, China’s foreign ministry also Tuesday condemned “ignorant and impolite” remarks by US Vice President JD Vance in which he complained the US had for too long borrowed money from “Chinese peasants”.The ministry said that “pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China”.Beijing urged Washington to instead “adopt an attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit” if it wanted to engage in talks.- Market turmoil -A 10 percent “baseline” tariff on US imports from around the world took effect Saturday, and a slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, including the levy of 34 percent for Chinese goods as well as 20 percent for EU products.Trump’s tariffs have roiled global markets in the last days, with trillions of dollars wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng collapsed by 13.2 percent on Monday — its worst day since the Asian financial crisis — before paring back some of those losses on Tuesday.But stocks in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam — a key export hub — sank on Tuesday, as they resumed trading after bank holidays.In financial powerhouse Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told parliament his government was “very disappointed by the US move”.”These are not actions one does to a friend.”Trump doubled down Monday, saying he was “not looking” at any pause in tariff implementation.He also scrapped any meetings with China over tariffs, but said the United States was ready for talks with any country willing to negotiate.After equities took a hammering in Shanghai, China’s central bank issued a statement before trading resumed Tuesday to underline it was standing behind a sovereign fund as it buys up exchange traded funds to stabilise the market. With investors seeking any relief from the ruinous trade war, stocks in Tokyo leapt Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested in an interview with Fox News that Japan would get “priority” in negotiations over the US tariffs “just because they came forward very quickly”.Scores of countries have sought talks, Bessent said, adding “through good negotiations, all we will do is see levels come down”.- ‘Don’t be Weak!’ -While meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first leader to lobby Trump in person over the levies, Trump said: “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations, because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”EU trade ministers were in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the bloc’s response, with Germany and France having advocated a tax targeting US tech giants.”We must not exclude any option on goods, on services,” said French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin.The 27-nation bloc should “open the European toolbox, which is very comprehensive and can also be extremely aggressive”, he said.While markets continued its wild ride, Trump told Americans: “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!”.The 78-year-old Republican believes the tariffs will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing foreign companies to relocate to the United States, rather than making goods abroad.But most economists question that and say his tariffs are arbitrary.JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned of coming inflation, adding “whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth”.burs-oho/hmn

In a drought-hit Mexican border region at the center of growing competition with the United States for water, conservationists are working to bring a once-dying river delta back to life.On a stretch of the Colorado River, which on the Mexican side of the frontier is mostly a dry riverbed, native cottonwood and willow trees have been planted in place of invasive shrubs.It is the fruit of two decades of work by environmentalists along the lower part of the river from the US-Mexican border to the upper estuary of the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.”If we give a little water and care to certain sections of the river, we can recover environments that had already been completely lost,” said Enrique Villegas, director of the Colorado River Delta program at the Sonoran Institute, a US-Mexican civil society group.The Colorado starts in the Rocky Mountains and winds its way through the southwestern United States, feeding cities and farmland along the way.By the time it crosses into Mexico most of its water has already been consumed.What is left is diverted to supply border cities like Tijuana and to irrigate agricultural land.It means Tijuana and nearby areas are at the mercy of how much snow falls in the Rockies, said Marco Antonio Samaniego, an expert at the Autonomous University of Baja California. “We don’t live off what rains in Tijuana. We live off what snows in those mountains,” he said, adding that several years of below-average precipitation had reduced reservoir levels in the United States.Growing competition for resources sparked a recent diplomatic row when the United States refused Mexico’s request for water due to shortfalls in sharing by its southern neighbor under a decades-old treaty.”The basis of all the problems,” Villegas said, is that “there is more water distributed among all the users of the Colorado River than actually exists.”- Wildlife returns -Over the years, dams and diversions reduced the river to a trickle and turned a delta that once teemed with birds and other wildlife into a dying ecosystem. So conservationists secured land as well as irrigation permits, cleared invasive shrubs and planted thousands of native trees.In 2014, water was allowed to surge down the Colorado River through a dam at the border for the first time in years to encourage the natural germination of native species.”After years of this type of work, we now have a forest of poplars and willows on 260 hectares (642 acres) on a stretch of the Colorado River. Fauna has returned. Many birds have returned,” Villegas said.The rejuvenation has also brought back another native — the beaver — a species that had largely disappeared from sight in the area, Villegas said.”On the one hand, it’s a biological indicator that if you give nature a habitat then it returns and begins to reproduce. But they’re also knocking down trees that we planted,” he said.At Laguna Grande, a lush oasis surrounded by dusty fields that is a centerpiece of the restoration project, coots and other birds swim contentedly in wetlands while herons startled by visitors clumsily take flight.Nearby, on land, underground hoses feed water to trees sprouting from the dusty ground.The Colorado River Delta is an important rest point for migratory birds including the yellow-breasted chat, vermilion flycatcher and endangered yellow-billed cuckoo, according to conservationists. The wetlands and forest of Laguna Grande contrast starkly with parched agricultural land nearby where farmers such as Cayetano Cisneros are facing increasingly tough conditions.”Years ago, we sowed maize, we sowed cotton, we sowed everything, and we didn’t suffer because of water,” the 72-year-old said on his dusty ranch.These days, “the Colorado River no longer carries water,” he said. “The environment is changing a lot.”If more of the delta and other such areas are to be nursed back to health, people must change their use of water, conservationists note.”We can all improve our awareness of water consumption,” Villegas said.”This drought is just a warning.”

Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, Europe’s climate monitor said on Tuesday, prolonging an extraordinary heat streak that has tested scientific expectations.In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service, driving rainfall extremes across a continent warming faster than any other.The world meanwhile saw the second-hottest March in the Copernicus dataset, sustaining a near-unbroken spell of record or near-record-breaking temperatures that has persisted since July 2023.Since then, virtually every month has been at least 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than it was before the industrial revolution when humanity began burning massive amounts of coal, oil and gas. March was 1.6C (2.9F) above pre-industrial times, prolonging an anomaly so extreme that scientists are still trying to fully explain it.”That we’re still at 1.6C above preindustrial is indeed remarkable,” said Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. “We’re very firmly in the grip of human-caused climate change,” she told AFP.- Contrasting extremes – Scientists warn that every fraction of a degree of global warming increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall and droughts.Climate change is not just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all that extra heat being trapped in the atmosphere and seas by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.Warmer seas mean higher evaporation and greater moisture in the atmosphere, causing heavier deluges and feeding energy into cyclones, but also affecting global rainfall patterns.March in Europe was 0.26C (0.47F) above the previous hottest record for the month set in 2014, Copernicus said.It was also “a month with contrasting rainfall extremes” across the continent, said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs the Copernicus climate monitor. Some parts of Europe experienced their “driest March on record and others their wettest” for about half a century, Burgess said.Elsewhere in March, scientists said that climate change intensified an extreme heatwave across Central Asia and fuelled conditions for extreme rainfall which killed 16 people in Argentina.- Persistent heat -The spectacular surge in global heat pushed 2023 and then 2024 to become the hottest years on record.Last year was also the first full calendar year to exceed 1.5C: the safer warming limit agreed by most nations under the Paris climate accord.This represented a temporary, not permanent breach, of this longer-term target, but scientists have warned that the goal of keeping temperatures below that threshold is slipping further out of reach.Scientists had expected that the extraordinary heat spell would subside after a warming El Nino event peaked in early 2024, and conditions gradually shifted to a cooling La Nina phase.But global temperatures have remained stubbornly high, sparking debate among scientists about what other factors could be driving warming to the top end of expectations.The European Union monitor uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to aid its climate calculations.Its records go back to 1940, but other sources of climate data — such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons — allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much further in the past.Scientists say the current period is likely the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.

In the halls of US universities and research labs, one question has become increasingly common as President Donald Trump tightens his grip on the field: whether to move abroad.”Everybody is talking about it,” JP Flores, a doctoral student in genetics at the University of North Carolina, told AFP.The discussion was thrust into the spotlight after Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley, a specialist in fascism, announced he was taking a new post in Canada over the Trump administration’s “authoritarian” bent.”I made the decision when Columbia folded,” he told CBS News. “I made it in a split second.”Columbia University, which the Trump administration has threatened with major funding cuts, said it agreed to take steps to rein in pro-Palestinian protests, among other actions.”It is not the time to cower and fear,” said Stanley, who added there was “absolutely no doubt that the United States is an authoritarian country.”With similar threats lodged by Trump against other universities, many researchers are worried about the future of academic freedom in the United States.Coupled with the administration’s broad cuts to federal funding, some fear the country’s research field, once viewed as the envy of the world, may be losing its luster.More than 75 percent of scientists are now considering departing the country over Trump’s policies, according to a survey of over 1,600 people published in late March by the journal Nature.”The trend was particularly pronounced among early-career researchers,” the journal said.- ‘Surreal’ – “People are just so scared,” Daniella Fodera, a Columbia PhD student whose research grant was cancelled, told AFP.Amid the uncertainty, several academic institutions in recent weeks have announced a hiring freeze and a reduction in the number of graduate student positions.”That’s definitely messing up the academic pipeline,” said Fodera, a biomechanics student.Karen Sfanos, head of a research lab at Johns Hopkins University, said: “It’s kind of a surreal time for scientists because we just don’t know what’s going to happen with funding.””There’s not a lot of clarity, and things are changing day by day,” she said, noting it is hitting the “youngest generation” relatively hard.Fodera, who studies uterine fibroids — benign tumors affecting many women — said she has begun to “actively look at positions in Europe and abroad for continuing my post-doctoral training.”- ‘Generational loss’ -With mounting concerns among US researchers, several European and Canadian universities have launched initiatives to attract some of the talent, though they may not need to try too hard.”I know researchers already that have dual citizenship, or who have family in Canada, in France, in Germany, are saying, ‘I think I’m going to go live in Germany for the next, you know, five years and do research there,'” said Gwen Nichols.The physician, a senior leader at a blood cancer research group, warned the possible exodus could make the United States “lose our dominance as the biopharmaceutical innovation leader of the world.””We’ll see the problem 10 years from now, when we don’t have the innovation we need,” she added.Genetics researcher Flores agreed, saying “it has become quite clear that there’s gonna be a major brain drain here in American research.”One young climate researcher, who requested to remain anonymous, said she had started the process of attaining EU citizenship and that colleagues in Europe “have all been extremely sympathetic to the situation.”But she noted that those with limited resources, like many recent graduates, would be the least likely to be taken on by European institutions and may decide to drop out of science altogether.”This is a generational loss for science across all disciplines,” she warned.

The US Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a victory on Monday by lifting a lower court order barring the deportation of undocumented Venezuelan migrants using an obscure wartime law.But the nation’s top court also said that migrants subject to deportation under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act must be given an opportunity to legally challenge their removal.The 5-4 decision by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to resume deportations for now that had been blocked by a federal district court judge.Trump invoked the AEA, which has only previously been used during wartime, to round up alleged Venezuelan gang members and summarily deport them to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador.Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.The Republican president, who campaigned on a pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants, welcomed the top court’s ruling in a post on Truth Social.”The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself,” Trump said. “A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!”District Judge James Boasberg issued temporary restraining orders barring further flights of deportees under the AEA after planeloads of Venezuelan migrants were sent to El Salvador on March 15.The Supreme Court lifted Boasberg’s orders but mostly on technical grounds related to venue — that the group of Venezuelan migrants who sued to prevent their removal are in Texas while the case before Boasberg was brought in Washington.”The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia,” the justices said, leaving the door open to possible further challenges to the legality of using the AEA to be heard in lower courts.- ‘Important victory’ -At the same time, the Supreme Court made it clear that migrants subject to deportation under the AEA, which has only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, are entitled to some form of due process.”AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act,” the court said.”Detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal,” it said. “The only question is which court will resolve that challenge.”Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed suit against the deportations, said the Supreme Court’s ruling that deportees were entitled to due process was an “important victory.”Chief Justice John Roberts and four other conservative justices voted to lift the district court order’s temporarily barring the deportations using the AEA while the three liberal justices and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, dissented.”The President of the United States has invoked a centuries-old wartime statute to whisk people away to a notoriously brutal, foreign-run prison,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said. “For lovers of liberty, this should be quite concerning.”Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another liberal, said “the Government’s conduct in this litigation poses an extraordinary threat to the rule of law. We, as a Nation and a court of law, should be better than this.”The Trump administration has used images of the alleged Tren de Aragua gang members being shackled and having their heads shaved in the Central American prison as proof that it is serious about cracking down on illegal immigration.