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Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein conceded that he acted “immorally” but insisted he did nothing criminal as a jury deliberated on his fate for a second day in his sex assault retrial Friday.Weinstein is on trial again after a New York state appeals court threw out his 2020 convictions, citing irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at the original proceedings.The former movie industry titan’s 23 year prison sentence for the initial conviction was thrown out, but he remains imprisoned for separate offenses.Although Weinstein did not take the stand, he spoke out in an interview aired by FOX5 television Friday as the jury deliberated following six weeks of testimony.”I have regrets that I put my family through this, that I put my wife through this, and I acted immorally…, but never illegal, never criminal, never anything,” he said.Weinstein pointed to comments by his defense attorney Arthur Aidala who suggested the three women who testified against him at trial “had four million reasons to testify, as in dollars.”Judge Curtis Farber issued instructions Thursday to jurors, one of whom had to be swapped out for an alternate after falling ill, before they retired to consider their verdict.He called on the panel to use their “common sense” for this “very important decision” and reminded them that Weinstein was “presumed innocent.”On Friday, the jury panel of 12 requested to rehear the emotional testimony of two of the three women whose allegations are being prosecuted at this trial, former model Kaja Sokola and actress Jessica Mann.The jury must decide whether Weinstein — accused by dozens of women of being a sexual predator — is guilty of sexual assaults in 2006 on former production assistant Miriam Haley and Sokola, and of rape in 2013 of aspiring actress Mann.- ‘Rules apply to him’ -“He raped three women, they all said no,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said Wednesday as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at the trial.The Hollywood figure had “all the power” and “all the control” over the alleged victims, which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said.”The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him.”There is no reasonable doubt; tell the defendant what he already knows — that he is guilty of the three crimes.”Weinstein’s defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a “casting couch” dynamic between the movie mogul and the women.”We don’t want to police the bedroom” except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back.Weinstein, the producer of box office hits “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has never acknowledged wrongdoing.The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom.He is already serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California in a separate for raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.

US hiring eased in May but remained resilient, government data showed Friday, in a gradual slowdown amid business uncertainty while scrutiny intensifies over the effects of President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs.Hiring in the world’s largest economy came in at 139,000 last month, down from a revised 147,000 figure in April, said the Labor Department.The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, while pay gains exceeded expectations at 0.4 percent.The figures indicate that the employment market remains healthy despite jolts to financial markets, supply chains and consumer sentiment this year as Trump announced successive waves of tariffs.Trump touted the “great job numbers” on his Truth Social platform.But there appears to be softening. Taken together, job growth in March and April was revised lower by 95,000, Friday’s report said.Shortly after its publication, Trump urged Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to go for a “full point” rate cut, calling Fed chief “a disaster” and again applying political pressure on the independent central bank.But Fed officials are taking a cautious approach as they monitor the tariffs’ impact on inflation.Trump has imposed a 10 percent levy on most trading partners and unveiled higher rates for dozens of economies, but experts say their effects take time to filter through.This is partly because of the president’s on-again, off-again approach to the trade war.His higher blanket tariff rates, although announced in April, were swiftly halted until early July, allowing room for negotiations.Trump’s tit-for-tat escalation with China brought both sides’ levies on each other’s products to triple digits too in April, a level effectively acting as a trade embargo.But the countries reached a deal to temporarily lower duties in May.- ‘Tough summer’ -For now, economists are keeping tabs on signals that US employers might be pulling back on hiring.”This is an ‘abundance of caution economy’ where businesses are only filling critical positions and job seekers, especially recent graduates, are struggling to find employment,” said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union.She noted that nearly half the job gains were in health care, while the federal government continues to lose workers. Federal government employment was down by 59,000 since January.”A recession does not look imminent, but it will be a tough summer for anyone looking for full-time work,” Long said in a note.Economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the labor market was “cracking, but not crumbling yet.”While the market is slowing, the pace of cooling remains too gradual for the Fed to reduce interest rates at upcoming meetings. Officials have been awaiting more clarity on how much Trump’s new tariffs might lift inflation.Tombs warned that revisions to May’s employment data could “reveal a sharper slowdown.”On Wednesday, data from payroll firm ADP showed that private sector employment cooled to 37,000 in May, down from 60,000 in the prior month and marking its slowest rate since 2023.Initial jobless claims picked up in the week ending May 31, with economists warning that this could be a sign of a weakening labor market in response to Trump’s tariffs and the resulting uncertainty.Anecdotal data such as the Fed’s beige book survey of economic conditions and recent surveys of businesses have also indicated the levies are causing many firms to pause investment and hiring.All these mean that such effects could soon show up in government employment numbers.”Certainly, employment growth is going to slow down over the next few months,” said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America.”We just haven’t seen the full effect of the tariffs, and we probably won’t for a few more months, especially given that they’re so choppy, on and off,” North told AFP.

Donald Trump may now offload a Tesla he said he bought earlier this year in a show of support for Elon Musk, a White House official said Friday, following a blazing row between the US president and his billionaire former advisor.The red electric vehicle, which retails for around $80,000, was still in a parking lot on the White House grounds on Friday, an AFP reporter said, a day after the very public meltdown between Trump and the South African-born tech tycoon.”He’s thinking about it, yes,” a senior White House official told AFP when asked if the Republican would sell or give away the Tesla.Tesla stocks had tanked more than 14 percent on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company’s market value, but leapt back in early trading Friday.Trump, who does not drive as a president, said he was buying the Tesla in March to boost support for his mega-donor, whose brand — and bottom line — has been hit hard by public outrage over his role in slashing US government jobs.At a choreographed publicity stunt that turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom, Trump praised the EV as a “great product” and lashed out on social media at “Radical Left” attacks against the world’s richest person and his company.Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and another senior aide posed in the car as recently as last week, in a photograph posted on Musk’s social media network X.”Taking President Trump’s Tesla out for a ride,” Trump’s communications advisor Margo Martin posted.But the shiny red vehicle has now become an awkward symbol of the fiery political divorce between Trump, 78, and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Musk, 53.Trump said he was “very disappointed” by Musk and threatened to end his government contracts after his ex-aide criticized the president’s flagship budget and policy mega-bill as an “abomination.”

From the Earth trembling as two of its biggest alpha males fall out to Korean leaders doing battle with toilet brushes, your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.- ‘Sad, so sad’ -It has been a bruising week for the world’s richest man and his former friend, the world’s most powerful one.First Elon Musk turned up in the Oval Office with a black eye he said he got from “horsing around with lil’ X” — his five-year-old son whose full name is X Æ A-Xii.”I said, ‘Go ahead punch me in the face,'” and the boy duly obliged, the 53-year-old tech billionaire told reporters when asked how he got the shiner as President Donald Trump thanked his “friend” for his “great work” for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Six days later the two were at each other’s throats, with Musk saying that the president should be impeached, that “without me Trump would have lost the election”, and mocking the US leader’s connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the president is “in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”Trump took time out from welcoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to the White House — telling him D-Day “was not a pleasant day for you” — to hit back hard.”I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” he said, before taking to his own social network to call Musk “crazy”, saying that he had sacked him and that he could save “billions and billions” by cancelling Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.The falling out — sparked by Musk criticising Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill as an “abomination” — sent markets into a spin with Musk’s Tesla electric car marker losing $100 billion in share value in a few hours.Trump, however, appears to have made a new friend from the spat, Ashley St Clair, the mother of Musk’s 14th child, who is suing him for child support.”Let me know if u need any breakup advice,” said the rightwing writer, reaching out to the president on her ex’s X social network.- Trust the Dutch -With friends falling out, the world needs love — though possibly not of the kind depicted on an early prophylactic which has gone on display in the venerable Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.The 19th-century condom made from a sheep’s appendix is adorned with an erotic scene involving a nun and three gentlemen of the cloth displaying parts of their person better kept under their cassocks.The very rare printed piece from around 1830 “embodies both the lighter and darker sides of sexual health”, said the museum, whose curators believe it was a souvenir from a brothel.- Lavatorial politics -To South Korea, where broadcasters outdid themselves on election night with wacky graphics to illustrate the battle for votes between the liberal challenger Lee Jae-myung and conservative Kim Moon-soo.Eye-catching CGI that channelled hit TV show “Squid Game” also included the pair battling to unblock a WC with a toilet brush. In the end it was Lee who mounted the throne after winning a thumping election victory.”Can we go this far with people who might become the president?” wondered journalist Son Hyoung-an from broadcaster SBS, which is famous for its cheeky graphics. Too late now…burs-fg/jxb

Elon Musk is “very welcome” in Europe, a spokesperson for the European Commission quipped Friday, following the tech billionaire’s spectacular public falling-out with US President Donald Trump.The Trump-Musk political marriage blew up on Thursday as the president declared himself “very disappointed” in criticisms from his former aide and top donor — before the pair hurled insults at each other on social media.At the commission’s daily briefing, spokesperson Paula Pinho was asked whether Musk had reached out to the European Union with a view to relocating his businesses, or setting up new ones.”He’s very welcome,” she replied with a smile.The commission’s spokesperson for tech matters, Thomas Regnier, followed up by stressing — straight-faced — that “everyone is very welcome indeed to start and to scale in the EU”.”That is precisely the objective of Choose Europe,” he said, referencing an EU initiative in favour of start-ups and expanding businesses.Musk has been a frequent critic of the 27-nation EU — attacking its digital laws as censorship and berating its leaders, while cheering on the ascendant far-right in Germany and elsewhere.The tycoon’s row with Trump saw the president threaten to strip him of government contracts estimated at $18 billion — with Musk vowing in response to end a critical US spaceship programme.Explaining the rift, Trump said Musk had gone “crazy” about a plan to end electric vehicle subsidies in the new US spending bill — as the bust-up sent shares in Musk’s Tesla car company plunging.

Americans considered the consequences Friday of the spectacular split between Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump, who threatened to strip the world’s richest man of his huge government contracts.Trump and Musk’s unlikely political marriage exploded in a fiery public divorce Thursday.The president said in a televised Oval Office diatribe that he was “very disappointed” after his former aide and top donor criticized his “big, beautiful” spending bill before Congress.The pair then hurled insults at each other on social media — with Musk even posting, without proof, that Trump was referenced in government documents on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The row could have major political and economic fallout, as shares in Musk’s Tesla car company plunged and the South African-born tech tycoon vowed that he would end a critical US spaceship program.But Trump played down the feud during an interview with Politico on Thursday, saying: “Oh it’s okay. It’s going very well, never done better.”A call with Musk has been scheduled by the White House on Friday in the hope of diffusing the situation, according to the outlet.Speculation had long swirled that a relationship between the world’s richest person and its most powerful could not last long — but the speed of the meltdown took Washington by surprise.”I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looked on silently.”Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”A hurt-sounding Trump, 78, said it had been only a week since he hosted a grand farewell for Musk as he left the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Trump later insisted he had asked the tycoon to leave because he was “wearing thin.”- ‘Ingratitude’ -Musk, who was Trump’s biggest campaign donor to the tune of $300 million, slammed the president for “ingratitude” and said the Republican would not have won the 2024 election without him.As the spat got increasingly vindictive, Musk also posted that Trump “is in the Epstein files,” referring to US government documents on the sex offender who killed himself while awaiting trial.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP that Musk’s Epstein tweet “is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ because it does not include the policies he wanted.”Musk, on his X social media platform, replied “yes” to a post suggesting the president should be impeached, and blasted Trump’s global tariffs for risking a recession.Trump finally suggested hitting the “crazy” entrepreneur where it hurts, threatening Musk’s multibillion-dollar government contracts including for launching rockets and for the use of the Starlink satellite service.”The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump said on Truth Social.Again Musk fired back, with the SpaceX chief saying he would begin “decommissioning” his company’s Dragon spacecraft which is vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.He later appeared to walk that back, replying to a user on X: “OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.”- ‘Abomination’ -When the crossfire finally relented after several astonishing hours, Tesla had seen more than $100 billion wiped off the company’s value.Trump and Musk’s whirlwind relationship had initially blossomed, with the president backing DOGE’s cost-cutting rampage through the US government and the tycoon sleeping over at the White House and traveling on Air Force One.But the 53-year-old ultimately lasted just four months on the job, becoming increasingly disillusioned with the slow pace of change and clashing with some of Trump’s cabinet members.The two men had however kept tensions over Trump’s tax and spending mega-bill relatively civil — until Musk described the plan, the centerpiece of Trump’s domestic policy agenda for his second term, as an “abomination” because he says it will increase the US deficit.Washington will now intently watch the fallout from the row.Musk posted a poll on whether he should form a new political party — a seismic threat from a man who has signaled he is ready to use his wealth to unseat Republican lawmakers who disagree with him.Trump ally Steve Bannon — a vocal opponent of Musk — meanwhile called for the tycoon to be deported, the New York Times reported.

Mehria had been losing hope of getting a visa to emigrate to the United States but her spirits were crushed when President Donald Trump raised yet another hurdle by banning travel for Afghans.Trump had already disrupted refugee pathways after he returned to power in January but a sweeping new travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, will go into effect on Monday.The ban changes little for most Afghans who already faced steep barriers to travel abroad, but many who had hung their hopes on a new life in the United States felt it was yet another betrayal.”Trump’s recent decisions have trapped not only me but thousands of families in uncertainty, hopelessness and thousands of other disasters,” Mehria, a 23-year-old woman who gave only one name, said from Pakistan, where she has been waiting since applying for a US refugee visa in 2022.”We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives and came here on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another,” she told AFP.The United States has not had a working embassy in Afghanistan since the Taliban ousted the foreign-backed government in 2021, forcing Afghans to apply for visas in third countries.The Taliban’s return followed the drawdown of US and NATO troops who had ousted them two decades earlier in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks.The Taliban government has since imposed a strict view of Islamic law and severe restrictions on women, including bans on some education and work.Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have applied for visas to settle in the United States, either as refugees or under the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme reserved for those who aided the US government during its war against the Taliban.Afghans with SIV visas and asylum cases will not be affected by Trump’s new order but family reunification pathways are threatened, the Afghan-American Foundation said in a statement condemning the ban.Some 12,000 people are awaiting reunification with family members already living in the United States, according to Shawn VanDiver, the president of the AfghanEvac non-profit group.”These are not ‘border issues’. These are legal, vetted, documented reunifications,” he wrote on social media platform X. “Without exemptions, families are stranded.” – ‘Abandoned’ -Refugee pathways and relocation processes for resettling Afghans had already been upset by previous Trump orders, suddenly leaving many Afghans primed to travel to the United States in limbo.The Trump administration revoked legal protections temporarily shielding Afghans from deportation in May, citing an improved security situation in Afghanistan.”We feel abandoned by the United States, with whom we once worked and cooperated,” said Zainab Haidari, another Afghan woman who has been waiting in Pakistan for a refugee visa. “Despite promises of protection and refuge we are now caught in a hopeless situation, between the risk of death from the Taliban and the pressure and threat of deportation in Pakistan,” said Haidari, 27, who worked with the United States in Kabul during the war but applied for a refugee visa.Afghans fled in droves during decades of conflict, but the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops from Kabul saw a new wave clamouring to escape Taliban government curbs and fears of reprisal for working with Washington.Pakistan and Iran have meanwhile ramped up deportation campaigns to expel Afghans who have crossed their borders.The Taliban authorities have not responded to multiple requests for comment on the new travel ban but have said they are keen to have good relations with every country now that they are in power — including the United States. Visa options for Afghans are already severely limited by carrying the weakest passport globally, according to the Henley Passport Index.However, travel to the United States is far from the minds of many Afghans who struggle to make ends meet in one of the world’s poorest countries, where food insecurity is rife. “We don’t even have bread, why are you asking me about travelling to America?” said one Afghan man in Kabul.Sahar, a 29-year-old economics graduate who has struggled to find work amid sky-high unemployment, said the new rules will not have any impact on most Afghans.”When there are thousands of serious issues in Afghanistan, this won’t change anything,” she told AFP.”Those who could afford to travel and apply for the visa will find another way or to go somewhere else instead of the US.”

The largest and most complex World Cup in history kicks off in just over a year’s time, with the United States, Canada and Mexico co-hosting the football extravaganza against a backdrop of political tension triggered by Donald Trump.Forty-eight teams and millions of fans are set to descend on North America for the first ever World Cup shared by three nations, with the tournament getting under way on June 11 next year.In theory, the 23rd edition of the most popular sporting spectacle on the planet has all the makings of a successful tournament.An array of venues ranging from Mexico’s iconic Estadio Azteca to the glittering $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles will play host to 104 games spread over nearly six weeks.The United States will host the bulk of those fixtures — 78 — with Canada and Mexico staging 13 each.All games from the quarter-finals onwards will be held in the United States, with the tournament culminating in the final at New Jersey’s 82,500-seater MetLife Stadium on July 19, 2026.- ‘Like 104 Super Bowls’ -American officials believe the return of the World Cup to the country — 32 years after the United States hosted the 1994 finals — could represent a watershed moment for football in the country.”The World Cup is going to raise the attention of the sport in ways that nobody ever dreamed of,” said Don Garber, the commissioner of Major League Soccer.FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino meanwhile has been hyping next year’s finals as the equivalent of “104 Super Bowls”, contrasting the World Cup’s estimated six billion viewers to the 120 million or so who tune in for the climax of the NFL season.There are historical precedents which suggest the hype might be justified. The 1994 World Cup in the United States remains the best attended World Cup in history, with an average of 68,600 fans flocking to each game.Yet while organisers eagerly anticipate a commercial success, with one FIFA estimate suggesting it could generate a mammoth $11 billion in revenues, questions over other aspects of the tournament remain.The 48 teams — up from 32 in 2022 — will be spread into 12 groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the knockout rounds, and the eight best third-placed teams joining them to make up a last 32.That expansion is likely to reduce the sense of jeopardy in the first round, a problem seen in other major championships which have increased in size in recent years.- Visa backlog -There is also the question of how the polarising policies of US President Trump may impact the tournament.Since taking office, Trump has launched a global trade war, repeatedly threatened to annex World Cup co-host Canada and launched an immigration crackdown at US borders which has seen overseas visitors from countries like France, Britain, Germany and Australia either detained or denied entry in recent months.Trump this week signed a travel ban on 12 countries including Iran, who have qualified for the World Cup, but the ban will not apply to players taking part in the tournament.Trump, who is chairman of a White House task force overseeing preparations for the World Cup, says overseas fans travelling to the tournament have nothing to fear.”Every part of the US government will be working to ensure that these events are safe and successful, and those traveling to America to watch the competition have a seamless experience during every part of their visit,” Trump said last month.FIFA chief Infantino, who has forged a close relationship with Trump, echoed that point, insisting that America was ready to “welcome the world.””Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun, to celebrate the game will be able to do that,” Infantino said.With one year to go however, it is by no means clear that Infantino’s pledge will hold up.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that some embassy staff may be required to work double-shifts to expedite visa processing, citing the example of Colombia, where US visa wait times are currently 15 months.”If you haven’t applied for a visa from Colombia already, you probably won’t get here in time for the World Cup unless we go to double shifts,” Rubio told lawmakers on Capitol Hill.Those fans who do make the trip to North America may also find themselves having to fork out a small fortune due to FIFA’s reported decision to use dynamic pricing to determine ticket prices.That system, where prices on ticketing websites fluctuate according to demand, may well force fans to shell out thousands of dollars to obtain tickets for the highest profile games.”Dynamic pricing does not belong in football because it is an exploitation of fans’ loyalty,” Ronan Evain, the executive director of the Football Supporters Europe fan group told The Times. “It would be a fiasco for FIFA to use it for the World Cup.”

Mercedes Yamarte’s three sons fled Venezuela for a better life in the United States. Now one languishes in a Salvadoran jail, another “self-deported” to Mexico, and a third lives in hiding — terrified US agents will crash the door at any moment.At her zinc-roofed home in a poor Maracaibo neighborhood, 46-year-old Mercedes blinks back tears as she thinks about her family split asunder by US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.”I wish I could go to sleep, wake up, and this never happened,” she says, as rain drums down and lightning flashes overhead.In their homeland, her boys were held back by decades of political and economic tumult that have already prompted an estimated eight million Venezuelans to emigrate.But in leaving, all three brothers became ensnared by politics once more, and by a US president determined to bolt the door of a nation once proud of its migrant roots. For years, her eldest son, 30-year-old Mervin had lived in America, providing for his wife and six-year-old daughter, working Texas construction sites and at a tortilla factory.On March 13, he was arrested by US immigration agents and summarily deported to a Salvadoran mega jail, where he is still being held incommunicado.The Trump administration linked Mervin and 251 other men to the Tren de Aragua — a Venezuelan gang it classifies as a terrorist group.Washington has cited tattoos as evidence of gang affiliation, something fiercely contested by experts, who say that, unlike other Latin American gangs, Tren de Aragua members do not commonly sport gang markings.Mervin has tattoos of his mother and daughter’s names, the phrase “strong like mom” in Spanish and the number “99” — a reference to his soccer jersey not any gang affiliation, according to his family.- The journey north -Mervin arrived in the United States in 2023 with his 21-year-old brother Jonferson. Both hoped to work and to send some money back home.They had slogged through the Darien Gap — a forbidding chunk of jungle between Colombia and Panama that is one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.They had trekked north through Mexico, and were followed a year later by sister Francis, aged 19, who turned around before reaching the United States and brother Juan, aged 28, who continued on. When the brothers entered the United States, they registered with border officials and requested political asylum.They were told they could remain legally until a judge decided their fate.Then US voters voted, and with a change of administration, at dawn on March 13, US immigration agents pounded the door of an apartment in Irving, Texas where the trio were living with friends from back home.Immigration agents were serving an arrest warrant when they saw Mervin and said: “You are coming with us too for an investigation,” Juan recalled.When the agents said they had an arrest warrant for Mervin too, he tried to show his asylum papers. “But they already had him handcuffed to take him away,” Juan said.He was transferred to a detention center, where he managed to call Jonferson to say he was being deported somewhere. He did not know where.Three days later, Jonferson saw his brother among scores of shorn and shackled men arriving at CECOT, a prison built by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to house alleged gang members.Jonferson saw his handcuffed brother kneeling on the floor staring off into space. He broke down crying and called his mother. She had also seen Mervin in the images. “My son was kneeling and looked up as if to say: ‘Where am I and what have I done to end up here?'” said Mercedes.”I have never seen my son look more terrified” she said.- The journey south -After his brother’s arrest, Jonferson had nightmares. The fear became so great that he fled to Mexico — what some euphemistically describe as “self-deportation”.There, he waited a month to board a Venezuelan humanitarian flight to return home. “It has been a nightmare,” he told AFP as he rode a bus to the airport and from there, onward home. Juan, meanwhile, has decided to remain in the United States. He lives under the radar, working construction jobs and moving frequently to dodge arrest.”I am always hiding. When I go to the grocery store I look all around, fearful, as if someone were chasing me,” he told AFP asking that his face and his whereabouts remain undisclosed.As the only brother who can now send money home, he is determined not to go back to Venezuela empty-handed. He also has a wife and seven-year-old son depending on him.But he is tormented by the thought of his brother Mervin being held in El Salvador and by the toll it has taken on the family.”My mother is a wreck. There are days she cannot sleep,” Juan said.”My sister-in-law cries every day. She is suffering.”- The journey home -Jonferson has since returned to Maracaibo, where he was greeted by strings of blue, yellow, and red balloons and a grateful but still forlorn mother.”I would like to be happy, as I should. But my other son is in El Salvador, in what conditions I do not know,” Mercedes said.But her face lights up for a second as she hugs her son, holding him tight as if never wanting to let him go.”I never thought the absence of my sons would hit me so hard,” she said. “I never knew I could feel such pain.”For now, the brothers are only together in a screen grab she has on her phone, taken during a video call last Christmas.

A court on Thursday put a temporary stay on Donald Trump’s latest effort to stop foreign students from enrolling at Harvard, as the US president’s battle with one of the world’s most prestigious universities intensified.A proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday sought to bar most new international students at Harvard from entering the country, and said existing foreign enrollees risked having their visas terminated.”Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” the order said.Harvard quickly amended an existing complaint filed in federal court, saying: “This is not the Administration’s first attempt to sever Harvard from its international students.””(It) is part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”US District Judge Allison Burroughs on Thursday ruled the government cannot enforce Trump’s proclamation.Harvard had showed, she said, that without a temporary restraining order, it risked sustaining “immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties.”The same judge had already blocked Trump’s earlier effort to bar international students from enrolling at the storied university.- ‘Government vendetta’ -The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution from any future federal funding.Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment in the 2024-2025 academic year and are a major source of income.In its filing, Harvard acknowledged that Trump had the authority to bar an entire class of aliens if it was deemed to be in the public interest, but stressed that was not the case in this action.”The President’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” it said.Since returning to office Trump has targeted elite US universities which he and his allies accuse of being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, liberal bias and “woke” ideology.Trump’s education secretary also threatened on Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation.The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt.Unlike Harvard, several top institutions — including Columbia — have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration.