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US president says an Israeli strike ‘would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution.’United States President Donald Trump has said that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on any strike against Iran to give his administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran, as several rounds of talks have been held in Oman and Italy. Trump told reporters on Wednesday at the White House that he relayed to Netanyahu a strike “would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution”. The…

Russia has proposed a new round of direct talks with Ukraine in Turkiye’s Istanbul on Monday with the goal of securing a lasting ceasefire, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says after heavy bombardments of its neighbour and aerial exchanges in the past week. “We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul,”  Lavrov said in a statement on Wednesday. Kyiv responded a short time later, saying it had already submitted its version of the memorandum on…

Avelo Airlines, a struggling, Houston, Texas-based budget carrier, has faced weeks of backlash after taking a contract with the United States government to use its planes to deport migrants, the first commercial airline to do so. Avelo, which started the deportation flights in mid-May, defended the move in an April 3 letter to employees, saying its partnership with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is “too valuable not to pursue”. Founded in 2021, the airline has been in financial turmoil and was projected to have only about $2m in cash on hand by June, the trade publication Airline Observer…

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge said the Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil because of his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University likely violates the Constitution. In a lengthy order issued Wednesday, Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote the government’s primary justification for removing Khalil — that his beliefs may pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy — could open the door to vague and arbitrary enforcement. Still, Farbiarz stopped short of ordering Khalil released from a Louisiana jail, finding his attorneys had not sufficiently responded to another charge brought by the government: that Khalil did not properly disclose certain…

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia’s mayor honored actor and producer Quinta Brunson with a key to the city Wednesday in a ceremony dedicating a separate mural at Brunson’s alma mater, which was the inspiration for her show “Abbott Elementary.”The producer, writer and comedian gazed at the shiny key handed to her by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and quipped: “Wow! I want to ask the question on everybody’s mind: What does it open?”Brunson used the ceremony held at Andrew Hamilton School to celebrate the power of public education, public schoolteachers and music and arts education. Her parents and siblings were in attendance,…

Trump administration has criticised countries for restrictions on expression, even as it cracks down on dissent at home.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US will place new visa restrictions on foreign officials who “censor” American companies and citizens abroad for speech protected in the United States, warning that demanding greater content moderation by US social media companies is “unacceptable”. “I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,” Rubio said in a statement on Wednesday. The administration of US President Donald…

WASHINGTON (AP) — New State Department guidance on visa applications is adding to uncertainty for America’s international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from President Donald Trump’s administration. In a cable sent Tuesday to U.S. embassies and consulates, Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for international students as the department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media. Existing appointments may be kept and will proceed under current review guidelines, the cable said.University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student Vladyslav Plyaka was planning to visit Poland to see his mother and renew his visa,…

A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States.Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova’s behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer. “It is excellent science,” Michael West, a scientist and entrepreneur in the biotech industry, testified on Petrova’s research papers. He said he does not know Petrova, but has become acquainted with her published work, citing one in which she explains that “by mapping embryonic development, novel ways of…

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed appeals by families of students killed or wounded at Oxford High School in 2021, ending efforts to hold employees partly responsible for the mass shooting.Under Michigan law, immunity is a high hurdle to overcome in lawsuits against a government body, including public school staff. Lawyers typically have to show that gross negligence occurred.The court, in a two-sentence order, said it would not step into the litigation. The decision means a 3-0 Court of Appeals decision in favor of school employees will stand.A lawyer for the families said he would speak…

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its embassies abroad to stop scheduling new visa interview appointments for students and exchange visitors, according to an internal cable seen by news agencies on Tuesday. In the memo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the pause is in place because the State Department plans to expand the screening of student applicants’ social media. Here is all we know about what this pause could mean. What happened? Rubio signed a cable, obtained by multiple news agencies, asking US embassies all over the world to pause new visa interviews for foreign…