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The Morning Dispatch
Trump Admin Targets International College Students
May 28, 2025
Happy Wednesday! In a fun Canadian Parliament tradition (not a description we often give), lawmakers physically drag the new speaker of the House of Commons to the front of the chamber on his first day. Our summer interns start in two weeks; we’ll keep this in mind.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Russian forces captured four Ukrainian villages in the northeastern Sumy region near the border between the two countries on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for his military to establish a “buffer zone” in the region, and the Russian Defense Ministry had announced its intent to create a “security strip” in Sumy. Russia had launched a massive drone and missile attack over the past several days, but the bombardment subsided on Tuesday. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is considering imposing sanctions on Russia and said on Tuesday that Putin is “playing with fire” in continuing to refuse to participate in ceasefire talks with Ukraine. Despite the verbal warnings, Russia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Trump and Putin have agreed to a prisoner exchange between the two countries—though the State Department had yet to confirm any details as of early Wednesday morning.
- The Trump administration is planning to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard University due to alleged antisemitism and discrimination on campus, according to a letter sent to federal agencies on Tuesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cancellation would affect 30 contracts valued at $100 million. The Government Services Agency (GSA), which sent the letter, instructed agencies to “seek alternative vendors” and send a list of contract cancellations by June 6, with critical contracts being transferred to other vendors to complete the work. The Trump administration had already attempted to halt the university’s ability to enroll international students (a judge temporarily paused the effort last week) and threatened to redirect grant money toward trade schools across the country.
- The Trump administration on Tuesday ordered U.S. embassies and consular sections to pause new student visa interviews as it prepares to expand social media vetting for international students. The memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, does not specify what the vetting would entail, but it does reference executive orders about preventing terrorism and antisemitism. Earlier in Trump’s term, the administration revoked nearly 2,000 international students’ ability to study in the U.S.
- Palestinians in Gaza stormed an aid distribution center on Tuesday after a gate there collapsed due to pressure from the gathering crowd, forcing staff to retreat and prompting Israeli soldiers to fire warning shots above the crowd. A group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private company backed by the U.S. and Israel, is overseeing aid distribution. The chief executive of the group resigned on Monday, but two of the four planned aid centers are currently operating, according to the Israeli military. The group did say that it was able to distribute nearly 500,000 meals through the site on Tuesday.
- German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul threatened unspecified intervention against Israel on Tuesday over the war in Gaza, a sign of Europe’s continued shift away from Israel. The statement comes after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Israel’s actions in Gaza can “no longer be justified,” and the U.K., Canada, and France threatened “concrete actions” against Israel on Monday if aid restrictions are not lifted and the war in Gaza continues. The U.K. also suspended trade negotiations with Israel, and European countries—led by France—are considering officially recognizing Palestine as a state. Trump has also tempered his support of Israel in recent days, saying on Sunday that he is working to end the war in Gaza as quickly as possible.
- NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed a lawsuit against the White House on Tuesday related to Trump’s executive order ending the use of federal funds for NPR and PBS. The order, signed in early May, ended federal funding of NPR and PBS because “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events.” The lawsuit alleges that the order violates First Amendment protections of the press and free speech and oversteps executive authority.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday ended its recommendation that healthy children and pregnant women should receive routine COVID-19 vaccine shots. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the change in a video posted to X, standing with National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary. “We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said in the video. He also criticized the Biden administration’s recommendation of COVID-19 shots despite what Kennedy called the “lack of any critical data” to support repeated booster vaccination. The CDC previously recommended that everyone older than 6 months receive the latest vaccine, but according to its own data, just 23 percent of U.S. adults and 13 percent of Americans under the age of 18 had done so.
- British police officials said Tuesday they arrested a man for attempted murder after he allegedly rammed his car into a crowd in Liverpool, England, one day earlier, injuring 65 people—including four children. The suspect reportedly followed an ambulance to get around barriers blocking off a parade celebrating Liverpool F.C.’s title in Premier League soccer. Although authorities are continuing their investigation, the incident is not being treated as terrorism, with police saying that the suspect, 53, was likely on drugs.
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