Trump administration must continue to finance rail project
A US federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to continue funding a new rail tunnel between the states of New York and New Jersey. The verdict on Friday (local time) came shortly before the planned stop to construction work and the resulting loss of around 1,000 jobs. The Trump administration announced months ago that it would withhold $16 billion for the infrastructure project, citing the government shutdown at the time.
New York and New Jersey had asked the court for an injunction to stop the government from withholding the funds. U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas granted the request. The White House and the US Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the ruling “an important victory for workers and commuters in New York and New Jersey. I am grateful that the court acted quickly to block this senseless funding freeze,” James said. “The Hudson Tunnel project is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the country and we will continue to fight to ensure construction can proceed without unnecessary federal interference.”
The tunnel is intended to reduce traffic congestion in another rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey that is more than 110 years old. (ap)
Pentagon ends academic collaboration with Harvard
The US Department of Defense is ending its cooperation with the elite university. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth announced on Friday (local time) that soldiers would no longer be sent to Harvard for study programs in the future. Harvard University has been under massive pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration since last year. The government accuses Harvard and other elite universities in the country of being influenced by left-wing views.
Hegseth stated, “For too long this department has sent our best and brightest officers to Harvard in the hopes that the university would better understand our warrior caste.” Instead, many officers returned with their heads full of “globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting force.”
The Pentagon announced that cooperation with Harvard should be discontinued for the 2026/2027 academic year so that current cohorts can still complete their training. The Department of Defense currently sends army members to Harvard for military training, scholarships or other programs.
“Harvard is woke; the War Department is not,” Hegseth wrote on the online service X. He now refers to the Defense Department as the “War Department.” The attribute “woke” is used in right-wing circles as a synonym for supposedly intolerant and extreme socio-political attitudes of left-wing forces.
Hegseth also announced that his ministry’s cooperation with all universities in the so-called Ivy League should be reviewed. “Ivy League” is a collective term for particularly prestigious universities in the northeast of the USA, including Princeton and Yale. (afp)
Trump surprised by boos against Vance
US President Donald Trump has complained about the boos against his Visa JD Vance shown in surprise at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Italy. When asked about the critical reactions, he pointed out to journalists on the government plane Air Force One that people liked his Republican party colleague. To be fair, however, one has to say that the US Vice President is currently traveling in another country – “he is not being booed in this country (the USA),” emphasized Trump.
However, this claim is not true. In the US capital Washington alone, Vance was publicly booed several times last year, for example when attending a concert at the Kennedy Center, a renowned cultural venue that Trump took control of shortly after taking office. (dpa)
Trump praises talks with Iran
According to US President Donald Trump, the indirect negotiations between the USA and Iran in Oman have been positive. “We also had very good discussions about Iran, Iran seems very interested in reaching an agreement,” Trump told reporters on Friday (local time). A next round of talks will take place “at the beginning of next week”. The US President also signed a decree threatening Iran’s trading partners with further punitive tariffs.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had previously described the climate during the negotiations in the Omani capital Muscat as “very positive”. According to Araghchi, the talks focused exclusively on the nuclear issue. The US had previously urged that Tehran’s support for militias in the Middle East and its ballistic missile program also need to be put on the agenda.
At the meetings, the delegations of the enemy states did not confer directly with each other, but through Oman’s mediators. (afp)
IOC does not punish Brits after ICE criticism
British freestyler Gus Kenworthy does not have to fear punishment from the International Olympic Committee because of his clear statement against the US immigration authorities (ICE). Shortly before the start of the Winter Olympics in Italy, Kenworthy posted a picture on Instagram that read “fuck ICE” – according to him, Kenworthy peed the lettering in the snow.
“During the Olympic Games, all participants will have the opportunity to express their views in accordance with the guidelines for athlete expression. The IOC does not regulate personal posts on social media,” an IOC spokesperson told the Press Association. According to the Olympic Charter Rule 50, athletes are largely prohibited from political protests or messages during the games.
“Innocent people have been murdered and enough is enough. We can no longer stand by as ICE continues to operate with unhindered power in our communities,” wrote Kenworthy, 34, who won the silver medal in slopestyle for the USA at the 2014 Games in Sochi. (dpa)
US judge orders return of three deported families
A judge in California has ordered the repatriation of three families deported from the United States. They should have been allowed to remain in the country, noted District Judge Dana Sabraw, based in San Diego. He referred to a legal regulation regarding the practice during President Donald Trump’s first term of separating around 6,000 children from their parents at the southern border with Mexico. The three deported families were affected by the authorities’ actions at the time.
Based on the regulation, each mother in the families received humanitarian residency status, which allows them to stay in the USA until 2027, explained Sabraw. A woman and her three children were affected, including one aged six with a US passport. They were deported to Honduras in July 2025. Previously, they had been asked to report to ICE immigration authorities at least eleven times within two months, the woman reported. This led to her losing her job.
Sabraw rejected government lawyers’ argument that the family left the United States voluntarily. The woman said ICE officers visited her at home and asked her to sign a document agreeing to leave the country. However, she refused this. “It made no difference to these officers. They took me and my children to a motel and removed my electronic ankle bracelet. They held us for three days and then deported us to Honduras.” The other two families reported that the same thing had happened to them.
The judge also ordered the government to pay the Koscosts for the repatriation of the families. (ap)
Trump claims he “didn’t make a mistake” with the racist post
US President Donald Trump wants to take responsibility for the post on his social media account, which contained a racist depiction of the former president Barack Obama and whose wife was a monkey, did not apologize. When asked about this, he told journalists: “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
Trump said he only watched the beginning of the video. He assumed that at the end there was something that people didn’t like – he didn’t like it either, but he didn’t see it, he said. Trump’s statements on this could not be independently verified. The White House initially tried to justify the post with its racist depiction, but later blamed it on an employee.
On Friday, the post was deleted from Trump’s account on his online platform Truth Social after massive criticism. “A White House official mistakenly published the post,” a senior U.S. official said.
However, the White House initially tried to defend the post. Government spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement that was broadcast by the TV channel CNN, for example, that the mock outrage should stop. It is an excerpt from an Internet meme video in which Trump is depicted as the king of the jungle and the Democrats as characters from the classic film “The Lion King”.
There was even criticism of the post from among Republicans. Black Republican Senator Tim Scott wrote on Platform X that it was the most racist thing he had ever seen from this White House. “The president should remove this.” Trump now said that he had spoken to Scott and that he was “great”.
The US President has often spread racist statements and images. But he himself said to journalists on the government plane Air Force One on Friday (local time): “By the way, I am the least racist president you have had in a long time.” (dpa)