“Moscow has inflicted another round of deadly strikes on Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump’s plea for Russian President Vladimir Putin to ‘STOP!’ attacking its neighbor. At least eight people were killed in drone strikes across the country, a night after Russia launched its deadliest bombardment of Ukraine since the middle of last year. A drone attack on the eastern city of Pavlohrad on Friday killed three people, including a 76-year-old woman and a child, and injured 10 others, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said. In southern Ukraine, two people were also killed in strikes on Kherson, the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said, adding the strikes targeted critical infrastructure and residential buildings. … On Friday, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Moscow for further talks with Putin on reaching an agreement.” (04/25/25)
“A judge on Thursday denied the government’s request to pause the transfer of Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, who is fighting deportation after she co-wrote an essay about Israel and the war in Gaza, back to Vermont. U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions ruled that the federal government is now obligated to ensure that Öztürk, who is being held in Louisiana, is moved to Vermont by May 1. The Justice Department appealed Sessions’[s] previous order to transfer Öztürk to Vermont, where her habeas corpus petition challenging her [abduction] was filed. Federal officials had also asked Session to pause the order from taking effect while it was on appeal. … Homeland security agents grabbed Öztürk, a doctoral student in the United States on a student visa, off a Massachusetts street in late March. DHS accused her of engaging ‘in activities in support of Hamas.'” (04/24/25)
“Tensions between India and Pakistan were high on Thursday as New Delhi mounted a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad, blaming it for a deadly attack that killed 26 people in Kashmir …. The Indian government did not publicly produce any evidence connecting the attack to its neighbour …. Pakistan denied any connection to the attack, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group that called itself the Kashmir Resistance. In a statement issued on Thursday, India’s foreign ministry said all visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be revoked with effect from Sunday. It also advised Indians citizens not to travel to Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated by cancelling visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian owned or Indian operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country.” (04/24/25)
“A judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form. The decision is a setback for President Donald Trump, who has argued the requirement is needed to restore public confidence in elections. But the judge allowed other parts of Trump’s sweeping executive order on U.S. elections to go forward for now, including a directive to tighten mail ballot deadlines around the country. … U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington sided with voting rights groups and Democrats, [noting] that the Constitution gives the power to regulate federal elections to states and Congress — not the president.” (04/24/25)
“The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow President Trump to enforce his ban on transgender troops serving openly in the military. The emergency application asks the justices to lift a Seattle-based federal judge’s nationwide injunction blocking the policy. ‘The district court’s injunction cannot be squared with the substantial deference that the Department’s professional military judgments are owed,’ Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the application. At minimum, Sauer told the high court it should limit the judge’s nationwide order so it only blocks enforcement of the policy against the eight transgender service members suing. Justice Elena Kagan, who received the request because she handles emergency requests arising from Washington state by default, ordered the service members’ legal team respond in writing by May 1.” (04/24/25)
“The top international official in Bosnia on Thursday cut all budgetary financing for ruling political parties in the Serb-run part of the country, increasing the pressure on the entity’s pro-Russian president who is wanted over his separatist policies. Christian Schmidt, a German diplomat tasked with overseeing peace in Bosnia, accused the leadership of the Serb-run Republika Srpska entity of undermining the Dayton accords that ended the 1992-95 war in the country. Schmidt announced his move a day after Bosnian state police officers attempted to detain Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, but were prevented by armed Bosnian Serb police. Schmidt’s Office of the High Representative has the authority to change and impose laws in Bosnia.” (04/24/25)
“Lawyers for the federal government briefly published internal correspondence on Wednesday evening detailing a laundry list of flaws in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s legal strategy to shut down the MTA’s congestion pricing tolls. The document appears to have been mistakenly posted on the docket of the MTA’s federal lawsuit challenging U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s effort to kill the tolls by revoking federal approval. … The three assistant U.S. attorneys in Manhattan wrote that Duffy’s current argument to shut down the tolls isn’t likely to hold up in court. … The letter advises U.S. DOT officials to instead argue they’re revoking approval for the tolls through Office of Management and Budget regulations, which could allow for such a move ‘as a matter of changed agency priorities.’ Still, the letter notes that argument isn’t airtight because the DOT did not give the MTA any money to launch congestion pricing.” (04/24/25)
“China on Thursday directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s claims that Beijing and Washington are actively discussing resolutions to a trade war that threatens to upend the global economy. While Trump said Wednesday that the world’s two largest economies are ‘actively’ talking, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded that ‘China and the U.S. have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations regarding tariffs, let alone reached an agreement.’ The spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, made the comments at a briefing in Beijing, saying that reports of ongoing talks were false. He added that while China is open to negotiations, ‘if it’s a fight, we will fight to the end.'” (04/24/25)
“Amid Harvard’s battle with the Trump administration, which has already pulled billions in federal funding from the university and floated taking even more, fiscal watchdog OpenTheBooks decided to take a peek at how much money the top-tier Ivy League school actually stands to lose. Harvard has received at least $4.4 billion in federal funding through grants, contracts, sub-grants and subcontracts since the first Trump administration in 2017, the watchdog found through open-source analysis of government spending records and other publicly available data. Meanwhile, based on these numbers, Harvard collected more in federal grants and contracts than they stood to gain through tuition, room and board in any given year. OpenTheBooks also unearthed that Harvard’s $53.2 billion endowment has grown by $14 billion, or $2 billion annually, since 2018. In total, the top-tier Ivy League school has more than $7 million per undergraduate student, the watchdog’s report indicated.” (04/24/25)
“Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in March, a sluggish start to the spring homebuying season as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective home shoppers. Existing home sales fell 5.9% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The March sales decline is the largest monthly drop since November 2022, when sales fell 6.7% from the previous month. Sales fell 2.4% compared with March last year. The latest home sales fell short of the 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. The average cost of a U.S. mortgage, which climbed to its highest level in two months last week, is a significant barrier for would-be homebuyers, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.” (04/24/25)
