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May 22 (UPI) — The Trump administration has stopped Harvard from accepting international students after the Ivy League institution lost its ability to use the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, the Trump administration announced Thursday.

The SEVP allows non-citizens to enroll using a specific visa.

“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a letter to school.

The letter went on to say that, as a result of the revocation, Harvard would be prohibited from having international students using specific types of nonimmigrant visas on campus for the 2025-2026 academic year, and said the students would have to transfer to another university to maintain their nonimmigrant status.

In a separate post on social media, Noem said Harvard had “plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.”

In April, Noem wrote to Harvard asking university officials to provide the DHS with information about visa holders’ known illegal or violent activity, threats to fellow students or faculty, whether they had been involved in protests or disrupted students’ learning environment, and listing the coursework students were taking to maintain their visa status.

Noem has also said that the administration revoked two grants totaling $2.7 million, citing inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

The administration’s move is the latest step in a months-long fight with Harvard over international students during which the Trump administration threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status.

Harvard pushed back on Noem’s Thursday letter, calling the Trump administration’s move “unlawful,” and said it will likely file a second legal challenge.

“We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University — and this nation — immeasurably,” in a statement, the BBC reported.

The administration of President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against top US universities over their responses to pro-Palestine protests, as well as their diversity initiatives and curricula.

The move on Thursday to block Harvard University from enrolling foreign students represents the latest escalation in a months-long standoff, which critics say has been rooted in unfounded claims of rampant anti-Semitism.

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was “holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus”.

Harvard has called the latest move “unlawful” and a “retaliatory action”.

Here’s how we got here:

December 2023: The standoff stretches back to the months following the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, and the resulting Israeli offensive on Gaza, in which at least 53,655 Palestinians have since been killed.

Then-Harvard President Claudine Gay’s testimony before Congress on the administration’s response to pro-Palestine protests sparks outrage, as elected officials, particularly Republicans, call for greater crackdowns.

Gay subsequently resigns from her post and is replaced by Alan Garber in August 2024.

January 2025: Trump takes office in January 2025, following a campaign where he vowed to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, and “woke ideology” on college campuses.

Trump also signs a series of executive orders calling for government agencies to take actions against DEI programmes at private institutions, including universities, and to increase government actions to combat anti-Semitism, particularly on campuses.

February 2025: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) launches a task force to “root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses”.

The task force later announces it will visit 10 schools, saying it was “aware of allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law”.

The schools include Harvard, as well as Columbia University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California.

March 7, 2025: The Trump administration takes its first action against a US university, slashing $400m in federal funding to Columbia University and accusing the school of “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students”.

A subsequent letter from the Department of Education warns Harvard and dozens of other universities of “potential enforcement actions”.

March 21, 2025: Columbia yields to Trump’s demands, which include banning face masks, empowering campus police with arresting authority, and installing a new administrator to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies and the Center for Palestine Studies.

March 31, 2025: The US Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the US General Services Administration (GSA) announce an official review of $255.6m in Harvard contracts and $8.7bn in multi-year grants.

The review is part of the “ongoing efforts of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism”, the statement said.

April 11, 2025: Harvard is sent a letter saying the university has “failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment” and listing several Trump administration demands.

The demands include a governance overhaul that lessens the power of students and some staff, reforming hiring and admissions practices, refusing to admit students deemed “hostile to the American values and institutions”, doing away with diversity programmes, and auditing several academic programmes and centres, including several related to the Middle East.

April 14, 2025: Harvard President Garber issues a forceful rejection of the demands, writing: “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”.

The US administration announces an immediate freeze on funding, including $2.2bn in multi-year grants and $60m in multi-year contracts.

April 15, 2025: In a Truth Social post, Trump floats that Harvard could lose “Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity”. He accuses Harvard of “pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness’”.

April 16, 2025: The Department of Homeland Security calls on Harvard to turn over records on any foreign students’ “illegal and violent activities”, while threatening to revoke the university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program approval. The certification is required for it to enrol foreign students. Noem gives an April 30 deadline for this.

April 21, 2025: Harvard files a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution with “arbitrary and capricious” funding cuts.

April 30, 2025: Harvard says it shared information requested by Noem regarding foreign students, but does not release the nature of the information provided.

May 2, 2025: Trump again says the administration will take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status. No action is immediately taken.

May 5, 2025: The Trump administration says it is cutting all new federal grants to Harvard.

May 13, 2025: The US Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announces another $450m in federal funding from eight federal agencies.

May 19, 2025: The DOJ announces it will use the False Claims Act, typically used to punish federal funding recipients accused of corruption, to crack down on universities like Harvard over DEI policies. The Department of Health and Human Services also says it is terminating $60m in federal grants to Harvard.

May 22, 2025: Noem announces revocation of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, blocking it from enrolling new foreign students and saying current students will need to transfer to continue their studies.

Harvard responds: “We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university – and this nation – immeasurably.”

May 22 (UPI) — Walmart has announced plans to lay off 1,500 corporate employees, part of what it calls a restructuring as it weighs plans to raise prices amid Trump administration tariffs.

“We are reshaping some teams in our Global Tech and Walmart U.S. organizations where we have identified opportunities to remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly,” a memo to employees obtained by The Hill Wednesday said.

The memo said the retail giant is eliminating some jobs and creating new ones aimed at building on business priorities and growth strategy.

While Walmart said the corporate restructure is not directly related to the looming tariffs, it has said it is weighing the options of price increases and trying to absorb the tariffs when they are imposed, as it has done with past levies.

During a corporate earnings call last week, Walmart CEO Doug McMillion said the giant retailer would not be able to absorb all of the tariffs and said it would likely have to pass some costs on to consumers. Walmart said Wednesday it would be raising some prices.

Economists use Walmart as a gauge to consumer spending and have said that given the large percentage of goods the retailer imports, absorbing all of the tariffs would be difficult.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump posted Walmart should “eat the tariffs” on social media.

“Walmart should stop trying to blame the tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote. ” Walmart made billions of dollars last year, far more than expected.”

Walmart CFO John David Rainey countered Thursday that the company is facing unprecedented financial pressure due to the tariffs.

“We have not seen prices increase at this magnitude, in the speed which they’re coming at us before, and so it makes for a challenging environment,” he told CNBC.

May 22 (UPI) — American defense contractor L3 Technologies Inc. will pay tens of millions of dollars in fines to settle allegations that one of its divisions, Communications System West, submitted false business info to U.S. military and other federal agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

L3, doing business in Utah, agreed to pay $62 million to the U.S. government to settle scores of allegations that Communications System West had violated multiple provisions in federal law by “knowingly” making false claims, according to a settlement agreement.

“Taking advantage of the resources that support the armed forces of the United States and other government agencies will not be tolerated,” said Utah’s Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti.

At the end of 2018, L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. announced its merger that created the country’s sixth largest defense contractor.

U.S. officials say L3 company leaders knowingly made false statements and submitted other claims for “dozens” of government contract proposals by not accurately disclosing L3’s current and complete set of cost and pricing data for communication devices sold to a number of departments and agencies, including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force.

Viti said his office will continue to work and partner with law enforcement agencies to investigate and “hold accountable individuals and contractors who defraud the government.”

L3 produces communications equipment designed to operate unmanned vehicles, retrieve data and other visuals for U.S. military ops and intelligence, DOJ added.

The Justice Department contends that the practice went on from October 2006 to at least February 2014.

It said L3 Tech allegedly violated provisions in the 1863 False Claims Act, amended in 1986 under the Reagan administration, and the 1962 Truth In Negotiations Act which requires a federal contractor to provide the most current and accurate facts to government regulators by the time there’s an agreement, which could “reasonably be expected to affect price negotiations significantly.”

“Investigating companies that defraud the Army is crucial to maintaining the trust of the American public and upholding the integrity of government contracting,” said Special Agent in Charge Olga Morales of the U.S. Army’s CID southwest field office.

In 2020, L3Harris Technologies was selected to design and manufacture a next-gen aerial device in a nearly $500 million contract, and the company started the year with a $28 million DOD contract to update Greek F-16 jets. The year prior, L3 was on the receiving end for more than $37 million to produce U.S. Navy precision aiming lasers and $73 million to repair U.S. Navy submarine issues in 2019.

OSI Special Agent Jeffery Herrin said the $62 million settlement underscored the “commitment” the Air Force Office of Special Investigations has to protect national security and “ensuring the integrity of Department of Defense acquisitions.”

“L3’s defective pricing in contract proposals for critical systems like ROVER, VORTEX and SIR erodes public trust,” he continued, saying with “robust” law enforcement alliances that “law and order” will be upheld in the U.S. defense industry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often tried to paint himself as a close friend of United States President Donald Trump, but the relationship has rarely been as straightforward as the Israeli premier has portrayed it.

And recently, speculation across the Israeli media that the relationship between the two leaders, and by extension, their countries, has begun to unravel is becoming unavoidable.

Some idea of the gap was apparent in Trump’s recent Middle East trip, which saw him visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel, the state that has typically been the US’s closest ally within the region.

Likewise, US negotiations with two of Israel’s fiercest regional opponents, Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have been taking place without any apparent input from Israel, a country that has always regarded itself as central to such matters. Lastly, against a growing chorus of international condemnation over Israel’s actions in Gaza, there was the decision of US Vice President JD Vance to cancel a planned visit to Israel for apparently “logistical” reasons.

Appearing on national television earlier this month, Israeli commentator Dana Fahn Luzon put it succinctly: “Trump is signalling to Netanyahu, ‘Honey, I’ve had enough of you.’”

“We’re seeing a total breakdown of everything that might be of benefit to Israel,” Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and former political aide to several senior Israeli political figures, including Netanyahu, told Al Jazeera. “America was once our closest ally; now we don’t seem to have a seat at the table. This should be of concern to every single Israeli.”

‘Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for this,” Barak continued. “He always presented Trump as somehow being in his pocket, and it’s pretty clear Trump didn’t like that. Netanyahu crossed a line.”

‘No better friend’

While concern over a potential rift may be growing within Israel, prominent voices in the US administration are stressing the strength of their alliance.

Last Sunday, President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that, while the US was keen to avert what he called a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, he didn’t think there was “any daylight between President Trump’s position and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position”.

Also doubling down on the US’s commitment to Israel was White House National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt, who dismissed reports that the Trump administration was preparing to “abandon” Israel if it continues with its war on Gaza, telling Israeli media that “Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump”.

The Trump administration has also been active in shutting down criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza in public spheres and specifically on US college campuses.

Several international students have also been arrested and deported for their support of Palestine, including Rumeysa Ozturk, whose arrest as she was walking on a street in a Boston suburb for an opinion piece co-authored in a student newspaper was described by Human Rights Watch as “chilling”.

Spatting

Those policies have made it clear that the Trump administration sits firmly in Israel’s corner. And looking back at Trump’s policies in his first presidential term, that is not surprising.

Trump fulfilled many of the Israeli right’s dreams in that term, between 2017 and 2021, including recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite its eastern half being occupied Palestinian territory, recognising the annexation of the Golan Heights, despite it being occupied Syrian territory, and pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

But those actions are partly to blame for the bumpy relationship between Trump and Netanyahu, with the US president reportedly resentful of what he saw as a lack of gratitude for those pro-Israel policies.

Trump was also furious after Netanyahu congratulated former US President Joe Biden following his 2020 election victory over Trump, which the current president still disputes.

“The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi [Benjamin] Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. … Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake,” Trump said in an interview in 2021.

Nevertheless, in the build-up to the 2024 US election, Netanyahu and his allies actively courted candidate Trump, believing him to be the best means of fulfilling their agenda and continuing their war on Gaza, analysts said.

“Netanyahu had really campaigned for Trump before the election, emphasising how bad Biden was,” Yossi Mekelberg, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, said.

“Now they don’t know which way Trump’s going to go because he’s so contractual. He’s all about the win,” Mekelberg added, referring to the series of victories the president claimed during his recent Gulf tour, adding, “but there’s no win in Palestine”.

Across the Israeli press and media, a consensus is taking hold that Trump has simply tired of trying to secure a “win” or an end to the war on Gaza that Netanyahu and his allies on the Israeli hard right have no interest in pursuing.

Israeli Army Radio has even carried reports that Trump has blocked direct contact from Netanyahu over concerns that the Israeli prime minister may be trying to manipulate him.

Quoting an unnamed Israeli official, Yanir Cozin, a reporter with Israeli Army Radio, wrote on X: “There’s nothing Trump hates more than being portrayed as a sucker and someone being played, so he decided to cut off contact.”

“There’s a sense in Israel that Trump’s turned on Netanyahu,” political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Tel Aviv. “Supporters of Netanyahu are panicking, as they all previously thought that Trump’s backing was unlimited.”

What now?

A break in relations between Netanyahu and Trump might not mean an automatic break between Israel and the US, Flaschenberg cautioned, with all factions across the Israeli political spectrum speculating on what the future may hold under a realigned relationship with the US.

US financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel has been a bedrock of both countries’ foreign policy for decades, Mekelberg said. Moreover, whatever Trump’s current misgivings about his relationship with Netanyahu, support for Israel, while diminishing, remains hardwired into much of his Republican base, analysts and polls have noted, and particularly among Republican – and Democratic – donors.

“Those opposed to Netanyahu and the war are hoping that the US may now apply a lasting ceasefire,” Flaschenberg said, with reference to Israeli reliance upon US patronage. “That’s not because of any great faith in Trump, but more the extent of their dismay in the current government.”

However, equally present are those on the hard right, such as Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who Mekelberg speculated may also hope to take advantage of whatever direction US policy towards Israel heads in.

“Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and their backers could take advantage of American disinterest, depending upon what shape it takes,” Mekelberg told Al Jazeera. “If the US continues to provide weapons and diplomatic cover in the UN while letting [Israel] get on with it, then that’s their dream,” he said of Smotrich, who has reassured his backers that allowing minimal aid into the besieged enclave did not mean that Israel would stop “destroying everything that’s left of the Gaza Strip”.

However, where Netanyahu may figure in this is uncertain.

Accusations that the Israeli prime minister has become reliant upon the war to sustain the political coalition he needs to remain in office and avoid both a legal reckoning in his corruption trial, as well as a political reckoning over his government’s failures ahead of the October 7, 2023 attack, are both widespread and longstanding.

“I don’t know if Netanyahu can come back from this,” Barak said, still uncertain about whether the prime minister can demonstrate his survival skills once again. “There’s a lot of talk about Netanyahu being at the end of his line. I don’t know. They’ve been saying that for years, and he’s still here. They were saying that when I was his aide, but I can’t see any more magic tricks that are available to him.”

May 22 (UPI) — A small jet plane crashed near a military housing neighborhood outside San Diego but the number of onboard fatalities is not yet known.

The incident was reported around 3:45 a.m. local time in the 3100 block of Salmon Street near the Tierrasanta neighborhood in the Murphy Canyon area.

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a Cessna 550, which often is used as a corporate jet.

One local resident was hospitalized and two others were treated for minor injuries, the San Diego Police Department reported.

It added that the plane crashed near California’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport after it took off Wednesday night from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, according to flight data on FlightAware.

It reportedly landed early Thursday morning in Wichita, where it stayed in Kansas for about an hour before it departed for California.

The Cessna struck homes and caused about 15, along with several cars, to catch fire, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Assistant Chief Dan Eddy told reporters at the crash site.

“The number of people on board is unknown at this time,” the agency initially said, adding the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the deadly crash.

“The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates,” FAA officials said. “This information is preliminary and subject to change,” they warned.

Eddy said the were no on-ground fatalities but the plane could have held up to 10 people, including its pilot.

According to SDFD officials, the crash scene is now a HAZMAT situation because of aviation fuel flowing down the streets, forcing multiple neighborhoods to be evacuated.

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said there was “jet fuel going down the street and everything on fire all at once.” He added that it was “pretty horrific to see.”

Meanwhile, at least a dozen local pets were rescued or decontaminated by the San Diego Humane Society after the crash in the Murphy Canyon area.

“On behalf of our city, I extend my condolences to the families and loved ones of those aboard the plane,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement, expressing his “deepest” gratitude to scores of agencies for their “swift, coordinated responses” that “quickly evacuated residents, extinguished fires and secured the area to ensure this tragedy was not compounded.”

“San Diego will support the Navy as they assist the residents affected by this tragedy,” the mayor said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says move is response to university’s refusal to comply with Trump demands.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has blocked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In a post on X on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration was “holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus”.

“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” she said. “Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.”

In a letter to the university’s administration, Noem said the university’s Student Exchange Visitor Program certification has been revoked. The programme is overseen by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which falls under the agency Noem leads.

The move means that not only will Harvard not be able to accept foreign students on its campus, but current students will need to “transfer to another university in order to maintain their non-immigrant status”, the letter said.

Harvard did not immediately respond to the move, which was first reported by the New York Times.

The action represents an escalation amid a wider standoff between the university, which has refused to agree to a list of demands related to its diversity programmes and response to pro-Palestine protests, and the Trump administration.

The administration has responded with three rounds of federal funding and grants cuts. Harvard is currently pursuing a lawsuit accusing the administration of defying the US constitution in its actions.

More to come…

May 22 (UPI) — A federal judge in Massachusetts issued an injunction Thursday that blocks the Trump administration from its plan to dismantle the Department of Education, and that those employees recently fired from the department be rehired.

U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun stated in his ruling: “The Department must be able to carry out its functions and its obligations under the [Department of Education Organization Act] and other relevant statutes as mandated by Congress.”

Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann stated Thursday that the administration “will immediately challenge this on an emergency basis.”

Joun ruled on the first civil action that was filed by the State of New York against Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon and Somerville Public Schools of Massachusetts against President Donald Trump that stated “a preliminary injunction is warranted to return the Department to the status quo such that it can comply with its statutory obligations.”

President Donald Trump had issued an executive order in March that sought to close the department, despite the Department of Education Organization Act, which shows that as the Department was created by Congress, it can only be closed by an act of Congress.

The world was shocked when a gunman shot and killed Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez while she livestreamed herself at a beauty salon. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government says it will investigate the murder as a possible case of femicide. Will it mark a turning point for a nation that has long struggled with staggering levels of gender-based violence?

May 22 (UPI) — Rapper Kid Cudi will take the stand Thursday in the closed door federal sex-trafficking trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a big day for prosecutors.

The 41-year-old Grammy Award-winning rapper, whose birth name is Scott Mescudi, is expected to share details about his romantic past from more than 10 years ago with Combs’ ex-partner, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, particularly the allegations that Combs allegedly was behind the blowing up of Mescudi’s car.

The trial began on May 5 at the U.S. District Court for Southern New York courthouse in Manhattan in a trial where cameras are prohibited.

Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and two counts of sex trafficking by force. He has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to up to life in prison if a jury finds him guilty on one or more charges.

On Tuesday, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was the first to open testimony in the trial during the morning hours as a handful of other witnesses took the stand, including a board-certified forensic and clinical psychologist and Ventura’s mother.

Ventura, in a 2023 civil lawsuit settled privately without Combs admitting any wrongdoing, alleged that Combs told her that he would blow of Mescudi’s car.

“Around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway,” court documents read, adding that Ventura was “terrified, as she began to fully comprehend what Mr. Combs was both willing and able to do to those he believed had slighted him.”

Meanwhile, Ventura testified in court last week and said she kept a burner phone to hide her relationship with Cudi.

The prosecution will likely try to prove that Combs used his considerable influence and wealth to execute the bombing of Cudi’s vehicle, according to a former federal prosecutor for New York’s Southern District.

Calling Mescudi to the witness stand could help the prosecution if it can demonstrate Combs used his considerable financial and business resources to carry out the bombing, said Rachel Maimin, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

“The burden of proof is on the federal government, so they’ll have to show this was part of the racketeering,” Rachel Maimin, now a criminal defense attorney with Lowenstein Sandler LLP, told NBC.

“This may be a way of explaining how he used his business empire to further the prosecution’s goal of proving the racketeering enterprise,” she added.

Al Jazeera takes a look at financially-troubled Manchester United’s expensive Europa League final defeat by Spurs.

Manchester United’s decline on and off the field has been laid bare for a number of years but was placed in even sharper focus with their defeat by Tottenham in the Europa League final.

It was a zero-sum game on Wednesday: Winner goes into the Champions League – plus the UEFA Super Cup game in August – and loser is out of Europe next season and gets nothing.

Tottenham won a painfully drab match 1-0.

As football finance expert Kieran Maguire noted on Thursday, the defeat came despite United having higher revenue than Tottenham and spending 64% more on wages for a more expensively acquired squad of players. Tottenham also beat United twice in the Premier League this season, and in the domestic League Cup.

“If I was teaching this at management school (I) would conclude that there is something seriously wrong with the culture of the organisation… which is set by senior management,” Maguire wrote on X.

What are the financial costs to Man Utd?

Beyond the loss of sporting opportunities and reputational prestige, the club owned by the Glazer family from the United States and British billionaire industrialist Jim Ratcliffe has short-term and long-term financial hits ahead.

No Champions League play next season is an instant loss of at least 80 million euros ($90m), and approaching 150 million euros ($169m) for a run deep into the knockout stage.

United also misses out on the 4 million euros ($4.5m) Tottenham will get from UEFA for playing the Super Cup against the Champions League titleholder – either Inter Milan or Paris Saint-Germain – on August 13 at Udinese’s stadium in Italy. The winner gets a bonus of 1 million euros ($1.1m).

Can Man Utd recoup its losses in the FIFA Club World Cup?

After failing to qualify for the 2025 Club World Cup – which has a $1bn prize fund from FIFA and should pay more than $100m to a successful European team – United is now far behind in qualifying for the 2029 edition.

European teams qualify for the FIFA event only by being in the Champions League, either winning the title or building consistent results over four seasons.

United already will miss the entire first half of the 2024-28 qualifying period, and it is hard to project the team that last won the Premier League 12 years ago both qualifying for and then winning a Champions League title within three years.

What financial options do Man Utd have?

One clear solution to growing financial issues and the ability to comply with Premier League rules is selling the club’s best players, like captain Bruno Fernandes and out-of-favour forward Marcus Rashford, or its homegrown prospects. Some already earn high wages that are problematic for potential buyers.

A talent drain risks speeding a spiral of decline on and off the field if coach Ruben Amorim is left trying to rebuild with a weaker pool of players.

How do Man Utd match up to other clubs?

While United is still one of Europe’s highest-earning clubs, UEFA’s annual research shows its advantage is in decline, even though revenue was a club record 661.8 million pounds ($887m) last year.

A UEFA chart showed that over five years from 2019-24 – pre-COVID-19 through to the post-pandemic recovery in the football industry – United’s revenue grew at a slower rate than all of its biggest English rivals except Chelsea.

Will Man Utd’s revenue be affected?

Revenue now risks dropping, and another income cut is coming from falling to 16th in the Premier League standings with one round left on Sunday.

Premier League prize money based on final position in the standings means dropping from eighth a year ago to 16th is a difference of 22 million pounds ($29.5m) less.

It all adds up to another loss-making season after a 113.2 million pounds ($152m) deficit last season. The three previous years totaled losses of 236 million pounds ($316m).

Will Man Utd’s losses cost them further?

The Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) allow clubs to lose 105 million pounds ($140.7m) over a three-year period or face sanctions, though United can cite some exemptions.

Ratcliffe, who has operational control despite being a minority shareholder, is already the public face of unpopular cuts to jobs and staff benefits, and rising ticket prices for fans.

“This is not sustainable,” the club told fans in January, “and if we do not act now we are in danger of failing to comply with PSR/FFP (financial fair play) requirements in future years and significantly impacting our ability to compete on the pitch.”

SALT LAKE CITY, May 22 (UPI) — A new Washington state law that requires members of the clergy to report child abuse or neglect, including when the information is revealed in confession, is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

The DOJ claims the law is anti-Catholic and appears on its face to violate the First Amendment. The investigation, which was announced earlier this month, will look at the development and passage of Senate Bill 5375.

The bill, which adds clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters, was passed by the Senate in a 28-20 vote and 64-31 by the House. It was signed into law May 2 by Gov. Bob Ferguson and is to go into effect July 27.

A DOJ news release says the law has no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic priests.

“SB 5375 demands that Catholic Priests violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law, a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the release.

“Worse, the law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals,” Dhillon said.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, disputes those claims and said the law is not anti-Catholic. She pointed out that members of the clergy are defined as a licensed, accredited or ordained minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder or similarly situated religious or spiritual leader of any church, religious denomination, religious body, spiritual community or sect.

Mandated reporters include law enforcement officers, professional school personnel, social service counselors, nurses, psychologists and licensed childcare providers, among others. If they have reasonable cause to believe a child has suffered abuse or neglect, they are required to report that to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

Under the new law, clergy members must report abuse, but cannot be compelled to testify against the penitent in a court case or criminal proceedings.

“We are talking in our case here about really simply just the reporting in real time of known or suspected abuse and neglect of children in real time,” Frame said. “We’re simply saying, if you believe or you know that a child is actively being abused or neglected, call it in so we can go check on that child to make sure that they are safe.”

Archbishop Paul Etienne of the Archdiocese of Seattle descibted the the law as government overreach. After the apostles were thrown into jail for preaching in the name of Jesus Christ, St. Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men,” he said in a written statement.

“This is our stance now in the face of this new law,” Etienne said. “Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession — or they will be excommunicated from the Church. All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential and protected by the law of the church.”

The Catholic Church in the United States has been reporting incidents of abuse to law enforcement and cooperating with civil authorities for decades, according to Etienne. Those efforts began in 1986 in the Seattle Archdiocese, he said.

“Our policies already require priests to be mandatory reporters, but not if this information is obtained during confession,” Etienne said.

Frame countered that voluntarily complying with part of the law does not make priests mandatory reporters.

“They may be if they are a teacher, for instance, but they are not mandatory reporters in their role as clergy,” she said. “And to say that we’re already mandated reporters has caused great confusion such that people think the only point of this bill was to ‘go after confession.’ Not true.”

The senator has been trying since 2022 to pass legislation to make clergy mandatory reporters. Articles by Investigative West about how a Jehovah’s Witnesses community in Washington allegedly was covering up sexual abuse of children spurred her effort.

The nonprofit news organization reported the community was handling complaints internally and abuse was not being addressed.

Frame, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a family member from ages 5 to 10, said children need to know that if they ask a trusted adult such as a faith leader for help, they’ll get it.

“I told the mandated reporter about the abuse and that’s how it was stopped, and that was my teacher,” she said.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocated for passage of SB 5375 through its FFRF Action Fund lobbying arm, said the law closes a longstanding and dangerous loophole that allowed clergy to withhold information about child abuse.

“FFRF urges the DOJ to immediately drop this politically motivated and legally unsound investigation,” the organization said in a news release. “Protecting children from harm must be a priority that transcends religious boundaries. It is not anti-Christian to hold clergy accountable — it is pro-child, pro-justice and pro-human rights.”

Other states that do not have an exemption for penitential communication as of May 2023 are New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

The Utah Legislature passed a bill last year that does not make clergy mandated reporters, but protects them from civil and criminal liability if they report ongoing abuse or neglect even if the information came from a penitent during confession.

Utah Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns, said he sponsored House Bill 432 after constituents reached out to him. Some religious organizations had implemented their own reporting requirements, but the protection from liability applied only to mandated reporters, which did not include clergy, he said.

Members of the clergy like having this option, Loubet said.

“This made it clear that they could report if they wanted to and if they did, they received the protection,” he said.

On May 21, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stunned the world by announcing that his government had officially granted refugee status to 48 million African Americans. The decision, made through an executive order titled “Addressing the Egregious Actions and Extensive Failures of the US Government”, was unveiled at a news conference held in the tranquil gardens of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Poised and deliberate, Ramaphosa framed the announcement as a necessary and humane response to what he called “the absolute mayhem” engulfing the United States. Flanked by Maya Johnson, president of the African American Civil Liberties Association, and her deputy Patrick Miller, Ramaphosa declared that South Africa could no longer ignore the plight of a people “systematically impoverished, criminalised, and decimated by successive US governments”.

Citing a dramatic deterioration in civil liberties under President Donald Trump’s second term, Ramaphosa specifically pointed to the administration’s barrage of executive orders dismantling affirmative action, gutting DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives, and permitting federal contractors to discriminate freely. These measures, he said, are calculated to “strip African Americans of dignity, rights, and livelihood – and to make America white again”.

“This is not policy,” Ramaphosa said, “this is persecution.”

President Trump’s 2024 campaign was unabashed in its calls to “defend the homeland” from what it framed as internal threats – a barely veiled dog whistle for the reassertion of white political dominance. True to his word, Trump has unleashed what critics are calling a rollback not just of civil rights, but of civilisation itself.

Ramaphosa noted that under the guise of restoring law and order, the federal government has instituted what amounts to an authoritarian crackdown on Black political dissent. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, he said, hundreds of African American activists have been detained by security forces – often on dubious charges – and interrogated under inhumane conditions.

While Ramaphosa focused on systemic oppression, Johnson sounded the alarm on what she bluntly described as “genocide”.

“Black Americans are being hunted,” she told reporters. “Night after night, day after day, African Americans across the country are being attacked by white Americans. These criminals claim they are ‘reclaiming’ America. Police departments, far from intervening, are actively supporting these mobs – providing logistical aid, shielding them from prosecution, and joining in the carnage.”

The African American Civil Liberties Association estimates that in the past six weeks alone, thousands of African Americans have been threatened, assaulted, disappeared, or killed, she said.

The crisis has not gone unnoticed by the remainder of the continent. Last week, the African Union convened an emergency summit to address the deteriorating situation in the US. In a rare unified statement, AU leaders condemned the US government’s actions and tasked President Ramaphosa with raising the issue before the United Nations.

Their mandate? Repatriate African Americans and offer refuge.

Ramaphosa confirmed that the first charter flights carrying refugees will arrive on African soil on May 25 – Africa Day.

“As the sun sets on this dark chapter of American history,” Ramaphosa said, “a new dawn is rising over Africa. We will not remain passive while a genocide unfolds in the United States.”

***

Of course, none of this has happened.

There was no statement on “Egregious Actions and Extensive Failures of the US Government” from South Africa. There was no news conference where an African leader highlighted the plight of his African brothers and sisters in the United States and offered them options.

There will be no refuge flights from Detroit to Pretoria.

Instead, after the US cut off aid to South Africa, repeated false accusations that a “white genocide” is taking place there and began welcoming Afrikaners as refugees, a pragmatic Ramaphosa paid a respectful visit to the White House on May 21.

During his visit, watched closely by the world media, he did not even mention the millions of African Americans facing discrimination, police violence and abuse under a president who is clearly determined to “Make America White Again” – let alone offer them refuge in Africa. Even when Trump insisted, without any basis in reality, that a genocide is being perpetrated against white people in his country, Ramaphosa did not bring up Washington’s long list of – very real, systemic, and seemingly accelerating – crimes against Black Americans.

He tried to remain polite and diplomatic, focusing not on the racist hostility of the American administration but on the important ties between the two nations.

Perhaps, in the real world, it is too much to ask an African leader to risk diplomatic fallout by defending Black lives abroad.

Perhaps it is easier to shake hands with a man who calls imaginary white suffering a “genocide” rather than to call out a real one unfolding on his watch.

In another world, Ramaphosa stood tall in Pretoria and told Trump`: “We will not accept your lies about our country – and we will not stay silent as you brutalise our kin in yours.”

In this one, he stood quietly in Washington – and did.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

May 22 (UPI) — A signing ceremony ceding the British Indian Ocean Territory of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on Thursday was called off at the last moment after Britain’s High Court granted an injunction in the middle of the night to islanders opposing the deal.

“On-call” judge, Justice Goose, granted the temporary stay at 2:25 a.m. local time to two Chagos petitioners, ruling that the defendant, the Home Office, must “maintain the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British Indian Ocean Territory until further order,” pending a further hearing during working hours Thursday.

The 11th-hour legal action forced the ceremony with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mauritian government representatives to be put on hold.

Stuart Lake, legal counsel for Beatrice Pompe, one of the claimants, told the Financial Times that his client was “deeply concerned that the government has chosen to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands without any consultation or protections for those that are indigenous to the islands.”

A British government spokesman declined to comment but insisted the deal with its former colony was “the right thing to protect the British people and our national security.”

Under the agreement, Britain will transfer sovereignty to Mauritius of the archipelago, home to a giant U.K.-U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia, but retain control of Diego Garcia by leasing it back on a 99-year, multi-billion dollar deal.

The United States pays Britain for use of the base, but the figure has never been made public.

Diego Garcia inhabitants have been engaged in a decades-long legal battle against their forcible displacement during the construction of the base throughout the late 1960s, mainly to Mauritius, the Seychelles and Britain, with the Chagos Islands split off from Mauritius when it became independent in 1968.

Joining a protest by Chagos people outside Parliament, the opposition Conservative Party’s shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel called Thursday’s legal intervention “a humiliation” for Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

“Their rights, views and voices over the future of Chagos have been ignored by Labour which continues to cause distress and uncertainty for this wonderful community,” she wrote in a post on X.

“Labour’s Chagos Surrender Deal is bad for our defence and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians,” said Patel.

The deal has also been condemned by Human Rights Watch, which has demanded Britain and the United States pay reparations after a 2023 report alleged the “forced displacement of the Chagossians and ongoing abuses amount to crimes against humanity committed by a colonial power against an Indigenous people.”

The United States initially welcomed the deal when it was struck in October and will see the other 57 currently uninhabited islands in the archipelago opened up for settlement. Diego Garcia, however, will remain out of bounds to its former residents and their descendants on “security grounds.”

U.S. President Joe Biden called the deal “a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.”

But the deal was delayed after Donald Trump won back the presidency in November, pending his approval, and after the elections days later in Mauritius over the value of the lease.

Trump gave his backing in February during a visit to Washington by Starmer, despite warnings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior Republicans who said Mauritius’ links to China posed a “serious security threat” to U.S. national security.

Two staff members from the Israeli embassy in the United States were shot and killed on Wednesday night as they left a Jewish museum in Washington, DC, prompting outrage from US and Israeli officials.

A 30-year-old man from Chicago, Illinois, named as Elias Rodriguez, has been arrested in connection with the shooting, the police said. He is the only suspect.

President Donald Trump condemned the shooting as “horrible”, stating there was no place for “hatred” in the US. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was “devastated” by what had unfolded in the US capital.

“This is a despicable act of hatred, of anti-Semitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy,” he said.

Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, said federal authorities were investigating the attack and would bring its “depraved perpetrator” to justice.

Here is what we know so far:

What is known about the shooting?

Officers responded to multiple calls about a shooting near the Capital Jewish Museum at about 9:00pm on Wednesday (01:00 GMT Thursday).

The victims, a man and a woman, were leaving an event at the museum, which is in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest, Washington, DC, close to an FBI field office and the US attorney general’s office, when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.

First responders found the victims unconscious and not breathing. Despite life-saving efforts, both were pronounced dead.

According to police, the suspect entered the museum after the shooting and was detained by security personnel at the event.

“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offence,” Smith said.

What do we know about the victims?

The two were named by the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.

Both were members of staff. The Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, told reporters the young staffers were a couple “about to be engaged”.

“The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Leiter revealed.

What do we know about the suspect, Elias Rodriguez?

The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois.

Reporting from close to the site of the shooting, Al Jazeera’s Heidi-Zhou Castro said the suspect was not previously on the radar of local authorities.

“He was not a known entity. There was no heightened alert prior to this happening,” she said.

What do we know about the suspect’s motive?

So far, the police have not confirmed any motive.

Speaking on Thursday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, blamed a “toxic anti-Semitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world” since the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October, 2023.

When the suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was taken into custody, he began chanting: “Free, free Palestine,” Police Chief Smith said.

Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the attacks were “awful” and were rightfully being condemned regardless of political ideology.

He said: “You have the Trump administration, Israel and some of their supporters coming out and saying that this is an act of anti-Semitism … and that could be the case, that it is just an act of naked anti-Jewish hatred, which obviously should be condemned,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

“But it’s also possible that Mr Rodriguez carried this act of vigilante violence out against the State of Israel, or that he’s taking out his frustrations over the genocide [in Gaza] or Israel’s apartheid policies, on these embassy staffers. That’s an important distinction, because if that’s the motive, then it requires a different course of action.”

What has been the reaction to the shooting?

“These horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” President Trump posted on social media early Thursday.

“Hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God bless you all!”

Israeli officials also strongly condemned the incident, describing it as a “despicable act of hatred”. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said after the shooting: “We are witnessing the terrible price of anti-Semitism and the wild incitement against the State of Israel.

“I have instructed to enhance security arrangements at Israeli missions around the world and to increase protection for state representatives,” Netanyahu said.

On Thursday, reactions and condolences poured in from other countries as well.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the shooting a “heinous act” in a post on X, adding that at the moment “we must assume there was an anti-Semitic motive.”

Kaya Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, said: “Shocked by the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC. There is and should be no place in our societies for hatred, extremism, or antisemitism. I extend my condolences to the families of the victims and the people of Israel.”

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said: “The murder of two members of the Israeli embassy near the Jewish Museum in Washington is an abhorrent act of antisemitic barbarity. Nothing can justify such violence. My thoughts go to their loved ones, their colleagues, and the State of Israel.”

In Ireland, the prime minister, Micheal Martin, said: “I strongly condemn the horrific gun attack that killed two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC last night. My deepest sympathies go to the family and friends of the couple, and the Israeli people. There can be absolutely no place for violence or hate.”

Antonio Tajani, the Italian Foreign Minister, said: “I stand with the State of Israel for the tragic murder of two young employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington. Scenes of terror and violence to be strongly condemned. antisemitism born of hatred against Jews must be stopped, the horrors of the past can never return.”

What will happen next?

Police Chief Smith said law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community at present.

FBI Director Kash Patel said he and his team had been briefed on the shooting.

“While we’re working with [the Metropolitan Police Department] to respond and learn more, in the immediate, please pray for the victims and their families,” he wrote on X.

Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters her administration would not tolerate “violence or hate in our city”.

“We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism, and we’re going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send a clear message that we will not tolerate anti-Semitism,” Bowser said.

The shooting comes as Israel has launched a new military campaign in Gaza to control all of the Strip, while continuing to impose an 11-week aid blockade that has been widely condemned.

Many world leaders, including allies, have demanded that Israel end the war and let aid into the war-ravaged territory or face punitive actions.

May 22 (UPI) — A former Republican House candidate from Florida has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for threatening to kill his political opponent.

William Robert Braddock, 41, of St. Petersburg, Fla., was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge William Jung, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The former Republican candidate for Florida’s 13th Congressional District pleaded guilty in February. He was charged with interstate transmission of a threat to injure.

Braddock was running for the Republican nomination for the 13th Congressional District in 2021. Though court documents do not name the target of his threats, information in the filings and media indicate it was Anna Paulina Luna, the frontrunner in that 2022 election.

According to federal prosecutions, Braddock viewed Luna — referred to in court documents as Victim-1, the Republican Party frontrunner — as his only obstacle to winning the primary.

He disparaged Luna for months to her peers and tried to involve himself in her life, court documents show. Then, in June 2021, during a phone call with one of Luna’s acquaintances, he threatened to have her murdered.

The court documents state he threatened to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” who could make Luna “disappear.”

“I will be the next congressman for this district. Period. End of discussion,” he said, according to federal prosecutors. “And anybody going up against me is [expletive] ignorant for doing so.”

He continued by calling Luna “ignorant” and because of that, “I don’t have a problem taking her out, but I’m not going to do that dirty work myself, obviously.”

Then in November 2021, Braddock flew to Thailand and then settled in the Philippines where he remained until surrendering to Manila authorities in June 2023.

In September 2024, he was indicted and deported to the United States to stand trial.

Luna is currently serving her second term as the U.S. House Representative for Florida’s 13 Congressional District.

Vessel damaged as a result of ‘absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism’, state media says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reprimanded officials over a “serious accident and criminal act” that resulted in damage to a newly built warship, state media has reported.

The 5,000-tonne destroyer suffered damage to its hull when a transport cradle detached prematurely during a launch ceremony in the northeastern city of Chongjin, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday, blaming the incident on “inexperienced command and operational carelessness”.

After witnessing the incident, Kim made the “stern assessment” that the accident was caused by “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” which “could not be tolerated”, the KCNA said.

Kim “warned solemnly” that officials responsible for the botched launch “would have to be dealt with” at the next meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, and “censured them for the fault”, according to the KCNA.

Kim ordered the warship to be fixed in time for a plenary meeting of the party’s central committee in June, describing the vessel’s restoration as “not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state”, according to the KCNA.

South Korea’s military said Pyongyang appeared to have failed to complete a side-launch of the ship, and it had partially capsized.

Official admissions of incompetence are uncommon in North Korea, where the ruling Kim family enjoys a near God-like status.

The disclosure comes after Kim attended the launch of a “new multipurpose destroyer” equipped with “the most powerful weapons” on April 25.

In state media reports at the time, Kim hailed the vessel as “indispensable in building up our capability for stoutly defending our maritime sovereignty” and an “important starting point of our journey towards building an advanced maritime power”.

“I feel infinitely honoured to proclaim the birth of the first warship of a new generation,” Kim was quoted as saying.

May 20 (UPI) — The U.S. House Rules Committee, after 22 hours of proceedings, late Wednesday advanced President Donald Trump‘s legislative agenda that experts say would add $3 trillion to the federal deficit and negatively affect the poorest of Americans.

Debate on the full House floor began early Thursday.

The House Rules Committee adopted the bill in an 8-4 vote along party lines. They first met shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday to consider the 1,116-page budget that is roughly $7 trillion

The Finance Committee late Sunday approved the legislation 17-16 along party lines with four Republicans who rejected the bill the first time on Friday voting present: Ralph Norman of Oklagoa, Chip Roy of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma.

“What the hell are you guys so scared of, that you guys are holding this hearing at 1 in the morning?” Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said. “If Republicans are so proud of what is in this bill, then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of the night?”

The full House must also vote to adopt the rule first before taking up the underlying bill. Republicans hope to move the House bill, with no support from Democrats, to the Senate by Memorial Day on Monday.

With the GOP holding a slim majority of 220-212, House Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose more than three GOP votes. Party hardliners and moderates from vulnerable districts have failed to agree on key issues that include Medicaid, federal clean energy programs and tax breaks to states.

Three House seats were held by Democrats who died, including Gerry Connolly of Virginia on Wednesday.

At least five House GOP members considered vulnerable in the 2026 midterm elections — including Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. — have vowed to vote against the bill unless it ups the proposed state and local tax deduction from the current proposed $30,000.

The bill contains a massive overhaul of the tax code and deep spending cuts.

An amendment included speeding up work requirements for Medicaid to the end of 2026 rather than 2029.

It also tightens the definition of a “qualified alien” eligible for the program.

There is a new incentive for states that hadn’t expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. It allows those states to pay 110% of Medicare rates for state directed payments as a way to finance Medicaid.

The Center on Budget and Policies Priorities estimates 36 million Medicaid enrollees could be at risk of losing coverage because of potential work requirements and other factors.

In December, there were 78,532,341 on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.

Also, the bill formalizes the so-called SALT cap, which would allow people to deduct state and local income taxes up to $40,000 for certain income groups. GOP leaders initially wanted cap of $30,000 but key New York, New Jersey and California Republicans vulnerable in the 2026 election, had refused to support it.

Republicans opted to phase out Biden energy tax credits sooner than planned. New projects must break ground within 60 days or be “in service” by the end of 2028 to qualify for the credits.

Earlier, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas,, a holdout, told CNN’s Manu Raju he was “still looking to review more provisions and have more conversations.”

“Yeah, I’m going to vote for it,” Rep. Andy Biggs ,of Arizona, told CNN.

Medicaid changes and a $4 trillion debt limit increase, among other provisions.

The bill includes a $4 trillion debt limit.

Budget plan’s analysis

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released data Tuesday that the House Republican’s budget proposal and its tax provisions would cut federal revenue by around 10% of America’s current national debt over the next decade.

The GOP bill proposal could cost American taxpayers $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, according to a report this month by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which looked at the effect of tax policies versus spending cuts.

“This bill does not add to the deficit,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Monday during a press briefing.

On Friday, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. debt citing the GOP proposal that Moody’s says will tack on $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

As proposed, the bill would extend Trump’s tax cuts largely to the wealthiest Americans and cut personal income tax rates. It also establishes fresh tax reductions on tips, Social Security, overtime payments and loan interest on automobiles produced in the United States.

An analysis Monday by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton school projects that under the Republican plan, the lowest-income American citizens would end up paying more.

Leavitt said the Trump administration’s Council of Economic Advisers claim that there’s $1.6 trillion worth of savings in the GOP bill.

“That’s the largest saving for any legislation that has ever passed Capitol Hill in our nation’s history,” Leavitt continued.

On Tuesday, the president was on Capitol Hill to meet with Johnson and lawmakers in order to push his legislative agenda.

“While I respect President Trump and understand the importance of passing this legislation, I will not do so at the expense of my district,” Lawler posted on X Tuesday afternoon.

Lawler noted that his district was one of only three kept by a Republican that then-Vice President Kamala Harris had won in November’s presidential election in a heavily-taxed Congressional district.

“For over two years, I have been abundantly clear to everyone from the President to House Leadership about the importance of lifting the cap on SALT,” he said about state and local tax deduction caps.