Donald Trump said he planned to hit goods from China with a new 10% tariff, the latest salvo in the US president's steadily escalating trade fights. Imports from China already face taxes at the border of at least 10%, after a Trump tariff order that went into effect earlier this month. China's ministry of foreign affairs said it "strongly" expressed its "dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to the plans. Trump also said on Thursday he intended to move forward with threatened 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, which are set to come into effect on 4 March. Trump's comments came as officials from Mexico and Canada were in Washington for discussions aimed at heading off that plan. Trump had announced the plans for 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 4 February unless the two nations increased border security. He paused the measures for a month at the last minute after the two countries agreed to increase border funding and talk more about how to combat drug trafficking. On social media on Thursday, Trump wrote that he did not think enough action had been taken to address the flow of fentanyl to the US. "Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels," he wrote, adding that "a large percentage" of the drugs were made in China. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, at a press conference from the country's National Palace, said in response: "As we know, [Trump] has his way of communicating." She added: "I hope we can reach an agreement and on 4 March we can announce something else." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said his country was working hard to reach a deal, warning tariffs from the US would prompt an "immediate and extremely strong response". Trump's threats against Mexico and Canada have raised widespread alarm, as the North American economy is closely connected after decades of operating under a free trade agreement. Leaders of the two countries have previously said they would impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if the White House went ahead with its plans. Tariffs are a tax collected by the government and paid for by the business bringing the goods into the country. China, Mexico and Canada are America's top three trade partners, together accounting for more than 40% of imports into the US last year. Economists have warned tariffs on goods from the three countries could lead to higher prices in the US on everything from iPhones to avocados. Trump's call for an additional 10% levy on goods from China - which he said would also go into effect on Tuesday - had not been previously announced, though during his presidential campaign he backed border taxes on Chinese products of as much as 60%. A spokesperson for China's ministry of foreign affairs, Lin Jian, said that Trump was using the issue of the drug fentanyl entering the US from China as an "excuse" to threaten tariffs, adding it had one of the "strictest" drug control policies in the world. "Pressure, coercion, and threats are not the correct way to deal with China," he said. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, had earlier said that his country was already working with the US to address the concerns about fentanyl, and had made "visual progress" in areas such as information exchange, case cooperation and online advertisement cleanup. "Reducing domestic drug demand and strengthening law enforcement cooperation are the fundamental solutions," he said in a statement, which warned that Trump's tariff moves were "bound to affect and undermine future counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides". "The unilateral tariffs imposed by the US will not solve its own problems, nor will it benefit the two sides or the world." Trump's comments, which called for drug flow to stop or be "severely limited", seemed to set the stage for Mexico and Canada to negotiate, said trade expert Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. On Thursday, as tariff talks intensified, two imprisoned alleged leaders of the violent Zetas cartel long sought by the US - Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and his brother Oscar - were extradited. Mexican media said they were part of a larger group of drug lords sent from Mexico to the US - a major step in terms of US-Mexico security relations. Ms McDaniel said Trump's demands of China were less clear, raising the likelihood that those measures will come into effect. Trump's initial round of tariffs on China was eclipsed by his threats against Canada and Mexico. But the potential for further duties raises questions about how businesses will respond. Ms McDaniel said she expected the hit to be felt more in China. "It's not costless for the US, but so far it seems more costly for China," she said. The impact of tariffs, if they go into effect, is expected to be felt more in the Canadian and Mexican economies, which count on the US as a key export market. But analysts have warned that the threat of the levies, even if they are never imposed, is still likely to have a chilling effect on investment, including in the US. China has already responded to the first round of tariffs from the US with its own tariffs on US products, including coal and agricultural machinery. Trump has dismissed fears about damage to the American economy.
More than half of sleep sessions end with the snooze button, with people sneaking in an extra 11 minutes on average, a new study reveals — but experts say it may not be a good idea. Researchers from Mass General Brigham analyzed data from the Sleep Cycle app, which included sleep habits from more than 21,000 people globally. Among the more than three million sleep sessions tracked, nearly 56% ended with the snooze button. MOST SLEEP-DEPRIVED CITIES IN US REVEALED IN REPORT: WHERE DOES YOURS RANK? The heaviest users of the snooze button — who used it for more than 80% of the mornings included in the study — slept an average of 20 extra minutes. These heaviest snoozers were also shown to have "more erratic sleep schedules" than those who used the snooze button less often, the researchers found."Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep," said lead author Rebecca Robbins, PhD, in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in a press release. "The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer light sleep in between snooze alarms."
Proper handwashing could save a million lives a year, according to an expert — and yet many people are doing it improperly, often due to misconceptions surrounding the practice. Doctors recommend washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. The NFID 2025 State of Handwashing Report, recently released by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, provides details on Americans' handwashing habits (and mistakes). WHY YOUR LAUNDRY COULD BE MAKING YOU SICK AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT The report is based on a survey of 3,587 U.S. adults, conducted in November and December 2024 and March 2025."We have to recognize that there are a number of important infections that hand sanitizers are not effective at preventing," Hopkins said. One example is norovirus, a highly contagious stomach virus that is common on cruise ships and is also spread seasonally. The virus cannot be killed with hand sanitizer, but is "easily destroyed" with soap and water, according to Hopkins.Certain viruses are "encapsulated" and can be destroyed with either soap and water or hand sanitizer, the expert said. However, there is also an "unencapsulated" type of virus, which has an outer coat that does not break down from the alcohol in hand sanitizer. Using soap and water is a more effective way to kill the germs, the doctor noted. 2. Just coughing into your sleeve When people cough or sneeze into their sleeve, they could still spread germs afterward. "If you cough into your sleeve … go ahead and wash your hands with soap and water as well," Hopkins advised. COMMON MEDICAL TEST LINKED TO 5% OF CANCERS, STUDY SUGGESTS: ‘USE THEM WISELY’ "We also have to recognize that we often bring our hands up close to our face, touch our nose, our glasses, other parts of our face," noted the doctor, who is based in Arkansas. "If we have bacteria or viruses on our hands, we can introduce them into our mucous membranes, where we can get infections."
Note the time delay "The [cortisol] decline is different for everyone but typically occurs one-and-a-half to two hours after you wake," Zumpano said. That's the best time to have coffee, Zumpano said. SLEEP EXPERT REVEALS TOP FOODS AND DRINKS KEEPING YOU UP AT NIGHT That way, "you can rely on your body's natural alert system - cortisol - and when it declines, then you use caffeine to provide the boost.""There is no specific time that's best to drink caffeine," the dietitian added. "[It's] based on when you wake and your natural rise and drop in cortisol." Yet adhering to the body's natural wake-up processes can help sustain energy levels by avoiding one big cortisol, caffeinated crash. COFFEE CREAMER HEALTH RISKS: WHAT TO KNOW, WHAT TO CHOOSE INSTEAD Fox News Digital previously reported on smart ways to consume coffee, with an expert noting that coffee drinking should be tailored to each individual. "For some people, waking up and having a glass of water to rehydrate and then having coffee works well – but for others the morning ritual of having a cup of coffee first thing upon awakening is just too good to give up," said Wendy Troxel, a Utah-based sleep expert and senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation.
The Pandemic Agreement, just adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a landmark for global public health. Had such an agreement been in place before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic would have looked very different. The agreement now means that when the next pandemic begins brewing, the world will be much better equipped to mitigate or even prevent it. What exactly will the agreement do? In a nutshell, 124 countries have pledged to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. The countries that formally ratify the agreement will be bound to uphold a number of commitments including investing in health infrastructures, sharing intellectual property, and engaging in technology transfer. Advertisement One of the biggest benefits promises to be the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System. This will require U.N. member states to share information and data about potential pandemic viruses, including sequencing of new viruses or variants, as well as share relevant vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic technologies. Vaccine manufacturers in participating countries will be expected to provide 20% of pandemic vaccines in real time to the WHO to distribute globally, including to poorer countries and those most in need of them. Of these vaccines, member countries will donate 10% of them for free. Such an arrangement would have saved many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first few years, the unequal access to vaccines was one of the biggest challenges, with one study finding that up to half the COVID-19 deaths in many lower income countries could have been avoided with a more equitable supply of vaccines. Read More: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Global-Health Architect Conspicuously absent from the agreement is the U.S., which has historically played a key role in global health, from HIV/AIDS to malaria and beyond. Although 11 countries abstained from voting, the U.S.'s omission due to its decision to withdraw from the WHO is notable. COVID-19 taught us that the health of people on the other side of the world is inexorably tied to our own. Isolationism doesn't work when it comes to infectious disease. Even countries that took the most drastic measures to contain COVID-19, like China, eventually succumbed to rapid and extensive spread of the virus when they relaxed international travel or strict lockdowns and social-distancing measures. Preventing the next pandemic will require us to ensure that all countries, including low- and middle-income ones, have the necessary resources to prevent outbreaks from happening and to quash them before they spread. Advertisement The agreement also proves that multilateralism and a desire for global cooperation are still shared goals among most countries. Some critics of the agreement, including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, have argued that it would be a threat to national sovereignty or freedom, in that it would compromise countries’ ability to make pandemic-related health policy decisions. This is not the case. The agreement states that it “does not prejudice the sovereign right” of countries to consider it in accordance with their own national constitutions. Global agreements or treaties of this nature are rare. But when they do come about, they are far from being tokenistic documents full of legalese. Although the Pandemic Agreement is less formal and legally binding, several U.N. global treaties have already saved millions of lives. The Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, the first WHO treaty, has reduced tobacco use by one-third over the past 20 years and has saved lives with policies like indoor smoking bans.
The Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing swift international condemnation. Delegations from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others, were on an official mission to see the humanitarian situation around the besieged camp, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the incident a “deliberate and unlawful act.” Video from the incident shows Israeli soldiers firing toward the delegation as it backs away from a gate blocking the road. At least seven shots can be heard in the video. One member of the delegation cautions the group, “be close to the wall, be close to the wall,” as they walk away from the scene. “The ministry holds the Israeli occupying government fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault and affirms that such acts will not pass without accountability,” the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the visit to the camp - the site of a major ongoing military operation that has destroyed more than 100 buildings and impacted thousands of families - was coordinated in advance. The military said it launched an initial investigation once it became clear that the group was a diplomatic delegation. “The delegation deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be,” the military said in a statement Wednesday. “IDF soldiers operating in the area fired warning shots to distance them away.” The IDF said it will reach out to the delegations about the findings of the initial inquiry and “regrets the inconvenience caused.” The Palestinian Authority said the visit was announced 10 days in advance and that the group had been at the gate for more than 15 minutes before Israeli soldiers started shooting. Roland Friedrich, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the West Bank, refuted the Israeli military’s version of events, saying that its explanations “do not fully capture the severity of today’s event.” “This incident is a stark reminder of the lax use of excessive force routinely deployed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often with lethal consequences,” Friedrich said. “This raises serious concerns over the way rules of engagement are applied to unarmed civilians.” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said after the incident that “any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable.” “We definitely call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for this,” Kallas said at a press conference Wednesday. Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome for an official clarification. “The threats against diplomats are unacceptable,” the country’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added in a social media post on X. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Israel’s ambassador to France would also be summoned following the incident, calling it “unacceptable,” while Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that his government summoned the head of the Israeli embassy in Madrid. Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed on social media that four Canadian personnel were part of the delegation that was shot at, adding that she has asked officials to summon Israel’s Ambassador to convey “Canada’s serious concerns.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told a news conference in Ottawa that Canada expected a full and immediate explanation of what happened. “It’s totally unacceptable,” he said. “It’s some of many things that are totally unacceptable that’s going on in the region.” On Wednesday evening, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told CNN’s Isa Soares that her country will be summoning the Israeli ambassador to Finland in response to the military’s actions. “Any deviation of any route – it is not an excuse,” Valtonen said. “It is prohibited to open fire against civilians, even under the laws of war. And, of course, these people were also under diplomatic protection.” A host of officials from other European nations condemned the shooting, including representatives from Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Foreign ministries from countries including Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar also strongly condemned the incident. “This attack, which endangered the lives of diplomats, is yet another demonstration of Israel’s systematic disregard for international law and human rights,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said. “The targeting of diplomats constitutes a grave threat not only to individual safety but also to the mutual respect and trust that form the foundation of inter-state relations. This attack must be investigated without delay, and those responsible must be held accountable,” it added. Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the shooting incident occurred near the Jenin refugee camp, not within the camp.
Britain’s government has been temporarily blocked from concluding its deal to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, PA Media reported, after an 11th-hour injunction by a High Court judge. Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and it had been expected that the deal would be signed off on Thursday.
Siegel, along with Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas, are set to be released Saturday, after 484 days in captivity. In exchange, Israel is expected to release another group of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. American Israeli Keith Siegel is among the hostages set to be released Saturday, Hamas said statement Friday, as part of the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel. Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon will also be released, according to Hamas' statement. Siegel, 65, was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April, where he spoke directly to his family to say he was doing OK. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Siegel was taken from kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which some 250 people were kidnapped and about 1,200 killed. Bibas was abducted along with his wife, Shiri, and their two sons, Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time and would have turned 2 this month, and Ariel, now 5. During a one-week ceasefire in November 2023 when 105 hostages were released, the Bibas children did not emerge out of Gaza, unlike other child hostages. It’s unknown if the Bibas children and their mother are still alive. Hamas said during that ceasefire that Shiri Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military said the claims could not be confirmed. In February 2024, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged its fears for the family. "Based on the information available to us, we are very concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces' chief spokesperson, said in a news conference. Ofer Kalderon, now 54, was kidnapped with 17-year-old daughter Sahar and 12-year-old son Erez. Both children were released in November 2023. "To get him back has been the one thing that has been the missing piece of their puzzle of recovery," Kalderon's cousin, Jason Greenberg, told NBC Boston. Soon after Siegel's video, his two daughters, Ilan and Shir, shared a picture of them holding hands with their mother, Aviva Siegel, who was also taken hostage on Oct. 7 but released a month later.“Keith and I nearly died in the tunnel because there was no oxygen, and I’ve been talking about it over and over and over — hard stories. But I want to just tell everybody we’re not going to stop,” she told NBC News' Lester Holt in an interview alongside others whose loved ones were also taken. Apart from Siegel, two more Americans are believed to be still alive in Gaza: Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Edan Alexander, 20. The bodies of four Americans — Itay Chen, 19; Omer Neutra, 21; and the married couple Judith Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73 — who were most likely killed on Oct. 7, 2023, are still being held in Gaza. Israel is expected to release another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the three hostages Saturday.
SRINAGAR, India — Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists on Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said in what appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared. Police said it was a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. “This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media. Two senior police officers said at least four gunmen, whom they described as militants, fired at dozens of tourists from close range. The officers said at least three dozen people were wounded, many of them reported to be in serious condition. Most of the killed tourists were Indian, the officers said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy. Officials collected at least 24 bodies in Baisaran meadow, 3 miles from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam. Two others died while being taken for medical treatment. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police and soldiers were searching for the attackers. “We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences,” India’s home minister, Amit Shah, wrote on social media. He arrived in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and convened a meeting with top security officials. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cutting short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returning to New Delhi early Wednesday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance politician and Kashmir’s top religious cleric, condemned what he described as a “cowardly attack on tourists,” writing on social media that “such violence is unacceptable and against the ethos of Kashmir which welcomes visitors with love and warmth.” The gunfire coincided with the visit to India of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who called it a “devastating terrorist attack.” He added on social media: “Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack.” U.S. President Donald Trump on social media noted “deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.” Other global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, condemned the attack. “The United States stands with India,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X. Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir but both claim the territory in its entirety. Kashmir has seen a spate of targeted killings of Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, after New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms. Tensions have been simmering as India has intensified its counterinsurgency operations. But despite tourists flocking to Kashmir in huge numbers for its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, they have not been targeted. The region has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism and claimed it as a sign of normalcy returning. The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, while condemning the attack, said Modi’s government should take accountability instead of making “hollow claims on the situation being normal” in the region. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir while then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was visiting India. It was the region’s deadliest attack in the past couple of decades. Violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion. Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.
Even as much of the United States shivered under frigid conditions last month, the planet as a whole had its warmest January on record, scientists said on Thursday. The warmth came as something of a surprise to climate researchers. It occurred during La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tend to lower the globe’s average temperature, at least temporarily. Earth’s surface has now been so warm for so much of the past two years that scientists are examining whether something else in the planet’s chemistry might have changed, something that is boosting temperatures beyond what carbon emissions alone can explain. Those emissions, the byproduct of burning coal, gas and oil, remain the main driver of global warming, which reached record levels in both 2023 and 2024. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT It’s because of La Niña that scientists expected this year to be slightly cooler than the past two years, both of which experienced the opposite pattern, El Niño. The waters of the eastern tropical Pacific oscillate between El Niño and La Niña conditions, influencing weather worldwide by changing the balance between heat in the ocean and heat in the air. But a host of other factors figure into global temperatures as well. At the moment, chances aren’t high that 2025 will end up being the hottest year on the books, Russell Vose, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told reporters recently. But this time last year, researchers were saying much the same thing about 2024, Dr. Vose said. They were wrong.“So it’s a tough game, forecasting global temperature,” Dr. Vose said. According to Copernicus, the European Union climate monitoring agency, last month was much balmier than usual in northern Canada, Alaska and Siberia, as well as parts of Australia and Antarctica. Abnormally high temperatures above the Hudson Bay and the Labrador Sea helped shrink Arctic sea ice to a record low for January, Copernicus said. As scientists try to explain the unending streak of worldwide warmth, one thing they’ve focused on is reductions in air pollution. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT In a report this week, James Hansen, the famed former NASA scientist, argued that cutting pollution had already played a big role in causing global warming to accelerate. The reason is a little counterintuitive: For decades, humans have not only been emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases when they burn fossil fuels. They’ve also been spewing tiny sulfate particles into the air. These particles spur the formation of more and brighter clouds, which help shield Earth from the sun. But as regulators have curbed sulfate pollution to protect people’s lungs, this cooling effect has diminished, exposing the planet to more of the full force of greenhouse warming. Three decades ago, Dr. Hansen was among the first scientists to draw broad attention to climate change. Speaking to reporters this week, he argued that the United Nations was ill-prepared to address accelerated warming. The U.N.’s approach to meeting its climate goals still counts on societies to slash their carbon emissions in the coming decades, he said. Those goals now look “impossible” to achieve, Dr. Hansen said, “unless some miracle occurs that we don’t understand.”
China has launched three astronauts into space to replace the crew on the Chinese Tiangong space station, marking a further step in the country’s ambitions for a crewed mission to the moon and exploration of Mars. The Shenzhou 20 spaceship took off as planned atop China’s workhorse Long March 2F rocket at 5:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT). It will reach the Tiangong about 6.5 hours later. The rocket lifted off from the launch center in Jiuquan, on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. The spaceship will remain in space before returning the current crew. The Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station has made China a major contender in space, especially since it was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns. China’s space program is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. The addition of mechanical arms to the three-module station has also raised concerns from some that China could use them to disable satellites or other space vehicles during a crisis Since first launching a man into space in 2003 — becoming only the third country to do so — China’s space program has advanced at a steady pace. The space agency has also landed an explorer on Mars and a rover on the less-explored far side of the moon, and aims to put a person on the moon before 2030. The Shenzhou, or “Celestial Vessel,” 20 mission will be commanded by Chen Dong, who is making his third flight. He will be accompanied by fighter pilot Chen Zhongrui and engineer Wang Jie, both making their maiden voyages, according to the China Manned Space Agency. Unlike previous crews, Shenzhou 20 is entirely male. They will replace three astronauts currently on the Chinese space station. Like those before them, they will stay on board for roughly six months. The spaceship is due to be launched into space atop China’s workhorse Long March 2F rocket at 5:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT) and reach the Tiangong about 6.5 hours later. The three-person crew was sent in October last year and they have been in space for 175 days. They are due to return on April 29 after a brief overlap with their replacements. The Tiangong, fully assembled in October 2022, can accommodate up to six people at a time. While in space, the astronauts will conduct experiments in medical science and new technologies and perform space walks to carry out maintenance and install new equipment, the Manned Space Agency said.
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” on March 20. The purpose of the motion is to dismantle the Department of Education—continuing his central battle in shrinking the size of the federal government, a charge spearheaded by his Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE], under the watchful eye of Elon Musk. Linda McMahon, the newly-instated Secretary of the Department of Education, was present when Trump signed the Executive Order. “[Trump] wants to improve education for children, he wants to get those dollars—even more dollars—back to the states, without the bureaucracy of Washington,” she later told reporters. The Federal Student Aid (FSA) program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo,” states the Executive Order about the almost $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio. “But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.” McMahon addressed concerns from those with student loans when speaking to press. “Student loans currently are handled by the Department of Education, but I think that they should perhaps be managed by someone else, another department,” she said. “Whether they go back to the private sector, or perhaps they go to the Treasury. But as of right now, we’re not taking any action against student loans, except that we probably are going to renew collection.” The concerns regarding student loans started to grow significantly after an announcement was made on March 11 that nearly 50% of the Department of Education is set to be laid off this month—a part of its “final mission,” according to the department’s website. During his announcement of the Executive Order, Trump acknowledged that the “core necessities” of the Department will still continue—including distribution of Pell Grants, which are a form of federal student aid for higher education. Trump also acknowledged that he will not be able to completely close the Department of Education without the backing of Congress, and he would need Democratic votes to make that happen. “The Democrats know it’s right. I hope they’re going to be voting for it,” Trump said. “Because ultimately, it may come before them.” Amid Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education, experts are concerned about the complicated and difficult process—and how it will affect student loans. What does the Department of Education do? The Department of Education has many different and varied responsibilities under its current formation—aside from distributing and handling financial aid through the Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department was established by Congress in 1979, and its responsibilities have typically been issued by lawmakers, since the U.S. Constitution does not have guidelines for education at the federal level. The department provides 13.6% of funding for public K-12 education, according to the Education Data Initiative. Important funding streams for the department to send to local schools include Title I—which describes federal allocation of supplemental financial assistance to school districts/schools with a high percentage of children from low-income families, as well as grants under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), providing money to districts to serve and teach students with disabilities. What has Trump said will happen to student loans? In the Oval Office on March 6, Trump was asked what department or agency would handle student loans if the Department of Education was dismantled. Trump told reporters that he doesn’t believe student loans should be run under the Department of Education, and instead will likely end up being run under the Treasury Department, the Small Business Administration (SBA), or the Commerce Department. “We’ve actually had that discussion today,” Trump said. “The loans would be brought into a group where they really do that…that is, by the way, the most complicated thing in moving, but it’s really simple if you do that.” Trump said he hopes specifically for the SBA to get a hold of them, which he says Kelly Loeffler—a Republican, a former senator from Georgia, and the new administrator of the SBA— has already expressed interest in. “Kelly really liked it and would like to do it,” he told reporters. On March 21, the day after Trump signed the Executive Order, he announced his intention to move forward with his plans to move the student loan portfolio to the SBA. “I've decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler, [who] is a terrific person, will handle all of the student loan portfolio," the President said, speaking from the Oval Office. “We have a portfolio that's very large, lots of loans, tens of thousands of loans—pretty complicated deal. And that's coming out of the Department of Education immediately.” Elsewhere on March 21, the SBA announced plans to lay off 43% of its workforce. What are experts saying about Trump’s plan? According to Andrew Gillen, research fellow at the Cato Institute for Economic Freedom, the SBA would be a “strange choice” because the office is set up to process small business loans, Gillen “doubts” they’d be set up to handle over 40 million student loan borrowers. Gillen and Jonathan E. Collins, an assistant professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, both argue that it will be more likely a job for the Treasury Department. “A lot of the student loan repayment programs already require income verification, which the Treasury Department already has,” Gillen told TIME on March 7. “So, from an efficiency perspective, that makes sense. And they're already scaled up to handle millions of new borrowers.” The outstanding federal student loan balance is $1.693 trillion, per the Education Data Initiative, and is managed separately from the department’s policy apparatus, primarily through the FSA. Gillen says, though, that the topic of student loans is completely separate from Trump’s issues with the Department of Education, considering that many big financial aid programs—including the Pell Grant and work study—existed before there was a Department of Education. Whether they would run better, or more equitably, outside the Education Department depends heavily on where Trump ends up moving student loan administration. Much of the uncertainty around student loan forgiveness, per Gillen,, is not related to the Trump Administration, but rather the student loans cases that are moving through the court system—particularly the Biden-Harris Administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which was blocked by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in mid-February. But with the massive layoffs at the department, there are concerns as to whether there will be enough government capacity to work on student loan relief. “Even if the courts uphold the federal student aid relief and we continue to see things like the Pell Grant program making investments in higher education opportunities, and even if we see some version of a research grants program that is able to survive this anti-DEI purge, who is going to actually process these things?” Collins remarked, following the initial news of the planned layoffs. “How does work get done when no one is at work?” Collins also argued that if cutting wasteful spending is what DOGE wants to do, the Department of Education is not the place—considering that the department has the smallest staff of the 15 Cabinet agencies. “It's clear that this is more of a political game,” he said. “It’s become more about what the Department of Education represents than what the Department of Education actually does.” What has happened regarding student loans since Trump returned to the White House? In late February, the Department of Education shut down parts of the applications for SAVE and other income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Though Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, a far-right Heritage Foundation policy plan unveiled in April 2023, the initiative has since been mirrored in many of his early actions. The Project 2025 document suggested phasing out IDR plans for student loan borrowers as well, and replacing it with a one-size-fits-all IDR plan. In June 2024, the Center for American Progress stated that this plan would “mean spiked monthly student loan payments, ballooning interest, and heavy blows to credit scores.” The document also suggested transferring the FSA—the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation—to “a new government corporation with professional governance and management” and that the Administration should consider returning to a system in “which private lenders, backed by government guarantees, would compete to offer student loans, including subsidized and unsubsidized, loans.” Gillen said with so much uncertainty, the fallout of what Trump’s plans are for the Education Department cannot be fully predicted—and this uncertainty has caused alarm among student loan borrowers and forgiveness advocates. “Borrowers already struggle with massive call wait times to contact their servicers. The likely disruptions caused by a resource-starved Department of Education without the ability or desire to ensure proper oversight of loan servicers, will result in mass chaos, more delinquencies and defaults, and worse,” the Student Borrower Protection Center wrote on its website on March 3. On March 7, Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness” in which he moved to limit eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), which has allowed government workers like teachers or police, as well as nonprofit, receive loan forgiveness after making consecutive payments for 10 years. In the Executive Order, Trump excludes from the program “individuals employed by organizations whose activities have a substantial illegal purpose.” The President’s aim is to exclude organizations and nonprofits that engage in activities he says support "illegal immigration, human smuggling, child trafficking, pervasive damage to public property, and disruption of the public order, which threaten the security and stability of the United States." “Instead of alleviating worker shortages in necessary occupations, the PSLF Program has misdirected tax dollars into activist organizations that not only fail to serve the public interest, but actually harm our national security and American values, sometimes through criminal means,” the Executive Order reads. On March 19, the American Federation of Teachers announced they were suing the Trump Administration for their actions in regards to student loans and the PSLF program. For Collins, his overall concern about student loans is how further changes to the system might impact affordability—one of Trump’s major assurances that he campaigned on—especially as student loans typically allow for more affordable access to higher education. “The story of the higher education system in America is that it has been a ladder for opportunity,” Collins said. “And now you're kicking the ladder when folks are in the middle of the climb. So what's the pathway to the top now?” It’s this concern that remains at the forefront of Collins’ mind, and that of many others, as the future and direction of student loans remains uncertain.
Department of Homeland Security officials searched two dorm rooms at Columbia University, days after the immigration authorities arrested and moved to deport a pro-Palestinian activist and recent graduate of the university. Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said in a note to students and staff late Thursday that the officials had presented federal search warrants for private areas of the university. She added that no one was detained and nothing was taken, and did not specify the target of the warrants. “I am writing heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) in two university residences tonight,” Dr. Armstrong wrote. She added that Columbia made every effort to ensure the safety of its students, faculty and staff. The search occurred after the Trump administration said that Columbia would have to make major changes in its student discipline and admissions processes before it would begin talks on reinstating $400 million in government grants and contracts that it canceled last week. The government said it pulled the funding over the university’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment as pro-Palestinian protests spread on campus last year over the war in Gaza. Some of the demonstrations included chants, signs and literature that expressed support for the Hamas-led terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Mahmoud Khalil, who recently completed a graduate program at Columbia and is a permanent resident of the United States, played a prominent role in the pro-Palestinian student movement at the university. The Trump administration has said that Mr. Khalil, who is of Palestinian heritage, is a national security threat. It has also accused him of participating in antisemitic activities, though officials have not accused him of having any contact with Hamas. He is being held in a detention center in Louisiana. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. Columbia declined to comment beyond Dr. Armstrong’s letter.