6 d. ago Trump is deeply obsessed with US history – but he has learned all the wrong lessons from it | David Reynolds

His ostentatious birthday parade is his latest reimagining of America’s past. He’d do well to remember that pride must be rooted in honestyDavid Reynolds is the author of Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the leaders who shaped himToday the US army will parade in style along the National Mall in Washington DC to celebrate its 250th anniversary. This also just happens to be the 79th birthday of President Donald J Trump. As commander-in-chief, he will take the salute from a viewing platform on Constitution Avenue.But this is not a mere vanity project, as some critics have claimed. History really matters to the US’s 47th president. One of Trump’s last acts before reluctantly leaving the White House in January 2021 was to publish a report by his “1776 Commission”, created to “restore understanding of the greatness of the American Founding”. Deliberately, the commissioners included few university historians because universities were described as often being “hotbeds of anti-Americanism...

Politics

7 d. ago Trophy wives, subversive reading and ejaculation: lessons from 2025’s best graduation speeches

Percival Everett, Simone Biles, Kermit the Frog and Donald Trump deliver words of wisdom, and a few of grotesque stupidity, at commencement ceremonies across USAmerica’s higher education may be under attack from the federal government – but students from the class of 2025 still have to graduate. And so commencement season, somehow, occurred, with the world’s best and brightest politicians, entertainers and athletes, plus a frog, presenting their hard-earned wisdom. From Percival Everett to Simone Biles to President Trump himself, here are 10 lessons we’ve learned from the year’s graduation speeches. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Potential ‘agroterrorism weapon’ fungus smuggled into US by Chinese scientists, FBI alleges

Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu charged after allegedly smuggling a fungus to US that can cause serious illness and billions of dollars in crop lossesTwo Chinese scientists have been charged with smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States that they planned to research at an American university, the justice department has said.Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Michigan said in a statement on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘They are in shock’: Indian students fear Trump has ended their American dream

Those hoping to study in US are in limbo or looking elsewhere after president’s targeting of foreign studentsFor weeks, Subash Devatwal’s phone has not stopped ringing. Some of the calls have been from distressed students, at other times it is their panicked parents, but all have the same question – is their dream of studying in the US still possible?Devatwal runs an education consultancy in Ahmedabad, the main city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is one of thousands of such organisations that exist across the country, helping Indian students achieve what many consider to be the ultimate symbol of success: getting into an American university. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Hala Alyan’s story of exile, addiction and surrogacy: ‘I had to do something with the fragments’

In her new memoir, the Palestinian American writer reflects on her fractured lineage and having a child against all oddsIn the poem Hours Ghazal, published in 2024, Hala Alyan writes: “The cost of wanting something is who you are on the other side of getting it.” The line is a glimpse into the mind of a woman, who, at 38, has paid a high price for desire and emerged intact after living through what might feel like several lifetimes for the rest of us.Alyan is a Palestinian American poet, novelist, clinical psychologist and psychology professor at New York University. She is also the author of a memoir published this week titled I’ll Tell You When I’m Home.I have never not been a Palestinian. That has never not been written upon my body. In Lebanon, in Kuwait, in Oklahoma – I am what my father is, and my father is a man who was once a boy who was born to a woman in Gaza. Who speaks with the accent of that place. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago A Palestinian American writer’s story of exile, addiction and surrogacy: ‘I had to do something with the fragments’

In her new memoir, Hala Alyan reflects on her fractured lineage and having a child against all oddsIn the poem Hours Ghazal, published in 2024, Hala Alyan writes: “The cost of wanting something is who you are on the other side of getting it.” The line is a glimpse into the mind of a woman, who, at 38, has paid a high price for desire and emerged intact after living through what might feel like several lifetimes for the rest of us.Alyan is a Palestinian American poet, novelist, clinical psychologist and psychology professor at New York University. She is also the author of a memoir published this week titled I’ll Tell You When I’m Home.I have never not been a Palestinian. That has never not been written upon my body. In Lebanon, in Kuwait, in Oklahoma – I am what my father is, and my father is a man who was once a boy who was born to a woman in Gaza. Who speaks with the accent of that place. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago As Ice deports children, what futures do we lose? | Ariel Dorfman

I was forced to flee my homeland as a child; so were my own children. So the horror can be grasped by our celebrity-driven society: are we removing the next Mozart?Two children – a nine-year old boy and his six-year old sister – are playing at “house”, pretending to be their father and mother. Absorbed in the game, they repeat the words their parents have been whispering to each other when they thought their progeny were not listening.Playing like innocent children all over the world play and have played since the beginning of history. But, here and now, in America, the words some endangered children may be exchanging are far from innocent.Ariel Dorfman, an emeritus distinguished professor of literature at Duke University, is the Chilean-American author of the play Death and the Maiden and, more recently, the novels The Suicide Museum and Allegro. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago What it’s like to be in the graduating class of 2025 in Gaza | Nadera Mushtha

While students around the world dream of classrooms, students in Gaza dream of survivalBefore the war, students in Gaza were surrounded by books, not bombs. They woke each morning to the voices of their mothers urging them to get ready for school, not to the sound of airstrikes and screaming. They were focused on building a future, working hard to shape a better life for themselves and their homeland.Before the war started, my best friends and I used to go to the restaurants that were near the university, talking, laughing, eating and studying together, eating our breakfast together under a blue sky before going to the first lecture.Nadera Mushtha is a writer and poet from Gaza who is studying English language education at the Islamic University of Gaza. Her writing has been published on Al Jazeera, Mondoweiss, the Electronic Intifada, and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Hamilton College’s Ben set to live the American dream at Columbia University

The youngster is heading to New York City to study.

Culture

3 w. ago China invites foreign students with ‘unconditional offers’ after Trump bans them from attending Harvard

Hong opens doors for international students worried about future at elite American university

Politics

3 w. ago First class graduates from American University of Baghdad, once Saddam's palace

The American University of Baghdad has celebrated the graduation of its first cohort of students at a campus that was once a palace built by Saddam Hussein

Politics

4 w. ago Watch: Kermit the Frog issues heartwarming advice for college graduates

Kermit the Frog has hopped onto the stage at the University of Maryland to deliver a message of unity and collaboration to the graduating class of 2025.

Events

4 w. ago New London Christian Preschool celebrates with its 30th graduating class

New London Christian Preschool celebrates with its 30th graduating class  Chester County Press

Culture

last month Most AAPI adults oppose college funding cuts and student deportations, a new poll finds

A new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll finds that as colleges and universities pull back on diversity practices, young Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are overwhelmingly against cutting federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education, and deporting students involved in protest activity on campus

Politics