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Judge rules Cristina Fernández de Kirchner can serve six-year sentence in apartment, citing age and security reasons

A federal court in Argentina has granted former presidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner’s request to serve a six-year prison sentence for corruption at her home in Buenos Aires.

Judges ruled that Fernández, 72, can serve time in the apartment, where she lives with her daughter and her granddaughter, citing her age and security reasons. Fernández was the victim of an attempted assassination three years ago.

In the ruling, the court said that Fernández “must remain at the registered address, an obligation that she may not break except in exceptional situations”.

Last week, Argentina’s highest court upheld Fernández’s sentence in a ruling that permanently banned her from public office over the corruption conviction that found she had directed state contracts to a friend while she was the first lady and president.

The explosive ruling left Fernández, Argentina’s charismatic yet deeply divisive ex-leader, subject to arrest and sent her supporters pouring into the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, and blocking major highways in protest.

The ruling barred Fernández from running in this fall’s Buenos Aires legislative elections just days after she launched her campaign.

Fernández, who dominated Argentinian politics for two decades and forged the country’s main leftwing populist movement known as Kirchnerism, after her and her husband, former president Néstor Kirchner, rejects the charges as politically motivated.

During Fernández’s eight years in office (2007–2015), Argentina expanded cash payments to the poor and pioneered major social assistance programs. Her governments funded unbridled state spending by printing money, bringing Argentina notoriety for massive budget deficits and sky-high inflation.

Critics blamed Argentina’s years of economic volatility on Fernández’s policies, and outrage over successive economic crises and the country’s bloated bureaucracy helped vault radical libertarian president Javier Milei to the presidency in late 2023.

Fernández was embroiled in multiple corruption scandals during her tenure. She wasconvicted in 2022 of corruptionin a case that centered on 51 public contracts for public works awarded to companies linked to Lázaro Báez, a convicted construction magnate and friend of the presidential couple, at prices 20% above the standard rate in a scheme that cost the state tens of millions of dollars.

Fernández has questioned the impartiality of the judges. She claims her defense did not have access to much of the evidence and that it was gathered without regard to legal deadlines.

She faces a series of other upcoming trials on corruption charges.

Killing of Canadian national was ‘significant escalation in India’s repression efforts’ but leaders shake hands at G7

Canada’s spy agency has warned that theassassination in British Columbia of a prominent Sikh activistsignaled a “significant escalation in India’s repression efforts” and reflects a broader, transnational campaign by the government in New Delhi to threaten dissidents.

The report was made public a day after Mark Carney shook hands withNarendra Modiat the G7 and pledged to restore diplomatic relations in a very public attempt to turn the page on the bitter diplomatic row unleashed by the murder of the Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The meeting prompted immediate backlash from members of the Sikh community, who warned that the resumption of diplomatic ties “must not come at the expense of justice and transparency”.

In itsannual report to parliament, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said on Wednesday that India, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan were the perpetrators of foreign interference efforts.

“Indian officials, including their Canada-based proxy agents, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians. When these activities are deceptive, clandestine or threatening, they are deemed to be foreign interference,” the report said. “These activities attempt to steer Canada’s positions into alignment with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with respect to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent homeland that they call Khalistan.”

The report singled out the killing of Nijjar in the British Columbia city of Surrey two years ago, noting investigators had established a “link between agents of the Government of India and criminal networksto sow violent activity in South Asian communities in Canada”.

Since becoming prime minister last year, Carney has sought to restore relations withIndia, which cratered after his predecessor accused the Modi government of orchestrating the high-profile assassination. Four Indian nationals living in Canada have been charged with Nijjar’s murder.

India temporarily stopped issuing visas in Canada and, soon after, Canada expelled six senior diplomats, including the high commissioner, Sanjay Verma. India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner.

Carneyinvited Modi to the G7 summit over the objections of Sikh organizations and human-rights activists as well as lawmakers from within his own party,framing the decision as pragmatic step to restore engagement with one of the world’s largest economies.

At the time, Carney said there was a “legal process that is literally under way and quite advanced inCanada”.

In a joint statement at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Alberta, leaders of Canada, the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan said they were “deeply concerned by growing reports of transnational repression” amid efforts to “intimidate, harass, harm or coerce individuals or communities outside their borders”.

The statement did not name India.

Following the meeting, Carney’s office said the two leaders had agreed to return high commissioners to each other’s capital “with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries”.

Modi said Canada and India were “dedicated to democratic values” and that the relationship between the two countries was “very important in many ways”.

But Carney declined to tell reporters whether he raised the killing of Nijjar during the encounter.

Sikhs for Justice, an advocacy organization calling for the establishment of a Sikh homeland in India, issued a statement on Wednesday calling on Carney to provide specifics of his meeting.

“Did Prime Minister Carney question Narendra Modi about the role of Indian agents in the assassination of Shaheed Hardeep Singh Nijjar – yes or no?” said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, chief legal counsel for SJF.

Pannun was listed as a key target for India’s campaign of violence andan attempt on his life was foiled by US federal agents.

“Accountability for Nijjar’s killing cannot be sidestepped in the name of diplomacy or trade. Diplomatic normalization with the Modi regime must not come at the expense of justice and transparency,” he said.

British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, announced on Tuesday that he had asked Carney’s government to designate an Indian criminal gang implicated in the Nijjar killing as a terrorist organization in order to help police tackle extortion cases targeting south Asian businesses in the region.

“There are allegations that gangs in India are operating here in our province, and in other provinces, to intimidate and extort business owners,” Eby told reporters.

The Bishnoi gang – led by Lawrence Bishnoi from an Indian jail cell – was named by the RCMP as playing a possible role in violent crimes on Canadian soil that have led to diplomatic tensions between Canada and India.

“This is a serious step,” Eby said. “We don’t make this recommendation lightly, but this activity strikes at public confidence in the justice system, in our democracy.”

UN rapporteur calls for move as food deliveries are attacked and starvation becomes a weapon of war in Gaza and Sudan

UN peacekeepers should be routinely deployed to protect aid convoys from attack in places such as Gaza and Sudan, a seniorUnited Nationsexpert has proposed.

With starvation increasinglyused as a weapon of war, Michael Fakhri said armed UN troops were now required to ensure that food reached vulnerable populations.

“I’m calling for the UN general assembly to authorise peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys,” said the UN’sspecial rapporteur on the right to food.

Fakhri’s call for intervention comes amid deepening concern over the increased targeting of aid convoys inAfricaand the Middle East.

The UN’s human rights office said it was “deeply disturbed” by the rising number of attacks, warning that any attempt to block aid or target humanitarians was a war crime.

Recently, humanitarian convoys have beendeliberately targetedin Central African Republic and also in Haiti in the Caribbean.

Earlier this month, a UN aid convoy of 15 trucks – the first attempt to reach the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher for a year – wasattacked, killing five people.

The most high-profile obstruction of aid, however, involves the Gaza Strip. Three months ago, Israel imposed a fullhumanitarian blockade on Gaza, cutting off food and other critical supplies to the Palestinian territory. Aid convoys entering Gaza have also been repeatedlyattacked.

Fakhri said that unless there was concerted international intervention to protect aid delivery throughout the world, humanitarian organisations would eventually cease distribution, creating a “dystopia”.

He said the UN security council, whichpassed a resolution in 2018condemning the unlawful denial of aid to civilians, had been rendered ineffective because members kept vetoing attempts to help.

“Where the security council is blocked by a veto, the general assembly has the authority to call for peacekeepers,” said Fakhri.

He said such a move could happen quickly with a majority vote of the 193 member states required – a proportion that Fakhri predicted would easily be reached.

“What the general assembly would do is politically implement what countries are already obliged to do.”

Frustration over the lack of international action to safeguard vital aid supplies – particularly inGaza– has forced activists to take matters into their own hands.

Last week,a yacht attempted to break the Israeli blockadeand deliver aid to Gaza but was prevented by Israel.

On the same day the boat was intercepted, a land aid convoy set off from Tunisia with the similar intention of breaking Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory.

In Africa, aid delivery in Sudan has becomeincreasingly fraughtas key routes are blocked or attacked while aid facilities and humanitarian workers have been targeted.

Jeremy Laurence, a Geneva-based spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said: “We are deeply disturbed by the intentional obstruction of aid trying to reach civilians from Gaza toSudanand elsewhere, including through attacks on aid convoys.

“Worryingly, these practices appear to be on the increase,” Laurence said. “Wilfully impeding relief supplies to starve civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.”

Meanwhile,Human Rights Watchdescribed as “horrifying” the spike in the frequency and severity of attacks on humanitarian workers.

Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at HRW, said:“Last year set a grim record for the number of humanitarian workers killed in conflict zones – more than 360 – most of them in Gaza but also in Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere.”

Fakhri added: “Whoever controls aid has a significant amount of power in a particular region and conflict.”

He warned that if attacks continued then traditional aid distributors such as the UN could be forced to give up.

“It makes it less likely for the UN, for the international community, for the Red Cross, for civil society organisations, to do that work and then who will take over? These militarised operations seen in Gaza?” he said.

Fakhri was referring to theGaza Humanitarian Foundation(GHF), a US and Israel-backed logistics group that aims to replace Gaza’s UN-led food and humanitarian supply distribution network.

Last Wednesday, Israeli forceskilled at least 60 Palestinians in Gazawho were seeking food from a GHF distribution centre, with dozens more wounded.

Charbonneau urged greater justice for attacks on humanitarians and aid convoys. “One big motivator is impunity, which emboldens the governments of Israel, Russia, the warring parties in Sudan and others to target or fire indiscriminately at civilians, including humanitarian workers,” he said. “The problem is they feel confident they can get away with it.”

US agency had pledged almost $30m over five years to Hope Through Action initiative, which was launched in 2023

The US government funding cuts will hit a chimpanzee conservation project nurtured by the primatologistJane Goodall.

USAID has been subjected to swingeing cuts under Donald Trump, with global effects that are still unfolding. Now it has emerged that the agency will withdraw from the Hope Through Action project managed by the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). USAID had pledged $29.5m (£22m) over five years to the project, which was designed to protect endangered chimpanzees and their habitats in westernTanzania.

Launched in November 2023, the project is intended to protect endangered chimpanzees through reforestation and “community-led methodology” in order to conserve biodiversity conservation and improve local livelihoods.

Its work is built upon Jane Goodall’s research.She “redefined species conservation” byhighlighting the importanceof cooperation between local people and the natural environment to protect chimpanzees from extinction.

According to JGI figures, chimpanzees have become extinct in three African countries, and overall population numbers have fallen from millions to below 340,000.

Goodallcriticised Trump during his first term in officewhen he signed an executive order dismantling Barack Obama’s clean power plan. She called Trump’s climate agenda “immensely depressing”.

In collaboration with JGI Austria, Ecosia – a Berlin-based search engine that donates 100% of its profits to climate action – has offered $100,000 over the next three years to further JGI Tanzania’s Gombe reforestation project. The donation far from covers the original funding amount, but it is intended to pay for the planting of 360,000 seedlings, work put at risk after the project was defunded.

The director of JGI Austria, Diana Leizinger, said: “We refuse to abandon people and nature. Where hope could have been destroyed, we are helping it grow again.”

An analysis in April by Refugees International found that 98% of USAID’s awards related to the climate had been discontinued.

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USAID was approached for comment.

Study suggests role of male parents may be under-appreciated in some primate species

If male baboons were subject to the same kind of cultural commentary as humans, the phrase “deadbeat dads” might be called for, such is the primate’s relatively limited involvement in raising their young.

But a study suggests that even their little effort might go a long way, with female baboons who experience a stronger relationship with their fathers when young tending to live longer as adults.

“Among primates, humans are really unusual in how much dads contribute to raising offspring,” said Prof Elizabeth Archie, co-author of the research from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“Most primates’ dads really don’t contribute very much, but what the baboons are showing us is that maybe we’ve been under-appreciating dads in some species of primates.”

In the journalProceedings of the Royal Society B, Archie and colleagues reported how they studied wild baboons in Kenya, focusing on 216 females fathered by 102 males, as confirmed by genetic data.

The team studied the frequency of grooming interactions between fathers and daughters during the first four years of the females’ lives, as well as recording the total number of days fathers and daughters lived in the same group over that period. They then tracked how long the daughters lived as adults.

Archie said the team focused on female offspring because males often moved to other social groups as adults, making it difficult to track how long they live.

The researchers found that female baboons who, during the first four years of their life, lived in the same group as their fathers for longer and spent more time grooming with them, lived two to four years longer as adults than those who experienced weaker relationships with their dads. If only one of the two occurred, an increase of about two to three years was found, Archie added.

“A typical lifespan for a female baboon, if she reaches adulthood, [is] 18 years,” she said, noting that females tended to have offspring every 18 months or so. “So living two to three years longer would allow her time potentially to have another kid.”

That, Archie added, might provide an incentive for fathers, given males were less able to fight others for mates as they get older.

“They can no longer compete for females, but what they can do is help their daughters,” said Archie. “And if their daughters live a little bit longer, then the fathers will pass on more genes and have higher fitness because their daughters are living longer and having more kids.”

The researchers found that strong relationships between young females and adult males in general, or with males who were not their fathers, was not associated with an increase in females’ survival as adults.

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Archie said it was not yet clear why the strength of early-life relationships between daughters and fathers might affect females’ survival as adults, but said a number of mechanisms could be at play.

Among them, she suggested fathers were more likely to step in should their daughters get into fights, or by sheer intimidation create a “zone of safety” around them so they were less likely to have food stolen or be injured or harassed – helping them grow into healthier adults.

But, Archie noted, there was another possibility.

“Maybe it is just that healthy daughters have good relationships with their fathers, and they also live longer,” she said.

Garments thrown out by consumers from Next, George, M&S and others found in or near conservation areas

Clothes discarded by UK consumers and shipped toGhanahave been found in a huge rubbish dump in protected wetlands, an investigation has found.

Reporters for Unearthed working with GreenpeaceAfricafound garments from Next in the dump and other sites, and items from George at Asda and Marks & Spencer washed up nearby.

The dumps are in an internationally recognised wetland that is home to three species of sea turtle. Local people complain that their fishing nets, waterways and beaches are clogged with synthetic fast-fashion garments exported to Ghana from the UK and the rest of Europe.

In a third dump on the banks of the river leading to the conservation site, Unearthed reporters found garments from M&S, Zara, H&M and Primark.

The fashion labels acknowledged that the industry faces challenges in processing textile waste. M&S, George and Primark said they ran take-back schemes intended to help address the issue. H&M, Zara and George said they would support an extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework to hold labels accountable for their products’ end-of-life impact.

The global fast-fashion overspill has overwhelmed Ghana’s capital, Accra, with tangled clothes carpeting city beaches and lining canals.

New dump sites are springing up beyond urban areas and in conservation areas that are vital for wildlife, the investigation found. Reporters also found textile waste, including UK labels, tangled in vegetation, half-buried in sand, and in waste washed up at a beach resort where a manager said he burned piles of clothes every week.

At the heart of Ghana’s used clothing trade is Kantamanto, one of the world’s biggest secondhand clothes markets. It receives more than 1,000 tonnes of clothes every week, but one trader said the quality was worse than it used to be. “In the past, we had good clothes to sell to take care of our families, but these days the used clothes we find in the bales are not fit for resale,” said Mercy Asantewa. “They are poorly made and are already falling apart when we open the bales.”

There is only one engineered dump site in the region, and another is being built. The head of Accra’s waste management department, Solomon Noi, calculates that 100 tonnes of garments leave the market daily as waste. The city is able to collect and process just 30 tonnes.

“The remaining 70 tonnes end up in waste dumps, drains, lagoons, wetlands and the sea and other environmentally sensitive places,” he said.

UK consumers discard about 1.5m tonnes of used textiles every year. Many do not get recycled. About 730,000 tonnes a year are incinerated or go into landfills. Of the 650,000 tonnes sent to be reused and recycled, 420,000 – more than two-thirds – are exported. Ghana receives more than any other country.

A group ofGhanaian traders visited Brusselsin 2023 and argued that the EU should introduce EPR legislation to hold fashion companies accountable for the end-of-life impact of their products. The UK’s Textile Recyclers Association has asked the government to consider something similar.

Ghana’sDensu deltais designated a site of international importance under the intergovernmental Ramsar convention on wetlands. Endangered leatherback and green turtles lay their eggs there, and the mudflats also support rare roseate terns, which migrate from the UK, and curlew sandpipers.

Unearthed’s reporters found two recently opened dump sites in the wetland’s protected area and a third dump upstream on the banks of the Densu.

Properly engineered landfills include a lined bottom, a system for collecting and treating leachate, groundwater monitoring, gas extraction and a cap system. Drone footage of the Akkaway dump, the newest site, shows a large area of the wetlands where the vegetation had been removed. Piles of waste sit on bare earth, close to lagoons and streams, with no lining or other visible pollution mitigation systems.

An official from the local government, the Weija Gbawe municipal assembly, told a reporter that it was in charge of the Akkaway dump and supervised the work there. Siting a new dump site in protected wetlands, however, appears to violate Ghana’s environmental policy and landfill guidelines, and the country’s obligations under the Ramsar convention.

The assembly did not respond to a formal request for comment.

People who depend on the wetlands for their livelihoods said they were worried about the impact of the pollution. Seth Tetteh, 31, has lived near the delta for seven years. “It’s only since three years ago that they started dumping theborla[the waste] further upstream. So when you start fishing and cast your net, it brings in fish, clothes and other things, so … the fishermen … find it very tedious,” he said.

“Before, you could drink [the river water]. But now, when you go, you can’t drink it. The water is a bit black.”

Residents near the upstream dump, called Weija Ashbread, told reporters that before the site existed, the area was mostly wild. . There were “alligators, bush cats … all kinds of birds and rabbits too”, said Ibrahim Sadiq, 19, a student who lives nearby. Now when it rains “there are so many mosquitoes and the smell, it’s very bad”.

An M&S spokesperson said the company did not send excess clothing to any other country or landfill, but offered customers

“options to give their clothes another life with our recently launched repair service by Sojo, and with our in-store take-back recycling schemes with partners such as Oxfam for clothing and Handle for beauty products, as part of our plan A to reduce our impact on the planet”.

A spokesperson for George, Asda’s clothing brand, said there had been no increase in the volume of textiles produced or the number of annual fashion seasons it put out over the past 10 years, and that they had more than 800 recycling banks and a take-back scheme.

“We have a zero-waste policy, which applies to our total business,” the spokesperson said. “We would be supportive of exploring a textile EPR, providing any fees generated are used to improve the recycling infrastructure in the UK.”

A statement from Primark said: “We don’t authorise any of the clothing collected through our customer textile takeback scheme or any of our unsold stock to be sent to Ghana or anywhere else in Africa … We know that no single company can solve the issue of textile waste alone. Real progress will only come if the industry comes together. ”

H&M acknowledged that the industry faced challenges such as a lack of end-of-life solutions and fully scaled recycling solutions for discarded textiles. A spokesperson said: “While this is an industry-wide challenge, we acknowledge our role in contributing to the problem, notably when our products reach markets with inadequate or no waste management or recycling infrastructures.”

A spokesperson for Zara’s parent company, Inditex, said Zara would support an EPR policy mandated by the government: “We believe that advancing toward common legislation in this field will establish a unified framework that sets the same rules for all players. We understand that the separate collection of textile waste is the foundation of a circular model. That is why we not only promote new textile recycling technologies but also develop the necessary capabilities to make them feasible.”

Next did not respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by Viola Wohlgemuth and Richa Syal

Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley, had contact with stray animal while on holiday, UK Health Security Agency says

A woman from Yorkshire has died from rabies after contact with a stray dog while on holiday in Morocco, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, was diagnosed in Yorkshire and Humber after returning from the north African country in February.

In a Facebook post, Ford’s daughter Robyn Thomson said her mother had become infected after being “scratched very slightly by a puppy”.

“At the time, she did not think any harm would come of it and didn’t think much of it,” Thomson wrote. “Two weeks ago, she became ill, starting with a headache and resulted in her losing her ability to walk, talk, sleep, swallow.”

Thomson, who said her mother died soon afterwards, warned people about the dangers of rabies. “We never thought something like this could happen to someone we love,” she wrote. “Please take animal bites seriously, vaccinate your pets, and educate those around you.”

The UKHSA said there was no risk to the wider public because there was no evidence that rabies could be passed between people. However, as a precautionary measure it was assessing health workers and close contacts to offer vaccination where necessary.

Rabies is a deadly virus spread via the saliva of infected animals, and people usually contract it after being bitten.

Animals such as cows, cats and foxes can carry the virus but, in some countries, stray dogs are the most likely to spread rabies to humans.

Once a person shows signs and symptoms of rabies, the disease is nearly always fatal, but treating a wound immediately after being bitten may prevent death.

The first symptoms can be similar to flu, while later symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, agitation, anxiety, difficulty swallowing and excessive saliva.

The case is only the seventh time this millennium that a person in the UK has been diagnosed with rabies after exposure to an infected animal. All cases started with the person becoming infected abroad.

In the UK rabies is not found in wild or domestic animals and, aside from cases linked to individuals being bitten by bats, which can carry a rabies-like virus, there has not been a reported case of a person becoming infected in the UK from an animal other than a bat since 1902.

Inflected people may develop fears over such things as swallowing drinks and can experience hallucinations and paralysis.

Dr Katherine Russell, the head of emerging infections and zoonoses at the UKHSA, said: “I would like to extend my condolences to this individual’s family at this time.

“If you are bitten, scratched or licked by an animal in a country where rabies is found, then you should wash the wound or site of exposure with plenty of soap and water and seek medical advice without delay in order to get post-exposure treatment to prevent rabies.”

Law enforcement officials would also be required to be identifiable by uniform carrying their name

Local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who cover their faces while conducting official business could face a misdemeanor inCaliforniaunder a new proposal announced Monday.

The bill would require all law enforcement officials show their faces and be identifiable by their uniform, which should carry their name or other identifier. It would not apply to the national guard or other troops and it exempts Swat teams and officers responding to natural disasters.

Scott Wiener, a Democratic state senator representing San Francisco, and Jesse Arreguin, a Democratic state senator representing Berkeley and Oakland, said the proposal seeks to boost transparency and public trust in law enforcement.

“We are seeing more and more law enforcement officers, particularly at the federal level, covering their faces entirely, not identifying themselves at all and, at times, even wearing army fatigues where we can’t tell if these are law enforcement officers or a vigilante militia,” Wiener said.

“They are grabbing people off our streets and disappearing people, and it’s terrifying,” he added.

The state senators said that in recent months, federal officers have conducted raids while covering their faces, and at times their badges and names, at churches, restaurants, hardware stores and schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey and Montebello.

“Law enforcement officers are public servants and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are. Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability,” Wiener said.

Some videos of raids showing masked officers using unmarked vehicles and grabbing people off the streets have circulated on social media in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, a group of masked and armed mendetained a Latino manin a church parking lot in Downey, a small, largely Latino suburb near Los Angeles.

The senior pastor of the church, Rev Tanya Lopez,described the incidentand said the men did not identify what agency they worked for and refused to provide their names or badge numbers when asked. Lopez attempted to speak to the man, who only spoke Spanish, but one of the men turned a rifle on her.

“Who knows if this man is a citizen? They were not letting him answer any questions or provide any identification,” Lopez latertold reporters. “They surrounded him and started to just get ready to grab him. And that’s why I could not just stand idly by.”

Federal judge dismissed lawsuit brought by faculty groups over government cuts to Columbia University funding

TheTrump administrationscored its most significant legal victory in its sweeping effort to reshape American higher education when a federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by faculty groups over the government’s cuts to Columbia University’s federal funding.

The lawsuit concerned the Trump administration’s cuts to $400m worth of federal funding to Columbia on the grounds it tolerated antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Columbia largely accepted the government’s terms for restoring funding – in anagreementwidely panned as a capitulation of its own academic freedom – several days before the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) sued the Trump administration over the cuts.

The judge in the case, Mary Kay Vyskocil of the southern district of New York, ruled that the faculty unions had no “standing” to bring the suit and had not clearly indicated how the administration had broken the law.

“It is not the role of a district court judge to direct the policies of the Executive Branch first and ask questions later,” the judge, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 30-pageruling. “Plaintiffs have not established their standing to litigate this case, let alone any violation of any law.” She seemed to accept the government’s prerogative to withhold funding and its argument that Columbia had enabled antisemitism to fester on campus. She also noted that Columbia had remained “conspicuously absent” from the case.

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment. That funding has not yet been restored though the education secretary Linda McMahon recently said that Columbia had “made great progress” and that the administration was considering a consent decree with the university.

The administration has also cut billions in funding to several other universities, warning dozens more that it is investigating them over alleged antisemitism on campuses. So far, Harvard, which has lost more than $3bn in federal funding, is the only university to sue the administration in two separate lawsuits, one overfunding cutsand another against the administration’s ban on Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. On Monday, a federal judge in Massachusetts extended atemporary blockon the administration’s order concerning Harvard’s foreign students.

The AAUP has filed three other lawsuits against the Trump administration – over its ban ondiversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, theattempted deportationof pro-Palestinian students and funding cuts at Harvard. The group has vowed to fight on.

“This is a disappointing ruling, but by no means the end of the fight,” Todd Wolfson, the AAUP president said. “The Trump administration’s threats and coercion atColumbia Universityare part of an authoritarian agenda that extends far beyond Columbia. Ultimately, lifesaving research, basic civil liberties and higher education in communities across the country are all on the line. Faculty, students, and the American public will not stand for it. We will continue to fight back.”

Protect Democracy, the group representing the AAUP and AFT said they would appeal Monday’s ruling and vowed to “continue to fight to stop the administration from using public funding as a cudgel to consolidate power over higher education”, they wrote in a statement.

“This is a deeply problematic decision that ignores what this is all about – a government attempt to punish a university over student protests that galvanized a national movement in opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” said Radhika Sainath, senior managing attorney at Palestine Legal, a group advocating for pro-Palestinian voices on US campuses which had filed a brief in support of the AAUP’s lawsuit.

“The court uncritically takes the government’s line for granted, that speech activity critical of Israel is inherently anti-Jewish – though Jewish students and professors make up a large percentage of those speaking up for Palestinian human rights.”

Salvador Plasencia, who gave Friends star the drug in month leading to overdose, to plead guilty to four counts

A doctor charged with givingMatthew Perryketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star’s overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday.

Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said the plea carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and Plasencia is expected to enter the plea in the coming weeks.

Plasencia and a woman accused of being a ketamine dealer had been the primary targets of the prosecution, after three other defendants, including another doctor, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for their cooperation.

Plasencia had been scheduled to start trial in August. An email to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.

Perry was found dead by his assistant on 28 October 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.

Perry, 54, began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor’s death, he found Plasencia, a doctor who in turn allegedly asked the other doctor, Mark Chavez, to obtain the drug for him, according to court filings in the Chavez case.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings from prosecutors. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Santa Monica,California, where Plasencia practiced and San Diego, where Chavez practiced, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to”, prosecutors said.

While Plasencia is accused of supplying the bulk of Perry’s ketamine in his final weeks, another defendant, Jasmine Sangha, who prosecutors allege was a major ketamine dealer, is alleged to have provided the dose that killed the actor. She is also scheduled to go to trial in August. She has pleaded not guilty – making her the only one of five people charged in Perry’s death who has not entered a plea agreement.

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time onFriends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.