US President Donald Trump’s administration moved on Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country.

Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the US.

Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240-day periods — except for Chinese journalists who would get just 90 days.

The US, until now, has generally issued visas for the duration of a student’s educational programme or a journalist’s assignment, although no non-immigrant visas are valid for more than 10 years.

The proposed changes were published in the Federal Register, initiating a short period for public comment before they can go into effect.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security alleged that an unspecified number of foreigners were indefinitely extending their studies so they could remain in the country as “‘forever’ students.”

“For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars and disadvantaging US citizens,” the department said in a press statement Wednesday.

The department did not explain how US citizens and taxpayers were hurt by international students, who according to Commerce Department statistics contributed more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023.

The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, more than any other country, providing a crucial source of revenue as foreigners generally pay full tuition.

A group representing leaders of US colleges and universities denounced the latest move as a needless bureaucratic hurdle that intrudes on academic decision-making and could further deter potential students who would otherwise contribute to research and job creation.

“This proposed rule sends a message to talented individuals from around the world that their contributions are not valued in the United States,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

“This is not only detrimental to international students — it also weakens the ability of US colleges and universities to attract top talent, diminishing our global competitiveness.”

Backlash

The announcement came as universities were starting their academic years with many reporting lower enrollments of international students after earlier actions by the Trump administration.

But Trump also heard rare criticism within his base when he mused Monday that he would like to double the number of Chinese students in the United States to 600,000 as he hailed warm relations with counterpart Xi Jinping.

His remarks marked a sharp departure from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s earlier vow to “aggressively” rescind visas of Chinese students.

The State Department said last week it had overall revoked 6,000 student visas since Trump took office, in part due to Rubio’s targeting of campus activists who led demonstrations against Israel.

Trump has also suspended billions of dollars in federal research funds to universities, with his administration contending they have not acted against antisemitism, and Congress has sharply raised taxes on private universities’ endowments.

In a speech before he was elected, Vice President JD Vance said conservatives must attack universities, which he described as “the enemy.”

Trump, at the end of his first term, had proposed curbing the duration of journalist visas, but his successor Joe Biden scrapped the idea.

Bosnia’s national museum has defended a decision to donate funds from the display of a precious Jewish manuscript to the people of Gaza.

It said ticket sales to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the most precious religious manuscripts of the Middle Ages, would be donated to “support the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated and cold-blooded terror, directly by the state of Israel”.

The move drew intense criticism earlier this month from Jewish organisations, with some abroad accusing the museum of antisemitism.

But museum director Mirsad Sijaric, 55, stood by the decision and said he had received numerous messages of support from Jewish people around the world.

“Did we choose one of the sides? Yes, we chose one of the sides,” Sijaric told AFP.

‘Politicisation’

The museum’s donation will also include sales from a book about the Haggadah.

Sijaric insisted the move was “absolutely not” directed against Jewish people, but was instead a message of opposition to what was happening in Gaza.

“Feigning neutrality is siding with evil. In my opinion, this is pure evil, and one must oppose it.”

Several Jewish organisations criticised the museum’s announcement, including the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, which labelled it a “politicisation” of a “symbol of heritage, survival, and coexistence”.

Sitting in a glass cabinet in a specially designed room in the museum, the Haggadah has long been a treasured symbol of Sarajevo´s diversity.

The majority-Muslim city is also home to just under a thousand Jewish people.

Symbol of ‘shared life’

The Haggadah’s illuminated and well-preserved parchment pages narrate the creation of the world and the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.

Dating back to 1350, the intricately illustrated manuscript is believed to have been written near Barcelona, and brought to Sarajevo by Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.

It survived Nazi occupation and was kept safe during intensive shelling in the Bosnian War of the 1990s.

Jakob Finci, president of the Bosnian Jewish community, described the move as “bizarre” and “a bit offensive”.

“It tarnishes Sarajevo´s reputation and that of the Sarajevo Haggadah, the book that for many years has borne witness to Sarajevo´s multiethnic character and our shared life,” Finci said.

“I’ve heard a lot of criticism [of the move]… I have not seen any praise.”

Long kept in a safe and rarely displayed, the book has been more accessible since the special room opened in 2018 after a renovation paid for by France.

Its rich history and rarity continue to draw visitors and academics to the museum.

“I think it’s a way to support the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Italian Egyptologist Silvia Einaudi after viewing the manuscript.

“Gaza, why not?” said French visitor Paul Hellec. “It’s a tough topic at the moment. But there are also many other places where people are suffering.”

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Out of 251 hostages seized by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

• Xi to review troops, military hardware at Tiananmen Square.
• Parade marks Japan’s WWII surrender anniversary on Sept 3.
• Belarus, Iran, Indonesia, Serbia leaders amongst attendants.

BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend a military parade in Beijing, marking the first public appearance of the two leaders alongside President Xi Jinping in a show of collective defiance amid Western pressure.

No Western leaders will be among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week with the exception of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a European Union member state, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday.

Against the backdrop of China’s growing military might during the “Victory Day” parade on September 3, the three leaders will project a major show of solidarity not just between China and the Global South, but also with sanctions-hit Russia and North Korea.

Russia, which Beijing counts as a strategic partner, has been battered by multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with its economy on the brink of slipping into recession. Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court, last travelled in China in 2024.

North Korea, a formal treaty ally of China’s, has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Kim last visited China in January 2019.

Those attending the parade marking the formal surrender of Japan during World War II will include Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran’s President Masoud Pezashkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei at a news conference.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic will also attend the parade.

The United Nations will be represented by Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who previously served in various capacities at the Chinese foreign ministry, including time as the Chinese ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar.

On the day, President Xi Jinping will survey tens of thousands of troops at Tiananmen Square alongside the foreign dignitaries and senior Chinese leaders.

The highly choreographed parade, to be one of China’s largest in years, will showcase cutting-edge equipment like fighter jets, missile defence systems and hypersonic weapons.