• USCIS announces move in policy memo.
• New policy to free up agency to work on other cases: USCIS
• Latest step part of Trump’s policy to tighten migration laws.

Foreigners seeking to adjust their immigration status in the United States to secure green cards will have to do so from outside the country via the State Department, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said on Friday, in a move criticised by aid groups.

USCIS announced the move in a policy memo, which directed officers to consider relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether extraordinary relief is warranted.

“An alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply,” said the US Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight of USCIS.

“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivising loopholes.”

The USCIS said the new policy will free up agency resources to focus on processing other cases.

HIAS, an aid group that provides services to refugees, among other groups of immigrants, said USCIS was forcing survivors of trafficking and abused and neglected children to return to the dangerous countries they fled in order to process their applications for green cards, granting them permanent residency in the US.

Friday’s policy change is the latest in a series of steps taken by US President Donald Trump over the last year to tighten migration to the United States.

Last year, the Trump administration moved to shorten the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors and members of the media.

In January, the State Department announced that it had revoked more than 100,000 visas since Trump took office the year before.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has taken a strong and principled stance against the illegal joint military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime on the Islamic Republic of Iran, describing the conflict as a “truly avoidable, unnecessary war.”

Steinmeier on Thursday highlighted how the unilateral destruction by the Trump administration of the 2015 nuclear agreement paved the way for the current escalation and instability in the West Asian region.

According to German media, Steinmeier made the remarks during a major address to German diplomats and at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the German Foreign Office.

He directly addressed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), stating it would have been better if that agreement had been preserved, and emphasized: “If the 2015 agreement with Iran had been preserved, it would have been possible to prevent the consequences we are currently witnessing.”

Steinmeier, who was personally involved in negotiating the JCPOA as foreign minister, bluntly called the war “a politically disastrous mistake” and a “politically fatal error.”

The German president noted that the US justification for its aggression “does not hold water” and constitutes a clear violation of international law.

Steinmeier told diplomats that maintaining the JCPOA had delivered real progress toward stability, while the US withdrawal under President Trump in his first term and the subsequent military adventure in his second have led to precisely the dangerous situation Iran had long warned against.

President Steinmeier’s remarks represent a significant crack in the Western facade of support for the US-Israeli alliance.

By openly admitting the war was avoidable and that preserving the JCPOA could have prevented today’s crisis, the German head of state has effectively validated the Islamic Republic’s consistent position. Tehran says that diplomacy and respect for Iran’s sovereign rights, not sanctions and bombs, are the path to regional peace and security.

The German president’s candid intervention is further evidence of the growing international isolation of the aggressors.

The Islamic Republic has always fulfilled its JCPOA commitments, as repeatedly confirmed by the IAEA, while the Zionist regime and Washington have repeatedly violated the agreement and international law through assassinations, sabotage, and now outright military aggression.

Some parts of India are grappling with power cuts as record-breaking heat has pushed electricity demand to an all-time high in excess of 270 gigawatts, spurring a government call for consumers to limit use.

An El Nino weather pattern is bringing above-average summer temperatures across the subcontinent in May, with nighttime outages running from 40 minutes to an hour in the manufacturing and infotech hub of Chennai, residents said.

“South Chennai has seen frequent power cuts over the past two days, with outages at short intervals,” said R Hari, a resident of the southern city, who complained that they made it difficult to work from home.

India’s peak power deficit late on Thursday evening was about 2.57 gigawatts, said national regulator Grid-India.

“Although we are prepared to supply electricity as required, due to the intense summer, let us all try to use electricity wisely and judiciously,” the power ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Shortages are chronic during the evening hours as supply then relies heavily on thermal and hydropower sources, while daytime demand is met partly by solar generation.

The record heat and surging electricity demand are testing India’s power system, said Disha Aggarwal, senior programme lead at energy and environment think-tank CEEW, as hotter nights become the norm.

India needs to urgently fast-track commissioning of battery storage to make use of surplus solar energy at night, she added.

From Friday to May 27, weather authorities have forecast “heatwave to severe heatwave conditions” for the capital New Delhi, along with large northern and eastern areas.

Several people in New Delhi and the neighbouring city of Noida took to X to complain of power outages during the night.

In the eastern coastal state of Odisha, some users have protested against longer power cuts in some areas during both day and night, residents and media said.