US President Donald Trump and top officials in his administration will lead tributes to Charlie Kirk on Sunday at a stadium gathering in Arizona, after the influential conservative activist was gunned down last week.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck on September 10 while speaking at a Utah university as part of his popular public debate series.

Authorities arrested a suspect after a 33-hour manhunt, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty in the case.

The killing of the young conservative leader, founder of the “Turning Point USA” right-wing youth action campaign, has further deepened acrimonious political divisions in the US.

Authorities say the suspected 22-year-old gunman cited the “hatred” he believed was stoked by Kirk — who was a vitriolic critic of transgender people, Muslims and others.

Kirk used his millions of social media followers, the massive audience of his podcast and appearances at universities to bolster Trump with young voters and fight for a nationalist, Christian-centric political ideology.

Even before the alleged killer was identified or arrested, Trump called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left.”

The US president has lauded Kirk’s role in helping him get re-elected in November last year.

In Phoenix, outside Turning Point USA’s headquarters, hundreds marched on Saturday to lay flowers, American flags, and red, white and blue balloons.

The sidewalk was filled with tributes to Kirk, depicted in photos with the slogan “Faith, Family, Freedom.”

“He was an amazing young man, who was taken away from us much too soon,” said Patti Peteque, 53.

Crackdown on liberal ‘terrorism’

Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will all speak at the memorial on Sunday.

Also speaking will be Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and other prominent Trump administration officials.

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who is taking over the reins of Turning Point USA, will also address the audience at the 63,000-seat State Farm Stadium in Glendale.

In response to the killing, the White House last week declared it would crack down on what it terms “domestic terrorism” by the political left.

Trump said he would designate “Antifa” — a shorthand term for “anti-fascist” used to describe diffuse far-left groups — as “a major terrorist organisation,” a move he threatened in his first term.

Prominent late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was yanked off the air on Wednesday, hours after the government threatened to cancel broadcasting licenses because of comments he made about Kirk’s killing.

The moves have sparked alarm among Trump’s critics who warn of possible steps to silence dissent of his divisive right-wing White House tenure, marked by a rolling back of social justice policies and an immigration crackdown that has seen widespread complaints of rights abuses.

“All over the world, Amnesty International has worked for decades to expose and document the silencing of dissent through a range of tactics, and we are deeply concerned such efforts are becoming normalised here,” said the rights group´s Executive Director, Paul O’Brien, on Friday.

Many on the right wing in the US, however, see things differently.

“The left is just getting a taste of their own medicine. Who stood up when we felt censored, when we felt cancelled?” said Peteque, the mourner in Phoenix.

AJMER: Stepping through the gates of India’s Mayo College is like journeying back 150 years. Yet, the school that was once reserved for princes now educates a new elite.

Its history echoes with grandeur. The first student, the son of the Maharajah of Alwar, arrived in 1875 with pomp, seated in a palanquin and accompanied by 300 servants.

“We try to preserve a certain tradition of the past,” said Saurav Sinha, principal of the school in Rajasthan’s Ajmer.

“But only to the extent it enriches our culture, and lets our students remember who they are, and where they come from.”

Nicknamed the “Eton of the East” and modelled after England’s elite boarding schools, Mayo was founded by the British viceroy, the Earl of Mayo, with the aim of fostering relations between Indian royalty and London.

Today, among its 850 students aged nine to 18, only a few are descendants of royalty.

They have been succeeded by the scions of ministers, business magnates, diplomats and senior army officers.

Tuition fees run to around $11,500 a year — a fortune in a country where annual per capita income is about $2,300.

This places Mayo among a rarefied dozen elite boarding schools in India — a stark contrast to the nearly 1.5 million other educational institutions in the world’s most populous nation, where more than two-fifths lack computers.

For many families, the cost is justified.

“It was clear to me to send my two sons here, because it prepares you for anything,” said Abhishek Singh Tak, who runs an events company in Jodhpur and is himself a Mayo alumnus.

Standing before the school’s majestic main building, built of marble reminiscent of the Taj Mahal, he stated: “Everything I am today started from here.”

Military discipline

His sons Nirbhay, 10, and Viren, 17, now live in this luxurious cocoon for nine months a year.

The younger dreams of Oxford; the elder aims for the University of Delhi or Sciences Po in France, hoping to become a diplomat.

Although the strict military discipline that built Mayo’s reputation still prevails, recent years have seen greater emphasis on student well-being and self-confidence.

Headmaster Sinha balances “immense respect for the heritage” with a resolve to keep the school “resolutely forward-looking and adapted to a rapidly changing world.”

The 76-hectare campus is an oasis of ancient trees and lush lawns — a striking sight in Rajasthan’s desert.

But students have little respite between rising at dawn and lights out at 9:30 pm.

“We’re so busy that I don’t have time to think about my family,” joked Arrin, provoking laughter from his classmates.

A year after leaving Mumbai, the 11-year-old seems content and at ease.

“What I miss most is home-cooked food,” he said, standing straight with hands behind his back, as required.

Rajesh Soni, head of the junior school, admitted the first months can be challenging.

Mayo has therefore recruited psychologists and increased the number of female teachers and support staff.

“The priority is to make it a place where happiness reigns, so they can explore and achieve their goals,” he said, adding that “everything is done to awaken their intellectual curiosity”.

Launchpad for ambition

Parents say the results speak for themselves.

“My son has gained enormous self-confidence; he has become very independent,” said Daakshi Bhide, 38, a Mayo English teacher whose 10-year-old son boards at the school.

Before classes begin, students wearing white shirts and navy blazers gather for morning assembly, where they say prayers and discuss current events.

The curriculum, taught in English, is broad: science, foreign languages, literature, international relations, art and music.

Afternoons are reserved for sports.

Mayo offers around 20 disciplines — from polo and golf to swimming, shooting and tennis.

Football has recently overtaken cricket as the campus favourite.

The facilities are exceptional: an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a nine-hole golf course, and stables housing 60 horses.

Arrin, whose parents are a doctor and a businessman, hopes to become a professional footballer.

A die-hard Ronaldo fan, he sees Mayo as the first step.

A third of students plan to study abroad — in Britain, Australia or the United States.

Many want to contribute to India’s prosperity. Advaya Sidharth Bhatia, 17, hopes to launch a business at home and “help his country.”

Sinha reiterated: “I have immense respect for this heritage, but Mayo must always look to the future.”

For many, that future is exactly why they are here.

• Tech firms urge employees to return amid visa fee confusion.
• Trump’s visa fee order causes panic among H-1B holders.
• Debate over H-1B visa programme’s impact on US labour market.
  

NEW YORK: Panic, confusion, and anger reigned as workers on H-1B visas from India and China were forced to abandon travel plans and rush back to the US after President Donald Trump imposed new visa fees, in line with his wide-ranging immigration crackdown.

Tech companies and banks sent urgent memos to employees, advising them to return before a deadline of 12:01am. Eastern Time Sunday (4:01 am GMT), and telling them not to leave the country.

A White House official on Saturday clarified that the order applied only to new applicants and not holders of existing visas or those seeking renewals, addressing some of the confusion over who would be affected by the order.

But Trump’s proclamation a day before had already set off alarm bells in Silicon Valley.

Rush back to US

Fearing they would not be allowed back once the new rule took effect, several Indian nationals at San Francisco airport said they cut short their vacations.

“It is a situation where we had to choose between family and staying here,” said an engineer at a large tech company whose wife had been on an Emirates flight from San Francisco to Dubai that was scheduled to depart at 5:05pm local time (12:05am GMT) on Friday.

The flight was delayed by more than three hours after several Indian passengers who received news of the order or memos from their employers demanded to deplane, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity. At least five passengers were eventually allowed off, said the engineer.

A video of the incident was circulating on social media, showing a few people leaving the plane. Reuters could not independently verify the veracity of the video.

The engineer’s wife, also a H-1B visa holder, chose to head to India to care for her sick mother. “It’s quite tragic. We have built a life here,” he told Reuters.

On the popular Chinese social media app Rednote, people on H-1B visas shared their experiences of having to rush back to the US – in some cases just hours after landing in China or another country.

Some likened the panic they felt to their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they urgently flew back to the US before a travel ban took effect.

“My feelings are a mix of disappointment, sadness, and frustration,” said one woman in a post with a user handle “Emily’s Life in NY.”

The woman said she had boarded a United Airlines flight from New York to Paris, which started taxing, but after some back-and-forth with the airline, the captain agreed to return to the gate to let her off the aircraft.

Feeling what she described to Reuters as “insignificant” and “shaken,” she cancelled the planned trip to France, abandoning plans with friends, including some who were flying in from China, after she received a letter from her company’s lawyers asking employees abroad to return to the US.

Companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs were among those that sent urgent emails to their employees with travel advisories.

Trump’s U-turn on H-1B

Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration.

This step to reshape the H-1B visa program represents his administration’s most high-profile effort yet to rework temporary employment visas and underscores what critics have said is a protectionist agenda.

It is a U-turn from Trump’s earlier stance when he sided with one-time ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backed the program for foreign tech workers even though it was opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump administration officials say the visa allows companies to suppress wages, and curbing it opens more jobs for American tech workers. Supporters of the program argue that it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.

In the hours following Trump’s proclamation, social media was flooded with debate on the scope of the order and dismay at what many saw as a move that dimmed America’s lure as an attractive destination to work in.

An anonymous user on Rednote said their life was like that of a “H-1B slave.” The person cut short a holiday in Tokyo to rush back to the United States, describing it as “a real-life ‘Fast & Furious’ return to the US,” a reference to the hit Hollywood series about street racing.

Trump’s H-1B proclamation read: “Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labour market for American citizens.”

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, could exempt petitioners from the fee at her discretion, the proclamation said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday said companies would have to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas.

However, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Saturday that this was not an annual fee, only a one-time fee that applied to each petition.

A Nvidia engineer, who has lived in the US for 10 years, told Reuters at the San Francisco airport that he had been vacationing in Japan with his wife and infant when he rushed to reschedule his return flight after hearing the news.

“It feels surreal,” he said. “Everything is changing in an instant.”