President Donald Trump vowed Monday to prevail in his clash with Harvard and again threatened to take away billions in funding from one of the world’s top universities. “I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,” Trump said, without giving details,  in one of a flurry of texts on Monday, the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S .  He added: “What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!" He also raised the issue of removing foreign students from Harvard — a key source of enrollment and tuition money for the oldest university in the US — saying he is waiting for Harvard to provide a  list of these students. Trump said he wants this list “so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all,  should not be let back into our Country.” He added: “But have no fe...

  The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have intercepted a shipment of drugs concealed within packages labelled as plantain chips at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this on Sunday in a short statement. “Narco-trend update: This consignment was packaged as plantain chips, but inside was a skunk, as discovered by vigilant #ndlea_nigeria officers in one of their latest seizures at Lagos airport,” he posted on X. Babafemi admonished Nigerians to exercise vigilance when accepting packages for travel. “Always be careful of what you’re given to travel with!” The agency also arrested two Nigerians and two British nationals have been arrested while intercepting six million pills of opioids namely: tamol 225mg, tapentadol 225mg and carisoprodol 225mg as well as 332,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of N6.52 billion at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers and t...

  Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has been named Premier League player of the season. It is the second time the 32-year-old Egyptian has won the award, which is decided after votes from the public are combined with those from a panel of football experts, having also claiming it in the 2017-18 campaign. Salah, who led his side to the Premier League title this season, beat off the challenge from team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch as well as Arsenal's Morgan Gibbs-White and Declan Rice, Newcastle's Alexander Isak, Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo, and Chris Wood of Nottingham Forest. It is the first time since 2018-19 that a Manchester City player has not won the award. Going into Sunday's final game of the season against Crystal Palace, Salah has 28 league goals - five more than anyone else - as well as 18 assists - six more than any other player and two off the record of 20 held by Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne. This season he also became the highest-scoring ove...

  US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted the Boeing 747 that the Gulf emirate of Qatar gave to President Donald Trump for use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Qatar’s offer of the jet — which is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars — has raised huge constitutional and ethical questions, as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power for use as the ultra-sensitive presidential plane. “The Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. “The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States,” Parnell said, referring questions to the US Air Force. The US Constitution prohibits government officials from accepting gifts “from any King, Prince or foreign State,” in a section...

Israel will allow a “basic amount” of food into the Gaza Strip, the prime minister’s office said Sunday, after facing mounting pressure to lift a total blockade imposed more than two months ago. The announcement came hours after the military said it had begun “extensive ground operations” in a newly intensified campaign in Gaza, and as Israel and Hamas engaged in indirect talks on a deal to potentially halt the fighting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that at the military’s recommendation, “Israel will authorise the entry of a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip”. Such a crisis would jeopardise the army’s new operation, it said, adding Israel would “act to prevent Hamas from seizing this humanitarian aid”. Israel said its blockade since March 2 was aimed at forcing concessions from the Palestinian militant group, but UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicin...

  VATICAN—  Here’s the Vatican’s official English translation of Pope Leo XIV’s homily from his inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 18: Dear Brother Cardinals, Brother Bishops and Priests, Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Brothers and Sisters, I greet all of you with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry that has been entrusted to me. Saint Augustine wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, I: 1,1). In these days, we have experienced intense emotions. The death of Pope Francis filled our hearts with sadness. In those difficult hours, we felt like the crowds that the Gospel says were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). Yet on Easter Sunday, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the resurrection, we experienced the days that followed in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, but gathers them when they are scatt...

  Pope Leo XIV, the first US pontiff, made his debut tour of St Peter’s Square on Sunday in a popemobile, greeting tens of thousands of pilgrims and well-wishers ahead of his inauguration mass. Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, who became head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8, stood in the white vehicle as it drove through cheering crowds, smiling, waving and making the sign of the cross. US Vice President JD Vance is among the hundreds of dignitaries due to attend the inauguration mass that begins at 10:00 am (0800 GMT). Leo will preside over the ceremony rich in rites and symbols, where he will receive his special papal ring before giving a homily that will set the tone for his papacy. After spending two decades as a missionary in Peru, the 69-year-old is unknown to many Catholics, but during the past week he has offered glimpses of the kind of leader he will be. In meetings with journalists, clergy and diplomats, he repeatedly called for peace in a world full of ...