Former US President Barack Obama praised the elite Harvard University for its stance against Donald Trump, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The Democrat, who is a former Harvard graduate, said that “Harvard has set an example for other higher education institutions by rejecting the illegal and blatant attempt to suppress academic freedom while taking concrete steps to ensure that all students benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, serious debate and mutual respect.
Harvard University has refused to implement changes demanded by Trump, including those regarding student admissions. In response, the government has frozen billions of dollars in funding for Harvard. Trump threatened Harvard University that it could be stripped of its tax exemption and taxed as a political entity. He accused the university of spreading leftist ideology.
Washington has lifted sanctions against Antal Rogan, a close confidant of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
The decision is a sign of the close relationship between the Donald Trump administration and the Hungarian prime minister.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Rogan had been removed from the State Department's blacklist. He informed his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó about this during a telephone conversation with him. According to Rubio, if Rogan's presence on the blacklist were to remain, it would be incompatible with US foreign policy interests.
The sanctions against Rogan were introduced by the administration of President Joe Biden. Rogan is the chief of staff to the Hungarian prime minister. The sanctions were imposed because of his involvement in corruption.
Antal Rogan, who controls the intelligence and communications services, was accused of organizing corruption schemes to control strategic sectors of Hungary's economy and divert revenues to his own and his party's benefit, the Biden administration said when it imposed the sanctions.
Szijjártó said the decision to lift the sanctions was a clear signal that the wind in Washington was turning. He said the decision to impose sanctions was "the fruit of a real political vendetta on the part of the "frustrated American ambassador to Hungary" and President Trump has righted this injustice
Ambassador David Pressman, who served in Budapest from 2022 to early 2025, regularly criticized the systematic corruption, the suppression of free speech, and the violation of human rights, particularly of the LGBT community, in Hungary.
Orbán is one of the few European leaders who is close to Trump.