Trump officials say Harvard violated civil rights of Jews

The Trump administration said a US investigation found that Harvard University violated civil rights law in its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, further endangering federal funding for the school.

"Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a wilful participant in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff," the govt said in a letter Monday to the university's president, Alan Garber. "Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources."

The finding ramps up pressure on the oldest and richest US university less than two weeks after President Donald Trump said he was nearing a deal with the school following months of attacking it. His administration has scrapped more than $2.6 billion in federal research funding for Harvard, threatened the school's tax-exempt status and sought to prevent it from enrolling foreign students.

In the letter to Harvard, officials including assistant attorney general for civil rights Harmeet Dhillon didn't specify the additional financial penalties the administration is considering. But the govt has other levers it can pull, including Pell Grants for low-income students and access to the federal student-loan programme, which at Harvard is used mostly by graduate students.

Harvard said it strongly disagreed with the govt's findings. The school said it "has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias" and remains committed to ensuring that Jewish and Israeli students can thrive on campus. "Antisemitism is a serious problem and no matter the context, it is unacceptable," the university said. "Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism in its community."

Trump set to terminate Syria sanctions programme

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order later Monday terminating the US sanctions programme, against Syria, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, a bid to boost the nation's economy and support the new govt after rebels overthrew President Bashar Al-Assad last year.