Trump's USA

The cuts
20 percent of NASA forced to follow Trump's cuts

Approximately 3,900 employees at NASA are being laid off due to Donald Trump's extensive work to reduce the federal workforce, writes AFP.

This corresponds to almost 20 percent of NASA's 18,000 employees.

This is happening at the same time as the president prioritizes plans for manned missions to the moon and Mars. Among other things, he wants to go to the moon again before China, which is planning its first manned lunar landing before 2030.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed that NASA's budget next year be cut by 25 percent. 

Trump's USA  Border issue
Confusion over US asylum program in South Africa

The US embassy in South Africa has asked for clarification from the White House as to whether non-whites can also be included in Donald Trump's new refugee program for South Africans. Reuters reports.

The program is specifically aimed at the white Afrikaans-speaking minority in South Africa and assumes that the group is subjected to discrimination, something that has been widely dismissed.

The State Department's official position is that other ethnic minorities in South Africa may also be eligible, such as the Khoisan people, as long as they can prove persecution. However, according to Reuters, the embassy was still told that the program is only intended for white South Africans.

The news agency writes that the correspondence shows the confusion over how US policy can be applied in a country with great ethnic diversity, where, for example, non-white people speak Afrikaans. 

The conflict with universities
Trump offers settlement to more top universities

The White House will demand millions from several top American universities to get back the federal grants that the Trump administration has stopped, a source told the Washington Post.

The task comes the day after Columbia University agreed to pay just over 2 billion kronor to regain its federal grants. In exchange, the government will also drop its accusations of discrimination and anti-Semitism.

The move is the latest in the Trump administration's conflict with several universities in the United States, which revolves around the institutions' handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Most of all, the White House hopes to reach an agreement with Harvard, which has shown the clearest opposition to government interference.

What about the matter?

Donald Trump's administration has escalated the conflict with top American universities, especially Harvard, in the spring and summer of 2025 by freezing billions of dollars in government funding and threatening to revoke the university's tax exemption. The background is demands for changes to combat anti-Semitism, which Harvard has rejected, citing academic freedom. The administration has also tried to stop international students from studying at Harvard, but these decisions have been temporarily blocked by federal judges. The conflict has led to unrest among students and international reactions.