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It was just past 2:00 am when a mysterious number rang Nobel laureate John Clarke, what he deemed “obviously a joke call” that grew increasingly surreal when he heard “a voice from Sweden.””It soon became clear that it was real,” Clarke told journalists Tuesday after he and two colleagues had won the Nobel Prize in physics for their door-opening work in quantum mechanics.”I was just sitting there feeling completely stunned,” Clarke said. “It had never occurred to me in my entire life that anything like this would ever happen.”The University of California, Berkeley professor said his phone kept ringing, emails began pouring in, and people started “banging on my door” seeking interviews at 3:00 am (1000 GMT).”I said no thank you, not at this time of night,” the British 83-year-old said with a chuckle.Clarke shared the coveted prize with two fellow physicists who worked in his Berkeley lab at the time of the trio’s research, Frenchman Michel Devoret and American John Martinis. All three scientists are researchers at American universities.The physicist noted the significant resources he was afforded at the time of their work some four decades ago, including lab space, graduate assistants and equipment.And he called US President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape American science and health policy — including mass firings to government scientists and steep slashes to research budgets  — an “immensely serious problem.””This will cripple much of United States science research,” he told AFP, adding that he knew people who have taken enormous funding hits.”It is going to be disastrous if this continues,” Clarke said. “Assuming that the present administration finally comes to an end, it may take a decade to get back to where we were, say, half a year ago.””It’s a huge problem” that’s “entirely beyond any understanding of anyone who is a scientist,” he said.- ‘Basic science’ -Nobel laureate Mary Brunkow, among Monday’s winners for medicine, had similarly emphasized to journalists the importance of US public financing to scientific research.This year’s physics laureates carried out their experiments in the 1980s, research that enabled real-world applications of the quantum realm.Quantum mechanics takes over when things get tiny — think subatomic — and the rules of traditional physics no longer apply.For example, when a normal ball hits a wall, it bounces back. But on the quantum scale, a particle will actually pass straight through a comparable wall — a phenomenon called “tunneling.”Clarke and his fellow winners demonstrated tunneling on a scale the public can grasp. As the Nobel committee put it, their work showed “the bizarre properties of the quantum world can be made concrete in a system big enough to be held in the hand.”That research made possible technologies like the cell phone, and also proved foundational in the race to develop powerful quantum computers.Clarke noted Tuesday that it is “vital” to keep conducting — and funding — work that might seem like “basic science” but results in “crucial applications” down the line.”Michel and John and I had no way of understanding the importance” their work would have, he said. “If you’d asked us 40 years ago, we would have said, ‘Well yeah, it’s an interesting thing.'”He emphasized that researchers who lay the groundwork “are not that people who actually use that effect to do something that is vitally important.””It’s so important to do this basic science, because you don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”

Briton John Clarke, Frenchman Michel Devoret and American John Martinis won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for putting quantum mechanics into action and enabling the development of all kinds of digital technology from cellphones to a new generation of computersThe Nobel jury noted that their work had “provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers and quantum sensors”.Quantum mechanics describes how differently things work on incredibly small scales. For example, when a normal ball hits a wall, it bounces back. But on the quantum scale, a particle will actually pass straight through a comparable wall — a phenomenon called “tunnelling”.”What these scientists were able to do was to basically do that, but on an electric circuit,” Ulf Danielsson, secretary of the Nobel physics committee and a professor of theoretical physics at Uppsala University, told AFP.In experiments carried out in the 1980s, the scientists showed that quantum tunnelling can also be observed on a macroscopic scale -– involving multiple particles –- by using superconductors.”This prize is awarding an experiment that brings the scale up to the macroscopic scale, scales that we can understand and measure through human standards,” Danielsson said.- ‘Surprise of my life’ -“It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology,” Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said in a statement.Clarke, 83, is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.Devoret, 72, is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara and is listed as a professor emeritus at Yale University.Martinis, born 1958, is also a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.”To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life,” Clarke told reporters via telephone during the prize announcement, about learning of his award.Clarke said the scientists had been focused on the physics of their experiments and had not realised at the time the practical applications that could follow.”It certainly had not occurred to us in any way that this discovery would have such a significant impact,” Clarke said.Asked about how their discoveries had affected everyday life, Clarke noted that he was speaking to the audience via his mobile phone.”One of the underlying reasons that the cell phone works is because of all this work,” Clarke said.Speaking to journalists later Tuesday he emphasized how “vital and important” the insights of his colleagues had been.”We would never have gotten this prize if they hadn’t done all their hard work.”- ‘Brain drain’ -Like many Nobel laureates, the trio’s research was carried out in the United States.Speaking to reporters stateside on Tuesday, Clarke emphasized that massive budget cuts to science programmes announced by President Donald Trump “will cripple” important research there.”It is going to be disastrous if this continues,” he told AFP.Major US institutions typically dominate the Nobel science prizes, due largely to the US’ longstanding investment in basic science and academic freedoms.”The fact that Michel Devoret went to the US is an example of the brain drain,” Eleanor Crane, a quantum physicist at King’s College London, told AFP.But at the same time, Crane noted that this trend “is being reverted right now with a new administration”.Trump’s efforts to slash funding to research universities have raised fears that the US may lose its scientific edge.  The physics prize is the second Nobel of the season, following Monday’s medicine prize to a US-Japanese trio for research into the human immune system.Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi were honoured for identifying immunological “security guards”.Brunkow also emphasized to journalists Tuesday how important federal funding was “for promoting and supporting science.”The physics prize will be followed by the chemistry prize on Wednesday, the literature prize on Thursday, and the highly watched Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.The economics prize wraps up the 2025 Nobel season on October 13.The Nobel consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2-million cheque, to be shared if there is more than one winner in a discipline.The 2025 laureates will receive their prizes at formal ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of scientist Alfred Nobel, who created the prizes in his will.

President Donald Trump said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney would be “very happy” after their trade talks at the White House Tuesday, but offered no immediate concessions on lifting steep US tariffs.Striking a friendly tone in the Oval Office, Trump praised Carney as a “world-class leader” adding that the former central banker was a “nice man” who can also be “very nasty.”But Carney, who faced pressure at home to get a deal during his second White House visit since taking power in April, left without any firm promises that tariffs would be lifted.”I think they’re going to walk away very happy,” Trump told reporters, saying that there was “natural conflict” between the two economies, but that they had “come a long way over the last few months.” Carney said he was confident that Canada would “get the right deal” from the United States, his country’s main economic partner.The pair also shared a series of light-hearted moments, even laughing as Trump joked about a Canadian “merger” in a reference to his previous calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.Despite the jovial tone, Trump and Carney studiously avoided giving any precise details on how they might ease US tariffs on lumber, aluminum, steel and automobiles. On Monday, the US president announced 25 percent tariffs on all imported heavy trucks starting November 1.A statement from Carney after the visit indicated there had been little firm agreement, saying only that both leaders recognized there were areas for competition and others where they could work together. “We’re focused on building these new opportunities,” he said on X.- ‘Broken promises’ -The 60-year-old Carney entered politics less than a year ago after campaigning on his extensive crisis management experience as a way of countering Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.But while the vast majority of Canada’s trade remains protected by the USMCA, a free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, Trump has called for revisions when it comes up for renegotiation soon.Seventy-five percent of Canada’s exports are sold across its southern border. Canada saw its GDP decline by 1.5 percent in the second quarter, adding to the economic pressure.Before the visit, Canada’s opposition heaped pressure on Carney, as the country is the last major US ally not to seal a deal with Washington.”If you return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in an open letter to Carney on Monday.Carney faces particular criticism for making concessions to Trump while getting little in return.At the end of June, Carney canceled a tax targeting American tech giants under pressure from Trump, who called it outrageous. He also lifted many of the tariffs imposed by the previous government. “Mark Carney has no choice, he must return from Washington with progress,” said Daniel Beland, a political scientist at McGill University in Montreal, pointing to the steel and aluminum tariffs as key areas.But Carney at least seemed to have negotiated the hurdle of an Oval Office visit for a second time — one that has caused stumbles for previous visitors like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.”These meetings can easily go off track, and everything plays out publicly,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.

Two hundred Texas National Guard troops have arrived in Illinois, a Pentagon official said Tuesday, ahead of a planned deployment in Chicago that is strongly opposed by local Democratic officials.US President Donald Trump has already sent troops onto the streets of Los Angeles and Washington, DC and has ordered them to Memphis as well as Chicago and Portland, threatening to invoke emergency powers to forward such efforts if the courts get in the way. Trump — who suggested last week that American cities be used as “training grounds” for US military forces — exaggerated the scale of unrest in Los Angeles and crime in Washington to justify those deployments, and a judge suggested he did the same when it comes to Portland.The troops from Texas were sent to Illinois as part of a mission to protect “federal functions, personnel, and property,” the Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the Guardsmen have been mobilized for an initial period of 60 days.The troops were seen on Tuesday at a military facility in Elwood, southwest of Chicago.The planned deployment of these forces has infuriated Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, who said they “should stay the hell out of Illinois,” and that any deployment against his state government’s wishes would amount to an “invasion.”Trump over the weekend authorized the deployment of 700 National Guard troops to Chicago, sparking a lawsuit by Illinois state officials who accused him of using US troops “to punish his political enemies.”- ‘Untethered to the facts’ -“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the Illinois Attorney General and counsel for Chicago said.But Judge April Perry, an appointee of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, declined to issue an immediate temporary restraining order, instead scheduling a full hearing for Thursday.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the plan to send troops to Chicago, claiming that the third-largest US city is “a war zone.”Trump has similarly taken aim at Portland, which like Chicago has seen surges of federal agents as part of the president’s mass deportation drive, prompting protests outside immigration processing facilities. Trump asserted that it is “war-ravaged” and riddled with violent crime.But in a Saturday court order temporarily blocking the deployment of troops to Oregon, US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote that “the President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts.”Protests in Portland did not pose a “danger of rebellion” and “regular law enforcement forces” could handle such incidents, the judge wrote.Trump responded to that setback by openly mulling the use of the Insurrection Act — which allows the president to deploy the military within the United States to suppress rebellion — in order to send more troops into Democratic-led US cities.”We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump said, adding that he would use it if “people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up.”

US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that some workers placed on enforced leave during the government shutdown may not receive back pay if he deemed that they did not “deserve” the money.The Republican leader made the remark when asked by reporters about a draft White House memo arguing that 750,000 employees expected to be furloughed are not guaranteed to get their money when they return to work. “It depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said. “I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy.”US media reporting on the memo described it as the latest broadside in a campaign by Trump to pressure Senate Democrats into backing a Republican resolution to reopen the government. Nonessential federal agencies began closing last Wednesday after Democrats — demanding an extension in expiring health care subsidies — refused to sign on to the temporary funding measure.Trump signed a law after the last shutdown in his first term — the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) — stipulating that all federal staff “shall be paid for the period of the lapse.”But the new memo argues that, under an amended version of GEFTA, the money for those workers needs to be specifically authorized by Congress and is not automatic.”For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump said when the subject of the shutdown came up during a Oval Office event with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.”There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”Withholding back pay would be seen as a significant escalation by Trump, who has already threatened the jobs of thousands of the furloughed workers if Democrats do not back down. But his stance sparked some backlash from some Republicans on Capitol Hill.”We’ve always paid back pay to the military and federal workers,” Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy told reporters at the US Capitol, predicting that nothing would change this time around.Fellow Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said it was “a horrible message to send to people who are basically hostages right now to the Democrats shutting down the government,” according to The Hill.On the Democratic side, Washington Senator Patty Murray said the memo “flies in the face of the plain text of the law, which could not be more clear.””Trump doesn’t get to change the rules and rob workers just because he’s worried his shutdown is backfiring,” she added.”Scaring and intimidating workers won’t work. He is not fooling anyone.”

The US Supreme Court appeared poised on Tuesday to back a challenge by a Christian therapist to a Colorado law that bans “conversion therapy” for minors who are questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation.The case was brought by Kaley Chiles, a licensed mental health counselor who argues that the prohibition from holding such conversations with minors is a violation of her First Amendment free speech rights.Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law, passed in 2019, prohibits licensed mental health professionals from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of their patients under 18 years old.Conversion therapy is banned in more than 20 US states and much of Europe, with both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association opposed to its use.”Miss Chiles is being silenced and the kids and families who want her help are unable to access it,” James Campbell, her lawyer, told the conservative majority court during 90 minutes of oral arguments.”She’s discussing concepts of identity and behavior and attractions and how they fit together,” Campbell said. “That absolutely has to be protected by the First Amendment.”Campbell, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group, dismissed studies showing conversion therapy can be harmful, saying they “treat voluntary conversations the same as shock therapy.”Chiles brought her case before the nation’s top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, after two lower courts ruled in favor of Colorado.- ‘Debunked’ -Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, asked Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson, who was defending the law, to point to the “best evidence” that talk therapy causes harm to minors.”All of the theories underlying conversion therapy have been debunked,” Stevenson said, adding that there is “not a single expert, not a single study, not a single mental health professional willing to endorse conversion therapy.””People have been trying to do conversion therapy for 100 years with no record of success,” she said.”The harms from conversion therapy come from when you tell a young person you can change this innate thing about yourself and they try and they try and they fail,” she said.”And then they have shame and they’re miserable and then it ruins their relationships with their family.”Justice Samuel Alito, an archconservative, pushed back, saying medical consensus is “usually very reasonable” but there have been occasions when it “has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology.”Alito cited “a time when many medical professionals thought that certain people should not be permitted to procreate because they had low IQs” or recommended that children with Down Syndrome be institutionalized.After taking office for his second term in January, President Donald Trump said the US government would henceforth only recognize two genders — male and female — and signed an executive order restricting gender transition medical procedures for people under the age of 19.In June, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold a Tennessee state law banning hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for minors.The court is expected to rule on the conversion therapy case in June and its decision could impact more than 20 other states with similar bans.The Supreme Court will also hear a challenge this term to state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender girls from taking part in girls’ sports — another issue at the heart of the American culture wars.

President Donald Trump struck a friendly tone with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday, hailing progress towards a trade deal but offering few concrete concessions on steep US tariffs.Trump repeatedly showered praise on “great leader” Carney, who was under pressure at home to show progress from his second visit to the White House since taking office in April.”I think they’re going to walk away very happy,” Trump told reporters as he sat alongside Carney in the Oval Office. “And I think we’ve come a long way over the last few months, actually, in terms of that relationship.”Trump said that the North American neighbors had “natural conflict” over business as their manufacturers were competing for the same market but said there was “nothing wrong with it.”Carney said he was confident that Canada would “get the right deal” from the United States, his country’s main economic partner.The pair shared a series of light-hearted moments, even laughing as Trump joked about a Canadian “merger” in a reference to his previous calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.”He is a world-class leader,” Trump said of the former central banker. “He’s a nice man, but he can be very nasty.”But Trump and Carney studiously avoided giving any precise details on how they might ease US tariffs on lumber, aluminum, steel and automobiles. On Monday, the US president announced 25 percent tariffs on all imported heavy trucks starting November 1.The 60-year-old Carney entered politics less than a year ago after campaigning on his extensive crisis management experience as a way of countering Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.But while the vast majority of Canada’s trade remains protected by the USMCA, a free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, Trump has called for revisions when it comes up for renegotiation soon.Seventy-five percent of Canada’s exports are sold across its southern border. Canada saw its GDP decline by 1.5 percent in the second quarter, adding to the economic pressure.- ‘Broken promises’ -Before the visit Canada’s opposition heaped pressure on Carney, as the country is the last major US ally not to seal a deal with Washington.”If you return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in an open letter to Carney on Monday.Carney faces particular criticism for making concessions to Trump while getting little in return.At the end of June, Carney canceled a tax targeting American tech giants under pressure from Trump, who called it outrageous. He also lifted many of the tariffs imposed by the previous government. “Mark Carney has no choice, he must return from Washington with progress,” said Daniel Beland, a political scientist at McGill University in Montreal, pointing to the steel and aluminum tariffs as key areas.But Carney at least seemed to have negotiated the first hurdle of an Oval Office visit.While the Canadian safely navigated his first appearance there six months ago, Trump has previously savaged visiting foreign leaders in the gilded room, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.”These meetings can easily go off track, and everything plays out publicly,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.Last week, Trump once again brought up the possibility of annexing Canada during a speech to US generals and admirals, referencing the country’s potential participation in a new “Golden Dome” missile shield.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met President Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday seeking to ease US tariffs that are hitting Canada’s economy — and his popularity at home.Carney is making his second visit to the Oval Office since April, but unlike other US allies Canada has still not sealed a deal with Washington to take the edge off Trump’s trade wars.The 60-year-old former central banker entered politics less than a year ago but now faces growing criticism domestically, where he campaigned on his extensive crisis management experience.”I wore red for you!” Carney joked, pointing to his tie as the US president greeted him outside the West Wing. Trump often wears a red tie, although on this occasion he was wearing a blue one.A day earlier, Trump said when asked about Carney’s visit that “I guess he’s going to ask about tariffs, because a lot of companies from Canada are moving into the United States.”The 79-year-old US president has also recently repeated his desire to make Canada “the 51st state”, an issue that caused tensions before Carney’s previous trip.The Canadian government said that during Carney’s “working visit” he seeks to restore bilateral relations and discuss “shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the US.”Unlike other US allies such as Britain and the European Union, Canada has not yet cut a deal for a comprehensive trade agreement with its North American neighbor.The United States is Canada’s main economic partner, with 75 percent of Canada’s exports being sold across its southern border. Canada saw its GDP decline by 1.5 percent in the second quarter, adding to the economic pressure.Trump has already imposed tariffs on lumber, aluminum, steel and automobiles. On Monday, he announced 25 percent tariffs on heavy trucks starting November 1.For now, the vast majority of trade remains protected by the USMCA, a free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico. But the agreement faces renegotiation soon, and Trump has already called for a revision that would favor US industries.- ‘No choice’ -The Canadian premier is under major pressure at home to seal a deal.”Mark Carney has no choice, he must return from Washington with progress,” said Daniel Beland, a political scientist at McGill University in Montreal, pointing to the steel and aluminium tariffs as key areas.Carney faces particular criticism for making concessions while getting little in return.At the end of June, Carney canceled a tax targeting American tech giants under pressure from Trump, who called it outrageous. He also lifted many of the tariffs imposed by the previous government. “If you return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in an open letter to Carney on Monday.Carney faces risks, too, as he appears in the Oval Office. The Canadian safely navigated his first appearance there six months ago, but Trump has previously savaged visiting foreign leaders in the gilded room including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.”These meetings can easily go off track, and everything plays out publicly,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.Last week, Trump once again brought up the possibility of annexing Canada during a speech to US generals and admirals, referencing the country’s potential participation in a new “Golden Dome” missile shield.”Canada called me a couple of weeks ago, they want to be part of it,” Trump claimed. “To which I said, well, why don’t you just join our country” and “become the 51st state, and you get it for free.” 

US Attorney General Pam Bondi faced fiery questioning Tuesday from senators who accuse her of transforming the Justice Department into a tool of President Donald Trump’s efforts to target his perceived enemies.Bondi has courted huge controversy since taking over as the nation’s top law enforcement official, amid criticism that she has failed to maintain the guardrails keeping the department separate from the White House. “President (Joe) Biden never directed the attorney general to prosecute his political opponents… What has taken place since January 20, 2025 would make even President Nixon recoil,” Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told her in a blistering opening speech.He said the Justice Department under Bondi had “become a shield for the president and his political allies when they engage in misconduct.” Trump warned repeatedly during the 2024 election campaign that he would go after his political foes, and appeared to berate Bondi in a recent social media post, dressing down someone he referred to as “Pam” over the lack of action. Shortly after, federal prosecutors sent shockwaves through Washington by indicting former FBI director James Comey, who led a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.Comey is due in court on Wednesday, accused of lying to Congress in a case many legal experts say looks specious. The launch of investigations into US Senator Adam Schiff, former national security advisor John Bolton and New York Attorney General Letitia James — all of whom have publicly opposed Trump — have added to the controversy.All three were named in Trump’s post apparently upbraiding Bondi.Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said he was “gravely concerned” that Trump’s post “urging you to go after and to indict and to prosecute specific, named people (seems) to have led to dramatic and sudden action by the department.”Senators also pressed Bondi on the legal basis for Trump’s use of federal troops in cities he says are rife with crime, a crackdown critics say is unconstitutional.Trump has focused on Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Memphis and Portland — all of which have Democratic leaders.- ‘Weaponization’ -Bondi offered a defiant defense of her record, telling senators that she was working to reinstate public faith undermined by the weaponization of her department under the previous administration.”We are returning to our core mission of fighting real crime. While there is more work to do, I believe in eight short months, we have made tremendous progress towards those ends,” she said.Before his election wiped away his own legal woes, Trump was facing multiple indictments for allegedly hoarding classified government documents and leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election result.  Republicans say the Justice Department under Biden — which led two of the indictments — has more questions to answer over weaponization than Bondi’s team.On the eve of the hearing, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley published FBI documents showing that Special Counsel Jack Smith secretly gathered phone records on the contacts of eight Republican senators while investigating Trump. “That’s what we’ve been talking about when we refer to the weaponization of government… we are ending this weaponization,” Bondi said when Grassley brought up the issue. Bondi also faced heat on her handling of the files relating to the federal investigation into notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. House Democrats — supported by a handful of Republicans — have been pressing for the release of the entire case file, after Bondi announced that the case was closed and that she had no new information to offer.

The United States issued nearly one-fifth fewer student visas in August following a crackdown by President Donald Trump, led by a steep drop for India which was overtaken by China as top country of origin, data showed Monday.The United States issued 313,138 student visas in August, the most common start month for US universities, a drop of 19.1 percent from the same month in 2024, according to the International Trade Administration.India, which last year was the top source of foreign students to the United States, saw the most dramatic drop with 44.5 percent fewer student visas issued than a year earlier.Visa issuance also dropped for Chinese students but not nearly at the same rate. The United States issued 86,647 visas to students from mainland China in August, more than double the number issued to Indians.The statistics do not reflect overall numbers of US-based international students, many of whom remain on previously issued visas.Trump has put a top priority since returning to the White House both on curbing immigration and on weakening universities, which his administration sees as a key power base of the left.Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly suspended processing of student visas in June, a peak month, as he issued orders that US embassies vet applicants’ social media.Rubio has revoked thousands of student visas, often due to criticism of Israel, on the grounds that he can refuse entry to people who go against US foreign policy interests.In rules that affect Indians in particular, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for applicants to apply for visas outside jurisdictions of the US consulates in their home countries, even if there are backlogs.Trump has taken a series of actions at odds with India, which for decades had been courted by US policymakers of both parties who saw the billion-plus nation as a natural counterweight to China.Trump has also imposed a hefty new fee on H-1B visas, which are used largely by Indian technology workers.Trump, however, has voiced hope for ramping up the number of Chinese students to boost relations between the two powers, a sharp contrast to earlier messaging from Rubio who had vowed to “aggressively” revoke visas from Chinese students he accuses of exploiting US technical knowhow.The latest figures also show a sharp drop in student visas from many Muslim-majority countries, with admissions from Iran dropping by 86 percent.