US President Donald Trump said Monday his administration would seek $1 billion in damages from Harvard University after a New York Times report said the college had won some concessions in ongoing settlement negotiations with the government.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump officials have accused Harvard and other colleges of promoting so-called “woke” ideology while failing to sufficiently protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests, filing legal complaints and demanding exorbitant payouts.
Critics have called it a pressure campaign by the administration on liberal universities.
Fellow Ivy League institution Columbia University agreed to pay the Trump administration $200 million last summer and pledged to obey rules that bar it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring.
But the New York Times earlier on Monday reported Trump had dropped his administration’s demands for a settlement payout of $200 million from Harvard, after protracted talks.
Trump told reporters last September that negotiations were close to reaching a $500 million settlement with Harvard, with part of the deal including the opening of trade schools.
“They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” Trump said in his post late Monday evening.
“It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,” he added, without specifying what laws Harvard has allegedly broken.
The University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League institution, also bowed to Trump administration concerns last year, announcing it would ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
In a sport which is often changing, the Six Nations is usually left well alone.
While the authorities tinker with laws and competitions, they dare not meddle with the famous old Championship.
February and March, every year. Since 2000, the same six teams. And any talk of promotion and relegation, or expansion, is just that – talk. The Six Nations is brilliantly enduring and enduringly brilliant.
However, this year it will look a little different.
Not just because of a Thursday night start for the first time, but in an unprecedented move the tournament will be played over just six weeks rather than seven, with only one rest weekend between rounds three and four. There will be three back-to-back games at the start.
It may seem a minor tweak, but it could be significant. Since 2003 the tournament has been played over seven weeks, with a rest week either side of round three; before that the Championship was played over as many as 10 weeks.
Compressing the tournament has been mooted for a while. However, when raised in 2017, it was met by opposition from the players and quietly shelved – until now.
From a commercial viewpoint it makes sense. Build a narrative. Own the early spring sporting landscape. Keep up the momentum.
That middle weekend – with fallow weeks either side – always felt a little imperfect.
However, back in 2017, England’s George Ford said the tournament was “tough enough” on players and his concerns remain valid.
Three high-intensity games on consecutive weekends will take a physical and mental toll, especially on the countries with fewer resources.
“It could have an impact, absolutely,” former Scotland captain John Barclay told the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
“And it will impact Scotland, Wales and Italy more because they are the countries which don’t quite have that level of depth.”
Barclay, who won 76 caps in a twelve-year international career, remembers a particularly brutal meeting with the French in Paris nine years ago, which resulted in head injury assessments (HIAs) for seven Scotland players.
Under World Rugby’s HIA protocol, players showing concussion symptoms must spend a minimum of 12 days on the sidelines.
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Having spoken to the Six Nations coaches, all agree that managing playing and training load will be more important than ever.
England vice-captain Jamie George agrees the schedule could help the squads with greater strength in depth.
“It puts a bigger emphasis on recovery and getting yourself right, and it’s certainly more challenging,” George told BBC Sport.
“At the same time it probably emphasises the importance of squad depth, which is something that we’re blessed with in the squad.
“I think you’ll see a lot more rotation of players, whether that be for injury or form or whatever it might be.”
“We’re pleased with our depth,” insists Scotland boss Gregor Townsend, who estimates between 30 and 35 players will need to be called upon across the six weeks.
“If you’ve gone beyond that [30-35 players] then you’ve probably had a lot of injuries and any team will be affected by that.
“Let’s hope we don’t pick up too many injuries during the five games.”
Ireland boss Andy Farrell has had to deal with multiple injuries already in his squad, but he feels three high-intensity matches in a row will serve teams well for a 2027 Rugby World Cup where the pool stage has been reduced to add a new last-16 round.
“International rugby is tough, and it does take longer to get over, but the World Cup has changed as well and we are all trying to prepare for that further down the track,” Farrell told Rugby Union Weekly.
Perennial underdogs Italy start with Scotland at home before travelling to Ireland then France – a treacherous trio of games.
“Honestly, it is what it is and we are going to adapt,” says Azzurri head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
“There are positives – we have a lot of players who play abroad [and return to clubs in fallow weeks] so to have them for three weeks in a row is a good thing.
“But it is going to be tough. We need to have not a lot of injuries if we are going to arrive at the France game and be competitive.”
For Steve Tandy and Wales, another squad who could find themselves stretched to the limit, it will be about boxing clever to keep the players fresh.
“It’s a huge demand, but that’s where you want to be,” Tandy explained. “There will be injuries and fatigue but that will create an opportunity for someone else.
“But you realise sometimes less is more. In certain weeks you have to get the players mentally fresh. So we have to make sure we are managing their weeks right. We are going to have to be smart.”
The beauty of the Six Nations is the consistency with which David fells Goliath. Wales (population three million) has won twice as many Grand Slams this millennium as England (population 57 million).
West Ham have sold defender Anouk Denton for a club record fee of £200,000 to American side Bay FC.
The 22-year-old has been a key player for the Hammers since signing permanently from Arsenal in 2023, making 67 appearances.
Denton became the first West Ham player to represent the Lionesses since 1996 when she made her England debut against Ghana in December.
“Bay FC is an ambitious club with a clear vision, and it felt like the right place for the next step in my career,” Denton said.
Denton last played for West Ham in December’s 5-1 defeat by Manchester City in the League Cup quarter-finals.
She leaves West Ham with the club 11th in the Women’s Super League, one point above Liverpool in the relegation play-off spot.
Denton will reunite with former England Under-23s manager Emma Coates when she joins Bay FC.
“I’m really pleased to welcome Anouk to Bay. She’s someone I have worked with before, so I know exactly what she brings,” Coates said.
“She brings valuable experience at the top level from her time in the WSL, and what’s exciting is that there’s still room for her to grow.”
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay FC finished 13th of 14 teams in the National Women’s Soccer League last season, registering just four wins in 26 matches.
Record-breaking snowfall in Japan has been blamed for 30 deaths in the past two weeks, including a 91-year-old woman found buried under 300cm (118 inches) of snow outside her home, officials said.
The heavy snowfall prompted the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to order the deployment of troops on Tuesday to help in affected areas, according to the Japanese national television NHK.
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Authorities told people to watch for avalanches and accumulated snow falling from rooftops, NHK reported, and also warned that power outages are possible in the hardest-hit areas.
As of Tuesday, the northern city of Aomori had 175cm (about 69 inches) of snow accumulated on the ground, more than double the average for this time of the year, according to NHK. On Monday, the city recorded as much as 183cm (72 inches) of snow accumulating in some areas, breaking the 40-year record of 181cm (71 inches) observed in 1986.
Aomori Governor Soichiro Miyashita said on Monday he had asked the military to offer disaster relief, especially to the elderly, many of whom live alone and need help clearing snow.
“The danger of life-threatening incidents, such as fatal accidents due to falling snow from the roofs or collapsing buildings, is imminent,” he said in a news conference.
Several other cities also reported snow accumulation of at least 135cm (53 inches), NHK reported.
From January 20 through Tuesday, 30 people have died as a result of the heavy snowfall, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
A person walks past a bulletin board for posters of candidates for the February 8 snap election in the western city of Fukui [Kyodo via Reuters]
On Monday, NHK reported at least 12 deaths in the northwestern Niigata prefecture facing the Sea of Japan, six in Akita prefecture in northern Japan, three in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, two in Aomori and one each in four other prefectures.
NHK quoted officials from Niigata as saying that two men removing snow on Sunday were swept away in a waterway for snow disposal. Others appeared to have fallen off roofs or died after suddenly becoming ill at work or during breaks.
A total of 290 people suffered injuries, some serious, due to snow-related incidents, according to NHK.
The meteorological agency said some areas of the country are seeing more than double the usual volumes of snow, as, according to the Kyodo news agency, a cold air mass from the Arctic lingers over the Japanese archipelago.
It is unclear how the heavy snow will affect the parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday.
Having enjoyed a relatively calm January transfer window on the whole, Wrexham went into overdrive on deadline day.
Zak Vyner, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Bailey Cadamarteri joined the club during the winter window, while a total of 10 first team players departed.
With Wrexham well placed to challenge for a play-off spot in the Championship, Phil Parkinson will hope his side’s latest business can bolster the club’s chances of tasting more success under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
January business in full
Signings
Zak Vyner from Bristol City (permanent), Davis Keillor-Dunn from Barnsley (permanent), Bailey Cadamarteri from Sheffield Wednesday (permanent)
Departures
Jake Bickerstaff to Cheltenham Town (permanent), James McClean to Derry City (permanent), Andy Cannon to Burton Albion (loan), Paul Mullin to Bradford City (loan), Conor Coady to Charlton Athletic (loan), Jacob Mendy to Peterborough United (permanent), Elliot Lee to Doncaster Rovers (loan), Ryan Hardie to Huddersfield Town (loan), Harry Ashfield to Cheltenham Town (loan), Mo Faal to Cheltenham Town (loan)
Streamlining the key
Having made 13 signings in the summer, the target in the new year was always to streamline the squad rather than make wholesale changes.
Parkinson was determined not to have players being frozen out for the remainder of the season as he plotted his revised 25-man squad that will soon be submitted to the English Football League (EFL).
Summer signing Conor Coady started just five league matches after joining from Leicester City and was keen to seek regular game time elsewhere.
The 10-cap England international secured a switch to Charlton Athletic which paved the way for Vyner – a target in the summer – to move to north Wales.
With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the defender – who made 264 appearances for the Robins – was available for a reported sum of just £1.5m.
Vyner, 28, is vastly experienced at Championship level and is capable of playing across the back three or in midfield.
Lewis Brunt is edging ever closer to returning to action, so Parkinson is well stocked when it comes to his defensive options.
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Wrexham have a wealth of options in midfield, hence the club’s decision to let Andy Cannon – back from almost a year out with an ACL injury – spend the rest of the season at Burton Albion.
It is the same with back-to-back-to-back promotion heroes Paul Mullin and Elliot Lee, who joined Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers respectively on loan.
But the final pieces were more of a jigsaw puzzle, with forward and wing-back options explored.
After Saturday’s win over Sheffield Wednesday, Parkinson stated Ryan Hardie would only be allowed to leave if they could find a replacement for the Scot.
Parkinson watched Sidiki Cherif in action for French club Angers, although the 19-year-old joined Turkish giants Fenerbahce on an initial loan deal, with the move to be made permanent in the summer.
But once the first domino fell, Wrexham’s final business swiftly fell into place.
The club agreed deals with Barnsley for Keillor-Dunn and Sheffield Wednesday for Cadamarteri – paving the way for Hardie to head to Huddersfield Town on loan.
Keillor-Dunn and Cadamarteri will now compete with the likes of top scorer Kieffer Moore, in-form Sam Smith and fit again Jay Rodriguez for game time.
At wing-back, James McClean’s departure to hometown club Derry City opened up the possibility of a new wide option being recruited.
But while they did not add to that department, Parkinson does have options.
Liberato Cacace and Issa Kabore are both fit again and started together for the first time in almost three months in the win at Hillsborough.
He also has Ryan Barnett and Ryan Longman at his disposal, while midfielder George Thomason has slotted in at left wing-back admirably at times this season.
Elsewhere, it was a case of trimming the numbers and increasing the game time of fringe players, as evidenced by the loan switches of Mo Faal and Harry Ashfield to Cheltenham Town.
The final stretch
Parkinson’s side have won four successive away league games in the second tier for the first time in their history, and Saturday’s 1-0 win at bottom side Wednesday saw Wrexham reach the 30-game mark in style.
The victory lifted them back up to sixth, putting them two points clear of seventh-placed Derby County and three behind fifth-placed Millwall – who they face at Stok Cae Ras on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
Since the EFL was restructured in 2004, teams finishing in sixth place in the Championship average around 73 points – 26 more than Wrexham currently have with 48 points left to play for.
Only five medical evacuees were allowed to leave Gaza, and just 12 Palestinians were allowed to return to the war-torn territory due to delays imposed by Israeli authorities as the Rafah border crossing with Egypt finally reopened.
The long-awaited reopening of the territory’s southern border crossing with Egypt on Monday was supposed to alleviate more than 18 months of a punishing military siege on Gaza.
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Instead, Israeli authorities continued with tight security restrictions and a complex bureaucratic process that allowed only a small number of people to travel in either direction – leaving or entering Gaza – and also blocked goods from passing freely through the border gate.
The number of people allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing – five sick patients leaving Gaza for treatment abroad and 12 people returning home on Monday – fell far short of the 50 people Israeli officials had promised would be permitted to move in each direction.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City early on Tuesday, said the reopening of the crossing was a long time coming, and the result was far less than promised.
“This is coming after a long time of waiting,” Mahmoud said.
“They were expected to be entering the Gaza Strip throughout the past hours, but they were held for long hours, and this is in part due to the long process of security clearance set by the Israeli military on the Rafah crossing,” he said.
“We expected to see 50 Palestinians returning from Egypt into the Gaza Strip throughout the day, and that was the expectation by the family members here in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Instead, a bus carrying 12 people, the first of its type to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing in more than 18 months, brought the first group of people home early on Tuesday.
Palestinians coming from the Rafah crossing after its reopening on February 2, 2026, arrive in a vehicle at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]
Among the many restrictions being imposed at the crossing by Israeli authorities is that only people who left Gaza during the war are being allowed re-entry through Rafah after undergoing an exacting security clearance process.
While only five Palestinian patients were allowed to leave the Strip on Monday through the crossing, an estimated 20,000 children and adults in dire need of medical care are waiting to depart on the Gaza side of the border for medical treatment in Egypt and elsewhere, according to Gaza health officials.
Ambulances queued for hours at the border on Monday, ready to ferry Palestinian patients across the border, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News channel showed.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, spoke with Randa Abu Mustafa, whose son lost sight in both his eyes due to injuries sustained in Israel’s war on the territory. He was among the five patients lucky enough to be approved to leave on Monday.
Another woman, Shimaa Abu Rida, told Al Jazeera that her daughter, Joumana, was seriously wounded in an Israeli air attack and she is still anxiously waiting to leave.
“Streams of people are lining up, hoping to cross to Egypt. But with 20,000 patients waiting for approval, most will be disappointed,” Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum said.
And with the entry of much-needed medicine and humanitarian supplies still blocked, Palestinian lives remain “at the mercy” of Israel, he said.
Tom Fletcher, United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the partial reopening of the Rafah crossing was insufficient, stressing that the border post must function as a genuine humanitarian corridor to deliver life-saving aid.
Qatar, which helped negotiate the “ceasefire” deal Israel continues to violate at will, welcomed the opening of the Rafah crossing as “a step in the right direction”.
In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Israel to fully implement the deal “to ensure the sustainable and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip”.
“The Ministry renews the State of Qatar’s steadfast and permanent position in support of the Palestinian cause and the resilience of the brotherly Palestinian people, based on international legitimacy resolutions and the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the ministry added.
Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of the enclave.
The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel, while Rafah, which links with Egypt, was seized by Israeli troops during the war in May 2024.
Violence continued across the territory on Monday, with Israeli attacks killing at least three Palestinians in central and northern Gaza.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli drones bombed a location close to an area where people had gathered for a funeral in Nuseirat in central Gaza, killing two people and injuring several.
Israeli forces also killed one Palestinian in Halawa Camp in the city of Jabalia in northern Gaza.
