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Trump Bans Harvard From Enrolling Foreign Students, Forcing Transfers (Bloomberg)

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The Trump administration blocked Harvard University from enrolling international students, delivering a major blow to the school and escalating its fight with elite colleges to unprecedented levels.

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The government’s decision to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification Thursday has thrust thousands of international students into limbo. Both the suddenness and timing of the move - after acceptance letters for the fall term have been sent out and transfer applications to other schools are closed - left current and future attendees struggling to figure out what to do next. Existing international students must transfer or lose their legal status, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.

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"This is vicious, it is illegal, it is unwise, and it is very damaging," Larry Summers, who is president emeritus of Harvard University, told Bloomberg TV. "Why does it make any sense at all to stop 6,000 enormously talented young people who want to come to the United States to study from having that opportunity?"

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"Harvard must start by resisting," he said. "This is the stuff of tyranny."

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The move represents a sharp escalation of President Trump’s attack on elite universities, and Harvard in particular. The administration has frozen more than $2.6 billion of the university’s funding and cut off future grants in an increasingly contentious standoff over the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus and government demands for more oversight.

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Trump has also called for the institution to lose its tax-exempt status, a move that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school has cautioned would have "grave consequences for the future of higher education in America."

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Big Consequences: Trump Attack on Harvard Students Reverberates Around the World (Bloomberg)

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The Trump administration’s sudden move to bar foreign students at Harvard University is seen as dealing a blow to the US's standing in business - and handing an advantage to elite rival colleges across the English-speaking world.

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"I was shocked," said Zheng Fang, a 1996 graduate of Harvard Business School whose Keywise Capital Management oversees about $2.5 billion in investments from Hong Kong. The decision "will not only jeopardize Harvard’s academic strength, but also hurt US competitiveness," he added.

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Harvard ranks as one of America's top schools for educating startup founders, ranking third for undergrads, second for grad students, and first for MBAs, according to PitchBook.

What I'm Reading.

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Reader note: US and UK markets are closed on Monday, for Memorial Day in the US and for the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK. Look for your next Daily Read on Tuesday.

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Latest in AI: Google's New AI Video Tool Floods Internet with Real-Looking Clips (Axios)

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Google's newest AI video generator, Veo 3, generates clips that most users online can't seem to distinguish from those made by human filmmakers and actors. Veo 3 videos shared online are amazing viewers with their realism - and also terrifying them with a sense that real and fake have become hopelessly blurred, Axios writes.

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Unlike OpenAI's video generator Sora, released more widely last December, Google DeepMind's Veo 3 can include dialogue, soundtracks and sound effects. And it abides by real-world physics, offers accurate lip syncing, rarely breaks continuity and generates people with lifelike human features, including five fingers per hand.

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Click here to watch a 1 minute video, fully generated with the new Google tool:

Check out the Daily Read podcast: Listen to today's AI-generated audio companion to this newsletter on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and 'Follow' us to be notified when the newest episodes are available.

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New Infrastructure: OpenAI Says It Will Build Massive Data Centers in the UAE (New York Times)

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The company’s new facility is part of a joint venture with G42, an Emirati artificial intelligence firm. The first of several data centers planned for the complex is expected to be up and running next year. G42 is also expected to contribute money to the construction of OpenAI data centers in the United States.

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For every dollar that the firm and its partners invest in the Emirates, they will invest an equivalent amount in the US data centers, OpenAI said. While OpenAI did not say how much the new Emirati facility would cost, its size suggests G42 will invest tens of billions of dollars in each country.

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Financial News: The Bond Market Hates Trump's 'Beautiful Bill' (Bloomberg)

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Trump cut a deal with blue-state Republicans on taxes and put down an 11th-hour rebellion by conservatives over spending to get his "one big, beautiful bill" passed by the House.

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But with the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds again passing the 5% mark on Wednesday, the nation’s creditors injected a dose of harsh economic reality into Trump’s fiscal policy - and not for the first time. Last week, a third bond-rating provider lowered the US sovereign grade, projecting the nation’s debt surging to 134% of the size of the economy in 10 years, from roughly 100% today.

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Today in Trade: Trump Pushes EU to Cut Tariffs or Face Extra Duties (Financial Times)

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Trump’s trade negotiators are pushing the EU to make unilateral tariff reductions on US goods, saying without concessions the bloc will not progress in talks to avoid additional 20% "reciprocal" duties.

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Global Markets: Stock Market Ignoring Trump’s Trade War After Wild April Ride (Bloomberg)

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Regulatory Update: EU to Delay Capital Rules for Bank Trading Desks by One Year (Bloomberg)

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The European Union has decided to delay the application of tougher capital requirements for banks’ trading businesses as the bloc is concerned about the industry’s competitiveness.

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Last Night Near DC: Investors Descend on Trump's Northern Virginia Golf Club for $148M Meme Coin Dinner with the President (New York Times)

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Making It Official: Pentagon Accepts Qatari Jet for Air Force One (Defense News)

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However, lawmakers and aviation experts have expressed concern about the complexity and potential security ramifications of modifying a foreign-gifted Boeing 747-8 into an aircraft that must essentially be a flying White House situation room.

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Canada Politics: Alberta Stands Apart in Canada. Now It Plans a Long-Shot Bid to Secede (New York Times)

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The western Canadian province of Alberta is laying the groundwork to hold a referendum asking voters whether they support seceding from Canada. While the likelihood of such a divorce ever happening is slim - Canada’s Constitution would have to be amended, among other obstacles - the momentum to put the question on the ballot points to deep grievances bubbling to the surface. (Some Albertans actually prefer becoming a US state.)

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Tonight at 8PM at MSG: Pacers Take on the New York Knicks in Game 2 After Ugly Knicks Loss Earlier This Week (The Athletic)

Weekend Streaming Guide.

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With this weekend in the US and the UK marking the start of the summer season, here are some throwback summer blockbusters to watch:

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'Jaws' (Apple TV+)

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Police chief Roy Scheider hunts a killer shark menacing his peaceful seaside community in Steven Spielberg's classic 1975 thriller. The film was primarily shot on location in Martha's Vineyard, Massachussetts.

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'National Lampoon's Vacation' (Prime Video)

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Chevy Chase takes the wheel and convinces his all-American family that the way to really enjoy their holiday is to hit the road west for Wally World in this 1983 classic that features Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall and Christie Brinkley.

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'Thelma & Louise' (Apple TV+)

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Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Brad Pitt star in this 1991 classic where two Arkansas women go on the lam and take the law into their own hands.

Best of Late Night.

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On Donald Trump hosting a dinner for big investors in his cryptocurrency:

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"President Trump hosted a private dinner for the top 200 holders of his memecoin. Yep, over 200 crypto bros in one room. Even Satan’s like, 'Now, that’s hell.'"

-- Jimmy Fallon

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"These people gave Trump's business a combined $394 million for this dinner in one night. Seats went for from $55,000 to $37 million a pop. And no plus ones. That's just by yourself."

-- Jimmy Kimmel

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"As far as I know, he's the only president I’ve ever heard of who sells his own Bible and watch."

-- Jimmy Kimmel

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On the US House of Representatives passing a new budget and tax bill that Trump has called a 'big, beautiful bill':

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"If this is the beautiful bill, I'd hate to see the ugly one. I’m not sure which part of the bill is the most beautiful. I don't know if it's the part where we take food from hungry kids, or the devastating effect it will have on college education, or the trillions of dollars it will add to our national debt, or the almost $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid. Either way, say goodbye to Grandma."

-- Jimmy Kimmel