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US pauses green card lottery program after Brown University shooting
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
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Haqqani attends graduation ceremony of over 400 students in Ghazni
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs says Sirajuddin Haqqani attended a graduation ceremony for more than 400 students of Noor-ul-Madaris Madrasa in Ghazni province.
The ministry said graduates from various departments of the madrasa received their graduation certificates at the ceremony.
According to the ministry, Haqqani highlighted the importance of education, good conduct and personal reform, while praising the contributions of religious scholars and clerics to the country’s academic and jihad-related efforts, as well as its reconstruction.
He also called on people to follow the teachings and example of religious scholars and predecessors and uphold their moral values and good conduct.
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India makes visas mandatory for Afghan Hindus and Sikhs to continue their stay
India has made it mandatory for Afghan Hindus and Sikhs who entered the country without valid travel documents to obtain visas to continue their stay.
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs amended the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, through a notification issued on Wednesday, The Hindu reported.
Under the amendment, Afghan Hindus and Sikhs who entered India on or before December 31, 2024, must obtain an appropriate category of visa to remain in the country.
The provision applies to those who entered India without valid travel documents or whose documents have since expired after seeking shelter due to religious persecution or fear of persecution.
The amendment retains an earlier exemption introduced on September 2, 2025, which allowed members of six non-Muslim communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to enter India without valid passports or visas. However, the latest notification requires them to obtain an appropriate visa after entering the country to continue their stay.
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Afghanistan has potential to generate 220 GW of solar power: UNDP
Afghanistan has the potential to generate up to 220 gigawatts of electricity from solar energy, yet it spends more than $280 million annually on electricity imports, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says.
In a post on social media platform X on Thursday, UNDP said tapping into the country’s solar energy potential could reduce its reliance on imported electricity and expand public access to clean and sustainable energy.
According to the agency, more than 80 percent of Afghanistan’s electricity needs are currently met through imports, despite the country’s estimated solar power generation potential of up to 220 gigawatts.
Afghanistan imports most of its electricity from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. Despite having considerable solar, wind and hydropower resources, the country has remained heavily dependent on foreign electricity supplies.
UNDP said that since 2021, its projects have helped more than 5.5 million people in Afghanistan gain access to clean energy.
The agency stressed the need for greater investment and cooperation among relevant institutions to harness Afghanistan’s solar energy potential and expand sustainable domestic electricity generation.
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