Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that the US would begin to revoke the visas of Chinese students, including those connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
The visas of those studying in critical fields will also be revoked, Mr Rubio said in a post on X. He said visa criteria would be revised to enhance scrutiny of all future applications from mainland China and Hong Kong.
The post did not include any additional details. The National has contacted the State Department for comment.
China had the second highest number of international students in the US in 2023-2024, behind India, with 277,398, according to the Institute of International Education. In that same time period, the US hosted a record 1.1 million international students.
This comes after the State Department issued a directive pausing interviews for foreign students looking to come to study in the US.
It is unclear how long the freeze will last, but a memo from the State Department said it was to allow for preparation to increase scrutiny of applicants' social media posts.
The White House has waged a battle with universities that initially focused on elite institutions such as Harvard and Columbia over claims of on-campus anti-Semitism, following the wave of pro-Palestine protests last year. That has turned into a bigger attack over the role of US higher education and the foreign students whose tuition is a crucial source of income for schools around the country.
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
