The headline is incorrect. UT Austin and Rice University are not Ivy League schools. The Ivy League is an athletic conference consisting of eight private universities in the Northeastern United States. The members are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. Two Texas schools -- University of Texas (UT), in Austin and Rice University in Houston -- have joined the ranks of Ivy League institutions, according to Forbes. The two institutions are ''attracting the smart ..read more

Polish judge at heart of spy scandal loses immunity A Polish judge with access to military secrets, who asked for asylum in Belarus, looked set to face espionage charges on Thursday, after a Polish court said it was lifting his immunity. Judge Tomasz Szmydt's defection to a key ally of Moscow threw Warsaw's place as a key target for Russian intelligence activity into sharp focus, while opposing lawmakers have traded blame over who allowed his ascent to the upper echelons of the Polish justice system. "The Supreme Administrative Court - Disciplinary Court of the first instance ... adopted a res ..read more

Air Vanuatu put into voluntary liquidation, aims to resume operations The Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu has put national carrier Air Vanuatu into voluntary liquidation, liquidator EY said on Thursday, with the aim of resuming normal operations as soon as possible after conducting safety and maintenance checks. The airline had on Wednesday cancelled its international flights to Australia and New Zealand through Sunday, citing extended maintenance requirements for its aircraft, leaving tourists stranded. All later flights are under review, with affected travellers to be rebooked as soon as op ..read more

WRAPUP 9-Israel strikes eastern Rafah as ceasefire talks end with no deal * LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: * Hamas will not make new concessions after accepting proposal, Al-Aqsa TV says * Israeli envoy to US says hold on arms sends 'wrong message' * UNRWA chief says Israeli residents set fire to perimeter of its headquarters in East Jerusalem * United Nations aid chief says nothing allowed into Gaza for three days * Israeli PM Netanyahu says Israelis will fight with only their fingernails, if they must * Ceasefire talks make some headway, but no deal, say Egyptian security sources By Nidal al-Mughrabi ..read more

Man shoots and wounds two police officers in Paris, French media reports A man shot and wounded two police officers in Paris after he got hold of one of the officer's weapons while he was being held at a police station, AFP and BFM TV reported on Thursday. The incident occurred on Thursday evening at a police station in Paris' 13th district. The two wounded police officers have been taken to hospital, the French media reports said. The suspect had initially been arrested and taken to the police station to face questioning over possible domestic violence ..read more

WRAPUP 8-Israel strikes eastern Rafah as ceasefire talks end with no deal * LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: * Israeli envoy to US says hold on arms sends 'wrong message' * UNRWA chief says Israeli residents set fire to perimeter of its headquarters in East Jerusalem * United Nations aid chief says nothing allowed into Gaza for three days * Israeli PM Netanyahu says Israelis will fight with only their fingernails, if they must * Ceasefire talks make some headway, but no deal, say Egyptian security sources By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Mohammad Salem and Jarrett Renshaw CAIRO/RAFAH, Gaza Strip/WASHINGTON, May 9 (R ..read more

Soccer-Olympiakos ease past Villa to reach Europa Conference League final Olympiakos Piraeus striker Ayoub El Kaabi netted twice as the Greek side cruised into a Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina thanks to a 2-0 home win over Aston Villa on Thursday that gave them a 6-2 victory on aggregate. Villa started well but El Kaabi, who got a hat-trick in the first leg, broke the deadlock in the 10th minute as Daniel Podence slid the ball down the line for fullback Quini who picked out the Moroccan at the far post for a simple finish. The visitors dominated possession in the first half ..read more

White House poised to nominate Kristin Johnson in Treasury bank role, Bloomberg reports The White House is poised to nominate Kristin Johnson to be assistant secretary for financial institutions at the U.S. Treasury, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources. The announcement about Johnson, currently a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is due to be made public soon, according to the report ..read more

EXCLUSIVE-Jared Kushner pitching donors on father-in-law Trump, sources say Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been making calls to encourage donors to attend a Trump fundraiser in New York, two sources told Reuters, in one of the first indications of Kushner working to help re-elect his father-in-law. A former White House adviser to the former president, Kushner stepped away from politics after Trump's term ended in 2021 and founded Miami-based private equity firm Affinity Partners. His wife Ivanka, Trump's daughter, declared at the beginning of Trump's third run for the presidency ..read more

FOREX-Yen drops despite intervention threat, Aussie slides after RBA The yen continued to slide against the dollar on Tuesday as gaping interest rate differentials weighed on the currency, despite fresh warnings from Japanese officials following two rounds of suspected dollar-selling intervention last week. The Australian dollar fell from near a two-month high versus its U.S. counterpart after the Reserve Bank of Australia refrained from ramping up hawkish signals, as some traders had anticipated. In her press conference after the central bank's widely-expected decision to keep rates unchanged ..read more