It may be a turning point in the White House’s attempt to gut allegedly liberal universities and punish law firms

It might come to be seen as the moment the “woke liberal empire” of Donald Trump’s most fevered imaginings struck back.

Harvard University, the world-renowned institution emblematic of the elitism that Trump and his coterie hold in contempt, received a extortive demand from the administration that it surrender the core of its academic freedoms – and promptly told it to get lost.

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Regulator to consult industry on how to recover network costs via standing charge in a ‘more progressive’ way that helps those on lower incomes

Wealthier households could be made to shoulder higher costs for running and upgrading the UK’s network of energy cables and pipes to help low-income bill payers under new plans to be considered this summer.

The proposals could mean that high-income households will pay more via the standing charge on their energy bills, while those who are not in work or are on low pay are charged a discounted rate.

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Trade secretary’s trip suggests government will continue its rapprochement with Beijing despite security concerns

The trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will travel to Beijing to revive a key trade dialogue with China months after saying it had been naive to allow Chinese investment in sensitive sectors, the Guardian has learnt.

Reynolds is scheduled to travel to China later this year for high-level talks in an effort to boost bilateral trade and investment.

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Steve Witkoff’s switch from saying low-level production could continue seen as example of chaotic US foreign policy

Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced Iran must totally eliminate its nuclear programme, seeming to reverse the policy he had articulated on Fox News only 12 hours earlier that would have allowed Iran to enrich uranium at a low level for civilian use.

The switch to a more hardline policy is likely to make it much harder for the US to reach a negotiated agreement with Tehran, bringing back the threat of an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

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Data shows England’s 200 leading independent schools devote fraction of fee income to supporting poorer pupils

England’s wealthiest private schools devote only a small fraction of their income towards means-tested bursaries, according to research that undermines claims that adding VAT to school fees would decimate support for poorer pupils.

The Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF), a thinktank campaigning for greater equality and transparency among independent schools, gathered data from more than 200 leading schools, and found they spent less than 6% of their total fee income on supporting pupils based on family income.

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The Englishman says confidence within the squad of a Champions League comeback against Arsenal is ‘infectious’

Remontada, remontada, remontada .

“Honestly, I’ve heard it about a million times since last week,” Jude Bellingham said. No word has been repeated as often inside the dressing room or outside it either: on the front pages of the newspapers, on radio, TV and TikTok, where the Englishman apologetically admitted “I get my education from these days,” or in the “million videos” he has watched. Bound into the mystique of Real Madrid, their never-ending story, it means comeback and it is written; it also means this isn’t over, even when it should be. Or so it goes.

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The US is retreating behind chokepoints and tariffs. It remains determined to invent the future but is struggling to ensure its control

Globalisation is out; reshoring is the new realism. Intel’s half-built Ohio campus and Nvidia’s US supercomputer plan demonstrate the very different routes taken by Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the search for homegrown tech dominance. Mr Biden relied on institutions: grants, land and investment incentives . That approach has stalled after last year’s election, rendering Intel’s plant idle . Mr Trump prefers court politics: flattery, pressure and tariff threats. Nvidia’s move seems driven less by design than executive ultimatum. Industrial strategy lives on – but, and this is a concern, increasingly through presidential menace , not policy.

There’s another important message in the Nvidia announcement. In an era where ideas spread freely, power lies not in invention but in chokepoints , such as artificial intelligence supercomputer fabrication, that determine who can scale those ideas into global platforms. Remember that as the US braces for a backlash over the breakdown of the old trade order.

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New rules for checking overpayments are a milestone. But deep concerns remain about the DWP’s approach

The announcement by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of a new regime for checking breaches of carer’s allowance rules is a milestone in the campaign to end the shockingly poor treatment of claimants. Rules directing officials to investigate only half of alerts about suspected overpayments are rightly being ditched. In future, all reports will be checked, so that claimants can be notified and avoid getting into debt.

This month’s lifting of the weekly earnings limit, from £151 to £196, is another step forward. Claimants can now work for the equivalent of 16 hours at the national living wage (NLW) without losing their entitlement to a carer’s allowance payment of £83.30. By pegging the earnings limit to the NLW, so that in future they rise in sync, ministers have made it less likely that pay rises will tip people unwittingly over the edge and into trouble. A government-ordered review by Liz Sayce, the disability expert, will soon make further recommendations, including what should happen to the outstanding debts that are blighting lives.

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• Champions League news, 8pm BST kick-off ( first leg: 0-4 )
• Live scoreboard | Aston Villa v Paris Saint-Germain – live

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Borussia Dortmund v Barcelona in the Champions League. Look, I’m not sure how to break this to you, but there might not be much to see here. Barcelona lead 4-0 after a blistering first leg performance and are almost certain to reach their first Champions League semi-final since 2019.

That’s where the but comes in. The 2019 semi-final six years ago was a reminder of football’s vicissitudes: Barcelona went to Anfield for the second leg armed with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and a 3-0 lead. You know the rest . Even so, if Dortmund go through tonight, it’ll be one of the most astonishing turnarounds in football history.

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