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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, renewing his administration’s challenge to a constitutional provision just weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier attempt. The new orders, signed on Thursday, take a narrower approach than Trump’s previous directive and focus on specific categories of children born in the United States. The administration argues that the measures fall outside the scope of the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling. Birthright citizenship has been a central issue in Trump’s immigration agenda, with the White House particularly targeting what it describes as “birth tourism” — a practice in which pregnant foreign nationals travel to the US to give birth so their children can obtain American citizenship. At the signing ceremony in the Oval Office, White House aide Stephen Miller said the administration was formally moving to end the practice, declaring that “birth tourism” was banned under the new orders. The executive orders also seek to restrict citizenship rights for children born to certain foreign government employees and children of people classified as “alien enemies.” They could potentially have implications for people born in US territories if Congress approves proposed legislation seeking to end automatic citizenship there. Trump’s latest move comes only weeks after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against his earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. His first executive order, issued in 2025, instructed federal agencies not to recognise citizenship for children born in the US when neither parent was an American citizen or lawful permanent resident. The 14th Amendment has traditionally been interpreted as guaranteeing citizenship to people born on US soil, with limited exceptions including children of foreign diplomats and members of an enemy occupying force. Trump criticised the Supreme Court ruling, calling it a “very unfortunate decision” and arguing that businesses and individuals were exploiting the citizenship system through birth tourism. However, legal experts and immigrant rights groups have questioned whether the new orders can withstand judicial scrutiny. The American Civil Liberties Union predicted that the administration’s latest effort would fail in court, while advocates accused Trump of attempting to bypass the Supreme Court. Deborah Fleischaker of UnidosUS said the high court had recently reaffirmed that birthright citizenship was a constitutional guarantee and argued that presidents could not alter it through executive action. The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause states that all persons born or naturalised in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are US citizens. The Supreme Court’s June ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, reaffirmed the principle that citizenship represents the right to participate fully in the country’s political community. The latest orders are therefore expected to trigger another legal battle, potentially putting Trump’s immigration policies and the constitutional interpretation of birthright citizenship back before the courts.

NEW YORK: Hackers seeking ransom have targeted dozens of major US financial institutions and businesses using a surprisingly simple tactic — posing as IT help desk employees and tricking staff into handing over passwords and authentication codes. According to Google and internet intelligence data reviewed by Reuters, the campaign targeted prominent private equity and financial firms, including Blackstone, Bridgewater Associates, Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, KKR, TPG, CME Group, Clearlake Capital and Moody’s. Google said the cybercriminals operate under several names, including Redact, Pink, Falcon and Helix. The technology giant said some companies targeted during the campaign had paid ransoms, although it did not identify those businesses. Reuters was also unable to determine which companies were successfully compromised. The hackers reportedly created websites designed specifically for individual companies. Employees were then contacted by phone, sometimes through calls that appeared to originate from their organisation’s legitimate IT help desk. The attackers allegedly told employees that they needed to urgently update their passkeys or multifactor authentication credentials. Victims were then directed to malicious websites using names designed to look legitimate, such as those containing phrases like “passkey helpdesk” or “secure passkey”. Once an employee entered their credentials, the hackers could obtain an authentication code in real time, allowing them to take control of the account while remaining on the phone with the victim. Austin Larsen, a principal threat analyst with Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, said the technique was not especially sophisticated but remained highly effective. Cybersecurity experts said the campaign demonstrates that human behaviour remains one of the biggest vulnerabilities for even heavily protected organisations. Lee Clark of the Retail and Hospitality ISAC compared the tactic to persuading a security guard to open a heavily protected gate. Google said the attackers had increasingly focused on private equity firms, law firms and financial ratings agencies because they may hold sensitive information that companies would be willing to protect through ransom payments. Reuters identified 72 malicious websites listed in Google’s report and linked several of them to specific companies using internet intelligence platforms. Google cautioned that while the infrastructure indicated attempted intrusions, not every attack was necessarily successful. The campaign appears to have affected a broader range of industries. Data reviewed by Reuters showed that hackers created digital traps targeting more than 200 companies during a five-week period, including Uber, Zillow and Levi Strauss, along with law firms such as Paul Hastings and Greenberg Traurig. The hacking group’s shifting aliases have also complicated efforts to identify those behind the attacks. Google said the various names appeared connected through shared infrastructure, but acknowledged that important questions about the hackers’ identities and relationships remain unanswered. The latest campaign has heightened concern across Wall Street, highlighting how convincing phone calls and basic social engineering can bypass sophisticated cybersecurity systems and expose highly valuable corporate accounts.