NEW YORK: As students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at universities across US dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, some universities shut down encampments after reports of antisemitic activity among the protesters.
With the death toll mounting in the war in Gaza, protesters nationwide are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Early Saturday, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston while several dozen students shouted and booed at them from a distance, but the scene was otherwise not confrontational.
The school said in a statement that the demonstration, which began two days ago, had become “infiltrated by professional organizers” with no affiliation to the school and protesters had used antisemitic slurs.
“We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus,” the statement posted on the social media platform X said.
The University of Pennsylvania took similar action Friday when interim President J. Larry Jameson called for an encampment of protesters on the west Philadelphia campus to be disbanded, saying it violates the university’s facilities policies.
The “harassing and intimidating comments and actions” by some protesters violate the school’s open expression guidelines as well as state and federal law, Jameson said, and vandalism of a statue with antisemitic graffiti was “especially reprehensible and will be investigated as a hate crime.”
“I am deeply saddened and troubled that our many efforts to respectfully engage in discourse, support open expression, and create a community that is free of hate and inclusive for everyone have been ignored by those who choose to disrupt and intimidate,” he said.
At Columbia University, where protesters have inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, negotiations continued with those at the student encampment.
The university’s senate passed a resolution Friday that created a task force to examine the administration’s leadership, which last week called in police in an attempt to clear the protest, resulting in scuffles and more than 100 arrests.
Though the university has repeatedly set and then pushed back deadlines for the removal of the encampment, the school sent an email to students Friday night saying that bringing back police “at this time” would be counterproductive.
Decisions to call in law enforcement, leading to hundreds of arrests nationwide, have prompted school faculty members at universities in California, Georgia and Texas to initiate or pass votes of no confidence in their leadership. They are largely symbolic rebukes, without the power to remove their presidents.
But the tensions pile pressure on school officials, who are already scrambling to resolve the protests as May graduation ceremonies near.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, gave protesters who have barricaded themselves inside a building since Monday until 5 p.m. Friday to leave and “not be immediately arrested.” The deadline came and went. Only some of the protesters left, others doubled down. After protesters rebuffed police earlier in the week, the campus was closed for the rest of the semester.
In Colorado, police swept through an encampment Friday at Denver’s Auraria Campus, which hosts three universities and colleges, arresting about 40 protesters on trespassing charges.
Students representing the Columbia encampment said Friday that they reached an impasse with administrators and intend to continue their protest. After meetings Thursday and Friday, student negotiators said the university had not met their primary demand for divestment.
In the letter sent to Columbia students Friday night, the university’s leadership said “we support the conversations that are ongoing with student leaders of the encampment.”
Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, faced significant criticism from faculty Friday, but retained the support of trustees.
A report by the university senate’s executive committee, which represents faculty, found Shafik and her administration took “many actions and decisions that have harmed Columbia University.” Those included calling in police and allowing students to be arrested without consulting faculty, misrepresenting and suspending student protest groups and hiring private investigators.
Also Friday, Columbia student protester Khymani James walked back comments made in an online video in January that recently received new attention. James said in the video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and people should be grateful James wasn’t killing them.
“What I said was wrong,” James said in a statement. “Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification.”
James, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian encampment as a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, was banned from campus Friday, according to a Columbia spokesperson.
Protest organizers said James’ comments didn’t reflect their values. They declined to describe James’ level of involvement with the demonstration.
In France, students at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, which counts President Emmanuel Macron among its many famous alumni, students blocked access to a campus building and classes went online as the wave of protests reached overseas.
Police clashed with protesters Thursday at Indiana University, Bloomington, where 34 were arrested; Ohio State University, where about 36 were arrested; and at the University of Connecticut, where one person was arrested.
The University of Southern California canceled its May 10 graduation ceremony Thursday, a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school ceremonies.
Universities where faculty members have initiated or passed votes of no confidence in their presidents include Cal Poly Humboldt, University of Texas at Austin and Emory University.
Anti-war protesters dig in as some schools close encampments after reports of antisemitic activity
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Anti-war protesters dig in as some schools close encampments after reports of antisemitic activity
- Protesters nationwide are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict
- Early Saturday, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston while several dozen students shouted and booed at them
South African NGOs worry Trump’s aid freeze will cause HIV patients to default on treatment
Majola is one of millions of patients in South Africa affected by US President Donald Trump’s global foreign aid freeze, raising worries about HIV patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.
In 2024, think tank Human Sciences Research Council released figures showing that Majola’s province recorded the second-highest HIV prevalence in the country, at 16 percent, with at least 1,300 young people estimated to contract the disease every week.
KwaZulu-Natal also had the highest number of people living with HIV in South Africa in 2022, about 1.9 million. The country counts more than 7.5 million people infected with the virus that causes AIDS — more than any other nation.
There are 5.5 million South Africans receiving antiretroviral treatment, whose funding is now in question after Trump suspended the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. It contributes more than $400 million a year to South Africa’s HIV programs and nongovernmental organizations, about 17 percent of the total funding, according to the Health Ministry.
Globally, PEPFAR is credited with saving at least 26 million lives since its inception in 2003, according to the UN AIDS agency.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift the funding freeze, while the US Embassy in South Africa said PEPFAR projects would resume under a limited waiver. However, aid groups dealing with HIV have already shuttered with closure notices hanging at the entrances and PEPFAR-branded vehicles standing idle, with patients diverted to struggling health facilities.
Most of the PEPFAR funding is channeled through non-governmental organizations, which run programs that compliment health care services provided by the government.
For Majola and other HIV patients in the Umzimkhulu region, where unemployment is rife and most people rely on subsistence farming and government welfare grants, the aid freeze has disrupted their lives.
“Things will be tough around here, and a lot of people will default on their treatment because we really struggle with transport,” she said. “The mobile clinics hardly come here.”
The freeze has hurt various groups that can no longer provide treatment, causing an influx of patients to already overstretched public facilities. Along with the medication, these programs also allowed health personnel to test HIV patients in far-flung villages, which has been a lifeline for many, especially those afraid to visit public facilities due to the social stigma attached to HIV.
In addition, nearly 15,000 health workers whose salaries are funded through PEPFAR are left wondering if they have lost their livelihoods.
About an hour away in the district of Umgungundlovu, which the think tank says has the highest number of HIV cases in South Africa, HIV counselors gathered in a small office discussing how best to assist patients like Majola. A manager at a nearby health clinic wondered how to handle the administrative work that is piling up after PEPFAR-funded workers withdrew.
“People who were doing administration and data capturing, whose salaries were funded by PEPFAR, have left. We are a small facility and we cannot handle such a workload,” said the manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Nozuko Ngcaweni has been on HIV treatment for about 30 years. One of her children was also infected and died at age 17. She said the aid suspension already impacted her community and many missed their treatment.
“Not long ago, we said by 2030, we want to see an HIV-free generation. But if things remain as is, we will not achieve that. We will have to deal with deaths,” she said.
Mzamo Zondi, a provincial manager of the Treatment Action Campaign, which advocates for access to HIV treatment for the poor, has been monitoring the impact of the aid freeze in Umgungudlovu.
“Our response (to HIV) is likely to falter as we struggle to stop newly infected cases,” he said. “This is a matter of life and death.”
Goa man receives life sentence for rape and murder of Irish backpacker
- The body of Danielle McLaughlin was found by a farmer on a beach in Goa in March 2017
- Crime highlighted persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault
NEW DELHI: A court in India’s western Goa state on Monday sentenced a 31-year-old man to life in prison for raping and murdering an Irish woman at a popular tourist resort nearly eight years ago.
The body of 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin was found by a farmer on a beach popular with holidaymakers in Goa in March 2017. An autopsy showed that cerebral damage and constriction of the neck caused her death.
Vikat Bhagat was found guilty of the crime on Friday. McLaughlin’s family in a statement had said they and her friends were “thankful to the public prosecutor and the investigating officer for justice.”
Usually, rape victims cannot be named under Indian law. In this case, the victim’s family spoke to the media to raise awareness of her case.
The crime highlighted persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.
Goa is a popular backpacking destination in India. Millions of tourists visit its numerous beach resorts every year.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels occupy a 2nd major city in Congo’s mineral-rich east
- The fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis
BUKAVU: Rwanda-backed rebels have occupied a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, the government said Sunday, as M23 rebels confirmed they were in the city to restore order after it was abandoned by Congolese forces.
The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes the M23, said in a statement that its fighters “decided to assist the population of Bukavu” in addressing its security challenges under the “old regime” in the city of 1.3 million people.
“Our forces have been working to restore the security for the people and their property, much to the satisfaction of the entire population,” alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement.
The rebels saw little resistance from government forces against the unprecedented expansion of their reach after years of fighting. Congo’s government vowed to restore order in Bukavu but there was no sign of soldiers. Many were seen fleeing on Saturday alongside thousands of civilians.
The M23 are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to the United Nations experts.
The fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Rebels vow to ‘clean up’ disorder
Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, one of the M23 leaders who has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for rights abuses, stood in front of the South Kivu governor’s office in Bukavu and told residents they have been living in a “jungle.”
“We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime,” Byamungu said, as some in the small crowd of young men cheered the rebels on to “go all the way to Kinshasa,” Congo’s capital, nearly 1,000 miles away.
Congo’s communications ministry in a statement on social media acknowledged for the first time that Bukavu had been “occupied” and said the national government was “doing everything possible to restore order and territorial integrity” in the region.
One Bukavu resident, Blaise Byamungu, said the rebels marched into the city that had been “abandoned by all the authorities and without any loyalist force.”
“Is the government waiting for them to take over other towns to take action? It’s cowardice,” Byamungu added.
Fears of regional escalation
Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.
The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict. The M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group.
Rwanda says the militia group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies it.
But the new face of the M23 in the region — Corneille Nangaa — is not Tutsi, giving the group “a new, more diverse, Congolese face, as M23 has always been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities,” according to Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol.
Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, whose government on Saturday asserted that Bukavu remained under its control, has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict.
Congo’s forces were being supported in Goma by troops from South Africa and in Bukavu by troops from Burundi. But Burundi’s president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest on social media his country would not retaliate in the fighting.
The conflict was high on the African Union summit’s agenda in Ethiopia over the weekend, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres warning it risked spiraling into a regional conflagration.
Still, African leaders and the international community have been reluctant to take decisive action against M23 or Rwanda, which has one of Africa’s most powerful militaries. Most continue to call for a ceasefire and a dialogue between Congo and the rebels.
Taliban delegation visits Japan in rare trip outside region
- The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighboring and regional countries
KABUL: A Taliban government delegation was visiting Japan for the first time on Monday, in a rare diplomatic visit outside of the region.
The Afghan delegation left Kabul on Saturday, in a visit that local media said would last one week and included officials from the higher education, foreign affairs, and economy ministries.
“We seek dignified interaction with the world for a strong, united, advanced, prosperous, developed Afghanistan and to be an active member of the international community,” Latif Nazari, a deputy minister at the ministry of economy who is part of the delegation, tweeted on Saturday.
The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighboring and regional countries, including in Central Asia, Russia and China.
However, it has only officially visited Europe for diplomacy summits in Norway in 2022 and 2023.
Japan’s embassy in Kabul temporarily relocated to Qatar after the fall of the previous foreign-backed government and the takeover by the Taliban in 2021.
However, it has since reopened and resumed diplomatic and humanitarian activities in the country.
North Korea’s Kim makes rare visit to father’s tomb, says devoted to ‘sacred struggle’
- Kim Jong Il’s birthday, which falls on February 16, is widely celebrated as a major holiday in North Korea
- The Kim dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after World War Two
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has paid his respect at a family mausoleum to mark the birthday of his late father and former leader Kim Jong Il, state media KCNA said on Monday, pledging to continue the “sacred struggle” for prosperity and security.
Kim Jong Il’s birthday, which falls on February 16, is widely celebrated as a major holiday in North Korea, called the Day of the Shining Star.
But it was the first time in four years that the young Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of Sun in the capital Pyongyang, which houses the embalmed bodies of his father and grandfather, for the anniversary.
Accompanied by Kim Yo Jong, his sister and a senior ruling Workers’ Party official, among other aides, Kim Jong Un paid homage “in the humblest reverence,” KCNA said.
“He expressed his solemn will to devote himself to the sacred struggle for the eternal prosperity of the country, the security of the people and the promotion of their well-being,” it said.
The Kim dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after World War Two and has sought to strengthen their grip on power by building cults of personality around them, though Kim Jong Un has shown signs of increasingly trying to stand more on his own feet without relying on his predecessors.
In another dispatch, KCNA said Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday for the final phase of his pet project to build 50,000 new homes in Pyongyang.
The ambitious initiative was launched in 2021 as part of Kim’s five-year plan to boost the economy, and designed to distribute at least 10,000 new apartments in Pyongyang each year, though some analysts have questioned its feasibility amid international sanctions and economic woes.
Photos and a video released by KCNA showed Kim receiving thunderous applause from thousands of people many wearing protective helmets attending the ceremony, against a backdrop showing images of modern apartments and high-rises.
Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesperson for South Korea’s unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs, said North Korea appears to be focusing on producing tangible outcomes by mobilizing manpower and material where they can relatively easily make progress, such as housing construction.
During the ceremony, Kim lauded construction workers and officials for achieving nearly 400 percent progress last year compared to 2020, and pledged another plan to continue expanding the city.
The project would “usher in a new era of prosperity of Pyongyang in which the ideal streets of the people to be proud of in the world are built every year,” KCNA said.
