Class of 2024 reflects on college years marked by life’s lost milestones

LOS ANGELES — On a recent afternoon, Grant Oh zigzagged across the University of Southern California campus as if he was conquering an obstacle course, coming up against police blockade after police blockade on his way to his apartment while officers arrested demonstrators protesting the Israel-Hamas war.

In many ways, the chaotic moment was the culmination of a college life that started amid the coronavirus pandemic and has been marked by continual upheaval in what has become a constant battle for normalcy. Oh already missed his prom and his high school graduation as COVID-19 surged in 2020. He started college with online classes. Now the 20-year-old will add another missed milestone to his life: USC has canceled its main commencement ceremony that was expected to be attended by 65,000 people.

His only graduation ceremony was in middle school and there were no caps and gowns.

“It’s crazy because I remember starting freshman year with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which came after senior year of high school when the Black Lives Matter protests were happening and COVID, and xenophobia,” he said “It feels definitely surreal. It still shocks me that we live in a world that is so fired up and so willing to tear itself apart.”

Oh, who is getting a degree in health promotion and disease prevention, added that his loss of a memorable moment pales in comparison to what is happening: “At the end of the day, people are dying.”

College campuses have always been a hotbed for protests from the civil rights era to the Vietnam war to demonstrations over apartheid in South Africa. But students today also carry additional stresses from having lived through the isolation and fear from the pandemic, and the daily influence of social media that amplifies the world’s wrongs like never before, experts say.

It’s not just about missed milestones. Study after study shows Generation Z suffers from much higher rates of anxiety and depression than Millennials, said Jean Twenge, a psychologist and professor at San Diego State University, who wrote a book called “Generations.” She attributes much of that to the fact that negativity spreads faster and wider on social media than positive posts.

“Gen Z, they tend to be much more pessimistic than Millennials,” she said. “The question going forward is do they take this pessimism and turn it into concrete action and change, or do they turn it into annihilation and chaos?”

Protesters have pitched tents on campuses from Harvard and MIT to Stanford and the University of Texas, Austin, raising tensions as many schools prepare for spring commencements. Hundreds of students have been arrested across the country. Inspired by demonstrations at Columbia University, students at more than a dozen U.S. colleges have formed pro-Palestinian encampments and pledged to stay put until their demands are met.

The campus will be closed for the semester at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, which has been negotiating with students who have been barricaded inside a campus building since Monday, rebuffing an attempt by the police to clear them out.

USC announced Thursday that it would be calling off its main graduation ceremony after protests erupted over not only the Israel-Hamas war but the school’s decision earlier this month to call off the commencement speech by its valedictorian Asna Tabassum, who expressed support for Palestinians. Officials cited security concerns.

“By trying to silence Asna, it made everything way worse,” Oh said, adding that he hopes there will be no violence on graduation day May 10 when smaller ceremonies will be held by different departments.

Maurielle McGarvey graduated from high school in 2019 so was able to have a ceremony but then she took a gap year when many universities held classes only online. McGarvey, who is getting a degree in screenwriting with a minor in gender and social justice studies at USC, called the cancellations “heartbreaking,” and said the situation has been grossly mishandled by the university. She said police with batons came at her yelling as she held a banner while she and fellow demonstrators said a Jewish prayer.

“It’s definitely been like an overall diminished experience and to take away like the last sort of like typical thing that this class was allowed after having so many weird restrictions, so many customs and traditions changed,” she said. “It’s such a bummer.”

She said the email by the university announcing the cancellation particularly stung with its link to photos of past graduates in gowns tossing up their caps and cheering. “That’s just insult to injury,” she said.

Students at other universities were equally glum.

“Our grade is cursed,” said Abbie Barkan of Atlanta, 21, who is graduating from the University of Texas in two weeks with a journalism degree and who was among a group of Jewish students waving flags and chanting at a counter-protest Thursday near a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus.

University of Minnesota senior Sarah Dawley, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, is grateful graduation plans have not changed at her school. But she said the past weeks have left her with a mix of emotions. She’s been dismayed to watch colleges call in police.

But she said she also feels hope after having gone through the pandemic and become part of a community that stands up for what they believe in.

“I think a lot of people are going to go on to do cool things because after all this, we care a lot,” she said.

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Climate change is bringing malaria to new areas. In Africa, it never left

LAGOS, Nigeria — When a small number of cases of locally transmitted malaria were found in the United States last year, it was a reminder that climate change is reviving or migrating the threat of some diseases. But across the African continent malaria has never left, killing or sickening millions of people.

Take Funmilayo Kotun, a 66-year-old resident of Makoko, an informal neighborhood in Nigeria’s Lagos city. Its ponds of dirty water provide favorable breeding conditions for malaria-spreading mosquitoes. Kotun can’t afford insecticide-treated bed nets that cost between $7 and $21 each, much less antimalarial medications or treatment.

For World Malaria Day on Thursday, here is what you need to know about the situation in Africa:

Malaria is still widespread

The malaria parasite mostly spreads to people via infected mosquitoes and can cause symptoms including fever, headaches and chills. It mostly affects children under 5 and pregnant women.

Vaccine efforts are still in early stages: Cameroon this year became the first country to routinely give children a new malaria vaccine, which is only about 30% effective and doesn’t stop transmission. A second vaccine was recently approved. On Thursday, WHO announced that three African countries — Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone — were rolling out vaccine programs for millions of children.

Cases of resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides are increasing, while funding by governments and donors for innovation is slowing.

Living conditions play a role, with crowded neighborhoods, stagnant water, poor sanitation and lack of access to treatment and prevention materials all issues in many areas. And an invasive species of mosquito previously seen mostly in India and the Persian Gulf is a new concern.

A growing problem

Globally, malaria cases are on the rise. Infections increased from 233 million in 2019 to 249 million in 85 countries in 2022. Malaria deaths rose from 576,000 in 2019 to 608,000 in 2022, according to the World Health Organization.

Of the 12 countries that carry about 70% of the global burden of malaria, 11 are in Africa and the other is India. Children under 5 constituted 80% of the 580,000 malaria deaths recorded in Africa in 2022.

COVID-19 hurt progress

The fight against malaria saw some progress in areas such as rapid diagnostic tests, vaccines and new bed nets meant to counter insecticide resistance, but the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift in focus and funding set back efforts.

A study published in Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease last year said COVID-19-induced lockdowns led to disruptions at 30% of rural community health service points across Africa. Malaria cases started spiking again, breaking a downward trend between 2000 and 2019.

That downward trend could soon return, according to the WHO.

A warming world and new frontiers

Africa is “at the sharp end of climate change,” and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events causes havoc in efforts to combat malaria in low- and middle-income regions, Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, warned in December.

In 2023, the WHO’s World Malaria Report included a chapter on the link between malaria and climate change for the first time, highlighting its significance as a potential risk multiplier. Scientists worry that people living in areas once inhospitable to mosquitoes, including the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and the mountains of eastern Ethiopia, could be exposed.

In Zimbabwe, which has recorded some of its hottest days in decades, malaria transmission periods have extended in some districts, “and this shift has been attributed to climate change,” said Dr. Precious Andifasi, a WHO technical officer for malaria in Zimbabwe.

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At conservative conference, Orban, Trump revive right-wing alliance

london — Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he is ready to renew a right-wing alliance with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban if he wins the presidential election in November.    

The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee made the comments in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Europe, which was held in Budapest on Thursday and Friday. 

The conference has long been a powerful force in right-wing American politics. The first European edition of the conference was held in Budapest in 2022 and has been an annual fixture since.    

Orban, the host and keynote speaker, received a standing ovation as he told the audience that conservatives had a chance to seize power in a major election year.  

“These elections coincide with major shifts in world political and geopolitical trends. The order of the world is changing, and we must take our cause to triumph in the midst of these changes. … Make America great again, make Europe great again! Go Donald Trump, go European sovereigntists!” Orban told a delighted crowd. 

He claimed that liberal forces were trying to silence the political right.  

“This is what they are doing with the conservatives in the progressive liberal European capitals. The same thing is happening in the United States when they want to remove [former] President Donald Trump from the ballot with court rulings,” he said. 

‘Battling to preserve our culture’

In a recorded address to the conference, Trump said he was ready to renew a conservative alliance with Orban.  

“Together we’re engaged in an epic struggle to liberate our nations from all of the sinister forces who want to destroy them,” Trump said. “Every day we’re battling to preserve our culture, protect our sovereignty, defend our way of life and uphold the timeless values of freedom, family and faith in Almighty God.”  

“As president I was proud to work with Prime Minister Orban — by the way, a great man — to advance the values and interests of our two nations,” Trump said.     

Orban’s critics, including most of his European Union allies, accuse him of overseeing a backsliding of democracy. The Hungarian prime minister sees an opportunity to hit back, said Zsolt Enyedi, a political analyst at Central European University in Budapest.   

“Orban has an ambition to change the discourse, so he’s not simply someone who is, who cares about staying in office, but he also wants to have an impact on the ideological climate, and he thinks that by sponsoring particular friendly parties, governments and intellectual clubs and initiatives, he will emerge as the leader of this conservative movement and that can counterbalance the fact that the mainstream in Europe and in liberal democracies hates him,” Enyedi told VOA. 

Another of the keynote speakers at the CPAC conference was the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who is facing anti-government protests at home over a controversial proposed foreign agent law, which has been widely compared to similar Russian legislation. The EU has said the law would be incompatible with Georgia’s membership in the bloc. 

“(Kobakhidze) at the moment is turning his country more and more toward Russia, trying to in a way turn his back on the European Union, and interestingly, he is welcome at a club that is supposed to stand for the interest of the West. So, these kinds of strategic alliances are possible, because all speak the language of culture wars,” Enyedi said. 

Orban faces challenges at home

While right-wing parties are expected to do well in June’s European parliamentary elections, Orban’s Fidesz party is battling an economic crisis alongside a series of political scandals.  

The U.S. presidential election is set for November 5. Polls suggest a tight race between Trump and incumbent Joe Biden. 

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Russian journalist held over videos produced for Navalny’s team

Moscow — A Russian journalist has been detained on “extremism” accusations for helping to create YouTube videos for the team of late opposition figurehead Alexey Navalny, Moscow courts said Saturday.

Konstantin Gabov, who according to media reports worked for Russian television channels Moskva 24 and MIR as well as Belarusian news agency Belsat and occasionally for the Reuters news agency, will remain in pre-trial detention until at least June 27, the courts’ press service said on Telegram.

He is accused of “taking part in the preparation of photos and videos to be published on the YouTube channel NavalnyLIVE,” one of the platforms used by Navalny’s team, the courts said.

Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, died in murky circumstances in his Arctic prison in February.

His movement is designated as “extremist,” exposing its staff and supporters to prosecution.

Most of Navalny’s allies are in exile or serving lengthy prison sentences.

In March, photographer Antonina Kravtsova was also held on “extremism” accusations after frequently covering Navalny’s trials for SOTAvision, one of few media organizations documenting political crackdowns in Russia and considered a “foreign agent” by the authorities.

Other jailed journalists include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who faces spying claims that he and U.S. authorities reject.

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is behind bars since October for not registering as a “foreign agent” as required by the authorities.

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Trump, Orban seek leadership of global conservative movement at right-wing conference

Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ready to renew a right-wing alliance with Hungary’s Viktor Orban if he wins the election in November. The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee made the comments in an address to the CPAC conservative conference in Budapest. As Henry Ridgwell reports, analysts say Orban seeks a global conservative movement that is hoping for success at the ballot box in a crucial election year.

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Nigeria landmine blast kills 11 anti-jihadi militia fighters

Kano, Nigeria — Eleven militia fighters working alongside Nigeria’s military to battle jihadis were killed Saturday in the country’s northeast when their vehicle hit a landmine on a highway near the border with Cameroon, two militia sources told AFP.  

Jihadis in Nigeria are increasingly resorting to planting mines on highways to target military and civilian convoys after they were pushed back from the territory they once controlled during the early years of the country’s more than 15-year Islamist insurgency. 

The militia fighters were escorting a civilian convoy from the town of Gamboru in Borno State to the regional capital Maiduguri when around 1230GMT their vehicle drove over a landmine suspected to have been planted by jihadis at Damno village, the two sources said. 

“The rear tires of the vehicle carrying 13 of our comrades hit a wide pothole in which a landmine was buried, and it exploded,” Shehu Mada, an anti-jihadi militia leader in Gamboru said. “Eleven people in the vehicle were killed while two escaped with injuries.”  

The victims were removed from the remains of the vehicle and returned to Gamboru for burial, said Usman Hamza, another militia leader who gave the same toll.  

Nigeria’s militant conflict has gradually eased in intensity as the military carries out offensives against the militants.  

The Gamboru to Maiduguri highway is a strategic 140-kilometer (87-mile) trade route in the region and provides an important link with neighboring Cameroon.  

The highway was reopened in July 2016 after it was shut by the military for two years due to incessant jihadi attacks.  

Boko Haram and rival Islamic State West Africa Province  still launch sporadic ambushes on convoys from their hideouts and plant landmines along the highway.  

In January, 17 people were killed along the highway in two separate mine blasts that were blamed on jihadis. Ten more people were killed by a landmine in April. 

Nigeria’s grinding conflict has killed 40,000 and displaced around 2 million from their homes in the northeast since 2009. The violence has spilled over into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. 

The recent military coups in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and subsequent withdrawal of French and U.S. troops from the Sahel to Nigeria’s north have heightened concerns over regional instability and violence extending farther into the coastal West African states. 

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Though migration affects both US and Mexico, Mexican politicians rarely mention it

brighton, colorado — Republican activists gathered in a school lunchroom last month to hear political pitches from candidates and agreed on the top issue in the Denver suburbs these days: immigration.

The area has been disrupted by the arrival of largely Venezuelan migrants coming north through Mexico, they said. Virtually everyone in the meeting said they were uncomfortable with the new population, which has overwhelmed public services and become a flashpoint in local and national elections. 

“We’ve lived here our whole lives, and now we have to pay for hotels and debit cards and health care” for the migrants, through government spending, said Toni Starner, a marketing consultant. “My daughter’s 22 and she can’t even afford to buy a house.” 

Some 1,200 miles to the south, migrants are also transforming the prosperous industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico. Haitian migrants speak Creole on downtown streets and Central American migrants ask motorists for help at intersections. 

But the new arrivals aren’t even part of Mexico’s political conversation as the country gears up for its presidential vote on June 2. 

“If it were a problem, the politicians would already be mentioning it in their campaigns,” said Ingrid Morales, a 66-year-old retired academic who lives on Monterrey’s south side. 

Parallel presidential elections

Every 12 years, the coincidence of presidential elections in the U.S. and Mexico provides a valuable comparative snapshot. The different ways migration is resonating in the two countries’ elections this year reflects the neighbors’ very different styles of democracy. 

Mexican politics are still dominated by institutional political parties, while Donald Trump disrupted the United States’ two-party system with his more populist approach and moved anti-immigration sentiment to center stage in U.S. politics. 

Mexican politics also revolve more around “bread-and-butter” issues such as the economy than in the wealthier United States, which is increasingly consumed with questions of national identity, said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. 

What’s more, just about every Mexican family has an immediate experience with migration, with many still having relatives living in other countries. While migrants must travel through Mexico to enter the U.S., they are more dispersed as they travel and have not generated similar scenes of an overwhelmed Mexican side of the border. 

“In Mexico, there isn’t that same perception of chaos,” Selee said. 

Migration is major campaign issue in US

Trump is making that perception of chaos his campaign’s main theme as he tries to return to the White House. AP VoteCast, a survey of the national electorate, found immigration was a top issue among voters in the Republican presidential primary’s initial states. An AP-NORC poll conducted last month found that 58% of Americans say immigration is an extremely or very important issue for them personally. 

In contrast, Mexico’s presidential frontrunner, Claudia Sheinbaum, didn’t even include a mention of immigration when she announced 100 campaign commitments last month. When she came to the state where Monterrey sits — Nuevo Leon — in February she talked about security and the water supply. Her main opponent, Xochitl Galvez, visited the city last month and talked about her proposals to raise police salaries and combat gender violence. 

But Monterrey, a three-hour drive from the Texas border, has increasingly become a critical waystation, even destination, for tens of thousands of migrants. Local authorities and international organizations have scrambled to find a place for the new arrivals. 

Femsa, the owner of the ubiquitous convenience store chain Oxxo, has hired hundreds of migrants to work in its stores through a program with the United Nations refugee agency. 

An annual survey of Nuevo Leon found last year that nearly nine in 10 residents noticed an increase in migrants and about seven in 10 felt that they should be provided with work. It’s not as if Mexicans aren’t divided over the issue: Those surveyed in Nuevo Leon were split over whether Mexico should admit more migrants or stop the flow. 

The lack of clear political advantage could explain why politicians have stayed away from talking about immigration, said Luis Mendoza Ovando, a political analyst and columnist with the main local newspaper, El Norte. 

Migrants settle in Colorado

Colorado became a stop on the migrant trail even more recently than Monterrey. In late 2022, Venezuelans crossing into Texas from Mexico found that it costs less to take a bus from the border city of El Paso to Denver, Colorado, than many of the United States’ better-known metropolises. And Denver — a liberal, fast-growing city — offered migrants food and shelter. 

Now, Denver’s mayor, Mike Johnston, reports that his city of 710,000 has received nearly 40,000 migrants, what he calls the highest number of new migrants per capita of any city in the United States. The largely Venezuelan population is mainly confined to Denver but has started to trickle into surrounding suburbs like Brighton, often selling flowers or window-washes at street corners. 

Unlike in Monterrey, where many migrants found jobs with established employers, paperwork hassles and federal regulations have prevented most migrants in Denver from receiving authorization to work. Irregular labor such as yard work or housecleaning is their only way of making a living. 

That’s led to a heavy burden on Denver’s coffers, and other cities in Colorado have watched in alarm. The two next largest after Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs, both passed resolutions saying they don’t want large numbers of migrants sent to their cities. 

The migrants in Denver say they feel increased pressure in the form of fewer city benefits and stepped up warnings from local police that they can’t sell windshield washes, flowers or home-cooked food from streetcorners without a permit. The wary feelings towards them extend to the heavily Hispanic suburbs just north of Denver that comprise the state’s 8th congressional district, likely to be one of the most heated fights in this year’s battle for control of the House of Representatives. 

State Representative Gabe Evans, one of the Republicans competing for the party’s nomination against Democratic Representative Yadira Caraveo, said that the district’s residents are fed up. 

Evans’ grandfather immigrated from Mexico and earned his U.S. citizenship by serving in World War II. 

“The citizenship for the Chavez family was paid for in blood,” Evans said. “Then you have people crossing the border and just getting handed things.” 

Cynthia Moreno, a Democrat, said her father came from Mexico legally in the 1920s. Though she has personal sympathy for the migrants’ plight, she’s aghast they’re allowed to stay. 

“If I lived in Denver, I’d be pissed right now,” Moreno said, calling immigration “the nation’s top priority.” 

Lawmakers deadlocked on immigration

That 1986 immigration bill was the last significant one passed by Congress, which has deadlocked for decades over whether to legalize additional generations of people living in the country illegally. In a sign of how the politics of immigration have shifted, that issue didn’t even come up in the bipartisan immigration bill that Trump killed earlier this year. Instead, the proposal focused on border enforcement. 

The legislation never made it to the floor of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But Caraveo, who introduced her own package of immigration measures last month that included a proposal to legalize those brought to the country illegally as children, said she would have supported the bipartisan immigration bill anyway. 

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6.1 magnitude earthquake rattles Indonesia’s Java island

Jakarta, Indonesia — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage. 

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning. 

High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta’s satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi.

The quake also was felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency. 

The agency warned of possible aftershocks. 

Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta. 

Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” 

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java’s Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people. 

In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province. 

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US presidential candidates talk tough on chips, China

America’s high-tech industry is looking at the presumptive U.S. presidential candidates and their priorities concerning semiconductors. The Biden administration last week announced a major investment in the industry. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti reports.

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Blinken heads to the Middle East for talks on Gaza, regional security

state department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Riyadh from Monday through Tuesday to participate in regional talks on humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a post-war roadmap for the Palestinian territories, and stability and security in the Middle East.    

“The secretary will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a cease-fire,” according to the State Department.   

The Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, a regional alliance of Arab countries bordering the Persian Gulf, will convene in Riyadh next week.    

Blinken will participate in a GCC ministerial meeting to advance coordination on regional security.  

Additionally, Saudi Arabia is hosting a special session of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh on Sunday and Monday. Expected participants include heads of state and top executives from both the public and private sectors. The meeting aims to tackle a broad range of global challenges, including humanitarian issues, climate change, and economic concerns.  

Gaza, post-war roadmap  

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains dire, despite an increase in daily aid and Israel beginning to utilize a northern crossing and Ashdod Port for humanitarian deliveries.  

The United States is collaborating with partners to establish a maritime humanitarian corridor; however, these efforts are insufficient as the entire population of Gaza faces the risk of famine and malnutrition.     

U.S. officials have stated that Washington is committed to advancing lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, including through practical steps aimed at establishing a Palestinian state that exists alongside Israel.   

“The West Bank and Gaza must be reunified under the Palestinian Authority. A revitalized Palestinian Authority is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability,” said Barbara Leaf, an sssistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department during a recent briefing.     

Washington also has made clear that Hamas should not play a role in such governance.   

However, analysts say there are many hurdles to the U.S. vision.    

Michael Hanna, the program director at the International Crisis Group, noted that the current Israeli government has shown a “total rejection of the idea of a two-state solution.” Moreover, “the physical reality has changed so dramatically since 1967 that it makes the possibility of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state almost an impossibility.”    

He said “there’s no real assurance” that countries in the Middle East are particularly committed to post-war reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.    

“It’s very difficult for many of these regional parties to engage politically at the moment while the war rages on,” he said.  

Prospects for Saudi-Israel normalization 

The Biden administration continues to work on a potential agreement that could lead to Saudi normalization with Israel, despite what some officials and analysts consider a remote possibility.   

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and the return of the Palestinian Authority to control Gaza, demands that are widely supported by the international community.    

The Saudis have demanded, as a prerequisite, to see an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution.  

“If Netanyahu’s positions do not change, he will probably not be able to deliver normalization with Saudi Arabia. It may be that a U.S.-Saudi offer for such a normalization will be publicly made, so when Israelis go to the polls, they can take this option into account,” Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, told VOA in an email.  

Alleged rights violations being investigated

Blinken’s upcoming meetings in the Middle East come as the U.S. evaluates new information from the Israeli government to determine whether to blacklist certain Israeli military units.   

These units are accused of violating the human rights of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel.  

Critics have pointed out that the State Department’s “slow rolling” in making its decision highlights the special treatment that Israel continues to receive. 

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Demonstrators in Pakistan disrupt German ambassador’s speech

ISLAMABAD — Germany’s ambassador to Pakistan faced backlash on social media Saturday for asking pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave a human rights conference instead of “shouting” and interrupting his speech.

Alfred Grannas was speaking on civil rights at the live-streamed event in the eastern city of Lahore when a young man rose from his seat and spoke to the German diplomat.

“Excuse me, Mr. ambassador. I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians,” the protester said.

The participants cheered and chanted “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea” in response to the comments, with many of them rising from their seats in support of the man.

“If you want to shout, go out; there, you can shout because shouting is not a discussion,” the German ambassador shouted back furiously in response to the questioning voice.

“If you want to discuss it, come here. We’ll discuss it, but don’t shout. Shouting is not a behavior. Shame on you,” Grannas said.

Organizers forced the protesters out of the conference to let the German diplomat complete his speech.

Grannas’ video remarks quickly went viral, drawing criticism from Pakistanis, including activists, politicians and journalists.

“The German ambassador shouting into the mic about shouting,” said Uzair Younus, a former nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center.

“Not a great look for German diplomacy. These types of interruptions will be the norm, not the exception for Western countries’ representatives in the global south moving forward as they lecture folks about human rights,” Younus wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Mr. ambassador, can you tell someone to ‘get out’ for expressing their opinion freely in your own country?” Ghulam Abbas Shah, a Pakistani broadcast journalist, asked on X.

“German ambassador to Pakistan lecturing Pakistanis about free speech while German government bans any discussion on Gaza. Students who spoke up during this speech were dragged and beaten up. Shame!” Ammar Ali Jan, a Pakistani historian, activist, and politician, said on X.

Some social media influencers urged the German diplomat to apologize to Pakistanis for his reaction.

“This isn’t the way a diplomatic relation is built with the masses of host country @GermanyinPAK,” said journalist Sumaira Khan on X. “We are shocked to see your level of respect toward Pakistan and Pakistanis. … You should apologize to our people I believe,” she wrote.

Germany has firmly supported Israel since the Jewish state declared war on Gaza-based Hamas after the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and leading to the capture of scores of hostages.

Israel’s counteroffensive has killed nearly 34,000 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, Gaza health officials say. Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.

The German government has not budged even as warnings of a genocide allegedly committed by Israeli forces have mounted.

Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has no direct channels of communication with it over the issue of Palestinian statehood.

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British troops may deliver Gaza aid, BBC report says

LONDON — British troops may be tasked with delivering aid to Gaza from an offshore pier now under construction by the U.S. military, the BBC reported Saturday. U.K. government officials declined to comment on the report.

According to the BBC, the British government is considering deploying troops to drive the trucks that will carry aid from the pier along a floating causeway to the shore. No decision has been made, and the proposal hasn’t yet reached Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the BBC reported, citing unidentified government sources.

The report comes after a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” and that another nation would provide the personnel to drive the delivery trucks to the shore. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, declined to identify the third party.

Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of the pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of U.S. soldiers and sailors working on the project.

In addition, British military planners have been embedded at U.S. Central Command in Florida and in Cyprus, where aid will be screened before shipment to Gaza, for several weeks, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Friday.

The U.K. Hydrographic Office has also shared analysis of the Gaza shoreline with the U.S. to aid in construction of the pier.

“It is critical we establish more routes for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza, and the U.K. continues to take a leading role in the delivery of support in coordination with the U.S. and our international allies and partners,” Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

Development of the port and pier in Gaza comes as Israel faces widespread international criticism over the slow trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says at least a quarter of the population sits on the brink of starvation.

The Israel-Hamas began with a Hamas-led terror attack into southern Israel on October 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people as hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

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Thailand closely watches battle for Myanmar border town

MAE SOT, THAILAND — Thailand is staying alert as conflict in Myanmar continues, according to Thai government officials who visited Thailand’s border with Myanmar this week.

The comments come as renewed fighting continues between anti-junta ethnic groups and the military for control over Myawaddy, a crucial trade hub just across the border from Mae Sot.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup in February 2021. The country has devolved into armed conflict with civilian, political and ethnic groups opposing junta rule.

The conflict has shifted in the past year. The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, has suffered a series of defeats to opposition groups. One of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed groups, the Karen National Union, or KNU, announced in April it had forced the surrender of military soldiers controlling Myawaddy.

Thailand shares a 2,414-kilometer (1,500-mile) border with Myanmar and could be at risk of a border spillover should the conflict escalate.

On Tuesday, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara visited Mae Sot.

Parnpree first surveyed a Thai immigration crossing before holding a news conference with Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang, at Mae Sot International Airport.

“We’ve been visiting people in the area to give them confidence that things are being handled well and to hear what issues they may have. For Thai sovereignty we are ready to protect,” Parnpree told reporters.

Thailand’s officials appear calm about the situation, but Mae Sot is literally only a few kilometers across the border from Myanmar’s war. Armored military vehicles can be seen near the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, with soldiers on patrol. Last week there were reports of bullets from the conflict entering Thai territory, and Thailand’s air force has been monitoring Myanmar’s aircraft for any possible incursions.

“In the past there have been incidents including bullets and some sort of encroachment. That is the past in a different context. Today, we are following every issue closely,” Parnpree said.

The reduced control of Myawaddy by Myanmar’s military is seen as a humiliating blow to the junta because billions of dollars’ worth of cross-border trade passes through the town each year.

Footage found online that reportedly was posted by junta soldiers shows a Myanmar infantry battalion raising its flag at a recaptured base Wednesday morning. The KNU says its forces retreated after Myanmar’s Karen Border Guard Force — which is aligned with the junta — allowed military soldiers to reoccupy the base.

Since then, the fighting has continued with the loud thuds and explosions of outgoing weapons fire heard several miles away in Mae Sot.

Even though Myanmar’s post-coup conflict has spanned more than three years, Thailand’s approach to Myanmar changed only after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin took office in the last year, according to one political analyst.

“I think they want to be the broker; they want to promote dialogue, and the Srettha government wants to play a leading role moving forward,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political expert on Thailand, told VOA.

“I think they have a broader foreign policy objective about rebalancing and repositioning Thailand as a leader for ASEAN on Myanmar,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “I think they are willing to do what it takes to [be in a] leading role and are open to options. Myanmar is a top priority for Thailand.”

Thailand has taken on a bigger humanitarian role toward Myanmar in recent months and has agreed to build shelters to receive refugees escaping Myanmar.

Parnpree will also lead a new special committee aimed at dealing with the crisis.

Since the fight for Myawaddy erupted, thousands of people from Myanmar have fled across the 200-mile Moei River, which acts as a natural border separating Thailand and Myanmar. If Myawaddy remains an active war zone, Thailand could see more people fleeing across its border.

At the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, the medical staff are struggling to cope with the influx of injured patients.

“Three hundred to 400 patients have come from Myawaddy,” Khun Wai, a medical officer at the clinic, told VOA. “Some have got war injuries from the fighting. We currently have 140 beds, so our doctors and medics are very busy right now. In Myanmar, many families have fled to Thailand.”

Inside the facility, the conditions are grim. Patients are crammed in hallways, waiting for treatment. The sweltering heat adds to the discomfort.

In one ward, a handful of young soldiers who fought on both sides of the war have physically succumbed to the brutalities of war. Several have had legs blown off from landmines; others have severe burns to their skin. One man has bandages covering the stitches in his chest after being shot.

More than 60% of Myanmar’s territory is under the control of ethnic and opposition groups, according to the National Unity Government — the anti-junta shadow government — that has long said it must be involved in any new aid initiatives from Bangkok.

Tun Aung Shwe, the NUG representative to Australia, spoke with VOA earlier this year.

“To make a substantial impact, the Thai government’s involvement should prioritize collaboration with the NUG and its allies. Without this engagement, despite good intentions, the efforts might not yield the desired positive outcome,” Shwe said.

Thailand’s government has been criticized for liaising only with Myanmar’s military council in the past, but now Thailand’s foreign ministry said initial discussions have taken place to act as a mediator among the opposing groups.

This hasn’t always been the case.

Thailand endured its own military coup in 2014, which was led by then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, who ruled Thailand for nine years.

Military relations have changed since then, Thitinan said.

“I think Srettha is more open to more stakeholders,” he said. “The Thai military [is] on the border now; the Royal Air Force [is] staying vigilant. … This wasn’t happening under Prayuth’s time.”

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20 Cambodian soldiers killed in ammunition explosion

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Twenty soldiers were killed, and several others injured in an ammunition explosion at a base in the west of Cambodia on Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Hun Manet said. 

Hun Manet said in a Facebook post that he was “deeply shocked” when he received the news of the explosion at the base in Kampong Speu province. 

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, and Hun Manet did not say in his post on Facebook. 

He offered condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised the government would pay for their funerals and provide compensation to those killed and injured. 

Pictures from the scene showed a destroyed building still smoldering and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. 

Hun Manet, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was promoted to be a four-star general shortly before he was elected to serve as prime minister, succeeding his autocratic father Hun Sen. 

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New suspect arrested in Russia concert hall attack that killed 144

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has detained another suspect as an accomplice in the attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people in March, the Moscow City Courts Telegram channel said Saturday. 

Dzhumokhon Kurbonov, a citizen of Tajikistan, is accused of providing the attackers with means of communication and financing. The judge at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ruled that Kurbonov would be kept in custody until May 22 pending investigation and trial. 

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Kurbonov was reportedly detained on April 11 for 15 days on the administrative charge of petty hooliganism. Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona noted that this is a common practice used by Russian security forces to hold a person in custody while a criminal case is prepared against them. 

Twelve defendants have been arrested in the case, including four who allegedly carried out the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, according to RIA Novosti. 

Those four appeared in the same Moscow court at the end of March on terrorism charges and showed signs of severe beatings. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing. The court ordered that the men, all of whom were identified in the media as citizens of Tajikistan, also be held in custody until May 22. 

A faction of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the massacre in which gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire. But Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have persistently claimed, without presenting any evidence, that Ukraine and the West had a role in the attack. 

Ukraine denies involvement and its officials claim that Moscow is pushing the allegation as a pretext to intensify its fighting in Ukraine. 

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Major rebel push in Myanmar closes in on pivotal Chinese megaproject

BANGKOK — While Myanmar’s rebel forces battle the military for control of a key border town in the east, another armed group has been closing in on a Chinese-funded oil and gas terminal in the west that could prove an even bigger prize.

Since breaking off a cease-fire in November with the military regime that seized control of Myanmar in a 2021 coup, the Arakan Army has made steady battlefield gains across northern Rakhine state, also known as Arakan, in the country’s far west.

“The AA has been extremely effective in winning a dominant position over most of the theater, although not all of it,” said Morgan Michaels, who runs the Myanmar Conflict Map at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, which is keeping close track of the fighting.

The Arakan Army and local media say the group now controls eight of Rakhine’s 17 townships and one more in the neighboring state of Chin.

Michaels, whose research includes verifying those reports, said the military still appears to control a few pockets in some of the townships the Arakan Army has overrun.

“But the key point is that they have dismantled the interlocking defenses of the regime. And so even if there is some regime outpost left, they can just circumnavigate it, so they have freedom of movement in these places,” he said. “They can establish their administration, so they’re the dominant player there.”

The Arakan Army is also on the offensive in three more townships including Ann, where the military bases its Western Command, and says it has been closing in on both the state capital of Sittwe and the port town of Kyaukphyu.

Arakan Army spokespoerson Khine Thu Kha told VOA Thursday the group was preparing to take both towns soon.

“We have surrounded Sittwe and Kyaukphyu,” he said. “Our objective is to regain all our ancestral lands. That means the whole Arakan.”

A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.

Formed in 2009, the Arakan Army has quickly grown into one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority rebel groups. It aims to establish its own government over Rakhine, which once made up most of the former Kingdom of Arakan. Since 2021, it has been among the established rebel groups that have allied with a new crop of local militias seeking to oust the military regime.

The Arakan Army was also a key player in a major rebel offensive in the northeast of Myanmar late last year. Dubbed Operation 1027, it handed the junta its worst string of defeats since the putsch.

If the junta were to also lose Sittwe in the west, it would be the first state capital to fall to the resistance and make for a humiliating symbolic defeat but not a very strategic one, said Min Zaw Oo, who runs the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, a think tank that has also been tracking the conflict in Rakhine.

Losing Kyaukphyu, on the other hand, would hit the junta hard strategically and financially, said Min Zaw Oo, who is also an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

He said Kyaukphyu, which hugs Rakhine’s Bay of Bengal coast, hosts a military radar station and a major naval base with “significant value both militarily and monetarily.”

Kyaukphyu is best known, though, for its billions of dollars’ worth of investment projects backed by Beijing, including the terminus of twin oil and gas pipelines that run from the coast across Myanmar to China’s landlocked Yunnan province. A deep-water port and special economic zone are also in the works.

The route — part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative — gives China a way to import oil and gas that avoids the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia, a potential chokepoint if a conflict were to break out between China and the United States.

Additionally, the pipelines are a vital part of Myanmar’s oil and gas industry, the military regime’s main source of revenue.

Should the junta fail to hold Kyaukphyu, Michaels said, “they would lose access to the pipeline terminus, so this has economic and also diplomatic implications for its relationship with China if it doesn’t control this major asset. So, in that sense it would be quite a significant loss for the regime.”

Min Zaw Oo said the oil and gas industry may be bringing in as much as a fifth of the heavily sanctioned regime’s current earnings and that Kyaukphyu’s loss would be “a huge hit,” possibly “worse than Myawaddy.”

The town of Myawaddy sits on eastern Myanmar’s border with Thailand, straddling the main trade route connecting the two countries, and earns the junta valuable tax revenue off the roughly $1 billion in annual trade that passes through. The Karen National Liberation Army, another ethnic minority rebel group, appeared to take control of the town earlier this month before pulling back in the face of a counteroffensive by the military and allied militias.

Given Kyaukphyu’s importance to China, Michaels and Min Zaw Oo say Beijing will likely be putting pressure on the junta and the Arakan Army to agree to a new cease-fire or truce at least around its projects there, possibly one that leaves the junta in charge of the port and splitting the profits with the rebels.

China is the junta’s main weapons supplier, along with Russia, and it is widely believed to be a major source of arms, ammunition and other vital supplies for some of the country’s ethnic minority rebels, including the Arakan Army.

“It’s very likely that Chine will not be happy if there’s fighting in Kyaukphyu, so they may have already communicated [this] to the Arakan Army,” said Min Zaw Oo, noting that there has been relatively little fighting around the port town itself.

Khine Thu Kha would not tell VOA what, if any, talks the Arakan Army has had with China about its Rakhine projects but insisted that the group’s policy was to protect all foreign investments across the state.

The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment.

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Georgia to host development summit; climate change, aging on agenda

SYDNEY — The Asian Development Bank holds its annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, next week, with discussions on climate change and the world’s aging population high on the agenda.

The four-day summit, starting Thursday, marks the first time that the ADB’s 68 members have gathered for a meeting in Georgia, which joined the multilateral development bank in 2007.

“Georgia sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia,” said Shalini Mittal, a principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“This meeting signifies ADB’s agenda of bridges to the future where technology and expertise from the West can be used to enhance structural reforms in Asia,” Mittal told VOA.

Alongside numerous panel discussions and a keynote speech from ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, finance ministers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries Japan, China and South Korea will also meet on the sidelines.

“Given the geopolitical uncertainty with the Ukraine-Russia war and tensions in Asia with China’s problematic relations with its neighbors, I think the meeting is taking place at a crucial time,” said Jason Chung, a senior adviser with the Project on Prosperity and Development at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It provides an additional path to have meaningful discussions on global economic issues,” Chung told VOA.

Climate change stressed

The issue of climate change is set to headline proceedings at the conference, with the ADB now marketing itself as the climate bank for the Asia-Pacific region.

The bank pledged a record $9.8 billion of climate finance in 2023, supporting developing countries to cut greenhouse emissions and adapt to extreme conditions as global warming continues.

“Storm surges, sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, and floods — all our countries suffer from all of the imaginable impacts of climate change,” said Warren Evans, who, as senior special adviser on climate change in the ADB president’s office, acts as the institution’s climate envoy.

The bank says that the Asia-Pacific region was hit by over 200 disasters last year alone, with many of them weather related, a problem that shows no sign of letting up.

“Right now, there’s a heatwave in Bangladesh that is causing severe impacts. Schools are closed, they’re seeing a drop in agricultural productivity, hospitals are getting overloaded with people with heatstroke,” Evans told VOA.

“Mortality rates are going up and, of course, women and children are the most vulnerable to those impacts,” he said.

While much of the Asia-Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to climate change, it is also a huge driver of the phenomenon.

The region contributes more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions, with a heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy, according to the ADB.

To try to reach net zero targets, many Asia-Pacific nations require huge investment to convert to clean energy alternatives.

One way that the ADB is tackling this issue is through a program targeting coal-burning power plants, a major contributor to emissions.

“With private sector partners and sovereign funding, we’re refinancing coal-fired power plants in order to be able to close them down early,” Evans said. The ADB’s “energy transition mechanism” uses private and public capital to refinance investments in coal-fired power, allowing power purchase agreements to be shortened and plants to be closed as much as a decade earlier than planned. The financing is also used to fund clean energy projects to generate the power that would have come from the coal plant.

The project looks to replace these plants with clean energy alternatives, ensuring that power is generated more sustainably.

A coal-burning power plant in Indonesia’s West Java is set to become the first to be retired early under the initiative.

“The communities that are impacted will have support, allowing people to find new jobs or to get social welfare,” Evans said.

 

Aging population in Asia

During the Tbilisi summit, the ADB will also launch a major report on aging population, which also affects member countries’ economies.

According to the bank, 1 in 4 people in the Asia-Pacific region will be over 60 by 2050, close to 1.3 billion people.

“The speed of aging is very quick in Asia, because of the rapid progress in the social development that has taken place in the region,” said Aiko Kikkawa, a senior economist for the ADB’s Aging Well in Asia report.

Researchers have investigated the implications of this demographic transition, with Kikkawa finding that the Asia-Pacific region is currently “unprepared” for aging populations.

“Large numbers of older people do report a substantial disease burden, lack of access to decent jobs or essential services, such as health and long-term care, and even lack of access to pension coverage,” Kikkawa told VOA.

The ADB has pledged to help to improve the lives of older people across the Asia-Pacific region, by supporting the rollout of universal health coverage and providing infrastructure for ‘age-friendly cities’ that are more accessible for older people.

Poverty to be addressed

While much of the focus in Tbilisi will be on climate change and aging populations, the ADB’s core edict remains to eradicate extreme poverty in its many developing country members.

That task has become even more challenging in an environment of high inflation and growing government debt.

However, Chung, the former U.S. director of the ADB, told VOA he believes that this goal should be at the center of discussions in the Georgian capital.

“The ADB should focus on its core mission of alleviating poverty and creating paths for economic growth in the developing member countries.

“While climate risk is important, I think given the state of uncertainty, it is important to provide support to create economic conditions for growth,” he told VOA.

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War protesters at U.S. universities dig in as faculties condemn school leaders

NEW YORK — Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at universities across United States, some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, remained defiant Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, while several school faculties condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.

As Columbia University continues negotiations with those at a pro-Palestinian student encampment on the New York school’s campus, 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 to clear the protest, resulting in scuffles and more than 100 arrests.

Although 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, adding that they hope the negotiations show “concrete signs of progress tonight.”

As the death toll mounts 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.

The 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 increase pressure on school officials, who are already scrambling to resolve the protests as May graduation ceremonies near.

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, gave protestors 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 some 40 protesters on trespassing charges.

Students representing the Columbia encampment, which inspired the wave of protests across the country, 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, although there was progress on a push for more transparent financial disclosures.

“We will not rest until Columbia divests,” said Jonathan Ben-Menachem, a fourth-year doctoral student.

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 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.

“The faculty have completely lost confidence in President Shafik’s ability to lead this organization,” said Ege Yumusak, a philosophy lecturer who is part of a faculty team protecting the encampment.

In response, university spokesperson Ben Chang said in the evening that “we are committed to an ongoing dialogue and appreciate the Senate’s constructive engagement in finding a pathway forward.”

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.

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.

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Russia renews attacks on Ukrainian energy sector

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a barrage of missiles against Ukraine overnight, in attacks that appeared to target the country’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia said its air defense systems had intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region.

Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia had launched 34 missiles against Ukraine overnight, of which 21 had been shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

In a post on Telegram, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko said energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south of the country and Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv in the west had been attacked and that an engineer was injured.

Private energy operator DTEK said four of its thermal power plants were damaged and that there were “casualties,” without going into detail.

Earlier this month Russia destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaged others in a massive missile and drone attack as it renewed its push to target Ukraine’s energy facilities.

Ukraine has appealed to its Western allies for more air defense systems to ward off such attacks. At a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the U.S. will provide Ukraine with additional munitions and gear for its air defense launchers.

Further east, a psychiatric hospital was damaged and one person was wounded after Russia launched a missile attack overnight on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Photos from the scene showed a huge crater on the grounds of the facility and patients taking shelter in corridors. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a 53-year-old woman was hurt.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Russian air defense systems had intercepted 66 drones over the country’s southern Krasnodar region. Two more drones were shot down over the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, said that Ukrainian forces targeted an oil refinery and infrastructure facilities but that there were no casualties or serious damage. The regional department of the Emergency Situations Ministry reported that a fire broke out at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban during the attack.

Ukrainian officials normally decline to comment on attacks on Russian soil, but the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said Saturday that two oil refineries in the Krasnodar region had been hit by drones.

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Olympic chief backs world doping body over positive Chinese tests

Lausanne, Switzerland — The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has backed the World Anti-Doping Agency in a row over its handling of positive drug tests by 23 Chinese swimmers.

“We have full confidence in WADA and the regulations and that WADA have followed their regulations,” Bach told AFP in an exclusive interview Friday at the committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

WADA has faced criticism since media reports last weekend revealed that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) — which can enhance performance — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The swimmers were not suspended or sanctioned after WADA accepted the explanation of Chinese authorities that the results were caused by food contamination at a hotel where they had stayed.

The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, has called the situation a “potential cover-up” with the positive tests never made public at the time.

Bach stressed that WADA was run independently, despite being funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and he said he had learned of the positive tests via the media.

The IOC was awaiting the results of a new investigation ordered by WADA on Thursday, but Bach said the Chinese swimmers could compete at the Paris Olympics this year if cleared.

“If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there,” the 70-year-old former German fencer added.

‘Iconic’ Paris

The Paris Games are set to be important to “revive the Olympic spirit” after the last COVID-affected edition in Tokyo in 2021 saw sport play out in empty stadiums, Bach said.

The hugely ambitious opening ceremony being planned by French organizers remains one of the biggest doubts, with infrastructure for the Games either already built or on track.

Instead of a traditional parade through the athletics stadium on the first night, teams are set to sail down the Seine on a flotilla of river boats in front of up to 500,000 spectators.

Worries about a terror attack have led to persistent speculation that the ceremony might need to be scrapped or scaled back dramatically.

“The very meticulous, very professional approach (from French authorities) gives us all the confidence that we can have this opening ceremony on the river Seine and that this opening ceremony will be iconic, will be unforgettable for the athletes, and everybody will be safe and secure,” Bach said.

Recent grumbling from Paris residents and negative media reports were typical of the run-up to any Olympics, he said, and also a symptom of broader anxiety.

“It’s part of our zeitgeist because we are living in uncertain times. And there are people who are skeptical. Some are even scared. Some are worried about their future,” the IOC president said.

Diplomatic tightrope

As with previous Olympics, international politics and diplomacy are set to intrude on the world’s biggest sporting event.

Bach reiterated his support for the IOC’s policy of excluding Russia from the Paris Games over the “blatant violation” of the Olympic charter when it annexed Ukrainian sporting organizations.

A small number of Russian athletes will be able to compete as neutrals in Paris, providing they have not declared public support for the invasion of Ukraine or are associated with the security forces.

Any Russian athlete that expressed political views on the field of play, including the “Z” sign that has come to symbolize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, could be excluded.

“Immediately a disciplinary procedure would be opened and the necessary measures and or sanctions be taken,” Bach said, adding: “This can go up to immediate exclusion from the Games.”

Addressing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, he said between six and eight Palestinian athletes were expected to compete in Paris, with some set to be invited by the IOC even if they fail to qualify.

Bach dismissed any suggestion that the IOC had treated Russia differently over its invasion of Ukraine compared with Israel and its war in Gaza.

“The situation between Israel and Palestine is completely different,” he said.

He said he had been even-handed in his public statements on Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

“From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on the seventh of October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences,” Bach said.

Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed 34,356 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Bach is in the last year of what should be a second and final four-year term according to IOC rules.

But some IOC members have suggested changing the organization’s statutes to enable him to stay at the helm — an issue he declined to address.

“The IOC Ethics Commission has given me the strict recommendation not to address this question before the end of (the) Paris (Olympics) and I think they have good reasons for this,” he said.

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About 1 in 4 older US adults expect they will never retire

washington — About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire, and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.

About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation.

Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.

The data will matter this election year as Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump are trying to win support from older Americans, who traditionally turn out in high numbers, with their policy proposals.

Everyday expenses hamper saving

The AARP’s study, based on interviews completed with more than 8,000 people in coordination with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, finds that one-third of older adults with credit card debt carry a balance of more than $10,000 and 12% have a balance of $20,000 or more. Additionally, 37% are worried about meeting basic living costs such as food and housing.

“Far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire,” said Indira Venkateswaran, AARP’s senior vice president of research. “Everyday expenses continue to be the top barrier to saving more for retirement, and some older Americans say that they never expect to retire.”

The share of people 50 and older who say they do not expect to retire has remained steady. It was 23% in January 2022 and 24% that July, according to the study, which is conducted twice a year.

“We are seeing an expansion of older workers staying in the workforce,” said David John, senior strategic policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute. He said this is in part because older workers “don’t have sufficient retirement savings. It’s a problem and its likely to continue as we go forward.”

In the AARP survey, 33% of respondents 50 and older believe their finances will be better in a year.

Based on the 2022 congressional elections, census data released Tuesday shows that voters 65 and older made up 30.4% of all voters, while Gen Z and millennials accounted for 11.7%.

Biden has tried to court older voters by regularly promoting a $35 price cap on insulin for people on Medicare. He trumpets Medicare’s powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications.

Trump, in an interview with CNBC in March, indicated he would be open to cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The former president said “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”

Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Trump “will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.”

Candidates court senior voters

A looming issue that will affect Americans’ ability to retire is the financial health of Social Security and Medicare.

The latest annual report from the program’s trustees says the financial safety nets for millions of older Americans will run short of money to pay full benefits within the next decade.

Medicare, the government-sponsored health insurance that covers 65 million older and disabled people, will be unable to pay full benefits for inpatient hospital visits and nursing home stays by 2031, the report forecast. And just two years later, Social Security will not have enough cash on hand to pay out full benefits to its 66 million retirees.

An AP-NORC poll from March 2023 found that most U.S. adults are opposed to proposals that would cut into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and a majority support raising taxes on the nation’s highest earners to keep Medicare running as is.

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