Columbia

Columbia university President Shafik resigns after months of campus tumult

She will be replaced on an interim basis by Katrina Armstrong, chief executive officer of Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Severe storms kill 3 as tornadoes tear through central, southeastern US

Severe storms tore through the central and southeast U.S. late Tuesday and Wednesday, spawning damaging tornadoes, producing massive hail, and killing two people in Tennessee and one person in North Carolina. A storm that rumbled across northeastern Tennessee brought high winds that knocked down powerlines and trees. Claiborne County Sheriff Bob Brooks said a 22-year-old man was in a car struck by one of the trees. Wednesday afternoon, a tornado emergency the weather service's highest alert level was issued for an area south of Nashville including the towns of Spring Hill, Chapel Hill and Eagleville. The National Weather Service had previously reported a likely tornado on the ground in nearby Columbia, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Nashville. People in Columbia were injured and homes were damaged, according to Lynn Thompson, assistant director of Maury County 911. Thompson told The Associated Press that he could not provide any further details: We're getting overloaded .

Columbia University cancels commencement ceremony amid ongoing protests

Columbia University is cancelling its large university-wide commencement ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests but will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the university announced Monday. Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honoured individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15, Columbia officials said in a statement. The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its ...

Trump downplays Capitol attack by comparing it to students' protest

Donald Trump on Tuesday lamented the possibility that Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protesters could be treated more leniently than the rioters who stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, marking the second time in a week the former president has invoked the ongoing campus protests to downplay past examples of right-wing violence. Speaking in the hallway outside a Manhattan courtroom where his criminal hush money trial is taking place, Trump questioned whether student demonstrators who seized and barricaded a campus building early Tuesday, some of them vandalising it in the process, would be treated the same way as his supporters who attacked the Capitol on January 6 to stop certification of the presidential results. I think I can give you the answer right now, he said. And that's why people have lost faith in our court system. Trump's remarks demonstrate anew how he and the Republican Party have tried to minimise the deadliest assault on the seat of American power in over 2

Judge warns Donald Trump of jail time if ex-Prez violates gag order

Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order. His remarks will be closely watched after he received a USD 9,000 fine for making public statements about people connected to the case. In imposing the fine for posts on Trump's Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M. Merchan said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he will impose an incarceratory punishment. The former president is trying to achieve a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while also fighting felony charges in New York. Trump frequently goes after Merchan, prosecutors and potential witnesses at his rallies and on social media, attack lines that play well with his supporters but that have potentially put him in legal ...

Police clear 30-40 protesters from Columbia University's Hamiltion Hall

Police cleared 30 to 40 people from inside Columbia University's Hamilton Hall late Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the administration building in New York earlier in the day. NYPD officers acted after the school's president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus and sought help from the department. The occupied building had expanded the demonstrators' reach from an encampment elsewhere on the Ivy League school's grounds. Law enforcement will be there through May 17, the end of the university's commencement events. Columbia's protests began earlier this month and kicked off demonstrations that now span from California to Massachusetts. As May commencement ceremonies near, administrators face added pressure to clear protesters. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end the pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school's

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after Columbia University calls police

Officers took protesters into custody late Tuesday after Columbia University called in police to end the pro-Palestinian occupation on the New York campus. The scene unfolded shortly after 9 p.m. as police, wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and riot shields, massed at the Ivy League university's entrance. Officers breached Hamilton Hall, an administration building on campus, to clear out the structure. The demonstrators had occupied Hamilton Hall more than 12 hours earlier, spreading their reach from an encampment elsewhere on the grounds that's been there for nearly two weeks. Shortly before officers entered the campus, the New York Police Department received a notice from Columbia authorising officers to take action, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorised to discuss details of the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The NYPD's move came hours after the department's brass said officers wouldn't enter Columbia's ..

Columbia University vows to expel protestors as demonstrations rise in US

Columbia University vowed to expel protesters who occupied a building on the New York college's grounds Tuesday as universities nationwide grapple with intensifying campus demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut and New Jersey in recent days, some after violent clashes with police in riot gear. The White House condemned the standoffs at Columbia and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters had occupied two buildings until officers with batons intervened overnight and arrested 25 people. Officials estimated the northern California campus' total damage to be upwards of USD 1 million. President Joe Biden believes students occupying an academic building is absolutely the wrong approach, and not an example of peaceful protest, said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. New York City Mayor Eric Adams clai

Columbia University students occupy building as campus protests continue

The New York Police Department is on standby near Columbia's campus, with officers ready to respond if called upon by university officials

Student protest against Gaza war: What is happening in colleges across US

Officials are trying to resolve the protests as the academic year winds down, but students have dug in at several high-profile universities

Harvard, Columbia say no to students demanding to sell Israel investments

"We're willing to risk suspension, expulsion and arrest, and I think that that will put pressure," said Malak Afaneh, a law student at University of California, Berkeley, and a protest organizer

Columbia University extends talks with Gaza war protesters for 48 hours

Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police early Wednesday, but the situation remained tense with campus officials saying it would continue talks with pro-Palestinian protesters for another 48 hours. University President Minouche Shafik had set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment of protesters on campus but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making important progress". Student protesters had committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents, the New York Ivy League university said in a statement. On Wednesday morning, the encampment appeared calm and a little smaller than the previous day. Standoffs also persisted at other universities across the country, including California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters this week used furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block a building's entrance and barricade themselves inside. And new student encampments continued t

Israel-Hamas war: Columbia cancels classes, cops arrest Yale protesters

Columbia University cancelled in-person classes on Monday and police arrested several dozen protesters at Yale University as tensions on college campuses across the country continues to grow over the war in the Middle East. The moves at the two Ivy League schools came hours hours before the Jewish holiday of Passover was set to begin Monday evening. Police officers arrested about 45 protesters at Yale in Connecticut and charged them with misdemeanour trespassing, said Officer Christian Bruckhart, a spokesperson for New Haven police. All were being released on promises to appear in court, he said. Last week, police arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia in New York who had set up an encampment on the campus. Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a note addressed to the school community Monday that she was deeply saddened by what was happening on the campus. To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that

Engagement discontent

US lawsuits can change social-media functioning

Nearing $20 bn: Cocaine set to beat oil to be Colombia's main export

"From a purely economic standpoint, higher cocaine production and exports have supported short-term activity, domestic demand and external accounts," Bloomberg economist Felpi Hernandez said

Another Hindu temple vandalised in Canada by Khalistan supporters

A prominent temple in Canada's British Columbia province has been vandalised by two Khalistan supporters with "anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti", the latest such incident targeting Hindu places of worship in the country. The incident took place on Saturday at 12.29 am at the Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey. According to the Facebook page of the temple, one male and one female jumped over the outside boundary and purposely pasted Khalistan referendum posters on the main entry gate and the entrance of the Surrey Mandir. "It was really very sad what happened inside the Temple on August 12, 2023, late at night at 12.29 AM, when one male and one female person jumped over the outside boundary and purposely pasted #Khalistanreferendum Posters on the Main Entry Gate and Main Entrance of the Surrey Mandir," the post read. India has previously condemned the attacks on Hindu temples by Khalistan supporters in Canada and sought action against the perpetrators. This act was done to cre

Jaishankar discusses Indo-Pacific state with Colombian counterpart Duran

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Leyva Duran and discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region. Jaishankar arrived here in Colombia's capital from Panama on Wednesday. He is the first external affairs minister to have visited Colombia. "Met Foreign Minister @AlvaroLeyva of Colombia this morning. Exchanged views on expanding our bilateral cooperation, especially in health, agriculture and digital domains," he tweeted about his meeting on Wednesday. "Proposed greater exchanges and stronger collaboration, especially in capacity building. Also spoke about global issues, including the Indo-Pacific. Addressed the issue of Reformed Multilateralism," he said. The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific. The evolving situation in the strategic Indo-Pacific region in the wake of .

Colombia hosts diplomats from 20 countries on Venezuela's political crisis

Diplomats from 20 countries gathered Tuesday in Colombia to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela, where Nicols Maduro's socialist administration has strengthened its autocratic rule despite international efforts to expand political freedoms in the South American nation. The conference was hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has called for sanctions on Venezuela's government to be lifted, but also for policies that ensure more democracy in Venezuela. Following the five-hour-long meeting, Colombian foreign affairs minister Alvaro Leyva read a brief statement in which he said the participating nations agreed it is necessary for Venezuela's government and opposition parties to set an electoral calendar that ensures free and fair conditions for all involved. Levya also said there was consensus around lifting sanctions if there's progress in negotiations over Venezuela's political future. Delegates from the United States, the European Union, Brazil and the United Kingdo

'Cocaine hippos' in India? Experts flag their high maintenance cost

The Colombian authorities, according to reports, have reached out to the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom (GZRRC) in Jamnagar, Gujarat, for the rehabilitation of these feral hippos

UN chief Antonio Guterres welcomes cease-fire announcement in Colombia

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the announcement of a six-month cease-fire between the Colombian government and five armed groups