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      I’m happy to debate Trump, says Biden in surprise Howard Stern interview

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      Joe Biden sprang a surprise on the Washington press corps on Friday when he gave an interview to the radio host and shock jock Howard Stern.The president also made news. Asked if he would debate Donald Trump before the election in November, Biden said: “I am, somewhere, I don’t know when, but I am happy to debate him.”The Biden campaign confirmed to reporters that Biden was willing to face Trump in person. Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump and the Republican National Committee, posted: “OK let’s set it up!”Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has goaded Biden about debating – despite skipping all debates in his own primary this year; withdrawing from his second debate with Biden in 2020; and in 2022 prompting the Republican National Committee to withdraw from the body that organises presidential debates.Trump’s last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, also revealed that when Trump and Biden did meet on the debate stage, in September 2020, Trump had tested positive for Covid-19 but declined to tell the public. Trump and members of his family then flouted Covid protocols around the debate with Biden.The interview between Biden and Stern was announced minutes before the conversation began on air. Reporting the unscheduled stop in New York, the White House pool report said: “At 10.05am, the motorcade made an unscheduled stop at Sirius XM studio in midtown Manhattan.”Jennifer Witz, chief executive of Sirius XM, said: “We are thrilled that President Biden chose Howard Stern. It’s just another reminder that Howard is in a league of his own, regularly lauded as the world’s best interviewer.”That would be up for debate but Stern does have a habit of making news – often, in the case of Biden’s White House predecessor, retrospectively.Trump’s interviews with Stern before entering politics have regularly resurfaced, particularly over Trump’s usually controversial, often lewd and sometimes disturbing remarks.Wirtz said Sirius XM was “proud to offer distinct and varied insights and commentary spanning the political spectrum”.Biden was in New York after attending a campaign fundraiser hosted by the actor Michael Douglas on Thursday.Stern had never interviewed a sitting president before. In 2019, he interviewed Hillary Clinton, the losing Democratic candidate in the 2016 election.A day after the rightwing-dominated supreme court showed signs of delaying Trump’s federal election subversion trial by indulging his claims about presidential immunity, Stern asked Biden why he had to be careful talking about a court the host called “a joke”.“It’s a really extremely conservative court, maybe the most conservative in modern history,” Biden said.He also excused himself for a “Freudian slip” after saying “Trump” while meaning to refer to Richard Nixon.Much of the interview focused on Biden’s long life in politics, as a senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009, as vice-president to Barack Obama between 2009 and 2017, and as president since 2021.Discussing the deaths in a car crash in 1972 of his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and young daughter, Naomi, the president told Stern he then contemplated suicide.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I used to sit there and just think I’m going to take out a bottle of scotch,” Biden said. “I’m going to just drink it and get drunk.“I just thought about it, you don’t need to be crazy to commit suicide. I thought, ‘Let me just go to the Delaware Memorial [Bridge] and jump.’”He also encouraged listeners experiencing mental health issues to seek therapy.About how he met Jill Biden, his second wife, Biden said: “I got a call from my brother. ‘So I have a girl here at Delaware’ – Jill is nine years younger than I am. He said, ‘You’ll love her. She doesn’t like politics.’”Before that, while he was single, Biden said, he “got put in that 10 most eligible bachelors list … and a lot of lovely women, but women, would send very salacious pictures and I just give them to the Secret Service.”The “proudest thing” he had ever done in politics, Biden said, was securing the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, which he introduced in 1990 and which became law four years later. The law was reauthorised and strengthened in 2013, when Biden was vice-president.The 81-year-old president has attracted controversy through his relative reluctance to sit for interviews with the mainstream press.On Thursday, a day before Biden chose to speak to Stern, Politico published an extensive report about what it called a “petty feud” between the Biden White House and the New York Times.“Although the president’s communications teams bristle at coverage from dozens of outlets,” Politico said, “the frustration, and obsession, with the Times is unique, reflecting the resentment of a president with a working-class sense of himself and his team toward a news organisation catering to an elite audience – and a deep desire for its affirmation of their work.“On the other side, the newspaper carries its own singular obsession with the president, aggrieved over his refusal to give the paper a sit-down interview that publisher AG Sulzberger and other top editors believe to be its birthright.”Reporting Biden’s interview with Stern, the Times noted that the president “once again told a story about being arrested at a Delaware desegregation protest as a teenager”, but observed: “There has never been any evidence that he ever was arrested at a civil rights protest.” More

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      Police clash with US students protesting against war in Gaza – video

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      Police made arrests after clashing with demonstrators participating in student-led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. The arrests came amid a wave of demonstrations at campuses across the US, which began last week after students at New York’s Columbia University set up encampments calling for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, jumped into the fray on Wednesday with a visit to Columbia’s campus, where he faced jeers from the pro-Palestinian protesters More

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      US House speaker jeered at Columbia as tensions rise over campus protests

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      Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, was jeered by pro-Palestinian protesters at New York’s Columbia University on Wednesday afternoon as he condemned what he called a “virus of antisemitism” at colleges nationwide.His appearance came amid rising tensions over a wave of protests at campuses across the US.The demonstrations began last week after students at Columbia set up encampments calling for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The protests have led to mass suspensions and arrests of students in New York and several other cities.As temperatures rose, Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York, called Johnson’s trip “divisive”, while the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez assailed authorities for the “reckless and dangerous act” of calling police to non-violent demonstrations, resulting in hundreds of arrests.Also on Wednesday afternoon, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said that Joe Biden believes free speech, debate and nondiscrimination are important on college campuses, adding that “students should feel safe on college campuses”.Johnson, flanked by a number of Republican members of Congress, drew booing as he also called for the resignation of Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president. He accused her of failing to protect Jewish students and allowing protests that led to the arrest of dozens of people there last week.“Things have gotten so out of control that the school has canceled in-person classes, and now they’ve come up with this hybrid model, where they will discriminate against Jewish students,” he said.“They are not allowed to come to class any more for fear of their lives. And it’s detestable, as Columbia has allowed these lawless agitators and radicals to take over.”The jeering continued as Johnson condemned what he saw as the “intimidation of mob rule” at Columbia and elsewhere. “The cherished traditions of this university are being overtaken right now by radical and extreme ideologies. The madness has to stop,” he said.Hochul accused Johnson of “politicizing” the issue, and “adding to the division”, according to the New York Post.“There’s a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington,” she said.Campus protests have grown across the US this week, with thousands attending marches or setting up encampments at universities from Massachusetts to California, leading to scores of arrests. Students in Los Angeles posted to X, formerly Twitter, photographs of their occupation of the University of Southern California’s Alumni Park.View image in fullscreen“We, the USC Divest from Death Coalition, establish our occupation most fundamentally in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they resist genocide and continue in their struggle for liberation,” the group, calling itself the People’s City Council, wrote.Signs around the encampment laid out the students’ demands to the university, including full transparency of USC endowment and investments, as well as divesting from Israel. Students also protested against university’s cancellation of the valedictorian speech of Muslim student Asna Tabassum, who had posted on social media in support of Palestine, earlier this month.There have also been protests at the University of California, Berkeley, and at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters barricaded themselves in a university building using furniture, tents, chains and zip ties.Rows of tents have been added to a cluster set up on the steps of UC Berkeley’s Sproul Hall at the center of campus. Starting with just a dozen, more students have joined the “Free Palestine Camp” over the last three days, a sit-in demanding their school sever its financial connections to BlackRock and other asset managers they see as complicit for financing genocide in Gaza.UC Berkeley holds a $427m investment in a BlackRock portfolio and school officials have commented that a change in their investment strategy is not on the table. There is minimal police or security presence on site, but the students say they are bracing for that to change. The group is determined to stay even if the university tries to have them forcibly removed.The protesters are also calling for an academic boycott, which would end collaborations with Israeli universities and the establishment of a new Palestinian studies program.On Wednesday, Shafik said she had extended by 48 hours a deadline for talks with protest leaders for the dismantling of a tent encampment on Columbia’s west lawn. More than 100 people were arrested at the university last week after she brought in the police, and more than 140 students, faculty members and others were arrested on Monday night at a separate protest at New York University’s Manhattan campus.“Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless and dangerous act,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet.Some Jewish students at Columbia, meanwhile, said they had been physically blocked by protesters from attending classes, and subjected to racial hatred by demonstrators demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and for the university to divest from companies linked to Israel’s military operations.Protest organizers blame outside actors for particularly inflammatory rhetoric against Jewish students.Johnson’s visit to Columbia follows a number of other trips there this week by bipartisan groups of politicians. Three competing delegations attended on Monday, Axios reported, with the entirety of New York’s Republican congressional delegation demanding Shafik’s resignation, and Democrats criticizing her for not protecting Jewish students and faculty.The White House has labeled any calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community “blatantly antisemitic”.Hochul, who called the Columbia protest “visceral” following a visit on Monday, told reporters on Wednesday that Johnson was politicizing the issue, adding: “I’d encourage the speaker to go back and perhaps take up the migrant bill, the bill to deal with closing the border, so we can deal with a real crisis that New York has.She said her Monday visit was private: “I did not bring press with me. I wanted to have a substantive conversation about public safety with the [university] president, with campus security, with the NYPD.” More

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      Trump’s hush-money trial: National Enquirer publisher says he was ‘eyes and ears’ of 2016 campaign

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      Donald Trump sat for the second day of witness testimony in court in Manhattan on Tuesday in his criminal trial over hush-money payments to an adult film star and an alleged fraudulent cover-up of those payments just weeks before the 2016 election.David Pecker, the ex-president’s longtime ally and former publisher of the National Enquirer – who prosecutors contend was integral in illicit, so-called catch-and-kill efforts to prevent negative stories about Trump from going public – was on the stand again as a prosecution witness after a brief appearance on Monday following opening statements.He told the court about being invited to a meeting with Trump and his then lawyer, Michael Cohen, in New York in 2015 after Trump had just declared his candidacy for president and was seeking a friendly and powerful media insider.“They asked me what can I do – and what my magazines could do – to help the [election] campaign … I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents, and I said that I would also be the eyes and ears because I know that the Trump Organization had a very small staff,” he said.Earlier on Tuesday, however, Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments about a request from prosecutors to hold Trump in contempt of court. They said he repeatedly violated a gag order barring him from publicly attacking witnesses in the trial.Todd Blanche, Trump’s lawyer, argued that his client was just responding to political attacks, not flouting the judge’s order, and that seven of the instances cited were reposts of other people’s content on social media, which “we don’t believe are a violation of the gag order.”Merchan asked whether there was any case law on it. Blanche replied: “I don’t have any case laws, your honor, it’s just common sense.”As Blanche continued to repeat that claim, the judgesaid:“Mr Blanche you’re losing all credibility…with the court. Is there any other argument you want to make?”Merchan on Tuesday did not announce a decision on the contempt issue.Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know
      A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far
      The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump
      How will Trump’s trial work?
      From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: The key players
      Pecker first took the stand on Monday and provided brief testimony of his work as a tabloid honcho. “We used checkbook journalism and we paid for stories. I gave a number to the editors that they could not spend more than $10,000 to investigate or produce or publish a story, anything over $10,000 they would spend on a story, they would have to be vetted and brought up to me, for approval.”Pecker said he had final say over the content of the National Enquirer and other AMI publications.Prosecutors contend that Pecker was at the center of a plot to boost Trump’s chances in the 2016 election. The alleged plan with Trump and Cohen was, if Pecker caught wind of damaging information, he would apprise Trump and Cohen, so they could figure out a way to keep it quiet. That collusion came to include AMI’s $150,000 payoff to the Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had an extramarital affair with Trump, prosecutors have said.This kind of “catch-and-kill” tactic did not happen with Trump before he ran for president, Pecker said.The alleged plot to cover up a claimed sexual encounter between Daniels and Trump is the basis of prosecutors’ case.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn October 2016, the Washington Post published a video featuring Trump’s hot-mic comments during an Access Hollywood taping, in which he boasted about sexually assaulting women. The comments, which Colangelo read to jurors, included “Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”After they surfaced, the campaign went into panic mode, Colangelo said. It worked to characterize these comments as “locker room talk”, but, when Daniels’ claim came across Trump and his allies’ radar, they feared the backlash: people would see these ill-behaved ways were not mere talk.“Another story about infidelity, with a porn star, on the heels of the Access Hollywood tape, would have been devastating to his campaign,” Colangelo said in his address to jurors. “Cohen carried out a $130,000 payoff to Daniels which Trump allegedly repaid him in checks that he listed as legal services in official company records.“Look, no politician wants bad press, but the evidence at trial will show that this wasn’t spin or communication strategy,” Colangelo continued. “This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures – to silence people with something bad to say about his behavior.“It was election fraud, pure and simple.”Trump denies the charges. On Tuesday afternoon, Steinglass asked why Pecker said he would notify Cohen if he heard “anything about women selling stories”.Pecker said: “In a presidential campaign, I was the person that thought that there would be a lot of women that would come out to try to sell their stories because Mr Trump was well-known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women.”In fact, he was also accused of sexual assault and harassment by a series of women. In a civil case, Trump was found liable last year for having sexually abused the New York writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s.Pecker said he ran negative stories about Trump rivals, including presidential opponent Hillary Clinton and GOP rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.He said he paid $30,000 to catch and kill a story from a doorman purporting that Trump had fathered an illegitimate child with a woman who cleaned his New York penthouse.The trial is due to resume on Thursday. More

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      Prosecutors accept modified $175m Trump bond in New York civil fraud case

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      New York state lawyers and an attorney for Donald Trump settled their differences on Monday over a $175m bond that Trump posted to block a large civil fraud judgment while he pursues appeals.The agreement cut short a potential day-long court hearing in Manhattan that was to feature witnesses.As part of a deal struck during a 20-minute recess, lawyers for former president Trump and Knight Specialty Insurance Company agreed to keep the $175m in a cash account that will gain interest but faces no downside risk. The account so far has grown by more than $700,000.The bond stops the state from potentially seizing Trump’s assets to satisfy the more than $454m that he owes after losing a court case brought by the Democratic New York attorney general, Letitia James. She had alleged that Trump, along with his company and key executives, defrauded bankers and insurers by lying about his wealth.The ex-president and presumptive Republican nominee denies the claims and is appealing the judgment.Judge Arthur Engoron, who in February issued the huge judgment after concluding that Trump and others had deceived banks and insurers by exaggerating his wealth on financial statements, presided over Monday’s hearing and at times was caught in a testy exchange with Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise.Engoron challenged Kise with examples of how the money Trump had posted might not be available for collection if the judgment were upheld, leading Kise to respond in one instance that the judge’s “hypothetical is … wildly speculative”.At another point, Kise expressed frustration with the James’s office, saying: “It appears that no matter what we do they’re going to find fault with it.”But Andrew Amer, an attorney for New York state, proposed settlement terms soon after he began speaking at the hearing. He said the state wanted extra assurances because Trump had raised the money with help from a relatively small out-of-state insurance company.As part of the deal, Knight Specialty Insurance, a Wilmington, Delaware-based part of the Los Angeles-based Knight Insurance Group, will have exclusive control of the $175m and will submit to the jurisdiction of the New York state court while agreeing not to move the money into mutual funds or other financial instruments.Speaking to reporters in the hallway outside Trump’s separate criminal hush-money trial, his attorney Alina Habba, said Engoron “doesn’t even understand basic principles of finance.“We came to an agreement that everything would be the same,” she said. “We would modify terms and that would be it.”Trump also railed against Engoron, accusing him of not understanding the case.“He challenged the bonding company that maybe the bonding company was no good. Well, they’re good. And they also have $175m dollars of collateral – my collateral,” he said. More

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      Jury selection completed for Trump hush-money trial; man sets himself on fire outside courthouse – live

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      After days of jury selection, the court has finally chosen all 12 jurors and 6 alternate jurors who will decide the fate of Donald Trump in his historic criminal trial.The selection of all 18 jurors came not without setbacks, as judge Juan Merchan dismissed two seated jurors earlier this week over identity and credibility concerns.With the jury bench now full, the trial is expected to move towards opening statements next week.Donald Trump has yet again decried the proceedings in New York as a “witch hunt”, a term the former president has returned to repeatedly to describe his legal troubles.“This is really a concerted witch hunt, very simple,” Trump said to reporters on Friday afternoon after the trial wrapped for the day.The former president complained of his treatment in New York, criticizing the judges who heard his earlier New York civil fraud trial and defamation case, and describing the hush money trial as an “outrage” designed to hurt his campaign for the White House.Trump has routinely used his legal troubles to rally supporters and spread conspiracy theories.Reuters has more details about the 12 jurors and six alternates who have been selected in Trump’s hush money trial, which will be the first criminal trial in history of a former US presidentThere are seven men and five women on the jury. They are mostly employed in white-collar professions and the jury includes two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist and an English teacher. Most are not native New Yorkers, and instead hail from across the United States and countries such as Ireland and Lebanon.The Guardian has more information on the jury:Here is where the day stands:
      After days of jury selection, the court has finally chosen all 12 jurors and 6 alternate jurors who will decide the fate of Donald Trump in his historic criminal trial. The selection of all 18 jurors came not without setbacks, as judge Juan Merchan dismissed two seated jurors earlier this week over identity and credibility concerns.
      Judge Juan Merchan told Donald Trump’s defense team – which has repeatedly challenged and re-challenged rulings he has made – to stop trying to have another bite at the apple. “At this point, what’s happened is defense is literally targeting individual decisions, one by one by one by one, and filing pre-motion letters,” Merchan said, adding that opening statements are going to happen on Monday morning.
      The prosecutors previously submitted documents indicating that they wanted to ask Donald Trump about a variety of trials should he testify, to challenge his credibility as a witness. These include sexual assault accuser E. Jean Carroll’s defamation cases against him. As the hearing progressed, Trump’s attorney Emil Bove said that asking Trump about the verdict in Carroll’s cases on cross-examination would be “unacceptable.”
      A man set himself on fire outside the Manhattan criminal court where Donald Trump’s criminal trial was under way. The man has been identified as Maxwell Azarello who was born in 1987. According to his driver’s license, he is from St Augustine, Florida.
      Maxwell Azarello has been described as a “conspiracy theorist” by police and had pamphlets on scene which police described as “propaganda-based.” He is in critical condition at Weill Cornell’s burn unit.
      House Democrats came to the rescue of Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, in a rare move for a committee that normally votes along party lines, in order to save the Ukraine aid legislation from rightwing rebels. Johnson now looks set to push forward this weekend on a $95bn aid bill for Kyiv, Israel, Taiwan and other allies, which has stalled in the House after passing the Senate.
      Court has ended for the day. It will resume on Monday when opening statements are expected to take place.Judge Juan Merchan is telling Donald Trump’s defense team – which has repeatedly challenged and re-challenged rulings he has made – to stop trying to have another bite at the apple.“At this point, what’s happened is defense is literally targeting individual decisions, one by one by one by one, and filing pre-motion letters,” Merchan said.“As the people suggested a minute ago, that has to end. There comes a point when you accept my rulings,” Merchan said, adding that proceedings were not going to be bogged down.“We’re going to have opening statements Monday morning,” Merchan said, “This trial is starting.”The prosecutors previously submitted documents indicating that they wanted to ask Donald Trump about a variety of trials should he testify, to challenge his credibility as a witness.These include sexual assault accuser E. Jean Carroll’s defamation cases against him. As the hearing progressed, Trump’s attorney Emil Bove said that asking Trump about the verdict in Carroll’s cases on cross-examination would be “unacceptable.”Bove, who reiterated Trump’s denial of Carroll’s claim and said it “very much did not happen,” said the allegations were “too far back in time” to be used in any potential challenge to Trump’s credibility.Moreover, Bove argued, “To bring up Ms Carroll’s allegations at this trial sort of pushes the salaciousness on to another level. This is a case about documents.”The prosecution insisted: “That’s critical, critical evidence that the jury ought to be able to consider…if he testifies.”Right now, the prosecution and defense are squaring off over what Donald Trump could be asked by prosecutors during cross-examination if he took the witness stand.“We do have a vehicle identified that’s connected to him. We’re currently searching that car,” police said. “We do not believe this was targeting any particular person or a particular group. We just right now labelled him as a sort of conspiracy theorist and we’ll go from there but the investigation will continue,” police added.“All of his social media is going to be scrubbed. Obviously we didn’t know him prior to this incident,” police said.Police added, “As of right now, he’s very critical. His condition is not good” and went on to say that they did not see any criminal history of Maxwell Azarello in New York.Police also said Maxwell Azarello did not breach security protocols but noted, “Of course we’re going to review our security protocols.”“We’ll talk with our federal partners and we’ll make decisions if we need to tighten up security. Maybe we’ll shut down the park. That is something that will determine once we talk with all our partners,” police added.Speaking about the pamphlets found at the scene, police said that the “pamphlets seem to be propaganda-based, almost like a conspiracy theory type of pamphlets.”Police added that they spoke to Maxwell Azarello’s family members who said that they were unaware “that he was even in New York.”Police also said they believe Azarello arrived in New York “some time earlier in the week.”NYPD is now briefing the press about the man who is in the Weill Cornell burn unit in critical condition. The man has been identified as Maxwell Azarello who was born in 1987. According to his driver’s license, he is from St Augustine, Florida.According to police, the accelerant that was used “appears to be some kind of alcohol-based substance that’s used for cleaning.”New York police is set to deliver a press conference soon on the latest incident outside the courthouse involving the man who appeared to have set himself on fire.We will bring you the latest updates.“Court officers rushed to aid the man, one of the was injured” from smoke inhalation, a court official said. The injured officer was taken to the hospital.Court will continue as scheduled. More

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      Ilhan Omar’s daughter among over 100 arrested at Columbia University protest

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      Isra Hirsi, the daughter of the Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar was among more than 100 protesters arrested on Thursday on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, as police were called in to break up those who pitched tents to stage a pro-Palestinian protest.Further demonstrations protesting the arrests and the university’s decision to call in outside law enforcement continued into the night at the private Ivy League school.Tensions boiled over on Thursday as the New York police department arrived at the center of the campus in uptown Manhattan to began dismantling student protests over Israel’s war on Gaza at the direction of the school’s president.Hundreds of students had pitched tents and camped out, starting early morning on Wednesday, demanding a ceasefire and for the university to financially divest from Israel.Nemat Minouche Shafik, the university’s president who a day earlier came under fire from Republicans at a House of Representatives committee hearing on antisemitism on campus, said she had authorized police to clear an encampment of dozens of tents set up by protesters on Wednesday morning.“Out of an abundance of concern for the safety of Columbia’s campus, I authorized the New York police department to begin clearing the encampment,” Shafik said in a statement.Shafik said the protesters had violated the school’s rules and policies against holding unauthorized demonstrations, and were unwilling to engage with administrators.Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor, said police made more than 108 arrests without violence or injuries. Police said the arrests were related to trespassing.Columbia said it had started to suspend students who had participated in the tent encampment, considered an unauthorized protest.“We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out formal notifications,” a university spokesperson said by email.At least three students – including Hirsi, Maryam Iqbal and Soph Dinu – have received suspension notices from Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, for participating in the encampment, the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Institute for Middle East Understanding said.“Those of us in Gaza solidarity encampment will not be intimidated,” Hirsi said on social media after being suspended.The clash was the latest in a series of demonstrations disrupting university campuses, bridges and airports since the latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on 7 October, when Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza that abuts Israel, launched a murderous attack and hostage-grab on southern Israel.Israel’s military counteroffensive on Gaza is ongoing and has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and prompted famine in parts of the besieged territory.Alongside protests on US campuses and streets, human rights advocates have also pointed to a rise in bias and hate against Jews, Arabs and Muslims.Reuters contributed reporting More

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      A silent Trump glowers and stares during third day of criminal trial

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      With Donald Trump just a few feet away, a potential juror in the criminal case against him summed up the experience in just three words. “This is bizarre,” she said, with just a slight hint of a seasoned New York accent.Bizarre it was. There was a potential juror who once spent the night at one of Trump’s lawyers’ homes more than a decade ago (Trump’s team used one of its peremptory strikes to remove the juror). The microphones didn’t work. The proceedings had to start over when Judge Juan Merchan realized that a court reporter hadn’t been present first thing. And the temperature in the courthouse was so frigid that Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, asked Merchan if it would be possible to turn up the temperature “just one degree”.Merchan said no. “It would probably go up 30 degrees,” Merchan said. “It is cold, there’s no question it is cold, but I’d rather be a little cold than sweaty, and really those are the choices.”Trump also would emerge from court at the end of the day and complain about the courtroom temperature. “I’m sitting here for days now, from morning till night in that freezing room. Freezing. Everybody was freezing in there and all of this,” he said.Today was just day three of a blockbuster trial that’s expected to last six weeks once a jury is selected. At the center of it was Donald Trump. Silent. Disarmed of televisions and social media, forced to sit expressionless over a grueling long day in a drab Manhattan courtroom.This was not Donald Trump the business mogul or Donald Trump the 45th president. It was Donald Trump the defendant.Trump was far from the comforts of the White House and Mar-a-Lago as he sat in the courtroom at 100 Centre Street. There was nowhere for him to go and nothing he could say; he was trapped. It was a stark reminder of the long slog Trump faces over the next two months or so as he faces 34 felony charges for falsifying business records.When potential jurors, sitting just feet away, offered critical assessments of him and his presidency, the former president, who is known for his inability to let even the slightest insult go unanswered, sat in silence. As his lawyer Susan Necheles read old social media posts from a potential juror that were highly critical of Trump, he sat silently.Yet it would be a mistake to think that Trump has been tamed or humbled. His Truth Social account has been alive with criticism of the court proceedings, both from his team and himself. Shortly after court convened on Thursday, prosecutors said Trump had violated a gag order in the case an additional seven times; the order prohibits him from making any threats against jurors or potential witnesses.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“It’s ridiculous and it has to stop,” Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor, said.The effort was a reminder that even if Trump is silent while he’s in the courtroom, he’ll continue to use every tool at his disposal outside it. More