SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco prosecutors have charged 26 protesters who blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for hours in April to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
The protest on April 15 was one of many held by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked roadways around the country, causing traffic jams and temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports.
The protesters were charged with felony conspiracy, false imprisonment, trespassing to interfere with a business, obstruction of a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, refusal to disperse at a riot, and failure to obey the lawful order of a uniformed officer, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Saturday.
Traffic snarled for hours after demonstrators blocked lanes with vehicles, shutting down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The demonstration was part of coordinated protests across the country to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel.
Prosecutors said the protest trapped hundreds of motorists on the bridge “who had no choice but to remain imprisoned on the freeway for several hours.”
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “The demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge caused a level of safety risk, including extreme threats to the health and welfare of those trapped, that we as a society cannot ignore or allow.”
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office said it anticipates it will represent some of those charged and asked that the charges be dropped. The office said Jenkins “went fishing on Twitter for complaints about the protest even though no one was injured and the California Highway Patrol cleared the roadway with no resistance from protesters.”
“The protesters are opposing American tax dollars being used to fund ongoing attacks on the people in Gaza, which the International Criminal Court has deemed crimes against humanity,” San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said. “Our attorneys intend to vehemently defend any individuals we are appointed to represent.”
In March, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office dropped criminal charges against 78 protesters who blocked traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for hours in November to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, prosecutors said. The demonstrators were instead ordered to do five hours of community service and pay restitution.
The Nov. 16 protest came as San Francisco was hosting President Joe Biden and other world leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Protesters calling for a ceasefire have also blocked major roadways in cities including Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
San Francisco prosecutors charge 26 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked Golden Gate Bridge
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San Francisco prosecutors charge 26 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked Golden Gate Bridge
- Traffic snarled for hours after demonstrators blocked lanes with vehicles, shutting down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge
- The demonstration was part of coordinated protests across the country to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel
Pakistan’s minister Tarar warns of possible Indian military strike within 24-36 hours
- “Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a post on social media platform X
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the country has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.
This comes as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations rise as India has said there were Pakistani elements to the attack that killed 26 men at a tourist spot in Indian Kashmir last week.
Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Since the attack, the nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a post on social media platform X.
“Any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response. India will be fully responsible for any serious consequences in the region,” he added.
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan. Each controls only part of it and have fought wars over the Himalayan region.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters that a military incursion by India was imminent.
Pakistan was on high alert but would only use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence,” Asif said in an interview at his office in Islamabad.
US threatens to quit Russia-Ukraine effort unless ‘concrete proposals’
- It remains unclear if Rubio is actually ready to turn the page or is seeking to pressure the two countries — especially Russia
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that the United States would end mediation unless Russia and Ukraine put forward “concrete proposals,” as US patience wanes on an early priority for Donald Trump.
The US president had vowed to end the war in his first 24 hours back in the White House but, as Trump celebrates 100 days in office, Rubio has suggested the administration could soon turn attention to other issues.
“We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, in what she said was a message from Rubio.
“If there is not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.”
She said it would ultimately be up to Trump to decide whether to move ahead on diplomacy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently proposed a three-day ceasefire around Moscow’s commemorations next week for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
But Putin has rebuffed a Ukrainian-backed US call for a 30-day ceasefire.
The United States wants “not a three-day moment so you can celebrate something else — a complete, durable ceasefire and an end to the conflict,” Bruce said.
It remains unclear if Rubio is actually ready to turn the page or is seeking to pressure the two countries — especially Russia, which believes it has an upper hand on the battlefield and in diplomacy since Trump’s outreach.
US diplomat James Kelley, addressing a UN Security Council session, said both sides would benefit from working off the “framework proposal” outlined by Washington.
Condemning Russian strikes on Ukraine, he said: “Right now, Russia has a great opportunity to achieve a durable peace.”
Trump, criticizing his predecessor Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine, reached out to Putin after taking office, easing him from the international isolation he has been in since he ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Putin again last week met with Trump’s business friend Steve Witkoff, who has taken on the role of a globe-trotting envoy.
Trump in turn berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a February 28 White House meeting, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance accusing the wartime leader of ingratitude for US weapons.
Ukraine quickly tried to make amends by backing US diplomatic efforts and pursuing a deal in which the United States would control much of the country’s mineral wealth.
But Zelensky has held firm against one part of the US framework — formal international recognition of Russia’s 2014 takeover of Crimea.
Trump has insisted that Ukraine has lost Crimea and Zelensky should give it up.
Speaking by videoconference to an event in Poland on Tuesday, Zelensky said: “We all want this war to end in a fair way — with no rewards for Putin, especially no land.”
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday that recognizing “Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea would invite additional aggression from Moscow and Beijing.”
“I have endeavored to give President Trump the space to negotiate a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, which is a goal we both share,” she said.
“However, President Trump and his team have fatally mismanaged these negotiations — offering concession after concession to Russia, throwing away our leverage and fracturing the united front with our allies that is critical to ending this war,” she said.
Ukraine on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of seven villages in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region which used to be remote from the frontlines but are now under threat as Russian forces close in.
Russia has been trying to break into the region from the neighboring Donetsk but has not succeeded, even after more than three years of grinding battles.
Last week a ballistic missile ripped into a residential area of Kyiv in one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the invasion.
Trump, who has boasted of his rapport with Putin, wrote, “Vladimir, STOP,” on social media after the attack.
Harvard pledges reforms following internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab bias
- In a list of “actions and commitments,” Harvard said it will review admissions processes to make sure applicants are evaluated based on their ability to “engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy and participate in civil discourse”
WASHINGTON: Harvard University is promising to review its academic offerings and admissions policies in response to a pair of internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the Ivy League campus commissioned in the aftermath of last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests.
Harvard released the reports on Tuesday while the university simultaneously battles the Trump administration over demands to limit campus activism — reforms the government says are necessary to root out campus antisemitism. The administration has frozen $2.2 billion in federal funding and Harvard responded with a lawsuit in a clash that is being watched closely across higher education.
In a campus message, Harvard President Alan Garber said Harvard has made “necessary changes and essential progress” over the last year but promised further action.
“We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained and contested in the spirit of seeking truth,” Garber wrote.
Garber convened two panels to study campus antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias last year, with an initial round of recommendations released last June. The final reports total more than 500 pages and include dozens of recommended changes.
Harvard said it will begin implementing at least some of the recommendations, with potential updates to admissions, hiring and discipline systems.
In a list of “actions and commitments,” Harvard said it will review admissions processes to make sure applicants are evaluated based on their ability to “engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy and participate in civil discourse.”
It pointed to a recently added application question asking students about a time they strongly disagreed with someone. The antisemitism task force called for that kind of questioning, saying Harvard should reject anyone with a history of bias and look unfavorably on “exhibitions of hostility, derision or dismissiveness.”
Still, it appears to fall short of the Trump administration’s demands around admissions, which called on Harvard to end all preferences “based on race, color, national origin, or proxies thereof” and implement “merit-based” policies by August. The Supreme Court has rejected the use of race in college admissions, but many colleges look at factors including students’ family income and geography to bring a diverse class to campus.
Responding to complaints that Harvard’s instruction had become too politicized and anti-Israel, the university said it will work to hold professors to new standards of “excellence.” Deans will make sure faculty promote intellectual openness and refrain from endorsing political positions “that may cause students to feel pressure to demonstrate allegiance,” the university said.
Courses and curriculum will also be reviewed to reflect those standards.
Other changes include required antisemitism training for students and staff, along with expanded academic offerings on Hebrew, Judaic, Arab and Islamic studies. Harvard will put money toward a research project on antisemitism along with a historical overview on Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians at the university.
In his message, Garber said Harvard will accelerate a campus-wide effort to promote viewpoint diversity, though he didn’t elaborate. Viewpoint diversity is among the top concerns of the White House, which demanded that Harvard hire an external auditor to make sure the student body and every academic department represent diverse views.
Harvard is the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it uses its hold on colleges’ federal funding to press its political agenda.
The administration has argued that universities did not do enough to check antisemitism at campus protests last year. Garber has said Harvard will not bend to the demands, calling it a threat to academic freedom and the autonomy of all universities.
India gives army ‘operational freedom’ to respond to Kashmir attack
- India said the “Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control” overnight Monday to Tuesday, the fifth night in a row that fire was exchanged there
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given India’s military “operational freedom” to respond to a deadly attack in Kashmir last week, a senior government source told AFP Tuesday, after New Delhi blamed it on arch-rival Pakistan.
A week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years, Modi on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with army and security chiefs, during which he told the armed forces that they had the “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack,” said the government source, who was not authorized to speak to the media.
The government released video images of a stern-faced Modi meeting with army chiefs, as well as Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
Also on Tuesday, India’s army said it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto Kashmir border, a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts.
Pakistan’s military did not confirm the shooting, but state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday it had shot down an Indian drone, calling it a violation of its airspace.
It did not say when the incident happened, and there was no comment from New Delhi.
India said the “Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control” overnight Monday to Tuesday, the fifth night in a row that fire was exchanged there.
The Indian army said its troops had “responded in a measured and effective manner to the provocation.” There were no reports of casualties.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 in which 26 men were killed.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and diplomatic barbs, as well as expelled citizens and ordered the main land border crossing shut.
Last week, Modi vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, and those who had supported it.
“I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday.
“We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.”
The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a rapid spiral into military action, with several nations, including neighboring China, calling for restraint and dialogue.
UN chief Antonio Guterres held calls Tuesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he “offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation,” his spokesman said.
Sharif’s office later said he had urged Guterres to “counsel India” to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India.”
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.
Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.
The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when an insurgent rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.
Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.
Iran has already offered to mediate and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation.”
US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get “figured out, one way or another.”
UN chief urges ‘irreversible action’ on Israel, Palestinian two-state solution
- The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday pushed countries to “take irreversible action toward implementing a two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of an international conference in June.
“I encourage Member States to go beyond affirmations, and to think creatively about the concrete steps they will take to support a viable two-state solution before it is too late,” Guterres told a Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host the conference at the United Nations in June.
“Our objective is clear: to make progress on the recognition of Palestine and the normalization of relations with Israel at the same time,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the Security Council.
“This is how we will be able to guarantee Israel’s security and its regional integration, whilst responding to the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to have their own state,” he said.
He said the road map for the effective implementation of the two-state solution also required the disarming of Palestinian militants Hamas, defining a credible government structure in the Gaza Strip that will exclude Hamas and reform of the Palestinian Authority.
The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
