Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library

Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has suspended dozens of students and barred alums and others who participated in apro-Palestinian demonstrationinside the school's main library earlier this week, a school spokesperson said Friday. The Ivy League institution in Manhattan placed more than 65 students on interim suspension and barred 33 others, including those from affiliated institutions such as Barnard College, from setting foot on campus. Interim suspension generally means that a student cannot come to campus, attend classes or participate in other university activities, according to Columbia's website. The university declined to say how long the disciplinary measures would be in place, saying only that the decisions are pending further investigation. An undisclosed number of alums who also participated in the protest are also now prevented from entering school grounds, according to Columbia. Roughly 80 people were arrested in connection with the Wednesday evening demonstration at the university's Butler Library. Most face trespassing charges, though some may also face disorderly conduct, police have said. The mask-clad protesters pushed their way past campus security officers, raced into the building and hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves. Some protesters also scrawled phrases on library furniture and picture frames, including "Columbia will burn." New York City police in helmets and other protection broke up the demonstration at the request of university officials, who denounced the protests as an "outrageous" disruption for students studying and preparing for final exams. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said his office will be reviewing the visa status of those who participated in the library takeover for possible deportation. The Trump administration has alreadypulled federal fundinganddetained international studentsat Columbia and other prestigious American universities over their handling of student protests against the war in Gaza.

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May 09, 2025

Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library

Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has suspended dozens of ...

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Pakistan launches retaliatory attacks on India as tensions escalate between nuclear powers

Pakistan launches retaliatory attacks on India as tensions escalate between nuclear powers

Blasts rang out across Indian Kashmir and the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in neighbouring Punjab state late on Friday, with the Indian military saying it was shooting down drones in the worst fighting with Pakistan in nearly three decades. The explosions in Amritsar - the first heard there in the three-day-old conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors - could mark a further expansion in the hostilities that havealarmed world powers. The Pakistani military said it had begun an operation against India in retaliation against recent "Indian aggression," CNN reported. Pakistan also said it had hit India's Pathankot Airfield and Udhampur Air Force Station. "Pakistan responds!!" the military said, according to CNN, calling their retaliation "Operation Bunyanun Marsoos." The operation is named after a Quranic verse that means "unbreakable wall." Projectiles and flashes were seen in the night sky above the Indian Kashmir city of Jammu. It was plunged into a blackout on the second night of blasts in the region's winter capital, officials and a Reuters journalist said. "Drones have been sighted ... They are being engaged," said an Indian military official who asked not to be named. The Indian army said in a statement late on Friday that drones were sighted in 26 locations across a wide area of India's west and northwest from Kashmir and states bordering Pakistan to the edge of the Arabian Sea. Ten blasts were heard near the airport in the Indian Kashmir city of Srinagar and there were explosions in more locations in the contested region, other security officials added. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. It had dismissed Indian accusations that it launched attacks on the same area on Thursday night. The old foes have been clashing since India struckseveral areasthat it described as"terrorist infrastructure"in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation fora deadly attackon Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month. Pakistan denied Indian accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack. The two countries haveexchangedcross-border fire and shelling, and they have sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace. Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified. The Indian army said on Friday a family was severely injured by an armed drone in Ferozepur in India's Punjab state near the Pakistani border. Tourists and villagers fled border zones, residents rushed tostockpile foodand people were told to stay indoors in Kashmir and beyond. India's cricket board on Fridaysuspendedthe IPL - the sport's richest tournament - and the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining eight matches. The relationship between India and Pakistan has beenfraught with tensionsince they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times. In Washington, the White House said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in constant contact with the leaders of both countries and reiterated that PresidentDonald Trumpwants to see the conflict de-escalate. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Pakistan launches attacks on India, upping tension between nuclear powers

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May 09, 2025

Pakistan launches retaliatory attacks on India as tensions escalate between nuclear powers

Pakistan launches retaliatory attacks on India as tensions escalate between nuclear powers Blasts rang out across Indian Kashmir and the Sik...

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Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration's mass layoff plans

Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration's mass layoff plans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration must temporarily halt efforts to implement a February 26 executive order that directed government agencies to develop reorganization plans and to prepare for large-scale staffing cuts, a federal judge said on Friday. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco sided with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments, and blocked large-scale mass layoffs known as "reductions in force" for 14 days. "Federal courts should not micromanage the vast federal workforce, but courts must sometimes act to preserve the proper checks and balances between the three branches of government," wrote Illston. "As a group of conservative former government officials and advisors have written to the court, 'Unchecked presidential power is not what the Framers had in mind'." (Reporting by Tom Hals and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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May 09, 2025

Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration's mass layoff plans

Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration's mass layoff plans WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administratio...

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Decades-old death in Oregon potentially linked to notorious California serial killer

Decades-old death in Oregon potentially linked to notorious California serial killer

A man who was found dead along Interstate 5 in Oregon has been identified after nearly 45 years and police say a notorious California serial killer is the sole person of interest in the case. The 30-year-old was identified Friday as Larry Eugene Parks. Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said Randy Kraft, who has been dubbed the "Scorecard Killer," is the only person under investigation for the 1980 killing. "There's some evidence that we're processing to determine that link," Kennedy said. "We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest." Kraft, now 80, was convicted in 1989 of brutalizing and killing 16 men over a decade in California and sentenced to death. He remains incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and has denied killing anyone. On July 18, 1980, police responded to a report of a body now identified as Parks along I-5 south of Portland near Woodburn. Police opened a homicide investigation at the time and unsuccessfully tried to identify the victim. Parks, a Vietnam veteran whose family had lost contact with him in 1979, had last been seen in Pensacola, Florida, police said. Kraft was pulled over in his vehicle on a California freeway in 1983 after a trooper spotted him driving erratically. In the passenger seat of the vehicle was a strangled U.S. Marine. In the trunk of Kraft's vehicle was a coded list believed to tally 67 victims in California, Oregon and Michigan, according to police. Prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who kept some of the dismembered parts of his victims in his freezer. In 2024, an Orange County Sheriff's Department investigator reached out to the Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit and offered to help identify the remains using forensic investigative genetic genealogy. A genetic profile was developed from a blood sample and Parks' identity was confirmed after possible family members submitted DNA profiles for comparison, according to police. Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the his family, police said. In 2023, theremains of a teenagerbelieved to have been killed by Kraft in California were also identified using investigative genetic genealogy.

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May 09, 2025

Decades-old death in Oregon potentially linked to notorious California serial killer

Decades-old death in Oregon potentially linked to notorious California serial killer A man who was found dead along Interstate 5 in Oregon h...

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Over 100 Amtrak employees involved in fraudulent insurance scheme, report finds

Over 100 Amtrak employees involved in fraudulent insurance scheme, report finds

At least 119 current and formerAmtrakemployees conspired with New York medical professionals to swindle the company's health care plan out of over $12 million, the Amtrak Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Tuesday of what it described as the largest employee conspiracy it has ever investigated. "The sheer volume of employees who cavalierly participated in this scheme to steal Amtrak's funds suggests not only a serious lapse in basic ethics, but a troubling workforce culture, at least in the Northeast region, in which blatant criminal behavior was somehow normalized," said Amtrak Inspector General Kevin H. Winters, whose office releasedits findingsthis week. Amtrak is a for-profit corporation with over 20,000 employees that operates railways across 46 states and receives billions of dollars in federal funding. Twelve Amtrak employees, alongside three healthcare providers, were criminally charged in federal court for their participation. Two Amtrak employees, Devon Burt of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and a co-conspirator, Hallum Gelzer, of East Orange, New Jersey,  allegedly worked with health care providers to recruit Amtrak employees to participate in the scheme, the report said. They found Amtrak employees based in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., willing to participate, the report said. Employees accepted cash from the health care providers in exchange for using their insurance information, the report alleges. The information was then used to file fraudulent claims for services — ones that were never provided, the inspector general said. Burt and Geltzer separately pleaded guilty in June 2023to federal chargesof conspiracy to commit health care fraud as well as conspiracy to communicate extortionate threats, said the report. As part of their plea agreement, Burt agreed to pay $959,072 in restitution, while Gelzer agreed to pay approximately $1.66 million. Six other employees have also pleaded guilty to health care fraud conspiracy charges, the report stated. It is unclear who the prosecuting agency was or in which jurisdiction the pleas were entered. About 28 employees retired or resigned, and 30 have left the company for undisclosed reasons, the report said. "In total, Amtrak's health care plan was billed over $16 million and paid out more than $12 million during the scheme," the OIG found. The OIG initially started investigating when an agent noticed unusual billing patterns between the three New York health care providers and a high number of shared Amtrak employees as patients. Amtrak said the agency was considering disciplinary action for the remaining 61 active employees involved. In a statement provided to CBS News Thursday, Amtrak said it "has taken significant steps to address medical insurance fraud and, like many employers, calls on medical benefit providers and insurers to do more to identify suspicious activity and stop medical insurance fraud." CBS News reached out to the Justice Department for comment. Did the conclave pick a front-runner to be new pope? World awaits new pope after conclave's vote Trump touts UK trade deal, but U.S. companies fear they won't survive China tariffs

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May 09, 2025

Over 100 Amtrak employees involved in fraudulent insurance scheme, report finds

Over 100 Amtrak employees involved in fraudulent insurance scheme, report finds At least 119 current and formerAmtrakemployees conspired wit...

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