Israel supporters attack pro-Palestinian camp in LA, 300 Gaza protesters arrested in New York - CNA

LOS ANGELES: Supporters of Israel attacked a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) on Wednesday (May 1), while New York's mayor said a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University broken up by police had been led by outsiders.

Witness footage from UCLA, verified by Reuters, showed people wielding sticks or poles to hammer on wooden boards being used as makeshift barricades to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters before police were deployed to the campus.

On the other side of the country, New York police arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators holed up in a building at Columbia University and removed a protest encampment on Tuesday night.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said about 300 people had been arrested and he blamed the protests on outside agitators, but without offering concrete evidence.

The Oct 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave have unleashed the biggest outpouring of United States student activism since the anti-racism protests of 2020.

As student rallies have spread to dozens of schools across the US in recent days expressing opposition to Israel's war in Gaza, police have been called in to quell or clear protests.

About 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed in the Oct 7 attack but the Israeli retaliatory assault has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry figures, obliterated much of the enclave's infrastructure, and created a humanitarian crisis verging on famine.

The student protests in the US have also taken on political overtones in the run-up to the presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.

UCLA PROTESTERS REPORT VIOLENT ATTACKS

On Tuesday, UCLA officials announced that the encampment was unlawful and violated university policy.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Brock said it included people "unaffiliated with our campus", though he, like Adams, provided no evidence of the presence of outsiders.

Footage from the early hours showed mostly male counter-demonstrators, many of them masked and some apparently older than students, throwing objects and trying to smash or pull down the wooden and steel barriers erected to shield the encampment.

Some screamed pro-Jewish comments as pro-Palestinian protesters tried to fight them off.

"They were coming up here and just violently attacking us," said pro-Palestinian protester Kaia Shah, a researcher at UCLA.

"I just didn't think they would ever get to this, escalate to this level, where our protest is met by counter-protesters who are violently hurting us, inflicting pain on us, when we are not doing anything to them."

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2024-05-01 16:07:57Z
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Clashes erupt on UCLA campus between pro-Palestinian supporters and counter-protesters - CNA

Columbia President Minouche Shafik released a letter asking police to stay on campus until at least May 17 - two days after graduation - "to maintain order and ensure that encampments are not re-established".

Students standing outside the hall - the site of various student occupations dating back to the 1960s - jeered at police with shouts of "Shame, shame!".

Police were seen loading dozens of detainees onto a bus, with their hands bound behind their backs by zip-ties, the scene illuminated with the flashing red and blue lights of police vehicles.

"Free, free, free Palestine!" protesters chanted outside the building.

Others yelled: "Let the students go!"

Sueda Polat of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of student groups that organised the protests, said they did not pose a danger and urged police to back down.

PROTESTERS ACCUSED OF VANDALISM AND TRESPASS

In her letter, Shafik said the Hamilton Hall occupiers had vandalised university property and were trespassing.

The university earlier warned that students taking part in the occupation faced academic expulsion.

A few hours before police entered Columbia, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover had been instigated by "outside agitators" unaffiliated with Columbia.

One student protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar attending Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, disputed assertions that outsiders led the occupation.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at City College New York in Harlem late on Tuesday, with the university ordering individuals off the campus and asking police to assist, New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said.

Dozens of protesters were arrested, the New York Times reported.

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2024-05-01 09:34:46Z
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Long hours, low wages: What is it like to be a gig worker in China's growing food delivery market? - CNA

LOW WAGES

Mr Dai, who earns about 10,000 yuan a month, said he has hardly any savings left after paying off his high rental and family expenses. 

“In Shanghai, just rent alone will take up about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. I am staying with my wife and children,” added Mr Dai, who is considering sending his family back to his hometown while he continues working in Shanghai. 

“For other riders, if they stay together and share the cost, it may not be so expensive.”

In 2022, when Shanghai was under COVID-19-induced lockdown, delivery riders became the lifelines for millions of residents confined at home.

For another food delivery worker, Mr Deng Erhu, it was the toughest of times. 

“I was living on the streets at that time. Every day, as soon as I woke up, I went out to deliver groceries and food to people,” said the 26-year-old.

“My movements were restricted and there were COVID tests all the time. It was cold. I had no blankets. I would sleep under a bridge or in a basement.”

Mr Deng, who is from Henan province, dropped out of school when he was 14 and has no educational qualifications.

“My hometown’s development is a bit slow, wages are low and I am in debt. So I thought of coming to Shanghai, which is a tier-one city,” he said. 

“I wanted to see what opportunities I could find here, such as better-paying jobs, so I can earn some money to pay off my debt.”

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2024-05-01 04:21:14Z
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Columbia student protesters hunker down as more unrest rocks US campuses - CNA

At Columbia, demonstrators vowed to remain until their demands are met, including that the school divest all financial holdings linked to Israel.

The university has rejected the demand, with president Minouche Shafik saying talks with students had collapsed.

"Students occupying the building face expulsion," Columbia's Office of Public Affairs said in a statement, adding that the protesters were provided "the opportunity to leave peacefully" but instead declined and escalated the situation.

The university outlined in a press update on Tuesday that those in the encampments and Hamilton Hall "number in the dozens", while nearly 37,000 attend Columbia.

On Tuesday evening, police could be seen outside the university, according to footage on CNN.

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2024-04-30 19:36:00Z
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Judge fines Trump US$9000 for gag order violations, threatens jail - CNA

NEW YORK: The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former US president US$9,000 for contempt of court on Tuesday (Apr 30) and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.

In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.

"Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," Merchan wrote.

Merchan had imposed the gag order to prevent Trump from criticizing witnesses and others involved in the case.

The judge fined Trump US$1,000 for each of nine online statements that he said violated his order not to criticize witnesses or other participants in the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as possible violations.

The posts, made between Apr 10 and Apr 17, included an article calling his former lawyer Michael Cohen a "serial liar". Cohen is expected to be a prominent witness in the trial.

Another post quoted a Fox News pundit who claimed "undercover liberal activists" were trying to sneak onto the jury. Merchan rejected Trump's argument that he could not be held liable for "reposts" of material he did not write himself.

Merchan will consider whether to impose further penalties for other statements at a hearing on Thursday.

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2024-04-30 14:47:00Z
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Which parts of Asia are suffering from record temperatures and how long will the heat last? - The Straits Times

Asia is warming faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, a UN agency. PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK – Large swaths of Asia are sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines and forced millions of children to stay home from school.

Here are some questions and answers about the extreme heat, which scientists warn will become more frequent and intense because of human-induced climate change.

Where is affected?

The heat has hit much of South Asia and South-east Asia, with record temperatures in Myanmar’s Chauk and the Philippine capital Manila in recent days.

The Thai authorities have issued warnings about “severe conditions”, while the authorities in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh all forecast temperatures above 40 deg C.

The Philippines and Bangladesh have both suspended in-person classes, while India is reviewing whether heat has affected turnout in national elections.

Even northern Japan has been affected: temperatures in Japan’s Sapporo in April passed 25 deg C at the earliest point of any year on record.

What is causing the heat?

The months preceding the region’s monsoon, or rainy season, are usually hot, but temperatures in 2024 are well above average in many countries.

Experts say climate change is causing more frequent heatwaves that are more intense and last longer.

Asia is also warming faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, a UN agency.

And the El Nino weather phenomenon is playing a role in 2024, said Dr Milton Speer, a meteorologist and visiting research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney.

“The lack of cloud in El Nino means that temperatures are likely to be higher on average,” he told AFP.

Sea surface temperatures in the region are currently several degrees Celsius above normal, “which helps keep the temperatures higher than average inland overnight”.

“So daytime temperatures start climbing from a higher base.”

There are other factors at play too, including deforestation that reduces shade and increases dry surface area, and the urban heat island effect, where concrete, glass and steel structures absorb rather than reflect heat.

More On This Topic

Keeping your cool is going to get tougher in the tropics

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Who is affected?

Extreme heat disproportionately affects children, the elderly and those living in poverty.

Children, older people and those with pre-existing conditions or disabilities can overheat more quickly.

Those living in poverty also often lack cooling solutions at home or are forced to work in conditions without adequate heat protection.

The UN children’s agency Unicef warned this month that 243 million children across the Pacific and East Asia are at risk from heatwaves.

“Child exposure to heatwaves leads to heat stress,” said health specialist for Unicef’s regional East Asia and Pacific office Salwa Aleryani.

“Severe issues can develop, such as cardiovascular diseases, organ failure, muscle and nerve dysfunction,” she told AFP.

How have countries reacted?

The authorities in several countries asked citizens to stay at home. Hospitals in Nepal were put on standby, while Cambodian officials asked public schools to keep doors and windows open for ventilation.

Measures went further in Bangladesh and the Philippines, with schools closed for days.

But many children will not have cooler conditions at home, warned Ms Aleryani.

They may also be left unsupervised by parents who cannot afford to stay home from work, and risk serious interruptions to their education,

More On This Topic

‘Have to be outside’: Thai delivery riders swelter in heatwave

Schools closed, warnings issued as Asia swelters in extreme heatwave

How long will the heat last?

The heat in Bangladesh is not expected to recede until May 2 at the earliest, and in Thailand, forecasters warned that annual rains may arrive in late May, several weeks later than normal.

Dr Speer said the overall warming trend will continue even when the region’s monsoon arrives to lower temperatures.

“Heatwaves will continue to happen more often because the oceans and atmosphere are gradually heating up due to global warming,” he said.

That in turn poses growing risks to crops and livestock, as well as humans whose jobs require them to work outdoors.

Adaptation will be crucial, including offering “sustainable neighbourhood structures with air-conditioning where people could go during the day and sleep at night”, Dr Speer said. AFP

• Extreme weather
• Heatwave
• Asia

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2024-04-30 08:46:00Z
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'Loneliness seems to hit the hardest': The defectors who struggle with life outside North Korea - CNA

AN ACADEMY JUST FOR DEFECTORS

These knowledge and experience gaps faced by North Koreans led another defector, Ms Nam Yeong Hwa, to run an academy just for them.

Ms Nam arrived in South Korea in 2003. She set up H Nuri Education Centre a decade later to train students in becoming certified accountants, then began taking in only North Koreans, who found it difficult to keep up with regular classes.

She said: “North Korean defectors often submit their resumes to various companies but give up because no matter how many resumes they submit, they can't get interviews or responses.

“As a result, there aren't many defectors who are employed and working. So I thought: ‘This must be what I need to do.’”

Defectors learned the Russian language back home and are not familiar with English, Ms Nam said. This makes learning how to use a computer keyboard difficult, and they end up repeating the same words frequently.

Variations in the Korean language following decades of separation compound the difficulties. They are often confused by “Konglish” – a combination of Korean and English that is commonly used in the South.

Such issues expose defectors to mockery and isolation even after they land a job.

“They often try to leave the company within three to six months,” Ms Nam noted.

“People might think their speech is a bit awkward, and when they ask questions, their colleagues often look at them like: ‘Why don't you even know that?’ It makes them feel like they can't fit in.”

Ms Heo Jin Hwa, a student at H Nuri Education Centre who defected from North Korea 12 years ago, said there was a “huge difference” between the reality of South Korea and what she imagined it to be.

“When North Koreans come here, we are adults, but we are like newborns,” she told CNA.

“If we can't communicate at all, we'll learn everything from the beginning. Lifestyle, culture, things like that.”

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2024-04-30 09:09:00Z
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