Comment on Germany: Merkel’s challenger calls for vote on gay marriage

It’s been more than 50 years since Columbia University became the site of student demonstrations amid unrest over the Vietnam War, but the spirit of protest on campus remains strong. Late Tuesday night, dozens of protestors sieged Hamilton Hall—the iconic site of numerous student occupations over the course of history—and unfurled a banner to reveal the building’s new name by protestors: “Hind’s Hall.” The designation was in honor of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli troops in Gaza.

(CHICAGO) — For five days, the shouts of student protesters and supporters rang out from Northwestern University’s Deering Meadow as they joined demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war unfolding on college campuses nationwide. But the meadow on the suburban Chicago campus fell silent hours after student organizers and the school announced an agreement late Monday to curb protest activity in return for the reestablishment of an advisory committee on university investments and other commitments. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] By Tuesday, only two unoccupied tents remained, surrounded by abandoned folding chairs, cases of bottled water and other supplies. By quickly defusing the protests in Evanston and avoiding the longer standoffs that happened on other campuses, the agreement at Northwestern offered an example of successful negotiations between anti-war demonstrators and administrators.

For Pia Hollenstein, the long-awaited ruling at the European Court of Human Rights for a case brought against the Swiss government by her group, KlimaSeniorinnen, came at an inconvenient time. At 73, the retired nurse and former Parliamentarian from St. Gallen is an avid climber, and on the day of the verdict, she was planning to hike the Grisons Alps.

Both President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping strongly reject the current U. S.-China competition as a new Cold War. As recently as September, Biden said that he doesn’t “want to contain China” and that “we’re all better off if China does well.” Xi, in turn, proclaimed that “China doesn’t want a cold war or a hot war with anyone,” following a meeting between the two in San Francisco in November.

(NEW YORK) — Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus. Demonstrators had occupied Hamilton Hall hours earlier after setting up an encampment earlier in the month. Students had defiantly set up tents again after police cleared an encampment at the university on April 18 and arrested more than 100 people.

mdash; Two men have been charged with cutting down the popular 150-year-old Sycamore Gap tree next to Hadrian’s Wall last year in northern England, prosecutors said Tuesday. Daniel Graham, 38, and Adam Carruthers, 31, were charged with causing criminal damage and damaging the wall built in A. D. 122 by Emperor Hadrian to guard the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire. They were ordered to appear in Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on May 15. The sycamore’s majestic canopy between two hills made it a popular subject for landscape photographers.