Colleges are trying to tame Gaza protests with new training and tougher rules
(NYTimes) — University officials nationwide are grasping for new approaches as they brace for renewed protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Many administrators remain shaken by the closing weeks of the spring semester, when encampments, building occupations and clashes with police led to thousands of arrests across the country. University presidents used summer break to huddle with police, lawyers, trustees and other administrators to rewrite rules, tighten protest zones, and weigh possible concessions to maintain, or restore, order. The strategies suggest that some administrators have concluded that permissiveness is perilous, and that a harder line may be the best option — or perhaps just the one least likely to invite blowback from elected officials and donors.
Biden’s asylum restrictions are working as predicted, and as warned
(NYTimes) — In the months since President Joe Biden imposed restrictions on asylum at the Mexico border, the policy appears to be working as he hoped. The number of people asking for haven in the U.S. has dropped by 50% since June, according to the Department of Homeland Security. But migrant activists say Biden’s executive order is weeding out far too many people who should be allowed to have their cases heard. They say the figures are so low in part because of a clause in the new policy, under which border agents are no longer required to ask migrants whether they fear for their lives if they are returned home.
Iowa man helped distribute videos showing torture of monkeys, US Says
(NYTimes) — An Iowa man was arrested this month for his role in a group that created and shared so-called animal crush videos in which monkeys were brutally tortured, sexually abused and killed in sadistic ways, federal prosecutors said Friday. The man, Philip Colt Moss, 41, who was arrested Aug. 8, was charged in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati with conspiracy to create and distribute the videos and with distributing the videos themselves, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Friday. Also named in the indictment against Moss are Nicholas T. Dryden, of Ohio, and Giancarlo Morelli, of New Jersey, who were charged in June with the same counts as Moss.
Fire destroys grandstand from ‘A league of their own’
(NYTimes) — The wooden grandstand, locker rooms, press box and dugout of Jay Littleton Ball Park, a baseball field in California that was featured in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” were destroyed in a fire this week, a city spokesperson said. Aerial footage showed scorched debris ringing a grassy baseball diamond at the park in Ontario, which is about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Firefighters responding to the fire late Thursday encountered flames engulfing the wooden structures of the stadium, which they were unable to save, Dan Bell, Ontario’s communications director, said Saturday. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.
On Ukraine’s Independence Day, Zelenskyy celebrates push into Russia
(NYTimes) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his latest Independence Day speech Saturday to drive home the idea that Ukraine is taking the fight to Russia. He said the video of the speech was filmed near the site where his troops began a cross-border offensive into Russian territory nearly three weeks ago that caught Moscow by surprise and yielded a bounty in Russian prisoners of war. That paid immediate dividends Saturday when the two sides each sent 115 prisoners to the other in an exchange brokered by the United Arab Emirates. The Independence Day celebration Saturday marks 33 years since Ukraine split away from a crumbling Soviet Union.
Italian authorities open manslaughter investigation in yacht disaster
(NYTimes) — Italian authorities said Saturday that they had opened a manslaughter investigation into the sinking of the Bayesian luxury yacht, but that they had not yet zeroed in on any potential suspects. The $40 million sailing boat went down fast in a storm off Sicily’s coast Monday morning, killing Michael Lynch, a British tech billionaire; his teenage daughter, Hannah; four of his friends; and one member of the crew. The captain escaped on a lifeboat with 14 others. On Saturday, Ambrogio Cartosio, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said at a news conference that it was “plausible” crimes were committed during the accident.
27 die in Nepal as tour bus lands in river
(NYTimes) — At least 27 people died in Nepal on Friday when a tour bus fell into a gorge and went into the Marsyangdi River in the central district of Tanahun. The bus, carrying tourists from Maharashtra state in the center-west of India, was en route to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, from Pokhara, a popular tourist destination. Nepal gets a lot of Indian tourists, mostly families who arrive by road to visit major Hindu temples. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. A police superintendent in Tanahun said 16 others were injured in the crash. According to hospital reports, many of the injured were in serious condition.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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