34 h. ago Mahmoud Khalil details psychological pain and reputational harm in new legal filings: ‘Efforts to erase my humanity’

Columbia student responds to ‘attacks’ from administration as federal judge considers his release from detention.

Science

37 h. ago Mahmoud Khalil describes pain of missing son’s birth in latest court filing

Palestinian graduate describes weeping as he crouched on detention center floor listening to wife give birthMahmoud Khalil, the detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist, has said in a new court filing that the “most immediate and visceral harms” he has experienced during his nearly three-month detention have been missing the birth of his son and being separated from his wife.“Instead of holding my wife’s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,” Khalil said. “I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son’s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago I told the truth about the West Bank and was threatened and assaulted. Now I'm relying on you to act | Issa Amro

Our lives are blighted by illegal settlements, and Israel has just approved 22 more. Without concrete action, we will be erasedIssa Amro is a Palestinian human rights defenderEach of the 22 illegal settlements approved by Israel last week is another nail in the coffin of the peace process, hammered in by the complicity of western governments and corporations. Israeli settlements are not benign civilian neighbourhoods – they are primary instruments of dispossession, control and apartheid. Settlements are closed militarised zones on Palestinians’ stolen land, cutting off our access to our resources, our farms, our schools, our jobs and each other. Palestinian lands rapidly shrink, our livelihoods are devastated, our rights are systematically violated and our identity is undermined.Western lawmakers look on, expressing commitment to peace through a two-state solution but choosing to do nothing to achieve this goal. Instead, their policies and inaction enable yet further settlement acti...

Events

8 d. ago Mahmoud Khalil claims he was detained by Trump admin after right

One group claims to have sent ‘thousands’ of names to Trump administration

Politics

9 d. ago Trump officials’ move to deport Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil likely unconstitutional: judge

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration's efforts to deport Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, in part to protect U.S. foreign policy, is likely unconstitutional.

Politics

9 d. ago Judge says US effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil on foreign policy grounds is likely unconstitutional

A federal judge said the Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil because of his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University was likely unconstitutional

Events

2 w. ago Mahmoud Khalil permitted to hold newborn son for the first time despite objections from government

Detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was allowed to hold his one-month-old son for the first time after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a plexiglass divider

Politics

2 w. ago AP PHOTOS: Columbia University president notes Mahmoud Khalil's absence at graduation

The head of Columbia University alluded to the detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil during a commencement speech Wednesday that drew loud boos and chants of “free Palestine” from graduating students.

Culture

2 w. ago Over boos, Columbia University president notes Mahmoud Khalil's absence at graduation

The head of Columbia University alluded to the detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil during a commencement speech Wednesday that drew loud boos and chants of “free Palestine” from graduating students

Politics

2 w. ago Senators question Paramount over efforts to settle Trump lawsuit

Warren, Wyden and Sanders push for information to determine if media company violated federal bribery statuteDemocratic US senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, along with their liberal colleague Bernie Sanders, are pushing for information on Paramount’s efforts to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against CBS News’s 60 Minutes – in hopes of determining whether the media company is violating a federal bribery statute, the Wall Street Journal reported.In a letter to Paramount chairperson Shari Redstone, the senators wrote that they are concerned the media company “may be engaging in improper conduct involving the Trump administration in exchange for approval of its merger with Skydance Media”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump can complain all he wants – but he can’t stop his own economic mess | Sidney Blumenthal

Between his tariffs and his regressive ‘big, beautiful bill’, the president is wreaking havoc – and he never learnsWith his usual threats, Donald Trump is trying to ward off the dire reality that he has created and is bearing down on him. He can clamp migrants in foreign gulags, coerce white-shoe law firms into becoming his pro bono serfs and try to simply erase the National Endowment for the Humanities, but he can’t rescind his harm to the economy. Trump can slash the National Weather Service, but he can’t stop the storm he’s whipped up. He’s shouting into the wind at his twister.No matter how much he might lower his draconian tariffs after his 90-day breathing spell, the velocity of damage is just building. It’s not a mistake that can be rectified. There’s no do-over. It’s not a golf game at one of his clubs where he gets endless mulligans and is declared the champion. Nor does Trump really want to draw back completely from his tariffs as if he never had proudly displayed his “Lib...

Politics

3 w. ago Cassie Ventura to return to stand after testifying Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped her

Former girlfriend of music mogul, key witness in sex-trafficking trial, details violence, abuse and blackmailSinger Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, a former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs and a key witness in the federal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of the music mogul, is returning to the stand Thursday for cross-examination.During Ventura’s second day of testimony on Wednesday, she provided more details about the physical and psychological abuse she alleged she experienced from Combs during their on-and-off again relationship that lasted about 11 years, and accused the music mogul of rape and blackmail.In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago ‘We need to do something’: the company releasing Palestinian films no one else will

As many films struggle to find distribution, Watermelon Pictures has stepped in to help tell stories from Palestine and other marginalized communitiesIn March, The Encampments, a documentary on the pro-Palestinian protest movement on US college campuses, opened at the Angelika Film Center in New York. The nonfiction theatrical marketplace has never been breezy in the US, but this is a particularly difficult time for documentaries, let alone films about hot-button issues considered politically sensitive or, under the new administration, outright dangerous; one of the Encampments’ primary subjects, the Columbia University student-activist Mahmoud Khalil, remains in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) without charge for any crime. Large-scale distributors, including all of the major streaming services, are increasingly wary of anything deemed controversial, leaving such films as Union, on the Amazon Labor Union, or the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary No...

Politics

3 w. ago To my newborn son: I am absent not out of apathy, but conviction | Mahmoud Khalil

Deen, the grief I feel being apart from you is one drop in a sea of sorrow Palestinian families have drowned in for generationsYaba Deen,* it has been two weeks since you were born, and these are my first words to you.In the early hours of 21 April, I waited on the other end of a phone as your mother labored to bring you into this world. I listened to her pained breaths and tried to speak comforting words into her ear over the crackling line. During your first moments, I buried my face in my arms and kept my voice low so that the 70 other men sleeping in this concrete room would not see my cloudy eyes or hear my voice catch. I feel suffocated by my rage and the cruelty of a system that deprived your mother and me of sharing this experience. Why do faceless politicians have the power to strip human beings of their divine moments? Continue reading...

Politics