WORLD BRIEFING: April 23, 2024
Dozens of protesters have been arrested at Yale University as demonstrations against the war in Gaza rock US campuses. Protesters occupying a square ignored multiple requests to leave, the Ivy League institution told the BBC. Meanwhile, Columbia University students were told to attend classes virtually on Monday after over 100 arrests were made during protests there last week. The White House has condemned alleged incidents of antisemitism at Columbia - BBC
US House Democrats have introduced a new bill that would strip Donald Trump of Secret Service protection if he were convicted of a felony. The former president is facing an enormous slew of civil and criminal charges
The White House promises swift delivery of the approved $61 billion in aid to Ukraine as Russia’s recent gains on the battlefield threaten Ukraine’s defenses. President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday, underscoring the United States’ “lasting commitment to supporting Ukraine as it defends its freedom against Russian aggression,” the White House said. Biden stressed that his administration will “quickly provide significant new security assistance packages to meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield and air defense needs as soon as the Senate passes the national security supplemental, and he signs it into law.” - VOA
One of the largest private western investors in Ukraine has claimed that corrupt officials in the country’s security services and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration are trying to extort tens of millions of euros from him. Arnulf Damerau, an Anglo-German businessman and a former adviser to Glencore, told the Financial Times he was being blackmailed by a clique of senior Ukrainian officials. Western governments have become increasingly concerned over government corruption in Ukraine but have largely held back from making their criticism public as they rally support for Kyiv to shore up its faltering defence against Russian aggression. The war has given space for many of the corrupt networks linked to former president Viktor Yanukovych to reassemble, European security officials say. - FT
Britain is sending a record package of military aid to Ukraine so the country can keep the lights on this year, Rishi Sunak has announced. The Prime Minister unveiled £500 million in extra equipment, including air defence missiles, to thwart Russia’s bombardment of power stations. He also pledged to donate hundreds of armoured vehicles, 60 boats – including raiding craft – and four million rounds of small-arms ammunition to help Kyiv through a “difficult summer”. - Daily Telegraph
A military court in Russia sentenced Andy Stone, the spokesman for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in absentia to six years in prison for the "justification of terrorism." Prosecutors sought seven years in prison for Stone. Earlier in February a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Stone, who was targeted due to a policy change he announced in March 2022, less than a month after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The policy shift by Meta allowed some calls for violence against Russian invaders, including President Vladimir Putin, to be made on Facebook or Instagram - RFE/RL
Claudia Sheinbaum, the leading presidential candidate in Mexico, was stopped at a roadblock by a group of men covering their faces with ski masks. In video of the encounter, Sheinbaum, who is on track to become Mexico's first female president, looks on as one man tells her: "When you get to power, remember the mountains, remember the poor people. That's all we have to say. We are not against the government; we are here so you see the disaster that is Comalapa." Comalapa is a small town in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico that borders Guatemala and used to be relatively peaceful. But as Mexico's two biggest organized crime groups — the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — have tried to extend into new territory, their fighting has brought chaos to Chiapas. - NPR
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister set the record straight on Monday, denouncing President Biden’s weird implication that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in the island nation. In a statement given to the Associated Press, prime minister James Marape rebuffed Biden for casting the people of Papua New Guinea as man-eaters. “President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Marape said. Last week, President Biden had shared a story about his Army Air Corps uncle who was shot down over Papua New Guinea in the 1940s, saying, “They never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.” In Monday’s response, Marape said the remains of war continued to litter his island and suggested the U.S. might take in interest in cleaning up its wreckage. “Perhaps,” Marape said, “it is time for the USA to find as many remains of World War II in PNG as possible.” - Daily Beast
