AFP USA

Demonstrators descended on Tesla dealerships across the United States and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top advisor to US President Donald Trump.Waving signs with messages like “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Teslas in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as “terrorism.”Hundreds rallied Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in New York’s Manhattan.Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is dramatically slashing the federal government.Amy Neifeld, a 70-year-old psychologist who had not joined a protest since marching against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, accused Musk of leading the country toward fascism.”I’m Jewish, so I grew up with a great awareness of fascism,” she told AFP. “And it has just gotten uglier and uglier” since Trump returned to the White House.”He acts like he’s the vice president,” said New York protester Eva Mueller of musk. “He’s dismantling, actively, our government, he’s dismantling our democracy.”The protest was organized by the environmental activist group Planet Over Profit, which argues “stopping Musk will help save lives and protect our democracy.”In Washington’s posh Georgetown neighborhood, some 150 people gathered in a festive mood on an unseasonably warm day, dancing and cheering as passing cars honked.Protests also took place in Florida, Massachusetts and California, as well as in in European cities such as London, Berlin and Paris.In Canada’s Vancouver, where around one hundred people protested at a Tesla dealership, one person in a dinosaur costume held a placard that said, “You thought the Nazis were extinct? Don’t buy a Swasticar.”A small group of Americans held signs outside a Tesla dealership in the French capital, including one that read “Send Musk to Mars now.”Musk and Trump “are destroying our democracy, not obeying the basic rules of our country, and firing people at agencies that do very important work,” said Raf, 59, a Paris protester who did not wish to give his last name.Asked for reaction to the protests, Tesla did not immediately respond.Acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities have spread for weeks, in protest both against Musk’s ruthless job-cutting work, and what has been seen as his unwelcome interference in politics.US Attorney General Pam Bondi has denounced the attacks on Tesla as “domestic terrorism.”

When “The Last of Us” — the smash hit series about a post-apocalyptic society ravaged by a mass fungal infection — arrived on our screens in 2023, the real world was emerging from a pandemic.Its timely premise evidently struck a chord, as the video game adaptation’s debut season drew a record-breaking 32 million US viewers per episode, according to HBO.Now season two, which premieres April 13 and hinges on themes of conflict and vengeance, will be equally relevant and prescient, promises returning star Pedro Pascal.Part of the show’s strength is its ability “to see human relationships under crisis and in pain, and intelligently draw political allegory, societal allegory, and base it off the world we’re living in,” said the actor, who plays lead character Joel.”Storytelling is cathartic in so many ways… I think there’s a very healthy and sometimes sick pleasure in that kind of catharsis — in a safe space,” he told a recent press conference.In the first season, smuggler Joel is forced to take teenage Ellie (Bella Ramsey) — seemingly the one human immune to the deadly cordyceps fungus — with him as he crosses the United States seeking his brother.- ‘Conflicts’ -Although fans of the original video games will know what to expect from season two, HBO is trying to keep plot details of the dark and gritty second installment under wraps.A recent trailer makes clear that Joel and Ellie have come into conflict with each other, and a new character Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) is a soldier on a murderous rampage. In a quirk of fortune, rising star Dever (“Booksmart,” “Dopesick”) was originally in talks to play Ellie when a film adaptation of “The Last of Us” was in development in the mid-2010s.Though the film collapsed, she became a fan of the games, and said getting cast as Abby — a main, playable character in video game “The Last of Us Part II” — for the TV series years later was “surreal.””I was a fan of the game. It was a real bonding moment for me and my dad playing it together,” she reflected.”And to have it come back around, what, 10-plus years later?… It just felt right. Abby felt right.”Gabriel Luna, who returns as Joel’s brother Tommy, agreed with Pascal that “there’s a huge catharsis element” to watching the second season at a time when, in the real world, conflicts are raging and alliances are fracturing.”The first season, we made a story about a pandemic, fearing that maybe there was a fatigue. But I think the experience that everyone had just gave them an entry point to what we were doing,” he said.He continued: “I think the second game… and the second season is about conflicts. Where do they start? And who started it?”Right now, all over the world, we’re dealing with these conflicts… People are stuck in the wheel of vengeance. Can it be broken? Will it be broken? And that’s where we are.” 

As he has done for years, Erik Payan had just opened up his tire repair shop in the small Texas town of Cleveland on February 24 and was getting to work when armed and masked US immigration agents swooped in to arrest him and take him away.”They’ve got me,” he told his distraught wife over the phone.While it wasn’t an unheard of scene in the United States, such incidents have drawn the glare of scrutiny as President Donald Trump, newly returned to the White House, has lashed out at migrants with particularly violent rhetoric — raising concerns among many who lack papers that they may be swept up at random for expulsion.- Overstayed visa -Payan, a Mexican, has lived for 20 of his 51 years in the United States. He entered on a work visa, but stayed on after it expired, making a life with his wife and three daughters, the youngest of them US-born. His store is licensed, he pays taxes and a mortgage, and is his family’s main breadwinner. One daughter is disabled; a granddaughter has a heart condition.Payan goes to church on Sundays and his neighbors vouch for him. His roots are now in Texas, but he lacks the documents to stay legally. His situation is much like many of the millions of other undocumented people living in the United States — a group estimated officially at 11 million but possibly closer to 14 million, according to a recent report from the NGO Migration Policy Institute.- No criminal record -Up to now, the undocumented were largely left alone, many working in some of the country’s most arduous and lowest-paid jobs. But Trump insists that their numbers include drug dealers, violent criminals and terrorists, and has vowed to deport millions of them.Payan, who has no criminal record, was swept up in one of the hundreds of nationwide raids Trump launched immediately upon his return to the White House. “I cried, but crying wasn’t going to help,” said his wife, 55-year-old Alejandrina Morales, who described their case on social media. The tears quickly turned to determination. “I’m going to fight, I’m going to defend my husband,” she recalls thinking.Payan’s attorney Silvia Mintz said that despite Trump’s promises of mass deportation, a process must be followed.- ‘They have options’ -“That’s not how really the law works,” Mintz said. “Anybody who is in the United States has the right to due process, and… a judge gets to decide” whether they remain in detention or are deported. Most importantly, she added, “They have options.”Using documentation to prove Payan had been a law-abiding, tax-paying worker for years, Mintz managed to secure his release on bail after a 27-day detention.Now begins a fight to legalize him.Mintz said undocumented immigrants can fight to stay by demonstrating that they have ties to the country and family members who could be harmed by their absence.There is also a possibility for children born in the United States — who enjoy “birthright citizenship,” though Trump is trying to end that — to legalize their parents once they turn 21.But in the meantime, the risk of detention and deportation persists.Mintz argues that the country desperately needs immigration reform to open a path to legal residency and citizenship.- Billions in taxes -The first thing Payan did upon his release was to reopen his tire store. “We are not criminals, we’re hard-working people,” he said. “Yes, we’re not from here, but without the support of Hispanic workers, this country is nothing.”He went on: “I’m not saying bad people haven’t come from our countries, but there are more of us good people. Let them concentrate on finding the criminals.”In 2022, undocumented workers paid an estimated $97 billion in taxes, according to the group Americans for Tax Fairness. Deporting millions of them, it said, could spark a devastating contraction, worse than during the 2008 financial crisis.”They have to pay taxes… but unfortunately the law prohibits them from getting any incentive or anything back,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the NGO FIEL, which works with immigrants.He said it was important to recognize the contributions migrants make, and to push for immigration reform, “so other people can have access to the American dream.”During Payan’s detention, he said, he sometimes slept in unheated rooms and caught a severe cold.He’s still coughing, but now he’s home. His customers honk as they drive past his tire store, celebrating his return. His wife Alejandrina celebrates too: “They had taken the captain of my boat,” she said, “and I was rowing alone.”

Demonstrators descended on Tesla dealerships across the United States and Europe on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top advisor to US President Donald Trump.Waving signs with messages like “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Teslas in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as “terrorism.”Hundreds rallied Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in New York’s Manhattan.Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is dramatically slashing the federal government.Amy Neifeld, a 70-year-old psychologist who had not joined a protest since marching against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, said Musk is leading the country toward “fascism.””I’m Jewish, so I grew up with a great awareness of fascism,” she told AFP. “And it has just gotten uglier and uglier” since Trump returned to the White House.”He acts like he’s the vice president,” said New York protester Eva Mueller. “He’s dismantling, actively, our government, he’s dismantling our democracy.”The protest was organized by the environmental activist group Planet Over Profit, which argues “stopping Musk will help save lives and protect our democracy.”In Washington’s posh Georgetown neighborhood, some 150 people gathered in a festive mood on an unseasonably warm day, dancing and cheering as passing cars honked.Protests also took place in Florida, Massachusetts and California, and in European cities such as London, Berlin and Paris.A small group of Americans held signs outside a Tesla dealership in the French capital, including one that read “Send Musk to Mars now.”Musk and Trump “are destroying our democracy, not obeying the basic rules of our country, and firing people at agencies that do very important work,” said Raf, 59, a Paris protester who did not wish to give his last name.Asked for reaction to the protests, Tesla did not immediately respond.Acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities have spread for weeks, in protest both against Musk’s ruthless job-cutting work, and what has been seen as his unwelcome interference in politics.US Attorney General Pam Bondi has denounced the attacks on Tesla as “domestic terrorism.”

An American woman freed by the Taliban in Afghanistan celebrated her release, in a video shared Saturday by US President Donald Trump, in which she thanked him for helping secure her freedom.In a video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account, Faye Hall is seen smiling and in apparently good health, saying: “Thank you for bringing me home.”Hall, a British couple and their Afghan translator were detained on February 1 as they traveled to central Bamiyan province.Washington’s former envoy to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Hall was in the care of the Qatari delegation in Kabul. “American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad, who has been part of a US delegation working on Taliban hostage releases, wrote on X.While at the Qatari embassy, Hall “has been confirmed in good health after undergoing a series of medical checks,” according to a source with knowledge of the release.She was released on Thursday following a court order and with logistical support from Qatar, the source added.In the video promoted by Trump’s account, Hall said she was proud to be a US citizen and urged support for Afghan women held in Taliban jails.”Thank you, Mr President,” she said. “And I just want you to know, all the women in the Afghan jail, they always ask me, ‘When is Trump coming?’ You, truly, they just treat you like their savior. They’re waiting for you to come and set them free.”In the post accompanying the video, Trump said: “Thank you Faye — So honored with your words!”Hall, identified by the Taliban’s interior ministry as Chinese-American, was detained along with Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who are in their 70s, as they travelled to the British couple’s home in central Bamiyan province. Their Afghan translator was also arrested.Taliban officials have refused to detail the reasons for their arrest, but one report said Hall had been detained on charges of using a drone without authorization.- Hopes for ‘new chapter’ -Khalilzad had been in the Afghan capital earlier this month on a rare visit by US officials to meet Taliban authorities, accompanying US hostage envoy Adam Boehler. Following their visit, the Taliban government announced the release of US citizen George Glezmann after more than two years of detention, in a deal brokered by Qatar.He and Hall are among several Americans to be released from Taliban custody this year. In January, two Americans detained in Afghanistan — Ryan Corbett and William McKenty — were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States. At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is still held in Afghanistan.The British couple detained with Hall remain in Taliban custody.Their daughter has expressed grave fears for her father’s health and appealed to the Taliban authorities to free them. The Reynolds, who married in Kabul in 1970, have run school training programs in the country for 18 years.They remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021 when the British embassy withdrew its staff. The government in Kabul is not recognized by any country, but several, including Russia, China and Turkey, have kept their embassies open in the Afghan capital. Qatar, too, has maintained diplomatic channels with the Taliban and has facilitated negotiations for the release of US hostages.Since Trump’s reelection, the Kabul government has expressed hopes for a “new chapter” with Washington.

Britain’s government is hoping to reach a last-minute post-Brexit trade agreement with Washington to avoid — or at least mitigate — more tariffs set to be announced on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump. – Current position? -Britain has set out to strike a trade deal with the United States since departing the European Union at the start of the decade, but had been unsuccessful under the previous Conservative government.Prime Minister Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party that won power in July, visited Washington at the end of February and came away hopeful an accord could be reached.Trump himself held out the prospect of a “great” deal that could avoid tariffs on Britain, hailing Starmer as a tough negotiator.Talks have continued, with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds recently visiting Washington, while Starmer and Trump took up the baton in a phone call earlier this week.It is thought that the UK government wants to agree some kind of trade deal ahead of April 2 — termed “Liberation Day” by Trump, when he is set to unveil supposedly “reciprocal” tariffs, tailored to different trading partners.It would follow Trump’s announcement this week of imposing steep tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts, vowing retaliation as trade tensions intensify and price hikes appear on the horizon.”We’re engaged in discussions with the United States about mitigating the impact of tariffs,” Starmer said heading into the weekend.Finance minister Rachel Reeves on Thursday said Britain would not seek to “escalate” trade wars, in contrast to strong comments by other major economic powers that hinted at retaliation in response to the auto-sector tariffs.- What kind of deal? -Downing Street has described a potential agreement as an “economic prosperity deal”, indicating it will fall short of a free trade deal ultimately sought by London.As it stands, the United States is the UK’s single largest country trading partner.”Some type of arrangement that might let the UK escape some tariffs is possible but it would not be a full-scale trade deal,” Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London, told AFP.”Brexit is a double edged sword — it gives us more flexibility and we can negotiate with a view to our own interests. “But equally, it means we have less weight than as part of the EU and moreover we cannot afford to agree to anything that complicates our trading relationship with the EU,” Portes added.- What could the UK concede? -UK media has reported that London may scrap a tax on tech giants to avert US tariffs under Trump and clear a pathway to a trade deal.Starmer in response stressed that “in the end, our national interest has to come first, which means all options are on the table”.His spokesman added that the UK will “make sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax, including businesses in the digital sector”.The digital tax is currently worth about £800 million ($1 billion) annually to the UK Treasury.Reynolds conceded that the digital tax is not “something that can never change or we can never have a conversation about”.Portes, along with David Henig, director of the UK Trade Policy Project, pointed to the risk of altering Britain’s tax policy in return for a promise from Trump over tariff exemptions.”If Trump keeps his word and the UK gains significant benefits as a result, then eliminating a tax could be a good deal,” Henig told AFP. “That, however, is quite a gamble.”

Skygazers across a broad swathe of the Northern Hemisphere will have a chance to see the Moon take a bite out of the Sun on Saturday when a partial solar eclipse sweeps from eastern Canada to Siberia.The partial eclipse, which is the first of the year and the 17th this century, will last around four hours from 0850 GMT to 1243 GMT. Curious observers making sure to protect their eyes might be able to see the celestial show in most of Europe, as well as in some areas of northeastern North America and northwest Africa.Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth all line up. When they perfectly align for a total solar eclipse, the Moon fully blots out the Sun’s disc, creating an eerie twilight here on Earth.But that will not happen during Saturday’s partial eclipse, which will instead turn the Sun into a crescent. “The alignment is not perfect enough for the cone of shadow to touch the Earth’s surface,” Paris Observatory astronomer Florent Deleflie told AFP.Because that shadow will “remain in space, there will not be a total eclipse anywhere” on Earth, he said.At most, the Moon will cover around 90 percent of the Sun’s disc. The best view will be from northeastern Canada and Greenland at the peak time of 1047 GMT.- Beware eye damage -It will be less spectacular in other areas. In France, for example, between 10 to 30 percent of the Sun’s disc will be obscured, depending on the region. Ireland will see around 40 percent, according to Sophie Murray of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. However rain is forecast.These smaller percentages of eclipse will not be visible to the naked eye.However, if the sky is clear, skygazers will be able to watch the eclipse through special viewers — as long as they take precautions.Looking straight at the Sun — during an eclipse or otherwise — can lead to irreversible vision loss.Skygazers are advised to buy eclipse-viewing glasses and ensure they are in good condition.Even a slight defect or “microscopic hole” can cause eye damage, Deleflie warned.Or, people could watch the eclipse at a local astronomy observation centre where “you can safely verify the precision of celestial mechanics and marvel at interesting details on the Sun’s surface, such as sunspots”, Deleflie said.Murray offered another option.”You can make a simple pinhole projector by poking a small hole in a piece of paper or cardboard and letting sunlight pass through it onto the ground or another surface, where you’ll see a small, inverted image of the eclipsed Sun,” she said.The partial eclipse will not turn up on a smartphone camera without a suitable filter, Deleflie added.The latest celestial show comes two weeks after skygazers across much of the world marvelled at a rare total lunar eclipse, dubbed a “Blood Moon”.These events often happen after each other because the Moon has “completed a half-circle around the Earth in the meantime, reversing the configuration”, Deleflie explained.A greater spectacle is expected on August 12, 2026, when a total solar eclipse will be visible in Iceland, northern Spain and parts of Portugal.More than 90 percent of the Sun will also be obscured in areas of Europe including Britain, France and Italy.It will be the first total solar eclipse since one swept across North America in April 2024.

Two leading US law firms sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Friday after he stripped security clearances from their attorneys and blocked them from doing business with the government.Jenner & Block and WilmerHale filed separate lawsuits after Trump signed executive orders this week sanctioning the firms.In two discrete rulings by US federal judges Friday evening, both were awarded temporary restraining orders blocking Trump’s executive orders from taking effect pending further review.Since taking office, the Republican president has moved to settle scores with the law firms that had represented his political foes in the past or helped bring him to court on civil or criminal charges.Trump has signed executive orders targeting five so-called “Big Law” firms so far. Two other firms have cut deals with the president.Trump signed an executive order on Thursday sanctioning WilmerHale, the former law firm of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.On Tuesday, Trump targeted Jenner & Block, which once employed a prosecutor who was a key member of Mueller’s investigative team.In both cases, Trump suspended security clearances, ordered the termination of government contracts and limited access to federal government buildings for employees of the firms.Mueller worked at WilmerHale before being appointed special counsel and rejoined after the probe’s conclusion until his retirement in 2021.In its complaint, Jenner & Block called Trump’s executive order “an unconstitutional abuse of power against lawyers, their clients and the legal system.”It is intended to hamper the ability of individuals and businesses to have the lawyers of their choice zealously represent them,” it said.”And it is intended to coerce law firms and lawyers into renouncing the Administration’s critics and ceasing certain representations adverse to the government.”Another firm targeted by Trump, Perkins Coie, has also filed suit against the administration and obtained a restraining order from a judge temporarily blocking the sanctions.Two more firms — Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps — have entered into agreements with Trump to avoid sanctions.Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps both agreed to provide pro bono legal services to “support the administration’s initiatives” — $40 million in Paul Weiss’s case and $100 million for Skadden Arps.Announcing the Skadden Arps agreement on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said the firm will provide pro bono services to assist veterans and members of law enforcement, ensure “fairness in our Justice System” and combat anti-Semitism.

Washington’s Smithsonian is a sprawling chain of museums dedicated to both celebrating and scrutinizing the American story — and the latest cultural institution targeted by President Donald Trump’s bid to quash diversity efforts.His recent executive order to excavate “divisive ideology” from the famed visitor attraction and research complex follows a wave of efforts to keep culture and history defined on his terms, including his takeover of the national capital’s prestigious performing arts venue, the Kennedy Center.And it’s got critics up in arms.”It’s a declaration of war,” said David Blight of Yale University, who leads the Organization of American Historians.”It is arrogant and appalling for them to claim they have the power and the right to say what history actually is and how it should be exhibited, written, and taught,” Blight told AFP.Trump’s latest order also says monuments to the historic Confederate rebellion, many of which were removed in recent years in the wake of anti-racism protests, might soon be restored.His order even mentioned the National Zoo — which is operated by the Smithsonian and recently welcomed two pandas from China — as potentially needing a cleanse from “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology.” And Trump says a number of Smithsonian museums, including the distinguished National Museum of African American History and Culture, espouse “corrosive ideology,” and are trying to rewrite American history in relation to issues of race and gender.Critical observers say the exact opposite is true.Margaret Huang — president of the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate — called Trump’s order “the latest attempt to erase our history” and “a blatant attempt to mask racism and white supremacy as patriotism.””Black history is US history. Women’s history is US history. This country’s history is ugly and beautiful,” Huang said.For critics like Huang and Blight, Trump’s push to tell a rose-tinted history of “American greatness” is a disservice to museum-goers in a complicated country built on values including freedom of speech — but whose history is rife with war, slavery and civil rights struggles.”What’s at stake is the way the United States officially portrays its own past, to itself, and to the world,” Blight said.- ‘Stories about ourselves’ -Trump is a 78-year-old Frank Sinatra fan with a penchant for Broadway — he’s spoken particularly fondly of the 1980s-era musical “Cats,” the fantastical tale of a dancing tribe of felines.But his brand of culture war is much bigger than personal taste: in his second term, the president appears intent on rooting out what he deems too “woke.”The executive crusade is part of a broader effort to strip American society of efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion that institutions nationwide have vied to incorporate in recent years, purging culture of anti-racism and LGBTQ+ support.Critics say Trump’s extension of his grip to the Smithsonian represents an eyebrow-raising incursion into the programming independence of the more than 175-year-old institution.Founded in the mid-19th century, the Smithsonian “has transformed along with our culture and our society,” said Robert McCoy, a history professor at Washington State University.The complex — including the zoo, 21 museums and 14 education and research centers — is approximately two-thirds federally funded, with the rest of its approximately billion-dollar-budget stemming from sources including endowments, memberships and donations.Its Board of Regents includes the vice president. But, similarly to the Kennedy Center, until now it operated largely above political lines, especially when it came to programming.- ‘Meaning and belonging’ -“It’s become more diverse. The stories it tells are more complicated. These are people who are attempting to help us broaden what it means to be an American — what it means to tell us stories about ourselves that are more accurate and include more people,” McCoy told AFP.”When you lose that, you begin to marginalize a lot of different groups.”McCoy fears the White House’s bid to clamp down on the Smithsonian’s work could prompt resignations, a concern Blight echoed: “If they stay in their jobs, they’re in effect working for an authoritarian takeover of what they do. That will not be acceptable.”Trump’s attempts at cultural dominance in federal institutions are part of a broader package of control, McCoy said, a pattern that echoes research on how authoritarian regimes seize power.”It’s not just political and economic institutions,” he said. “It’s also the institutions that provide people with a sense of meaning and belonging — that they’re American.”

US government lawyers pushed Friday for the case of a pro-Palestinian protest leader slated for deportation to be moved to a Louisiana court thought to be sympathetic to President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — a prominent face of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel’s war in Gaza — was arrested and taken to Louisiana earlier this month, sparking protests. Several other foreign student protesters have been similarly targeted.Also Friday, Columbia University’s interim president stepped down, one week after the Ivy League school announced a package of measures to placate Trump and his criticisms over student protests and alleged campus anti-Semitism. He has targeted the school with hundreds of millions in funding cuts. Katrina Armstrong will be replaced by Board of Trustees co-chair Claire Shipman, who will serve until a permanent replacement is hired, Columbia said in a statement.”Dr Armstrong accepted the role of interim president at a time of great uncertainty for the University and worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our community,” Board of Trustees chair David Greenwald said.Shipman noted her “clear understanding of the serious challenges before us.”The government has not accused Khalil of any crime, but instead ordered his deportation and canceled his resident’s permit, alleging he was undermining US foreign policy.At a hearing in New Jersey, government lawyer August Flentje said that “for jurisdictional certainty, the case belongs in Louisiana.”But Khalil’s lawyer Baher Azmy accused the government of seeking to move the case to bolster its “retaliation.”The judge said he would not rule immediately on shifting the case to the Western District of Louisiana, a more conservative bench that has previously leaned towards Trump’s policies.Khalil was not present at the hearing, but his wife Noor attended with several supporters.- ‘Witch hunt’? -Khalil’s arrest has outraged Trump opponents, free speech advocates and some on the political right, who say the case will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.Immigration officers have similarly detained and sought to deport a Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Columbia student Yunseo Chung, a US permanent resident originally from South Korea.Like Khalil, Ozturk has been detained in Louisiana despite her initial arrest in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.Ozturk’s lawyer said Thursday that “we should all be horrified at the way (officers) abducted Rumeysa in broad daylight” after footage of masked, plainclothes officers surrounding the veiled student circulated online.A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday issued a court order saying “Ozturk shall not be removed from the United States until further Order of this Court,” while the jurisdiction of her case is reviewed.Students at Columbia have described a culture of fear in the wake of the action against the college and its students.- ‘Retaliation’ -“Nothing can protect you,” said a Hispanic-American student who participated in last year’s protests calling for a Gaza ceasefire and for Columbia to divest from Israel.”I take precautions, I check if someone is following me. Before, I wasn’t afraid to leave my apartment door unlocked; now I lock it in case an agent comes in to check my stuff.”Nadia Urbinati, a professor of political theory at Columbia, told AFP that “writing papers, teaching, having new research, researchers or fellows becomes more restricted, controlled and monitored.”A foreign student, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, said Trump had sought to “isolate” activists. “We try to laugh,” said another, but “the feeling of fear and paranoia is widespread.”Dozens protested in support of Khalil outside the New Jersey courthouse, holding Palestinian flags and banners.As well as targeting foreign students at Columbia University, the Trump administration has sought to slash $400 million of federal funding and grants over alleged anti-Semitism on campus.Last week the university announced a package of measures to placate Trump, including “improvements to our disciplinary processes.” Columbia said it would require protesters to identify themselves when challenged, even if they wear masks, as many did during the height of the pro-Palestinian protests.It also announced the expansion of its security team, including hiring 36 officers empowered to remove or arrest those that break university rules.The Trump administration had demanded that the university deploy external oversight, but the school stopped short of that, instead vowing to engage with outside academics on the issue.