Police make arrests at UCLA in tense clashes with protesters
LOS ANGELES — Police have arrested pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses across the country overnight, notably at the University of California, Los Angeles. Chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear at UCLA surged against a crowd of demonstrators. Police removed barricades and began dismantling demonstrators’ fortified encampment after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave and formed human chains as police fired flash-bangs. Yale University police arrested four people Wednesday night. Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide.
Biden says 'order must prevail' during campus protests over Gaza
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has defended the right to free speech but says “order must prevail” on college campuses. The Democratic president's comments Thursday broke days of silence as police crack down on encampments that were erected to show solidarity with Gaza. Republicans have tried to turn scenes of campus unrest into a campaign cudgel against Democrats. Student protests on college campuses have reached a boiling point as administrators turn to police to clear encampments. Former President Donald Trump has criticized Biden for not speaking out more. The college campus protesters want the U.S. to cut off support for Israel.
Federal Reserve says interest rates will stay at two-decade high until inflation cools
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. The Fed kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Several hotter-than-expected reports have recently undercut the Fed’s belief that inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a potential threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. “In recent months,” Chair Jerome Powell said, “inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective," adding, "It is likely that gaining greater confidence will take longer than previously expected.”
A wild orangutan used a medicinal plant to treat a wound, scientists say
WASHINGTON — Researchers say an orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant. It's the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild. In 2022, scientists in Indonesia observed an adult male orangutan pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation. He used his fingers to apply the plant juices to an injury on the right cheek, then pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound like a makeshift bandage. Researchers reported the observations Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.
New Army video aims to lure recruits for psychological operations
FORT LIBERTY, N.C. — A haunting new video released in the early morning hours is the latest effort by the Army to lure soldiers to some of its more secretive units. Hints of its origin are tucked into the frames as they flash by touting the power of words, ideas and “invisible hands.” Army Special Operations Command hopes that those drawn to the video may be interested in joining as one of its psychological warfare soldiers. The release of the Ghost in the Machine 2 video comes two years after the first one which generated a firestorm of online chatter.
Death toll jumps to at least 48 as a search continues in southern China highway collapse
BEIJING — The death toll from a collapsed highway in southeastern China has climbed to 48 as searchers dug for a second day through a treacherous and mountainous area.. Officials in Meizhou city said Thursday that three other people were unidentified, pending DNA testing. It wasn't immediately clear if they had died, which would bring the death toll to 51. One side of the four-lane highway in the city of Meizhou gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong province. Twenty-three vehicles fell down a steep slope, some sending up flames as they caught fire. Construction cranes were used to lift out the burnt-out and mutilated vehicles. The search is still ongoing.
New form of mpox that may spread more easily found in Congo's biggest outbreak
KINSHASA, Congo — Scientists say a new form of mpox detected in a mining town in Congo might more easily spread among people. Already, Congo is seeing its biggest mpox outbreak with more than 4,500 suspected infections and nearly 300 deaths. A new study that will be submitted to a journal for publication soon looked at patients hospitalized between October and January in Kamitgua, eastern Congo. The lead researcher says the new form has milder lesions and they're mostly on the genitals, which makes the disease trickier to diagnose. The World Health Organization says this mutation of the disease might require a new testing strategy to pick up the mutations.
