Anxiety, pride as Harvard digs in for Trump ‘blitzkrieg’

Harvard students weave through tree-lined streets and redbrick campus buildings, but beneath the veneer of daily life fear has taken root: the most prestigious university in the United States is bracing for an “assault” by President Donald Trump.Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted prestigious universities, alleging anti-Semitism and liberal bias — with Harvard a primary quarry. He has launched what one academic called a “blitzkrieg” of measures — arresting overseas students and researchers, slashing federal funding, and seeking to end Harvard’s tax-exempt status. “It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Friday. Unlike other universities that have bowed in recent days, Harvard defied Trump — suing his administration and mounting a fightback praised by students, faculty and commentators. “This is not about scalping (Harvard). This is about blitzkrieg and bringing out the biggest guns that you have,” said Sheila Jasanoff, a Harvard Kennedy School professor, her bookcases overflowing with books and articles. “There’s been essentially no check to the appetite of this administration.” First-year student Feodora Douplitzky-Lunati said “there’s a lot more wariness” among foreign students who fear they could be caught in immigration raids like those at Tufts and Columbia. Signs have advised international students not to discuss visa status, said Douplitzky-Lunati, who plans to study Slavic studies and economics.Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova has been detained since February, after her visa was revoked returning from France. Students involved in pro-Palestinian protests following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and the Gaza conflict have been arrested and slated for deportation at other campuses. Trump’s team imposed an April 30 deadline for universities to hand over international student data or risk losing a key certification to sponsor international students — affecting 27 percent of Harvard’s student body. In an email seen by AFP, Harvard said it complied, but encouraged students to focus on their studies.”I’m very concerned for my peers, and I hope most of my friends are as well,” said fourth-year US student Alice Goyer, sitting in a park near campus as students sipped coffee serenaded by a guitarist. “(We’re) at the forefront of a political battle… And I think the international students especially have been caught in the crossfire — they’re kind of being used as bargaining tools,” she said, accusing Trump of using an “authoritarian” playbook. Students described growing anxiety. Many foreign students face the dilemma of leaving for summer break and risking being denied re-entry to the United States. – ‘People are scared’ -Alongside visa measures, Trump has targeted Harvard’s finances. He put $9 billion in federal funding under review, ultimately freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts in an opening salvo. Harvard imposed a hiring freeze, some researchers received stop-work orders, and its Chan School of Public Health was particularly exposed to the cuts.”The administration have been much more aggressive than anyone anticipated. There’s going to be chaos. The staff will get smaller,” said one casualty of the cuts who suggested US HIV and tuberculosis cases would increase as a result.In remarks to alumni shared with AFP, Harvard President Alan Garber said Wednesday the university’s endowment cannot legally offset shortfalls caused by Trump. “It is an assault on higher education. We must join not only with the rest of the academic community, but with civil society,” he said according to an alum on the call.Another said Garber described the situation as a long, existential battle, and appealed for alumni donations. While Goyer said she was “very proud right now to be a Harvard student” because of its defiance, she acknowledged Harvard had yielded on some points. Harvard has said it would rename its diversity, equity and inclusion department — which had drawn Trump’s ire — and defund graduation events held by affinity groups for Black, Latino, LGBTQ and other minority students. “I think it’s related to the Trump demands,” Goyer said. “It’s still kind of bowing down to Trump.” Leo Gerden, an economics and government student from Sweden, has defied the risks and become a visible international protester against Trump’s policies. “People are scared, and I understand them,” the 22-year-old said, citing the arrest by immigration officers of Rumeysa Ozturk at nearby Tufts, who wrote a pro-Palestinian op-ed. “Trump’s strategy right now is to (make) an example out of a few people — like Rumeysa — to scare everyone else into silence.”My hope is that by the end of this we’re gonna see protests just as big as during the Vietnam War.”

Lives on hold in India’s border villages with Pakistan

On India’s heavily fortified border with arch-rival Pakistan, residents of farming villages have sent families back from the frontier, recalling the terror of the last major conflict between the rival armies.Those who remain in the farming settlement of Sainth, home to some 1,500 people along the banks of the broad Chenab river, stare across the natural division between the nuclear-armed rivals fearing the future.”Our people can’t plan too far ahead”, said Sukhdev Kumar, 60, the village’s elected headman. “Most villagers here don’t invest beyond a very basic house,” he added.”For who knows when a misdirected shell may fall from the other side and ruin everything?”Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the worst attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir in years.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the April 22 attack at Pahalgam — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.Islamabad has rejected the charge of aiding gunmen who killed 26 people, with both countries since exchanging diplomatic barbs including expelling each other’s citizens.India’s army said Saturday its troops had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani soldiers overnight along the de facto border with contested Kashmir — which it says has taken place every night since April 24.- ‘Living in fear’ -Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both governing part of the disputed territory separately and claiming it in its entirety.Sainth, with its open and lush green fields, is in the Hindu-majority part of Indian-run Jammu and Kashmir.Security is omnipresent.Large military camps dot the main road, with watchtowers among thick bushes. Kumar said most families had saved up for a home “elsewhere as a backup”, saying that only around a third of those with fields remained in the village.”Most others have moved”, he said.The region was hit hard during the last major conflict with Pakistan, when the two sides clashed in 1999 in the high-altitude Himalayan mountains further north at Kargil.Vikram Singh, 40, who runs a local school, was a teenager at the time.He remembers the “intense mortar shelling” that flew over their heads in the village — with some exploding close by.”It was tense then, and it is tense now,” Singh told AFP. “There is a lot to worry since the attack at Pahalgam… The children are scared, the elderly are scared — everyone is living in fear”.International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad to settle their differences through talks.The United States has called for leaders to “de-escalate tensions” , neighbouring China urged “restraint”, with the European Union warning Friday that the situation was “alarming.On the ground, Singh seemed resigned that there would be some fighting.”At times, we feel that war must break out now because, for us, it is already an everyday reality”, he said. “We anyways live under the constant threat of shelling, so, maybe if it happens, we’d get to live peacefully for a decade or two afterwards”.- ‘Checking our bunkers’ -There has been a flurry of activity in Trewa, another small frontier village in Jammu.”So far, the situation is calm — the last cross-border firing episode was in 2023″, said Balbir Kaur, 36, the former village head.But the villagers are preparing, clearing out concrete shelters ready for use, just in case.”There were several casualties due to mortar shelling from Pakistan in the past”, she said.”We’ve spent the last few days checking our bunkers, conducting drills, and going over our emergency protocols, in case the situation worsens,” she added.Kaur said she backed New Delhi’s stand, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing “to punish every terrorist and their backer” and to “pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.Dwarka Das, 65, a farmer and the head of a seven-member family, has lived through multiple India-Pakistan conflicts. “We’re used to such a situation,” Das said. “During the earlier conflicts, we fled to school shelters and nearby cities. It won’t be any different for us now”.

Musk’s dreams for Starbase city in Texas hang on vote

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of gaining city status for his SpaceX spaceport in the southern US state of Texas could become a reality on Saturday, with voters set to green light Starbase as a new municipality.There’s little doubt over the outcome of the ballot that will likely name a senior SpaceX representative as mayor of the new settlement.Most of the 283 eligible voters are SpaceX employees working at the site on Boca Chica Bay bordering Mexico, or have connections to the company whose billionaire chief has long eyed a human mission to Mars.Most ballots have already been cast ahead of the 7:00 pm (0100 GMT) deadline on Saturday.Musk himself is registered to vote, Cameron County Election Coordinator Remi Garza told AFP, but the South African-born embattled 53-year-old had yet to cast his ballot when the early voting period closed on April 29.Nearly 500 people live around the base in Cameron County, on land mostly owned by SpaceX or its employees, official documents show. The change would allow Starbase to control building and permitting and avoid other regulatory hurdles, while collecting taxes and writing local law. The vote comes at a difficult time for Musk, who is expected to reduce his role as the unofficial head of US President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to instead focus more on his troubled car company, Tesla.The vote on Saturday includes a mayoral election, but Bobby Peden, vice president of testing and launch at SpaceX, according to LinkedIn, is the only candidate on the ballot for this position.The Texas base launched in 2019 and is a key testing site for the company’s rocket launches.Not everyone is upbeat about the prospect of a SpaceX town.Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, voiced concerns over the environmental impact, warning of “more environmental destruction.””They would attempt more illegal dumping, they would build up their dangerous rocket operations and cause more seismic activity, cause our homes to shake, and that they would destroy more of the wildlife habitat in the region,” she told AFP.- Environmental concerns -It was Musk himself who proposed the name Starbase in a social media post during a visit to the site four years ago.Then, last December, general manager of SpaceX Kathryn Lueders appealed to local authorities to grant the site city status.Lueders argued in her letter that SpaceX already maintained infrastructure there like roads, education services and medical care.Lueders promised the creation of the new city would not undermine SpaceX efforts to mitigate the base’s environmental impact.SpaceX did not respond to an AFP request for comment.The hub overlooks the Gulf of Mexico — renamed the Gulf of America by Trump — and there is controversy over access to Boca Chica Beach.A Texas House State Affairs committee rejected a bill this week by Republican lawmakers that would have given coastal cities with spaceports control over beach access.Hinojosa, the activist, said SpaceX has limited access to Boca Chica Beach for many years and told AFP she worried the vote could cut access entirely to a beach “our families have been going to for generations.”The Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, descendants of an Indigenous tribe in the area, has also complained.In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas authorities found that SpaceX was responsible for repeated spills and releasing pollutants into Texas waterways.In response to reports that its rockets had caused damage to wild bird nests, Musk quipped on social media: “To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week.”

A la frontière pakistanaise, la vie en suspens des villages indiens

Pour Sukhdev Kumar, c’est désormais la routine. A chaque crise avec le Pakistan, lui et les Indiens du village frontalier de Sainth rassemblent à la hâte quelques affaires et gagnent un abri, une résidence secondaire ou le domicile d’un proche.”Avec ces brusques montées de la tension et les échanges de tirs entre les deux camps qui vont avec, personne ne peut faire de projet à long terme”, grommèle l’élu de la petite localité.Sur la rive orientale du fleuve Chenab, les 1.500 habitants de cette paisible communauté agricole ont renoué avec cette ambiance de drôle de guerre qu’ils ne connaissent que trop bien.Les relations conflictuelles entre les deux pays sont retombées à leur plus bas depuis l’attentat qui a fait 26 tués le 22 avril dans la cité touristique de Pahagalm, au cœur du Cachemire indien.New Delhi en a aussitôt imputé la responsabilité à Islamabad, qui l’a tout aussi prestement rejetée.Echange de sanctions diplomatiques, expulsion des ressortissants du rival, déclarations martiales, la confrontation militaire semble inévitable.Le long de la frontière qui sépare les armées des deux rivaux, Sainth, à près de 70 km de la ville de Jammu, dans le sud du Cachemire indien, a pris des allures de camp retranché.Dans leurs postes d’observation dissimulés dans les fourrés, les soldats indiens scrutent le moindre mouvement des troupes pakistanaises.- “S’éloigner un peu” -Ici, le scénario de la guerre s’est imposé dans la vie quotidienne de tous les habitants.”La plupart des villageois se sont contentés de se construire un logement rustique”, commente Sukhdev Kumar. “Un obus venu d’en face peut tomber et tout ruiner à tout moment”.Quand ils ont entendu les premiers bruits de bottes,de nombreux habitants ont battu en retraite.”A l’heure qu’il est, à peine un tiers des familles qui ont un peu de terre sont restées”, décrit l’élu, “les autres ont préféré s’éloigner un peu”.Beaucoup se souviennent encore des combats violents qui ont opposé les soldats des deux camps en 1999. C’était pourtant à plusieurs centaines de kilomètres plus au nord, dans la neige des sommets himalayens de Kargil.”C’était très tendu”, se souvient le directeur de l’école de Sainth, Vikram Singh, 40 ans, qui n’était encore qu’un enfant à l’époque.”C’est aussi très tendu aujourd’hui”, poursuit-il. “Nous avons tous beaucoup à craindre après l’attaque de Pahalgam (…) les enfants ont peur, les anciens ont peur, tout le monde a peur”.”On en vient à se dire qu’il faudrait que la guerre éclate pour de bon (…) on vit de toute façon déjà sous la menace permanente d’un bombardement”, poursuit l’enseignant. “Alors peut-être qu’après une bonne guerre, on pourrait vivre enfin en paix…”- “Au cas où” -Même s’ils disposent désormais d’infrastructures modernes et d’un indispensable accès compétitif à l’internet, les jeunes du village supportent de moins en mois ces tensions récurrentes.”Les écoles qui préparent aux concours de la fonction publique sont éloignées de plusieurs heures de route”, soupire Aryan Bhardwaj, 18 ans, qui ne cache plus ses envies d’ailleurs.A quelques kilomètres de Sainth, les habitants de Trewa, une autre petite localité agricole frontalière, se préparent eux aussi au pire.”Nous avons déjà subi des pertes dans le passé à cause de tirs de mortier venus du Pakistan”, rappelle Balvir Kaur, 36 ans, l’ancienne cheffe du village. “Le dernier incident remonte à 2023”, ajoute-t-elle, “jusqu’à présent tout est calme”.Le calme qui précède les tempêtes, peut-être, alors Trewa se prépare au pire.”Nous avons passé les derniers jours à inspecter les abris, à nous entraîner à une évacuation, à répéter nos exercices d’urgence au cas où”, détaille cette fervente partisane du Premier ministre ultranationaliste hindou Narendra Modi.”On est habitué à ce genre de situation”, confirme Dwarka Das. A 65 ans, ce paysan de village a connu son lot de guerres et de crises avec ceux d’en face. “Lors des précédents conflits, on allait se cacher dans les abris de l’école ou dans les villes alentour”, raconte-t-il du haut de son expérience.”Ça ne sera pas différent s’il se passe quoi que ce soit cette fois encore”.

Gabon to swear in ex-junta chief Oligui as presidentSat, 03 May 2025 03:51:35 GMT

Gabon’s President-elect Brice Oligui Nguema who led a coup ending decades of Bongo family rule and swept polls last month with nearly 95 percent of the vote will be sworn in Saturday.The general and former junta leader, who toppled Ali Bongo in August 2023 ending 55 years of dynastic rule by the Bongo family, officially …

Gabon to swear in ex-junta chief Oligui as presidentSat, 03 May 2025 03:51:35 GMT Read More »

Inflation, hotel prices curtail Japanese ‘Golden Week’ travels

Japan’s annual “Golden Week” holiday period gets into full swing Saturday, but inflation and hotel prices sent soaring by record inbound tourism have left domestic travellers less eager to pack their bags.Traditionally, Golden Week — which includes three consecutive public holidays — gives Japanese workers one of their longest breaks in the year, with many taking the opportunity to see other parts of Japan or to travel abroad. But this year consumers in the world’s fourth-largest economy are feeling the pain of rising prices for everything from cabbage and rice to electricity bills. The Japanese yen has lost around a third of its value since 2022, one factor behind the record number of foreign tourists also lured by the country’s numerous attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars. The inflow of tourists has sent demand for hotel bookings spiralling upward, with the room rate in Japan’s five major cities around 16 percent more expensive at the onset of this year’s Golden Week than last year, according to a survey from the business daily Nikkei.All this has translated into a tepid desire among Japanese residents to travel for this year’s Golden Week, surveys have shown. The latter part of the holiday period began Saturday and lasts until Tuesday.”The biggest reason seems to be the inflation that has curtailed their willingness to spend lavishly”, Atsushi Tanaka, a tourism studies professor at Yamanashi University, told AFP.”Because the inbound tourism is booming so much, hotel operators don’t need to lower their accommodation prices, which is making it harder for Japanese people to travel,” Tanaka added.- ‘Financial burdens’ -A poll by major travel agency JTB showed last month that 20.9 percent of its respondents will or “probably” will go on a trip during Golden Week, down 5.6 percent from last year.Another survey by marketing research firm Intage similarly found last month that the percentage of those planning to travel domestically during the holiday period dipped by two percent from a year earlier to 13.6 percent.While factors like a desire to avoid crowds are also at play, “the tendency to refrain from going out due to financial burdens” seems to be growing, Intage said.  When it comes to travelling abroad, that is verging on being an “unattainable luxury”, it said.  The same study, however, showed the average budget for Golden Week outings this year has edged up to $201 from $192, underscoring holidaymakers’ acceptance of the status quo.  “It shows they are resigned to the fact that it just costs them more this year to do anything,” Intage’s Motohiro Shimogawara told AFP. Japan logged more than 36.8 million tourist arrivals in 2024, topping 2019’s record of nearly 32 million. The government has set an ambitious target of almost doubling tourist numbers to 60 million annually by 2030.But as in other global tourist magnets like Venice in Italy, there has been growing pushback from residents against overtourism.  Residents and authorities in Japanese tourist hotspots, from tradition-steeped Kyoto to towns near the majestic Mount Fuji, are increasingly voicing frustration about overcrowding, traffic violations and bad behaviour by some visitors. 

Australians vote in election swayed by inflation, Trump

Millions of Australians voted Saturday in a bitterly contested general election, following a campaign shaped by living costs, climate anxiety and US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.From dusty desert towns to sun-splashed harbour cities, voters are choosing between left-leaning incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and conservative challenger Peter Dutton.The almost universal consensus across a slew of opinion polls leading up to election day was that Albanese’s governing Labor Party would win a second term. “The holy grail is back-to-back wins that we’re aiming for today,” Albanese told Channel Seven. “I’ll leave nothing on the field over the next three years if I’m re-elected as Australia’s prime minister.”Though trailing by a few percentage points in the polls, Dutton said “quiet Australians” could yet deliver a surprise.”I think they’re going to go into the polling booth and say: ‘You know what? I am not going to reward Anthony Albanese for the last three years’,” he told Channel Nine.Asked if he would remain opposition leader if he loses, Dutton said he was only talking about winning, but added: “I am 54. I am still very young, and I’ve just got a burning passion for this country.”- Trump slump -The first polls opened at 8:00 am (2200 GMT) on Australia’s east coast, followed later by the country’s western cities and far-flung island territories.A total of 18.1 million voters have enrolled for the election. More than a third of them have cast an early ballot, the election authority said.Voting is compulsory, enforced with fines of Aus$20 (US$13), leading to turnouts that top 90 percent.A result could come as soon as Saturday night, unless the vote is very tight.Albanese, 62, has promised to embrace renewable energy, tackle a worsening housing crisis, and pour money into a creaking healthcare system. Liberal Party leader and former police officer Dutton wants to slash immigration, crack down on crime and ditch a longstanding ban on nuclear power. Some polls showed Dutton leaking support because of Trump, who he praised this year as a “big thinker” with “gravitas” on the global stage. “I mean, Donald Trump is as mad as a cut snake, and we all know that,” said voter Alan Whitman, 59, before casting his ballot on Saturday. “And we’ve got to tiptoe around that.”- High prices -As Australians soured on Trump, both Dutton and Albanese took on a more pugnacious tone. “If I needed to have a fight with Donald Trump or any other world leader, to advance our nation’s interest, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Dutton said in April. Albanese condemned Trump’s tariffs as an act of “economic self-harm” and “not the act of a friend”.Economic concerns have dominated the contest for the many Australian households struggling to pay inflated prices for milk, bread, power and petrol. “The cost of living — it’s extremely high at the moment. So, taxes as well, is also another really big thing. Petrol prices, all the basic stuff,” human resources manager Robyn Knox told AFP in Brisbane.Small business owner Jared Bell had similar concerns.”Our grocery shops are definitely way more expensive than they were a couple years ago,” he said.- Campaign stumbles -Coal-mining superpower Australia will choose between two leaders with sharply contrasting ideas on climate change and emissions reduction. Albanese’s government has embraced the global push towards decarbonisation, warning of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer prop up the economy.Dutton’s signature policy is a US$200 billion scheme to construct seven industrial-scale nuclear reactors, doing away with the need to ramp up renewables.The 36-day campaign was a largely staid affair but there were a few moments of unscripted levity.Albanese tumbled backwards off the stage at a heaving campaign rally, while Dutton drew blood when he hit an unsuspecting cameraman in the head with a stray football.It remains to be seen whether Albanese or Dutton will command an outright majority, or whether they are forced to cobble together a coalition with the support of minor parties.Polls have suggested 10 or more unaligned crossbenchers could hold the balance of power — making a rare minority government a distinct possibility.