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moscow — An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine opened Wednesday in the Russian capital.  The exhibit, organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, features more than 30 pieces of Western-made heavy equipment, including a U.S.-made M1 Abrams battle tank and a Bradley armored fighting vehicle, a Leopard 2 tank and a Marder armored infantry vehicle from Germany, and a French-made AMX-10RC armored vehicle.  The exhibition, which will remain open for a month at a World War II memorial venue in western Moscow, also displays firearms, military papers and other documents.  Russian authorities have criticized supplies of Western weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, casting them as evidence of NATO's direct involvement in the fighting. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that Western military supplies to Kyiv wouldn't change the course of the conflict and prevent Russia from achieving its goals.  The exhibition comes as Russian forces have grabbed more land in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of delays in U.S. military assistance to push back the under-gunned Kyiv forces.  Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has hailed the Moscow exhibition as a "brilliant idea."  "The exhibition of trophy equipment will attract great interest from Moscow residents, guests of our city, and all residents of the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "We should all see the enemy's battered equipment."  Russian military bloggers drew parallels between the show and the exhibits of captured Nazi military equipment that the Soviet Union held during and after World War II.  Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that foreign diplomats based in Moscow should take the opportunity to visit the exhibition to see how "the West destroys peace on the planet."  "This exhibition will be interesting to all those who still believe in mythical 'Western values' or fail to notice an aggression unleashed by NATO against Russia and our people," Zakharova said. 

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phoenix — Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. Voting wasn't complete but the Senate had the 16 votes it needed to advance the bill. Fourteen Democrats in the Senate were joined by two Republican votes in favor of repealing the bill, which narrowly cleared the Arizona House last week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. The near-total ban, which predates Arizona's statehood, permits abortions only to save the mother's life — and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the 1864 law, which says that anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona's prevailing abortion law. Still, there would likely be a period when nearly all abortions would be outlawed because the repeal won't take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, likely in June or July. Several senators spoke about their motivations for voting as numbers were tallied on the repeal bill. "This is a clear statement that the Legislature does not want the territorial ban to be enforceable," said Democratic state Senator Priya Sundareshan, who voted yes to repeal. There were numerous disruptions from people in Senate gallery, as Republican state Senator Shawnna Bolick explained her vote in favor of repeal, joining with Democrats. Republican state Senator Jake Hoffman denounced Republican colleagues for joining with Democratic colleagues, calling it an affront to his party's principles. "It is disgusting that this is the state of the Republican Party today," Hoffman said. Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue arrived outside the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to emphasize their views. They included people affiliated with Planned Parenthood and faith-based groups opposed to abortion. "I am expecting it will be repealed, but I am praying it won't be," said Karen Frigon, who was handing out brochures from the Arizona Right to Life. Arizona is one of a handful of battleground states that will decide the next president. Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he's proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to outlaw it. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022 though, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could again be enforced. Still, the law hasn't been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts. Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent's life, or to protect her physical or mental health. Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

washington — The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine. "The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department said in a statement. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chloropicrin is listed as a banned choking agent by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was created to implement and monitor compliance with the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). German forces fired the gas against Allied troops during World War I in one of the first uses of a chemical weapon. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the Ukrainian military as saying Russia has stepped up its illegal of use riot control agents as it presses its biggest advances in eastern Ukraine in more than two years. In addition to chloropicrin, Russian forces have used grenades loaded with CS and CN gases, the Ukrainian military says. It says at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers have been treated for exposure to toxic substances and one was killed by suffocating on tear gas. While civilians usually can escape riot control gases during protests, soldiers stuck in trenches without gas masks must either flee under enemy fire or risk suffocating. The State Department said it was delivering to Congress its determination that Russia's use of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops violated the CWC. Moscow's use of the gas "comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison" the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent, the statement said. Russia denied involvement in both cases. The department also determined that Russia has breached the CWC's prohibition on the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare, the statement said. It said it was sanctioning three Russian state entities linked to Moscow's chemical and biological weapons programs, including a specialized military unit that facilitated the use of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. Four Russian companies that support the three entities were also sanctioned, it said. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to the targeted entities and generally prohibit Americans from doing business with them. Separately, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on three entities and two individuals involved in purchasing items for Russian military institutes involved in the country's chemical and biological weapons programs. The sanctions were among new measures announced by the United States on Wednesday targeting Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The CWC bans the production and use of chemical weapons. It also requires the 193 countries that have ratified the convention, which include Russia and the U.S., to destroy any stocks of banned chemicals. The State Department was expected to convey its determination that Russia has violated the CWC to the OPCW. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of breaching the treaty in OPCW meetings. But the organization says it has not been formally asked to open an investigation into the use of prohibited substances in Ukraine. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the use of banned chemical substances by either side.

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Washington — The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form — a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through. "I feel overwhelmed and stressed out," said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. "I feel like I'm being held back." Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. By May 1, students usually know where they're headed to college in the fall. This year, most still haven't received financial aid offers. Three months before the start of fall classes, many don't know where they're going to college, or how they're going to pay for it. "We're asking them to make probably one of the biggest financial decisions — and decisions that will have the biggest implications on their lives going forward — without all of the information," said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, went through a massive overhaul that was supposed to make it simpler and shorter. But a series of blunders by the Education Department made it harder than ever, delaying college decisions by months and raising fears that hundreds of thousands of students will forgo college entirely. Across the United States, the number of students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last year, and it's even worse at schools with more low-income students, according to the National College Attainment Network. The group's CEO, Kim Cook, warned members of Congress this month about a potentially "catastrophic" drop in college enrollments that would make the decreases of the pandemic seem mild. For Bijoux of Norwich, Connecticut, the FAFSA problems threaten to undermine the promise of higher education. To her, college is a chance to seize the opportunities that weren't available to her mother, who immigrated from Haiti to the U.S. as an adult. Bijoux hopes to become a therapist and set a positive example for her three younger brothers. If her FAFSA goes through, she should be eligible for enough financial aid to help with the $13,000-a-year tuition at Southern Connecticut State University. If not, she might go to a local community college, but even that would require loans if she can't complete the FAFSA. "That's why it hurts, because it's like you work so hard to go somewhere and do something and make something of yourself," Bijoux said. "I thought I would start at a four-year (college) and then work hard continuously, like I've been doing basically my whole life. But that's not the case." The updated FAFSA form has one section filled out by students and another by their parents. But when Bijoux finishes her part, nothing shows up on her mom's online account. She keeps trying, but nothing seems to change. Similar problems have been reported across the country, along with numerous other bugs that the Education Department has scrambled to fix. Families who call for customer service have faced long wait times or say the call center hung up on them. It "drains all the momentum" from families working to send their children to college, especially those navigating the process for the first time, said Anne Zinn, a counselor at Norwich Free Academy, where Bijoux goes to school. "I can only say so many times, 'Just be patient, just be patient,' before they throw their hands up and they're like, 'Why am I doing this? I'm just going to go get a job,'" she said. The rollout has attracted bipartisan criticism in Congress, and it's being investigated at the request of Republicans. Last week, Richard Cordray, the federal student loan chief who oversaw the FAFSA update, announced he's stepping down at the end of June. For colleges, too, the delays pose a major threat. Enrollment decreases like those being projected now could put many small colleges out of business or necessitate deep cuts in staff. Some colleges are pushing for emergency relief just to stay afloat, said Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. "If they don't get checks from the federal government to basically get them through next year, they will not survive," Pérez said. FAFSA has been the linchpin of student financial aid for decades. It's used to determine eligibility for the federal Pell grant, a scholarship for low-income students, and it's required to receive federal student loans. Colleges and states also use FAFSA to distribute their own scholarships. FAFSA had long been maligned for being tedious, difficult and intimidating to families without college experience. Congress passed legislation in 2020 meant to simplify the form. The Education Department was ordered to reduce the number of questions from more than 100 to about 40 and change the formula to expand aid to more students. Problems started piling up as soon as the new form went online in December, already months overdue. The first applications were incorrectly processed using an outdated calculation for inflation. Later, a federal contractor miscalculated a different formula on more than 200,000 applications. Each mistake added to delays, leaving students waiting longer to hear anything about financial aid. Even more worrisome is a misstep that blocked students from finishing the form if they have a parent without a Social Security number. Advocates say the system locked out hundreds of thousands of students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents but whose parents are not. The Education Department on Tuesday said it's giving those parents a new way to enter their tax information manually. But as recently as this week, some students said they were still blocked from submitting the form. Federal education officials say they're addressing lingering bugs but making progress. More than 8 million student applications have now been processed and sent to colleges, the agency said, and new applications are being processed within three days. Still, the wait is far from over. It usually takes weeks for schools to prepare financial aid offers. Some colleges have extended decision deadlines to give students more time to weigh their options. But some stuck to May 1, forcing students to choose a college — and make a nonrefundable payment to hold their spot — without knowing all their scholarship options. In Baltimore, Camryn Carter is waiting to find out if he'll get a full ride to the University of Maryland or face tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. A top student and captain of his baseball and wrestling teams, Carter sees college as a step up in life. He thinks back to the times in the grocery store line when he had to put items back on the shelf because his mom couldn't afford the bill. A college degree would give him the stability he didn't always have, the 18-year-old said. But when he looks at tuition, it's intimidating. Along with Maryland, he's also considering McDaniel College, a private school in Maryland. If he enrolls there, he expects to borrow almost $30,000 a year. "I try to make the best decisions now so I can have a good future," he said. "I'm a little nervous that things won't work out. But I'm faithful."

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GENEVA — More than 800 mine action leaders attending a U.N.-sponsored conference in Geneva this week are warning of the ongoing dangers from unexploded ordnance and landmines in countries affected by conflict. A focus of the conference is on the war in Gaza, which the United Nations Mine Action Service, or UNMAS, says “has resulted in explosive ordnance contamination on a scale unprecedented for Gaza.” The agency has been working in Gaza for over a decade providing services to lessen the threat of explosive ordnance to civilians and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. “After October 7, the program has undergone a rapid evolution. We have become an enabler of the humanitarian response into Gaza,” said Charles Mungo Birch, chief of the UNMAS mine action program in the Palestinian territories. He told journalists Wednesday, “We support humanitarian convoys going north and do explosive hazard assessments of humanitarian sites which allow humanitarian work to continue.” For example, he said that in December, UNMAS Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers accompanied a World Health Organization convoy along a dangerous route to Shifa hospital. “That convoy evacuated over 30 premature babies, which we returned to southern Gaza, and only one of them died,” he said. UNMAS estimates there are 37 million tons of rubble in Gaza, amounting to 300 kilos (660 pounds) per square meter of surface. This, it says, is more rubble than in Ukraine. “To put this in perspective, the Ukrainian frontline is 600 miles long and Gaza is 25 miles long,” Birch said. “This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with UXO [unexploded ordnance].  Clearance of this will be further complicated by other hazards in the rubble,” he said, noting that about 800,000 tons of asbestos is estimated to be in the rubble. Paul Heslop, program manager for mine action, UNDP Ukraine, said a significant amount of contamination from UXO is found on both sides of the frontline of that conflict — however, mine clearance experts are unable to access Russian-occupied areas. “So, we have not had any work on that side of the conflict zone,” he said. “There has been an extensive use of all types of munitions by both sides in this conflict. We are seeing a level of contamination that we have not seen in Europe since the Second World War.” UNMAS reports 60 million people around the world are affected by the threat of land mines, leftover ammunition and explosive devices every day. It says the legacy of contamination from these weapons continues decades after a conflict ends, killing and maiming thousands of people. The agency cites Syria, Yemen, West Africa and the Sahel region, including Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, among the most-contaminated countries in the world. “Most of the problem in the Sahel is the IUDs, improvised unexploded devices that are homemade, similar to what we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia,” said Heslop, who was involved in projects in the Sahel for the past 10 years. “Obviously, they are very low-cost and fairly easy to make.  So, I think the scourge of the Sahel is the use of IUDs in a fairly indiscriminate way,” he said. UNMAS officials said a mine clearance program the agency ran for many years in Sudan “was incredibly successful.” Therefore, they said, it is “very distressing” to see Sudan once again being contaminated by these lethal weapons, many of which now are in urban areas where the current war is raging. Last year, UNMAS recorded 1,500 victims of explosive ordnance in the Tigray and Afar regions in northern Ethiopia, with men and young boys accounting for 80% of the victims. Francesca Chiaudani, chief of the UNMAS mine action program in Ethiopia, said casualties are likely to remain high because the agency has received only 2% of the $10 million needed for mine clearance activities. Another problem, she said, is difficulty in getting accreditation for nongovernmental organizations to conduct surveys and clearance activities in conflict-affected areas. “At the moment, some limited or clearance activity has been conducted by the Ethiopian national defense forces. But there is no humanitarian clearance happening in the county because of not having authorization for organizations to do so,” she said. However, she said, “Accreditation for international NGOs is currently in process, and we are very hopeful that at least four will be accredited in the next month.”

WASHINGTON — The western Balkan countries are starkly split between the West and Russia, with the once-strong support for European Union accession now shrinking, according to a recent poll by the International Republican Institute.  The results of the February-March poll, which the Washington-based research group conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, comes as the region faces renewed ethnic tensions amid an EU enlargement slowdown and a rise in pro-Russian sentiment.   The poll found that overwhelming majorities in Albania and Kosovo want their countries to pursue an unequivocally pro-European Union and pro-Western course, while only 10 percent of the respondents in Serbia gave the same response.   A majority of the Serbs polled indicated they want Serbia either to maintain ties to Russia or pursue a pro-Russian foreign policy.  The poll found that 39 percent of Bosnians, 36 percent of Montenegrins and 31 percent of North Macedonians support an unequivocally pro-Western course.   “Generally, the pro-Western trend in the region is strong, with a couple of notable exceptions,” Paul McCarthy, the International Republican Institute’s director for Europe, told Voice of America. ''Serbia goes against the grain of the other five countries in the region; it is more pro-Russian, blames the West for the conflict in Ukraine, has very low approval ratings for joining the European Union.”   McCarthy said that the pro-Western tendencies have also softened in Montenegro and North Macedonia, despite their having become NATO members, as well as in Bosnia, where Turkey has replaced the United States as the key ally of Bosnian Muslims.  Serbs also oppose NATO membership: Only 3 percent of the poll’s respondents in Serbia said they supported it.   “People are losing patience with the wait to join the European Union. Part of this is also explained by the fact that Ukraine has been invited and other countries, whereas in most cases western Balkans countries have been waiting for over two decades in the line to join the European Union,” said McCarthy. “Support for the EU accession is beginning to soften around the edges in those countries where it was very, very strong.”  Still, the International Republican Institute’s poll found that, with the exception of Serbia, resounding majorities in the five Balkan countries would still vote for joining the EU. In Serbia, 40 percent of the poll’s respondents said that they would vote in favor of EU membership, while 34 percent would vote against it and 17 percent would not vote.  McCarthy said anti-EU attitude in Serbia is fostered by its government, which uses media to encourage people to abandon EU membership hopes and “emphasize relationships with foreign authoritarian actors such as Russia and China.”  The western Balkans’ geopolitical splits were also evident in the poll of respondents’ attitudes toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The poll found that 43 percent of Serbs, 27 percent of Macedonians and 25 percent of Montenegrins blame the West for the war between Russia and Ukraine.  Majorities of the respondents in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia said that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are “somewhat” or “completely” unjustified, a view shared by 37 percent of the respondents in Serbia.  Who counts as an ally and who as a foe?  Longstanding disagreements and ethnic disputes continue to cast a shadow over the western Balkans more than three decades after Yugoslavia’s disintegration led to bloody wars.  Eighty-three percent of Kosovars view Serbia, which rejects Kosovo’s independence, as a threat, while 68 percent of Albanians in Albania view Serbia and Russia as the main danger for their country.   Majorities in Kosovo and Albania view the United States, which is credited for leading the 78-day NATO intervention in 1998-1999 to stop Serbia’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovo’s Albanian majority, as their countries’ key ally.   In Bosnia, Turkey is viewed as the biggest ally and Serbia as the biggest threat, while 34 percent of Macedonians see Serbia as their main ally while viewing Bulgaria, which has blocked Macedonia’s EU accession path, as their top foe.  In Montenegro, 32 percent of the International Republican Institute’s poll respondents named Serbia as their country’s most important ally while 19 percent named the United States as its most important threat. In Serbia, 36 percent of the respondents named the U.S. as the country’s main threat and Russia as its key ally.

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Washington — The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting on Wednesday, keeping the level at a 23-year high to fight stubborn price increases.  At the end of a two-day meeting, central bank policymakers decided unanimously that the Fed would keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 percent, citing a "lack of further progress" toward its 2 percent inflation target.  "The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks," said the Fed in a statement.  For months, the U.S. central bank has maintained interest rates at an elevated level to cool demand and rein in price increases — with a slowdown in inflation last year fueling optimism that the first cuts were on the horizon.  But price increases have accelerated, throwing cold water on hopes of a summer rate cut.  The Fed also announced on Wednesday that, starting in June, it would slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings, by "reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion."  As hope dwindles for rate reductions in the first half of the year, the Fed faces a growing possibility that eventual cuts will coincide with the run-up to November's presidential election.  The timeline may prove uncomfortable given that the Fed, as the independent U.S. central bank, seeks to avoid any appearance of politicization. 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti — A surprise announcement that revealed Haiti's new prime minister is threatening to fracture a recently installed transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for the gang-riddled Caribbean country. Four of seven council members with voting powers said Tuesday that they had chosen Fritz Belizaire as prime minister, taking many Haitians aback with their declaration and unexpected political alliance. The council members who oppose Belizaire, who served as Haiti's sports minister during the second presidency of Rene Preval from 2006 to 2011, are now weighing options including fighting the decision or resigning from the council. A person with direct knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified because negotiations are ongoing said the council's political accord had been violated by the unexpected move and that some council members are considering other choices as potential prime minister. The council on Tuesday was scheduled to hold an election and choose its president. But two hours and a profuse apology later, one council member said that not only had a council president been chosen, but a prime minister as well. Murmurs rippled through the room. The Montana Accord, a civil society group represented by a council member with voting powers, denounced in a statement late Tuesday what it called a "complot" hatched by four council members against the Haitian people "in the middle of the night." "The political and economic mafia forces have decided to take control of the presidential council and the government so that they can continue to control the state," the Montana Accord said. Haitian politics have long been characterized by secretive dealings, but many worry the country cannot afford further political instability as gangs lay siege to the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond. "People change parties (like) they're changing their shirts," said François Pierre-Louis, a professor of political science at Queens College in New York and former Haitian politician. He spoke during an online webinar on Tuesday evening. Like others, he said he believed that Jean-Charles Moise, a powerful politician who was a former senator and presidential candidate, was behind Belizaire's nomination. Moise is not related to the assassinated President Jovenel Moise. Moise, however, does not sit on the council. His party, Pitit Desalin, is represented by Emmanuel Vertilaire, who is among the four council members who support Belizaire. The others are Louis Gerald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the council's new president. They could not be immediately reached for comment. A document shared with The Associated Press and signed by the four council members who chose the new prime minister states they have agreed to make decisions by consensus. The document is titled, "Constitution of an Indissoluble Majority Bloc within the Presidential Council." Haitians are demanding that security be a top priority for the council, which is tasked with selecting a new prime minister and Cabinet, as well as prepare for eventual general elections. But some Haitians and others are wary of the council and the decisions it's taking. Jean Selce, a 57-year-old electrician, noted that most of the council members are longtime politicians: "Their past is not really positive." Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, noted that some of the parties represented on the council are responsible for the current chaos in Haiti. "It's a contradiction," he said. "Every time we seem to be in a crisis, we reappoint the same people and hope that they change their ways, but they do not." More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, according to the U.N. In addition, more than 90,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month given the relentless gang violence.

Netanyahu tells Blinken the war will not stop until Hamas is destroyed. Police break up student protests at Columbia as tension grows at UCLA. Turkey looks to play a mediating role in the Middle East, an update from Kyiv and a look at the extraordinary numbers of Ukrainian and Russian casualties.

Paris — After the United States, France is now seeing spreading pro-Palestinian protests at universities, with students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and ending support for Israel. Palestinian flags were out in force during the annual Workers Day rally in Paris. Protesters like university student Zinedine Amiane are calling for an end to the war in Gaza — and for a change in French policy. “We believe there’s a genocide happening and it cannot continue that way,” Amiane said in French. “France has to take its responsibility, which is to hold the voice for peace and try to obtain a cease-fire, to try to put pressure on Israel. …” Amiane joined demonstrations this week at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he studies. Police broke up the protests but has not stopped the protest movement from growing — and spreading to other universities in France. Eleanore Schmitt, spokesperson for the Student’s Union (Union Etudiante), said the more the government tries to suppress the protest movement, the stronger it will get. She and other students say they’ve been inspired by the pro-Palestinian protests in the United States, where students have launched sit-ins and hunger strikes against the war in Gaza. Hundreds have been arrested. The war in Gaza is a particularly sensitive issue in France, which is home to Western Europe’s largest communities of Jews and Muslims. The protests here began last week at Sciences Po, an elite Paris university where President Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, studied. The head of the Paris region suspended the university’s funding until calm and order were restored. Far-left lawmakers have supported the protest movement, but conservatives and the government have criticized what they consider excessive behavior. Prime Minister Attal said there was always room for debate. But in the case of Sciences Po, he said a minority of students blocking the university were imposing their views on the majority — inspired by an ideology he calls imported from across the Atlantic.

WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow's circumvention of Western measures, including through China.  The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets, while the State Department designated more than 80.  The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China's support for Russia's military, including during recent trips by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.  China's support for Russia is one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world's biggest economies.  "Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war, and the U.S. is imposing them today on almost 300 targets," Yellen said in a statement.  The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on thousands of targets since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. The war has seen tens of thousands killed and cities destroyed.  Washington has since sought to crack down on evasion of the Western measures, including by issuing sanctions on firms in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.  Technology and equipment The Treasury's action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Slovakia it accused of enabling Russia to "acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad."  The move included measures against a China-based company the Treasury said exported items to produce drones — such as propellers, engines and sensors — to a company in Russia. Other China and Hong Kong-based technology suppliers were also targeted.  The State Department also imposed sanctions on four China-based companies it accused of supporting Russia's defense industrial base, including by shipping critical items to entities under U.S. sanctions in Russia, as well as companies in Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia that it accused of shipping high priority items to Russia.  The Treasury also targeted Russia's acquisition of explosive precursors needed by Russia to keep producing gunpowder, rocket propellants and other explosives, including through sanctions on two China-based suppliers sending the substances to Russia.  The U.S. on Wednesday also accused Russia of violating a global ban on chemical weapons by repeatedly deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.  The State Department also expanded its targeting of Russia's future ability to ship liquefied natural gas, or LNG, one of the country's top exports.   It designated two vessel operators involved in transporting technology, including gravity-based structure equipment, or concrete legs that support offshore platforms, for Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project.  Previous U.S. sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 last month forced Novatek, Russia's largest LNG producer, to suspend production at the project, which suffered a shortage of tankers to ship the fuel.   Also targeted were subsidiaries of Russia's state nuclear power company, Rosatom, as well as 12 entities within the Sibanthracite group of companies, one of Russia’s largest producers of metallurgical coal, the State Department said.  Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.   The U.S. Commerce Department has previously added more than 200 Boeing and Airbus airplanes operated by Russian airlines to an export control list as part of the Biden administration's sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Sanctions over Navanly The State Department also targeted three people in connection with the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the best-known domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin. He died in February in a Russian Arctic prison.   Russian authorities say he died of natural causes. His followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.  Wednesday's action targeted the director of the correctional colony in Russia where Navalny was held for most of his imprisonment, as well as the head of the solitary confinement detachment and the head of the medical unit at the colony where he was imprisoned before his death.  The officials oversaw the cells where Navalny was kept in solitary confinement, the walking yard where he allegedly collapsed and died and Navalny's health, including in the immediate aftermath of his collapse, the State Department said. 

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