News briefs

Tribune News Service on Mar 13, 2025

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Protesters storm Manhattan’s Trump Tower demanding Palestinian Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s release

NEW YORK — Dozens of protesters stormed Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday, demanding the release of Palestinian Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.

The protesters chanted “Free Mahmoud! Free them all!” by the golden escalators inside the lobby of Trump Tower, President Donald Trump’s home base in Manhattan, on Fifth Avenue in Midtown. Cops had begun placing protesters under arrest by 12:30 pm.

The group unfurled a banner reading “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Fight Nazis Not Students.” Organizers said more than 300 people were taking part in the protest.

Activists are demanding the release of Khalil, who remains detained at a processing center in Jena, La., five days after his arrest by plainclothes cops for the Department of Homeland Security at his Columbia-owned apartment in Morningside Heights.

—New York Daily News

‘Equivalent of torture’: Gov. Andy Beshear slams Kentucky bill on conversion therapy, Medicaid trans health care

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear denounced the Republican-led effort to ban Medicaid from funding gender-affirming care for transgender Kentuckians and to undo his executive order restricting the practice of “conversion therapy” on LGBTQ people.

The governor called the practice “equivalent of torture” in comments shared at his weekly press conference Thursday morning.

Conversion therapy is a widely discredited form of counseling that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Beshear’s order being targeted in the bill, House Bill 495, banned the use of tax dollars to pay for the practice but was not outright ban the practice in the state.

“Conversion therapy has been discredited by every major medical organization that’s looked at it,” Beshear said. “It significantly increases the chances of suicide amongst our LGBTQ-plus youth.

—Lexington Herald-Leader

Trans-Atlantic differences remain as Trump huddles with NATO boss

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday presented a united front over a ceasefire plan in Ukraine, but it was clear trans-Atlantic differences remain unresolved.

The meeting came just over a week after Trump’s pick for his ambassador to NATO told senators that the U.S. commitment to the alliance was “ironclad,” though some Democrats have expressed concerns about a potential shift in U.S. policy away from the longtime military compact.

As have other world leaders, Rutte sat beside Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday and tried a little flattery, saying he wanted to “commend” the U.S. president over his attempts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict and crediting Trump with “breaking a deadlock.”

Rutte also told Trump he was “totally right” about China and Russia stepping up their activities in the Arctic and said it was “very important” for Arctic nations besides Russia to work together under U.S. leadership to keep the resource-rich region safe. The NATO boss said increasing European defense production — long a Trump demand — would be on their agenda, while Trump said member nations must take actions to keep the alliance “relevant” and “strong.”

—CQ-Roll Call

In a flash of nationalism, Mexico bans the planting of genetically modified corn

MEXICO CITY — There's a popular saying in Mexico, where corn is as central to national mythology as it is gastronomy. Sin maíz, no hay país. Without corn, there is no country.

This week, Mexico's leaders voted to enshrine that concept in the Constitution, declaring native corn "an element of national identity" and banning the planting of genetically modified seeds.

The measure, which aims to protect Mexico's thousands of varieties of heirloom corn from engineered versions sold by American companies, has become a nationalist rallying cry. Support for the reform has only grown in recent months as Mexico has fended off insults, threats of tariffs and even the specter of U.S. military intervention from President Donald Trump.

"Corn is Mexico," President Claudia Sheinbaum said recently, describing the reform as a way to secure Mexico's sovereignty. "We have to protect it for biodiversity but also culturally, because corn is what intrinsically links us to our origins, to the resistance of Indigenous peoples."

—Los Angeles Times