Trump administration vows to investigate UC Berkeley over Turning Point protest

The Trump administration vowed Tuesday to investigate security protocols at both UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley after angry clashes among protesters and attendees at an event hosted by Turning Point USA, the organization founded by assassinated conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said on social media that the city and the university would be investigated by the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, which she heads.

“In America, we do not allow citizens to be attacked by violent thugs and shrug and turn our backs,” she said in a post on X.

Dhillon, a conservative California lawyer who was named to her post by Trump earlier this year, sued the university as a private attorney in 2017 over security for students and speakers at conservative events, winning a settlement in which the university agreed to pay attorney fees for the Berkeley College Republicans and another student, and modify its security practices. “We saw all of this at Berkeley back in 2017,” Dhillon said in the post.

—The Sacramento Bee

California urges Trump administration to feed hungry students outside school hours

California is asking the Trump administration for permission to use federal funding to provide meals to students outside of school hours, as families continue to reel amid the federal government’s cuts to food stamps.

On Monday, the California Department of Education urged the Trump administration to allow flexibility to the school meal program and issue federal waivers that would enable school districts to provide to-go meals to students over weekends and holidays — similar to what the federal government did during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We continue to call on the Trump administration to provide these waivers immediately,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said Monday. “Americans are struggling and they’re suffering and they’re hungry. Politics should not play a role when we have the ability to feed and support those who are in need.”

Thurmond said he grew up in a family that relied on food stamps — now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — and knows firsthand the impact hunger can have on a child’s ability to learn.

—The Mercury News

Least developed nations complain about foot dragging at COP30

BELÉM, Brazil — A group of the least developed countries at the global climate conference in Brazil on Tuesday criticized the sluggishness of the annual U.N. summits as producing meager results while the climate crisis is causing destruction everywhere and costing human lives.

"We meet, we speak, we discuss, we promise. We postpone, and then wait again," said diplomat Evans Njewa from Malawi in Belém, Brazil, where the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference COP30 is currently taking place.

At the first plenary session of the nearly 200 countries, he reiterated the demand of dozens of developing countries that industrialized nations must triple their government climate aid to at least $120 billion by 2030 to help them adapt to the fatal consequences of global warming.

Njewa spoke on behalf of 44 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. He said life for many people there was a struggle for survival. Women had to travel long distances to fetch water, and farmers lost their crops season after season.

—dpa

Turkey seeks more than 2,000 years jail for Istanbul mayor

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strongest rival, Ekrem Imamoglu, is facing the risk of life in prison, after a prosecutor requested a sentence of more than 2,000 years for the Istanbul mayor.

The unprecedented request escalates a legal battle for one of Turkey’s most prominent opposition figures and raises the prospect that he will be barred from running in the next presidential election — potentially sidelining him from active politics altogether.

Almost eight months after Imamoglu’s arrest for alleged corruption, authorities laid out the case over almost 4,000 pages, with the indictment naming 402 suspects and describing Imamoglu as “the founder and leader of a criminal organization.” The sprawling list of charges includes bribery, fraud, extortion, and tampering with tenders.

The court will have 15 days to decide whether to accept or reject the indictment and set a trial date if it allows the case to proceed. Imamoglu earlier denied any wrongdoing, calling the case a “transparent attempt” to prevent him from running for president.

—Bloomberg News