LE MONDE (FRANCE): La guerre à Gaza met les campus américains en effervescence. La contestation se propage dans les universités américaines. A New York, la police a évacué, mardi, un campement d’étudiants propalestiniens à Columbia, épicentre d’un mouvement qui demande notamment aux institutions de l’enseignement supérieur de renoncer à leurs investissements dans des entreprises liées, de près ou de loin, au conflit au Proche-Orient. Soudain, un campement de soutien à Gaza a éclos dans une université de Salt Lake City, au cœur de l’Utah. Aucune manifestation ayant trait au Proche-Orient n’avait eu lieu jusque-là sur un campus décrit par la Princeton Review comme l’un des moins actifs politiquement des Etats-Unis. L’occupation a été suivie d’incidents. Lundi 29 avril dans la nuit, la police antiémeute a chargé et procédé à dix-neuf arrestations. Illustration surprenante d’une contestation – jusque-là confinée à l’est du pays et à Austin, au Texas, où elle est sévèrement réprimée par le gouverneur républicain Greg Abbott –, qui s’étend désormais à tout le pays. Ses promoteurs évoquent la guerre du Vietnam ou la lutte contre l’apartheid, mais la mobilisation, amplifiée par les réseaux sociaux, concerne encore des effectifs réduits et la police a procédé à “seulement” 1 500 arrestations au total, selon la chaîne CNN. Partout, les autorités sont sur le fil du rasoir entre maintien de l’ordre, liberté d’expression et dérive antisémite.
THE WASHINGTON POST (USA): After weeks of college protests, police responses ramp up. Colleges and universities reckoned Wednesday with the aftermath of major shows of police force across the country that cleared some protest encampments and emptied a Manhattan classroom building in a turning point following two weeks of contagious pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In a nation that prides itself on free expression — but where people report feeling less safe, even in places where crime is dropping — some administrators, criticized by all sides, have sought police help when negotiations with students, in their view, failed. With final exams and graduation approaching, pressure is rising for a swift return to order. Over the last day, tensions have reached new heights.
THE TIMES (GB): Columbia arrests “will uncover outside agitators stirring up protests”. Columbia University officials have blamed “outside agitators” for the escalation of pro-Palestinian campus protests as they defended their decision to send in police to remove and arrest student activists.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES (USA): Driven by Hamas: Campus protests led by groups backing Hamas terrorists. Most of the organizations providing the backbone of anti-Israel campus protests are supporters of the terrorist organization Hamas and some receive funding, at least indirectly, from left-wing billionaires.
EL PAIS (SPAIN): Las protestas en las universidades elevan la presión sobre Biden para lograr una tregua en Gaza. El presidente estadounidense retrocede en las encuestas mientras el estallido estudiantil propalestino cobra fuerza.
KOMMERSANT (RUSSIA): Последние опросы общественного мнения в США показывают, что наметившаяся тенденция роста популярности Джо Байдена и падения поддержки Дональда Трампа оказалась неустойчивой и маятник симпатий вновь качнулся в сторону бывшего президента. Причем лидирует он независимо от появления в опросах третьего кандидата, Роберта Кеннеди. Впрочем, на участие последнего в выборах оба главных кандидата в президенты смотрят неодобрительно, поскольку оно вносит в гонку элемент непредсказуемости.
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT (GB): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders Wednesday in his push for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war in Gaza. Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October, aiming to secure what’s been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas that could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on one key issue — whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal. Before agreeing to an initial, short-term ceasefire and partial hostage release, Hamas wants assurances that the eventual freeing of all the hostages will bring the end of Israel’s offensive and its full withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has offered only a pause after which it would resume its offensives until Hamas is destroyed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to attack Rafah in talks with Blinken on Wednesday.
THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA): U.S. and Israel Struggle With Clashing Visions on Ending Gaza War. The Biden administration wants to focus on a cease-fire and rebuilding Gaza, but Israel’s leader is pushing a new offensive. Nearing the end of a whirlwind Middle East trip this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken finished meetings with the Israeli president and relatives of American hostages held by Hamas, left his beachside hotel in Tel Aviv and shook hands with protesters gathered outside. He looked them in the eye and said there was a new hostages-for-cease-fire deal on the table that Hamas should take. That public show of empathy with frustrated protesters is something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided since the war began in October. And, lately, he has focused his recent public comments on an imminent ground offensive — an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza “with or without” a cease-fire deal, as the Israeli leader put it on Tuesday. Though it was not the first time Mr. Netanyahu has promised to invade the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza, U.S. officials were taken aback by the timing of the comment. Threatening an offensive in Rafah can put pressure on Hamas to take the deal — but only if Hamas leaders think freeing hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a six-week pause in fighting could eventually lead to a permanent cease-fire and avert a bloody battle in Rafah, where more than a million displaced Gazans have sought shelter, the officials say.
THE JERUSALEM POST (ISRAEL): Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan signaled on Wednesday in an interview with the Hezbollah-backed Lebanese channel “Al-Manar”, that “if the enemy launches an aggressive ground operation in Rafah - the negotiations will be stopped because the resistance does not negotiate under fire,” as reported in Israeli media. Hamdan also referred to the fighting in Gaza and said that “the resistance capabilities [of Hamas] are still high and the resistance is still fine, this while the Zionist elite brigades have collapsed in the Gaza Strip.” He later noted, “The Israeli enemy bet on a decrease in its capabilities, but the resistance was preparing.”
O GLOBO (BRASIL): Colômbia romperá laços com Israel por guerra em Gaza, diz Gustavo Petro. Decisão, comunicada pelo presidente colombiano em discurso a apoiadores, é a mais radical tomada pelo governo, que têm criticado a ofensiva no enclave palestino.
DAILY SABAH (TURKEY): In the protracted conflict engulfing Gaza for the past seven months, a conspicuous aspect is the adeptness of Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in shaping – and indirectly dictating – his priorities of the Biden administration. Netanyahu has exhibited a remarkable knack for extracting concessions from the Americans, often leveraging minor disputes to his advantage. This was evident when the U.S. Congress greenlit an additional $17 billion in military aid to Israel on April 20, only to have the Biden administration promptly impose sanctions on Israeli military units accused of violating human rights. Netanyahu decried this as a “moral low,” while one of his allies in parliament went so far as to allege American “anti-Semitism.” If history serves as a guide, Netanyahu will persist in his reproach of American actions, a calculated move aimed at galvanizing domestic support and bolstering his bargaining power in future diplomatic entanglements with Washington. The recent Israeli handling of the clash with Iran highlights this tendency.
HAARETZ (ISRAEL): Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Want a Mutual Defense Pact – With or Without Israel. Washington and Riyadh are worried that the third party to the normalization agreement will endanger their security interests in the name of political interests – so they’re preparing a contingency plan, whereby bilateral cooperation is not dependent on Israeli-Saudi normalization. A normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia is presented as if it were a reward offered to a recalcitrant child in exchange for agreeing to take a bitter medicine. If signed, such an agreement would be a groundbreaking move that – according to optimistic supporters – wouldn’t only serve Israel’s strategic interest by completing the Arab world’s recognition of its existence and security needs, but also bring about unprecedented economic opportunities.
GLOBAL TIMES (CHINA): The Fujian, China’s third aircraft carrier, also the first equipped with electromagnetic catapults, starts first sea trial session from the Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai, on May 1, 2024. The Fujian, China’s third aircraft carrier, also the first equipped with electromagnetic catapults, on Wednesday started its first sea trial session, a move analysts said will test newly integrated technology and lay a solid foundation for the commissioning of the 80,000 ton-class warship. Experts said the Fujian can be compared with the most advanced aircraft carriers in the world, and can undoubtably represent the top level of conventionally powered aircraft carriers.
NIKKEI (JAPAN): China flexes muscle at sea as new aircraft carrier starts trials. Move follows water cannon blasts on Philippine ships, islet tensions with Japan. China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, set out for its first sea trials on Wednesday, the latest milestone in Beijing's military buildup as tensions simmer in both the East and South China seas. The goal, it said, is to test the carrier’s propulsion and electrical systems.
THE TIMES OF INDIA: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that India, China, Russia and Japan are struggling on the economic front because “they’re xenophobic”, and “don’t want immigrants”. “Why is China stalling so badly economically why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong,” Biden said. Speaking at a fundraising event in Washington for 2024 re-election, Biden attributed immigration as the reason behind US’s economic growth.
MAINICHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): More than 40% of Americans now label China as an enemy, up from a quarter two years ago and reaching the highest level in five years, according to an annual Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday. Half of Americans think of China as a competitor, and only 6% consider the country a partner, according to the report. The findings come as the Biden administration is seeking to stabilize U.S.-China relations to avoid miscalculations that could result in clashes, while still trying to counter the world's second-largest economy on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to Taiwan and human rights.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA): Europe takes radical steps to boost production. EU official Thierry Breton wants state spending to support domestic manufacturing to compete with China and the U.S. — a reversal of longtime policy to clamp down on national subsidies.
LE FIGARO (FRANCE): Pour l’Union européenne, la défense n’est plus un tabou mais une nécessité. Les dépenses militaires ont augmenté en moyenne de 6% pour s’élever à 270 milliards en 2023 dans l’UE, effrayée par la guerre en Ukraine, et un possible retour de l’isolationnisme américain que Trump incarne.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (HONG KONG, CHINA): In 2023, it was “womenomics”. Now, can China find answers in its “she-conomy”? A growing “she-conomy” in China is leading to the working-age female population playing a leading role in personal spending and family purchases amid Beijing’s shift away from an investment-led growth model.
THE GUARDIAN (GB): Women live more years in ill-health than men, finds gender health gap study. While men are disproportionally affected by conditions that cause early death, women are left with higher levels of illness and disability. Women live longer than men but experience more years in poor health, according to a global gender health gap analysis that experts say underlines an urgent need for action to boost women’s health. Globally, there are substantial differences between women and men when it comes to health, with limited progress in bridging health gaps over the past three decades, according to the study examining the impact of the world’s 20 leading causes of disease.