Indonesia deploys 1,090 soldiers for UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

NEW YORK: Thousands of protesters rallied Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the United States for a second major round of demonstrations against Donald Trump and his hard-line policies.
In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans like “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.”
Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting “No ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” a reference to the role of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in rounding up migrants.
In Washington, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process.
The administration is carrying out “a direct assault on the idea of the rule of law and the idea that the government should be restrained from abusing the people who live here in the United States,” Benjamin Douglas, 41, told AFP outside the White House.
Wearing a keffiyeh and carrying a sign calling for the freeing of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian student protester arrested last month, Douglas said individuals were being singled out as “test cases to rile up xenophobia and erode long-standing legal protections.”
“We are in a great danger,” said 73-year-old New York protester Kathy Valy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, adding that their stories of how Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rose to power “are what’s happening here.”
“The one thing is that Trump is a lot more stupid than Hitler or than the other fascists,” she said. “He’s being played... and his own team is divided.”

Daniella Butler, 26, said she wanted to “call attention specifically to the defunding of science and health work” by the government.
Studying for a PhD in immunology at Johns Hopkins University, she was carrying a map of Texas covered with spots in reference to the ongoing measles outbreak there.
Trump’s health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, spent decades falsely linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) jab to autism.
“When science is ignored, people die,” Butler said.
In deeply conservative Texas, the coastal city of Galveston saw a small gathering of anti-Trump demonstrators.
“This is my fourth protest and typically I would sit back and wait for the next election,” said 63-year-old writer Patsy Oliver. “We cannot do that right now. We’ve lost too much already.”
On the West Coast, several hundred people gathered on a beach in San Francisco to spell out the words “IMPEACH + REMOVE,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Others nearby held an upside-down US flag, traditionally a symbol of distress.
Organizers hope to use building resentment over Trump’s immigration crackdown, his drastic cuts to government agencies and his pressuring of universities, news media and law firms, to forge a lasting movement.
The chief organizer of Saturday’s protests — the group 50501, a number representing 50 protests in 50 states and one movement — said some 400 demonstrations were planned.
Its website said the protests are “a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies” — and it insisted on all protests being non-violent.
The group called for millions to take part Saturday, though turnout appeared smaller than the “Hands Off” protests across the country on April 5.
 

ISLAMABAD: Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, held discussions on Saturday with Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on security, border management and regional trade, Pakistan’s Foreign Office reported.

Dar arrived in Kabul on Saturday morning for a day-long visit to discuss Islamabad’s security concerns and trade and investment opportunities with Afghanistan amid strained ties between the neighbors.

His visit was taking place amid surging militancy in Pakistan, which Islamabad blames on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban are accused of providing the group with sanctuaries, allegations that Kabul has repeatedly denied.

Dar’s visit also takes place as Pakistan intensifies its campaign to deport what it says are “illegal immigrants,” mostly Afghan nationals, which it has blamed without evidence for being involved in suicide attacks and militancy in the country. Pakistan’s deportation drive has further soured ties between the two nations.

“The discussions encompassed a comprehensive range of topics pertaining to bilateral relations, underscoring the need to devise strategies for enhancing cooperation across diverse areas of mutual interest, including security, trade, transit, connectivity, and people-to-people contacts,” the foreign office said.

Dar stressed the importance of addressing all issues between the two countries, particularly those related to security and border management, to fully realize the potential for regional trade and connectivity, the foreign office added.

“Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to fostering mutually beneficial relations and agreed on the importance of maintaining high-level engagement,” its statement said.

The deputy prime minister was also scheduled to meet Afghanistan’s Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund.

Speaking to the state-run Pakistan Television before leaving for Kabul, Dar acknowledged there had been “coldness” in ties between the countries in recent years.

“I believe the security of Pakistan, its people, their lives and properties, is very important,” Dar said. “So one of our concerns is regarding terrorism, which we will discuss.”

He said there was also immense potential for economic, trade and investment opportunities between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Our connection with Central Asian states can be established through rail links, but that’s not possible unless Afghanistan becomes a partner in this,” he said.

Dar’s visit is seen as a continuation of Pakistan’s efforts to engage with Afghanistan despite frosty ties, and its aim to address mutual concerns and explore avenues for cooperation with the country.