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Last Protester in Immigration Detention after Trump’s Campus Crackdown Has Been Released

Leqaa Kordia talks to The Associated Press Television News as she stands by friends, family and supporters after being released from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Leqaa Kordia talks to The Associated Press Television News as she stands by friends, family and supporters after being released from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
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Last Protester in Immigration Detention after Trump’s Campus Crackdown Has Been Released

Leqaa Kordia talks to The Associated Press Television News as she stands by friends, family and supporters after being released from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Leqaa Kordia talks to The Associated Press Television News as she stands by friends, family and supporters after being released from the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

A Palestinian woman who was the last person still in immigration detention after the Trump administration's 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses was freed Monday after a year in custody.

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old from the West Bank who has lived in New Jersey since 2016, had been held in a US immigration detention center in Texas since last March. Her detention was linked, in part, to her participation in a protest outside Columbia University in 2024.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m free! I’m free! Finally, after one year,” Kordia, with a beaming smile, told reporters after emerging from the detention center.

An immigration judge had ordered her released on bond three times. The government challenged the first two rulings, but Kordia was freed Monday on $100,000 bond after it did not challenge the third.

Kordia said she was looking forward to going home and hugging her mother “so hard.” But she also said she would keep fighting on behalf of people still being held at the detention center.

“There is a lot of injustice in this place,” she said. “There is a lot of people that shouldn’t be here the first place.”

Kordia was among a number of people arrested last year after the Trump administration began using its immigration enforcement powers on noncitizens who had criticized or protested Israel’s military actions in Gaza, many students and scholars at American universities.

Among them was Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student involved in campus protests. He spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail before being freed. Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student who co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war, was detained for six weeks.

Others did not fight to stay — one Columbia doctoral student fled the US after her visa was revoked and immigration agents showed up at her university apartment, The Assciated Press said.

Arrests of activists like Khalil drew condemnation from elected officials and advocates. But Kordia was not a student or part of a group that might have provided support, so her case remained largely out of the public eye while her detention carried on.

Kordia said she joined a 2024 demonstration outside Columbia University after Israel killed scores of her relatives in Gaza, where she maintains deep personal ties. She was around 100 people arrested by city police at that protest, but the charges against her were dismissed and sealed. Information about her arrest was later given to the Trump administration by the New York City Police Department, which said it was told the records were needed as part of a money laundering investigation.

Kordia was arrested during a March 13, 2025, check-in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey. She was detained immediately and flown to Prairieland Detention Center, south of Dallas.

Federal officials have accused Kordia of overstaying her visa, while scrutinizing payments she sent to relatives in the Middle East. Kordia said the money was meant to help family members suffering during the war.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, had previously criticized Kordia for what she said was “providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the US.”

The department said in an email Monday night, “The facts of this case have not changed: Leqaa Kordia is in the country illegally after violating the terms of her visa."

“The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” read the statement.

An immigration judge found “overwhelming evidence” that Kordia was telling the truth about the payments.

Kordia was recently hospitalized for three days following a seizure after fainting and hitting her head at the privately run detention facility.

At a hearing Friday, Kordia’s attorneys said she had a neurological condition that had worsened while in custody, putting her at an elevated risk of seizure. They reiterated that she could stay with US citizen family members and did not pose a flight risk.

The immigration judge, Tara Naslow, agreed.

“I’ve heard testimony. I’ve seen thousands of pages of evidence presented by the respondent, and very little evidence presented by the government in any of this,” Naslow said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on X that he asked for her release when he met with President Donald Trump last month

“I am grateful that Leqaa has been released this evening from ICE custody after more than a year in detention for speaking up for Palestinian rights,” Mamdani said.

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Takaichi to Attend APEC in First China Trip as PM

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
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Takaichi to Attend APEC in First China Trip as PM

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ceremony for the exchange of signed documents at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 09 November 2026. (EPA)

Japan said Friday that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would visit China next week for the first time since she took office last year, attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen.

The trip comes at a time of particularly fraught relations between the rival nations after Takaichi suggested in November last year that Japan may intervene in any attack on the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

"Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the Philippines and China from November 16 to 19 to attend ASEAN-related summit meetings and the APEC summit," said deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki.

The visit to China will be her first since becoming prime minister in October last year.

Ozaki said that while at APEC, Takaichi will discuss issues such as "trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, the digital economy... and present Japan's position on these matters".

But all eyes will be on any interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Analysts say that a bilateral summit between the two leaders is very unlikely.

Multiple Japanese media reported that Tokyo had also asked Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the gathering.

Relations between Tokyo and Moscow are at a low point after a Japanese journalist was arrested in Russia on spying allegations last month and assets belonging to Japan Tobacco were seized in the country.

Before the Shenzhen trip Takaichi will head to Manila for a meeting of the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Ozaki said a Quad meeting -- including the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States -- is being arranged on the sidelines of ASEAN.

China reacted furiously to Takaichi's comments on Taiwan, which came just weeks after she took office.

Beijing warned its citizens against travel to Japan and imposed trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of vital rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Takaichi last month called China an "important neighbor" and pledged to build a stable relationship in a policy address.

But she added that Japan would also "firmly assert our country's positions" and "strongly call for responsible behavior".

While Beijing has refused to have ministerial talks with Takaichi's government, Xi sent a message of condolence to the family of former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda after he died last month, describing him "a longtime friend of the Chinese people".

In September, China's top diplomat Wang Yi said ties with Tokyo were "waiting to be normalized again" as he met former Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya, who was leading a trade delegation in Beijing.

World

Europe Pushes for Seat at Ukraine Peace Talks ‌but Lacks Unified Voice

A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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Europe Pushes for Seat at Ukraine Peace Talks ‌but Lacks Unified Voice

A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the site of a residential house damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine November 13, 2026. (Reuters)

European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a US-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.

Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team — and who should take on the role — is being debated Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior EU officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is not yet a consensus.

What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the UK to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.

“This needs to be resolved," Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said as he arrived at the summit, which will include talks on AI as well as the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I would hope that today’s discussions bring clarity around this,” he said. "It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two.”

Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies, as it's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.

European leaders also distrust US President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.

“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday. “There is no more US support."

“At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said.

Europe is broadly aligned but not unified

European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham rejected the idea that Europe was being sidelined during peace negotiations, saying European countries were determined to “put a bit of a ring of steel around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.

US envoy Jared Kushner and Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, "They will have a voice.”

“We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said. He said Putin "is willing to give it a try.”

Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy.

“There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.

Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including a call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests.

She has increasingly pushed for a common EU representative for Europe to speak with “a single, authoritative voice” and requested a decision by Friday in Dublin to be formalized in December in coordination with non-EU partners in Europe like Britain and Norway.

Martin said that European representation at the negotiations “can't just be European Union” because the Coalition of the Willing — a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine — “has involved far more than the European Union.”

“It's a European continentwide issue,” he said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov argued that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar. If someone takes the initiative to establish contact with the Russian side, those people face ostracism.”

An old question with no clear answer

The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?

That has frustrated Washington in the past and present.

After this week's US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.”

That echoes the famous question often mis-attributed to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”

Potential candidates from within the EU France, Germany and the UK, the region’s top three economies collectively known as the European trio or E3, have so far been the most engaged European body in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, the UK left the EU in 2020.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that the E3 is “a proven format” for diplomacy.

But an E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations like those that border Russia and Belarus on the bloc’s “eastern flank,” which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.

Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Costa's current role is to represent national leaders. A former prime minister of Portugal, he spent much of the past year visiting capitals across the bloc.

“European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table,” Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. “That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO.”

But earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush back-channel with Moscow.

Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, could also lay claim to the envoy role.

She said in Dublin that the E3 represents the “big countries” but then asked “who is representing the European Union?"

"Americans are representing American interests. Europeans are representing European interests,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s foundational treaties are “very, very clear” that she and Costa were appointed in 2024 to represent the bloc in “security matters.”

Kallas, however, has had a bumpy track record with US diplomats as Washington and Brussels sparred over trade and Ukraine. She's also acknowledged tensions between her office, the EU's External Action Service, and the European Commission.

Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October. A week after that, he called Putin with Støre, the Norwegian prime minister. Stubb spoke with Zelenskyy by phone on Tuesday.

But some leaders deeply distrust the US-brokered talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was critical of the negotiations, reflecting a regional pessimism among EU countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.

“In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration," Tusk said Thursday. “We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it."

World

Russia Says Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Kyiv Reports Hospital Hit

Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Says Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Kyiv Reports Hospital Hit

Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a reported Russian attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a location given as Odesa Region, Ukraine, November 9, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a handout video.(State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)

Russia said on Friday that it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones overnight, one of the largest swarms sent by Kyiv that killed four people.

Ukrainian authorities reported that another night of Russian attacks had set a hospital ablaze and killed at least three people.

The deadly attacks came a day after intense shuttle diplomacy in US-led talks to end the war approaching its fifth year.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday before jetting to Dublin to huddle with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"In the course of the previous night... aerial defense systems intercepted and destroyed 1,198" Ukrainian drones over more than 15 Russian regions, Russia's defense ministry said in a statement.

Four people working in an industrial zone, home to an oil refinery and a chemical factory, died in the southern Volgograd region, local authorities said.

In Ukraine, a hospital in Kyiv was damaged after a Russian attack triggered a fire and forced people to seek shelter. One person was wounded.

In Odesa, two people were killed and five wounded in the overnight barrage, with "private residential houses and cars" damaged, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

A Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia in the southeast killed a 17-year-old boy, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said.

Four people, who rescuers managed to pull from under the rubble, were wounded.

Another Russian strike hit the city of Rivne, in a northwestern region far from the frontline, damaging a kindergarten and wounding six people, including two children.

Ukraine has intensified its retaliatory drone attacks on Russia's energy industry over the past year-and-a-half, seeking to cut the Kremlin's revenues and undermine its ability to finance the war Moscow launched in February 2022.

Russia is heavily targeting Ukraine's own energy grid with aerial barrages, leaving residents across the country without power as temperatures plunge ahead of winter.