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Irish University to Cut Links with Israel Over Gaza War

A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Irish University to Cut Links with Israel Over Gaza War

A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Ireland's prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at "ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law".

The university's board informed students by email on Wednesday that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever "institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel".

The recommendations would be "enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law", said the email sent by the board's chairman Paul Farrell, and seen by AFP.

The taskforce was set up after part of the university's campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel's actions in Gaza.

Among the taskforce's recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest "from all companies headquartered in Israel" and to "enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms" and "no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities".

The university also said that it would "enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities".

Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email.

The board also said that the university "should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation".

It "should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel's participation in such collaborations," it added.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.

In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a "sovereign and independent state".

It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in the Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza -- charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders.

In December, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country's embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland's "extreme anti-Israel policies".

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World

EU, France, Germany Slam US Visa Bans as 'Censorship' Dispute Deepens

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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EU, France, Germany Slam US Visa Bans as 'Censorship' Dispute Deepens

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The European Union, France and Germany condemned US visa bans on European citizens combating online hate and ​disinformation, with Brussels saying on Wednesday it could "respond swiftly and decisively" against the "unjustified measures".

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who it accuses of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly target US tech giants with overly burdensome regulation.

A European Commission spokesperson said it "strongly condemns the US decision", adding: "Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world."

EU FINED ELON MUSK'S X THIS MONTH

The visa bans are likely to exacerbate growing divergences between Washington and some European capitals over issues including free speech, defense, immigration, far-right politics, trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.

They come just weeks after a US National Security ‌Strategy document warned Europe ‌faced "civilizational erasure" and must change course if it is to remain a reliable ‌US ⁠ally.

Breton ​was one ‌of the architects of the EU's Digital Services Act, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at making the internet safer that has irritated US officials.

They were particularly riled by Brussels' sanction earlier this month against Elon Musk's X platform, which was fined 120 million euros for breaching online content rules. Musk and Breton have often sparred online over EU tech regulation, with Musk referring to him as the "tyrant of Europe".

The bans also targeted Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to US Under Secretary for Public ⁠Diplomacy Sarah Rogers.

EU LAW AIMS TO MAKE ONLINE WORLD SAFER

The EU's DSA is meant to make the online environment safer, in part by compelling tech giants to do ‌more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

Washington ‍has said the EU was pursuing "undue" restrictions on freedom of ‍expression in its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, and that the DSA unfairly targets US tech giants ‍and US citizens.

The European Commission spokesperson said the EU had the right to regulate economic activity, and had requested more information from Washington about the measures.

"If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures," they said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty."

On X, he said the DSA was approved in a democratic process, and existed "to ​ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country, and to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online."

Breton, a former French finance minister and the European commissioner for the internal ⁠market from 2019 to 2024, was the most high-profile individual targeted.

"Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" he wrote on X.

"As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament - our democratically elected body - and all 27 Member States unanimously voted the DSA. To our American friends: Censorship isn't where you think it is."

GERMANY SAYS BANS ON ACTIVISTS 'UNACCEPTABLE'

Germany's justice ministry said the two German activists had the government's "support and solidarity" and the visa bans on them were unacceptable, adding that HateAid supported people affected by unlawful digital hate speech.

"Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system," it said in a statement. "The rules by which we want to live in the digital space in Germany and in Europe are not decided in Washington."

A Global Disinformation Index spokesperson called the visa bans "an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship."

"The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with," they said. "Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American."

Breton is not the first French person to ‌be sanctioned by the Trump administration.

In August, Washington sanctioned French judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, who sits on the International Criminal Court, for the tribunal's targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate US officials.

World

Putin Has Been Briefed on US Proposals for Ukraine Peace Plan, the Kremlin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
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Putin Has Been Briefed on US Proposals for Ukraine Peace Plan, the Kremlin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about contacts with President Donald Trump's envoys on US proposals for a possible Ukrainian peace deal and Moscow will now formulate its position, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly complained that ending the Ukraine war - the deadliest in Europe since World War Two - has been the most elusive foreign policy ‌aim of his ‌presidency.

Ukraine and its European allies are worried ‌that ⁠Trump could ​sell ‌out Ukraine and leave European powers to foot the bill for supporting a devastated Ukraine after Russian forces took 12-17 square km (4.6-6.6 square miles) of Ukraine per day in 2025.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that envoy Kirill Dmitriev had briefed Putin on the trip to Miami for contacts with Trump's envoys.

But Peskov refused to be drawn on Russia's reaction to the proposals, or the ⁠exact format of the documents, saying that the Kremlin was not going to communicate via ‌the media.

"All the main parameters of the ‍Russian side's position are well known ‍to our colleagues from the United States," Peskov told reporters.

"Now we ‍mean to formulate our position on the basis of the information that was received by the head of state and continue our contacts in the very near future through the existing channels that are currently working."

Putin has said in recent ​weeks that his conditions for peace are that Ukraine should cede the around 5,000 square km of Donbas that it still ⁠controls and that Kyiv should officially renounce its intention to join the NATO military alliance.

Asked about the format of the documents brought back to Moscow by Dmitriev from Miami, Peskov said it was not appropriate to speak to the media about it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in remarks to reporters released by his office on Wednesday, said Ukrainian and US delegations had inched closer to finalizing a 20-point plan at the talks over the weekend in Miami.

But Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United States had not found common ground on demands that Ukraine cede the parts of Donbas that ‌it still controls - or on the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is controlled by Russian forces.

World

6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan

19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
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6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan

19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)

A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Taiwan on Wednesday evening, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake struck at 5:47 pm (0947 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in Taitung county, USGS said.

Earlier, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration estimated its magnitude at 6.1.

According to the National Fire Agency, so far no damage to the island's transport networks has been reported.

The quake was felt farther north in capital Taipei, where some buildings shook.

Local television channels showed footage of products falling from supermarket shelves and shattering in Taitung.

Taiwan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location on the edge of two tectonic plates near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which the USGS says is the most seismically active zone in the world.

The last major earthquake occurred in April 2024 when the island was hit by a deadly 7.4-magnitude tremor that officials said was the strongest in 25 years.

At least 17 people were killed in that quake, which triggered landslides and severely damaged buildings around Hualien.

It was the most serious in Taiwan since a 7.6-magnitude tremor struck in 1999 -- the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.