May 1: Latest U.S. and Global News

In a night of unrest in New York City, police entered the Columbia University campus in Manhattan to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who had taken over Hamilton Hall. The authorities also cleared out a tent city that had been set up on campus. City officials revealed that they had identified professional agitators who had infiltrated the Columbia students’ protests in an attempt to incite violence. Additionally, police broke up a demonstration at City College of New York, and violence erupted at the University of California at Los Angeles as officers dispersed the protesters there.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump made headlines with his interviews with Time magazine, where he outlined his plans if he were to return to the White House. Trump expressed support for government tracking of all pregnancies to monitor abortions, using the U.S. military against civilians for deportation purposes, and not ruling out violence if he were to lose the next election. Furthermore, he stated that individuals who believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election would be barred from working for the federal government under his administration.

In other news, Florida’s new abortion ban went into effect, prohibiting women from having abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at a campaign event in Jacksonville, blamed Trump for overturning Roe v. Wade and the surge in abortion restrictions in Republican-led states.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve is expected to maintain current interest rates following a two-day meeting, with Chairman Jerome Powell citing ongoing high inflation as a reason for the decision. Additionally, a federal appeals court overturned a newly-drawn Congressional voting map in Louisiana that aimed to create a second Black majority district. The decision, with two judges appointed by Trump dissenting, came after a previous ruling that the existing map discriminated against Black voters.

Lastly, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer reported a decrease in first-quarter revenues for 2024 compared to the previous year, citing a drop in sales of the Covid-19 drug Paxlovid. Despite the decline, Pfizer expects full-year revenues to range between $58.5 to $61.5 billion.