World News Quick Take

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday appointed a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into a woman’s allegations that she was gang raped at a Cornell University fraternity house, saying she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle the case. Hochul has tapped New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor to oversee the investigation, which had initially been closed without charges in 2024. The woman’s allegations got a rush of new attention when she filed a civil lawsuit last month. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the investigation on Monday, but has been battered by criticism that he had abandoned the original investigation too quickly. “Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University’s campus in October 2024,” Hochul said. “This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the district attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.” The attorney general would oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury, she said.

INDONESIA

New islands appear

Two new islands have emerged in waters surrounding Mount Anak Krakatau following a major eruption last month that grounded flights for days, Rita Susilawati of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard said yesterday. The islands were spotted in satellite images of the water-filled caldera in which Anak Krakatau stands, she said. “Based on an evaluation of Sentinel satellite imagery, two formations resembling small islands can be seen around Mount Anak Krakatau” in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, she added. One of the islands was about 760m northwest of Mount Anak Krakatau, the other about 495m southwest. Rita said it was too early to refer to the islands as “children” of Mount Anak Krakatau — which itself was formed by an underwater eruption in the caldera or depression left behind after the massive 1883 blowout of the original Krakatau volcano. “Anak” means child in Bahasa Indonesia. Rita said further research was needed to determine if the new islands were emerging from the base of the caldera in a similar way than Anak Krakatau did, or whether they were formed by deposits of volcanic material.

FRANCE

Schools shut amid protests

Almost 400 high schools were yesterday closed across the nation over a week-long protest movement by pupils that has seen dozens of staff members wounded and about 2,000 people arrested, officials said. The movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils at lycees in their final years of schooling block access to their establishments and clash with police. The students say their school hours are excessively long, conditions at schools inadequate, including overheated classrooms, and that there are too many staff absences. The government says the grievances are legitimate, but violence is not. Minister of National Education Edouard Geffray said the high-school student movement “is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups,” adding that nearly 400 high schools out of the 3,700 in the country were expected to be closed yesterday. Many high schools also planned to conduct classes remotely. At least 65 staff members have been injured, including 40 high school principals, Geffray told BFMTV. Parents must step up and tell their children not to go to the protests, which could put them in danger, he added.