About 50 students protesting the war set up a tent demonstration early Monday morning on NYU’s Gould Plaza on W. Fourth St., outside the business school. An NYU spokesman said the school asked the NYPD to step in later in the day after the crowd became disorderly amid intimidating chants and antisemitic incidents.

—New York Daily News

DeSantis blames congressional Republicans for failure on US southern border

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Naples on Tuesday blamed congressional Republicans for failing to get a bill passed on the U.S. southern border, saying they’d lost all their leverage with President Joe Biden.

DeSantis was referring to how the U.S. House on Saturday failed to pass H.R. 3602 while separately passing $95 billion in foreign aid via three separate bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The House also passed a fourth bill that banned TikTok.

House Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measures that passed, enabling them to overcome far-right opposition. The aid funding package is now in the U.S. Senate where it is expected to pass.

“Republicans were sent there and the number one issue that our voters wanted them to address is the southern border and the massive influx of foreigners by the millions coming into this country, and we don’t know who these people are,” DeSantis told reporters. “And they basically just surrendered on the border. They now have no leverage to do anything on the border.”

—Miami Herald

US commander warns China is fast becoming more aggressive in region

China is rapidly becoming more aggressive in its rhetoric and actions across Asia, the outgoing head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said, as Beijing turned up the heat on Washington just before Secretary of State Tony Blinken heads to the country for a high-stakes visit.

“We all need to understand that it’s moving very fast,” Admiral John Aquilino told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “The buildup of military power despite a bad economy, the increased narrative of all things inside the 10-dash line are Chinese sovereign territory, then the actions that are going toward enforcement.”

His comments came as the U.S. seeks to build up a network of relationships with partners across the region to counter China — a move that has been condemned by Beijing. At the same time, Blinken is set to use his first trip to China since mid-2023 to convey U.S. concerns about Chinese companies providing support to Russia’s war machine and seek to avoid derailing Washington’s ties with Beijing.

In a Foreign Ministry statement released Tuesday, China launched its harshest attack to date on U.S. complaints about industrial overcapacity, signaling Blinken may be in for some difficult conversations during his visit that runs from Wednesday to Friday.

—Bloomberg News