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       Pro-Palestinian protests have been cleared at Columbia University and City College in New York, with at least 300 protesters arrested, New York Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on Wednesday.

       Police have carried out raids at Columbia on Tuesday to stop pro-Palestinian demonstrations, bursting into an administration building protesters had taken over and making dozens of arrests.

       A statement released by a Columbia spokesperson said New York City officers entered the campus after the university requested help. A tent encampment on the school's grounds to protest the Israel-Hamas war was cleared, and the university's Hamilton Hall was emptied.

       “After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school said.

       “The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”

       NYPD spokesman Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries. The arrests occurred after protesters had shrugged off an earlier ultimatum to abandon the encampment.

       'The time is now'

       US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders on Wednesday to push for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. "The time is now,” he said, referring to a proposed deal that would free hostages and bring a pause in fighting after nearly seven months of almost unbroken war.

       Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October, aiming to avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering there after fleeing their homes, many of them at Israel's instruction.

       “We are determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Blinken told Israel’s President Isaac Herzog at a meeting in Tel Aviv.

       “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses,” he said.

       Blinken’s comments came on the last leg of his regional visit, with previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where he urged Hamas to accept the latest proposal. He called the draft deal “extraordinarily generous” on Israel’s part.

       Hamas has demanded assurances that an eventual release of all hostages will bring a end to Israel’s nearly seven-month assault in Gaza and a withdrawal of its troops from the devastated territory.

       Israel has offered only an extended pause, vowing to resume its offensive once the first phase of the deal is over.

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       An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine opened Wednesday in the Russian capital.

       The month-long exhibition will feature some 30 tanks, armoured vehicles and other weapons, said to have been donated to Ukraine by various countries, including the US, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Australia, and South Africa.

       Russian state TV aired footage on Sunday showcasing preparations for its show.

       Described as a celebration of Russia’s success “against Ukrainian militants and their Western supporters,” the video depicted heavy trucks transporting multi-tonne vehicles and cranes lifting them into position in Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow's designated venue for the display.

       Signs at the exhibition read: “Our victory is inevitable!”

       The exhibition comes as Russian forces have grabbed more land in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of delays in Western military assistance to push back the under-gunned Kyiv forces.

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       Military policemen guard an exhibition of tanks, APCs and guns of Ukrainian armed forces captured during the fighting. Moscow, Russia, 26 April 2024.Credit: Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

       A Russian soldier walks past a Leopard 2A6 tank that belonged to the Ukrainian army is seen on display in Moscow. Tuesday, 30 April 2024.Credit: Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

       Among the showcased vehicles was a German Leopard 2 tank, which purportedly encountered an anti-tank mine during a battle near Berdychi in Ukraine, resulting in damage to its right track.

       The exhibits also include a US-made M1 Abrams battle tank and a Bradley armoured vehicle, a Marder armoured infantry vehicle from Germany, and a French-made AMX-10RC.

       Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has hailed the Moscow exhibition as a “brilliant idea”.

       Meanwhile, some have questioned the authenticity of the Ministry of Defence-sponsored show.

       Notably, South Africa has not donated any military equipment to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion of its western neighbour in February 2022. The Victory Park exhibition features at least one vehicle branded with the African country's flag.

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       French police evicted migrants from a makeshift tent encampment next to Paris City Hall early on Tuesday, the latest clear-out of homeless people that aid groups allege is a campaign to "social cleanse" the French capital ahead of the Summer Olympics.

       Officers urged the migrants to pack their tents and belongings after appearing right before dawn, and then directed them to buses to be driven to a transit centre outside the city.

       Only two or three people climbed aboard the bus. Most others walked away carrying their belongings.

       Police said the operation was carried out for security reasons, notably because the tent camp was near schools.

       Around 100 mostly teenage boys and young men from West Africa had been living in the makeshift camp in central Paris for several weeks.

       Paris-region officials told the migrants - many of them minors and in the process of seeking residency papers - that they could be housed temporarily for three weeks in the Loire-region town of Angers if they wished.

       Some who declined to take the bus said they feared being isolated and abandoned in Angers, 250 kilometres southwest of Paris, once the three weeks of temporary accommodation ran out.

       Migrants leave a makeshift camp after being evicted by police officers, early Tuesday April 23, 2024 in Paris. Nicolas Garriga/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

       The latest police operation is part of a campaign of ''social cleansing'' ahead of the Games, according to Antoine de Clerck, Le Revers de la Medaille coordinator.

       ''Most of them will probably refuse to go to another city because if they go, they will lose their appeal to the court. So, what they do is just take their stuff and just move away and settle in another place. So that's a problem that we've seen around Paris when the Olympics is coming,'' he said.

       ''We call it 'nettoyage', social cleansing, as there's no proper solution that is proposed to the people to just, you know, be pushed away.''

       Migrant camps are commonly dismantled every spring in France with the end of an annual winter-time "truce" that limits evictions and evacuations when the weather is cold.