A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship has accused Columbia University of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led anti-war protests at the Ivy League school in New York in 2023 and 2024, spent 16 days in a Vermont prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. He spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with campus security guards inside the university's main library. At least 80 people were taken into custody, police said.

Hardly any other country marks the end of World War II with the same fanfare and fervor as Russia, for which the victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago remains a source of immense pride and a defining moment of history.

Victory Day, celebrated on May 9, is Russia's most important secular holiday, reflecting its wartime sacrifice. But it's also used by the Kremlin to bolster patriotism and regain the superpower prestige it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. They've also had dozens of skirmishes and conflicts, including one atop a glacier dubbed the coldest and highest-altitude battlefield in the world.

The latest escalation follows a deadly gun attack on tourists that India blames Pakistan for — Islamabad denies any connection. But they don't fight wars like other countries.

The EU on Friday pledged to disburse one billion euros ($1.1 billion) from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to Ukrainian arms companies as part of its support to Kyiv as it fights off Moscow's invasion.

"We have just made available 1 billion euros for the Ukrainian defense industry so that Ukraine could better defend itself," the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The funding would "directly support Ukrainian defense companies", she added.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday that India was to blame for bringing the two nuclear-armed neighbors closer to war.

"It is most unfortunate that India's reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict," Shafqat Ali Khan said in a press briefing in the capital Islamabad. "India's jingoism and war hysteria should be a source of serious concern for the world."

Russia's Victory Day military parade commemorating 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany started on Moscow's Red Square on Friday, state TV showed.

President Vladimir Putin was seen sitting next to China's Xi Jinping, with around two dozen other foreign leaders also attending the event.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Saturday, his ministry said, ahead of a regional visit by U.S. President Donald Trump next week.

Araghchi is due to hold talks with senior Saudi officials in Riyadh before heading to Doha for a conference on Arab-Iranian dialogue, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement.

Robert Francis Prevost became the first pope from the United States on Thursday, picking the papal name Leo XIV after cardinals from around the world elected him leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Russia and China on Thursday slammed US President Donald Trump' plans for an "Iron Dome" missile defense system as "deeply destabilizing" in a joint statement issued after talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Moscow.

"The recently announced large-scale 'Golden (Iron) Dome for America' program is also deeply destabilizing," said the statement published by the Kremlin. The plan "explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space", it added.

Cardinals return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to resume voting for a new pope after the first conclave ballot failed to find a winner, sending billowing black smoke through the chapel chimney.

Some of the 133 voting cardinals had said they expected a short conclave to replace Pope Francis. But it will likely take a few rounds of voting for one man to secure the two-thirds majority, or 89 ballots, necessary to become the 267th pope.