Columbia University says that it is making “important progress” with pro-Palestinian student protesters who set up a tent encampment and that the university extended a deadline to clear out. The university said early Wednesday that student protesters “have committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents." A smaller encampment remained on campus Wednesday morning. The university says that there was “constructive dialogue” and that it will continue conversations for 48 hours. The protest is one of many at schools across the U.S. against Israel's war with Hamas. Many have been arrested.

Germany said that it plans to follow several other countries in resuming cooperation with the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza after the publication of an independent review of its neutrality. The previous day, a Palestinian health official said that a tent camp in Khan Younis, seen under construction in satellite imagery, was being set up to house displaced people who are currently sheltering in a hospital and is not related to any impending military operation. Its presence underscores the struggle to find shelter in Gaza, where some 80% of people have fled their homes.

Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in pro-Palestinian encampments with a unified demand to end investments supporting Israel’s war in Gaza. From Massachusetts to California, students have gathered by the hundreds and vowed to stay put until universities meet their demands. It’s inspired by a demonstration at Columbia University last week that resulted in dozens of arrests. The latest protests focus on colleges’ financial investments, reviving a decades-old campaign to cut ties with Israel and its supporters. The movement is seen by some as an effort to bring freedom to Palestinians and by others as a form of antisemitism.

Criminal charges say that a Minnesota state senator told police she broke into her stepmother’s home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes. Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury was arrested early Monday at the home in Detroit Lakes. The arresting officer said he heard Mitchell tell her stepmother she was trying to get some of her dad’s things because the stepmother had cut off contact. The complaint, filed Tuesday, charges the former broadcast meteorologist with one count of first-degree burglary. Court records don't list an attorney for her.

A former MIT researcher has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the killing of a Yale University graduate student in Connecticut. Qinxuan Pan apologized for his actions Tuesday during a hearing in a New Haven courtroom packed with family and friends of the victim, Kevin Jiang. Pan pleaded guilty to murder in February. Jiang was shot multiple times after leaving his fiancée's apartment in New Haven in February 2021. The motive was never made clear. Police say Pan and Jiang's fiancee had met when they both attended MIT, but she said they were never romantically involved.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah. This tent construction is near Khan Younis, which has been targeted by repeated Israeli military operations over recent weeks, but Israel has said it plans to evacuate civilians from Rafah during an anticipated offensive on the southern city, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge during the war, now in its seventh month. On Monday, a failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria, a U.S. defense official said.

Israeli police said a car slammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem, wounding three people lightly. Also Monday, Israeli authorities said they had arrested a suspect in the killing of a 14-year-old Jewish West Bank settler. The teen’s disappearance earlier this month sparked rampages by Israeli settlers in a number of Palestinian communities. At least one Palestinian man was killed, Palestinian health officials said, and dozens were injured in the rampages and in confrontations with the settlers. Palestinians have carried out periodic attacks on Israeli cities and towns since the country’s war against Hamas began on Oct. 7, while violence has surged in the West Bank.

As President Joe Biden and Donald Trump step up their campaigning in swing states, a quieter battle is taking place in the shadows of their White House rematch. The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed lawsuits in nearly half the states targeting voting and various aspects of election administration. It's not a new strategy. But with recent internal changes at the RNC and added pressure from Trump, the legal maneuvering is expected to play an increasingly significant role for the party as Election Day in November approaches. The lawsuits are useful for campaign messaging, fundraising and raising doubts about the validity of the election.