Fiala: Czech Republic will remain democratic and west-aligned
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Saturday (October 4) acknowledged defeat in the parliamentary elections to billionaire Andrej Babiš’s ANO party,...
Democratic lawmakers in Texas said on Sunday they were leaving the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts, a move Republicans are seeking to protect their narrow U.S. House majority in next year's midterm elections.
At least 50 Democratic lawmakers boarded chartered flights to Washington, D.C., aiming to halt a special legislative session called to approve new voting maps that critics say heavily favour Republicans.
By leaving the state, Democrats prevent the Texas House from reaching the two-thirds quorum required to hold a vote.
“We’re not going to sit back and watch our democracy be dismantled,” said Democratic Representative Ana-Maria Ramos.
President Donald Trump has championed the redistricting plan, telling reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans. Republicans hold a narrow 220-212 majority in the House of Representatives, with three Democratic-held seats vacant after members' deaths.
Republicans accused their rivals of abandoning their duties and vowed to press ahead with redistricting plans once the lawmakers return.
Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest the lawmakers upon their re-entry to Texas.
"Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business", the Governor said in his statement, adding that leaving amounted to an abandonment of the office.
The walkout is the latest in a series of clashes over voting rights and political control in Texas. Democrats argue the redistricting plan would dilute minority representation and entrench Republican power for the next decade.
Redistricting takes place every 10 years and has become a flashpoint in states where control of the legislature hangs in the balance. Similar standoffs have occurred in past years, but this marks one of the most dramatic walkouts in recent memory.
Under the current lines, Republicans control 25 seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56% to 42% margin.
Redistricting experts have said the plan could backfire if Republicans try to squeeze too many seats out of what is already considered a significantly skewed map.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday via a social media post that Israel has agreed on an “initial withdrawal line” for Gaza, which has also been communicated to Hamas.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Palestinian group Hamas to act swiftly in ongoing hostage release and peace negotiations in the Gaza Strip.
A total of 137 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, including 36 Turkish nationals, landed at Istanbul Airport on Saturday after being intercepted and detained by Israel in international waters.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Saturday (October 4) acknowledged defeat in the parliamentary elections to billionaire Andrej Babiš’s ANO party, but affirmed that the country would remain a part of the West.
Two tourists have died in an accident on Vilyuchinsky Volcano in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. According to regional authorities, the incident occurred during an unregistered climb, with one man pronounced dead at the scene and a woman later succumbing to her severe injuries.
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