Kurdish PKK militants announce withdrawal from Türkiye as part of disarmament
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from Türkiye as part of a disarmament process being coordin...
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.
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 tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from Türkiye as part of a disarmament process being coordinated with the government, urging Ankara to take concrete steps to advance the initiative.
Russia has successfully carried out a test of its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a weapon President Vladimir Putin claims can evade any defence system and now plans to move towards its deployment, he said on Sunday.
The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday signed an expanded ceasefire agreement under the watch of U.S. President Donald Trump, who arrived in Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit and a series of key trade discussions.
Three people were killed and 31 others injured, including six children, in a Russian overnight air strike on Kyiv that destroyed two high-rise apartment blocks, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
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