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(First column, 6th story, link)
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Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed a new congressional map into law on Thursday that slices up Memphis to scatter Black voters into neighboring districts, a move intended to eliminate the state's last Democratic House seat.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won big in state-level elections this week, with the Hindu nationalist BJP now controlling over 70% of the country. Leading opposition politician and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has refused to recognize the results as legitimate, accusing the Modi government of mass disenfranchisement. Ahead of elections, 9 million names were deleted from the rolls under a process called "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR). The process, conducted by India's Election Commission, "vitiates and creates an electoral advantage by pitting Hindu voters against Muslim voters," says political scientist Gilles Verniers. Rather than the advertised purge of deceased and duplicate voters, SIR appears to have primarily affected Muslims and other minorities. Nearly 3 million voters in West Bengal, where more than a quarter of the population is Muslim, were unable to cast their vote.
From New Delhi, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani says blatant election interference has destroyed Indians' faith in democratic elections. "The general public does not think the elections are free and fair in India," she explains. "So this is a sad day for democracy, for people who believe that not only today, but tomorrow's India should also be democratic."
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Relations between the United States and the Vatican are at a low point over President Donald Trump's attacks on Leo, who is a leading critic of the war in Iran.
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Representative Tom Barrett, a Michigan Republican facing a tough re-election race, introduced a bill to impose limits on the use of military force in Iran and end the fighting this summer.
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Gaza is facing an "environmental and biological apocalypse" under Israeli bombardment and blockade, reports Palestinian aid worker Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committee. Israel's destruction of infrastructure has become a "generator for disease," with sewage contamination and rodent infestation now an everyday hazard for refugees living in tent camps. "[It's] no longer just bombardment or physical destruction. It is the collapse of every essential condition required for human survival: water, food, health, dignity, shelter, safety, everything." Amawi also comments on the extended detention of two international activists with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek will not be released before this weekend, according to the latest update from the Israeli military. Neither has been charged with any crime.
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