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(First column, 3rd story, link)
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Even allies urging President to scrap it entirely...
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The methodically planned strategy is intended to pressure noncitizens, including many with legal status, to leave the United States.
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Two candidates with the same name will be on the ballot seeking the same seat in the state's primary. "It's going to be confusing," one Republican said.
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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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Negotiations between the United States and Iran to end the war are at an impasse as the conflict enters its third month. The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that Trump has told aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iranian ports to ramp up the pressure on Tehran.
Iran is saying it will enter into direct talks with the U.S. "when President Trump lifts what Iran considers to be the illegal military naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz," says Drop Site News co-founder Jeremy Scahill. "Iran has maintained that it's not shut down the strait, but that it's just shut it down for any vessels that are linked to the U.S. war in any way."
Scahill says a disorganized Trump administration is pushing a "total propaganda narrative" that it has the upper hand in negotiations, while Iran believes it has the "three M's" on its side: munitions, markets and the midterms.
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