Why protesters in the UK are being arrested under ‘terror’ laws
Why some protests in the UK are being criminalised, and what that means for free speech. In Britain, citizens protesting against the war in Gaza are being arrested and detained under “terrorism” laws. Activists and legal experts warn that “public safety” is being used as a pretext to silence dissent, curb free speech and criminalise legitimate political activism. Presenter: Stefanie Dekker Guests:Clare Hinchcliffe – mother of imprisoned activistLaura O’Brien – head of protest teamMatt Kennard – investigative journalist and author Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli military uproots thousands of Palestinian olive trees in West Bank
Israeli destruction in al-Mughayyir near Ramallah is part of push to forcibly displace Palestinians, researcher says. The Israeli military has destroyed about 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the head of the local council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence across the territory in the shadow of Israel’s war on Gaza. The Israeli military issued an order on Saturday to uproot olive trees in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) area in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah. The army justified the measure by saying the trees posed a “security threat” to a main Israeli settlement road that runs through the village’s lands. The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been under lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler said he was shot at in the area. The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 homes since dawn on Saturday, destroying residents’ property and vehicles. For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – across the occupied Palestinian territory as part of the country’s efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents. The West Bank also has seen a surge in Israeli military and settler violence since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes. Palestinian men collect wheat after an attack by Israeli settlers in al-Mughayyir in May [File: Mohammed Torokman/Reuters] More than 2,370 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been reported across the area from January 2024 to the end of July this year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Advertisement The highest number of attacks – 585 – was recorded in the Ramallah area, followed by 479 in the Nablus region in the northern West Bank. At least 671 Palestinians, including 129 children, also have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers across the West Bank in that same time period, OCHA said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Saturday on the uprooting of the olive trees in al-Mughayyir. Hamza Zubeidat, a Palestinian researcher, said the destruction is part of Israel’s “continuous” effort to force Palestinians off their lands. “We have to be clear that since 1967, Israel is still implementing the same plan of evicting the Palestinian population from the countryside and the cities of the West Bank. What’s going on right now is just a continuous process of this eviction of Palestinians. It’s not a new Israeli process,” Zubeidat told Al Jazeera. He noted that al-Mughayyir has a long agricultural history and, like other villages in the West Bank, relies almost entirely on agriculture and livestock as its main source of income. “This area where more than 3,000 olive trees [were] uprooted is one of the most fertile areas in this part of the Ramallah area,” Zubeidat explained. “Uprooting trees, confiscated water springs, blocking and preventing Palestinians from accessing their farms and water sources means more food and water insecurity.” Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy urges Global South to pressure Russia to end war
Ukrainian leader calls for wider international support to get Russia to negotiating table amid faltering peace efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on countries in the Global South to support diplomatic efforts to push Russia to agree to end its war with Ukraine. In a social media post following talks with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, Zelenskyy stressed that the conflict “must be brought to an end” and that “the killings and destruction must be stopped”. “I reaffirmed my readiness for any format of meeting with the head of Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further. It is important that the Global South sends relevant signals and pushes Russia toward peace.” The comments come as a renewed diplomatic effort, spearheaded by United States President Donald Trump with support from European countries, to push Moscow to end its war in Ukraine has appeared to stall. On Friday, Trump expressed frustration with Moscow over the lack of progress in efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement to end the war, despite his recent meeting with Putin in Alaska. The US president renewed a threat that he would consider imposing sanctions on Russia if there was no momentum within the next two weeks. Trump has been trying to arrange a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy, which has long been sought by the Ukrainian leader, to discuss an end to the war. But on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there were no plans for such a meeting. Lavrov said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme that Putin had made clear he was ready to meet Zelenskyy, provided there was a proper agenda for such a session, something the Russian foreign minister said was lacking for now. Advertisement “Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov said. Amid the push for a diplomatic resolution, fighting has continued to grind on the battlefield. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday that its forces in eastern Ukraine had taken two villages in the Donetsk region, Sredneye and Kleban-Byk. That followed the capture of three other villages in the region a day earlier. The capture of Kleban-Byk would represent further progress towards Kostiantynivka – a key town on the road to Kramatorsk, where a major Ukrainian logistics base is located. Adblock test (Why?)
This is what happens when money dies
You try to buy a kilo of flour in Gaza. You open your wallet; what’s inside? A faded 10-shekel note, barely held together by a strip of tape. No one wants it; it is all rubbish now. The 10-shekel note, normally worth about $3, was once the most commonly used bill in daily life. Now, it is no longer in circulation. Not officially—only practically. It has been worn out beyond recognition. Sellers will not accept it. Buyers cannot use it. There is no fresh cash. No replenishment. Other banknotes are following the fate of the 10 shekels, especially the smaller ones. If you pay with a 100-shekel note for an 80-shekel purchase, the seller will likely be unable to return the remaining 20 due to the poor physical state of the banknotes. Many notes are torn or taped together, and entire stalls now exist just to repair damaged currency so it can be used again. Anything is better than nothing. But the disintegration of banknotes is not the only problem we have in Gaza. Civil servants have gone months without pay. NGOs are unable to transfer salaries to their employees. Families cannot send remittances. What once supported Gaza’s financial structure has vanished. There is no mention of when it will return. Just silence. Money is stuck. Trapped behind closed systems and political barriers. If you manage to obtain money from outside sources — perhaps from a cousin in Ramallah or a sibling in Egypt — it comes at a cost. A brutal one. If you get sent 1,000 shekels ($300), the agent will hand you 500. That’s right, the commission rate on cash withdrawals in Gaza is now 50 percent. Advertisement There are no banks to offer such withdrawals or oversee transfers. The signs are still there. Bank of Palestine. Cairo Amman Bank. Al Quds Bank. But the doors are shut, the windows are dusty, and the inside is empty. No ATMs work. There are only brokers, some with connections to the black market and smugglers, who are somehow able to obtain cash. They take huge cuts to dispense it, in exchange for a bank transfer to their accounts. Every withdrawal feels like theft disguised as a transaction. Even so, people continue to use this system. They have no choice. Do you have a bank card? Great. Try using it? There is no power. There’s no internet. No POS machines. When you show your card to a seller, they shake their head. People print screenshots of account balances that they cannot access. Some walk around with expired bank documents, hoping someone will think they’re “good enough” as a pay guarantee. Nobody does. There are a few sellers who accept so-called “digital wallets”, but those are few, and so are people who have them. In Gaza today, money you can’t touch is equivalent to no money at all. And so people have to resort to other means. At the market, I saw a woman standing with a plastic bag of sugar. Another was holding a bottle of cooking oil. They did not speak much. I just nodded. Traded. Left. This is what “shopping” in Gaza looks like right now. Trade what you’ve got. A kilo of lentils for two kilos of flour. A bottle of bleach for some rice. A baby’s jacket for several onions. There is no stability. One day, your item will be worth something. The next day, nobody wants it. Prices are guesses. Value is emotional. Everything is negotiable. “I traded my coat for a bag of diapers,” my uncle Waleed, a father of twins, told me. “He looked at me as if I were a beggar. I felt like I was giving up a part of my life.” This is not a throwback to simpler times. This is what happens when systems disappear. When money dies. When families are forced to sacrifice dignity for survival. People don’t just suffer—they shrink. They lower their expectations. They stop dreaming. They stop planning. What future can you plan when you can’t afford tomorrow? “I sold my gold bracelet,” Lina, my neighbour by tent, told me. “It was for emergencies. But now, every day is an emergency.” Gaza’s economy did not collapse due to bad policy or internal mismanagement. It was broken on purpose. The occupation has not just blocked goods entering Gaza; it has also blocked currency and with it, any sense of financial control. It has destroyed the banking system. It has made liquidity a weapon. Advertisement Cutting off Gaza’s money is part of a larger siege. There is no need to fire a bullet to destroy a people. Simply deny them the ability to live. You can’t pay for bread, for water, for medicine, so how do you sustain life? If this trend continues, Gaza will be the first modern society to completely return to barter. There are no salaries. There is no official market. Only personal trades and informal deals. And even those will not last forever. Because what happens when there is nothing left to trade? If this isn’t addressed, Gaza will be more than just a siege zone. It will be a place where the concepts of money, economy, and fairness will die forever. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
Can the new India-China bonhomie reshape trade and hurt the US in Asia?
New Delhi, India – Five years ago, United States President Donald Trump was being welcomed in India, and China condemned. In February 2020, Trump addressed a massive rally titled “Namaste Trump!” in Ahmedabad, on his first visit to India as US president, as bilateral ties and trade soared, and the American leader’s personal bonhomie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on public display. By June that year, relations with China, on the other hand, came crashing down: 20 Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region. India banned more than 200 Chinese apps, including TikTok, and Indian and Chinese troops lined up along their disputed border in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff. New Delhi also expanded defence and strategic cooperation with the US and the Quad grouping, officially the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which also includes Japan and Australia. As recently as May this year, India treated China as its primary adversary, after Pakistan used Chinese defence systems during its four-day war with India after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. But Trump’s tariff wars, especially against India – which has been slapped with a 50 percent duty on its imports – and rapid geopolitical shifts have led to a thaw in New Delhi’s relations with Beijing. The White House under Trump, meanwhile, political analysts say, is undoing decades of diplomatic and strategic gains foundational to its influence in Asia, home to more than 60 percent of the world’s population. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they visit the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, April 27, 2018 [China Daily via Reuters] “Dragon-Elephant tango” Earlier this week, Prime Minister Modi sat down with China’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as he hailed “respect for each other’s interests and sensitiveness” and “steady progress” in bilateral relations. Advertisement On his two-day visit to New Delhi, Wang also met with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to discuss the countries’ disputed border in the Himalayan mountains. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the countries have entered a “steady development track” and should “trust and support” each other. In their meetings, both sides announced confidence-building measures: resumption of direct flights, easier visa processes and border trade facilitation. In June, Beijing allowed pilgrims from India to visit holy sites in Tibet. The two countries also agreed to explore an “early harvest” settlement of parts of their long, contested border, which is the biggest source of historical tensions between them, including a war they fought in 1962. Modi also formally accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin – a regional grouping led by China and Russia that many analysts view as aimed at countering US influence in Asia – scheduled for late this month. It will be Modi’s first visit to China in more than seven years. “The setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries. We are heartened to see the stability that is now restored in the borders,” Wang said Monday, referring to the Galwan clashes, in which four Chinese soldiers were killed as well. Earlier this year, President Xi called for Sino-Indian ties to take the form of a “Dragon-Elephant tango” – a reference to the animals often seen as emblems of the two Asian giants. Sana Hashmi, a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the efforts to minimise tensions and differences between India and China have been under way for some time. Last October, Modi and Xi broke the ice with a meeting in Kazan, Russia, after avoiding each other for years, even at multilateral forums. “However, Trump’s policies on tariffs and [favourable approach towards New Delhi’s rival] Pakistan have left India with little choice but to reduce the number of adversaries, including China,” she said. The US has twice hosted Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, this year, including for an unprecedented White House meeting with Trump. The US president has also repeatedly claimed that he brokered the ceasefire that ended the fighting between India and Pakistan in May, despite New Delhi denying that Washington played a mediator. “For Beijing, the outreach [towards India] appears largely tactical, while for New Delhi, it stems more from uncertainty and the shifting geopolitical landscape,” Hashmi said. Advertisement While there are no visible signs that Trump is seeking to isolate China, Hashmi said the White House “is certainly trying to isolate a key strategic partner, India.” Trump has imposed an additional 25 percent tariff – on top of another 25 percent – on India’s goods, citing its continued imports of Russian oil. He has not imposed such tariffs against China, the largest buyer of Russian crude. Biswajit Dhar, a trade economist, said that the Trump tariffs are causing a realignment in Asia. “The pace of improvement [in India-China relations] has certainly hastened over the past few months,” he said. “There seems to be a genuine shift in the relations,” he added, “which is here to stay.” Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, October 23, 2024 [China Daily via Reuters] Asian trade bloc? Political and economic experts also noted that if India-China ties were to get warmer, that could soften the blow of US tariffs for both. With Washington raising barriers on key Indian exports, access to Chinese markets, smoother cross-border trade and collaborative supply chain networks would help New Delhi reduce its reliance on the US market. In 2024-25, India recorded a trade deficit of $99.2bn with China, backed by a surge in imports of electronic goods. Beijing is India’s largest trading partner after the US – yet, India’s trade deficit with China is roughly double that with the US. China is attempting to woo India and has indicated that it will provide greater market access
China, India watch as Myanmar rebels advance on strategic western frontier
Rakhine State stands at a pivotal moment as the Arakan Army (AA) edges closer to seizing control of Myanmar’s strategic western frontier region, a shift in power that could redefine both the country’s civil war and regional geopolitics. While Myanmar’s military government has clawed back territory elsewhere in the country, the AA now controls 14 of 17 townships in Rakhine, which is situated on the Bay of Bengal in the country’s west and shares a border with Bangladesh. Flush from victories against Myanmar’s military rulers, the rebel group has pledged to capture the remainder of Rakhine State, including the capital Sittwe, as well as a key Indian port project, and Kyaukphyu, home to oil and gas pipelines and a deep-sea port central to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Analysts say the window is open for a decisive offensive by the rebel group. But the AA’s fight against Myanmar’s military government for self-determination unfolds amid a deepening humanitarian crisis and growing reports of serious abuses by the armed group against Muslim-majority Rohingya in Rakhine. The Myanmar military’s blockade of supplies to Rakhine – historically known as Arakan – has worsened a crisis in which the United Nations estimates more than two million people face the risk of starvation. Earlier this month, the World Food Programme warned that 57 percent of families in central Rakhine cannot meet basic food needs – up from 33 percent in December. Thousands of civilians are hemmed in the encircled Sittwe, which is now accessible only by sea and air. Advertisement Residents describe skyrocketing prices – pork that once cost $2 now exceeds $13. Local media have reported on desperate people taking their own lives, families turning to begging, sex work increasing, and daytime thefts as law and order collapses. One resident who recently left by plane told of the growing danger from crime in Sittwe. “They’re like gangsters breaking into homes in broad daylight. They even take the furniture,” he said. Inside Sittwe, a source who asked for anonymity told Al Jazeera that the Arakan Liberation Army, an armed group linked to the military, monitors conversations among local people while troops raid homes and check residents for tattoos as signs of AA support. “The situation is unpredictable,” the source said. “We can’t guess what will happen next.” A representative of the United League of Arakan (ULA), the AA’s political wing, described Sittwe as “a stark example” of military rule, saying the regime’s leaders have “treated Arakan as occupied territory” for decades. Rising civilian toll As the AA advances across Rakhine State, the military government has turned to air strikes – a tactic used nationwide since the generals seized power in 2021. In Rakhine, the ULA says air raids killed 402 civilians between late 2023 and mid-2025, including 96 children. Another 26 civilians died this year from artillery, landmines or extrajudicial killings, it said. Air strikes on civilians “cannot produce tangible military outcomes”, a ULA representative said, describing such tactics as “terrorism” in a country where more than 80,000 people are estimated to have been killed in fighting since the 2021 coup. Amid the grinding conflict, both the AA and Myanmar’s military have also implemented conscription to bolster their forces. The AA has drafted men aged 18 to 45 and women aged 18 to 25 since May, calling its campaign a “war of national liberation”, while the military has added an estimated 70,000 men to its ranks over its 16-month military draft drive. Rakhine has also been scarred by ethnic violence, most brutally during the military’s 2017 crackdown that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh – atrocities from that time which are now before the International Court of Justice in a case of suspected genocide. More than a million Rohingya remain in refugee camps along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, with the UN reporting 150,000 new arrivals over the past 18 months. Reports accuse the AA of abuses against Rohingya civilians that remain in Rakhine, including an alleged massacre of 600 people last year – allegations the AA denies, claiming images of human remains were actually government soldiers killed in battle. Advertisement According to the rebels’ political wing, the ULA, “Muslim residents” in its areas of control in Rakhine “are experiencing better lives compared to any other period in recent history”. The ULA, like the military government, avoids the term “Rohingya” in an attempt to imply the community is not indigenous to Rakhine. To further confuse an already complex situation, the military has armed members of the Rohingya community to fight the AA, a dramatic reversal after decades of persecution of their communities by Myanmar’s armed forces. The International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank also warns that Rohingya armed groups are using religious language to mobilise refugees in the camps in Bangladesh against the AA. But “a Rohingya insurgency against the Arakan Army is unlikely to succeed”, the ICG reports, adding that it could also heighten anti-Rohingya sentiment in Myanmar and damage prospects for the repatriation of refugees from Bangladesh to homes they fled inside Rakhine. Tensions are also simmering with Bangladesh, which wants the AA – in control of the entire border region between Myanmar and Bangladesh – to accept refugees back into areas under its authority. Dhaka is also reportedly backing armed Rohingya groups to pressure Arakan forces, while the AA is wary that Bangladesh could support a breakaway zone in Rakhine, threatening its territorial ambitions for the state. Battle for Chinese-built port South of Sittwe, a decisive fight looms for Kyaukphyu, the coastal hub linking Myanmar to China’s Yunnan province through twin oil and gas pipelines and a deep-sea port that is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project. Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based analyst with defence publication Janes, predicts the AA could launch a monsoon offensive between September and October, using cloudy skies as cover against aerial assaults by the military’s warplanes and which would boost its chances of capturing Kyaukphyu. Davis said munition stocks seized by the AA in 2024 could dwindle
US general whose report on Iran nuclear sites angered Trump fired
Head of US Defense Intelligence Agency Jeffrey Kruse fired alongside two senior Navy officials in latest purge. United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired a general whose agency’s preliminary intelligence assessment angered President Donald Trump for reporting that the US attack on Iranian nuclear sites in June had inflicted limited damage, according to reports. The Pentagon firings on Friday, which, according to US officials who spoke to the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, also include two other senior military commanders, are the latest moves by the Trump administration to purge officials at the Department of Defense . It was not immediately known on what grounds Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) since early 2024, was fired. But President Trump had previously decried the agency’s initial findings on US strikes against Iran. The initial DIA assessment – which was widely reported on by US media – contradicted claims by Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both the president and officials within his administration. Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director”, a senior defence official said on condition of anonymity on Friday, without providing an explanation for the general’s departure. Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the adviser for military affairs for the director of national intelligence, and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the ISIL (ISIS) group. Hegseth also fired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, who is chief of the Navy Reserve, as well as Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees Naval Special Warfare Command, according to officials who spoke to both AP and Reuters. Advertisement All three military officials said they did not know why they were fired by the Trump administration, which has demanded loyalty across the government. “The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” said US Senator Mark Warner, who is the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February. Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the US Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the US Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers. The chief of the US Air Force also made a surprise announcement on Monday that he planned to retire only halfway through his tenure. Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants in top positions, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicisation of the traditionally neutral US military. Earlier this year, Hegseth additionally ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, as well as a 10 percent cut in the overall number of general and flag officers. News of Kruse’s firing came two days after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she was revoking – on Trump’s orders – the security clearances of 37 current and former US intelligence professionals. Gabbard has also announced the first major overhaul of her office since its creation, slashing personnel by more than 40 percent by October 1 and saving more than $700m per year. Adblock test (Why?)
What’s the Texas redistricting fight about, and how has California reacted?
President Donald Trump and his allies have kicked off a redistricting fight in the United States as the country’s two main political parties angle for advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. In an effort to maintain control of Congress, Republican leaders in the right-wing stronghold of Texas have pushed to redraw the state’s congressional districts in a way that would net the party as many as five additional seats in the US House of Representatives. Trump has encouraged the effort, calling it a “big WIN for the Great State of Texas”. The state’s Senate is expected to vote on the new district plans as early as Thursday evening. But that effort has prompted a backlash. The Democratic-leaning state of California responded in kind by passing a plan on Thursday to abandon nonpartisan redistricting and create new congressional maps that could bring the Democrats five more seats, negating the effort in Texas. Party leaders in other states, including Missouri and Florida, have also indicated they may seek to rejigger their districts to pick up more seats. The standoff points to larger questions about how to ensure fair representation in Congress and how Trump has sought to exert wide-reaching control over the country’s political system. With Trump’s approval rating slipping to about 40 percent, Republicans risk losing their narrow, 219-person majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives in the midterm races. So what is redistricting? And what could it mean for upcoming elections? We answer those questions and more in this quick explainer. What is redistricting? Simply put, the practice of redistricting refers to drawing the boundaries of an election district. Advertisement Ideally, districts should be designed as an accurate and proportionate reflection of the area’s population. Maps are generally updated every 10 years, in accordance with the latest population census. But political parties can take steps to shape districts to their benefit, in a process sometimes referred to as gerrymandering. That involves finding creative ways to maximise the number of seats a party can win by carving districts based on demographics and voting trends, to increase the electoral weight of certain groups and minimise the influence of others. “Politicians can look at information about the partisan and demographic breakdown of an area and stack the decks in their favour,” said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego. This practice has a long and fraught history in the US, especially in states with histories of segregation and discrimination, where maps were often drawn to dilute representation for minority voters. What is happening in Texas? While redistricting is far from new, Texas has been in the spotlight recently for a particularly overt partisan effort. Part of the controversy stems from the involvement of President Trump, who prompted Texas Republicans to redraw maps. In June and July, reports began to emerge that the White House was holding calls with Texas state leaders to tee up a redistricting battle, in preparation for the 2026 midterms. Despite early concerns that the effort could backfire, Republican lawmakers in the state quickly put the plan in motion. Speaking by phone to CNBC on August 5, Trump seemed to suggest that the makeup of the US Congress should reflect his success in the 2024 presidential race. “We should have many more seats in Congress,” Trump said. “I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.” The state’s House of Representatives passed a new election map on Wednesday, and the Texas Senate is expected to do the same in the next few days. The new maps would carve out five additional districts in areas where Trump performed strongly during the last election. How did Texas Democrats respond? Texas Democrats condemned the redistricting as a partisan power grab and tried to prevent a vote on the new congressional map. In early August, they left the state in a bid to deny the Texas legislature the quorum it needed to move the plan forward. But as a minority voting bloc in the firmly Republican state legislature, the Democrats ultimately failed to stop the redistricting scheme. Advertisement While away, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the absent Democrats’ arrest, and the Republicans in the state House echoed that effort with a vote to issue arrest warrants. Abbott also threatened the Democrats with criminal charges, including for bribery, if they solicited funds during their absence. What’s more, the Texas Democrats faced a series of reported bomb threats at their Illinois hotels. Eventually, after two weeks, they returned to their home state, allowing the vote to proceed. Democratic leaders have said that, while they did not stop the redistricting push, they drew attention to the issue and are preparing to challenge the new maps in court. Do both parties gerrymander? Yes, both parties have engaged in gerrymandering, and the practice has been employed throughout US history in varying contexts. In recent years, however, the practice has been more commonly associated with right-leaning states. Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project found that states with the most severe gerrymandering tend to be Republican-led states in the southern US, where the practice has historically been employed to dilute the influence of Black voters. The project also found that a handful of states, such as Oregon, Illinois and Nevada, have partisan election maps that heavily favour Democrats. Some Democrats previously criticised gerrymandering as anti-democratic and pushed for changes to ensure that redistricting is nonpartisan. “Public servants should earn the votes of the people that they hope to represent. What Republicans are trying to do in Texas is to have politicians choose their voters,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently told reporters. But as Trump seeks to increase his party’s advantage, some Democratic leaders have urged the party to change its approach and “fight fire with fire” through more explicitly partisan tactics. Is gerrymandering legal? Courts have, on occasion, struck down gerrymandered congressional maps on the basis that they violate the
US Supreme Court rules Trump admin can cut nearly $800m in health funding
SCOTUS decision impacts DEI programmes that include breast cancer research and HIV prevention. The highest court in the US has ruled that the Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding on breast cancer, HIV prevention and suicide, among other issues, in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. In a 5-4 decision issued on Thursday, the Supreme Court lifted a judge’s order blocking $783m worth of cuts made by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to align with Republican President Donald Trump’s priorities. The justices granted the Justice Department’s request to lift Boston-based US District Judge William Young’s decision in June that the grant terminations violated federal law, while a legal challenge brought by researchers and 16 US states plays out in a lower court. The order marks the latest Supreme Court win for Trump and allows the administration to forge ahead with cancelling hundreds of grants while the lawsuit continues to unfold. The plaintiffs, including states and public-health advocacy groups, have argued that the cuts will inflict “incalculable losses in public health and human life”. The NIH is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. The cuts are part of Trump’s wide-ranging actions to reshape the US government, slash federal spending and end government support for programmes aimed at promoting diversity or “gender ideology” that the administration opposes. The administration said Young’s ruling required the NIH to continue paying $783m in grants that run counter to its priorities. Advertisement The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has sided with the administration in almost every case that it has been called upon to review since Trump returned to the presidency in January. After Trump signed executive orders in January targeting DEI and gender ideology, NIH instructed staff to terminate grant funding for “low-value and off-mission” studies deemed related to these concepts, as well as COVID-19 and ways to curb vaccine hesitancy. Young’s ruling came in two lawsuits challenging the cuts. One was filed by the American Public Health Association, individual researchers and other plaintiffs, who called the cuts an “ongoing ideological purge” targeting projects based on “vague, now-forbidden language”. The other was filed by the states, most of them Democratic-led. The plaintiffs said the terminated grants included projects on breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV prevention, suicide, depression and other conditions that often disproportionately burden minority communities, as well as grants mandated by Congress to train and support a diverse group of scientists in biomedical research. Young, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, invalidated the grant terminations in June. In a written ruling, the judge said they were “breathtakingly arbitrary and capricious”, violating a federal law governing the actions of agencies. During a June hearing in the case, Young rebuked the administration for what he called a “darker aspect” to the case that the cuts represent “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community”. “I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable,” the judge said. Young also said the cuts were designed to stop research that bears on the health of the LGBTQ community. “That’s appalling,” the judge said. The administration has argued that the litigation should have been brought in a different judicial body, the Washington-based Court of Federal Claims, which specialises in money damages claims against the US government. That reasoning was also the basis for the Supreme Court’s decision in April that let Trump’s administration proceed with millions of dollars of cuts to teacher training grants, also targeted under the DEI crackdown. Adblock test (Why?)
US DOJ to probe Fed Reserve’s Cook, urges Powell to remove her: Report
Cook, who has been accused of mortgage fraud, has said she will not be bullied by Trump into resigning. The United States Department of Justice plans to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, with a top official informing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of the probe and encouraging him to remove her, Bloomberg News has reported. A letter to Powell from Ed Martin, a Department of Justice (DOJ) official who has led similar investigations into Senator Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James, said Cook’s case “requires further examination”, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. “At this time, I encourage you to remove Ms Cook from your Board,” Martin wrote, according to Bloomberg. “Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her.” The DOJ did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Asked about the report, a Fed spokesperson referred to Cook’s statement on Wednesday, when she said she had no intention of being “bullied” into resigning after President Donald Trump called for her to step down on the basis of allegations made by a member of his administration about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia. The Federal Reserve Act provides no authority for a Fed chair to remove another member of the Board of Governors. Cook, the first Black woman to be a Fed governor, is serving a 14-year term that began after her second Senate confirmation in 2023. The effort to remove Cook comes as the administration has unleashed a campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and intensifies Trump’s ongoing effort to gain influence over the US central bank and push it to lower interest rates. Advertisement Fed under pressure Central bankers from around the world gathered on Thursday in Grand Teton National Park for the opening of the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium, where Powell will give a keynote speech on Friday, sketching out his view of the economy and, investors hope, where rates are headed. “I would just say that I know her to be an outstanding economist and a person of high integrity,” Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack told Yahoo Finance at the event. US Federal Housing Finance Agency director William Pulte, who referred the allegations of Cook’s wrongdoing to the Department of Justice this week, said they arose as part of regular investigations into mortgage fraud by his agency and were not a “witch-hunt”. “Defrauding people is nothing new,” Pulte told Bloomberg Television. “I believe that she committed mortgage fraud.” He said that public records clearly show fraud and that a special exemption should not be made for the powerful. He said the fraud is “self-evident”. Cook has yet to expressly address Pulte’s accusation, saying only in Wednesday’s statement: “I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve, and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.” The Fed has held borrowing costs steady all year in the 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent range out of concern that Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation that is still running above the Fed’s 2 percent goal. Recent weaker labour market data – including a report showing job gains averaged a paltry 35,000 from May to July – has increased Fed policymaker concern that borrowing costs may be a bit too high, and financial markets are priced for the likelihood of a quarter-point interest-rate cut at the Fed’s September meeting. That would be far short of the several percentage points that Trump has called for. Trump can name a new chair when Powell’s term ends in May. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the search, has nearly a dozen candidates, and all have voiced their support for big rate cuts and big changes to the central bank. Traditionally, Fed chairs resign when their leadership term ends, but there is some speculation that Powell would stay on until his term as governor ends in 2028, denying Trump the chance to install more loyalists to consolidate his control over the central bank. Trump has nominated Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran, a Fed critic and enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s tariffs and other policies, to serve at the Fed in the seat vacated by the surprise resignation this month of Adriana Kugler. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)