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The Supreme Court is allowing California to use its new congressional map for this year's midterm election, clearing the way for the state's gerrymandered districts as Democrats and Republicans continue their fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The state's voters approved the redistricting plan last year as a Democratic counterresponse to Texas' new GOP-friendly map, which President Trump pushed for to help Republicans hold on to their narrow majority in the House.

And in an unsigned order released Wednesday, the high court's majority denied an emergency request by the California's Republican Party to block the redistricting plan. The state's GOP argued that the map violated the U.S. Constitution because its creation was mainly driven by race, not partisan politics. A lower federal court rejected that claim.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42469279

https://archive.ph/lYcns

A ceasefire has been established after three weeks of fighting. The Kurds have secured major gains in local autonomy and national rights, while the Syrian president claims to have restored national unity.

The prospect of war between Damascus and Kurdish forces has receded. The Syrian transitional government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, Kurdish-led) announced on Friday, January 30, a comprehensive agreement for the gradual integration of military forces and the administration of the Kurdish autonomous zone into the Syrian state. This marked a victory for Damascus, which restored its authority over territories administered by the SDF and put an end to the dream of Kurdish autonomy in Rojava. However, the Kurds achieved significant advances in local autonomy and national rights.

On X (formerly Twitter), Ilham Ahmed, a senior official in the Kurdish autonomous administration, expressed her "profound gratitude" to the mediators, especially "the United States of America and France, which have made tireless efforts" to achieve this agreement. The US called it a "historic step" toward Syrian unification. France "congratulated" both parties and said it would "fully support" the implementation of the agreement. "We hope it will be the reason for rebuilding a united Syria, protecting the rights of the Kurdish nation and all its components in the future and creating peace for Syria and the region as a whole," said Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, who also played a key role in the mediation.

After three weeks of fighting, which saw Damascus regain control of nearly 80% of the territories in northeastern Syria formerly held by the Kurds since the civil war (2011-2024), a permanent ceasefire was established. Both the Syrian army and the SDF are to withdraw from contact points along the front line. Syrian authorities set a one-month deadline to regain control of local institutions, border crossings, Qamishli International Airport, oil and gas fields and the camps and detention centers housing members of the Islamic State group (IS) and their families.

https://archive.ph/lYcns

A ceasefire has been established after three weeks of fighting. The Kurds have secured major gains in local autonomy and national rights, while the Syrian president claims to have restored national unity.

The prospect of war between Damascus and Kurdish forces has receded. The Syrian transitional government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, Kurdish-led) announced on Friday, January 30, a comprehensive agreement for the gradual integration of military forces and the administration of the Kurdish autonomous zone into the Syrian state. This marked a victory for Damascus, which restored its authority over territories administered by the SDF and put an end to the dream of Kurdish autonomy in Rojava. However, the Kurds achieved significant advances in local autonomy and national rights.

On X (formerly Twitter), Ilham Ahmed, a senior official in the Kurdish autonomous administration, expressed her "profound gratitude" to the mediators, especially "the United States of America and France, which have made tireless efforts" to achieve this agreement. The US called it a "historic step" toward Syrian unification. France "congratulated" both parties and said it would "fully support" the implementation of the agreement. "We hope it will be the reason for rebuilding a united Syria, protecting the rights of the Kurdish nation and all its components in the future and creating peace for Syria and the region as a whole," said Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, who also played a key role in the mediation.

After three weeks of fighting, which saw Damascus regain control of nearly 80% of the territories in northeastern Syria formerly held by the Kurds since the civil war (2011-2024), a permanent ceasefire was established. Both the Syrian army and the SDF are to withdraw from contact points along the front line. Syrian authorities set a one-month deadline to regain control of local institutions, border crossings, Qamishli International Airport, oil and gas fields and the camps and detention centers housing members of the Islamic State group (IS) and their families.

One person has died after a shooting in Minneapolis involving federal immigration agents from Customs and Border Protection, the BBC's US partner CBS reports

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says he has spoken to the White House after "another horrific shooting by federal agents", and is demanding President Donald Trump "pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota"

Demonstrators are gathering in Minneapolis, with images showing clashes with law enforcement

An American woman, Renee Good, was shot dead by an immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier this month

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42024107

A force that helped defeat Islamic State is collapsing as the Trump administration turns to back the new Syrian government

For more than a decade, they were the United States’ closest allies in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State group, guarding US bases and running internment camps and prisons that held tens of thousands of jihadis and their relatives.

That alliance is now disintegrating. The United States has turned away from its long-time allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, and thrown its support behind the new government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Without US backing, the SDF, a Kurdish-led force, has wobbled and beaten a retreat as the government moves troops into northeastern Syria to seize control, ending a standoff that has endured since al-Sharaa took power in December 2024.

The collapse of the SDF marks a turning point in Syria’s political transition after the fall of President Bashar Assad and now paves the way for the government to take over the strategic region, its oilfields and rich agricultural lands.

The pivot by Washington is a huge win for al-Sharaa, who has struggled to pull the country back together, as well as for Turkey, which vehemently opposed US support for the SDF and backed al-Sharaa.

But for the SDF and its supporters, including US officials who worked closely with the group, it feels like a betrayal of those who fought loyally alongside the United States and lost many thousands of combatants in the process.

The SDF was born following the terrifying rise of the Islamic State group, which took over a swath of territory straddling the Syria-Iraq border in 2013 and built a so-called caliphate on a harsh interpretation of Islamic law and and sheer brutality.

Seeking a way to fight the group without putting US troops on the front lines, the United States partnered with a Kurdish militia. It airdropped weapons to help break the siege of the Kurdish town of Kobani in 2014 and the partnership developed from there.

For the US, it made sense. The fighters were well-trained, not Islamist and eager to work with US troops. In time, with US financial and military support, they grew, added Arab fighters and rebranded themselves as the Syrian Democratic Forces (although there was very little about them that was actually democratic).

With logistical and air support from the United States and others, the SDF destroyed the Isis caliphate, pushing the group from its last patch of territory in Syria in 2019.

It continued to work with the United States to prevent the resurgence of Isis and provide security across northeastern Syria with a force of tens of thousands of men and women under arms.

That alliance angered Turkey, which saw the group as no more than an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish militant group that has fought a bloody, 30-year insurgency against the Turkish state.

It also angered Syrian rebel groups and activists for imposing Kurdish rule over Arab-majority areas and doing its own deals with the Assad regime.

The rebel offensive that toppled the Assad regime in December 2024 changed the paradigm for the Kurds. The United States established close ties with al-Sharaa and sought to bring the two groups to work together.

US ambassador to Turkey and envoy for Syria Tom Barrack led the negotiations and secured an agreement between al-Sharaa and the Kurdish leader of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, in March 2025.

But those negotiations stalled and missed the deadline for SDF to integrate its armed units and administration into the Damascus government by the end of 2025.

Al-Sharaa complained that the Kurdish side kept augmenting its demands while making no move to withdraw from Arab-majority areas. The Kurdish leaders said they were holding out for security guarantees for their people in light of sectarian killings elsewhere in Syria.

In the end, al-Sharaa lost patience and moved to seize control of two Kurdish-held neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo. From there, Syrian forces moved rapidly, securing two large provincial capitals, Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, in recent days.

Newaf Xelil, an analyst at the Berlin-based Kurdish Center for Studies, said the swift advance of al-Sharaa’s forces in recent weeks had been enabled by the full embrace of his government by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

A force that helped defeat Islamic State is collapsing as the Trump administration turns to back the new Syrian government

For more than a decade, they were the United States’ closest allies in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State group, guarding US bases and running internment camps and prisons that held tens of thousands of jihadis and their relatives.

That alliance is now disintegrating. The United States has turned away from its long-time allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, and thrown its support behind the new government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Without US backing, the SDF, a Kurdish-led force, has wobbled and beaten a retreat as the government moves troops into northeastern Syria to seize control, ending a standoff that has endured since al-Sharaa took power in December 2024.

The collapse of the SDF marks a turning point in Syria’s political transition after the fall of President Bashar Assad and now paves the way for the government to take over the strategic region, its oilfields and rich agricultural lands.

The pivot by Washington is a huge win for al-Sharaa, who has struggled to pull the country back together, as well as for Turkey, which vehemently opposed US support for the SDF and backed al-Sharaa.

But for the SDF and its supporters, including US officials who worked closely with the group, it feels like a betrayal of those who fought loyally alongside the United States and lost many thousands of combatants in the process.

The SDF was born following the terrifying rise of the Islamic State group, which took over a swath of territory straddling the Syria-Iraq border in 2013 and built a so-called caliphate on a harsh interpretation of Islamic law and and sheer brutality.

Seeking a way to fight the group without putting US troops on the front lines, the United States partnered with a Kurdish militia. It airdropped weapons to help break the siege of the Kurdish town of Kobani in 2014 and the partnership developed from there.

For the US, it made sense. The fighters were well-trained, not Islamist and eager to work with US troops. In time, with US financial and military support, they grew, added Arab fighters and rebranded themselves as the Syrian Democratic Forces (although there was very little about them that was actually democratic).

With logistical and air support from the United States and others, the SDF destroyed the Isis caliphate, pushing the group from its last patch of territory in Syria in 2019.

It continued to work with the United States to prevent the resurgence of Isis and provide security across northeastern Syria with a force of tens of thousands of men and women under arms.

That alliance angered Turkey, which saw the group as no more than an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish militant group that has fought a bloody, 30-year insurgency against the Turkish state.

It also angered Syrian rebel groups and activists for imposing Kurdish rule over Arab-majority areas and doing its own deals with the Assad regime.

The rebel offensive that toppled the Assad regime in December 2024 changed the paradigm for the Kurds. The United States established close ties with al-Sharaa and sought to bring the two groups to work together.

US ambassador to Turkey and envoy for Syria Tom Barrack led the negotiations and secured an agreement between al-Sharaa and the Kurdish leader of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, in March 2025.

But those negotiations stalled and missed the deadline for SDF to integrate its armed units and administration into the Damascus government by the end of 2025.

Al-Sharaa complained that the Kurdish side kept augmenting its demands while making no move to withdraw from Arab-majority areas. The Kurdish leaders said they were holding out for security guarantees for their people in light of sectarian killings elsewhere in Syria.

In the end, al-Sharaa lost patience and moved to seize control of two Kurdish-held neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo. From there, Syrian forces moved rapidly, securing two large provincial capitals, Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, in recent days.

Newaf Xelil, an analyst at the Berlin-based Kurdish Center for Studies, said the swift advance of al-Sharaa’s forces in recent weeks had been enabled by the full embrace of his government by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Minnesota National Guard was mobilized on Saturday afternoon to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, according to an announcement from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS).

This development occurs amid the , referred to as “Operation Metro Surge” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS officials are reporting the operation as a major success, citing the arrests of the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from Minnesota neighborhoods” including alleged thieves, drug traffickers and fraud perpetrators. Recent DHS statements have also claimed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey “refuse to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and have released nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens” from custody.

Governor Walz, who directed the Minnesota National Guard to mobilize on Saturday, made a statement earlier in the week criticizing the intentions behind this latest crackdown operation in his state.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A large group of protesters turned out in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday and confronted a much smaller group of people organized by conservative influencer Jack Lang to demonstrate in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Anti-Ice protesters chased the pro-ICE group away and forced Lang, who appeared to be injured, to leave the scene with visible bruises and scrapes on his head.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41762724

Donald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair to a newly created Gaza “board of peace”, a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory.

The White House said the seven-strong “founding executive board” will also include Trump’s special envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff; the World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the president’s son-in-law and long-time adviser Jared Kushner. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks.

“Each executive board member will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilization and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization,” a White House statement said.

“The United States remains fully committed to supporting this transitional framework, working in close partnership with Israel, key Arab nations, and the international community.”

Blair’s inclusion is likely to prove contentious in the region. The former Labour leader remains a divisive figure in the Middle East for his role in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.