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The Supreme Court's conservative majority yesterday appeared poised to weaken a 1965 Voting Rights Act provision used to require states to consider racial makeup when drawing voting districts.
The court is weighing a challenge to a 2024 Louisiana congressional map that increased majority-Black districts from one to two out of six. The change followed a lawsuit alleging the earlier map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (read here) by limiting the voting power of Black constituents—roughly one-third of the state’s population. In the case now before the Supreme Court, a group of self-described “non-African American voters" contend the redistricting was based too heavily on race.
The justices heard arguments last term but issued a rare order for a reargument to specifically examine whether the second majority-Black district violates the 14th and 15th Amendments—both enacted after the Civil War to ensure equal legal protections and voting rights regardless of race. |
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu faces two no-confidence votes in Parliament today, putting President Emmanuel Macron's government at risk once again. The motions, filed by the nationalist-populist National Rally and the democratic-socialist France Unbowed parties, challenge Lecornu's leadership amid concern over government spending and the country's fiscal health.
Lecornu—reinstated by Macron after resigning last week—is France's third prime minister this year. He leads a centrist minority government that has struggled to advance an austerity budget and rein in the country's more than $3.9T debt. His administration has proposed roughly $35B in spending cuts, aiming to reduce the deficit to 4.7% of GDP (still above the European Union’s 3% limit). See background on France's fiscal challenges here.
In an effort to gain support, Lecornu suspended an unpopular proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. If a no-confidence vote succeeds, it could trigger snap elections and further fragment the National Assembly. |
Self-driving startup Waymo will begin offering driverless taxi service in London next year, the company announced yesterday. It marks the first international expansion for Waymo and would make London the first European city to have autonomous vehicles on the road.
Launched in 2009, the Alphabet-owned company is considered the frontrunner in the US autonomous ride-hailing market. It currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and partners with Uber in Atlanta and Austin. The company plans to expand to at least Dallas, Miami, and Washington, DC, in 2026. General Motors’ robotaxi effort, Cruise, suspended operations in December, leaving only Tesla (currently operating as an invite-only pilot) as the lone major competitor.
The company says its fleet is roughly 90% less likely to get in an accident involving serious injuries than a human driver, and a recent review found many accidents involving its vehicles were not linked to driverless functions. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> President Donald Trump threatens to move 2026 World Cup matches from Boston over alleged safety concerns; Boston is set to host seven matches at the international event (More) |
> Penelope Milford, Oscar-nominated actress known for "Coming Home," dies at age 77 (More) | Drew Struzan, artist behind iconic movie posters like "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," dies at age 78 (More) |
> MLB championship series continues tonight with NLCS Game 3 (6 pm ET, TBS) and ALCS Game 4 (8:30 pm ET, FS1); see latest scores and schedule (More) |
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> Apple unveils series of products powered by faster M5 chip, designed to enhance performance of artificial intelligence-driven workloads (More) |
> Researchers hypothesize early lead exposure damaged hominid brains, stunting language and social development; modern humans may have carried gene mutation that protected their brains, enabling higher intelligence (More) |
> Physicists accidentally produce shortest X-ray pulses ever observed, a breakthrough that could allow scientists to examine atomic bonds in greater detail and observe the fastest processes within materials (More) |
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> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.4%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq +0.7%) amid ongoing concerns over US-China trade relations and a government shutdown (More) |
> Investor group, including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI, agrees to buy Aligned Data Centers in $40B deal to secure computing capacity for AI; purchase is largest-ever global data center deal (More) |
> Morgan Stanley tops Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates by the largest margin in nearly five years, posts record Q3 revenue of roughly $18B (More) |
Fintech 101: This morning's Business & Finance newsletter explores the development of revolutionary financial technology. Subscribe here for free! |
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> Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from firing federal workers during the government shutdown, following a lawsuit filed earlier this month by several unions (More) |
> Dozens of journalists turn in Pentagon access badges after refusing to comply with government-imposed reporting restrictions (More) | President Donald Trump authorizes CIA operations in Venezuela, considering military strikes (More) |
> Bodies of at least 19 Israeli hostages still unaccounted for, as Hamas claims it has returned all remains recoverable without extensive effort or specialized equipment; Israel maintains that peace deal hinges on return of all remains (More) |
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> The Dinosaur Superhighway
BBC | Staff. Scientists in the UK uncovered one of the world’s longest dinosaur trackways, revealing through preserved footprints how massive sauropods moved and interacted 166 million years ago. (More) |
> America’s Literacy Decline
The Atlantic | Idrees Kahloon. Declining academic standards and rising distractions are causing a sharp drop in US literacy. What can be done? (More) |
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Clickbait: Chicago's "rat hole" wasn't a rat after all.
Historybook: Marie Antoinette executed (1793); Author Oscar Wilde born (1854); The Walt Disney Co. founded (1923); Actress Angela Lansbury born (1925); Tony-, Academy-, and Emmy-winning actress Shirley Booth dies (1992).
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