NEW rules being rolled out this summer will make it much easier for families with young kids to get through the airport.
Airport eGates will be lowering the age of passengers who can use them from 12 to eight.
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Confirmed by the Home Office, kids will need to be at least 120cm (3ft11) to be able to use them, as they require them to be able to see the biometric screens.
Currently, only families with kids aged 10 and over can use them – any younger and they have to go in the standard (usually much longer) queue.
It is expected to help as many as an extra 1.5million children use the eGates.
This will affect 13 airports across the UK that currently use eGates. These are:
The new rules will also affect a number of non-British residents including those from the US, Australia and Japan, along with non-Schengen countries in Europe.
Chief executive of AirportsUK Karen Dee said she welcomed the change, saying: “It will give more families the ability to take advantage of this technology, speeding up the border process and reducing waiting times for many.”
“Airports work very hard with border authorities to ensure the UK’s front door is both secure and welcoming, with those coming home and visiting enjoying a smooth experience.”
Brits are currently facing problems travelling via Europe, however, as new EES rules are resulting in massive queues, some even missing their flights.
PROPOSALS for a new £600million UK theme park have been backed by the British Tourist Authority (BTA).
The Government-funded tourist authority is supporting the plans for the historical park, which will offer live shows and reenactments.
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Puy du Fou will showcase historical reenactments relevant to the local areaCredit: AlamyThe park is set to open by 2029Credit: Puy du Fou
French firm Puy du Fou submitted plans to build a site north of Bicester near the M40.
In the supporting letter, BTA director Andrew Stokes, praised the ride-free park’s established track record in France and Spain, saying it offers a “truly distinctive visitor experience through its historic theme park concept”.
He also commended the park’s collaborative approach in working with Experience Oxfordshire to create a fully authentic experience.
BTA said it “can see the potential for this project to generate significant interest and excitement among domestic and international visitors alike”.
The attraction will be similar to the French version, picturedCredit: Puydu FouThe £600million plans will employ 2,000 people directlyCredit: Puy du Fou
Stokes added that the plans “demonstrate confidence in the UK as a destination, in our leisure sector, and in the long-term strength of the visitor economy”.
The site will include four period villages with 13 live shows and have also been backed by Experience Oxfordshire.
Support chief executive Hayley Beer-Gamage said: “The decision by Puy du Fou to invest in Oxfordshire, and specifically within the Cherwell district, is a strong endorsement of the area as a globally recognised destination.
“This investment will drive job creation, stimulate economic growth, and increase visitor spend across both the district and the wider county.”
According to the park operator, the site will directly employ around 2,000 people, while supporting a further 6,000 jobs in hotels, restaurants, suppliers, and other local businesses.
Puy du Fou also said it will deliver a £500million annual boost to the local and regional economy.
In a report published earlier this year, BTA broke down the long-term economic benefits for Oxfordshire and the Cherwell district.
“Tourism has a significantly positive regional economic impact across the UK”, Stokes said.
“Relevant to Oxfordshire and Cherwell, the South East region is the second largest recipient, accounting for £17 billion of economic activity in 2024.”
Puy du Fou first opened in 1978, and is rated the second best attraction inFrancebehindDisneyland Paris.
Vietnamese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party To Lam (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (L) during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam 02 May 2026. Photo by LUONG THAI LINH / EPA
May 3 (Asia Today) — Japan and Vietnam agreed to deepen cooperation across key economic security sectors, including energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and space, as Tokyo seeks to strengthen supply chains and reduce reliance on China.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with Vietnam’s top leadership, including Communist Party General Secretary and President To Lam and Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, during her visit to Hanoi. After the meetings, she said both countries had designated economic security as a top priority in bilateral cooperation.
According to Vietnamese media and Reuters, the two countries agreed Saturday to elevate their comprehensive strategic partnership and signed six memorandums of understanding covering technology, climate response and information and communications.
Energy cooperation at the forefront
A key outcome was in energy. Vietnam said Japan will support crude oil supplies to the Nghi Son refinery through a $10 billion “Power Asia” initiative aimed at strengthening energy resilience in the region.
The program, introduced by Takaichi last month, is designed to help Southeast Asian countries affected by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz by supporting oil procurement, storage and supply chain resilience.
Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan has already decided to send about 4 million barrels of crude oil to Vietnam via routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The shipment, equivalent to about 10 days of refinery operations, followed a request from Vietnam earlier this year.
Strategic message on China
In a speech at Vietnam National University, Takaichi emphasized the risks of overdependence on a single country for critical supplies, a remark widely interpreted as targeting China.
“Overreliance on one country often stems from abnormally low prices,” she said, calling for a “level playing field” in global trade.
She also stressed that regional supply chains depend on secure and open sea lanes, referencing both the Strait of Hormuz and the South China Sea.
The speech reaffirmed Japan’s vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” a framework originally proposed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and now updated for what Takaichi described as a more challenging global environment.
Expanding cooperation in critical minerals
The two countries also agreed to expand cooperation on critical minerals, as Japan seeks to diversify supply chains heavily dependent on China.
Vietnam holds significant reserves of rare earth elements and gallium but lacks refining capacity, leaving it reliant on Chinese processing. Strengthened cooperation could help Japan secure alternative supply sources.
Japan remains one of Vietnam’s largest economic partners, with bilateral trade exceeding $50 billion last year. It is also Vietnam’s largest provider of official development assistance.
Takaichi highlighted Vietnam’s growing role in global manufacturing, citing production of Apple AirPods and Nintendo Switch devices, as part of efforts to encourage renewed Japanese investment.
She is scheduled to travel to Australia next, where she will meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to mark the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations and upgrade ties to a “special strategic partnership.”
Jet2 has issued a major announcement for British holidaymakers after its inaugural flight to the Greek island of Samos departed from Manchester Airport on Friday
Jet2’s inaugural flight to Samos departed from Manchester Airport on Friday (stock)(Image: Getty)
Jet2 has announced a major “first” for the airline, in a huge boost to British tourists.
The airline revealed its inaugural flight to Samos departed from Manchester Airport on Friday, marking “the start of the brand-new Greek route for summer 2026”.
Jet2 says it will now be offering flights and holidays to the island. Samos is “for holidaymakers looking to discover the beautiful Greek island”, it says. The island lies just off the coast of Turkey and is renowned for its golden beaches as well as lush, mountainous landscapes.
Jet2 will operate twice weekly services on Tuesday and Friday until the end of October. The Manchester flight will be followed by one to Samos from Birmingham Airport on May 4, and another from London Stansted Airport on May 7.
Weekly Monday services will operate from Birmingham until October 26, and twice weekly services on Monday and Thursday will go from Stansted until October 29, BirminghamLive reports.
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said: “As we commence our biggest ever summer programme to Greece, we are pleased to see our first flight to Samos take off from Manchester Airport for Summer 2026.
“We are already looking forward to seeing our first flights depart from a further two additional UK airport bases, offering customers and independent travel agents fantastic choice and flexibility when it comes to enjoying a sun-kissed holiday.
“Samos is a fantastic addition to our portfolio, and since putting these new flights and holidays on sale they have been proven very popular with holidaymakers looking for a laid-back Greek island experience.”
British holidaymakers have been suffering delays at airports on continental Europe because of the rollout of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which involves people from external countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area.
More than 100 easyJet passengers stuck in delays at passport desks at Milan Linate airport missed a flight to Manchester last month. Greece has already ditched the new rules for UK holidaymakers until September after they led to huge queues.
Airports in Portugal are reportedly already waving passengers through if queues get too big. Italy is expected to follow Greece and allow people to enter on a passport stamp as the May half-term looms. Places like Spain, France and Croatia could do the same.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday sharply limited a part of the Voting Rights Act that has forced states to draw voting districts to help elect Black or Latino representatives to Congress as well as state and local boards.
In a 6-3 decision in Louisiana vs. Callais, the court ruled that creating these majority-minority districts may amount to racial discrimination that violates the 14th Amendment.
When weighing what the Voting Rights Act requires, “we start with the general rule that the Constitution almost never permits the federal government or a state to discriminate on the basis of race,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the court.
Alito said states may draw election districts for partisan advantage but may not use race as a basis for redistricting.
The ruling in a Louisiana case appears to clear the way for Republican-led states across the South to redraw their election maps and eliminate voting districts that favor Black or Latino candidates for Congress, state legislatures and county boards.
UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said, “It is hard to overstate what an earthquake this will be for American politics,” adding that the decision makes the Voting Rights Act a “much weaker, and potentially toothless law.”
Hasen said it’s unclear how the decision will affect the November election because in many states early voting has already started and primaries have already taken place.
But the ruling’s long-term consequences for minority representation in Congress, state legislatures and local government are almost “certainly” going to be felt in 2028, Hasen said.
Republican leaders in states across the South have already signaled they intend to move quickly to redraw congressional maps in the wake of the ruling.
Alabama Atty. Gen. Steve Marshall said the state will “act as quickly as possible” to ensure its congressional maps “reflect the will of the people, not a racial quota system the Constitution forbids.” Marshall called the decision a recognition of how much the South has changed since the civil rights era.
“The court rightly acknowledged that the South has made extraordinary progress, and that laws designed for a different era do not reflect the present reality,” he said in a statement.
Florida was already in motion before the ruling came down. But Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated the decision and said it was all the more reason for state lawmakers to redraw its congressional maps, in a manner that could give Republicans up to four more seats in Congress.
The proposed congressional maps, drawn by DeSantis’ office, were first unveiled to Fox News on Monday. On Wednesday, both chambers approved the maps, and readied them for DeSantis’ final approval.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves had already called lawmakers into a special session at the end of May in anticipation of a court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. In a post on X, Reeves underscored the ideological underpinnings to the ruling’s potential implications.
“First Dobbs. Now Callais. Just Mississippi and Louisiana down here saving our country!” Reeves wrote.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) speaks at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol after the Supreme Court ruling.
(Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call / Getty Images)
At issue was how to ensure equal representation for Black and Latino citizens.
About one-third of Louisiana’s voters are Black, but the state seeks an election map that will elect white Republicans to five of its six seats in the House of Representatives.
Lower courts said that map violated the Voting Rights Act because it denied fair representation to Black residents.
The state had one Black-majority district, in New Orleans.
Two years ago, judges upheld the creation of a second Black-majority district that stretched from Shreveport to Baton Rouge on the grounds that it was required under the law.
The state’s Republican leaders appealed and argued that race was the motivating factor in drawing the second district.
Alito and the conservatives agreed and called that district an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
The three liberals dissented. The consequences of the ruling “are likely to be far-reaching and grave,” said Justice Elena Kagan, adding that it will allow “racial vote dilution in its most classic form.”
She said the decision means “a state can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power. Of course, the majority does not announce today’s holding that way. Its opinion is understated, even antiseptic.”
But she said states across the South may draw electoral districts that deprive Black voters of equal representation. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson agreed.
The decision was the latest example of a partisan political dispute in which the court’s six Republican appointees vote in favor of the Republican state plan, while the three Democratic appointees dissent.
The ruling is likely to have its greatest impact in the Southern states, where white Republicans are in control and Black Democrats are in the minority.
The court’s divide over redistricting is similar to the long dispute over affirmative action.
For decades, university officials said they needed to consider the race of applicants to achieve diversity and equal representation.
But in 2023, the court by a 6-3 vote struck down college affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina and ruled race may not be used to judge applicants.
The historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 succeeded in clearing the way for Black citizens to register and vote across the South, but it took longer for Black candidates to win elections.
The dispute was highlighted in a 1980 case from Mobile, Ala. Its three commissioners were elected to six-year terms, and each of them ran countywide.
Even though one-third of the county’s voters were Black, white candidates always won.
The Supreme Court upheld this arrangement as legal and constitutional. In dissent, Justice Thurgood Marshall said Black residents were left with the right to cast meaningless ballots.
In response, Congress amended the Voting Rights Act in 1982 to say states must give minorities an opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.
Four years later, the Supreme Court interpreted that to mean that states had a duty to draw voting districts that would elect a Black or Latino candidate if these minorities had a sufficiently large number of voters in a particular area.
In recent years, the court’s conservatives, led by Justice Clarence Thomas, have chafed at the rule on the grounds it sometimes required states to use race as a factor for drawing election districts.
Alito’s opinion adopted that view and said states are not required or permitted to use race as a basis for drawing districts.
Hours after the ruling came out, President Trump met with reporters in the Oval Office and said he had not yet seen the decision. He was visibly excited, however, when a reporter explained the decision favored Republicans.
“I love it!” he said. “This is very good.”
Former President Obama said in a statement that the court’s decision “effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities — so long as they do it under the guise of ‘partisanship’ rather than explicit racial bias.”
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in Los Angeles, also denounced the decision.
“The Supreme Court’s decision blesses racially discriminatory gerrymandering, and dismantles the legal protections for minority voters,” said Nina Perales, the group’s vice president for litigation. It “openly invites states to dilute minority voting strength, and undermines our democracy.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Legislature approved a new congressional map intended to maximize Republicans’ advantage in the state as part of the national redistricting battle that President Trump launched ahead of this year’s midterms.
The vote came just two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his proposal and the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The decision could make it harder for Democrats to challenge Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts in ways that limit the influence of nonwhite voters.
DeSantis’ map could increase Republicans’ advantage in Florida’s House delegation to 24 to 4, up from the current split of 20 to 8. The potential four-seat gain is the same as what Virginia Democrats expect from a recent redistricting referendum, which is being challenged in state court there.
Florida’s new districts are certain to face lawsuits as well, especially because the state constitution prohibits redistricting for explicitly partisan purposes. DeSantis and his aides believe those provisions will not be a legal barrier because they have been weakened previously by the Florida Supreme Court and again by Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Florida Republicans, comfortable in their supermajority in both legislative chambers, said little about the new districts during the whirlwind special session. The measure’s sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Fort Myers), limited her remarks to careful answers about an “evolving legal landscape” as Democrats’ asked her about the redistricting effort.
“I believe that there is a likelihood that that map will be upheld against legal challenge,” Persons-Mulicka said.
Opposition was vocal but futile
Democrats, activists and some citizens to decried the process as a partisan power play to satisfy Trump, boost DeSantis’ future ambitions and hurt the majority of registered Florida voters who are not Republicans.
“Y’all are doing this because y’all’s daddy in the White House is injecting national political objectives into what should be a state-driven process,” Rep. Michele Rayner (D-St. Petersburg) told her Republican colleagues before an 83-28 vote in favor of the measure.
The Florida Senate later approved the plan in a 21-17 vote.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, chided Republicans for yielding the redistricting process to DeSantis, whose second term expires in January.
“Last time I checked, we’re the ones who were supposed to be drawing the map,” she said, “and yet we are allowing y’all to continue to hold the water of the governor, who is a lame duck and just trying to figure out what his next job is going to be.”
Democrats diminished in metro areas
The new map reshapes districts in Democratic areas around Orlando, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and in south Florida around Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The changes could cost Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats.
DeSantis and his aides said before and during the session that new map is necessary to account for population growth in suburban and exurban areas since the 2020 census and to ensure Florida has a “race-neutral” congressional plan.
The proposal presumed the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision, which specifically struck down a Louisiana congressional district drawn for the electorate to be majority-Black. Historically, Black voters have aligned more with Democrats, while a majority of white voters lean toward Republicans.
The changes in Florida include the effective elimination of one nearly majority Black south Florida district that was represented by Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Black Democrat, until her resignation earlier this month.
Lawmakers fast-tracked the measures
From the session’s opening bell Tuesday morning, Republican leaders moved swiftly.
In one of just two committee hearings, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) said she wanted “everybody who has taken the time and effort to come to Capitol to have an opportunity to speak.” Then she declared each speaker would have 30 seconds.
“I know that doesn’t seem like a lot but it actually is, uh, if you’re concise,” she said.
Deborah Courtney drove more than two hours from from Jacksonville and noted that all citizen speakers expressed opposition.
“Why are you doing this redistricting now?” she asked senators. “I doubt that your phone have been ringing off the hook from your constituents going, hey, we need some new maps.”
Rob Woods came from the Tampa area, which under the new map could have no Democratic representation in the U.S. House. A Black man, Wood told senators he was a veteran who said he “bought in from elementary school” on notions of the U.S. as an equal-opportunity democracy.
Now, he said, “it seems as if we are back in that period of Reconstruction, moving back to Jim Crow.”
On the House floor, Persons-Mulicka sidestepped specifics about what factors went into the map. She repeatedly called it “race-neutral,” citing testimony from DeSantis aide Jason Poreda, who took sole credit for the map during the session and did not disclose the names of any architects. But asked about Poreda’s admission that he examined party affiliation and voting patterns, Persons-Mulicka balked.
“I cannot speak to the intent of the map drawer,” she said.
DeSantis unveiled the map on Fox News
Persons-Mulicka and Sen. Don Gaetz, who sponsored the map in the Senate, deflected questions about why DeSantis unveiled the plan on Fox News.
Gaetz, a Crestview Republican, confirmed he had no part in drafting the map and forwarded the governor’s proposal to other senators as soon as he received it late Monday morning.
There’s no guarantee that new maps across the country will play out the way two parties hope. For example, Texas based its revised lines largely on Trump’s performance in 2024, redistributing the president’s voters across more districts to pull them into the Republican column. But Trump’s popularity has waned since his reelection, including among Latino voters who figure prominently in the state.
Florida could face a similar conundrum. Creating more majority-Republican districts could leave margins thin enough to allow for Democratic victories, especially if there’s an anti-Trump backlash at the polls this year.
Some Republicans have expressed worry about that possibility, and a handful voted against the measure in the Florida Legislature.
The governor already took a hit because of the session. He had wanted lawmakers to adopt state regulations on artificial intelligence, ostensibly protecting minors from harmful material, while rolling back vaccine mandates for students in Florida’s public schools. House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican but not a DeSantis ally, spiked both ideas.
DeSantis called it “political shenanigans.”
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) lamented that Republicans still delivered DeSantis the big-ticket item that he wanted.
“On destroying our democracy, they’ve been aligned,” she said, “and that’s what we did here today.”
Virginia voters on Tuesday are deciding whether to ratify an unusual mid-decade redrawing of U.S. House districts that could boost Democrats’ chances of flipping control of the closely divided chamber, as the state becomes the latest front in a national redistricting battle.
A proposed constitutional amendment backed by Democratic officials would bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to allow use of new congressional districts approved by state lawmakers in this year’s midterm elections.
The referendum, which needs a simple majority to pass, tests Democrats’ ability to push back against President Trump, who started the gerrymandering competition between states after successfully urging Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts in their favor last year. Virginia is the second state, after California last fall, to put the question to voters.
It also tests voters’ willingness to accept districts gerrymandered for political advantage — coming just six years after Virginia voters approved an amendment meant to diminish such partisan gamesmanship by shifting redistricting away from the legislature.
Even if Democrats are successful Tuesday, the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the redistricting plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.
Virginia Democrats are following California’s lead
Congressional redistricting typically is done once a decade after each U.S. census. But Trump urged Texas Republicans to redistrict ahead of the November elections in hopes of winning several additional seats and maintaining the GOP’s narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party that is out of power during midterms.
The Texas gambit led to a burst of redistricting nationwide. So far, Republicans believe they can win up to nine more House seats in newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Democrats think they can win up to five more seats in California, where voters approved a mid-decade redistricting effort last November, and one more seat under new court-imposed districts in Utah. Democrats hope to offset the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they decisively flipped 13 seats in the state House and won back the governor’s office last year.
Voters focus on fairness, with different perspectives
The stream of voters was steady Tuesday at a recreation center in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia.
Matt Wallace, 31, said he votes regularly but this election has additional emphasis.
“I think the redistricting issue across the country is unfortunate, that we’ve had to resort to temporary redistricting in order to sort of alter our elections across the country,” Wallace said. He said he voted for the Democratic redistricting amendment “to help balance the scales a bit until things get back to normal.”
Joanna Miller, 29, said she voted against the redistricting measure, “because I want my vote to count in a fair way.” Miller said she was more concerned about representation in Virginia than trying to offset actions in other states.
“I want my vote and my representation to matter this fall,” she said.
Political parties made a big push in Virginia
Leaders of both major parties see Tuesday’s vote as crucial to their chances to win a House majority in the fall. Trump weighed in via social media Tuesday morning, telling Virginians to “vote ‘no’ to save your country!”
Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rallied with opponents of the measure Monday night, calling the redistricting plan “dishonest” and “brazenly deceptive.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day that a vote to approve the redraw “will serve as a check and balance on this out-of-control Trump administration.”
A committee supporting the Democratic redistricting effort had raised more than $64 million — three times as much as the roughly $20 million raised by opponents, according to finance reports filed less than two weeks before the election.
The back-and-forth battle over congressional districts is expected to continue in Florida, where the Republican-led legislature is scheduled to convene April 28 for a special session that could result in a more favorable map for Republicans.
A lobster-like district could aid Democratic efforts
In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of the 11 U.S. House seats under districts that were imposed by the state Supreme Court in 2021 after a bipartisan commission failed to agree on a map based on the latest census data.
The new plan could help Democrats win as many as 10 seats. Five are anchored in Democratic-heavy northern Virginia, including one shaped like a lobster that stretches into Republican-leaning rural areas.
Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and Hampton Roads dilute the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia lumps together three Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.
The Virginia redistricting plan is “pushing back against what other states have done in trying to stack the deck for Donald Trump in those congressional elections,” Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger said during an online rally last week.
Ads for the “yes to redistricting” campaign featuring former President Barack Obama have flooded the airwaves.
Opponents have distributed campaign materials citing past statements from Obama and Spanberger criticizing gerrymandering, but those were before Trump pushed Republican states to redraw their congressional maps in advance of this year’s midterms.
Democrats “were all against gerrymandering before they were for it,” Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Ryer said.
Virginia court weighs whether lawmakers acted illegally
Virginia lawmakers endorsed a constitutional amendment allowing their mid-decade redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January as part of a two-step process that requires an intervening election for an amendment to be placed on the ballot. The measure allows lawmakers to redistrict until returning the task to a bipartisan commission after the 2030 census.
In February, they passed a new U.S. House map to take effect pending the outcome of the redistricting referendum. Republicans have filed multiple legal challenges against the effort.
A Tazewell County judge ruled that the redistricting push was illegal for several reasons. Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. said lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.
He ruled that their initial vote failed to occur before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and thus didn’t count toward the two-step process. He also ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before that election, as required by law.
If the state Supreme Court agrees with the lower court, the results from Tuesday’s vote could be rendered moot.
Lieb writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Gary Fields in Virginia and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
When the doors opened after Lakers practice on Monday, injured stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were nearby as their teammates took some final shots after the session.
Doncic, who is back with the team after traveling to Spain to receive treatment for his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, sat out the Lakers’ Game 1 win over the Houston Rockets. He also won’t play in Game 2 on Tuesday, but he remained his usual joyful and playoff self after practice, his infectious personality providing a good vibe during a tense time for the team.
But even without Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers still had an “elevated” two days of practice as they prepared to face the Rockets with or without All-Star Kevin Durant at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic, who sustained his injury against Oklahoma City on April 2, hadn’t been with the Lakers during their final five games of the regular season. Having him back around the team provided the Lakers with a big boost ahead of Game 1.
“It’s amazing. I think people don’t know how much impact Luka has, not only on the court, but off the court,” Rui Hachimura said. “He’s a guy that always wants to be around. … We love him just being around, just hanging out, talking. So, yeah, we’re happy that he’s back finally and he’s doing funny things always. … We missed him for sure.”
Hachimura was asked about the funny things Doncic did during practice.
“Just messing around with the coaches and the players and just the normal things you guys see on the camera, probably,” Hachimura said. “It’s just a normal thing for him.”
The Lakers weren’t messing around during the film sessions or practices.
They were focused on the task ahead, knowing the Rockets don’t want to go down 0-2 in the series.
Lakers coach JJ Redick directs his players during their Game 1 playoff win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“Well, every day requires something different,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Yesterday required an elevated recovery day. Today required an elevated focus. It was a longer film session. A decent amount of teach [and] talk on the court beyond just the practice session. Tomorrow is going to require an elevated sense of desperation on our part because they’re going to come in with that.”
Durant didn’t play in the first game because of a right knee injury and has been called a game-time decision, Rockets coach Ime Udoka told reporters after practice.
Whatever the case is, the Lakers are expecting a tough game against the Rockets.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s the playoffs. Every team’s got to play desperate,” Jaxson Hayes said. “I mean, if you lose, you go home. So, if you’re not playing desperate, then why are you here at the end of the day? But, yeah, I mean, we played against teams like this all year. I mean, obviously, they’re a very aggressive, very fast-playing, big, long team, and so we just got to make sure we take care of the ball like we didn’t do in Game 1 and just get rebounds and just stay locked in.”
With Doncic and Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique muscle strain) out, the Lakers needed other players to fill that void.
Hachimura did his part in Game 1, and it went beyond his 14 points. He was efficient from the field, going six for 10. He was good on defense, collecting three steals and two blocked shots in 42 minutes.
“It’s the playoffs. You have to make every play matter,” he said. “Every position matters. So, I was trying to make plays and not only offense, but on the defensive side. And rebound, and all that. So, that’s what I was doing.”
During Game 1, Doncic offered advice and encouragement to his teammates from the bench.
But his recent conversations with Hayes have been focused, in part, on what comes after the season.
Doncic has talked to Hayes about playing for the Slovenian national team and the big center has interest.
“Um, we got my Slovenian passport. That’s all he’s been telling me,” Hayes said. “Now he’s been saying, ‘My Slovenian brother,’ every time.”
Hayes laughed, and then was asked if he really did receive a Slovenian passport.
“Yeah,” he said, “it really came through.”
There was a moment during Game 1 when Doncic was playing around with Hachimura, hitting him on the head. But Hachimura didn’t recall it happening.
“Hmm? I don’t remember,” Hachimura said. “He always does that stuff. I probably don’t even think about it. I’m used to it, probably. I don’t remember that.”
The testimony from Russell Vought jump-starts the White House’s push to increase defense spending to nearly $1.5 trillion in the next budget year, up from nearly $1 trillion this year, while cutting health research, heating assistance and scores of other domestic programs by about 10% overall. Such cuts do not cover mandatory spending, which includes such programs as Social Security and Medicare.
The debate over Trump’s proposal underscored the sharp divide that will shape some of the most significant policy debates going into a midterm election that will give voters the ultimate say on the direction of the country.
“For the industrial base to double or triple and build more facilities, not just add shifts, it requires multiyear agreements to purchase into the future,” Vought told lawmakers. “That cost has to be booked in this first year.”
The White House is calling for about $1.1 trillion for defense through the regular appropriations process, which typically requires support from both parties for approval. An additional $350 billion would come through a separate bill that Republicans can accomplish on their own, through party-line majority votes.
Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, said he believes in a strong national defense. But he said the idea of increasing defense by more than 40% while cutting programs that people need shows that the Republican administration’s priorities are “out of whack.”
The committee chairman, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), predicted the hearing would be more “amped up” than usual, and that proved to be true, beginning with his opening statement focused on criticizing Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency. Arrington said he did not know of any president in his lifetime who “inherited such a complete and utter mess as President Trump did in January of last year.”
Since then, Arrington said, Trump has secured the border, cut taxes and constrained nondefense spending.
It was the beginning of several back-and-forths at the hearing.
“You know how bad this economy is when we hear Joe Biden being invoked, we hear trans people being invoked. I was waiting for Jimmy Carter to be blamed next,” Boyle said in response to Arrington’s opening remarks.
Boyle said consumer confidence is plummeting under Trump and noted a gas station he passed in Philadelphia recently was selling gas at $4.11 a gallon versus less than $3 a gallon some six weeks ago because of Trump’s “war of choice in Iran.”
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) called the proposed defense spending increase shocking.
“We’ve never in the history of this country seen spending like this, paid for by slashing healthcare, education and housing,” Balint said. “Mr. Vought, yes or no, is $350 billion for the war in Iran lowering costs for Americans?”
“It is certainly not defunding child care. We fully fund child care in this budget,” Vought said, not directly answering the question.
Balint went on to incorporate Trump’s “America first” mantra in her questioning.
She said that $350 billion could pay for an enhanced health insurance tax credit for 10 years and that her constituents are asking how the country can continue to spend money on wars and not find a solution to helping people afford healthcare.
Vought said the president has made clear he was not going to let Iran have nuclear weapons, missiles and a navy that affect U.S. national security.
“He is doing what is necessary to keep us safe, while at the same time trying to pursue diplomacy so that we can get out of wars and lower those costs over time,” Vought said.
Vought said it was unclear how much the administration would seek to fund the war during the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30. That money would be part of an emergency supplemental spending bill and would be on top of the funds the White House is seeking to boost defense spending next year.
“Would it be more than $50 billion?” asked Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).
“We’re still working on it,” Vought said. “I don’t have a ballpark for you.”
