Canada holds key rate steady, says will act if war inflation persists

The United States has still not paid off its membership fee arrears at the World Health Organization, the WHO chief said Wednesday, with Washington's intention to leave conditional on paying up.

The UN health agency's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hoped the United States would come up with the money they owe -- a self-imposed condition for quitting the organisation.

US President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, handed the WHO his country's one-year withdrawal notice.

"In terms of the arrears from the US, the US withdrawal is conditioned with two things," Tedros told a press conference with the UN correspondents' association ACANU.

"One is notification one year in advance, which is actually met. And the second is paying the arrears, so we hope they will do that but we haven't received anything yet."

The United States was the biggest contributor to the WHO budget.

Tedros said there were "no signals" indicating that Washington would come up with the cash.

But he added: "To be honest, it's not about the money.

"The issue is health security needs universality and the US, by withdrawing, makes itself unsafe and makes the rest of the world unsafe. So it's lose-lose. 

"So our focus is not on the money. The focus is on helping the US to understand and reconsider.

"Where there is a vacuum, the virus wins. It's as simple as that.

"It's global cooperation and solidarity which is the best response."

Though the US flag no longer flies outside the WHO headquarters in Geneva, the WHO's decision-making body -- the annual assembly of member states -- will decide upon the US withdrawal when it meets from May 18-23.

The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.

But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 -- on condition of giving one year's notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.

The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million.

The United States was traditionally the biggest donor to the WHO.

In January, as the notice expired, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked the WHO, claiming it had "tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it", with "the insults to America" continuing to the end.

"The reverse is true," the WHO responded.

Despite the parting shot from Kennedy, the US health secretary still speaks with Tedros on a regular basis.

"We keep in touch every now and then," the WHO chief told reporters.

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Plumes of black smoke towered over the southern Russian town of Tuapse on Wednesday where residents wore face masks to shield themselves from polluted air after multiple Ukrainian drone strikes on a major oil refinery in the coastal town.

Ukraine, fending off Russia's full-scale offensive launched in 2022, has in the past weeks stepped up its strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure hubs: refineries, ports and depots.

It calls the campaign fair retribution for the assault that has ravaged swaths of Ukrainian territory, killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

Ukrainian drones have hit Tuapse's sprawling oil facilities three times over the past two weeks -- most recently overnight from Monday to Tuesday, triggering a local state of emergency as a column of thick smoke rose from the site.

"The water in the river was on fire," Vladimir, a 63-year-old pensioner and Tuapse resident, told AFP as he looked over the grey smoky skyline.

As the wind gusted, toxic fumes and the smell of burnt oil spread through the city, perched on Russia's Black Sea coast.

Roads and pavements were covered with a sticky film.

Residents were told to stay indoors and schools closed in the town of some 60,000.

Officials said Wednesday the level of benzene -- a toxic carcinogen found in petrol -- in the air was elevated.

"Look, look at that," Yevgenia, a pensioner with a shopping bag and wearing a face mask, said, pointing at a layer of black dust and soot on a car nearby.

"It's impossible to clean it all up quickly. They bombed us three times in a month," she said. 

Vladimir and Yevgenia did not provide their full names for security reasons.

- Contaminated soil -

The burning oil terminal is located right next to the city centre, close to pedestrian areas and the road to the resort city of Sochi -- a favoured summer escape for the Russian elite, including President Vladimir Putin.

On Tuesday, Putin lashed out at Kyiv, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of resorting to "overt terrorist methods" and intensifying drone strikes "against civilian infrastructure".

"The latest example is the strikes on energy facilities in Tuapse, which could potentially cause serious environmental consequences," Putin said.

Kyiv says it only targets energy and military sites -- designed to hobble Russia's war machine and cast as a legitimate response to Russia's nightly barrages of its cities.

Three people have been killed, including a 14-year-old girl, in the series of Ukrainian attacks on Tuapse in April, local officials said.

Around 600 people were working "around the clock" to mitigate the consequences of the strikes, including an environmental clean-up operation, a regional crisis task force said on Telegram.

It said that "nearly 10,000 cubic metres of oil-contaminated soil and water-oil mixture have been collected from the shore and in the Tuapse River".

For Tuapse residents, the strikes have brought the consequences of Russia's four-year offensive on Ukraine home.

"I've already lived through one war," he said, referring to Russia's wars in Chechnya, a few hundred kilometres across the Caucasus mountains, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

"Now here's another one."

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Two Jewish men were stabbed Wednesday in north London, an attack police declared a "terrorist incident" and which follows a series of arson attacks targeting Jewish sites.

King Charles III, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and London mayor Sadiq Khan led the condemnation of the "appalling" assaults in Golders Green, which is home to a large Jewish population. 

Police said a 45-year-old man had been arrested after having also tried to stab officers. The two victims -- aged 76 and 34 -- were in a stable condition in hospital.

Speaking from the scene and facing heckles from some in the local community, Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley said the suspect has "a history of serious violence and mental health issues".

"Let me be clear: this is an attack on one community (and) an attack on one community is an attack on all London's communities," Rowley added.

Starmer echoed the sentiment, saying on X that "attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain" while vowing "those responsible will be brought to justice".

The UK leader will convene an emergency meeting of senior ministers and officials later Wednesday, according to the area's MP, Sarah Sackman. 

King Charles III, who is on a state visit to the United States, said he was "deeply concerned" in a statement issued by Buckhingham Palace.

The stabbings come after a spate of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in north London in recent weeks that have heightened security fears for the community. 

- 'Horrific attack' -

Israel's foreign ministry condemned Starmer's government shortly following Wednesday's incident.

"After attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions, community ambulances and now Jews targeted in Golders Green, the UK government can no longer claim this is under control," it said on X.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, Head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said the stabbings had "now formally been declared a terrorist incident". 

Counter-terror officers and the capital's Metropolitan police were "also working with the security services to ensure we have a full intelligence picture", he added.

"One of the lines of enquiry is whether this attack was deliberately targeting the Jewish community," Taylor noted, standing outside the Met's New Scotland Yard headquarters in central London.

The incident unfolded shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), with the Shomrim Jewish neighbourhood watch group first reporting that a knife-wielding man was "attempting to stab Jewish members of the public".

Shomrim members helped detain the suspect before police arrived and subdued him using an electroshock weapon. The response of the Jewish volunteers' earned widespread praise.

The victims were also treated at the scene by Hatzola, a Jewish volunteer ambulance service.

The stabbings follow a deadly assault on a synagogue in Manchester last October on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

That attack killed two people and seriously injured three, prompting increased anxiety among Jewish communities.

"Why do we have to live in fear? We're doing our best to live our lives as normal as possible but everyday is a struggle," Shomrim volunteer Stephen Bak told AFP at the Golders Green scene Wednesday.

- 'Shocking' -

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the spate of antisemitic attacks "shocking".

"There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society," he added on X.

Ephraim Mirvis, Britain's chief rabbi, said the community was "strong" and "resilient" but "such attacks need to stop now".

"Zero tolerance -- that's what our community wants," he told reporters from the scene.

"Our society needs to know this is intolerable... We would like to see actions added to words."

The first London attack in late March saw four ambulances belonging to Hatzola set ablaze.

Other incidents have followed, including an attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow as well as the premises of a Jewish charity.

Last week, the Finchley Reform Synagogue was targeted.

Police have arrested at least 26 people for the various attacks, launched since the start of the US-Iran war on Iran on February 28.

Many of the incidents have been claimed by a little-known group, believed to be linked to Iran, called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.

Monitoring groups have reported an surge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 instances of anti-Jewish hate across the UK last year, a four-percent rise on 2024, but down on 2023. 

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Uber on Wednesday unveiled a new feature allowing users to book a hotel room directly from its app, the latest step in its push to become a one-stop shop for everyday needs.

The company had already broadened its ambitions in 2014 with the launch of Uber Eats, which started as a food delivery service before expanding into wider shopping, from cosmetics to electronics.

The San Francisco-based company will now let users book hotel rooms through the app via a partnership with travel site Expedia, which lists more than 700,000 properties. The tie-up also envisions eventually adding short-term rentals from the Vrbo platform.

The hotel booking tool works much like other travel sites, with search, maps, and filters for price, amenities, and guest ratings. Users can pay with card details already saved in the app.

"We're no longer just an app for rides, or even two apps, or family of apps for both rides and eats. Uber is now an app for everything," chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said at a presentation on Wednesday in New York.

"Together, we can reduce the number of steps, we can save people time and money," Expedia chief Ariane Gorin added.

The move reflects a broader trend toward apps that handle many aspects of daily life -- a model long established in China, where platforms like WeChat and Alipay bundle together payments, bookings, messaging, and much more.

Rival Airbnb has been on a similar path. The home-rental company introduced bookable local activities back in 2016 and last summer added on-demand personal services such as haircuts and massages, while also launching its own ride-hailing option.

Elon Musk has outlined similar ambitions for X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, and has said a banking feature is on the way.

On the AI front, Uber said users will soon be able to ask the app to plan a week of meals, generate a shopping list, and arrange delivery -- all in one go. 

A voice assistant is also in the works, letting people navigate the app through natural conversation.

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The data invasion: How AI is changing sport from the Premier League to the local pitch

Somewhere in an NBA arena, a system noticed something. LeBron James was dipping his shoulder on left-side three-pointers. Not on the right. Not anywhere else. Only there. He hadn't known. Neither had his coaches. The AI had seen what none of them had.

It was not an isolated case.

“It’s definitely picking up. There’s the whole ‘Moneyball’ thinking about winning with data, a lot of teams are spending a lot of energy trying to use data to their advantage,” said Sander Christophersen, vice president of product at Veo, a Copenhagen-based AI sports analytics and broadcasting startup.

“We're seeing that the game is changing now. All the players obsess about their metrics.”

In an industry worth more than half a trillion dollars, the margins for error have always been small. AI is making them smaller.

Below, the Infinite Loop by Nebius explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping performance, strategy, and fan experiences across professional and amateur sports.

Leveling up the world’s best

One of the MVPs in AI sports solutions is Genius Sports, founded in 2000 and headquartered in London and New York. The company says its software is used by sports clubs around the world, including every team in the Premier League, the NBA, and the WNBA.

Matt Fleckenstein, the company’s chief product and technology officer, said coaches and players are becoming increasingly reliant on its AI performance analytics tools.

“Let’s say I want to see every time that the defense was in this particular shape, or every corner play that we ran right. [With Genius] you can quickly query all of this video,” he said.

“You can see these rich analytics about what happened on that play and what happens typically in those scenarios, so that you can strategize. Maybe Crystal Palace has an upcoming game against Bournemouth — it will help answer: ‘How should we line up? What's our best opportunity to exploit them off the corner?’”

The tools work at the individual level too. Fleckenstein said LeBron James used Genius Sports' software to identify a flaw in his shooting form that had gone undetected.

“He was dipping his shoulder when he was shooting from the left side of the floor, and he wasn't doing that anywhere else. He was only able to get at that rich data about his form right from our performance studio tool,” he said.

The beAIutiful game?

Until recently, the benefits of AI were only available to the pro teams with the deepest pockets. Now, thanks to changing economics in AI infrastructure and some clever engineering, it’s making its way down to the little leagues too.

Copenhagen-based Veo, which develops live streaming and AI analytics products for smaller teams, was launched after its cofounder Keld Reinicke was once late to one of his 10-year-old son’s football matches and missed his big moment.

“His kid scored a goal, and he wasn’t there to see it, and he was devastated by that,” said Christophersen.

Veo's technology automatically can pull analytics from match footage — tracking passes, shots on goal, and movement patterns — while simultaneously live streaming games for friends and family of the next generation of Lionel Messis to watch from anywhere.

Part of what made that shift possible is cost. “The price of compute is definitely a big thing. It’s now possible for us to have our own cluster running with our own GPUs, and bring the cost of training our AI models down,” said Christophersen.

But Veo’s success points to something the sports world is only beginning to reckon with. While making the pro experience available to more people, AI analytics may be threatening some of sport’s high-risk, high-drama highlights, like the long-range goal in football.

“If you look at games at a high level, you will see that there are no shots outside the box anymore. It's so rare. Back in the day, people would always take shots from outside the box,” said Christophersen. “Now they know that they will get berated by their coach after the game, for trying a low-xG (expected goal) option.”

150 hours a week, 24 cameras a stadium

The broadcast experience is changing too.

During NFL games, color-coded boxes now appear around the quarterbacks, showing which direction their pass is likely to get disrupted from, based on real-time AI analysis of live footage.

“Fan experiences like this require that the AI is very fast: that it's able to process footage dynamically and then render it in time for the three-second delay for broadcast,” explained Jason Corso, cofounder and chief science officer of Voxel51, a Michigan-based startup that develops a platform to maximize the performance of vision models that use huge amounts of data.

Genius Sports, across just the NBA, WNBA, and Premier League, films around 150 hours of live sport every week during peak season, with 24 cameras installed in each stadium, adding up to 3,600 hours of footage.

Crunching this quantity of data is only part of the challenge, Corso said. Live sport is unpredictable — a more eventful game generates more inference calls — and handling that volatility means that companies like Genius need two core things from cloud providers.

“How quickly can they burst their compute based on demand at any one time? And are their compute resources up to date? Do they have H200s, or B200s (Nvidia's later generation of AI chips)? That's been hard for cloud providers because it's expensive to keep building these data centers,” he said.

Corso added that many of Voxel51’s customers need cloud resources in their own territories, both to help stay compliant with local regulations like GDPR and to bring down inference costs of shipping data from one place to another with low latency.

Looking forward, Corso said that sports teams will begin using more real-time reinforcement learning to influence strategy midgame. Fleckenstein said AI will be used to create whole new augmented reality experiences in which fans can watch live games where digital twins of players are superimposed onto virtual environments.

What happens on the pitch still matters most. But increasingly, AI is shaping the game itself — who wins, what fans see, and whether the long-range shot is still worth attempting.

This story was produced by the Infinite Loop by Nebius and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday sharply limited the use of race in drawing electoral districts, in a decision that could reshape congressional maps nationwide and boost Republican prospects ahead of midterm elections.

In a 6–3 ruling split along ideological lines, the conservative-dominated court struck down a map that creates a second majority-Black district in Louisiana, finding it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander despite being drawn to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA).

The decision leaves the core of the VRA intact but narrows how it can be applied, and will be seen by civil rights activists as a blow to a landmark law that has already been weakened by previous rulings over the past decade.

Democracy Docket, a voting rights platform, said the ruling could help secure 27 extra Republican seats, cementing the party's control in the US House of Representatives "for at least a generation."

"Without racial protections, maps could be redrawn with almost no limits," the outlet reported.

It was not immediately clear how much the ruling will affect November's elections, with primaries already underway and legal challenges likely to delay any changes.

Republicans are nonetheless expected to push for new maps in states where time and the law permit.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that compliance with the VRA "could not justify" the use of race in this case, arguing that Section 2 of the act does not require states to draw districts primarily on racial lines.

"That map is an unconstitutional gerrymander, and its use would violate the plaintiffs' constitutional rights," he said, referring to the group of non-Black voters who brought the case.

The ruling marks a significant shift in how courts interpret the balance between preventing racial discrimination and adhering to constitutional guarantees of equal protection, raising the bar for when race can be considered in redistricting.

Both the majority ruling and the dissent were read from the bench, a rare move in the high court.

- Sweeping consequences -

Justice Elena Kagan warned that the decision would have sweeping consequences, saying it risked letting states "systematically dilute minority citizens' voting power" without legal redress.

The case centered on an electoral map redrawn after the 2020 Census to add a second district in which Black voters formed a majority, following court challenges that the previous map diluted minority voting strength.

That revised map was then challenged by a group of non-Black voters who argued it relied too heavily on race, setting up a clash between efforts to enforce voting rights protections and constitutional limits on race-based decision-making.

The Supreme Court ultimately sided with those challengers, concluding that the map crossed the line into unconstitutional racial sorting.

The implications could extend far beyond a single state. Legal analysts say the ruling may make it harder to create or maintain majority-minority districts -- a key tool used for decades to ensure representation for Black and other minority voters.

Such districts have often favored Democratic candidates, meaning the decision could give Republicans an advantage in closely contested House races in November.

"(It) is about the many other districts, particularly in the South, that in the last half-century have given minority citizens, and particularly African Americans, a meaningful political voice," Kagan said.

"After today, those districts exist only on sufferance, and probably not for long."

The case comes amid an intensifying national battle over redistricting, with both Republican- and Democratic-led states seeking to redraw boundaries in ways that could shift the balance of power in Congress.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act -- the provision at the center of the case -- was designed to prevent voting practices that dilute minority influence, even without explicit evidence of discrimination.

But the court's conservative majority has increasingly signaled discomfort with race-conscious remedies, suggesting they must have limits under what conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Black, described as a "color-blind" Constitution.

The ruling follows a series of decisions that have chipped away at the Voting Rights Act, including a 2013 judgment that struck down a key provision requiring federal oversight of election law changes in states with histories of discrimination.

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A centuries-old element of Britain's parliament came to an end on Wednesday as hereditary peers took their seats in the House of Lords for the final time.

The Labour government has axed the 92 spots in the unelected upper chamber reserved for peers who inherit their position as a member of an aristocratic family.

They held titles such as dukes, viscounts, and earls, and their presence in the Lords stretches back to the 15th century.

Lawmakers approved their departure last month and it took effect on Wednesday when the current parliamentary session ended ahead of local elections next week.

The speaker of the Lords, Michael Forsyth, paid tribute to those losing their seats.

"At the conclusion of this session, those noble lords who sit by virtue of hereditary peerages will cease to be members of this house," he said.

"On behalf of the house, I pay tribute to their distinguished service and offer them our sincere thanks."

Lesotho in southern Africa was the only other country in the world with a hereditary element in its legislature, according to the UK government.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's administration has called the reform "one of the biggest... in a generation".

The Lords comprises around 800 members, most of whom are appointed for life.

They include former MPs, typically appointed by departing prime ministers, along with people nominated after serving in prominent public- or private-sector roles. Senior Church of England clerics, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, also sit in the chamber.

Several existing hereditary peers were made life peers recently to allow them to continue to sit.

Former prime minister Tony Blair removed 600 hereditary peers in the late 1990s, but 92 were retained in what was supposed to be a temporary compromise.

The primary role of the upper chamber is to scrutinise the government.

It cannot override legislation sent from the elected House of Commons, but it can amend and delay bills and initiate new draft laws.

MPs and peers will return to parliament on May 13 for the King's Speech, when the government will lay out its legislative plans for the next year.

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Canada's central bank held its key lending rate at 2.25 percent on Wednesday, but warned it may need to act if inflation caused by the Middle East war persists.

The fallout from the US‑Israeli strikes on Iran has sent energy prices soaring. The impacts in Canada, a net oil exporter, have been more muted than in other regions, but prices at the pump are shooting up.

The Bank of Canada said it would continue "looking through the war's immediate impact on inflation," and would not raise rates in response to temporary oil price shocks.

But it added that it "will not let higher energy prices become persistent inflation," and said it was "ready to respond as needed."

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem told reporters: "The higher oil prices go, and the longer they're higher, the more likely it is that we'll have to raise rates."

But, he added, the bank's baseline forecast is that oil prices will come down. He said the bank will be closely watching to see if elevated energy costs trigger higher prices on other goods.

- Tariff uncertainty -

The rate pause marks the fourth consecutive hold for Canada's central bank, which has previously said it wants to stay on the sidelines for as long as possible while uncertainty hovers over the key forces shaping the economy.

Prior to the Middle East war, the main source of uncertainty was the future trading relationship with the United States.

President Donald Trump's sector-specific tariffs have hurt crucial parts of Canada's economy, particularly the auto, steel and aluminum sectors.

But more than 85 percent of cross-border trade has remained tariff-free thanks to the existing North American free trade agreement.

Revision talks on that deal are set to intensify. Trump has said the agreement is "irrelevant" to the United States.

His top trade officials have made clear that Washington wants substantial changes to the agreement that Trump signed and praised during his first term.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the United States will not dictate the terms of a new agreement.

Macklem said "uncertainty is unusually elevated," and that a deterioration in trade relations with the United States could force a rate cut.

"Monetary policy may need to be nimble. If the United States imposes significant new trade restrictions on Canada, we may need to cut the policy rate further to support economic growth," he told reporters in Ottawa.

CIBC said in a note that the central bank faces a "two-way risk" — an economy facing inflation pressure because of the war while also confronting "sluggish growth" that could soften further if trade with the United States faces additional levies.

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Dissident guerrillas from Colombia's defunct FARC rebel army took responsibility for a bomb attack that killed 21 people, claiming a "tactical error" during an electoral campaign marked by a surge in violence.

The devastating explosion on a highway in the southwestern Cauca department injured another 56 people and was the biggest single loss of life since FARC blew up a Bogota nightclub in 2003, killing 36 people.

Coming a month before presidential elections on May 31, the attack fueled fears that violence is on the rise once again, 10 years after FARC agreed to disarm after a half-century of conflict with the state.

The dissident FARC offshoot Central General Command (EMC) took responsibility for the attack, stating late on Tuesday that the incident had occurred during clashes with the army and had resulted from "errors" in the group's military manoeuvres.

The EMC is led by Ivan Mordisco, Colombia's most-wanted criminal suspect.

It broke away from FARC when the latter laid down arms in a historic peace accord in 2016.

"With profound sorrow, we must assume political responsibility for this tactical error, which has no justification whatsoever," the statement read.

A military source told AFP that the guerrillas had set up a checkpoint on the road to ambush soldiers.

Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said the reprisal had followed military pressure after peace negotiations between left-wing President Gustavo Petro and Mordisco.

Colombian police on Tuesday captured Jose Vitonco, an alleged leader of a local rebel group with links to Mordisco and who police said was the "main person responsible" for the attack in Cauca.

Petro has called the incident a "terrorist" attack and asserts that it was an attempt to sabotage the elections, in which he is barred from running for a second term.

His party's candidate Ivan Cepeda is leading in the polls, trailed by rightwing candidates Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia.

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(The Center Square) — The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map Wednesday, ruling that the state relied too heavily on race when it created a second majority-Black district.

The 6-3 ruling means Louisiana’s current map, known as SB8, cannot be used as drawn. The decision sends the case back to a lower court and sets the stage for yet another round of congressional redistricting in a state that has spent years fighting over its political boundaries. 

At the center of the case was Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, which lawmakers redrew to connect Black voters from Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and Shreveport. The district stretched across much of the state and was designed to have a Black voting-age population above 50%.

According to the opinion, there are only two “compelling interests” that allow a state to discriminate based on race: avoiding imminent and serious threats to safety in prisons and remedying specific, identified instances of past discrimination that violated the Constitution or a statute.

The court said compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can also provide a compelling interest in some redistricting cases. But the majority said that applies only when the law actually requires the state to use race to fix a voting-rights violation.

Lawmakers created the district after a separate federal court found that Louisiana’s previous map likely violated the Voting Rights Act because it included only one majority-Black district, even though about one-third of the state’s population is Black.

But the new map quickly drew another lawsuit. Opponents argued the state had gone too far in the other direction by using race as the main factor in drawing the district. 

The Supreme Court agreed, meaning Louisiana will again have to redraw its congressional lines, likely closer to the map lawmakers approved in 2022, which included one majority-Black district centered around New Orleans. 

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said Louisiana’s effort to comply with the earlier Voting Rights Act ruling was “understandable,” but still unconstitutional.

The court said the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create a second majority-Black district, so the state had no strong enough legal reason to use race in that way. This is where the Supreme Court disagreed with the earlier federal court ruling in the Robinson case, which had found that Louisiana’s previous map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

“In sum, because the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating SB8,” Alito wrote. 

That part of the decision could make it harder to bring successful Voting Rights Act challenges in redistricting cases.

Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. Kagan argued the majority had weakened one of the central protections of the Voting Rights Act and made it easier for states to dilute minority voting power.