Ohio voters reject Issue 1 in major victory for abortion rights backers

Eurovision Song Contest stars reject calls for Israel boycott

LONDON — A group of artists set to compete in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest said Friday they “do not feel comfortable being silent” in light of the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of heeding growing calls for a boycott of the music competition over Israel’s participation.

The joint statement — from the entrants who will represent Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — comes a little more than a month before this year’s edition of the pop extravaganza in May. The competition is being held in the Swedish city of Malmo, which said earlier this month that it was prepared for possible protests.

The presence of Israel, which is competing with the song “Hurricane” by Eden Golan, has loomed over the buildup to the competition and fueled calls for the country to be kicked out of the contest. However, the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the event, has allowed Israel to participate after changing the title and lyrics of its entry, which were originally deemed to violate the contest’s rules about remaining nonpolitical.

“We want to begin by acknowledging the privilege of taking part in Eurovision. In light of the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in Gaza, and in Israel, we do not feel comfortable being silent,” the artists’ joint statement said. “It is important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages. We stand united against all forms of hate, including antisemitism and islamophobia.”

The statement added: “We firmly believe in the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections. We feel that it is our duty to create and uphold this space, with a strong hope that it will inspire greater compassion and empathy.”

The statement came a day after an open letter by a group of LGBTQ+ artists, musicians, writers and activists called on British entrant Olly Alexander to boycott the competition.

Alexander has had international success as part of the band Years & Years, and is among the most high-profile acts at this year’s competition. BBC, the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster, which chooses the British entry, distanced itself from the letter.

“These are the views of Olly Alexander. He is not speaking for the BBC,” it said in a statement.

The group of more than 450 artists and activists under the banner Queers for Palestine had posted the open letter Thursday saying “We ask you to heed the Palestinian call to withdraw from Eurovision.” The group accused the EBU of “providing cultural cover and endorsement for the catastrophic violence that Israel has unleashed on Palestinians.”

Alexander also posted his own response Friday to the Queers for Palestine letter. “As a participant I’ve taken a lot of time to deliberate over what to do and the options available to me. It is my current belief that removing myself from the contest wouldn’t bring us any closer to our shared goal,” he said.

Irish entry Bambie Thug, who uses they/them pronouns, added a further statement posted on their Instagram account, “As an Irish person with a shared history of occupation and a queer individual, I cannot and will not remain silent.”

Saying they were aware of calls to withdraw from the contest, Bambie Thug said that “stepping back now would mean one less pro-Palestinian voice at the contest. My heart and solidarity has and always will lie with the oppressed, and I remain committed to supporting and using my platform to raise awareness and advocate for change.”

The EBU said in a statement: “We understand that these artists wish to make their voices heard in a call for peace. All of us working on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest are mindful of the strong feelings and opinions surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East. We have all been impacted by the images, stories and the unquestionable pain suffered by those caught up in this devastating war.”

The Israeli broadcaster KAN declined to comment and the Israeli Culture and Sports Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on Friday.

When announcing the revised Israeli entry earlier this month, a KAN spokesperson cited Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s desire to have the nation compete in Eurovision. “The president emphasized that at this time in particular, when those who hate us seek to push aside and boycott the state of Israel from every stage, Israel must sound its voice with pride and its head high and raise its flag in every world forum, especially this year.”

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Austrian police given small gifts after protecting Russian Embassy, told to reject them in future

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian police officers who provided security around the Russian Embassy on the day of that country’s presidential election were given small presents as they left, Vienna police said Tuesday. Police were told to reject such gifts in the future.

Receiving the gifts from the Russians — paper bags containing low-value items such as calendars and boxes of chocolates — didn’t constitute misconduct under the service law for Austrian civil servants, the Vienna police department said in an email responding to questions about local media’s reporting on the issue.

But it “leaves an unwanted impression that does not do justice to the professional approach of the officers at the scene,” the department added. This, it said, was pointed out to officers and they were instructed to “reject in a friendly but firm way such courtesies, even if only of a low value, in the future.”

Russians living abroad stood in line to vote at Russian embassies and consulates in several European cities on March 17, the last day of the highly orchestrated presidential election that gave Vladimir Putin another six-year term.

A few days earlier, the Austrian government had announced that it was ordering two diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Vienna to leave the country, and an official said the expulsions were related to spying activities.

Vienna police were posted to protect the embassy on March 17. The police department said that officers were in contact with embassy employees and occasionally entered the building.

The Austria Press Agency reported that, after the last voters left the embassy that evening, at least six officers from the police and another department followed, at least three of them carrying gift bags with a Russian emblem. According to the report, one officer said police went in and out of the building to use the toilets.

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Ohio voters reject Issue 1 in major victory for abortion rights backers

Ohio voters reject Issue 1 in major victory for abortion rights backers – CBS News

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Ohio voters on Tuesday definitively rejected a closely watched proposal known as Issue 1 that would’ve made it more difficult to amend the state constitution, delivering a crucial victory to pro-abortion rights supporters ahead of a November vote on enshrining reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution. The Associated Press projects the proposed constitutional amendment failed to garner the majority support it needed to pass.

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In a win for abortion-rights supporters, Ohio voters reject Issue 1

Groups opposing Issue 1 spent nearly $15.9 million on ads, almost all of it coming from a single group — One Person One Vote — according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. Groups urging a “yes” vote spent a combined $10.7 million on ads.

The measure on the ballot Tuesday didn’t explicitly mention abortion, but reproductive rights groups maintained for months that it was designed to make it more difficult for voters to pass their own proposed amendment in November.

Those groups repeatedly accused Republicans in the state of hypocrisy over their decision to schedule the August election at all.

In January, Ohio Republicans enacted a law that effectively scrubbed August special elections from the state’s calendar, with several GOP legislators calling them expensive, low-turnout endeavors that weren’t worth the trouble.

But months later, as reproductive rights groups moved closer to placing their own proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot, state Republicans reversed themselves and scheduled the August election.

Then, in June, local news outlets published a video of Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose — a candidate for the Senate — acknowledging that the purpose of the summertime ballot measure was “100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution.”

Groups opposing the measure also frequently emphasized how passing it Tuesday would have marked a major change to the constitutional amendment process: State law has required only a simple majority to pass constitutional amendments since 1912. Several former Republican officeholders, including four GOP ex-governors, publicly opposed the measure.

The proposed 60% threshold would almost certainly have complicated the prospects to pass the proposed November amendment.

Public polling has found that about 59% of Ohio voters support including abortion rights in the state constitution — just shy of the newly proposed higher threshold.

Instead, Ohio becomes the latest red state — following ones like Kentucky and Kansas — where abortion-rights advocates have won a ballot measure battle in the year since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling.

Adam Edelman

Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News.

Bridget Bowman contributed.

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Voting rights groups urge court to reject Alabama’s new congressional map

Civil rights groups are fighting Alabama’s redrawn congressional districts, arguing that state Republicans did not follow federal court orders to create a district fair to Black voters.

The plaintiffs in the high-profile redistricting case filed a written objection Friday to oppose Alabama’s new redistricting plan. They accused state Republicans of flouting a judicial mandate to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” and enacting a map that continues to discriminate against Black voters in the state.

A special three-judge panel in 2022 blocked use of the the state’s existing districts and said any new congressional map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority” or something close. That panel’s decision was appealed by the state but upheld in June in a surprise ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which concurred that having only one Black-majority district out of seven — in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated federal law.

The plaintiffs in the case, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other groups, asked the three-judge panel to step in and draw new lines for the state.

“Alabama’s new congressional map ignores this court’s preliminary injunction order and instead perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation that was the very reason that the Legislature redrew the map,” lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case wrote.

The new map enacted by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature maintained one-majority Black district but boosted the percentage of Black voters in the majority-white 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, from about 30% to 39.9%

Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case wrote Friday that the revamped district “does not provide Black voters a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in any but the most extreme situations.” They accused state Republicans of ignoring the courts’ directive to prioritize a district that would stay under GOP control “pleasing national leaders whose objective is to maintain the Republican Party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Alabama has maintained the new plan complies with the Voting Rights Act, and state leaders are wagering that the panel will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals to the Supreme Court. Republicans argued that the map meets the court’s directive and draws compact districts that comply with redistricting guidelines.

The state must file its defense of the map by Aug. 4. The three judges have scheduled an Aug. 14 hearing in the case as the fight over the map shifts back to federal court.

The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Alabama’s new map is a “brazen defiance” of the courts.

“The result is a shameful display that would have made George Wallace—another Alabama governor who defied the courts—proud,” Holder said in a statement.

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UPDATE 1-Putin says Russia does not reject talks with Ukraine

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July 29 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that an African initiative could be a basis for peace in Ukraine but that Ukrainian attacks made it hard to realise.

He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg on Friday and hearing their calls for Moscow to move ahead with their plan.

“There are provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented,” he said. “But there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement.”

Reuters reported in June that African mediation in the conflict could begin with confidence-building measures followed by a cessation of hostilities agreement accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West.

Putin said that one of the points in the initiative was a ceasefire. “But the Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation… We cannot cease fire when we are under attack.”

On the question of starting peace talks, he said, “We did not reject them… In order for this process to begin, there needs to be agreement on both sides.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire now that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war. (Reporting by Reuters Editing by Alistair Bell)

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