Voting Maps Can’t Be Challenged as Too Partisan, Top Court Says

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution doesn’t let judges throw out voting maps for being too partisan, dividing along ideological lines in decisions that could bolster Republicans in the 2020 elections, Bloomberg News reports. 

More information is available on the Bloomberg Terminal. 

Developing…

Ocasio-Cortez says debate reminded her of high school class where some students didn’t do their homework

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the first debate of Democratic presidential hopefuls reminded her of a high school classroom where some students didn’t do their homework.

In an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Ocasio-Cortez would not specify which of the ten candidates she thought didn’t do their homework.

The New York congresswoman, who received a hero’s welcome from the audience during the live broadcast, said she thought Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro and Cory Booker were able to breakaway from the pack.

Ocasio-Cortez said she thought all the Spanish spoken during the debate was “humorous” and a good gesture toward the diversity of the country. She said the debate lacked serious discussion of climate change.

Colbert noted that Jeff Stein, a Washington Post reporter, tweeted during the debate that he thought Ocasio-Cortez was winning the debate, given the left-leaning responses from the candidates.

Watch the segment:

Natural-gas prices extend climb after a smaller-than-expected weekly climb in U.S. supplies

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 98 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 21. The average forecast of analysts polled by S&P Global Platts had called for an increase of 100 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.301 trillion cubic feet, up 236 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 171 billion below the five-year average, the government said. August natural gas NGQ19, +2.91% traded at $2.315 per million British thermal units, up 4.7 cents, or 2.1%, from Wednesday’s settlement. It was trading at $2.302 before the data.

Shaw Communication Turns To Profit In Q3

Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR_B.TO,SJR, SJR_A.TO) reported that its net income for the third quarter was C$229 million or C$0.44 per share, compared to a net loss of C$99 million or C$0.20 per share in the prior year.

The prior year results have been restated applying IFRS 15 and also reflect a change in accounting policy related to the treatment of digital cable terminals to record them as property, plant and equipment rather than inventory upon acquisition.

Consolidated revenue increased by 2.7% to C$1.32 billion from last year.

Supreme Court blocks Trump administration on census citizenship question

Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc on Thursday to reject the Trump administration’s justification for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, sending the matter back to the Commerce Department for further explanation and review.

The decision blocks the addition of a citizenship question for now, but appeared to leave open the possibility that the administration could make another attempt to add it. The Census Bureau is poised to print the 2020 census forms in the next few days, making addition of the question potentially impossible.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

tk

Supreme Court rules against allowing citizenship question on Census for now

The Supreme Court ruled that there was "a disconnect between the decision made and the explanation given" on adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, and therefore a district court was correct in remanding to the agency. "Reasoned decisionmaking under the Administrative Procedure Act calls for an explanation for agency action. What was provided here was more of a distraction," the court ruled. The court also said the Enumeration Clause permits Congress, and by extension the Commerce Secretary, to inquire about citizenship.

IBM gains unconditional EU approval for $34 billion Red Hat deal

• IBM is looking to the deal, its biggest to date, to expand its subscription-based software offerings.

U.S. tech giant International Business Machines Corp on Thursday won unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $34 billion acquisition of software company Red Hat.

IBM is looking to the deal, its biggest to date, to expand its subscription-based software offerings to counter falling software sales and declining demand for mainframe servers.

The European Commission said in a statement that it had concluded the transaction would raise no competition concerns. Reuters reported on June 19 that the deal would get the go-ahead.

Honduras schools, hospitals 'falling apart' from lack of funding

Ninety percent of public schools in the country are facing an infrastructure crisis and hospitals are turning away patients.

In Honduras, troops have been sent to confront protesting teachers and doctors who say public schools and hospitals are literally falling apart.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez announced the nationwide deployment of military forces last week as two months of protests intensified.

As Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo reports from San Pedro Sula, demonstrators in the city are demanding the president reverse his decrees for privatisation of public services.