The Princeton Gerrymandering Project described the map, which would eliminate two of the few Republican-held districts while adding one for Democrats in 2022, as “very uncompetitive.” Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing congressional district lines in a way that would benefit one political party over the other. The Illinois Democrats’ embrace of the practice now to maintain their stronghold in the state is a step away from the larger party’s criticism of Republican gerrymandering, and some are accusing them of hypocrisy, the AP reported....

Representative Darren Bailey, who has represented Illinois’ 109th district since January 2019, took a stand against the proposed face mask requirement before it was called for a vote Wednesday, and again after it had passed. When asked if he would comply with the new rule, Bailey told his colleagues, “I will not.” The rule proposed in the House Wednesday required all members of the House, as well as their staff and others present, to wear a facial covering over the nose and mouth “to the extent medically able and except as reasonably necessary for eating or drinking” when convening for a special session....

After surgery, you may be told to let your nurse know if you pass gas. A child may be told that the nurse would like to know if they “toot” or “fart," which may cause some giggles. Why focus on passing gas? It’s simple. If you can pass gas, it means you aren’t developing a condition called post-operative ileus (POI). A POI means your intestines are not moving food through your body properly....

While it’s difficult to fathom in the midst of these storms, funding for disaster relief has become increasingly political. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, federal legislators have taken hundreds of votes against storm recovery funding—even as Americans are facing more climate disasters than ever before. In the era of extreme partisanship we’re living through, what was once a standard government response to crises is becoming less and less predictable....

“Guillermo Ochoa! Carlos Salcedo!” With a huge amount of visiting Costa Rican fans already in the stadium early for security measures, the home teams’ supporters were eager to make their voices heard as well, and shout down the Ticos. Each name was greeted with a huge shout. “Nestor Araujo! Hector Moreno! Miguel Layun!” Layun, a former Club America player who helped the team win two titles in the Azteca, received an enormous ovation....

Asians around the world worry about increasing racial discrimination and hate crime, yet many protesters in Hong Kong insist on calling it the “Chinese coronavirus.” As the coronavirus has spread throughout the world, many have disagreed on just how we should refer to it. Some people, including President of the United States Donald Trump, insist on calling it the “Chinese coronavirus” or the “Wuhan virus.” Critics claim that attaching such a prefix to its name may trigger a surge of anti-Asian hate crime, and people all over the world have indeed shared their accounts of racist encounters that were clearly emboldened by the outbreak....

Rhonda lies trembling on the operating table as her cardiologist presses a small sensing device against her tiny chest. An ultrasound image of Rhonda’s wildly thumping heart flashes onto a video monitor, and a computer quickly outlines the direction of blood flow in bright reds and blues. At the top of the video screen a turbulent splotch of colors spreads toward the heart’s aortic valve. “It’s a lesion,” the doctor sighs, as the computer begins analyzing the heart defect....

News accounts described a daring midnight raid to snatch the suspect as he hid out in Pakistan. The public was left to imagine men in black dangling from helicopters and Harrison Ford racing to the rescue. The true story says more about the difficult task of tracking down terrorists in the real world. There was plenty of intrigue, but much of it was between the FBI and the CIA. Courage mattered, but not as much as cash, and the most elaborate planning could not eliminate some exasperating snafus....

Biden claimed victory days after the election, an achievement for the party that was four years in the making. Part of Biden’s victory is credited to progressive members of the party casting ballots for a candidate that wasn’t their first—or even second—choice, and now they’re expecting something in return. “Given the fact that younger progressives, in particular, Latinos and African Americans, will be responsible for a Biden election victory, he’ll have no choice but to follow for their agendas,” said Thomas Whalen, Boston University political historian and author....

The Bush administration has not had a permanent envoy assigned to the conflict since it drafted the Roadmap in 2003, and the results have been telling. Although the plan called for a halt to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank—the heart of the future Palestinian state—the Jewish population there has since grown by nearly 20 percent, according to Israeli government data. In the past year, the number of West Bank settlers increased 5....

The image was put together using data collected by the eROSITA X-ray telescope aboard the joint Russian-German space observatory Spektr-RG (SRG) over the course of 182 days, completing its first full sweep of the sky. The map contains more than one million objects—about double the number of X-ray sources identified in all previous telescope surveys combined. “This all-sky image completely changes the way we look at the energetic universe,” Peter Predehl, the Principal Investigator of eROSITA at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), said in a statement....

Most of the rest of America still hasn’t tuned in to the presidential campaign. CNN’s cablecasts of last week’s “town hall” candidate forums at Dartmouth College drew fewer viewers than “Dawson’s Creek” reruns. But, exempting the upcoming holiday seasons, there are a scant eight campaign weeks until the nomination race actually begins. And in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, the pace is intense. The candidates are thick upon the ground and, increasingly, in ads on local television....

Describing the thrilling victory at Bengaluru, captain Chhetri termed it as a cumulative effort of the Blue Tigers . The Secunderabad-born player stated that the squad was thrashed by the boss at the half-time whistle following a shoddy performance on the field. However, Sunil added that his side bounced back hard in the latter half to put one on the score-board and applauded each one for their contribution. ‘‘I have played for the national team for the last 12 years and this is, by far, one of the best performance....

As recently as a decade ago, overseas Indians were viewed either as cash cows to be milked or as traitors who’d taken their highly subsidized educations and abandoned the motherland to get rich abroad. That disapproval was reflected in a play on words that turned NRI, or nonresident Indian, into “not required Indian.” But as India has evolved from agrarian torpor to high-tech vibrancy in recent years, the newly self-confident country has also begun to re-evaluate its relationship with its expatriates....

“We’re working for a victory. In football there are no impossible missions. Our opponents are very strong with experience. We are going to fight every moment, for the results.” said Norton, India kick off the mega-event on October 6 against USA. “They work very well. They are doing a fantastic job for 20 years. They have experience, which is a very important in this competition.” Norton commented on USA....

While terbutaline is what is pharmacologically called a Beta 2 Agonist and is often used in asthma and respiratory conditions for instantaneous relief, it is also one of the banned substances listed by the World Doping Agency. It is alleged to increase performance in athletes by increasing blood flow to muscles but conclusive evidence for the same is still lacking. It is usually inhaled but in the goalkeeper’s case, it was taken as part of a cough syrup (one of the rare uses of terbutaline)....

However, there were several roadblocks and the availability of the Kanteerava Stadium was one of the main issues. The Department of Youth Services and Sports, Government of Karnataka had informed the Sun Group and representatives from IMG-Reliance, who are the commercial and marketing partners of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), of the stadium being available only on Sundays. Thereafter, there was an announcement of a technical tie-up between Sun Group and JSW’s Bengaluru FC, who plied their trade in the I-League, the country’s premier division....

Protests erupted in the Indian state of Kashmir after details emerged Wednesday concerning the death of Irfan Ahmad Dar, a 23-year-old shopkeeper. Dar’s family accused police officers of torturing Dar to death after they arrested him at his store Tuesday afternoon, NDTV reported. The government moved to snap mobile internet in Sopore, Dar’s hometown, to prevent the spread of more protests, the Hindustan Times reported. Demonstrations had broken out as relatives and neighbors gathered to mourn Dar, with protesters shouting slogans against police officers and denouncing their actions, according to NDTV....