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The North Carolina Senate approved a new set of voting maps yesterday that all but guarantee the state will gain Republican representation in next year鈥檚 midterm election. It鈥檚 part of a White House-led effort to secure as many GOP seats as possible ahead of an election Democrats hope could return them to power in the U.S. House. Twice as many Republican-led states as Democratic-led ones are scheduled to debate redrawn maps this year.

Azerbaijan lifted聽all restrictions on cargo transit to聽Armenia聽鈥� a sign that peace between the neighbors is 鈥渘o longer on paper, but in practice,鈥� President Ilham Aliyev said. Transit had been banned for nearly four decades amid conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. A spokeswoman for the Armenian government praised the move as a step toward 鈥渋nstitutionalizing the peace established鈥� in a U.S.-brokered agreement in August.

EU energy ministers approved a plan to phase out all Russian energy imports by 2028. The European Union likes to act unanimously, both as a symbol of unity and to prevent divisions. Monday鈥檚 decision came over the objections of Hungary and Slovakia, which import Russian oil and are among the bloc鈥檚 most pro-Russian voices. The goal is twofold: sanctioning Russia and building energy independence. France and Belgium are among those still importing Russian gas.

National Guard legal cases loom for the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a brief arguing that the justices should not hear a Trump administration challenge to a lower court ruling barring National Guard deployment in the state. Later that day, a panel of appeals court judges said President Trump can deploy the National Guard in Portland. The Oregon attorney general has urged the full appeals court to review the decision.

The new $100,000 fee聽for highly skilled workers that President Trump announced last month won鈥檛 apply to those already in the U.S. or recent college grads on F-1 visas, according to the latest guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, representing 300,000 businesses, sued last week over the H-1B visa fee. See聽today鈥檚 story聽on where talent shut out by the U.S. may go instead.

Georgia utility regulators began debating an extensive addition to the state鈥檚 power grid as the state leads the nation in new AI data centers. About 80% of the additional 10 gigawatts requested by Georgia Power, the utility, would serve new data centers around Atlanta. The state鈥檚 public utility commission must balance business interests with rapidly rising costs for consumers 鈥� echoing a national debate over the power demands of Big Data.

Local newspapers continued to close across the U.S. this year, according to a new report by Northwestern University鈥檚 journalism school. Nearly 40% of local newspapers have shuttered in the past 20 years, leaving 50 million Americans with little or no access to a local news source. Some 300 outlets, mostly digital-only, have launched in the last five years to fill that gap, but most are concentrated in urban areas. Thirty-nine states now have fewer than 1,000 journalists.

鈥� From our staff writers around the world

When Donald Trump hiked the cost of H-1B visas, Indian professionals looked to be the hardest hit. But with the West shunning immigrants, India may also be the beneficiary of the new pool of job seekers.

Individual Israelis and professional organizations are feeling increasingly isolated internationally as the world focuses on severe Palestinian suffering in Gaza. But do boycotts of academic and artistic institutions further the cause of peace?

Pittsburgh, once known as a center of the steel industry, now wants to be a hub for the kind of artificial intelligence that makes a difference in peoples' daily lives. What happens here could produce innovations that affect the economy on a broader scale.

As schools combat chronic absenteeism, one solution gaining traction is offering elective courses that are too interesting to skip. The result is a better attitude toward school 鈥� and toward the rest of the subjects in it.

The immersive new 鈥�1929鈥� benefits from journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin鈥檚 meticulous archival research and his access to documents never before available, including the board notes from the New York Federal Reserve.

Despite being Asia鈥檚 oldest continuous democracy, Japan has been far behind the region鈥檚 other countries in electing a woman leader. That changed Tuesday when Takaichi Sanae, a conservative in Japan鈥檚 long-dominant party, became the nation鈥檚 first female prime minister.

Despite the ceiling-busting triumph, however, this former drummer in a heavy-metal band got off on the wrong foot with a comment that helps explain why so few Japanese women enter politics or buck a cultural norm that sees women primarily as caregivers.

In a speech, Ms. Takaichi asked everyone to 鈥渨ork like a horse,鈥� and then added, 鈥淚 myself will cast aside the idea of 鈥榳ork-life balance鈥�. I鈥檒l work, work, work, work, and work.鈥�

While perseverance is a highly admired trait in Japan 鈥� and helped her in becoming head of the world鈥檚 fourth-largest economy 鈥� public reaction forced her to clarify that she was speaking only about members of the Liberal Democratic Party like herself. If anything, the new prime minister wants to assist homemakers, who are mainly women, and make it easier for them to balance homelife and work.

She pledges to designate homemaking services as an official occupation worthy of tax deductions. In addition, she wants to expand support for women鈥檚 health 鈥渟o that men can properly understand when women are struggling, whether at school or in the workplace.鈥�

In a country with a weak feminist movement, Japan has made only sporadic advances for women to enter politics since World War II. Leaders who have won women鈥檚 votes often found success by appealing to the everyday interests of women. A good example is the three-term governor of Tokyo, Koike Yuriko, who also served as Japan鈥檚 first female minister of defense. Her family-friendly policies, such as free day care for preschool children, helped elevate the number of women in the city鈥檚 assembly to 41 out of 127 in a June election. That is an unusually high proportion in any of Japan鈥檚 political bodies.

When women take part in politics, Irie Nobuko, a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member, told Kyodo News, 鈥淩eal-life concerns 鈥� such as childcare, nursing, and education 鈥� are brought to the forefront. A truly inclusive society must consider both male and female perspectives.鈥�

For her part, Tokyo鈥檚 Governor Koike entered politics simply 鈥渂ecause of my ideas and principles,鈥� she wrote in a 2010 article for Harvard International Review. 鈥淲e deal not only with women鈥檚 issues but also with defense and economics 鈥� all the topics that concern the administration of the nation, just like any male member of Parliament.鈥�