Utah’s Supreme Court rejects appeal to overturn congressional map

Utah’s Supreme Court rejected on Friday an appeal by Republican lawmakers and left in place a congressional map that gives Democrats a high chance of picking up one of the state’s four Republican-held U.S. House seats in the fall.

In the order signed by Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant, the court explained that they do not have “jurisdiction over Legislative Defendants’ appeal.”

The lawmakers had appealed a decision in November in which a Utah judge adopted a congressional map creating a Democratic-leaning district over one poised to protect all four of the state’s U.S. House seats held by Republicans.

The map keeps Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, instead of dividing the heavily Democratic population center among all four districts, as was previously the case.

Republicans have argued the court does not have legal authority to enact a map that wasn’t approved by the Legislature.

Utah’s Republican Senate President Stuart Adams pushed back on the ruling, saying the “chaos continues.”

At least 5 are killed in a string of avalanches

At least five people have been killed in a string of avalanches in western Austria, authorities said Saturday.

The government office of the Tyrol region said intense snowfall over the last week led to accumulations of up to 5 feet. Combined with windy conditions and weak snowpack below, the conditions were especially susceptible to avalanches, it said.

Tyrol police said five off-piste skiers were caught up in a nearly 490-yard-wide avalanche Friday afternoon in the St. Anton am Arlberg area at an altitude of about 6,500 feet.

An American and a Pole were among the five recovered dead after the avalanche, and a 21-year-old Austrian died of injuries after being rushed to hospital, police said.

Dozens of mountain-rescue team members, ambulance and fire department staffers, as well as several dog squads, were deployed for the operation.

Opposition activists are among 1,557 prisoners set for release

At least 1,557 people held in Venezuela for political reasons have submitted their applications under an amnesty bill that was signed into law this week and are expected to be released from prison, authorities said Saturday.

Thursday’s measure is expected to benefit opposition members, activists, human rights defenders, journalists and many others detained for months or even years.

Its approval marked a reversal for Venezuelan authorities, who for decades have denied holding any political prisoners. It follows last month’s stunning U.S. military raid in the country’s capital, Caracas, to capture then-President Nicolás Maduro.

The new law excludes those convicted of homicide, drug trafficking, serious human rights violations and military rebellion.

Pakistan says it struck militant hideouts after surge in deadly attacks

Pakistan said early Sunday it carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan, targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants it blames for recent attacks inside the country.

Islamabad did not say in precisely which areas the strikes were carried out or provide other details. There was no immediate comment from Kabul, and reports on social media suggested the strikes were carried out inside Afghanistan.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted what he described as “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and its affiliates. He said an affiliate of the Islamic State group was also targeted in the border region.

— Denver Post wire services