First Run News

A lawyer from the Toronto area on Sunday became the first nonwhite leader of a major political party in Canada. The New Democratic Party gave Jagmeet Singh, a son of Indian immigrants and a Sikh, a resounding victory. Mr. Singh, who wears a turban and garments associated with his faith, is a member of Ontario’s provincial legislature. He had no experience in federal politics and entered the party’s leadership contest relatively late. Even so, he won 53.6 percent of the votes cast by party members.

SAN FRANCISCO — Under intensifying scrutiny from federal investigators and the public, Facebook said on Sunday that it planned to turn over more than 3,000 Russian-linked advertisements to congressional investigators on Monday. The decision, which comes after a week of scathing calls from Congress for details about Facebook’s advertising system, is the latest attempt by a major technology company to disclose the scope of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Last week, Mark Zuckerberg, the c

WASHINGTON — A recent major exercise by the Russian military revealed significant strides in its ability to conduct the sort of complex, large-scale operations, using drones and other new technology, that would be part of any all-out war with the United States in Europe, according to American and allied officials. Preliminary Pentagon and NATO assessments of the exercise, one of the largest of its kind since the end of the Cold War, are classified and will take months to complete.

Catalonia, the restive northeastern region that is Spain’s economic powerhouse, is attempting to vote on Sunday in an independence referendum. In defiance of Spanish authorities, thousands of Catalans turned out to vote early Sunday. Some had slept overnight at polling stations to make sure the police could not close them. The central government in Madrid, with the support of Spanish courts, says the vote is unconstitutional and should be suspended.

BARCELONA, Spain — At some point on Sunday afternoon, as riot police officers forced their way into polling places all over the city, the Moisès Broggi high school in Barcelona became a fortress. The volunteers overseeing the school’s defense ranged in age from 13 to 17, and represented a number of adolescent tribes, among them hippies, punks and a subset of girls with long, dark hair who called themselves “the smokers.” The older boys wrapped their bicycle locks around the front gate, and braced it with a barricade of wooden benches.

BARCELONA, Spain — Catalonia’s defiant attempt to stage an independence referendum descended into chaos on Sunday, with hundreds injured in clashes with police in one of the gravest tests of Spain’s democracy since the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s. National police officers in riot gear, sent by the central government in Madrid from other parts of Spain, used rubber bullets and truncheons in some places as they fanned out across Catalonia, the restive northeastern region, to shut down polling stations and seize bal

WASHINGTON — As Democrats warily prepare to negotiate an immigration deal with President Trump, they face an unexpected political foe: many of the 800,000 young, undocumented immigrants threatened with deportation whom they are championing. The pressure from some immigrant activists to reject any compromise that would tighten border security has frustrated Democratic leaders, who recognize the political risks of being labeled the party of open borders — a potentially lethal tag as they seek to regain support from working-class voters across the Midwest. Fearful of concessions to Mr.

WASHINGTON — How egregiously can a majority party gerrymander a political map before it violates the Constitution? The Supreme Court has tried to answer that question for 30 years.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, which was short-handed and slumbering for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, is returning to the bench on Monday with a far-reaching docket that renews its central role in American life. The new term is studded with major cases likely to provoke sharp conflicts. One of them, on political gerrymandering, has the potential to reshape American politics.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, which was short-handed and slumbering for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, is returning to the bench on Monday with a far-reaching docket that renews its central role in American life. The new term is studded with major cases likely to provoke sharp conflicts. One of them, on political gerrymandering, has the potential to reshape American politics.