WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an emergency request by the Trump administration to force California election officials to set aside mail-in ballots from approximately 20,000 registered voters suspected by federal authorities of being noncitizens, delivering a setback to the administration just one day before the November midterm elections. “The application for injunction pending appeal presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied,” said the court. Earlier Monday, the Trump administration appealed to the nation’s highest court, asking justices to intervene in the escalating legal dispute and prevent the ballots from being counted before their eligibility was established.

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MONTREAL (AP) - Seven Montreal police employees have been dismissed over allegations of racist and discriminatory behavior, a report said Monday. Citing a press conference, CBC News said Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher announced the administrative dismissals. He said two people were fired from Station 21 and five from Station 39. The firings followed an internal disciplinary investigation, while separate criminal probes are still ongoing, Dagher said, adding that any decision on charges rests with Crown prosecutors.

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BEIJING (Xinhua) - China and Russia on Tuesday vowed to deepen their military ties during a meeting between their top defense officials in Beijing. Visiting Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov held talks with Gen. Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission. Zhang said China-Russia relations have entered a “new stage of more substantive engagement and faster development, playing a constructive role in maintaining global strategic stability and improving global governance.”

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GENEVA (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross was hosting on Tuesday representatives from over 100 countries in Geneva for discussions on bolstering respect for international law at a time of rampant abuses. The issue is pressing, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric told the gathering, warning that the so-called laws of war were increasingly being trampled on even as the globe grapples with over 130 armed conflicts — its highest number since World War II. “We are living through an age of fading restraint, where the rules are too often ignored, rejected or used to justify violations,” she warned.

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PRAGUE (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters, including university students and artists, took to the streets in Prague and other cities on Tuesday as Czech public television and radio workers held a one-day strike against a government plan to cut financing and move funding to the state budget. Workers and demonstrators called the plan an attempt to hurt the broadcasters’ independence and viability, and they demanded that the government scrap the planned reform. The strike also led to broadcast curbs. The strike escalates a fight over the future of the broadcasters that a 2025 Reuters Institute survey found were among the country’s most followed and most trusted news sources. The government’s bill passed a preliminary vote last month and now awaits further debate in parliament.