When it comes to the world of politics, the news cycle is ongoing with headlines developing every day. To help you keep up with them, The Battalion compiles a few of the most compelling political stories from the past week.
Resolution advances that would have Texans vote on daylight saving time
The Texas House has passed a resolution that would do away with daylight saving time in Texas, eschewing the need to adjust the clock twice a year. The resolution is a two-part legislative plan, and if both parts are approved, Texans will get to vote on them.
The first proposition would ask voters if a referendum on daylight saving time may even take place at all. The second would ask between defaulting to a year-round daylight saving time or a year-round standard time. The propositions will now head to the Senate and will not require the governor’s signature like other bills. If passed in the Senate, Texas voters can expect to see them this year in November.
Joe Biden throws his hat into the presidential race
With high name recognition, presidential candidate Joe Biden is grabbing attention as he enters the race for the presidency. Biden previously served as Vice President under Obama, and his name has been expected for the 2020 race for a while now. However, Biden faces challenges that some of his Democratic peers won’t be.
Biden has been in the public eye for years, which comes with controversy and negative opinions, all the hardships that the candidate will have to face. Recently, individuals have accused Biden of touching women without their expressed consent. Historically, Biden has had previous controversies concerning plagiarism and usually struggles to raise money as he doesn’t like asking for it. Lastly, Biden’s main tactic, for the moment, has been going after Donald Trump, something that failed Clinton in the 2016 race. However, only time will tell if enough has changed in the minds of Americans to warrant it an effective strategy.
Votes are in for Ukraine’s presidential election
Candidate Volodymyr Zelensky has won the election over the incumbent presidential candidate, Petro Poroshenko, with 73% of the votes. Zelensky is a political newcomer, best known in starting in a tv show, Servant of the People, where a teacher accidentally becomes Ukrainian president.
Being a prominent Eastern European country, Ukraine has been used to measure the effects of democracy in a postsocialist region. With the annexation of Crimea by Russia still in recent memory, Ukraine’s last presidential election was an important one. Many European leaders have congratulated Zelensky, while Poroshenko has warned that Zelensky is too inexperienced to deal with Russia properly.
Terrorist attack in Sri Lanka has updates
During Easter Sunday, more than 350 people died, and at least another 500 were injured during bombing attacks in Sri Lanka. Authorities believe that there were eight individual attacks which hit three cities, Batticaloa, Negombo and Colombo, which is the country’s capital. Many people from foreign countries were also killed, including Americans.
More recently, Sri Lankan officials speculate that the attack was in response to the March mosque attacks of Christchurch, New Zealand. Indian intelligence officials also warned Sri Lanka about the attacks in the days leading up to it, with the last one a few hours before the first attack, however, Sri Lankan officials did not act on the warnings. They also revealed that the bombers were middle-class citizens with higher education and that the attack may have taken years in being planned.