DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal's top judicial body rejected a constitutional amendment aimed at expanding the role of parliament and reducing presidential powers.
The new law was passed last month, but the government said it would be put to a referendum. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye had challenged the legality of the procedure and requested an emergency review at the Constitutional Council.
The council on Thursday evening ruled the law was unconstitutional, effectively halting one of the parliamentary majority’s cornerstone projects.
The debate over constitutional reform comes as political tensions have risen between Faye and his former prime minister, Ousmane Sonko.
Sonko was dismissed and elected as the president of the National Assembly earlier this year. Their alliance, which had brought them to power in March 2024, gradually disintegrated. A new prime minister has since been appointed, and the formation of a new government is expected.
The opposition views the initiative, proposed by Pastef, Sonko’s party, as political revenge by the former prime minister, who retains significant influence over the parliamentary majority.
The reform would strengthen parliament’s powers, replace the Constitutional Council with a new Constitutional Court and impose stricter controls on the president’s power to dissolve the National Assembly.
Sonko welcomed the decision by the council, saying it is binding. "This cycle reminds us that in a democracy, when institutions play their role, each within its sphere of influence, no crisis can arise," he said.
FILE - President Bassirou Diomaye Faye addresses the 80th session of the UN General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)
Eight men were indicted on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges Thursday for their alleged roles in a thwarted drone and sniper attack on the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House in June.
It remains unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out the plan had it not been thwarted.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. launched new airstrikes against Iran, and Tehran responded by targeting U.S.-allied Mideast countries. Thursday’s exchange of fire appeared bigger than other recent back-and-forth attacks that have increasingly threatened the ceasefire.
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Trump has chosen not to sign a sweeping housing affordability bill Friday, in protest of Congress not approving a strict voter ID bill that doesn’t have enough support to pass.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on social media.
The housing measure will become law without Trump’s signature. He had 10 days to issue a veto and stop the measure, which he chose not to do.
Trump’s rejection of the bipartisan housing legislation exacerbates tensions with his own party in a midterm election year and cuts short their efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs.
Trump has ousted members of the bipartisan federal election commission that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.
The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration forms.
It’s the latest move in the Republican president’s effort to expand White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted and comes after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave the president new personnel authority to fire members of independent agency boards.
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The series of unclaimed airstrikes that hit Iran after the U.S. said it finished its attacks have again raised questions of who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.
The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone for the strikes, though one lawmaker issued a warning to the United Arab Emirates over allegedly providing support to the United States in its campaign against Iran.
Gulf Arab states, which repeatedly have been targeted by Iran since the war began Feb. 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday over the strikes. The attacks come as they and the U.S. insist the Strait of Hormuz must be open and free to ships to transit.
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President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on Air Force One, Thursday, July 9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
