US Among Top Contributors to Ocean Plastic Pollution

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The United States contributes much more to ocean plastic pollution than previously estimated, according to a In this April 23, 2019, aerial photo, plastic bottles and other garbage float in river Drina near Visegrad, eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.In 2016, the U.S. recycled just 9% of its total plastic waste. About half of this was recycled domestically and half was shipped overseas. The researchers estimate that up to 1 million metric tons of U.S. plastic waste entered the environment from these exports in 2016.“For years, so much of the plastic we have put into the blue bin has been exported for recycling tomore

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Trump, Biden Locked in Tight Contest for the US Presidency

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were locked in a tight contest for a four-year term in the White House early Wednesday, with the national outcome of the election hanging on undecided contests in key political battleground states. “Keep the faith guys, we’re going to win this,” Biden told cheering supporters near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as they honked car horns.  But as vote counting continued in several key states where he trailed Trump, Biden warned, “We’re going to have to be patient.”  From the White House, Trump tweeted, “We are up BIG, but they are tryingmore

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US Confident in Election Security as Voters Cast Ballots

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Efforts to secure U.S. voting infrastructure and to hunt down potential cyber threats appear to be paying off as millions of Americans cast ballots for president and local and state officials.U.S. election security officials continue to express confidence, hours after the first polling centers opened their doors to voters on Tuesday, the last day for citizens to cast a ballot.A senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), briefing reporters only on the condition of anonymity, described the threat to the country’s election infrastructure as “much quieter” than in 2016, when Russian hackers targeted systems in all 50more

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Record Turnout Expected Among US Millennial, Gen Z Voters

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Millennial and Generation Z voters are expected to turn out in record numbers for the Nov. 3 presidential election, experts say, continuing a trend of increased participation since the midterm elections in 2018.  “A lot of students are back in their hometowns, so they are more likely to be able to vote easily,” said Josh Kutner, a senior at the George Washington University and chairman of GW College Republicans. Josh Kutner (courtesy photo)“Campaigns are really looking to young people to be leaders and help fight for their values and their visions for their community, so I think that’s been a prettymore

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Trump Claims Extended Vote Counting in Pennsylvania Could Spark Violence 

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In his final day of campaigning, U.S. President Donald Trump warned of post-election violence due to a Supreme Court decision to allow extended ballot counting in what may be the pivotal state of Pennsylvania.  Polls show former Vice President Joe Biden with a slight lead in the state where mail-in ballots, expected to favor the Democrats, might not be tabulated for days following Tuesday’s election.   In between his Monday rallies in Traverse City, Michigan, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, Trump tweeted that extended counting of such ballots in Pennsylvania “will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Somethingmore

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COVID-19, Race, Climate Change Dominate Youth Vote Issues

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Health care and racism dominate the issues important to young people in the presidential election, according to poll trackers.Climate change is also among the top three issues to young voters, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (FILE – Ashley Nealy waits in line to cast her ballot during early voting for the presidential elections inside of the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, October 12, 2020.“We have issues like climate change, student loans, free college tuition, free two-year community college, and affordable health care being addressed, and I think those are all reallymore

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Judge Rejects Republican Effort to Toss Out 127,000 Houston Votes

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A federal judge on Monday rejected a Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centers established during the pandemic.  The lawsuit was brought by conservative Texas activists who have railed against expanded voting access in Harris County, where a record 1.4 million early votes have already been cast. The county is the nation’s third largest and a crucial battleground in Texas, where President Donald Trump and Republicans are bracing for the closest election in decades on Tuesday.  U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision to hear arguments on the brink ofmore

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Anxious World Watches in Countdown to US Election

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Governments across the world are anxiously watching the race for the White House, as they prepare for either Republican Donald Trump securing a second term as U.S. president or for an electoral win by his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.  Who will be the international winners and losers from Tuesday’s U.S. election?  “The last four years have confirmed that the choices the U.S. makes are highly consequential for international politics,” according to a commentary by Britain’s leading foreign policy research group, Chatham House.  Chatham House added, “The next president will determine how America’s diplomatic, economic and military resources are invested, and,more

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Twitter to Label Tweets with Premature Election Claims

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Social media giant Twitter said Monday it will put warning labels on tweets from U.S. election candidates that claim victory ahead of official results.  In a blog post Monday, the company said an election win must be “authoritatively called” before tweets without warning labels will be allowed by candidates or campaigns.  To determine election results, Twitter said it would require an announcement from state election officials or a “public projection from at least two authoritative national news outlets that make independent election calls,” citing examples that included ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN and Fox News. Tuesday’s U.S. election has amore

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Control of US Senate at Stake Tuesday

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Control of the U.S. Senate – and largely the success or failure of the next U.S. president’s agenda – rests on just a handful of races nationwide that polls show are tightening in the final hours before Election Day 2020. Of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for reelection Tuesday, seven are rated true toss-up races by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.  Democrats need a net pickup of three seats if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the White House or a net pickup of four seats if U.S. President Donald Trump is reelected to a second term, because if theremore

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Motivations Vary as African Diaspora Vote in US Election

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For most African immigrants in the United States, the right to vote is precious.  Ivo Tasong, a Cameroonian American who immigrated to the U.S. in 1986, said voting is something he will never take for granted. “Being fortunate to migrate and come and live in the United States, that civic duty cannot be taken for granted, because we know what our families are going through back home,” Tasong told VOA. “We have a war right now that we’ve lost many family members and friends. And the government’s response has not been adequate to call for a peaceful, peaceful settlement to themore

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Record Numbers of Millennials Run for State, Local Office

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Millennials comprise a large, diverse and important part of the U.S. electorate this year. But they are also an increasing portion of candidates for local and state elections.According to the Millennial Action Project (MAP), an organization tracking young people running for office across the country, record numbers of people under 45 are running for office this year.“It blew us away, because from 2018 to 2020, we’ve tracked to 266% increase… in the number of people who threw their hat in the ring,” Layla Zaidane, David Kim has been an immigration attorney for a decade, and says he wants to usemore

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Gender Gap Seen in US Youth Vote

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Since the 2016 presidential election, more than 15 million people have turned 18, making young people a critical voter bloc for the 2020 presidential elections this November. Like their elders, the youth vote is not a monolith or a unified voting bloc that aligns on all issues and demographics. Gender, like race, will impact youth voting in its own way.  Among millennial voters, born between 1981-1996, women were more likely to identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew reported that 60% of millennial women associated with the Democratic Party while 31% associated with the Republican, or GOP. For millennial men,more

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FBI Probing Trump Caravan Confrontation with Biden Campaign Bus in Texas

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The FBI said on Sunday it was investigating an incident in which a convoy of vehicles flying flags in support of President Donald Trump’s reelection bid surrounded a bus carrying campaign staff for Democratic challenger Joe Biden on a Texas highway. Friday’s incident — captured on video that was retweeted by Trump on Saturday with the message, “I LOVE TEXAS!” — prompted the Biden campaign to cancel at least two of its Texas events as Democrats accused the president of encouraging supporters to engage in acts of intimidation. Video footage showed a swarm of pickups and SUVs bearing pro-Trump flags surrounding the Biden campaign bus asmore

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Trump Holding Rallies in 5 Swing States, Biden in Philadelphia

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With just two days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, will once again visit battleground states.Trump will hold rallies in the hotly contested states of Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.Biden will deliver remarks at a “Souls to the Polls” event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at a drive-in event there later.Saturday, Trump and Biden focused on two battleground states, with the president visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president in Michigan. Trump held four rallies in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won inmore

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Trump to Hold Rallies in 5 Swing States, Biden in Philadelphia

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With just two days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, will once again visit battleground states.Trump will hold rallies in the hotly contested states of Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.Biden will deliver remarks at a “Souls to the Polls” event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at a drive-in event there later.Saturday, Trump and Biden focused on two battleground states, with the president visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president in Michigan. Trump held four rallies in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won inmore

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Bringing More Diversity to US Ballots Is Both Goal and Challenge

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The Alex Conant, Republican strategist: ‘Anyone who’s considering running [for political office] should run.’ (Skype/VOA)Republicans likely will “try even harder in the future,” Conant said. “We’re a big, diverse country. If you’re going to win elections, it helps to come from communities or represent communities that are casting the votes. … And that includes recruiting more Black candidates.”But how do aspiring politicians of color — especially those who are relative newcomers to America — get onto a ballot?Candidate training is essential, says Naquetta Ricks, who is among at least a score of first- and second-generation Americans from Africa seeking electivemore

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Trump Traveled Saturday to Pennsylvania; Biden to Michigan

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Saturday, with just three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden focused on battleground states, with Trump visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president traveled to Michigan.Trump held four rallies Saturday in cities across Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won in 2016 and where polls currently show Biden with a slight advantage.Trump’s first rally was in Newtown, where he criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing a Republican Party effort to block a three-day extension for Pennsylvania election officials to receive absentee ballots, meaning the court would notmore

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Trump Travels to Pennsylvania, Biden to Michigan 

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With only three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were focusing Saturday on battleground states, with Trump visiting Pennsylvania while the former vice president traveled to Michigan.Biden attended events alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time during the campaign season. The two were visiting the cities of Flint and Detroit on Saturday, the first of two days the campaign will spend in Michigan to garner voter support.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at a campaign drive-in mobilization event in Flint, Mich., Oct. 31, 2020.Biden focusedmore

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Trump Travels Saturday to Pennsylvania; Biden to Michigan

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With only three days of campaigning left before Election Day in the United States, both top candidates travel to battleground states Saturday, with Republican President Donald Trump focusing on Pennsylvania while Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden plans events in Michigan.Biden will be campaigning alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time during the campaign. The two will travel to Flint and Detroit on Saturday, part of two days of campaigning to get out the vote in Michigan.In Detroit, they will be joined by singer Stevie Wonder, who will perform at a drive-in rally. Wonder has previously performedmore

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Can I Post a Photo of My Ballot? 

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In response to increased social media messages on how, where and when to vote in the U.S. general election, voters are posting proof that they cast their ballots.Whether it is a photo of the ballot showing who someone voted for, or a selfie of the voter, an increase in mail-in and early voting amid the pandemic means more voters are posting their ballot selfies the week ahead of the election.Whether these photos are legally allowed differs by state.According to data from Ballotpedia, as of September, 25 states and the District of Columbia allow ballot selfies — photos of a completedmore

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Why a Big Boost in Litigation Is Possible After Tuesday’s Election

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With Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election upon us, it is far from certain that either President Donald Trump or his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, will emerge as the clear winner on election night.While Biden is leading Trump by a cumulative average of 8 percentage points in national polling, the Democrat’s lead shrinks to just a few points in a number of battleground states crucial to determining the winner in America’s unique system of indirect presidential election.This has raised the odds that the election results could be delayed until all the ballots are officially tallied and certified. To bemore

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Walmart Returns Firearms, Ammunition to US Store Floors Ahead of Election

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Walmart Inc said on Friday it had begun returning firearms and ammunitions to the floors of its U.S. stores a day after the world’s largest retailer said it had removed these products to protect customers and employees as tensions across the country rise.”After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores … we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor …. As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today,” the company said.A Walmart spokesperson declined tomore

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