Elon Musk loses bid to move $1 million voter prizes case

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A U.S. judge on Friday denied Elon Musk’s bid to move a Pennsylvania lawsuit over his $1 million voter prizes to federal court, moving the case back to state court. It was not immediately clear if the decision would affect the billionaire’s plan to keep awarding money until the U.S. presidential election Tuesday. The decision was issued by U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert in Philadelphia federal court. Musk has been giving $1 million checks to randomly selected registered voters who sign a petition supporting free speech and gun rights. Musk’s America PAC had awarded $1 million prizes to 14 peoplemore

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What US election results could mean for Africa

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JOHANNESBURG — Whoever U.S. voters choose as their next president — former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris — the election has global implications, with the probability it will affect other economies, foreign conflicts and personal freedoms, analysts told VOA. South African independent political analyst Asanda Ngoasheng said the winner could usher in policies that affect ordinary people in Africa. “I hope that as Americans vote, they’re aware that whatever decision they make, it’s going to determine the future of not only America but the rest of the world,” she said. “How we engage with issues of termination ofmore

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Trump to visit Dearborn, Michigan, ‘capital’ of Arab America

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WASHINGTON — In the run up to the presidential election, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has increased its outreach to Arab and Muslim Americans, particularly in battleground state Michigan. But it is her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who has made surprising gains with this group that makes up a significant portion of voters angry over President Joe Biden’s policies on the Gaza war. On Friday, Trump is expected to visit a halal cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, a city dubbed the Arab capital of America, in a state home to almost 400,000 Arab Americans. Many of them have expressedmore

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Pennsylvania’s Erie County is pivotal in presidential race 

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Erie, Pennsylvania — During next Tuesday’s election, a lot of nervous voters, pollsters and campaign officials will be paying close attention to Erie County in Pennsylvania, which has chosen the victor in the past four presidential contests. Over the past decade, the margins between the winner and loser have tightened, reflecting the national trend of closer elections. That is perhaps no big surprise. After all, bellwether “Erie County is such a microcosm of the entire nation,” said Jeff Bloodworth, a history professor at Gannon University in downtown Erie. Erie County, the largest county by area in the state, is “slightly whiter,more

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Two Pakistani Americans lock horns in local elections in Houston

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Americans who head to the polls on November 5 not only are deciding who will be president, they are voting for thousands of local and state officials. In Texas’ Fort Bend County, outside Houston, two Pakistani Americans are vying for the position of constable. Incumbent Democrat Nabil Shike is being challenged by Republican newcomer Ali Sheikhani. VOA Urdu’s Iram Abbasi’s reports from Houston. …

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Kurdish immigrants running for local office in Minnesota

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Moorhead, Minnesota, is home to more than 3,000 Kurds, some of whom have been there since the mid-1970s. They are the town’s largest minority group and hope this election might bring them representation in local government. Dakhil Shammo of VOA’s Kurdish service went to Minnesota and met with two local candidates in this story narrated by Amy Katz. …

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Jitters in Europe ahead of US elections

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Europe is bracing for former President Donald Trump’s potential return to power — even as his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, remains a mostly unknown quantity. Many Europeans believe much is at stake in the nail-biting U.S. elections: from NATO and the transatlantic alliance to Russia’s war on Ukraine, trade relations and the future of their own democracies. Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.  …

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Kurdish immigrants run for local office in Minnesota

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Moorhead, Minnesota, is home to more than 3,000 Kurds, some of whom have been there since the mid-1970s. They are the town’s largest minority group and hope this election might bring them representation in local government. Dakhil Shammo of VOA’s Kurdish service went to Minnesota and met with two local candidates in this story narrated by Amy Katz. Camera: Kawar Farok …

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College athletes push for voter turnout while largely avoiding controversy as election nears

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Lily Meskers faced an unexpected choice in the lead-up to the first major election she can vote in. The 19-year-old University of Montana sprinter was among college athletes in the state who received an inquiry from Montana Together asking if she was interested in a name, image and likeness deal to support Sen. Jon Tester, a three-term Democrat seeking re-election. The group, which is not affiliated with the Tester campaign, offered from $400 to $2,400 to athletes willing to produce video endorsements. Meskers, who is from Colorado but registered to vote in Montana, decided against the deal because she disagreesmore

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Trump sues US television network for $10 billion over Harris interview

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washington — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sued CBS News on Thursday over an interview of Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on the network’s “60 Minutes” news program this month. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of Texas, alleged that the network aired two different responses from Harris responding to a question about the Israel-Hamas war. The version that aired during the “60 Minutes” program on October 6 did not include what the lawsuit referred to as a “word salad” response from Harris about the Biden administration’s influence on Israel’s conduct of the war. The lawsuitmore

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Hurricane damage, arson attacks add complexity to US elections

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With voting underway in a tightly contested presidential race, election officials in the U.S. are facing additional challenges in the state of North Carolina, where a hurricane ravaged communities, and in the states of Washington and Oregon, where there have been arson attacks on ballot boxes. With Deborah Bloom and Rafael Saakov, Natasha Mozgovaya has the story. Camera: Deborah Bloom and Alexander Bergan. …

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Residents in Ethiopia’s Oromia region report network disruptions as government forces fight rebels

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ADAMA, ETHIOPIA — Residents in Ethiopia’s Oromia region say access to phone communication and internet service has been disrupted for months as government forces fight against two rebel groups. The disruption of mobile phone calls and internet data has been concentrated in conflict-hit Oromia zones, where government forces have engaged in fighting against the Oromo Liberation Army, or the OLA. A resident from South Oromia of Guji Zone Wadera Wereda, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said phone and internet data connections have been cut in his area due to the fighting. He said there wasmore

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Harris, Trump trade barbs over treatment of women

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump sparred over how women should be treated in society as they looked for votes Thursday in Arizona and Nevada, two Southwest political battleground states. Polling shows Harris, the Democratic candidate, and Trump, the Republican candidate, are virtually tied in the two states. Arizona and Nevada are among seven closely contested states across the 50-state country that are likely to determine the national outcome in next Tuesday’s election. In the other 43, polling shows Trump or Harris with either decisive or comfortable leads. Appeals to Latino voters are central to themore

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Donald J. Trump: An unconventional path to the presidency

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In this episode of “The Candidates,” VOA’s series on the 2024 presidential election, we look at former and perhaps future President Donald Trump. In just over nine years, he has thumbed his nose at the establishment, reshaped the Republican Party in his own image and further polarized an already divided country. VOA’s Tina Trinh explores Trump’s attempt at a historic political comeback. Video editor: Kyra Coffie, Toby Roberts …

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Musk a no show at start of court hearing on $1 million voter giveaway

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Elon Musk did not show up at a Pennsylvania court hearing on Thursday to consider his $1 million giveaway to voters ahead of the Nov. 5election, which could put him at risk of being held in contempt of court. Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur backing Republican Donald Trump, had been ordered on Wednesday to attend the hearing, where a judge is considering Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s bid to halt the giveaway less than a week before the tightly contested presidential election between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. But Musk was not in the courtroom as the hearing gotmore

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Chinese online retailer Temu faces EU probe into rogue traders, illegal goods

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LONDON — The European Union is investigating Chinese online retailer Temu over suspicions it’s failing to prevent the sale of illegal products, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm said on Thursday. The European Commission opened its investigation five months after adding Temu to the list of “very large online platforms” needing the strictest level of scrutiny under the bloc’s Digital Services Act. It’s a wide-ranging rulebook designed to clean up online platforms and keep internet users safe, with the threat of hefty fines. Temu started entering Western markets only in the past two years and has grown in popularity by offering cheapmore

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Trump, Harris discuss China through the lens of domestic concerns

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Washington — With domestic hot-button issues dominating the final week of the U.S. presidential campaign, any mention of the U.S.-China competition by candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has been through the lens of domestic concerns, analysts say. “American voters are more concerned about domestic issues. Polls show that the so-called China threat ranks behind the economy, immigration, abortion, climate, democracy and other issues for voters,” said Liu Yawei, director of the Carter Center’s China Program. According to a survey released by YouGov, a U.S. polling organization, only a minority of voters listed U.S. foreign policy asmore

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European allies face challenging times, whoever wins US presidential election

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BERLIN — The United States’ European allies are bracing for an America that’s less interested in them no matter who wins the presidential election — and for old traumas and new problems if Donald Trump returns to the White House. The election comes more than 2 1/2 years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in which Washington has made the single biggest contribution to Kyiv’s defense. There are question marks over whether that would continue under Trump, and how committed he would be to NATO allies in general. A win by Vice President Kamala Harris could be expected to bring amore

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Musk’s X ineffective against surge of US election misinformation, report says

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The crowd-sourced fact-checking feature of Elon Musk’s X, Community Notes, is “failing to counter false” claims about the U.S. election, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said in a report Wednesday. Out of the 283 misleading posts that CCDH has analyzed on the digital social media platform, 209 or 74% of the posts did not show accurate notes to all X users correcting false and misleading claims about the elections, the report said. “The 209 misleading posts in our sample that did not display available Community Notes to all users have amassed 2.2 billion views,” CCDH said, urging themore

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