Harris’ doctor reports she’s in ‘excellent health’

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” required to serve as president, her doctor said in a letter released Saturday that summarizes her medical history and status. Dr. Joshua Simmons, a U.S. Army colonel and physician to the vice president, wrote that Harris, 59, maintains a healthy, active lifestyle and that her most recent physical, in April, was “unremarkable.” She “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief,” he wrotemore

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US voting systems, targets of conspiracy theories, get tested for accuracy, security

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ATLANTA — Voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, with false claims that they were manipulated to steal the presidency from Donald Trump. There was no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in the election, and multiple reviews in the battleground states where the Republican president disputed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden confirmed the results as accurate. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest voting machine companies, $787 million to avoid a trial in a defamation lawsuit. In the years sincemore

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Meta removes fake accounts in Moldova ahead of presidential election

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STOCKHOLM — Meta Platforms said on Friday that it had removed a network of group accounts targeting Russian speakers in Moldova ahead of the country’s October 20 election, for violation of the company’s policy on fake accounts. Authorities in Moldova, an ex-Soviet state lying between Romania and Ukraine, said they had blocked dozens of Telegram channels and chat bots linked to a drive to pay voters to cast “no” ballots in a referendum on European Union membership held alongside the presidential election. Pro-European President Maia Sandu is seeking a second term in the election and called the referendum on joining themore

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US sues Virginia over alleged violation of federal election law

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washington — The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that it had sued the state of Virginia for violating the federal prohibition on systematic efforts to remove voters within 90 days of an election. On August 7, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the commissioner of the Department of Elections to certify that the department was conducting “daily updates to the voter list” to remove, among other groups, people who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles. U.S. citizens who were identified and notified and did not affirm their citizenship withinmore

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Despite tariffs, China drives toward dominating EV market all over world

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washington — As China pursues tit-for-tat actions against the European Union in response to tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Beijing’s drive for global dominance in the automotive sector continues unabated. Over the past year, companies such as EV giant BYD and others have made inroads in markets from Southeast Asia to Latin America and Africa, even as they face tariffs of up to 100% in Canada and the United States, and up to 45% in the European Union. Chinese EV companies have announced plans to invest millions to build new factories in Thailand and Brazil, and they have opened showrooms inmore

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Back-to-back hurricanes reshape 2024 campaign’s final stretch

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WASHINGTON — A pair of unwelcome and destructive guests named Helene and Milton have stormed their way into this year’s U.S. presidential election. The back-to-back hurricanes have jumbled the schedules of Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, both of whom devoted part of their recent days to tackling questions about the storm recovery effort. The two hurricanes are forcing basic questions about who as president would best respond to deadly natural disasters, a once-overlooked issue that has become an increasingly routine part of the job. And just weeks before the November 5 election, the storms have disrupted the mechanics ofmore

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US lawmakers seek answers from telecoms on Chinese hacking report

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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers asked AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Lumen Technologies on Friday to answer questions after a report that Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers.  The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday hackers obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, and said the three companies were among the telecoms whose networks were breached.  House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, and the top Democrat on the committee Representative Frank Pallone along with Representatives Bob Latta and Doris Matsui asked the three companies to answer questions. Theymore

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Christian nationalist streak runs through US Republican Party

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There is a significantly large group of U.S. voters who believe one religion should dictate the nation’s laws. But that notion is a divisive issue between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. VOA’s senior Washington correspondent Carolyn Presutti looks into the phenomenon of Christian nationalism. VOA footage by: Mary Cieslak, Saqib Ul Islam, Henry Hernandez. …

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Last-minute change in US swing state’s election rules alarms some

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leesburg, georgia — In the town of Leesburg in the U.S. state of Georgia, slightly more than a dozen election workers sit at card tables, each thumbing through stacks of 50 blank pieces of paper, practicing counting ballots by hand. With the U.S. presidential vote only weeks away, the Georgia State Election Board, led by a pro-Donald Trump majority, passed a controversial requirement in September that counties manually hand count their ballots, a move that has caused alarm in the closely watched swing state. Veronica Johnson, who is leading the training session as the Lee County director of elections and registration,more

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Though voter fraud rare, US election offices feature safeguards to catch it

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NEW YORK — You’ve heard the horror stories: Someone casting multiple ballots, people voting in the name of dead relatives, mail-in ballots being intercepted.  Voter fraud does happen occasionally. When it does, we tend to hear a lot about it. It also gets caught and prosecuted.  The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators of both parties.  America’s elections are decentralized, with thousands of independent voting jurisdictions. That makes it virtually impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a presidential race —more

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Republicans, Democrats work to preempt fraud claims ahead of election

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ANN ARBOR, FLINT AND DETROIT, MICHIGAN — U.S. election officials in battleground states are pushing back against disinformation about election integrity and working to assure Americans that their votes will be counted. Officials from both major parties in six states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — met in Ann Arbor, Michigan, last month for panel discussions hosted by the nonpartisan group Keep our Republic. The group seeks to educate the American public about threats to the U.S. election system and build trust in the electoral system. They’re working to avoid a repeat of November 2020 scenes inmore

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Wimbledon tennis tournament replaces line judges with AI in break with tradition

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LONDON — That long-held Wimbledon tradition of line judges dressed in elegant uniforms is no more.  The All England Club announced Wednesday that artificial intelligence will be used to make the “out” and “fault” calls at the championships from 2025.  Wimbledon organizers said the decision to adopt live electronic line calling was made following extensive testing at the 2024 tournament and “builds on the existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology that has been in place for many years.”  “We consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in ourmore

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Razor-thin margins: Why Wisconsin is crucial in the 2024 presidential race

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Wisconsin, a Midwestern U.S. state known for its dairy farms and beer production, has emerged as a crucial battleground in the 2024 presidential election. With a history of extremely close races, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes could determine who becomes the next president. The state’s unique mix of urban and rural voters, along with key issues like the economy and abortion rights, make it a microcosm of the nation’s political divide. …

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Republicans, Democrats preempt claims of voter fraud ahead of election

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump and many of his supporters claim, without evidence, the 2020 election was stolen and warn that the same could happen in 2024. Democratic and Republican election officials in Michigan dispute those claims and are working to assure Americans that their votes are secure. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara brings us this story from Michigan. Videographer: Rivan Dwiastono …

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Not all elections look the same. Here are some of the different ways states run their voting

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washington — The U.S. general election on Nov. 5 will decide the country’s direction, but it is far from a nationally administered contest. The 50 states and the District of Columbia run their own elections, and each does things a little differently. Here’s a look at some notable variations in the 2024 election: Maine and Nebraska allocate electoral votes by congressional district To win the presidency outright, a candidate must receive at least 270 of the 538 votes in the Electoral College. In 48 states, the statewide winner gets all of that state’s electoral votes, and that’s also the case inmore

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US states sue TikTok, saying it harms young users

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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — TikTok faces new lawsuits filed by 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, accusing the popular social media platform of harming and failing to protect young people. The lawsuits, filed separately in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 11 other states, expand Chinese-owned TikTok’s legal fight with U.S. regulators and seek new financial penalties against the company. Washington is located in the District of Columbia. The states accuse TikTok of using intentionally addictive software designed to keep children watching as long and often as possible and misrepresenting its content moderation effectiveness. “TikTok cultivatesmore

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Pioneers in artificial intelligence win the Nobel Prize in physics 

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STOCKHOLM — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats to humanity, one of the winners said. Hinton, who is known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto. Hopfield is an American working at Princeton. “This year’s two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundationmore

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Native American vote could swing the election — but in which direction?

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WASHINGTON — In the final weeks of the 2024 election, Native American organizers are intensifying efforts to increase voter turnout, recognizing the impact of the Native vote, especially in swing states like Arizona and Wisconsin. Advocacy groups like the Native American Rights Fund continue to address barriers to the ballot box, such as isolation, poor infrastructure and limited internet access, along with restrictions on in-person voter registration and early voting. New challenges in Arizona Arizona, home to 22 Native tribes, played a key role in the 2020 Democratic victory. However, a recent voter registration glitch in the state may affect upmore

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