For US adversaries, Election Day won’t mean end to efforts to influence Americans

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Washington — Soon, the ballots will be cast, the polls will close and a campaign marked by assassination attempts, animosity and anxiety will come to an end. But for U.S. adversaries, the work to meddle with American democracy may be entering its most critical phase. Despite all the attention on efforts to spread disinformation in the months before the Nov. 5 election, the hours and days immediately after voting ends could offer foreign adversaries like Russia, Iran and China or domestic extremist groups the best chance to mess with America’s decision. That’s when Americans will go online to see the latestmore

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Trump holds rally at site of 1st assassination attempt; Harris readies for media appearances

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With less than a month to go until the U.S. presidential election, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees have a busy week ahead. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are both scheduled to continue rallying supporters in key states, amid warnings that the rhetoric is becoming more inflammatory. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. …

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Trump returns to site of first assassination attempt for campaign rally

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BUTLER, Pennsylvania — Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July, holding a sprawling rally before a massive crowd in a critical swing state Trump hopes to return to his column in November’s election. The former president and Republican nominee picked up where he left off in July when a gunman tried to assassinate him and struck his ear. He began his speech with, “As I was saying,” and gestured toward an immigration chart he was looking at when the gunfire began. The Trump campaign worked to maximize the event’s headline-grabbing potential withmore

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Harris discusses US policies on Gaza, Lebanon with Arab Americans in Michigan

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washington — Vice President Kamala Harris met briefly with a group of Arab Americans in Flint, Michigan, on Friday, as her campaign aims to build support with communities outraged by the administration’s response to the war in Gaza and the expanding conflict in Lebanon. “The vice president heard directly their perspectives on the election and the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon,” her campaign said in a statement. Harris “expressed her concern over the scale of suffering in Gaza” and discussed “her efforts to end the war” and to prevent regional war, the campaign statement said. On Lebanon, Harris expressed “concern aboutmore

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China-connected spamouflage networks spread antisemitic disinformation

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washington — Spamouflage networks with connections to China are posting antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media, casting doubt on Washington’s independence from alleged Jewish influence and the integrity of the two U.S. presidential candidates, a joint investigation by VOA Mandarin and Taiwan’s Doublethink Lab, a social media analytics firm, has found. The investigation has so far uncovered more than 30 such X posts, many of which claim or suggest that core American political institutions, including the White House and Congress, have pledged loyalty to or are controlled by Jewish elites and the Israeli government. One post shows a graphic of 18more

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Major Arab, Muslim, Palestinian American groups say they were excluded from Harris’ Middle East outreach 

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washington — Major Muslim and Arab American organizations and pro-Palestinian activist groups say they were excluded from Vice President Kamala Harris’ office’s outreach to community leaders on the administration’s efforts to contain the widening conflict in the Middle East. On Wednesday, the White House announced that Phil Gordon, Harris’ national security adviser, met virtually with “Muslim, Arab and Palestinian American community leaders from across the United States” to discuss the administration’s efforts to end the war in Gaza. In a statement, the White House said Gordon “expressed concern for civilians in Lebanon” and about Israeli “actions that undermine peace, security andmore

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Hurricane pushes climate change to forefront of presidential campaign

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WASHINGTON — The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has brought climate change to the forefront of the presidential campaign after the issue lingered on the margins for months. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia Wednesday to see hard-hit areas, two days after her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, was in the state and criticized the federal response to the storm, which has killed at least 200 people in the Southeast. Helene is the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Joe Biden toured some of the hardest-hit areas by helicopter on Wednesday andmore

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Trump, Harris stances on China differ, but not completely

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The United States’ policy on China has been mostly consistent from the administration of Donald Trump to the White House of Joe Biden — with both presidents viewing China as America’s biggest competitor. But in the race for the next president, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have slightly different approaches toward the global superpower. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains. …

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In India, pride in Harris’s run for US presidency, but excitement missing

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NEW DELHI — In the small South Indian village of Thulasendrapuram, where U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s maternal grandfather once lived, locals and priests have prayed to the local deity at a Hindu temple for her victory as she runs for the U.S. presidency. In the capital, New Delhi, many express pride that one of the candidates for the world’s most powerful office has Indian roots – she is the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father. But Harris has failed to enthuse others who feel she never built on her Indian connection during her vice presidency. “It’s quite excitingmore

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Cybersecurity head says there’s no chance a foreign adversary can change US election results

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WASHINGTON — Nearly a month out from Election Day, the head of the nation’s cybersecurity agency is forcefully reassuring Americans who have been swept into the chaotic churn of election disinformation and distrust that they will be able to feel confident in the outcome. State and local election officials have made so much progress in securing voting, ballot-counting and other election infrastructure that the system is more robust than it has ever been, said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. As a result, she said, there is no way Russia, Iran or any other foreign adversarymore

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Candidates clash over immigration, TPS at vice presidential debate

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washington — It came as no surprise that one of the tensest moments in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Republican Senator JD Vance was over immigration, one of the most divisive issues in America. Debate moderators muted Vance’s microphone after he claimed that “millions of illegal immigrants” had overwhelmed American cities, including Springfield, Ohio, where many Haitians have been encouraged to find jobs. When Walz joined in, both candidates’ microphones were muted, and the moderators reminded them the audience couldn’t hear them. Hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants, including those who live in Springfield, holdmore

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State-run media in Latin America criticize US government, candidates

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Madrid — In their coverage of the U.S. presidential election, countries with repressive media such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have taken aim at the American system of government and, to some degree, the candidates themselves. Following the two assassination attempts targeting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Cuban state-run newspaper Granma ran a headline, “The guns speak again in the U.S. elections,” an apparent reference to gun violence in the United States. But the newspaper made no mention on its front pages Wednesday of the previous night’s vice presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz in which themore

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Vance and Walz focus their attacks on the top of the ticket — not each other

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Washington — Vice Presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance squared off Tuesday night in what may be the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. It was the first encounter between Minnesota’s Democratic governor and Ohio’s Republican senator, following last month’s debate between the tops of their tickets, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.  No more debates are on the political calendar before Election Day. Tuesday’s confrontation came as the global stakes of the contest rose again as Iran fired missiles at Israel. The vice presidential hopefuls sparred over the violence in the Middle East, climate changemore

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Trump declines to be interviewed for ’60 Minutes’ election special

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NEW YORK — CBS News said Tuesday that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has declined to participate in an interview with “60 Minutes” for its election special, which will go forward next Monday with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris alone. Television’s top-rated news program regularly invites the two presidential contenders for separate interviews that air back-to-back on a show near the election. This year, it is scheduled for Monday instead of its usual Sunday time slot. Asked for comment, the former president’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “Fake news,” adding that there were discussions, but nothing was ever locked in. “60 Minutes”more

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Australia’s online dating industry agrees to code of conduct to protect users

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MELBOURNE, Australia — A code of conduct will be enforced on the online dating industry to better protect Australian users after research found that three-in-four people suffer some form of sexual violence through the platforms, Australia’s government said on Tuesday. Bumble, Grindr and Match Group Inc., a Texas-based company that owns platforms including Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid and Plenty of Fish, have agreed to the code that took effect on Tuesday, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said. The platforms, which account for 75% of the industry in Australia, have until April 1 to implement the changes before they are strictly enforced, Rowland said.more

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