French families sue TikTok over alleged failure to remove harmful content

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PARIS — Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said on Monday. The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster franceinfo. The families are taking joint legal action in the Créteil judicial court. Boutron-Marmion said it was the first such grouped case in Europe. “The parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognized in court,” she said,more

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US tech firms warn Vietnam’s planned law to hamper data centers, social media

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HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. tech companies have warned Vietnam’s government that a draft law to tighten rules on data protection and limit data transfers abroad would hamper social media platforms and data center operators from growing their businesses in the country. The Southeast Asian nation with a population of 100 million is one of the world’s largest markets for Facebook and other online platforms, and is aiming to exponentially increase its data center industry with foreign investment in coming years. The draft law “will make it challenging for tech companies, social media platforms and data center operators to reach the customersmore

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Puerto Rico prepares for Election Day as a third-party candidate makes history

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The two parties that have dominated Puerto Rican politics for decades are losing their grip as they face the stiffest competition yet from a younger generation fed up with the island’s corruption, chronic power outages and mismanagement of public funds. For the first time in the island’s governor’s race, a third-party candidate has a powerful second lead in the polls ahead of the U.S. territory’s election Tuesday — and some experts say there’s a possibility he could win. “This election is already historic,” said political analyst and university professor Jorge Schmidt Nieto. “It already marks amore

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Federal judge lets Iowa challenge voter rolls; may affect naturalized citizens

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DES MOINES, Iowa — A federal judge ruled Sunday that Iowa can continue challenging the validity of hundreds of ballots from potential noncitizens even though critics said the effort threatens the voting rights of people who’ve recently become U.S. citizens. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sided with the state in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the Iowa capital of Des Moines on behalf of the League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa and four recently naturalized citizens. The four were on the state’s list of questionable registrations to be challengedmore

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Harris, Trump head to battleground states 2 days ahead of election 

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Seeking to sway the remaining few undecided voters and rally their supporters to the polls, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump trekked Sunday to political battleground states two days ahead of Tuesday’s national election for a new White House term starting in January. Harris, the Democratic candidate, headed to Michigan in the upper Midwest, one of seven states where polling shows the contest is exceedingly close and the outcome uncertain. Political math shows that whichever candidate captures four or more of the seven battleground states is likely to become the country’s 47th president. Trump, the Republicanmore

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Opponents use parental rights, anti-trans messages to fight abortion ballot measures

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CHICAGO — Billboards with the words “STOP Child Gender Surgery.” Pamphlets warning about endangering minors. “PROTECT PARENT RIGHTS” plastered on church bulletins. As voters in nine states determine whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, opponents are using parental rights and anti-transgender messages to try to undermine support for the ballot proposals. The measures do not mention gender-affirming surgeries, and legal experts say changing existing parental notification and consent laws regarding abortions and gender-affirming care for minors would require court action. But anti-abortion groups hoping to end a losing streak at the ballot box have turned to the typemore

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Inspired by Harris, Black sorority and fraternity members help downballot races

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HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes isn’t a member of the historically Black sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine.” But throughout her hotly contested reelection campaign this year, Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, has sometimes felt like she’s a fellow soror, the term used by Black Greek organizations for sorority sisters. On their own, members have shown up to call voters, organize fundraisers, knock on doors, cheer Hayes on at campaign events and even offer pro bono legal help. “I had people from Massachusetts come in to volunteer,” said Hayes, a Democrat whomore

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Ballot box fires underscore concerns that conspiracy theories make them targets

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atlanta, georgia — Two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest were damaged in a suspected arson attack just over a week before Election Day, destroying hundreds of ballots at one location in the city of Vancouver in the state of Washington. At the other, in neighboring Portland, Oregon, it appears a fire suppression system contained the blaze and limited the number of ballots damaged to three. Authorities are reviewing surveillance footage as they try to identify who is responsible. Here’s what happened, how rules and security measures about drop boxes vary across the country, and how election conspiracy theories havemore

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Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration

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The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season. Laguna’s church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S. The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.” “It’s a matter of faith and spirituality,” he said. “We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand,more

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Indian Americans show shifting political loyalties ahead of presidential election

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Washington — At a recent Diwali gathering in Denver, software architect Salil Gaonkar asked his Indian American friends to raise their hands: Would they vote for Trump or Harris in the presidential race? The response — from about 45 tech professionals and business owners who had overwhelmingly backed Joe Biden in 2020 — stunned him. Former President Donald Trump edged out Vice President Kamala Harris, albeit by a narrow margin. “I was shocked,” Gaonkar, a progressive Democrat who is supporting Harris, said. “Most of them voted for Biden, but now there was a significant shift and that surprised me really.” Onemore

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Presidential candidates make pitch to Black voters in North Carolina

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North Carolina is one of seven so-called swing states that could determine the next U.S. president. Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their surrogates have spent a lot of time campaigning in this southern state. Black Americans make up 22% of the population, and those voters could decide who gets North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes. Rafael Saakov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Aleksandr Bergan …

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California attempts to regulate election deepfakes

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The state of California has passed several laws attempting to regulate artificial intelligence, including AI used to create realistic looking but manipulated audio or video — known as a deepfake. In this U.S. election season, the aim is to counter misinformation. But it has raised concerns about free speech. From California, Genia Dulot has our story. …

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Supreme Court allows Pennsylvania to count contested ballots

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DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans that could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania as the presidential campaigns vie in the final days before the election in the nation’s biggest battleground state.  The justices left in place a state Supreme Court ruling that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.  The ruling is a victory for voting-rights advocates, who had sought to force counties — primarily Republican-controlled counties — to let voters cast provisional ballots on Election Day if theymore

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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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