More than 100 million Americans had already made their choice before Election Day, in early voting and voting by mail. Amid a pandemic, and ready for possible protests, tens of millions cast their ballots on Election Day. Camera: Vero Balderas, Matteo Ghidoni, Esha Kaur Sarai, Gary Jaffe, Adam Greenbaum, Carolyn Presutti
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Month: November 2020
US Formally Exits Global Climate Pact Amid Election Uncertainty
The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling a years-long promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change. But the outcome of the tight U.S. election contest will determine for how long. Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has promised to rejoin the agreement if elected. “The U.S. withdrawal will leave a gap in our regime, and the global efforts to achieve the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The United States still remains a party to the UNFCCC. Espinosa said the body will be “ready to assist the U.S. in any effort in order to rejoin the Paris Agreement.” Trump first announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the pact in June 2017, arguing it would undermine the U.S. economy. But he was unable to formally do so until now because of the requirements of the deal. The departure makes the United States the only country of 197 signatories to have withdrawn from the agreement, hashed out in 2015. Obama’s White House had pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% by 2025 from 2005 levels under the deal. Biden is broadly expected to ramp up those goals if elected. He has promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 under a sweeping $2 trillion plan to transform the economy. The Rhodium Group said that in 2020, the United States will be at around 21% below 2005 levels. It added that under a second Trump administration, it expects U.S. emissions would increase by more than 30% through 2035 from 2019 levels. Most scientists believe the world must cut emissions sharply and quickly in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union have recently ramped up their carbon cutting targets.
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Ethiopia’s Premier Orders Troops Into Tigray Region in Major Escalation
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the military to deploy to the Tigray region on Wednesday after accusing the government there of attacking federal troops, a major escalation of a row between the premier and the once-powerful region. In September, Tigray held regional elections in defiance of the federal government, which called the vote illegal. The row has escalated in recent days with both sides accusing each other of plotting a military conflict. Early Wednesday, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attempted to steal artillery and other equipment from federal forces stationed there, Abiy’s office said in a statement. “The last red line has been crossed with this morning’s attacks and the federal government is therefore forced into a military confrontation,” Abiy’s office said in a statement. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces have been ordered to carry out “their mission to save the country and the region from spiraling into instability,” the statement said. Debretsion Gebremichael, the president of the Tigray region, told a news conference on Monday that Abiy’s government was planning to attack the region to punish it for holding the September election. Debretsion and other Tigray officials were not immediately available for a comment after the prime minister’s statement. Tigrayans ruled Ethiopian politics since guerrilla fighters ousted a Marxist dictator in 1991, but their influence has waned under Abiy and last year, the TPLF quit his ruling coalition. Tigray’s population makes up 5% of Ethiopia’s 109 million people, but its history in politics means it is wealthier and more influential than many other, larger regions. The Tigray regional army is a well-trained, disciplined force dating back to the 1980s when it led the guerrilla movement that brought the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition to power, analysts say.
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Despite Pre-Election Anxiety, US Election Went Smoothly
Despite substantial pre-election anxiety, millions of Americans went to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president in a process that by most accounts went smoothly. There were few reports of voter intimidation and no major acts of violence, according to law enforcement officials and voter advocates. With the results of a bitterly fought election campaign between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden still up in the air, officials remained on alert for the possibility of unrest and potential violence. Nevertheless, voting rights advocates said the process was largely successful and problem-free. Voters stand in line outside a polling station on Election Day, in Mesa, Arizona, Nov. 3, 2020.To be sure, there were numerous reports of run-of-the-mill voting issues across the country — from malfunctioning machines to voting places that opened late leading to lines that stretched for hours. But the type of incident that voting rights advocates most worried about — voter intimidation — was conspicuously small in number. “We’ve also seen some sporadic reports of voter intimidation as well as disinformation, but so far nothing that seems out of the norm,” Flynn said. In the run-up to Tuesday’s vote, there was great anxiety that right-wing militia groups or others would congregate around polling places, provoking violence. That led businesses around the country to board up their windows and the White House to erect a new, unscalable fence around its grounds. But the militiamen stood down, likely because of the recent arrest of anti-government extremists on charges of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said Devin Burghart, president and executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. “Many of them went dark or told their members to stand down,” said Burghart, who tracks online extremism. As a result, reports of intimidation and harassment were few and far between. In Louisiana, a man waving a Trump flag and holding a large gun showed up outside a polling station. In North Carolina, an armed Trump supporter was arrested near a polling place after he was asked to leave. And in Florida, two men showed up outside a precinct posing as sheriff’s deputies. But these incidents, Clarke said, “have been very isolated and sporadic.” Rather than posing a threat to voters, these individuals have been a “nuisance,” Clarke said. With uncertainty hanging over the election results, Clarke cautioned that the relatively smooth voting process may turn out to be “the calm before the storm.” “We are bracing for the possibility of seeing attempts to challenge voters on the back end as officials move beyond Election Day to the process of counting absentee ballots,” Clarke said. “So we will see if today proves to be the calm before the storm.” Protesters have converged on Washington and are planning a number of demonstrations this week. While militia groups have refrained from swarming election places, all manner of far-right groups, from the Oath Keepers to the Boogaloo Boys, are engaging in internet chatter about post-election violence, according to Burghart. “Many of these groups have had members who are already itching for a fight, and that creates a pretty dangerous and toxic environment moving forward if things don’t resolve fairly quickly and transparently over the next day or two,” Burghart said.
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S. Korean Troops Capture N. Korean Who Crossed DMZ
South Korea’s military says a North Korean man was captured after he crossed the heavily militarized border that separates the two bitter rivals. The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement saying the man was detected by surveillance equipment late Tuesday night after he breached the eastern section of the border, prompting the military to issue an anti-infiltration alert.The unidentified man was taken into custody several hours later after an extensive search. The military said it will launch an investigation into the incident, including whether the man was intending to defect. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said there was no unusual movement by North Korean troops along the border. The incident occurred hours before Seoul restarted civilian tours to the southern part of the Demilitarized Zone, which were suspended in October 2019 after an outbreak of African swine fever.
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Postal Service Says It Can’t Meet Judge’s Ballot Order
The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday said it could not meet a federal judge’s order to sweep processing centers for undelivered mail-in ballots, arguing that doing so would disrupt its Election Day operations. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington, D.C., gave the agency until Tuesday afternoon to search 27 facilities in several battleground areas for outstanding ballots and send out those votes immediately. The order came after weeks of bruising court decisions for an agency that has been accused of being politicized under its new leader, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. DeJoy, a major GOP donor, made a series of cost-cutting policy changes in the summer that delayed mail nationwide, fueling worry about the service’s ability to handle the unprecedented crush of mail-in ballots. At the same time, President Donald Trump has baselessly attacked mail voting as fraudulent throughout his campaign. In its response to the judge’s order, the Postal Service said it had already conducted rounds of morning checks at all its processing hubs. Further, the agency said has been performing daily reviews of all 220 facilities handling election mail and planned another sweep hours before polling places closed Tuesday. Much of Sullivan’s order hinged on postal data showing roughly 300,000 mail-in ballots in several states had not received scans showing they had been delivered. The agency has disputed the accuracy of the figure, saying it has pushed to ensure same-day local delivery of ballots by circumventing certain processing steps entirely, leaving them without the final delivery scan. “Defendants are working as expeditiously as possible to comply with this Court’s orders while recognizing physical and operational limitations and the need to avoid disrupting key activities on Election Day,” Justice Department lawyers representing the Postal Service wrote. The judge accepted the agency’s response but set a Wednesday hearing “to discuss the apparent lack of compliance with the court’s order.”
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US Confident in Election Security as Voters Cast Ballots
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 50 states.“At this point, this just looks like any other election day and even just another Tuesday,” the official added, noting technical issues had caused some problems across the United States, though many of them had been resolved.Some polling places across the country reported long lines, which officials have mostly attributed to the high volume of Americans wanting to vote in the hotly contested presidential election.Voters wait in a long line to cast their ballots at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Nov. 3, 2020.But officials said the stress on the country’s election infrastructure has also been eased by the more than 100 million Americans who have already voted by mail or at early voting centers.“We have no indications that a foreign adversary has succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said at a briefing just hours after the first polling sites opened their doors Tuesday.“Our election infrastructure is resilient,” he said, adding, “We do remain on high alert.”U.S. officials have already acknowledged at least two attempts to penetrate systems seen as critical to elections in recent weeks, one by Iran and one by Russia.In both cases, hackers were able to steal information related to voter registration databases, with Iranian hackers managing to infiltrate one state’s database and use that information as part of a disinformation campaign.US Confirms Iran Hacked Voter Registration Data in 1 StateOfficials describe the hack as part of broad Iranian campaign, warning that while Tuesday’s election remains safe, more attacks are comingOfficials ‘confident’ in election securityStill, officials said Tuesday that those attacks were shut down quickly and would have no bearing on the outcome of the election.“No voter data was altered,” the senior CISA official said. “We remain confident in the security of the vote, the vote count and the certification process.”Officials also credited U.S. Cyber Command’s “hunt forward” approach with potentially helping to shut down or block attacks against the U.S. election before they had the chance to do damage.US Cyber Forces Go Hunting for Election Trouble Officials warn adversaries — especially Russia and China — that US forces are waging a preemptive campaign to protect the November presidential vote CYBERCOM also said it remained ready to respond if necessary.”We’ve got defensive cyber elements that are sitting in war rooms, waiting on a call,” a CYBERCOM spokesperson told VOA. “If there is something that happens that DHS needs help with, we are trained, and we have collaborated in the past, and we’re ready.”FBI investigating robocallsStill, federal and state officials have voiced concerns about some attempts to intimidate U.S. voters, including a series of robocalls to voters in at least six states, urging them to stay home.NOW: Here’s the full audio of the “time to stay home” robocall landing across the US. Did you get a call today? Let me know. Please RT! pic.twitter.com/XmWJyJ6sar
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) November 3, 2020The senior CISA official said the FBI is investigating the calls, but cautioned, “robocalls of this nature happen every election.”FBI officials declined to comment but urged U.S. voters to go directly to local election officials for information.While the origins of the calls remain unclear, it appears the messaging itself is not new.“We had been receiving complaints about these robocalls throughout the season,” said Kristen Clarke, the president and CEO of The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.Clarke, though, said it appears to be number of calls has spiked in connection with Tuesday’s election.Warning voters on foreign meddlingU.S. election security officials are also warning Americans to remain vigilant, cautioning that U.S. adversaries like Russia, China and Iran may be waiting until the polls close to launch more serious attacks.“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said CISA Director Christopher Krebs on Tuesday.”Today in some sense is halftime. There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere and undermine confidence in the election,” he said. “So, I ask all Americans to be patient, to treat all sensational claims with skepticism.”Counterintelligence officials have been especially concerned about ongoing influence operations, warning that Russia, China and Iran in particular, have been actively targeting Americans, trying to play up existing political divisions and foster distrust in the election process.Officials also charge all three countries with trying to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, trying to boost or harm the candidacies of President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden.Official: US Adversaries Taking Sides, Wielding Influence Ahead of Election US counterintelligence officials, splitting with President Trump, warn Russian-linked actors are pulling for his reelection as China and Iran aim to put Democrat Joe Biden in the White HouseBut they also say as many as 30 countries have sought to influence the election, a list that includes U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and adversaries like Cuba and Venezuela.US Bracing for Attacks Before and After Election Day Counterintelligence and security officials warn voters attempts to meddle will come in various shapes, forms and will not end once polls closeAs of early Tuesday, officials said they were aware of at least one disinformation campaign targeting Chinese-American voters and were working with other government agencies and social media companies to address it.According to the nonprofit investigative website ProPublica, at least two dozen groups on the Chinese-owned social media app WeChat were trying to intimidate voters by spreading rumors that U.S. officials were going to mobilize troops to put down impending riots.Officials have also expressed concern about state-backed media, which has been producing what one official described as, “this steady drumbeat of disinformation.One Russian-backed media outer Tuesday, RT, spent part of Tuesday promoting an election day interview with Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City.This past Sunday, Trump’s top adviser on the coronavirus, Dr. Scott Atlas, apologized on Twitter after giving RT an interview from the White House, saying he was “unaware they are a registered foreign agent.”The U.S. intelligence community has called RT a propaganda arm of the Russian government.(VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this story.)
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Aid Groups Urge Assistance After Super Typhoon Goni Hits Philippines
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for $3.8 million for emergency assistance to an estimated 80,000 Filipinos whose lives have been devastated by Super Typhoon Goni.
This is the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in the past month and possibly the most devastating. Goni, which made landfall Monday, has barreled across the Philippines, leaving a massive trail of destruction in its wake.
IFRS spokesman Matthew Cochrane told VOA the typhoon has destroyed whole villages, damaged or demolished 90% of the homes and buildings.
“We are seeing an increasing severity in storms that we believe is very much linked to climate change and … there are reports that Super Typhoon Goni may have been the strongest storm ever to hit to make landfall anywhere in the world,” he said.
Cochrane said it is too soon to know how many people may have been killed, injured or rendered homeless. He said assessments are underway to determine the extent of the damage and the needs.
However, what is clear, he said is people who already are very vulnerable are those who are hardest hit by this catastrophic storm.
“So, we are talking here about farmers, small landholders, people who are really living on the edge of success and survival. Laborers, people who do not own land and exist on the back of their labor, as well as fisherfolk. And again, people who are living on a knife’s edge,” he said.Cochrane said these are people whose livelihoods, health and well-being already had been disrupted by COVID-19. He said the typhoon has left tens of thousands of people bereft and in need of support for a very long time.
For now, he said, saving lives is most important. As a consequence, search and rescue missions will go on for as long as feasible. Immediate priority needs, he said, are to provide survivors of this disaster with food, clean water, shelter, medical care and other essentials.
Once the emergency phase is over, he said, the Red Cross is likely to appeal for more international support to fund long-term recovery and rehabilitation programs.
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Hong Kong Police Arrest Documentary Producer Over Mob Attack Program
Police in Hong Kong arrested a producer Tuesday who made a documentary for government broadcaster RTHK about a July 21, 2019, mob attack on train passengers in Yuen Long. Bao Choy, who worked on an investigative documentary showing how police were present as baton-wielding men in white T-shirts began to gather in Yuen Long ahead of the bloody attack on passengers and passers-by, was arrested at her home, RTHK reported. Police carried out a search of Choy’s home in Mei Foo, and she was taken away by officers at about 3.30 p.m., the report said. She was arrested on suspicion of road traffic violations relating to vehicle registration searches used in the program. Her arrest has prompted fears that she is being targeted for political reasons. She was released on bail after about six hours of questioning, RTHK reported. The Hong Kong Connection TV documentary titled “7.21 Who Owns the Truth?” showed clips from surveillance cameras at shops in Yuen Long and interviewed people who were identified in the footage. Its airing forced police to admit they already had a presence in the town but did nothing to prevent the attack following initial denials. FILE – Demonstrators stand on turnstiles during a protest at the Yuen Long MTR station in Hong Kong, August 21, 2019.Thirty-nine minutes elapsed between the first emergency calls to the final arrival of police at the Yuen Long MTR station, where dozens of people already were injured and many needed hospital treatment. RTHK’s director of broadcasting Leung Ka-wing said the station was “afraid” and “worried” by Choy’s arrest, but would not alter its editorial policies. “We are afraid. We are worried … we better say we are worried, whether we can continue the way we produce accurate news as before,” Leung told reporters. “We always stick to our principles. It’s very clear in the charter, as well as the producer guidelines,” he said. ‘Extreme shock and outrage’ At least eight media organizations, including the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association and the RTHK staff union issued a joint statement Tuesday expressing “extreme shock and outrage” at Choy’s arrest. The groups called on the police to make public the details of the case and justification for the arrest, and to release Choy immediately and unconditionally. FILE – Calvin So, a victim of the Yuen Long attacks, shows his wounds at a hospital, in Hong Kong, China, July 22, 2019.“We think this is unreasonable and a complete blow to freedom of the press,” HKJA chairperson Chris Yeung said. “There will be an immediate chilling effect, because the reporter has been working with many media, including media of different backgrounds.” He said even the pro-China Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po newspapers had conducted such investigations. “If you are facing a prosecution because of a (car registration search) you may not dare to continue, and you may need to wait for legal issues to be clarified before proceeding,” he said. Council Front lawmaker and former journalist Claudia Mo said it is extremely common practice for Hong Kong journalists to use car registration searches as part of their investigations. “This is obviously a blow to freedom of the press,” Mo told RFA. “I myself have made just such a license plate query for H.K. $45 … after someone followed me in a car.” “This is directed at RTHK, one hundred percent,” she said. Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung agreed. “If this isn’t retaliation, then what is?” he told journalists. Assault on press freedom In a statement, Britain-based rights group Hong Kong Watch strongly condemned Choy’s arrest. The group’s policy director, Johnny Patterson, said Choy’s arrest was “nothing less than an outright assault on press freedom.” “The police have failed to hold the perpetrators of the Yuen Long attack to account. For the victims, there has still been no justice,” he said. “Instead, they have chosen to arrest a journalist whose only crime is reminding the world of that fact.” Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was injured in the Yuen Long attack, praised Choy’s professionalism, saying she had “asked all the right questions.” “I do think that the police operation will inevitably create a chilling effect that those journalists who dare to report any wrongdoings of the government officials or the pro-establishment camp have been facing great pressure, and I urge them to stand firm and report the truth … without fear or favor,” Lam said in comments quoted by RTHK. Pro-government lawmaker Junius Ho, who was filmed shaking hands with white-clad men in Yuen Long on the night of the attack, July 21, last year, said journalists should not break the law while doing their jobs.
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After Several Quiet Weeks, 3 NFL Teams Have COVID-19 Issues
The U.S. National Football League, after at least three weeks with no new COVID-19 cases, saw three teams with positive cases, this time including two senior management officials. A statement from the Denver Broncos said General Manager John Elway and team Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis each tested positive for the virus early this week. The team said after their review of contact-tracing data with the league, they “are confident these cases originated independently outside team facilities.” Both executives are reported to have minor symptoms. The Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers each had a player with a positive test result Monday, though the tests for both players were given before they played in games Sunday. Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Packers running back A.J. Dillion each were tested before their respective games Sunday. Through contact tracing, two other Packers players — running back Jamaal Williams and linebacker Kamal Martin — were determined to be high-risk after close contact with Dillion. All three will be quarantined and ineligible to play in the Packers game with the San Francisco 49ers scheduled for Thursday night. That game will be played as scheduled. Humphrey will not play in Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. NFL reporter Tom Pelissero says the team noted Tuesday that six players were found to have had game-day contact with Humphrey and have been added to the team’s COVID-19 list. They also will not play in Sunday’s scheduled game. The team has not yet released the other players’ names. After discovery of infected Packers and Ravens players on the field Sunday, the NFL issued a memo announcing new game-day protocols for players, including the strong recommendation for all players and personnel to wear masks or double-layered neck gaiters when not actively participating in the game. The memo said, “Wearing a mask or approved face covering may be the difference between being designated a ‘High Risk Close Contact’” and not being required to miss games.
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Zimbabwe Police Again Arrest Journalist Critical of Government
Zimbabwean police on Tuesday arrested for the second time a journalist who has been critical of the government, his lawyer said, adding this time it was for contempt of court related to a post he made on Twitter.Hopewell Chin’ono was first arrested in July on charges of writing in support of anti-government protests.He was detained for more than a month at a maximum security prison until he was released on bail on Sept. 2, with one of the conditions being that he stop posting on his Twitter account until his case was finalized.But Chin’ono opened a new Twitter account, which he has been using to write about corruption and criticizing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.His comments have been unusually outspoken for a journalist in Zimbabwe, where critics are often dealt with harshly.”He is being charged with contempt of court. He is alleged to have sent out a tweet but at this moment the charges are not very clear so we are weighing our options,” his lawyer Gift Mtisi told Reuters by phone.Police spokesman Paul Nyathi declined to comment immediately.The arrest of Chin’ono and dozens of activists has led to accusations that the government is persecuting the opposition, a charge the authorities deny.Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in more than a decade is fueling anger against Mnangagwa, who took over from the late Robert Mugabe after a coup two years ago, promising to revive the economy and greater freedoms for citizens.
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Europe Vows to Defend Values After Terror Attacks
Austrian authorities continue to investigate whether more than one attacker was involved in the terrorist shootings in Vienna Monday night that left four people dead and scores wounded. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, it’s the latest in a series of terrorist incidents in Europe in recent days. Camera: Henry Ridgwell Video editor: Jon Spier
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Malawi Women Journalists March Against Rape, Abuse
Clad in purple and white T-shirts, the female journalists carried placards calling for stringent measures against sexual offenders, with some calling for castration.Edith Kambalame is the chairperson of the Association of Media Women in Malawi, which led the protests in Blantyre“As journalists we are saying we’ve been reporting on issues of rape and defilement for long, long time, but we are seeing little impact on the ground,” Kambalame said. “We are acknowledging effort the police are putting in place, the courts, and we also know that there are laws in place, but we believe that if these issues are continuing, then probably they [laws] are not stringent enough.”Edith Kambalame, who helped lead the rally, says female journalists are fed up reporting about sexual abuses of women and girls. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Some recent cases have brought attention to the ongoing problem of rape and sexual abuse in Malawi.Last week, police arrested a 38-year-old man in the southern district of Chikwawa after he allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl, then dumped her along the side of the road.Police in Blantyre recently arrested a senior employee at the Medical Aid Society of Malawi for raping his sister’s daughter, just 14 years old.Peter Kalaya, deputy spokesperson for the Malawi Police service, told VOA the trend is rising.“For example, in terms of defilement cases — in 2018, the Malawi Police Service recorded a total of 1,539 cases. In 2019, we recorded a total of 1,766, whereas in 2020, between January and September, we have recorded a total of 1,501 cases,” Kalaya said. “Meaning that by the time we hit December we’ll have gone beyond 1,766 cases we recorded in 2019.”The protesters attribute the rise to lenient penalties, which currently allow rapists a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.Kambalame said that is not enough.“So, what we are asking in the nutshell is for the policy makers to put in place more stringent measures to facilitate some legal review, to say that those that are proved to have defiled or raped one, should get life imprisonment,” Kambalame said.Protester Sakina Majawa works as a producer at Chanco Community Radio Station In Zomba City. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Humphrey Mvula, a social commentator and panelist on the TV show “Hot Current,” said these punishments are a little harsh. He said what Malawi needs is better sex education in schools.”Sex education needs to start from lower classes going up'” Mvula said. “Because look, there are some areas where you find that girls unfortunately may find themselves in a situation, where they may not be properly protected. Possibly you want to join a beer party and then you have individuals who still look at women as objects.”Meanwhile, Minister of Gender Patricia Kaliati said women who choose to press charges of rape or abuse will be provided with a lawyer for free by her ministry. She said the government and various donors are paying for the lawyers.She adds that the government is drafting a bill that could increase the maximum jail term for convicted rapists to life imprisonment.
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Britain Raises National Terror Alert Level to ‘Severe’
Britain’s Home secretary announced Tuesday the nation was raising its terrorism threat level from “substantial” to “severe” following recent terrorist activity in France and Austria.
According to Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency, the severe alert means a terrorist attack is highly likely. It is the fourth highest of the nation’s five threat levels.
Speaking to reporters in London, Home Secretary Priti Patel said MI5’s Joint Terror Analysis Center ((JTAC)) raised the level following a recent knife attack by a radicalized Chechen refugee in Nice, France and the shooting of four people in Vienna late Monday by an armed man identified as a convicted jihadist.
Patel says the alert means people should be on alert but not alarmed. She said the alert is a precautionary measure. Patel adds the public can expect to see the nation’s intelligence and police agencies putting visible protective preventative measures in place across the country.
On her Twitter account earlier, Patel encouraged the public to “continue to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police.”
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Australia Joins India, US and Japan in Indian Ocean War Games
The Australian navy joined Indian, Japanese and American warships for annual Malabar exercises that began Tuesday in the Indian Ocean marking the growing strategic convergence of the four countries amid rising concerns about Chinese assertiveness in Asia. India’s decision to include Australia for the annual drills comes in the wake of a push by Washington for deeper security collaboration in the “Quad,” the informal group that includes the United States, Japan, Australia and India as a counter to China. Australia returns to the exercises after 13 years, when its participation triggered strident Chinese objections. But this time the Malabar exercises will endure as all four participants seek a long-term counterbalancing strategy to China according to analysts. “In 2007 the Chinese threatened and cajoled different members to drop out and effectively defanged it,” according to Sreeram Chaulia, Dean at the Jindal School of international Affairs at O.P. Jindal University. “But this time the Malabar exercises won’t wind down because the coming decade is going to be very different — the threat perception of Chinese power is much higher now in all these four countries, so it has a lasting future.” The first phase of the exercises, which includes simulated war games and combat maneuvers, is being held in the Bay of Bengal and will continue until Friday. The second phase will be held in mid-November in the Arabian Sea. “The exercise, being conducted as a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic, will showcase the high-levels of synergy and coordination between the friendly navies, which is based on their shared values and commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order,” the Indian Navy said in a statement on Monday.
FILE – Hornet fighter jets and E-2D Hawkeye plane are seen on the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis during joint military exercise called Malabar, with the US, Japan and India participating, off the island of Okinawa, June 15, 2016.The Malabar drill, which began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, was expanded to include Japan as a permanent member in 2017. It has also seen the occasional participation of other countries. While Australia has wanted to return for some time, analysts say India had been hesitant to extend an invitation over concerns of riling China. But India’s six-month long military standoff with China in the Himalayas has prompted it to take a more decisive stand on collaborating with “the Quad” and analysts say this year’s Malabar exercises will help consolidate the group, to which Washington has been trying to give a strategic push since 2017. Top U.S. officials have welcomed India’s move.FILE – U.S. Secretary of Defence Mark Esper addresses the media next to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a joint news conference in New Delhi, India, Oct. 27, 2020.“India’s recent decision to include Australia in the upcoming Malabar naval exercise alongside American, Indian, and Japanese forces reflects an acknowledgement of the importance of working multilaterally together to address global challenges,” U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said last week in New Delhi after the two countries signed a military agreement. China has denounced the “Quad” with its foreign minister, Wang Yi, saying last month that its “aim is to trumpet the old-fashioned Cold War mentality to stir up confrontation among different groups and blocs.” Besides its recent tensions with China over a border dispute, India has also warily eyed Beijing’s growing investments and expanding influence in recent years in Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh. With about 70 percent of global trade passing through the Indian Ocean, it is a hugely strategic waterway. Australia’s inclusion in the Malabar exercises is a “big force multiplier” according to Chaulia. “In the absence of Australia, the Malabar was confined to narrower maritime spaces. But with another naval force that has power projection capabilities beyond its traditional domain and further west towards the Indian Ocean, its coverage has expanded.” Analysts point out that Canberra has committed to spending billions of dollars on an ambitious military build-up, saying that it faces regional challenges. Australia’s diplomatic relations with China also worsened this year.
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US Officials Confident in Election Security as Voters Head to Polls
Officials overseeing U.S. election security are expressing confidence as voters across the country head to the polls to cast ballots for president and a multitude of state and local races.
Millions of Americans were expected to vote in person Tuesday, the last day for citizens to cast a ballot, in addition to the more than 100 million, who voted by mail or at early voting centers.
And despite indications that U.S. adversaries will try to disrupt the election process, early evidence suggests any such attempts have failed to make an impact.
“We have no indications that a foreign adversary has succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said at a briefing just hours after the first polling sites opened their doors.
“Our election infrastructure is resilient,” he said. “But we do remain on high alert.”
U.S. officials have already acknowledged at least two attempts to penetrate systems seen as critical to elections in recent weeks, one by Iran and one by Russia.
In both cases, hackers were able to steal information related to voter registration databases, with Iranian hackers managing to infiltrate one state’s database and use that information as part of a disinformation campaign.US Confirms Iran Hacked Voter Registration Data in 1 StateOfficials describe the hack as part of broad Iranian campaign, warning that while Tuesday’s election remains safe, more attacks are comingStill, officials said Tuesday that those attacks were shut down quickly and would have no bearing on the outcome of the election.
“No voter data was altered,” a senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said during a call with reporters Tuesday.
“We remain confident in the security of the vote, the vote count and the certification process,” the official said, speaking only on the condition of anonymity.
Some polling locations reported long lines as they opened for voters, although electiononline.org, which describes itself as a nonpartisan clearinghouse for election information, said most of that was due to a high volume of voters.
Other polling sites in New York, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio were plagued by a variety of technical problems.
In Franklin County, Ohio, election officials had to abandon use of their electronic pollbooks, which help keep track of voter information and ensures that voters cannot vote twice and switched to paper pollbooks instead.
But federal officials said such incidents should not be cause for alarm.Voters line up at a polling station on Election Day in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nov. 3, 2020.“[There is] no indication of any sort of malicious cyber activity,” said a second senior CISA official, who also spoke but only on the condition of anonymity.
He described the issues as “typical challenges with election technology.”
“With hundreds of thousands of polling places, you’re going to have some,” the official added.
Still, U.S. election security officials warned Americans to remain vigilant, cautioning U.S. adversaries like Russia, China and Iran, may be waiting until the polls close to launch more serious attacks.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said CISA Director Christopher Krebs.
“Today in some sense is halftime. There may be other events or activities or efforts to interfere and undermine confidence in the election,” he said. “So, I ask all Americans to be patient, to treat all sensational claims with skepticism.”
Counterintelligence officials have been especially concerned about ongoing influence operations, warning that Russia, China and Iran in particular, have been actively targeting Americans, trying to play up existing political divisions and foster distrust in the election process.
Officials also charge all three countries with trying to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, trying to boost or harm the candidacies of President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden.Official: US Adversaries Taking Sides, Wielding Influence Ahead of Election US counterintelligence officials, splitting with President Trump, warn Russian-linked actors are pulling for his reelection as China and Iran aim to put Democrat Joe Biden in the White HouseBut they also say as many as 30 countries have sought to influence the election, a list that includes U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and adversaries like Cuba and Venezuela.US Bracing for Attacks Before and After Election Day Counterintelligence and security officials warn voters attempts to meddle will come in various shapes, forms and will not end once polls closeAs of early Tuesday, officials said they were aware of at least one disinformation campaign targeting Chinese American voters and were working with other government agencies and social media companies to address it.
According to nonprofit investigative website ProPublica, at least two dozen groups on the Chinese-owned social media app WeChat were trying to intimidate voters by spreading rumors that U.S. officials were going to mobilize troops to put down impending riots.
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Vienna Attacker Was Islamic State Sympathizer, Officials Say
Austrian officials said Tuesday a perpetrator of an attack in Vienna, Austria that killed at least four people and wounded 14 others was a sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group. “We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamist terrorist,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters. He said the assailant was armed with an assault rifle and wore a fake suicide vest. He added in later comments to the Austrian news agency APA that the attacker was convicted last year of trying to travel to Syria to join Islamic State. Police shot the assailant dead, and Nehammer said a search was ongoing Tuesday to see if anyone else was involved in the attack. “At the moment we can’t rule out that there are still other attackers out there. That’s why we are investigating the environment of the attacker and also all of Vienna in order to make sure whether there was just one perpetrator or two,” he said. After a shooting armed police officers stand on a street at the scene in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 3, 2020.Authorities advised people to stay away from public places and public transport. Students in Vienna were allowed to miss classes Tuesday. The shootings took place late Monday at six locations in Vienna, hours before a partial lockdown was due to go into effect due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country. The dead included two men and a woman, while a police officer was among the wounded. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said his country “will not be intimidated by terrorists.” In a series of tweets he also said there is not a dispute between Christians and Muslims or between Austrians and migrants, but rather a struggle between those who believe in peace and those who want war. Speaking to the Austrian public broadcasting station ORF, Nehammer said all six locations that were attacked were near a central city street that house’s Vienna’s main synagogue. Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter that it was not clear whether the synagogue and its adjoining offices had been the target of the attack. He said the buildings were closed at the time of the violence. President Emmanuel Macron of France, which has faced several recent attacks blamed on Muslim extremists, tweeted that the French “share the shock and grief of the Austrian people hit by an attack tonight.””This is our Europe,” he said. “Our enemies must know with whom they are dealing. We will not retreat.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed solidarity with neighboring Austria in a statement Tuesday, saying, “The fight against Islamist terrorism is our common struggle.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States “strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Vienna.” “We express our deepest sympathy to the families of those killed and wounded,” Pompeo said. “We affirm our support for the police and first responders, and stand in solidarity with the people of Austria.”
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Thousands Flee Ivory Coast Post-Election Violence
The U.N. refugee agency says more than 3,200 Ivorians have fled post-election violence in their country to Liberia, Ghana and Togo and more reportedly are on their way.Violent clashes erupted in Ivory Coast after Saturday’s presidential elections, reportedly killing at least 12 people and injuring many more. That has prompted thousands of people to flee to neighboring countries.The U.N. refugee agency says most of the new arrivals are women and children from Ivory Coast’s west and southwest regions. Among them, it says are former Ivorian refugees who had recently returned to their home country. Now, they have been forced to flee again.UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov describes the situation as very worrying. He told VOA expectations are high that more people will leave Ivory Coast based on the acceleration of new arrivals Monday.“In a 24-hour period, we registered 1,000 refugees coming into Liberia. That is for a total of 2,600, some of those people having come into the country in the days preceding the election. So, what we are doing is we are working closely with the government of Liberia but also Ghana and Togo on contingency plans should the situation worsen and should more people start to come across the border,” he said.President Alassane Ouattara won a hotly contested third term, receiving 94 percent of the vote according to the electoral commission. The opposition disputes the victory, calling Ouattara’s bid for a third term illegal. The president and his supporters argue a constitutional change in 2016 nullified the president’s first term, allowing him to run again.Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara speaks to journalists after voting at a polling station during presidential elections in Abidjan, Oct. 31, 2020.Cheshirkov said the election has triggered violence not seen in Ivory Coast since 2011, raising fears the current situation could spark another conflict. “We know that people are looking back to 2010-11, that period when there was violence, which at that time led to 3,000 dead, more than 300,000 refugees fleeing in the region, and around one million displaced,” he said.The UNHCR is urging Ivorian political and opinion leaders to show restraint and to work together to calm the situation. It is calling on them to refrain from inciting violence and resorting to hate speech and to resolve disputes peacefully and through dialogue.
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US Supreme Court To Hear Case About Juvenile Life Sentences
The Supreme Court is to hear arguments in a case that could put the brakes on what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for children who are convicted of murder.
The court has concluded over the last two decades that children should be treated differently from adults, in part because of their lack of maturity. But a court that is even more conservative, particularly following the addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, could move in the other direction.
Barrett is expected to participate in arguments Tuesday, the second day she is hearing arguments following her confirmation last week.
The case before the justices, who are continuing to hear arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, has to do with what courts must conclude before sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The question stems from the court’s previous rulings on juvenile offenders. In 2005, the court eliminated the death penalty for offenders who were under 18 when they committed crimes. And in 2010 the court eliminated life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, except in cases where a juvenile has killed someone.
Then, in 2012, the justices in a 5-4 decision said juveniles who killed couldn’t automatically get life sentences with no chance of parole. And four years later, the justices said those sentences should be reserved “for all but the rarest of juvenile offenders, those whose crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility.”
The justices are now being asked whether a juvenile has to be found to be “permanently incorrigible” before being sentenced to life without parole.
No longer on the court are Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, who were key to the 2012 decision limiting the use of life sentences. More conservative justices have replaced them.
The specific case before the justices involves Mississippi inmate Brett Jones, who was 15 and living with his grandparents when he fatally stabbed his grandfather. The two had a fight in the home’s kitchen after Bertis Jones found his grandson’s girlfriend in his grandson’s bedroom. Brett Jones, who was using a knife to make a sandwich before the fight, stabbed his grandfather first with that knife and then, when it broke, with a different knife.
He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is now 31.
The Supreme Court last year heard arguments in a different case about juvenile life sentences.
That case involved Lee Boyd Malvo, who is serving life in prison for his role in the 2002 sniper spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. But the case was dropped after Virginia passed legislation that gives those who were under 18 when they committed their crime an opportunity to seek parole after serving 20 years. Malvo, who was 17 when he committed his crimes, will be eligible for parole in 2024.
The case the justices will hear Tuesday is Jones v. Mississippi, 18-1259.
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White House COVID-19 Task Force Member Warns US Entering ‘Deadly Phase’ of Pandemic
A key member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force says the nation is entering a “deadly phase” of the nearly year-long COVID-19 pandemic. News outlets say Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force’s coordinator, issued a memo Monday urging administration officials to undertake “an aggressive balanced approach” between lockdowns and taking steps to control the virus, including urging Americans to wear masks, observe social distancing and launch an aggressive testing program. FILE – Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator speaks during press briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force, at the White House, March 18, 2020, in Washington.Dr. Birx’s memo contradicts President Trump’s assertions during his re-election campaign speeches that the country is “rounding the corner” of the pandemic, which has claimed more than 230,000 lives and sickened more than 9.2 million citizens, including 84,089 new cases and 557 deaths on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Pregnant women at greater risk
Pregnant women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than nonpregnant women, according to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC found that expectant women infected with the novel coronavirus are more likely than non-pregnant women to require intensive care and are at increased risk of death. They are also most likely to need the use of a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe and to be connected to a specialized heart-lung bypass machine. The CDC study also discovered that minority pregnant women were at greater risk of being infected and falling seriously ill to COVID-19. A separate CDC study also found that COVID-19 positive pregnant women were at increased risk of delivering premature babies. Dr. Denise Jamieson, the head of the gynecology and obstetrics department at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said the studies show that pregnant women need to take extra precautions to avoid exposure to the virus, such as wearing maks and practicing social distancing, and even going so far as to avoid social gatherings. Cellular immunity
Meanwhile, British scientists have discovered that cellular immunity to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is likely to be present in most patients for six months after they were first infected, suggesting they could be protected from a second bout of the virus. The scientists made the discovery after analyzing blood samples of 100 non-hospitalized patients who were asymptomatic or had mild COVID-19 symptoms. While some of the patients’ antibody levels had declined, the response of their so-called “T-cells,” a type of white blood cell that makes up the human body’s immune system, were still detectable.
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Asian Markets Post Strong Earnings as US Presidential Election Day Looms
Asian markets are posting a second consecutive day of solid gains Tuesday, hours before voters cast their ballots on the official day of the U.S. presidential election. The Nikkei index in Tokyo finished the trading day up 1.3%. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index closed 1.9% higher. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.4%. Seoul’s KOSPI index gained 1.8%, and the TSEC index in Taipei earned 1.1% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 2.1% higher in late afternoon trading, while Mumbai’s Sensex is up 1.3%. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,889.90, down 0.1%. U.S. crude oil is selling at $36.70 per barrel, down 0.3%, and Brent crude is down 0.5% at $38.76 per barrel. All three U.S. indices are trending positively in futures trading, an indication that they will build on Monday’s positive earnings.
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Officials Say Vienna Attacker Was Islamic State Sympathizer
Austrian officials said Tuesday the perpetrator of an attack in Vienna, Austria that killed at least three people and wounded 15 others was a sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group. “We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamist terrorist,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters. He said the assailant was armed with an assault rifle and wore a fake suicide vest. Police shot the assailant dead, and Nehammer said a search was ongoing Tuesday to see if anyone else was involved in the attack. “At the moment we can’t rule out that there are still other attackers out there. That’s why we are investigating the environment of the attacker and also all of Vienna in order to make sure whether there was just one perpetrator or two,” he said. After a shooting armed police officers stand on a street at the scene in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 3, 2020.Authorities advised people to stay away from public places and public transport. Students in Vienna were allowed to miss classes Tuesday. The shootings took place late Monday at six locations in Vienna, hours before a partial lockdown was due to go into effect due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country. The dead included two men and a woman, while a police officer was among the wounded. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described the shootings as a “repulsive terrorist attack.” He said the attackers had “prepared professionally” and “were very well equipped with automatic weapons.” Speaking to the Austrian public broadcasting station ORF, Nehammer said all six locations that were attacked were near a central city street that house’s Vienna’s main synagogue. Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter that it was not clear whether the synagogue and its adjoining offices had been the target of the attack. He said the buildings were closed at the time of the violence. President Emmanuel Macron of France, which has faced several recent attacks blamed on Muslim extremists, tweeted that the French “share the shock and grief of the Austrian people hit by an attack tonight.” “This is our Europe,” he said. “Our enemies must know with whom they are dealing. We will not retreat.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed solidarity with neighboring Austria in a statement Tuesday, saying, “The fight against Islamist terrorism is our common struggle.”
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Ivory Coast President is Declared Winner of Saturday’s Election, Clinching a Third Term in Office
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has apparently won a controversial third term in office in a landslide victory in the West African nation’s October 3 presidential election. Electoral commission president Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert declared Quattara the winner early Tuesday, saying with just over 50 percent of voters casting ballots, Quattara obtained just over 3,000,000 votes, which is a little more than 94 percent of the tally. The Ivory Coast constitutional council still has to validate the election results and declare a winner after hearing any complaints or challenges. Quattara secured the apparent victory in the midst of deadly pre-election violence and a boycott of the election orchestrated by two opposition leaders.Street vendors use parasols reading “Abobo ADOland” in reference to the Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who is known as ADO, at Abobo neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Nov. 2, 2020.The top opposition candidates, former President Henri Konan Bedie and ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, say they will not recognize a Ouattara victory, claiming it was slanted because they called for a boycott of Saturday’s election. They also said Quattara’s run for a third term is illegal because it violates the constitution, which allows presidents to serve two terms. Ouattara rejected that notion, saying the approval of a new constitution in 2016 allowed him to seek a third term. The opposition announced late Monday the formation of a transition council that would help create an alternative government, which will outline a blueprint for a fair presidential election. The Ivory Coast government did not issue an immediate response to the opposition’s plans.
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Trump Claims Extended Vote Counting in Pennsylvania Could Spark Violence
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. Something must be done!” The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one. It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Former President Barack Obama speaks at a rally as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Nov. 2, 2020, in Miami.Biden said of Trump at a midday drive-in rally in Cleveland, Ohio. “The character of America is literally on the ballot.” Discussion of issues during the campaign has been largely overshadowed by the two candidate’s personal attacks on each other and the coronavirus pandemic. The president, earlier on Monday in North Carolina, emphasized an economic recovery amid the pandemic, promising “we will mass distribute the vaccine within a few short weeks.” Health officials, including those in Trump’s administration, predict most Americans are unlikely to be inoculated against COVID-19 before early or mid-2021. Trump, at the first of Monday’s five rallies in four states, said his challenger, if elected, “will turn America into a prison state” through lockdowns to combat the virus. Biden said in Cleveland that “the first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump.”Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden waves after speaking at a rally at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, Nov. 2, 2020, in Cleveland.Obama characterized the president as a COVID-19 “super-spreader” for holding packed campaign rallies and White House events. The pandemic has overshadowed other issues in the presidential campaign with COVID-19 cases spiking in recent weeks in many of the U.S. states expected to decide the presidential election. The coronavirus has killed more than 231,000 people and infected nearly 9.3 million in the United States, the most of any country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. National polls show the former vice president with about an eight-point lead, but the race is significantly tighter in the swing states that will decide the victor. The common stop on the Monday itineraries of both Biden and Trump was Pennsylvania, the eastern U.S. state that Trump won in 2016. The winner of Pennsylvania earns 20 of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to earn a four-year term in the White House. Trump on Monday held a rally at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport, while Biden addressed supporters at three socially distanced drive-in events in the state. Biden campaign events in Pennsylvania also featured remarks and performances by entertainers Lady Gaga, Patti LaBelle, John Legend and Common. “We all know that this could come down to Pennsylvania. … Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like your children’s lives depend on it, because they do,” Lady Gaga said in Pittsburgh before taking a seat at the piano and singing several songs interspersed with appeals for Pennsylvanians to vote for Biden. Trump ended his campaigning with midnight hour rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a replay of his 2016 finale in a state Hillary Clinton was expected to win. “We can’t let the sneaky guy fool us because he happens to be a corrupt politician,” said Trump early Tuesday, getting in a final verbal jab at Biden. As the president spoke the first official Election Day votes were cast in two villages in New Hampshire. All 5 ballots in Dixville Notch were for Biden; in Millsfield, the tally was 16 votes for Trump and 5 for Biden. National results will not be official until weeks later. The deadlines vary by state, with a few reporting within a week but many not requiring final results to be reported until late November or early December. Most years, the winner is clear before the official results with media organizations making projections based on tabulations from individual voting precincts. This year a record number of people have cast early ballots — nearly 99 million— and with many of those coming by way of mail-in ballots due to concerns about the coronavirus, the counting in some states could be slower than usual.
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