With just over two months to go before Election Day in the United States, presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are campaigning on the economy and preparing for their first debate. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns looks at the race.
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washington — Top U.S. election security officials are asking American voters to tune out the noise and reject what they describe as unfounded claims that the coming presidential election will be rigged.
Instead, in the first of a series of election security briefings planned in the run-up to November’s election, they say U.S. voters should have confidence that when they go to the polls their votes will be counted accurately.
“Throughout the next few months, you are going to hear a lot of different things from different sources. The most important thing is to recognize the signal through the noise, the facts from the fiction,” said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is responsible for election security.
“Our elections process, election infrastructure has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been stronger,” Easterly said, briefing reporters Tuesday. “It’s why I have confidence in the integrity of our elections and why the American people should, as well.”
Easterly’s effort to reassure voters comes a little over a month after the U.S. intelligence community issued its own warning that U.S. adversaries, led by Russia, Iran and China, are seeking to meddle with the November election.
But those efforts highlighted in the intelligence community warning are spearheaded by influence operations or disinformation campaigns designed to sow doubt about the U.S. election process and to help or hinder certain candidates.
In contrast, efforts by U.S. adversaries to attack or hack systems used to carry out the election, and tally votes, have so far been nonexistent.
“We have not seen any intent to interfere in the elections process,” Cait Conley, CISA senior adviser, told reporters.
And while some of that could be explained by what officials describe as a steady stream of investments in election security infrastructure — including the hiring of more field offices and election security advisers — CISA officials are not taking the lack of malicious activity for granted.
“That is something that could change at any moment,” Conley said. “When we look at this threat landscape for this election cycle, it truly is arguably the most complex yet.”
CISA said other efforts to safeguard the upcoming presidential election include a variety of election security exercises, accuracy testing for voting machines, and enhanced security measures to protect election-related computer networks.
They also emphasize that none of the systems that record votes are connected to the internet and that 97% of U.S. voters will cast ballots in jurisdictions that have paper ballots as back-ups.
None of that, however, will stop countries such as Russia, Iran and China from trying to convince voters that things are going wrong.
Easterly said one of the biggest concerns is that U.S adversaries will portray minor hiccups as major scandals.
“It’s almost inevitable that somewhere across the country someone will forget to bring the keys to unlock the polling location,” she said. “Someone will unplug a printer to plug in a crockpot. A storm may cause a polling site to lose electricity.”
Cybercriminals might even find a way to temporarily disable what officials describe as election-adjacent systems, including websites for state and local agencies that record and tally votes.
“We can absolutely expect that our foreign adversaries will remain a persistent threat to attempting to undermine American confidence in our democracy and our institutions and to sow partisan discord,” she said. “It is up to all of us not to let our foreign adversaries be successful.”
Easterly and Conley said the best way to avoid unnecessary panic is for American voters to rely on state and local election officials for information.
But if Americans rely on word-of-mouth social media accounts, it could cause trouble.
“It’s a hard problem for social media companies,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said at a recent briefing, speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] definitely uses influence actors on social media to try to at least stir discord in the United States,” the official said. “So, I would expect that platform to be [used].”
And there is growing evidence that China may be ramping up its efforts.
Graphika, a social media analytics firm, issued a report Tuesday warning that a Chinese-linked disinformation operation known as “Spamoflage” has grown increasingly aggressive.
Graphika said it has identified more than a dozen accounts on platforms including X, formerly known as Twitter, and on TikTok “claiming to be U.S. citizens and/or U.S.-focused peace, human rights, and information integrity advocates frustrated by American politics and the West.”
“These accounts have seeded and amplified content denigrating Democratic and Republican candidates, sowing doubt in the legitimacy of the U.S. electoral process, and spreading divisive narratives about sensitive social issues,” the Graphika report said, though it added that few of the accounts had managed to gain much traction.
Graphika’s conclusions seem to be consistent with earlier assessments by Meta, the social media company behind Facebook and Instagram, when it first identified the effort last year.
“Despite the very large number of accounts and platforms it used, Spamouflage consistently struggled to reach beyond its own [fake] echo chamber,” Meta said at the time. “Only a few instances have been reported when Spamouflage content on Twitter and YouTube was amplified by real-world influencers.”
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U.S. election campaigns are some of the longest in the world. See how they compare to other countries.
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SEOUL, South Korea — An Apple TV+ documentary series, “K-pop Idols,” premiering Friday, offers an intimate look at how the K-pop industry is embracing diversity while grappling with challenges in a field that demands perfection.
The six-part series features Korean American star Jessi and up-and-coming K-pop bands like Cravity and Blackswan, documenting the highs and lows of their careers.
K-pop is known for its blend of vocals with precise choreography.
Blackswan members Fatou and Nvee told The Associated Press they practice up to 10 hours daily, including choreography and vocal sessions before the “comeback” season which refers to a string of events to promote their latest songs.
The grueling practice starts early.
Once under contract, K-pop trainees enter a system that includes classes in manners, language, dance, and choreography. As of 2022, there were 752 K-pop trainees under entertainment labels, according to a Korea Creative Content Agency report.
Despite recent pushback against the perennial “dark side of K-pop” narrative, the documentary shows that some industry problems persist.
Former Blackswan member Youngheun said members had a curfew and were not allowed to drink or date. “We even had to report when we were getting our nails done and going to the convenience store in front of our house,” she shared in the documentary.
Rigid control extends to diet.
Blackswan member Gabi is seen eating a meal of egg, chicken breast and what resembles sweet potato sticks during her trainee period. “I am dieting because Mr. Yoon [the label’s head] told me I need to lose weight,” Gabi said.
The pressure applies to boy bands, too.
Cravity member Wonjin shared that he was given two weeks to lose weight to join the label. “I would eat like one egg a day […] I lost about 7kg,” he said in the documentary.
Bradley Cramp, one of executive producers of the documentary, noted that such restrictions exist in other competitive industries as well.
“I honestly don’t know one idol or elite sports athlete or entertainer that doesn’t deal with the issue of diet and self-image and mental health to some degree or another,” he told The Associated Press.
The documentary also touches on K-pop’s new challenge: embracing diversity.
Following BTS’ international success, K-pop labels have been actively recruiting foreign talents, which sometimes brings unfamiliar challenges.
In the documentary, Yoon Deung Ryong, the founder of Blackswan’s label DR Music, struggles to settle internal conflicts among members, which later escalated to online clashes between fans.
“If the company says, ‘don’t fight,’ they won’t fight,” he said, referring to traditional K-pop groups. He added that he can’t control a “multinational group” the same way because of language and cultural differences. There are currently no Korean members in Blackswan after member changes.
With K-pop’s global expansion, fundamental questions remain about the essence of K-pop.
“In a K-pop group, if there are no Korean members, I feel like it’s just a K-pop cover group, isn’t it?” Blackswan’s former Korean member Youngheun said in the documentary.
However, Cravity’s Hyeongjun disagrees. “If foreigners come to Korea and sing in other languages, I am not sure if I can call that K-pop, but since they [Blackswan members] are active in Korea and use Korean, they are K-pop.”
Cramp said social media has impacted K-pop’s ecosystem in various ways, including creating a “symbiotic relationship” between K-pop stars and fans, and forcing stars to live their lives “under a microscope.”
“There’s a desire to be real. But on the other hand, you have to obviously keep certain things kind of out of the public spotlight,” he told the AP. “You want to be famous, but yet at the same time, you still want your privacy and you want to be able to go and have dinner with your friends and have a good time and not be filmed doing it.”
“K-Pop Idols” is now available on Apple TV+.
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NEW YORK — Parisa Imanirad, a scientist and cancer researcher from San Francisco, is married and has a wide circle of friends. But once or twice a week, she goes to a restaurant by herself.
Imanirad said dining alone gives her time to think or read. She tries not to touch her phone and relishes the silence. “It’s like a spa, but a different type,” Imanirad said during a recent solo lunch at Spruce, an upscale restaurant in San Francisco.
Imanirad isn’t alone in her desire to be alone. In the United States, solo dining reservations have risen 29% over the last two years, according to OpenTable, the restaurant reservation site. They’re up 18% this year in Germany and 14% in the United Kingdom.
Japan even has a special term for solo dining: “ohitorisama,” which means “alone” but with honorifics spoken before and after the word to make parties of one feel less hesitant. In a recent survey, Japan’s Hot Pepper Gourmet Eating Out Research Institute found that 23% of Japanese people eat out alone, up from 18% in 2018.
As a result, many restaurants in Japan and elsewhere are redoing their seating, changing their menus and adding other special touches to appeal to solo diners.
“Even so-called family restaurants are increasing counter seats for solitary diners, and restaurants are offering courses with smaller servings so a person eating alone gets a variety of dishes,” said Masahiro Inagaki, a senior researcher at the institute.
OpenTable CEO Debby Soo thinks remote work is one reason for the increase, with diners seeking respites from their home offices. But she thinks there are deeper reasons, too.
“I think there’s a broader movement of self-love and self-care and really … enjoying your own company,” Soo said.
The pandemic also made social interactions less feasible and therefore less important while eating out, said Anna Mattila, a professor of lodging management at Penn State University who has studied solo dining. And smartphones help some restaurant patrons feel connected to others even when they’re by themselves, she said.
“The social norms have changed. People don’t look at solo diners anymore and think, ‘You must be a loner,’” Mattila said.
More people live and travel solo
The growth comes as more people are living alone. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 38% of U.S. adults ages 25 to 54 were living without a partner, up from 29% in 1990. In Japan, single households now make up one-third of the total; that’s expected to climb to 40% by 2040, according to government data.
Increasing interest in solo travel — particularly among travelers ages 55 and over — is also leading to more meals alone.
On a recent solo trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, Carolyn Ray was stunned when the hostess led her to a beautiful lake-view table set for one, complete with a small vase of flowers. Ray, the CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, a website for solo women travelers over 50, said other restaurants have tried to seat her toward the back or pointedly asked if someone will be joining her.
Ray counsels women planning to dine alone to go somewhere else if they’re treated rudely or given a bad table.
“It’s almost like the world hasn’t caught up with this idea that we are on our own because we want to be on our own and we’re independent and empowered,” she said. “We can go into any restaurant we want and have a table for one and feel good about it.”
Shawn Singh, a Houston-based content creator and restaurant reviewer, said he eats alone about 70% of the time. If the idea of venturing out for a solitary meal is intimidating, he suggests going to lunch instead of dinner — when tables are usually more crowded with groups — or going early on a weekday.
“The best way to see a restaurant you’ve been wanting to see for a long time is definitely going solo,” Singh said. “If I go at 5 p.m. and alone, I haven’t been denied at one place ever.”
Restaurants aren’t always thrilled to seat a single diner at a table that could fit more. A Michelin-starred London restaurant, Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal, caused a stir last year when it started charging solo patrons the same price as two customers. Its eight-course dinner tasting menu, which includes caviar and Cornish squid, costs 215 pounds ($280) per person.
The restaurant, which has only 34 seats, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But its website doesn’t allow reservations for fewer than two people.
‘Playing the long game’
Other restaurants say it’s worth seating one person at a table made for two because solo diners tend to be loyal, repeat customers.
“While there may be a short-term loss there, I think we’re kind of playing the long game and establishing ourselves as a place that’s truly special,” said Drew Brady, chief operating officer at Overthrow Hospitality, which operates 11 vegan restaurants in New York.
Brady has seen an increase in solo diners since the pandemic, and says they’re evenly split between men and women. At the company’s flagship restaurant, Avant Garden, they make up as much as 8% of patrons.
In response, the restaurant teamed up with Lightspeed, a restaurant tech and consulting company, to develop a solo dining program. Avant Garden now has a spacious table designed for solo diners, with a $65 four-course menu fashioned like a passport to enhance the sense of adventure. If solo diners order a cocktail, a bartender mixes it tableside.
Mattila, at Penn State, said restaurants might want to consider additional changes. Her research has found that solo diners prefer angular shapes — in lights, tables or plates, for example — to round ones, which are more associated with the connectedness of groups. They also prefer slow-tempo music.
Jill Weber, the founder of Sojourn Philly, a Philadelphia company that owns two restaurants and a wine bar, said she adds a communal table at special events such as wine tastings so individuals have a place to gather. She also doesn’t offer specials designed for two.
Weber, who is also an archaeologist, loves dining alone when she’s traveling.
“There’s something about not having to agree on where to go and everything that goes with that. You have the freedom to stay as long as you want, order what you want and sit with those things,” she said. “It also feels brave sometimes.”
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New York is one of the fashion capitals of the world, but the industry has made fewer strides in advancing and promoting minorities. In the uptown neighborhood of Harlem, a program is tapping into community talent, led by a local who almost missed out on the industry entirely. Tina Trinh reports. Videographer: Ting-Yi Hsu
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MILWAUKEE — Some vans at the back of a motorcade carrying Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz crashed on the highway while heading from the airport to a campaign stop in Milwaukee on Monday, but Walz was unhurt.
President Joe Biden called from Air Force One and spoke to Walz a short time later, as the president was traveling to a separate campaign stop in Pittsburgh with Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris herself was campaigning in Detroit before heading to the joint event later in the day with Biden, and her campaign said that she also spoke with her running mate by phone after the crash.
The Harris campaign said the crash involved vehicles near the rear of the motorcade. Walz, who is also the governor of Minnesota, was riding closer to the front. Images posted on social media showed large passenger vans with crumpled front and back ends after the collision, which was said to have occurred on Interstate 794.
Upon arriving at his event, Walz spoke briefly about the crash saying, “Some of my staff and members of the press that were traveling up with us were involved in a traffic accident on the way here today.”
“We’ve spoken with the staff. I’m relieved to say that with a few minor injuries, everybody’s going to be OK,” Walz said. “President Biden and Vice President Harris called to check in, and we certainly appreciate their concern, and I want to express my sincere thanks to the U.S. Secret Service and all the local first responders for their quick reaction.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash, which occurred shortly before 1 p.m. local time.
A member of the traveling pool staff, who was in a van carrying reporters, had an injured arm and was treated by medics, according to a pool report from a reporter traveling in Walz’s motorcade, who wrote that passengers were “violently thrown forward, as our van slammed into the one in front of us and was hit from behind.”
Walz and his motorcade stopped at the hospital a few hours after the crash so he could check on staff members who were involved.
The van carrying the reporters remained pulled over on the side of the road for several minutes afterward.
Some reporters had scrapes and bruises, and one had a bloody nose. Another feared having suffered a concussion and was initially looking to be taken to urgent care, but eventually climbed aboard a new van to accompany the rest of the press to the event.
All who wanted to be checked out by paramedics were assessed, according to the pool report.
The crash occurred after Walz and his wife, Gwen, were greeted at the airport by Democratic Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin. The trio embraced, chatted and posed for a photo before the motorcade began heading to the event.
Monday’s campaign stops marking Labor Day were Walz’s first aboard the Harris-Walz campaign charter aircraft. It bears decals of an American flag, the words Harris-Walz, and “A New Way Forward.”
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RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian Supreme Court panel on Monday unanimously upheld the decision of one of its justices to block billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X nationwide, according to the court’s website.
The broader support among justices undermines the effort by Musk and his supporters to cast Justice Alexandre de Moraes as an authoritarian renegade intent on censoring political speech in Brazil.
The panel that voted in a virtual session was made up of five of the full bench’s 11 justices, including de Moraes, who last Friday ordered the platform blocked for refusing to name a local legal representative, as required by law. It will stay suspended until it complies with his orders and pays outstanding fines that as of last week exceeded $3 million, according to his decision.
The platform has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to block users and has alleged that de Moraes wants an in-country legal representative so that Brazilian authorities can exert leverage over the company by having someone to arrest.
De Moraes also set a daily fine of $8,900 for people or companies using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X. Some legal experts questioned the grounds for that decision and how it would be enforced, including Brazil’s bar association, which said it would request that the Supreme Court review that provision.
But the majority of the panel upheld the VPN fine — with one justice opposing unless users are shown to be using X to commit crimes.
Judge feuding with Musk
Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, with tens of millions of users. Its block marked a dramatic escalation in a monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.
Over the weekend, many X users in Brazil said they felt disconnected from the world and began migrating en masse to alternative platforms such as Bluesky and Threads.
The suspension has proceeded to set up a showdown between de Moraes and Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink, which is refusing to enforce the justice’s decision.
“He violated the constitution of Brazil repeatedly and egregiously, after swearing an oath to protect it,” Musk wrote in the hours before the vote, adding a flurry of insults and accusations in the wake of the panel’s vote. On Sunday, Musk announced the creation of an X account to publish the justice’s decisions that he said would show they violated Brazilian law.
But legal experts have said such claims don’t hold water, noting that de Moraes’ peers have repeatedly endorsed his rulings — as they did Monday. Although his actions are viewed by experts as legal, they have sparked some debate over whether one man has been afforded too much power, or if his rulings should have more transparency.
De Moraes’ decision to quickly refer his order for panel approval served to obtain “collective, more institutional support that attempts to depersonalize the decision,” Conrado Hübner, a constitutional law expert at the University of Sao Paulo, told The Associated Press.
It is standard for a justice to refer such cases to a five-justice panel, Hübner said. In exceptional cases, the justice also could refer the case to the full bench for review. Had de Moraes done the latter, two justices who have questioned his decisions in the past — and were appointed by former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro — would have had the opportunity to object or hinder the vote’s advance.
Starlink shutdown next?
X’s block already led de Moraes last week to freeze the Brazilian financial assets of Starlink to force it to cover X’s fines, reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group. The company says it has more than 250,000 clients in Brazil.
Legal experts have questioned the legal basis of that move, and Starlink’s law firm Veirano has told the AP it has appealed the freeze. It declined to comment further.
In a show of defiance, Starlink told the telecommunications regulator Anatel that it would not block X access until its financial accounts were unfrozen, Anatel’s press office said in an email to the AP. Starlink didn’t respond to a request for comment.
That means a shutdown of Starlink is likely, although enforcement will be difficult given the company’s satellites aren’t inside national territory, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. It is popular in Brazil’s expansive rural and forested areas.
Anatel’s President Carlos Baigorri told local media GloboNews late Sunday afternoon that he has relayed Starlink’s decision to Justice de Moraes.
Baigorri told GloboNews that the “maximum sanction” for a telecom company would be revocation of its license. He said if Starlink loses its license and continues providing service, it would be committing a crime. Anatel could seize equipment from Starlink’s 23 ground stations in Brazil that ensure the quality of its internet service, he said.
“It is highly probable there is a political escalation” because Starlink is “explicitly refusing to comply with orders, national laws,” said Belli, who is also a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s law school.
The arguments from Musk, a self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist,” have found fertile ground with Brazil’s political right, who view de Moraes’ actions as political persecution against Bolsonaro’s supporters.
On Brazilian orders, X previously has shut down accounts, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and far-right activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court, saying that it had suspended or blocked 226 users since 2019.
Bolsonaro and his allies have cheered on Musk for defying de Moraes. Supporters rallied in April along Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach with a giant sign reading “Brazil Thanks Elon Musk.”
Earlier that month, de Moraes ordered an investigation into Musk over the dissemination of defamatory fake news and another probe over possible obstruction, incitement and criminal organization.
Bolsonaro is also the target of a de Moraes probe over whether the former president had a role in inciting an attempted coup to overturn the results of the 2022 election that he lost.
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washington — As a young college student, Kamala Harris made the nearly 3-mile trip from Howard University to the National Mall to protest apartheid in South Africa.
In 2017, as a senator, she returned to her alma mater to deliver the commencement address.
In July, when she received word that she would likely be the Democratic presidential nominee, she was wearing her Howard sweatshirt in the vice president’s residence.
Howard, one of the nation’s best known historically Black colleges, has been central to Harris’ origin story, and now, as she seeks to become the first woman elected president, the university is having a capstone moment.
The school has produced luminaries like Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whose legacy inspired Harris to attend Howard, and author Toni Morrison, among others. Some at the university see Harris’ elevation as vice president as another validation of one of the school’s core missions of service.
“There’s clearly a direct relationship between Howard and its relationship to democracy and the democracy that we envision, one that is practiced in a way that includes all of us,” said Melanie Carter, the founding director of the Howard University Center for HBCU Research, Leadership and Policy.
If Harris won the White House, she would be the first woman elected president and the first graduate of a historically Black college to hold that office. With many HBCUs, like a number of liberal arts colleges, struggling financially, her ascent has bathed Howard in a positive light.
“It empowers students to reach farther than what they thought was possible,” said Nikkya Taliaferro, a senior at Howard University from Honolulu who said the 2024 presidential election will be her first time voting. “Even if she doesn’t win, she’s already made such a big impact and I know for all of us, that alone, is unforgettable.”
To Stefanie Brown James, a Howard alumna and co-founder of The Collective PAC, which is working to increase Black political representation, said that for Howard, the rise of Harris underscores “all the pieces fitting together. At this moment, she is the personification of the leadership, the excellence, the global responsibility to service, that Howard represents.”
In her 2017 commencement address, Harris said Howard taught her to reject false choices and steered her to public service. In her memoir, she wrote that Howard taught that there is an expectation that students and graduates would “use our talents to take on roles of leadership and have an impact on other people, on our country and maybe even on the world.”
Earlier this year, she wrote in a Facebook post that the investment in HBCUs is an investment “in the strength of our nation for years to come,” when she welcomed Howard’s men’s basketball team to the White House as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions. HBCUs have historically struggled to generate investment, despite recent influxes in funding and donations, causing them to flounder financially.
Democratic Representative Summer Lee, a Howard Law graduate, said Howard’s “each one, teach one camaraderie” shaped how many alums in politics tackle the job.
“It allowed us to root for each other in ways that I would not have gotten at another institution,” Lee said. “Those guidelines of being a social engineer, not being on the sidelines, and creating public policy, that’s rooted in the experiences of the most marginalized people. That is a Howard trait.”
The Howard network is also providing some financial and organizational support to Harris’ campaign. The Collective PAC utilized its HU Bison PAC, which held a virtual call for graduates with more than 4,000 attendees and raised over $150,000, according to James. The Bison PAC plans another call Wednesday.
On campus, a group called Herd for Harris is campaigning to support her. Other student-led organizations are mobilizing students to register to vote and be engaged around presidential debates and policies that could most affect them.
“It was instantaneous and that’s just Howard,” James said. “Something’s happening, we need to respond to it, so we get to work. It’s simply a Howard thing.”
Even though Harris enjoys broad support on campus, there are students who are challenging Harris over policy, notably the war in Gaza.
“What we expect of Kamala Harris in this election is really derived from the morals that Howard instilled in us, that we are an oppressed people, and that we also need to advocate for oppressed people abroad,” said Courtney McClain, a student senator at Howard who met Harris in 2020. She said she plans to support Harris, while holding her accountable.
With the November election drawing near, Harris has been on extensive campaign travel and prepping for her first debate against Republican Donald Trump — including a mock session at Howard — on Sept. 10. Still, she made time to speak to the crowd of Howard’s largest incoming first-year class in front of Cramton Auditorium.
Using a bullhorn, she told them that she was proud of them and urged that they enjoy this moment.
“You might be running for the president of the United States,” she said to roaring cheers.
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The two major U.S. political parties are expressing concern ahead of November’s election about “election integrity” – meaning the process of registration, the casting of, counting and certifying of votes, as well as adequately addressing any serious issues that arise. More from VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman on Capitol Hill. (Camera: Adam Greenbaum)
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los angeles, california — Halloween has arrived earlier than ever at major U.S. theme parks, as operators such as Disney, Six Flags, and Universal Studios seek to expand their reach and build on consumers’ love of spooky costumes and scares.
Theme park operators have introduced a range of attractions, live performances, merchandise and food and beverages in August — before summer has ended and well before the October 31 holiday — to take advantage of the surging popularity of Halloween. These holiday-themed efforts come at a time when domestic theme park attendance has slumped, following a surge in demand after COVID.
Edithann Ramey, chief marketing officer at Six Flags, told Reuters that the theme parks saw attendance gains and increases in guest spending in 2023 when it introduced attractions based on the horror films “SAW” and “The Conjuring.”
The offerings were so successful that the theme park company has been investing more in Halloween experiences, Ramey said.
“It’s become this time of the year that’s grown in explosive ways,” Ramey said. “It’s become a billion-dollar industry in the last five years.”
Jakob Wahl, chief executive for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said Halloween has become one of the strongest selling points for parks that cater to young people and families.
“We actually see a growth every year in terms of Halloween events, not only North America, but across the world,” Wahl said.
Disney starts season in August
Walt Disney’s parks started the Halloween season earlier than ever this year with “Mickey’s Not So Scary Party” beginning on August 9 and running through the end of October.
The Oogie Boogie Bash, a separately ticketed event named for the “Nightmare Before Christmas” villain, sold out this year in 11 days, Disney said. Its popularity prompted the company to push the release date to August 25 from September 5.
“We’ve seen from our guests in years past that there’s a demand for them to come and enjoy that season with us,” said Tracy Halas, creative director of Disney Live Entertainment.
Six Flags also kicks off Halloween early this year, on September 14, with a new experience called “Saw: Legacy of Terror” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the “SAW” horror movie franchise.
Following the $8 billion merger of Six Flags and former rival Cedar Fair, which created the nation’s largest amusement park operator, with 42 parks across 17 states, Six Flags is increasing its investment in Halloween.
That includes adding Hollywood-themed experiences to Six Flags Fright Fest based on Netflix’s science fiction series, “Stranger Things,” as well as horror films “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “The Conjuring.”
Universal adds ‘Ghostbusters’ haunted house
Comcast-owned Universal Studios 2024 Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando runs from August 30 to November 3, the longest season they’ve ever had. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Universal is adding a “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” haunted house to its Halloween programming alongside the first attraction inspired by horror franchise, “A Quiet Place.”
Universal also aims to attract guests at Universal Studios Japan with a new 4D show in collaboration with the anime television series “Chainsaw Man.”
Both Universal Orlando and Japan will add cast members dressed as the antagonists called Death Eaters to haunt Diagon Alley during Horror Nights.
Disney villain Cruella de Vil hosted a “Let’s Get Wicked” celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2022, which received an industry award and returns this year.
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Columbus, Ohio — A federal judge has blocked a new law banning foreign nationals and green card holders from contributing to state ballot campaigns in Ohio on the grounds that it curtails constitutionally protected free speech rights.
U.S. District Judge Michael Watson wrote Saturday that while the government has an interest in preventing foreign influence on state ballot issues, the law as written falls short of that goal and instead harms the First Amendment rights of lawful permanent residents.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the measure June 2, and it was to have taken effect Sunday. A prominent Democratic law firm filed suit — saying noncitizens would be threatened with investigation, criminal prosecution, and mandatory fines — if they even indicate they intend to engage in any election-related spending or contributions.
Watson said lawful permanent residents can serve in the military and, depending on age, must register for selective service. Thus, the judge said, it would be “absurd” to allow or compel such people “to fight and die for this country” while barring them “from making incidental expenditures for a yard-sign that expresses a view on state or local politics.”
“Where is the danger of people beholden to foreign interests higher than in the U.S. military? Nowhere,” he wrote. “So, if the U.S. Federal Government trusts (such residents) to put U.S. interests first in the military (of all places), how could this Court hold that it does not trust them to promote U.S. interests in their political spending? It cannot.”
Not only is the speech of lawful resident foreign nationals constitutionally protected, but so is the right of U.S. citizens “to hear those foreign nationals’ political speech,” Watson said. Seeking a narrow solution without changing the statute from the bench, he said he was barring officials from pursuing civil or criminal liability for alleged violations of Ohio law based on the definition of a “foreign national.”
Statehouse Republicans championed the ban after voters decisively rejected their positions on ballot measures last year, including protecting abortion access in the state Constitution, turning back a bid to make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments, and legalizing recreational marijuana. Political committees involved in the former two efforts took money from entities that had received donations from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. However, any direct path from Wyss to the Ohio campaigns is untraceable under campaign finance laws left unaddressed in the Ohio law. Wyss lives in Wyoming.
John Fortney, a spokesperson for Republican Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, argued that the filing of the lawsuit proves that Democrats are reliant on the donations of wealthy foreign nationals and accused the progressive left of an “un-American sellout to foreign influence.”
A decision to include green card holders in the ban was made on the House floor, against the advice of the chamber’s No. 3 Republican, state Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati attorney. Seitz cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion suggesting that extending such prohibitions to green card holders “would raise substantial questions” of constitutionality.
The suit was filed on behalf of OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, a German citizen and her husband who live in Cleveland and a Canadian citizen who lives in Silver Lake, a suburb of Kent. OPAWL is an organization of Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander women and nonbinary people in Ohio. The lawsuit also argued that the law violated the 14th Amendment rights of the plaintiffs, but the judge said he wasn’t addressing their equal protection arguments since they were likely to prevail on the First Amendment arguments.
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Some Gold Star families expressed support Sunday for former President Donald Trump, after his campaign was criticized for taking photos and videos at a restricted section of Arlington National Cemetery last week. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also in the race for the White House, added her voice to those condemning Trump’s visit and deemed it “a political stunt.” VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story.
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ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s campaign issued a statement Sunday from the Gold Star military families who invited him to Arlington National Cemetery as they defended the Republican presidential nominee and insisted that Vice President Kamala Harris is the candidate politicizing fallen U.S. service members.
It’s the latest volley in an extended back and forth as Trump tries to saddle Harris with the Biden administration’s handling of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, including a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members.
Harris on Saturday accused Trump of staging a “political stunt” that “disrespected sacred ground” where many Afghanistan war dead are buried. Trump and the families of some of those killed in the bombing blame Harris, as they did President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid, for their loved ones’ deaths. The families say the former president was honoring their loved ones when he came to Arlington.
His campaign later distributed images of the visit despite the cemetery’s prohibition on partisan activity on the grounds.
“President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of our children’s deaths,” said the relatives’ joint statement. “He was there to honor their sacrifice, yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy.”
Gold Star families have lost a loved one in military service.
Trump laid wreaths last Monday in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. They were among 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans who died in an Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport as U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan.
Trump thanked the family members for their statement via social media. “Thank you for saying you wanted me to stand with you … and take pictures, that it was your request, not mine,” he wrote.
Throughout the weekend, Trump has used his social media accounts to distribute video testimonials from some relatives who signed the statement.
Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, said in a 90-second message that Trump and his aides were “respectful” and a “a comfort” to the families who gathered at Arlington. Then she directly addressed her remarks to Harris.
“Why won’t you return a call and explain how you call my daughter-in-law’s death a success?” Shamblin said. “Why would you take a day where we celebrated the deaths of our loved ones and use it to disparage not only them, but us.”
Biden and first lady Jill Biden went to Dover Air Force Base in 2021 for the ceremony returning the service members’ remains to U.S. soil. The Bidens met privately with family members at Dover. The Bidens were joined at the ceremony by several top aides in the administration, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Shamblin was among the several family members who also spoke at the Republican National Convention in July on Trump’s behalf. Several family members have joined Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, on a conference call with media.
Trump’s appearance ballooned into controversy after defense officials said his campaign was warned about not taking photographs and that there was an altercation between Trump aides and a cemetery employee. Officials have said since that an employee whom two Trump campaign staff members allegedly “verbally abused and pushed” aside has declined to press charges.
The Trump campaign has since lashed out at Pentagon officials, with a top campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, referring to military spokespersons as “hacks.” Trump campaign officials say the campaign had permission to bring someone to take video.
Since Biden ended his reelection bid in July, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He has highlighted the vice president’s statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Biden’s administration was following a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded decisions made by both Trump and Biden were the key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban takeover.
Campaigning this year, Trump has said that leaving was the right thing to do but that the Biden administration’s execution was poor.
“We were going to do it with dignity and strength,” he said in a recent speech in Michigan.
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Venice, Italy — Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt admit they are disappointed their latest comedy “Wolfs” is not getting a broad cinema release and instead heading almost straight onto Apple TV.
“It is a bummer,” Clooney said on Sunday, adding that television streamers, such as Apple AAPL.O, were nevertheless vital to the future of filmmaking, presenting actors with opportunities and generating bigger audiences for their work.
“Streaming, we need it, our industry needs this,” he said.
Written and directed by Jon Watts, “Wolfs” is an old-fashioned crime caper with Clooney and Pitt playing lone-wolf professional fixers who are forced to work together with comically unfortunate consequences.
Apple originally signaled it would place the film in a large number of cinemas before the TV release, but instead opted to show it briefly in a restricted number of U.S. movie theatres and then run it on its global TV service.
“We’ll always be romantic about the theatrical experience. At the same time, I love the existence of the streamers because we get to see more story, we get to see more talent, it gets more eyes,” said Pitt. “It’s a delicate balance right now and it’ll right itself.”
Asked what it meant if two of the biggest names in the business could not get a broad cinema release, as they had requested, Clooney quipped: “Clearly we’re declining.”
Sixteen years after last appearing together in 2008’s Coen brothers’ comedy “Burn After Reading,” Pitt and Clooney said they jumped at the chance to reunite when they read Watts’ script for “Wolfs.”
“I got to say, just as I get older, just working with the people that I just really enjoy spending time with has really become important to me,” said Pitt, who turned 60 last year.
In a news conference full of light-hearted banter, Clooney, said Pitt, was fortunate still to be offered parts. “He’s 74 years-old and he’s very lucky at this age to still be working.”
On a more serious note, he denied a New York Times story in August that said both he and Pitt had been paid more than $35 million each to appear in the film.
“I’m only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard bearer for salaries. I think that’s a terrible thing. It will make it impossible to make a film,” he said.
“Wolfs” is showing out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, which runs until Sept. 7.
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LOS ANGELES — Engineers who specialize in building NASA spacecraft to explore distant worlds are designing a fleet of underwater robot probes to measure how rapidly climate change is melting vast ice sheets around Antarctica and what that means for rising sea levels.
A prototype of the submersible vehicles, under development by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles, was tested from a U.S. Navy laboratory camp in the Arctic, where it was deployed beneath the frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska in March.
“These robots are a platform to bring science instruments to the hardest-to-reach locations on Earth,” Paul Glick, a JPL Robotics engineer and principal investigator for the IceNode project, said in a summary posted Thursday on NASA’s website.
The probes are aimed at providing more accurate data gauging the rate at which warming ocean water around Antarctica is melting the continent’s coastal ice, allowing scientists to improve computer models to predict future sea level rise.
The fate of the world’s largest ice sheet is a major focus of nearly 1,500 academics and researchers who gathered this week in southern Chile for the 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctica Research conference.
A JPL analysis published in 2022 found that thinning and crumbling away of Antarctica’s ice shelf had reduced its mass by some 12 trillion tons since 1997, double previous estimates.
If melted completely, according to NASA, the loss of the continent’s ice shelf would raise global sea levels by an estimated 60 meters.
Ice shelves, floating slabs of frozen freshwater extending miles from the land into the sea, take thousands of years to form and act like giant buttresses holding back glaciers that would otherwise slide off easily into the surrounding ocean.
Satellite images have shown the outer “calving” off into icebergs at a higher rate than nature can replenish shelf growth.
At the same time, rising ocean temperatures are eroding the shelves from underneath, a phenomenon scientists hope to examine with greater precision with the submersible IceNode probes.
The cylindrical vehicles, about 2.4 meters long and 25 centimeters in diameter, would be released from boreholes in the ice or from vessels at sea.
Although equipped with no form of propulsion, the robot probes would drift in currents, using special software guidance, to reach “grounding zones” where the frozen freshwater shelf meets the ocean saltwater and land. These cavities are impenetrable to even satellite signals.
“The goal is getting data directly at the ice-ocean melting interface,” said Ian Fenty, a JPL climate scientist.
Upon arrival at their targets, the submersibles would drop their ballast and float upwards to affix themselves to the underside of the ice shelf by releasing three-pronged “landing gear” sprung from one end of the vehicle.
The IceNodes would then continuously record data from beneath the ice for up to a year, including seasonal fluctuations, before releasing themselves to drift back to the open seas and transmit readings via satellite.
Previously, thinning of the ice shelf was documented by satellite altimeters measuring the changing height of the ice from above.
During the March field test, an IceNode prototype descended 100 meters into the ocean to gather salinity, temperature and flow data. Previous tests were conducted in California’s Monterey Bay and below the frozen winter surface of Lake Superior, off Michigan’s upper peninsula.
Ultimately, scientists believe 10 probes would be ideal to gather data from a single ice shelf cavity, but “we have more development and testing to go” before devising a timeline for full-scale deployment, Glick said.
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New York — Does American tennis have a pickleball problem?
Even as the U.S. Open opened this week with more than a million fans expected for the sport’s biggest showcase, the game’s leaders are being forced to confront a devastating fact — the nation’s fastest-growing racket sport (or sport of any kind) is not tennis but pickleball, which has seen participation boom 223% in the past three years.
“Quite frankly, it’s obnoxious to hear that pickleball noise,” U.S. Tennis Association President Dr. Brian Hainline grumbled at a recent state-of-the-game news conference, bemoaning the distinctive pock, pock, pock of pickleball points.
Pickleball, an easy-to-play mix of tennis and ping pong using paddles and a wiffleball, has quickly soared from nearly nothing to 13.6 million U.S. players in just a few years, leading tennis purists to fear a day when it could surpass tennis’ 23.8 million players. And most troubling is that pickleball’s rise has often come at the expense of thousands of tennis courts encroached upon or even replaced by smaller pickleball courts.
“When you see an explosion of a sport and it starts potentially eroding into your sport, then, yes, you’re concerned,” Hainline said in an interview with The Associated Press. “That erosion has come in our infrastructure. … A lot of pickleball advocates just came in and said, ‘We need these tennis courts.’ It was a great, organic grassroots movement but it was a little anti-tennis.”
Some tennis governing bodies in other countries have embraced pickleball and other racket sports under the more-the-merrier belief they could lead more players to the mothership of tennis. France’s tennis federation even set up a few pickleball courts at this year’s French Open to give top players and fans a chance to try it out.
But the USTA has taken a decidedly different approach. Nowhere at the U.S. Open’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is there any such demonstration court, exhibition match or any other nod to pickleball or its possible crossover appeal.
In fact, the USTA is flipping the script on pickleball with an ambitious launch of more than 400 pilot programs across the country to broaden the reach of an easier-to-play, smaller-court version of tennis called “red ball tennis.” Backers say it’s the ideal way for people of all ages to get into tennis and the best place to try it is (wait for it) on pickleball courts.
“You can begin tennis at any age,” USTA’s Hainline said. “We believe that when you do begin this great sport of tennis, it’s probably best to begin it on a shorter court with a larger, low-compression red ball. What’s an ideal short court? A pickleball court.”
And instead of the plasticky plink of a pickleball against a flat paddle, Hainline said, striking a fuzzy red tennis ball with a stringed racket allows for a greater variety of strokes and “just a beautiful sound.” Players can either stick with red ball tennis or advance through a progression of bouncier balls to full-court tennis.
“Not to put it down,” Hainline said of pickleball, “but compared to tennis … seriously?”
So what does the head of the nation’s pickleball governing body have to say about such comments and big tennis’ plans to plant the seeds of its growth, at least in part, on pickleball courts?
“I don’t like it but there is so much going on with pickleball, so many good things, I’m going to stick to what I can control, harnessing the growth and supporting this game,” said Pickleball USA CEO Mike Nealy.
Among the positive signs, Nealy said, is the continuing construction of new pickleball courts across the country, raising the total to more than 50,000. There’s also growing investment in the game at clubs built in former big-box retail stores, pro leagues with such backers as Tom Brady, LeBron James and Drake, and the emergence of “dink-and-drink” establishments that tap into the social aspect of the game by allowing friends to enjoy pickleball, beer, wine and food under the same roof.
“I don’t think it needs to be one or the other or a competition,” Nealy said of pickleball and tennis. “You’re certainly going to have the inherent frictions in communities when tennis people don’t feel that they’re getting what they want. … They’re different games but I think they are complimentary. There’s plenty of room for both sports to be very successful.”
Top-ranked American tennis player Taylor Fritz agreed. “There are some people in the tennis world that are just absolute pickleball haters, and that’s fine. But for me, I don’t really have an issue with pickleball. I like playing sometimes. … I don’t see any reason why both of them can’t exist.”
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Blantyre, Malawi — A 72-year-old woman has shot to music stardom in Malawi, challenging societal norms in a country where elderly people are often abused, tortured or even killed over false accusations of witchcraft.
Christina Malaya, now popularly known by her stage name, Jetu, is breaking the internet with her amapiano-style tracks.
Jetu started her music career last year, at the age of 71 — soon after the death of her husband, in central Malawi, where she was staying.
Relatives suggested she go to Blantyre to stay with grandchildren. Those grandchildren were “doing music,” she said, and asked her to join them as a way to overcome her loneliness and boredom.
Under the management of her grandson, musician Blessings Kazembe, popularly known as Emmu Dee, Jetu has released three powerful singles: “Wakalamba Wafuna,” “Chakwaza” and “Simunatchene.”
Her fans and admirers have crowned her the Malawian queen of amapiano — a subgenre of South African house music — which dominates the music scene in Malawi.
Jetu is excited that music has allowed her to go places she never dreamed of visiting, including Johannesburg and Cape Town when she performed in South Africa in June.
Her talent has earned her recognition as an ambassador for elderly people in Malawi, helping to reduce attacks and killings. Older people in Malawi are faced with attacks and killings on suspicion of practicing witchcraft even though Malawi law does not recognize witchcraft.
Andrew Kavala, executive director of the Malawi Network of Older Persons’ Organizations, told VOA that in 2023, his organization recorded 25 killings and 87 cases of violence, including setting fire to homes and assault. That was up from 2022’s 17 deaths.
So far in 2024, he said, 17 elderly people have been killed and 89 have been abused.
Kavala said his organization chose Jetu as an ambassador for elderly Malawians because of her strong appeal to youth, who studies show make 86% of the witchcraft accusations.
“We are trying to explore means through which Jetu can use her platform to convey the message to the youth, ‘Stop bullying, stop abusing elderly persons,’” he said.
Malawi’s youthful and renowned fashion designer Xandria Kawanga, owner of the House of Xandria fashion brand, has started to dress Jetu for events.
“Most people at her age have already given up or they feel they cannot do anything, entertainment or arts, because they are old now,” Kawanga said “So, I thought one of the best ways [to help] is to complement her art and to give her that push.”
Jetu and her grandson/manager, Emmu Dee, are working to promote their new song, which has a video that was was produced this month.
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