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washington — The U.S. general election on Nov. 5 will decide the country’s direction, but it is far from a nationally administered contest. The 50 states and the District of Columbia run their own elections, and each does things a little differently. Here’s a look at some notable variations in the 2024 election: Maine and Nebraska allocate electoral votes by congressional district To win the presidency outright, a candidate must receive at least 270 of the 538 votes in the Electoral College. In 48 states, the statewide winner gets all of that state’s electoral votes, and that's also the case in the nation's capital.  In Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives the most votes in each congressional district wins one electoral vote from that district. The candidate who wins the statewide vote receives another two.  In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden received three of Maine’s four electoral votes because he won the popular vote in the state and its 1st Congressional District. Republican Donald Trump received one electoral vote from the 2nd Congressional District. Trump won four of Nebraska’s five votes for winning the popular vote in the state as well as its 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts; Biden received one electoral vote for winning the 2nd Congressional District.  Alaska and Maine use ranked choice voting  In ranked choice voting, voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference on the ballot. If no candidate is the first choice for more than 50% of voters, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes redistributed to their next choice. This continues, with the candidate with the fewest votes getting eliminated, until someone emerges with a majority of votes.  Maine uses ranked choice voting in state-level primaries and for federal offices in the general election. That means Maine voters can rank presidential, Senate and House candidates on ballots that include the Democrat and the Republican who advanced out of their respective party primaries, plus third-party and independent candidates who qualify.  The presidential ballot will include Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, plus three other candidates. In the six years since implementing ranked choice voting, the state has used it twice in races for Congress in its 2nd Congressional District. The 2020 presidential race did not advance to ranked choice voting, with the winners of the state and in each congressional district exceeding 52% of the vote.  Alaska holds open primaries for statewide offices and sends the top four vote-getters, regardless of party, to the general election, where the winner is decided using ranked choice voting. In all legislative and statewide executive offices, Alaskans can rank up to four names that can include multiple candidates from the same party.  The exception is the presidency, which is eligible for ranked choice voting in Alaska for the first time. This year, there will be eight presidential tickets on the ballot, and Alaskans can rank all candidates if they choose to. The last time the winner of the presidential contest in Alaska failed to surpass 50% of the vote was in 1992, when third-party candidate Ross Perot won almost 20% of the national popular vote.  But in 2022, both Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski won their elections after both went to ranked choice voting.  Another wrinkle this year? In Alaska, where ranked choice voting was implemented by ballot measure in 2020, there’s a voter initiative on the ballot this fall to repeal it.  In California and Washington, candidates from the same party can face off  California and Washington hold open primaries in which all candidates run on the same ballot and the two top vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. This year, there are two House races in Washington that include candidates of the same party, one with two Republicans and one with two Democrats. There are four in California: three with only Democrats and one with only Republicans.  The winning party in those six districts will be reflected in The Associated Press’ online graphic showing the balance of power in the House at poll close, rather than once a winner is declared because the party of the winner is a foregone conclusion.  Louisiana holds a 'primary' on Nov. 5  Louisiana holds what it refers to as its “open primaries” on the same day the rest of the country holds its general election. In Louisiana, all candidates run on the same open primary ballot. Any candidate who earns more than 50% of the vote in the primary wins the seat outright.  If no candidate exceeds 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters advance to a head-to-head runoff, which can end up pitting two Republicans or two Democrats against each other. Louisiana refers to these contests as its “general election.”  That will change for elections for the U.S. House starting in 2026 when congressional races will have earlier primaries that are open only to registered members of a party. Certain state races will continue to hold open primaries in November, but the change will prevent future members of Congress from waiting until December — a month later than the rest of the country — to know whether they are headed to Washington.  Nebraska has two competing abortion measures on the ballot, but only one can be enacted  In Nebraska, any measure that receives approximately 123,000 valid signatures qualifies for the ballot. This year, two measures relating to abortion met this threshold.  One would enshrine in the Nebraska Constitution the right to have an abortion until fetal viability or later, to protect the health of the pregnant woman. The other would write into the constitution the current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the pregnant woman.  This marks the first time since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade that a state has measures that seek to roll back abortion rights and protect abortion rights on the ballot at the same time.  It’s possible voters could end up approving both measures. But because they’re competing and therefore cannot both be enshrined in the constitution, the measure with the most “for” votes will be the one adopted, according to the Nebraska secretary of state.  Georgia holds runoff elections if a candidate doesn’t win a majority of votes  In primary elections, a handful of states, mostly in the South, go to runoffs if no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote. In races with more than two candidates, runoffs in those states are common. Several states held primary runoffs this year.  Georgia uses the same rules in general elections. The last three Senate races there went to runoffs because a third-party candidate won enough of the vote to prevent the Republican or Democratic nominee from exceeding 50% of the vote.  But this year, runoff possibilities may be confined to downballot races such as state legislature. There’s no Senate race there this year, and the U.S. House races have only two candidates on the ballot.  Texas, Florida and Michigan report a lot of votes before final polls are closed  This is common in states that span multiple time zones. In most states, polls close at the same time in each time zone.  The AP will not call the winner of a race before all the polls in a jurisdiction are scheduled to close, even if votes already reported before that time make clear who will win the race. So if there is a statewide race in a state where polls close at 8 p.m. local time, but some of the state is in the Eastern time zone and some of the state is in Central time zone, the earliest the AP can call the winner is 8 p.m. CST/9 p.m. EST.  The AP will still show the results as they arrive from counties with closed polls.  Some of the biggest states with split poll close times are Florida, Michigan, Texas and Oregon. Tennessee is an exception, as even though the state is in both the Eastern and the Central time zones, all counties coordinate their voting to conclude at the same time. 

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya's lawmakers approved a motion Tuesday to impeach the country's deputy president, following daylong discussions and after Rigathi Gachagua appeared in parliament to defend himself against several charges, including allegations that he supported anti-government protests in June.  The motion was approved by a 281-44 vote in favor of impeachment, well above the 117 votes constitutionally required. The motion now goes to the parliament's upper house, which will debate the matter and also hold a vote.  For impeachment to be final, it will need the additional backing of two-thirds of senators in the upper house. It's not clear when that vote will take place.  Under Kenya's constitution, the removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers, though Gachagua can challenge the action in court — something he has said he would do.  The deputy president is also accused of being involved in corruption and other irregularities. He denies all the charges against him.  The debate surrounding his fate has extended beyond parliament — supporters and opponents of the motion clashed last week in public forums after the ruling alliance brought the motion before parliament.  In his speech, Gachagua declared that he was "undergoing a political process" and asked legislators to make their decision "without intimidation and coercion." On Monday, the deputy president had said he believed the motion had the president's blessings.  President William Ruto has yet to publicly comment about the impeachment but is on record in the earlier days of his presidency saying he would not publicly humiliate his deputy, alluding to the troubled relationship he had with his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, during their second term in office.  On Sunday during a prayer meeting at his residence, Gachagua implored Ruto, legislators and Kenyans to forgive him for any wrongdoing during his tenure. He clarified that statement on Monday, saying it was not an admission of guilt and dismissed rumors that he would resign.  Gachagua told lawmakers Tuesday that some of the properties listed in the impeachment motion as his belonged to his late brother. He also defended renovation expenditures for his official residence, saying it was in a state of disrepair and needed to be "dignified."

Maputo. Mozambique — Election officials in Mozambique say voting will take place Wednesday in volatile Cabo Delgado province, despite threats from Islamic State militants who are active in the region.  Regina Matsinhe, the spokesperson for Mozambique’s Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration, or STAE, told VOA that plans have been made to ensure voting goes well in Cabo Delgado.   She said authorities are working with Cabo Delgado officials to ensure the safety of election workers, who are using several transportation options to make sure voting materials reach their intended destinations. Matsinhe said aerial means, sea boats, cattle-drawn carts, motorbikes and people will be used to carry materials from one point to another. Cabo Delgado province has 1.4 million registered voters, nearly one-tenth of Mozambique’s 17 million voters. Those voters head to the polls Wednesday to elect the next president, parliament and provincial assemblies.  Last Friday, President Phillip Nyusi said tensions in Cabo Delgado province have eased in recent weeks after security forces carried out operations against insurgents, which included destroying camps and capturing propaganda equipment.  There were security concerns after the 16-member Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) withdrew its 3,000-person force from Cabo Delgado in July, marking the end of its peacekeeping mission in the country.   However, Tanzanian troops remained and are fighting alongside Rwandan soldiers and Mozambican defense and security forces to contain the violence in Cabo Delgado.   This will be Mozambique’s seventh general election since a multiparty democracy was introduced in 1994, two years after the ruling Frelimo party signed a peace deal with Renamo rebels in Rome to end a 16-year civil war that killed approximately one million people.  Renamo has not won a national election since then, and Frelimo has ruled Mozambique since 1975, when the country won independence from Portugal.   The chairman of Mozambique’s National Election Commission, Carlos Matsinhe, told VOA in an exclusive interview that he is optimistic the election will proceed as planned throughout Cabo Delgado. There are no signs that violence will prevent elections in any areas, Matsinhe said, “so we are just praying that the election takes place complete in Cabo Delgado, [and] the conditions are very promising.”  The election will be observed by several international organizations such as the European Union — which has sent a team of 150 — and a 52-member team from the Southern African Development Community that arrived in Maputo last Friday.  Counting will begin immediately after polling stations close Wednesday evening.

Abuja, Nigeria — Cholera is surging in Nigeria, health officials said this week, with the number of cases and deaths increasing by more than 200% this year. The Nigerian Center for Disease Control said in this week's epidemiological report that the country has recorded nearly 11,000 cases of cholera this year — a 220% increase compared with the same point in 2023. The report said fatalities over the same periods have increased from 106 to 359 — a rise of 239%. The state of Lagos accounted for 43% of the nation's cases, while Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Borno also recorded significant numbers. Last month, the worst flooding in 30 years ravaged conflict-ridden Borno state, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation there. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and moved to overcrowded camps. "We're now facing a significant public health challenge that demands urgent attention and action,” Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana said. “This outbreak is concerning, especially in the aftermath of a flooding incident. “The floods have created ideal conditions for the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera by contaminating water sources and disrupting sanitation systems,” he said. Cholera is a bacterial disease, usually spread by contaminated food or water. It causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. The Nigerian CDC launched a national emergency response along with state authorities to bring numbers down, but the number of cases is surging, Gana said. "We must now act swiftly to prevent further spread of this disease,” he said. As part of the flood intervention responses, Gana said, the Borno public health emergency center was converted into a control center to coordinate surveillance, risk communication and community engagement, as well as essential health services, infection prevention, water sanitation and hygiene. Nigeria's Health Ministry is sending hundreds of thousands of doses of cholera vaccine to the affected areas. Borno alone received 300,000 doses, and state authorities say the vaccine has been distributed to camps for those displaced by the floods.

Washington — The daughter of imprisoned Chinese real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang has issued a public appeal to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, asking him to allow her father to seek medical care he needs after his health reportedly deteriorated during his time in jail. Ren, 73, is a former member of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the state-owned Huayuan real estate group. He was jailed after publishing an essay online in March 2020 that criticized the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an open letter posted on the social media platform WeChat on October 2, Ren Xinyi appealed to the president’s “humanitarian principles,” requesting that Xi release her father so that he may access treatment for his failing health and spend the last part of his life with his family. Ren Xinyi described her father as a dangerously ill, old man at risk of dying in jail. She wrote that he had long been suffering from a prostate ailment and was prescribed surgical treatment before his imprisonment. Despite previous requests that her father be allowed to undergo surgery, Ren has not yet been permitted the care his family seeks. "I am willing to promise that my father will never make any public remarks or content after he goes abroad for treatment. He is over 70 years old and seriously ill. He has no ability to cause trouble to you and the country," Ren Xinyi told Xi in the letter. Before his incarceration and in his prime, the former businessman was nicknamed “Cannon Ren,” a name he gained for how frequently, and publicly, he called party policy into question. But for his release, Ren’s daughter writes that her father won’t go back to his old ways. In a translated version of the essay that prompted his arrest, Ren wrote: “The reality shown by this epidemic is that the party defends its own interests, the government officials defend their own interests, and the monarch only defends the status and interests of the core.” The businessman also called for freedom of speech so that citizens could better protect themselves through open discourse. In a secretive trial, Ren was sentenced to 18 years in jail on counts of corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds. He was also fined about $600,000. His daughter’s letter was initially published to a WeChat group that included friends of Ren. One of the group’s members, political commentator and U.S. resident Cai Shenkun, confirmed to VOA that pictures released of the letter were genuine. "In the past few years, some friends and people from all walks of life have tried to help Ren, because after all, Ren was a bold and outspoken person in the past," said Cai. Anna Wang, founder of Photon Media and a former business owner in China, also confirmed the authenticity of the letter with several friends in Beijing familiar with Ren Zhiqiang.   “This letter is very powerful, and it’s also a call to action,” Wang said. “I think this daughter is also very brave.” “In China, if you want to live a life of despicable behavior, you can live well,” she continued. “But if you want to engage in any activities that promote national progress and democracy, it will come at a painful and huge price.” In a final plea for Xi’s kindness, the letter concluded, "President Xi Jinping, we have previously raised the above request several times through normal channels but have never received a good response. We have no choice but to use this method to reflect our desperate request to you." The Chinese government has not publicly commented on the open petition from Ren's daughter.  When asked by VOA to comment on the letter, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. said: “the Chinese government protects the lawful rights of every citizen in accordance with the law.” (Katherine Michaelson contributed to this story.)

PARIS — France's minority government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, two weeks after taking office, getting over the first hurdle placed by left-wing lawmakers to bring down new conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier.  The vote was a key test for Barnier, whose Cabinet is forced to rely on the far right's good will to be able to stay in power.  The no-confidence motion was brought by a left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front. It received 197 votes, far from the 289 votes needed to pass. The far-right National Rally group, which counts 125 lawmakers, abstained from voting.  Following June-July parliamentary elections, the National Assembly, France's powerful lower house of parliament, is divided into three major blocs: the New Popular Front, French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist allies and the far-right National Rally party. None of them won an outright majority.  The no-confidence motion was brought by 192 lawmakers of the New Popular Front, composed of the hard-left France Unbowed, Socialists, Greens and Communists.  Barnier's cabinet is mostly composed of members of his Republicans party and centrists from Macron's alliance who altogether count just over 200 lawmakers.  Left-wing lawmakers denounced the choice of Barnier as prime minister as they were not given a chance to form a minority government, despite securing the most seats at the National Assembly. This government "is a denial of the result of the most recent legislative elections," the motion read.

Washington — Then-president Donald Trump secretly sent COVID test kits to Vladimir Putin despite a U.S. shortage during the pandemic, and spoke multiple times with the Russian leader after leaving office, says an explosive new book by Bob Woodward.  The upcoming opus, War, also chronicles some of President Joe Biden's own acknowledged missteps and his struggle to prevent escalation of conflict in the Middle East, including exasperation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over futile efforts to get Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire.  In excerpts published Tuesday by The Washington Post, where he is an associate editor, Woodward lays out damning details and actions by Trump, who the writer says has retained a personal relationship with Putin even as Trump campaigns for another presidential term and the Russian president conducts a war against Ukraine, a U.S. ally.  With the coronavirus ravaging the world in 2020, Trump sent a batch of test kits to his counterpart in Moscow. Putin accepted the supplies but sought to avoid political fallout for Trump, urging that he not reveal the dispatch of medical equipment, this book says.  According to Woodward, Putin told Trump: "I don't want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me."  Woodward also cites an unnamed Trump aide in the book who indicated the Republican flag bearer may have spoken to Putin up to seven times since leaving the White House in 2021.   The Post, reporting Woodward's account, said that at one point in early 2024, Trump ordered an aide out of his office in his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida so he could hold a private call with Putin.  War is set for publication on Oct. 15, just three weeks before a critical U.S. election in which Trump is locked in a tight race against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.  While Harris does make appearances in the book, she is seen in a supporting role to Biden "and hardly determining foreign policy herself," the Post reported.  Woodward has chronicled American presidencies for 50 years, and this is his fourth book since Trump's upset victory in 2016. He began his presidential reportages with Richard Nixon, who was undone by the 1970s Watergate scandal exposed by Woodward and Post colleague Carl Bernstein.  Woodward concluded that Trump's interactions, detailed in the book, with an authoritarian president at war with a U.S. ally make him more unfit to be president than Nixon.  "Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024," Woodward wrote.  The Trump campaign blasted the book as "trash" and "made up stories."  They are "the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," campaign communications director Steven Cheung told AFP.  According to CNN, which obtained a pre-release book copy, Woodward repeatedly quotes Biden dropping F bombs as he discusses his personal and political challenges.  Biden called Putin "the epitome of evil," blasted Netanyahu as a "liar" and said he "should never have picked" Merrick Garland as U.S. attorney general.  According to the book, during an April phone call Biden turned testy with Netanyahu.  "What's your strategy, man?" Biden asked the Israeli leader, according to Woodward.  "We have to go into Rafah," Netanyahu said, referring to a city in southern Gaza.  "Bibi, you've got no strategy," Biden responded.

The European Commission has filed a lawsuit over Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection legislation, saying it violates EU law. Opponents see the law as a threat to the few remaining independent media outlets in Hungary, which rely on international funding sources. VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Budapest. VOA footage and video editing by Daniil Batushchak.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — TikTok faces new lawsuits filed by 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, accusing the popular social media platform of harming and failing to protect young people. The lawsuits, filed separately in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 11 other states, expand Chinese-owned TikTok's legal fight with U.S. regulators and seek new financial penalties against the company. Washington is located in the District of Columbia. The states accuse TikTok of using intentionally addictive software designed to keep children watching as long and often as possible and misrepresenting its content moderation effectiveness. "TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content." TikTok seeks to maximize the amount of time users spend on the app in order to target them with ads, the states said. "Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok," said New York Attorney General Letitia James. TikTok said on Tuesday that it strongly disagreed with the claims, "many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading," and that it was disappointed the states chose to sue "rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges." TikTok provides safety features that include default screentime limits and privacy defaults for minors under 16, the company said. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleged that TikTok operates an unlicensed money transmission business through its livestreaming and virtual currency features. "TikTok's platform is dangerous by design. It's an intentionally addictive product that is designed to get young people addicted to their screens," Schwalb said in an interview. Washington's lawsuit accused TikTok of facilitating sexual exploitation of underage users, saying TikTok's livestreaming and virtual currency "operate like a virtual strip club with no age restrictions." Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington state also sued on Tuesday. In March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, said they launched a nationwide probe of TikTok impacts on young people. The U.S. Justice Department sued TikTok in August for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy on the app. Other states, including Utah and Texas, previously sued TikTok for failing to protect children from harm. TikTok on Monday rejected the allegations in a court filing. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is battling a U.S. law that could ban the app in the United States.

Washington — The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions against a senior leader in war-torn Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for his role in obtaining weapons for the paramilitary organization. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced since war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan's army and the RSF after their head generals refused a plan to integrate. Algoney Hamdan Daglo Musa was sanctioned "for his involvement in RSF efforts to procure weapons and other military materiel that have enabled the RSF's ongoing operations in Sudan," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. His actions have fueled war in Sudan "and brutal RSF atrocities against civilians, which have included war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing," Miller said. The U.S. Treasury said that as a result of such sanctions "all property and interests in property of the designated persons... that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported." The United States has led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting in Sudan but has seen limited success and leverage, with RSF commanders unlikely to hold major assets in the West that would be affected by sanctions.

Washington — President Joe Biden is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida's Gulf Coast, the White House announced on Tuesday. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary "given the projected trajectory and strength" of the storm. It was not clear when the trip might be rescheduled. Biden had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January. Hurricane Milton weakened slightly Tuesday but remained a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on the populous Tampa Bay region with towering storm surges and turn debris from Helene's devastation 12 days ago into projectiles. Most of Florida's west coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning as the storm and its 145 mph (230 kph) winds spun just off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, creeping toward the state. With the storm expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, parts of the eastern coast were put under hurricane warnings early Tuesday. Milton's center could come ashore Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area, which has a population of more than 3.3 million people.

India and the Maldives have reset ties that plummeted as Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu leaned toward China after taking office a year ago. Muizzu’s outreach to India during a visit to New Delhi comes amid an economic downturn in his tiny country. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi.

Mbabane, Eswatini — The main opposition party in Eswatini is compiling a “hit list” of game rangers in response to what it says are state-sanctioned murders of suspected poachers. Communities have been urged to assist in identifying rangers involved in the killings. As tensions mount over poaching-related deaths in Eswatini, the fear of violence looms large.  Although there is no definitive count of suspected poachers killed in Eswatini's game parks, the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs estimates that dozens are slain each year.  However, Eswatini's opposition parties allege hundreds of families have been impacted by these deaths and have called for a compilation of a game ranger “hit list.”  Velephi Mamba, treasurer general of main opposition party PUDEMO, one of the groups calling for possible violence against the rangers, said the news of the list of game rangers that was announced a week ago still stands. In fact, he said, it’s an ongoing issue. Mamba said his party request that all Swazis compile a list of the names of game rangers that are killing our people. Amid the growing controversy, legislators and human rights activists in Eswatini recently demanded an urgent review of the Game Act of 1991. They say the law allows game rangers in the southern African kingdom to shoot suspected poachers in national parks with little or no consequence. Human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi is among those calling for revision of the law. He said game rangers need to make greater efforts to arrest suspected poachers and bring them to court, rather than killing or torturing them. “The game rangers themselves should understand that they should prioritize the use of non-lethal methods for the apprehension when dealing with suspected poachers,” Nhlabatsi said. “The use of excessive force, in my view, does not only violate human rights but also undermines the credibility of the conservation efforts." Mandla Motsa, a game ranger in Eswatini, defended his colleagues’ actions, saying there is an urgent need to protect endangered species in the parks from extinction, and that rangers face a formidable threat from well-armed poachers. There have been multiple reported incidents of rangers and poachers exchanging gunfire.  "We are getting a lot of pressure from poachers who are always armed and attacking the rangers on duty, while we have got organizations who feel like the poachers should be allowed to do whatever they are doing, which is against the work the rangers are doing,” Motsa said. Meanwhile, Eswatini government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo condemned the calls for a “hit list” and urged citizens to shun requests to provide names. He emphasized the importance of following due process and the rule of law for achieving justice. “Nobody should heed to such calls because they are going to lead into an escalation of violence in our communities around the country, and we know that that is the kind of atmosphere they want to create around the kingdom of Eswatini," Nxumalo said. Legislators have begun discussing reforms to the Game Act of 1991 but so far there have been no amendments proposed, and no votes scheduled as of yet.

SRINAGAR, Indian-administered Kashmir — Kashmir's biggest political party opposed to India's stripping of the region's semi-autonomy won the most seats in a local election, official data showed Tuesday, in a vote seen as a referendum against the move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. National Conference, or NC, won 42 seats, mainly from the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of the anti-India rebellion, according to the data. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party secured 29 seats, all from the Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu. India's main opposition Congress party, which fought the election in alliance with the NC, succeeded in six constituencies. "People have supported us more than our expectations. Now our efforts will be to prove that we are worth these votes," Omar Abdullah, the NC leader and the region's former chief minister, told reporters in the main city of Srinagar. His father and president of the party, Farooq Abdullah, said that the mandate was to run the region without "police raj [rule]" and try freeing people from jails. "Media will be free," he said. "People have given their mandate, they have proven that they don't accept the decision that was taken on August 5," he added referring to India's move in August 2019. The vote will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a regional legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi's rule. However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the assembly as Kashmir will remain a "union territory" — directly controlled by the federal government — with India's Parliament as its main legislator. Kashmir's statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India. Hundreds of the NC workers gathered outside counting centers and at the homes of the winning candidates to celebrate the party's victory. It was the first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi's Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region's long-held semi-autonomy in 2019. The unprecedented move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along with unelected bureaucrats and security setup. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy amid fears that it would pave the way for demographic changes in the region. The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged. India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Authorities tallied votes as thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled roads and guarded 28 counting centers. Nearly 8.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which began on Sept. 18 and concluded on Oct. 1. The overall turnout was 64% across the three phases, according to official data. In the region's legislature, five seats are appointed and 90 elected, so a party or coalition would need at least 48 of the 95 total seats to form a government. The alliance of the National Conference and the Congress have 48 seats combined. Authorities have said the election will bring democracy to the region after decades of strife, but many locals viewed the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register their protest against the 2019 changes. Except for the BJP, most parties who contested the election campaigned on promises to reverse the 2019 changes and address key issues like rising unemployment and inflation. The Congress party favored restoring the region's statehood. The BJP has also stated that it will restore statehood, but has not told when it would do. The BJP has vowed to block any move aimed at undoing most of the 2019 changes but promised to help in the region's economic development. Meanwhile, Modi's BJP appears to be heading for a victory in the northern state of Haryana, bordering New Delhi, which it has ruled for 10 years, leading in 50 constituencies and the Congress in 35 out of 90. The BJP has so far won 18 seats and is leading in 32 constituencies while the Congress has won 15 seats and is leading in 20, according to the Election Commission of India. A victory would give the BJP a record third five-year term in the state. The voting trend in Haryana state is a surprise since most exit polls had predicted an easy victory for the Congress party. Kashmir's last assembly election was held in 2014, after which the BJP for the first time ruled in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party. But the government collapsed in 2018 after the BJP withdrew from the coalition. Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Vientiane, Laos, later this week for meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, where he is expected to engage directly with newly elected leaders from the Indo-Pacific. Blinken will represent President Joe Biden at this year’s ASEAN-U.S. Summit and participate in the East Asia Summit, where leaders and senior officials from India, Japan, South Korea, and the People’s Republic of China are also expected to attend. The State Department said Blinken will discuss geopolitical issues during his talks in Vientiane, including the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, which is also called Burma, and the importance of upholding international law in the South China Sea, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.   As the Burmese junta prepares for an election next year amid widespread conflict across much of the country, a senior State Department official told VOA that elections should not take place prior to genuine peace and reconciliation.  “We remain deeply concerned by the regime's stated plans to hold elections, because any elections under current conditions would stand no chance of expressing the will of the people of Burma,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told VOA during a phone briefing on Tuesday.  He added, the U.S. fears that “premature elections” under current conditions “would likely only generate more violence and prolong the ongoing crisis” in Myanmar.   This week's ASEAN summits will feature the debut of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 38, who became Thailand’s prime minister in mid-August. She will make her first bilateral visit to Laos on Tuesday and will be the youngest Southeast Asian leader at the summit. Singapore has also seen a generational shift with Lawrence Wong succeeding longtime Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in May. Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took office on October 1. He has pledged to strengthen his country’s alliance with the U.S. during a call with President Biden last Wednesday. “I am grateful for the prime minister’s commitment to the U.S.-Japan Alliance and look forward to working with his government to reinforce the enduring partnership between our two nations,” Blinken said in a statement last week. Ishiba is also in discussions with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol about holding a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit. Regional security, development and trade — including the creation of resilient semiconductor supply chains — are expected to be top priorities on the U.S. agenda. In 2023, total two-way merchandise trade between the United States and ASEAN reached $395.9 billion, making the U.S. the second-largest trading partner after China. Additionally, the U.S. is ASEAN’s largest source of foreign direct investment, which amounted to $74.3 billion last year. Susannah Patton, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute, said that this year’s East Asia Summit must address contentious global issues such as the conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The East Asia Summit comprises ASEAN’s 10 member countries and eight major dialogue partners, including the United States, China typically represented by Premier Li Qiang, and Russia represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In a recent analysis published by the Lowy Institute, Patton noted that it is likely that the “ASEAN show will come to Laos and then roll on again,” adding that “concrete progress on pressing issues will be sorely lacking.” “While the EAS is still likely to issue at least one jointly negotiated statement in 2024,” Patton wrote, “it is a reflection of global political polarization that ASEAN’s dialogue partners are no longer able to propose their own dueling statements to advance their preferred language on international issues.”