Wanderlust

Tag: us midterms 2018

  • US mid-terms latest: All you need to know Mid-terms: You choose what happens

     

    The US mid-term elections on Tuesday will help define the rest of Donald Trump’s presidency.

    Americans will vote for members of both chambers of Congress, as well as for governors in 36 out of 50 states.

    This is our last daily round-up ahead of the mid-terms, so we’ve pulled together all our material that matters.

    One question

    Wait…what are the mid-terms? (Don’t worry, it’s OK to ask.)

    It may feel like the US is always having elections, so what’s at stake on Tuesday? What are people voting for?

    Donald Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot this year, but it might as well be.

    One important thing to watch on Tuesday will be whether candidates who have embraced the president’s rhetoric and tactics end up doing well. This could shape the direction of the Republican party over the next two years.

    Either way, we can expect these mid-terms, like all others, to be a referendum on the president.

    The parties of presidents who have low approval ratings tend to do poorly in the mid-terms – and President Trump’s are very low indeed.

    This is one reason Democrats, with the House of Representatives in their sights, are optimistic this year.

    Here are other reasons Democrats are hopeful

    One race to watch

    Image copyright Reuters

    There are plenty we could have picked here – any of the close Senate races in Tennessee, Missouri or Arizona for example – but if there’s one race that sums up the 2018 mid-terms, it is the close race for governor in Georgia.

    Like in a number of other states this year, Georgia could see a significant first: Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams would become the first female African-American governor in the US if she won.

    Her Republican opponent Brian Kemp is Georgia’s secretary of state. His office has been behind the cancellation of 1.5m voter registration applications in four years, and has been accused of voter suppression, one of the hot-button issues this year.

    As with the divisive race for governor in neighbouring Florida, the Georgia contest has also been laced with racist undertones (or even overtones). Just last week, the Washington Post reported, voters in Georgia received a fake robocall purporting to be from Oprah Winfrey “asking you to make my fellow Negress Stacey Abrams the governor of Georgia”.

    Our correspondent Courtney Subramanian spent time in Georgia looking at how the bitter race has played out.

    You can read her piece here

    One guide

    The first polls will close at 23:00 GMT on Tuesday (that’s 18:00 on the east coast of the US).

    We’ll be bringing you coverage live online, on TV and on radio as the results come in.

    How can you find out where to read, watch and listen?

    See the schedule for our mid-terms coverage here

    One game

    There are plenty of possible outcomes on Tuesday, and therefore plenty of possible consequences.

    If you want to see what those consequences are, choose a scenario right here…

    Mid-terms: You choose what happens

     

    Share this chatbot

    (more…)

  • Microsoft claims win over ‘Russian political hackers’

    Microsoft badges Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Microsoft’s Virtual Crimes Unit says it acted to block assaults by the fondness Undergo group

    Russian makes an attempt to release cyber-attacks in opposition to US conservative teams were thwarted, Microsoft says.

    The software company stated Russian hackers had attempted to scouse borrow information from political firms, including the International Republican Institute and the Hudson Institute suppose tanks.

    But they had been thwarted while its security staff had won control of six internet domains mimicking their web sites.

    Microsoft stated the fancy Undergo hacking group had been behind the attacks.

    Domain control

    “We Are concerned that those and different makes an attempt pose safety threats to a broadening array of teams attached with each American political events within the run-as much as the 2018 elections,” Microsoft said in its weblog detailing its work.

    The thwarted attack used to be likely the beginning of a “spear phishing” marketing campaign, said Microsoft. this may involve tricking people into vacationing the mimicked domains permitting the partiality Endure staff to peer and scouse borrow login data that folks use.

    to boot because the think-tanks, the domain names seized have been related to a couple of Senate offices and products and services. One domain sought to imitate Microsoft’s Office 365 online service.

    Hunt desires ‘malign’ Russia to stand action Trump relaxes regulations around cyber-assaults US accuses Russia of ‘pervasive’ meddling

    In its blog, Microsoft president Brad Smith mentioned it had grabbed dodgy domains 12 times in years to close down 84 web sites related to Fancy Undergo.

    It mentioned that, to this point, it had no proof that the domains have been used in any assaults.

    Microsoft brought that the assault process observed around the domains “mirrors” what it saw in 2016 within the US and during the 2017 election in France.

    Microsoft’s action comes quickly after the us charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking pc networks utilized by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

    Russia has persistently denied meddling within the elections or mounting any cyber-attacks on US institutions.