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In-person voting for this year's midterm elections begins Friday, ushering in the final six weeks for Americans to decide who they trust to lead Congress through a cost-of-living crisis, a prolonged war in Iran and other pressing issues. Election administrators say they're prepared and confident the vote will be accurate and secure. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump has continued with efforts to denigrate certain voting methods and reshape how US elections are run, through court challenges, an expansive federal hunt for noncitizen voters and a pressure campaign to force election officials to share sensitive voter data. Friday marks the start of early voting in Virginia. Voters in a handful of other states, including Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota, are able to cast absentee ballots in person, typically at a local election office or voting centre. More expansive early voting is scheduled to begin in those and other states in the coming weeks. The November 3 election includes vot
China on Thursday rejected the US "long-arm jurisdiction" to impose tariffs on purchases of Russian oil and gas, saying its normal trade and economic cooperation with other countries should not be subject to interference or coercion by third parties. The US House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act 2026 that authorises Trump to impose sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on its leading trading partners such as India and China. Asked about the bill, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here that China opposes any action that lacks UN Security Council authorisation. "China consistently opposes long-arm jurisdiction that lacks a basis in international law and is not authorised by the United Nations Security Council," Guo said. He said that China has always carried out normal economic and trade cooperation with countries around the world based on equality and mutual benefit. "Such cooperation neither targets