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The secret ballot has been an article of faith in US elections. That’s being tested in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — Security researchers say rapid advances in artificial intelligence are making it more critical to address a flaw in Georgia’s voting equipment that can allow voters to be matched to their ballots after they have been cast. The system’s vulnerability has been drawing increased attention, with election security advocates criticizing state election officials for failing to fix it before the November elections. Georgia election officials say they have taken steps to address the potential harm, but some advocates say the state is not going far enough. The ...

Trump calls on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel, saying attacks are causing a shortage

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average. Ukraine has for months been targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry with long-range strikes, prompting fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow to ban diesel exports in July, removing supplies from the already ...

Fighting in Yemen intensifies; Houthis launch more attacks on Saudi Arabia

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government. The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast after conceding a “painful” defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. As the impoverished country risks descending into another civil war, the United ...

Global heat stuck on high. Scientists say August was Earth’s hottest month they’ve measured.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth cooked to its hottest month on record in August, blowing far past a key climate threshold, due to the dangerous double whammy of human-caused climate change and a supersized El Nino, according to the European climate service Copernicus. August’s sizzle also helped push the globe and the United States to swelter through the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer scientists have measured. Last month the world averaged 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit (16.96 degrees Celsius), which technically was one-hundredth of a degree Celsius more than the all-time global mark set ...

US marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity. The milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, ...

US diesel prices soar past $6 a gallon, deepening strain for hauling everyday goods

CHICAGO (AP) — Diesel prices in the U.S. hit yet another record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average as Washington’s war with Iran disrupts the world’s flow of fuel. The national average of nearly $6.06 is up from $5.85 last week and almost $3.71 this time last year, according to motor club AAA. Higher diesel prices mean more expensive transportation for a long list of everyday goods. That’s because diesel is used for many freight and delivery networks. And some businesses have already passed along steeper costs to consumers in the form of added fees on online ...