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Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo — In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Independent National Electoral Commission published partial results Friday for the December 20 presidential election. This first session focused solely on the diaspora vote by Congolese in South Africa, the United States, Canada, Belgium and France. Only 5,300 of the expected 11,000 voters turned out at the polls, with incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi taking 4,294 votes (80.99%), followed by opponent Moise Katumbi with 584 votes (11%).  In all five foreign countries where the Democratic Republic of Congo tallied presidential votes by diaspora, incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi came out ahead. According to the electoral commission, he won 80% of the vote.    The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Denis Kadima, rejected criticism from the opposition and independent observers that the vote was chaotic and lacked credibility. He praised the work done by his institution, saying it had done its best to organize a timely election, which he described as credible, transparent and inclusive.  "Nobody could have imagined that this would be possible," said Kadima. "It's true that it's difficult to meet the expectations of all our compatriots, but we were delighted to see how patient and enthusiastic voters were in participating in this process."   Some opposition members called for new elections to be held. They argued for the current ballot to be annulled, claiming it was riddled with irregularities.   Kadima admitted there were errors, such as the extension of voting day, and he said that everything had been done to give all Congolese the chance to express themselves through the ballot.   "But I think the most important thing is our commitment to seeing everyone participate in the process," said Kadima. "That's why we extended to the second day to make sure that everyone was able to participate in the vote. It's important to know that what we did was proof of our commitment to upholding democracy."    The commission said the election results from voting within the Congo by its 44 million registered voters from Saturday would be published. The proclamation will be made province by province, and on December 31, the electoral commission will publish the provisional results in general.   ...

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LOS ANGELES — Hollywood's video game performers voted Thursday to go on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.  The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement.  SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI. Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor's voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.  Fran Drescher, the union's president, said in a prepared statement that members would not approve a contract that would allow companies to "abuse AI."  "Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate," Drescher said.  A representative for the studios did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.  The global video game industry generates well over $100 billion in profit annually, according to game market forecaster Newzoo. The people who design and bring those games to life are the driving force behind that success, SAG-AFTRA said.  "Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation," said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.  Last month, union negotiators told The Associated Press that the game studios refused to "provide an equal level of protection from the dangers of AI for all our members" — specifically, movement performers.  Members voted overwhelmingly last year to give leadership the authority to strike. Concerns about how movie studios will use AI helped fuel last year's film and television strikes by the union, which lasted four months.  The last interactive contract, which expired November 2022, did not provide protections around AI but secured a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists after an 11-month strike that began October 2016. That work stoppage marked the first major labor action from SAG-AFTRA following the merger of Hollywood's two largest actors unions in 2012.  The video game agreement covers more than 2,500 "off-camera (voiceover) performers, on-camera (motion capture, stunt) performers, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and background performers," according to the union.  Amid the tense interactive negotiations, SAG-AFTRA created a separate contract in February that covered indie and lower-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media agreement contains some of the protections on AI that video game industry titans have rejected. ...