The weeklong protests in Ecuador took an alarming turn Thursday when indigenous protesters took several police officers hostage and paraded them before an angry crowd in the capital Quito. The spectacle at the capital’s cultural center came on the eighth day of violent protests over President Lenin Moreno’s austerity measures that included scrapping a fuel subsidy. Indigenous groups, leaders of the protests that also include students and union workers, confirmed that they were holding the officers but said they would not be harmed. The protesters are also not allowing about 20 journalists covering the news at the cultural center to leave.   One indigenous leader and four others have been killed in the clashes, the public defender’s office said Thursday. Moreno, who moved his government out of the capital earlier this week, has returned and offered to hold talks with the opposition. But he has also said he would not reverse the austerity measures that are a part of a $4.2 billion funding deal he reached with the International Monetary Fund. Indigenous leaders have condemned the deal, saying it will only deepen income inequality for the minority.   …

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is planning to subpoena top U.S. immigration officials to testify over the Trump administration’s policy to deport sick migrant children and their families. Elijah Cummings, committee chair and frequent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Thursday released a memo that the subpoenas were being prepared because “the Committee has tried for more than a month to obtain this information voluntarily, but USCIS and ICE have obstructed the investigation.” Cummings wrote that he expects to compel USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli and ICE acting Director Matthew Albence to appear before the committee Thursday. In August, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped allowing immigrants with special circumstances, like critical illness, to remain in the country and receive U.S. health care. Since then, Cummings said, his committee has sought to find out “why the Administration sought to deport these children, who was responsible for this decision, and how requests for deferred action will be handled going forward.” Cuccinelli and Albence have refused repeated requests to appear before lawmakers to answer questions and provide requested documents.   …

President Donald Trump meets with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House Friday, amid anticipation of at least a partial trade deal between both countries. “We had a very very good negotiation with China,” Trump said after a day of talks between Liu and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Thursday. These were the first senior-level trade talks between the United States and China since July. In the three months since, China and the United States continued their tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars of goods that help make up the backbones of both economies. The United States has also imposed visa restriction and other penalties against China over its alleged harsh treatment of Muslim minorities. Trump said U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports have helped slow down the Chinese economy and said Beijing is eager to make a deal. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with China’s Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, April 4, 2019. Liu declined to make any comment to reporters Thursday. But the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying, “The Chinese side came with great sincerity, willing to cooperate with the U.S. on the …

Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, two foreign-born associates of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, were charged Thursday with conspiring to influence U.S. politics with illegal campaign contributions. Prosecutors identified two other men, Andrey Kukushkin and David Correia, as conspirators in an alleged scheme that aimed to funnel $1 million in donations to politicians and political candidates in Nevada, New York and other states to benefit a planned marijuana business funded by an unnamed Russian businessman. John Dowd, the lawyer for Parnas and Fruman, declined to comment on the charges. Parnas and Fruman made their initial court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia, with another court date set for next Thursday. Details emerged about their backgrounds Thursday:   Lev Parnas Parnas, 47, who was born in Ukraine, is a businessman who divides his time between Florida and New York City. FILE – Rudy Giuliani is seen with Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Sept. 20, 2019. He has garnered attention by becoming a mega-donor to Republican Party politicians. In May 2018, Parnas posted pictures on Facebook of himself and Fruman with Trump in the White House and with the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. at …

Thousands of people have watched the video uploaded by a gunman who killed two people Wednesday near a synagogue in Halle, Germany. The shooter livestreamed the attack for 35 minutes on the Amazon-owned gaming site Twitch. Twitch said only 5 people watched it live but subsequent recordings were viewed by another 2,200 people before the video was removed from the site. In the video, the shooter starts by saying, “My name is Anon, and I think the Holocaust never happened.” He also mentions feminism and “mass immigration” and concludes that “the root of all these problems is the Jew.” Despite efforts by tech giants to curb the spread of hate speech, the video has been shared on other platforms. According to AFP and NBC News, some 24 hours after the attack, it could still be found in its entirety on other websites. Agence France-Presse found two websites where the video was available — 4Chan and Bitchute. On those sites the video had been viewed more than 90,000, the French news agency reports. On Thursday, Germany’s chief federal prosecutor Peter Frank said the incident is being considered a terrorist attack. “What we experienced yesterday was terror,” he said. “The suspect, Stephan …

Even as the winds gusted dangerously just as forecasters predicted, California’s biggest utility faced gripes and second-guessing Thursday for shutting off electricity to millions of people to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires. Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Pacific Gas & Electric, and ordinary customers complained about the inconveniences caused by the unprecedented blackouts that began Wednesday, with many wondering: Has PG&E gone too far in its attempt to ward off another deadly fire season? And could the utility have been more targeted in deciding whose electricity was turned off and when? PG&E, though, suggested it was already seeing the wisdom of its decision borne out. Gusts topping 75 mph (121 kph) raked the San Francisco Bay Area, and relatively small fires broke out around the state amid a bout of dry, windy weather. “We have had some preliminary reports of damage to our lines. So we’ll have to repair those damages before we can safely energize the line,” spokesman Paul Doherty said. A car drives through a darkened Montclair Village as Pacific Gas & Electric power shutdowns continue in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 10, 2019. Because of the dangerous weather in the forecast, PG&E cut power Wednesday to an estimated 2 …

Under pressure from China, Apple has removed a smartphone app that enabled Hong Kong protesters to track police. It has cut off access in mainland China to a news app that extensively covered the anti-government demonstrations. And it has made it harder to find an emoji representing the Taiwanese national flag. The tech company’s latest acts of capitulation to China’s ruling Communist Party have alienated some Hong Kong consumers and angered democracy activists around the world. But the truth is, few U.S. companies have as much of their business tethered to China as Apple. “That’s the price you pay if you want to be in the market,” said Matt Schrader, a China analyst for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. “You have to abide by demands to censor information: anything that paints the party or its history, or its top leaders, in an unflattering light, or disagrees with their preferred portrayal of China as a country.” Apple relies on Chinese factories to assemble iPhones, which generate most of the company’s profits. Apple has also cultivated a loyal following in the country. China has emerged as the company’s third-largest market behind the U.S. and Europe, accounting for …

The U.S. will hand over to Iraqi authorities nearly 50 Islamic State members who were transferred from Syria in recent days, two Iraqi intelligence officials said Thursday. The officials said the IS members were expected to be handed over by Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. The move comes after Turkey began a military offensive into northern Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces who are holding more than 10,000 IS members. Those include some 2,000 foreigners, including about 800 Europeans. It wasn’t immediately clear why the 50 IS fighters would be transferred to Iraq, but the group’s self-declared caliphate once sprawled across a large part of both Iraq and Syria. Since the IS was defeated earlier this year, Iraq has held IS captives in secure prisons and tried IS militants in court, including some French foreign nationals.   Before the Turkish assault began, there were already fears that Kurdish-led forces could divert forces from guarding IS prisoners or might not be able to secure them at a time when IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a point of calling on followers to free captured fighters. There …

The 21-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, pleaded not guilty Thursday during a brief initial hearing. Police have said Patrick Crusius of Dallas confessed to the Aug. 3 mass shooting and that he targeted Mexicans.   Early Thursday afternoon, around 80 members of the public and 30 members of the press underwent security screening before filing into the courtroom on the top floor of the El Paso County Courthouse. Among the crowd was a delegation from the Mexican Consulate. Eight Mexican citizens were killed in the attack and most of the victims had Hispanic last names. One person killed was a German citizen who lived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. FILE – Mourners visit the makeshift memorial near the Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 12, 2019. A bailiff asked the court to be quiet and warned against outbursts. Some two-dozen people survived the attack with injuries, and two of them remain in the hospital, hospital officials said. Local prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. Federal authorities are weighing capital murder and hate crime charges. The Department of Justice has called the shooting an act of domestic terrorism. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied that his American counterpart, Donald Trump, tried to blackmail him. Claims that Trump requested a corruption investigation into Hunter Biden, son of Democrat Joe Biden – in return for military aid – are the subject of an impeachment inquiry in the United States. Henry Ridgwell has more from Kyiv. …

Migrants, returned to Mexico to await their U.S. asylum hearings, block the Puerta Mexico international border crossing bridge to demand a faster asylum process, in Matamoros, Mexico, Oct. 10, 2019. U.S. border officials shut down two bridges between the United States and Mexico early Thursday after hundreds of mostly Central American migrants protested at the ports of entry. The demonstration occurred in Matamoros, the Mexican city across from Brownsville, Texas. “Bridge traffic at Gateway International Bridge and B&M International Bridges was temporarily halted at about 1:30 a.m. after a group of 250 to 300 migrants without entry documents had gathered at the midpoint of the Gateway Bridge,” a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told VOA. Traffic at the B&M International Bridge resumed roughly two hours later. But traffic at Gateway Bridge remained closed in both directions more than seven hours later, the CBP official said. Mexican media at the scene reported the protesters were primarily Honduran and attempted to cross into the U.S. as a single large group overnight. They were demanding immediate processing of their requests for asylum in the United States, according to a report from Mexico City-based radio, MVS Noticias. Photos posted by Mexican journalists on …

To mark World Mental Health Day, the International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for greater psycho-social support for millions of people caught in violence and armed conflict. A survey finds more than one in five people in conflict-affected areas live with a mental health condition ranging from depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress.  That is three times more than the general population worldwide. Despite the growing problem, the International Committee of the Red Cross says mental health conditions among people subjected to war and violence are generally overlooked. It warns the hidden wounds will have long-term, even life-threatening impacts, if left untreated. Ida Andersen is ICRC lead psychologist for Africa. She works with people in crisis in countries such as Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Burundi and South Sudan.  She says people exposed to extreme violence often have sleep disorders, including insomnia or nightmares. Some suffer from schizophrenia, become overly aggressive or have suicidal tendencies. She tells VOA on Skype from Nairobi that mental health needs for victims of war are as important as water, food and shelter. She says therapeutic help must be part of an integrated response. “Mental health and psycho-social needs need to be considered …

All media events such as news conferences have been canceled inside the arena hosting Thursday’s NBA preseason game in China between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, though the matchup itself remains on as scheduled. The decision to cancel media availabilities is the latest move by Chinese officials in an effort to show their displeasure with a since-deleted tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. The tweet, expressing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, set off a rift that has completely overshadowed the NBA’s annual trip to China. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey’s right to freely express himself. China’s latest response essentially means the league and its players will not be able to freely express themselves at Mercedes-Benz Arena, which was going to be the site of a news conference by Silver and press conferences likely featuring Lakers star LeBron James, Nets guard Kyrie Irving, Los Angeles coach Frank Vogel and Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson. The relationship between the NBA and China has been beyond strained since Morey sent the tweet, which was deleted. Multiple Chinese corporations suspended their business deals with the league, several events leading up to the game were called off by Chinese …

Turkish ground forces pressed their advance against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, launching airstrikes and unleashing artillery shelling on Syrian towns and villages the length of its border. The Turkish invasion, now in its second day, has been widely condemned around the world. In northern Syria, residents of the border areas scrambled in panic on Wednesday as they tried to get out on foot, in cars and with rickshaws piled with mattresses and a few belongings. It was a wrenchingly familiar scenario for the many who, only a few years ago, had fled the advances on their towns and villages by the Islamic State group. A Kurdish-led group and Syrian activists claimed Thursday that despite the heavy barrage, Turkish troops had not made much progress on several fronts they had opened over the past hours. But their claims could not be independently verified and the situation on the ground was difficult to assess. Turkey began its offensive in northern Syria on Wednesday against Kurdish fighters with airstrikes and artillery shelling, before ground troops began crossing the border later in the day. U.S. troops pulled back from the area, paving the way for Turkey’s assault …

Possible changes to Vietnam’s Labor Code, due to be debated in coming weeks by the country’s legislature, are expected to strengthen worker rights in key ways. This month the Quoc Hoi, or National Assembly, the country’s parliament, will gather for the second session of the year, and one item on the agenda will be a proposed revision of the code. The revision would include granting workers the right to form their own unions. The revision also includes changes to protect workers, such as rules to prevent companies from abusing temporary contracts to avoid employer obligations, as well as changes that would weaken protections, such as requiring people to continue working longer before they retire. While the package is almost certain to pass, members of the parliament are expected to have substantive debate on the pros and cons before voting.  One of the most dramatic changes would be to labor organizing. Vietnam already has one union overseen by the state to cover the whole country. The new law would mean that more unions can be formed.    “I am pleased to see the major steps Vietnam has taken to meet the challenges of rapidly changing labor markets as well as to …

Journalists organizations are increasingly concerned that journalists covering the increasingly violent demonstrations in Hong Kong are being targeted by police action and sometimes protesters. Months of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in this semiautonomous city under Chinese authority have grown increasingly tense, as police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds, and some protesters armed with rocks and even homemade gasoline bombs have attacked police. Voice of America Mandarin reporter Yihua Lee has been among the thousands of journalists in Hong Kong that have found themselves in dangerous situations, as clashes erupted between masked protesters and police, and in areas where police have fired tear gas into crowds. “I do feel the unfriendly feeling from the police, when we are covering the protests on really the front lines. Maybe they feel we are blocking their way, or maybe they are feeling that we are not really neutral,” said Lee. Police targeting Journalists often find themselves in the middle of clashes while reporting on conflicts.  However during these pro-democracy demonstrations, both the Hong Kong Journalist Association and the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club have accused the police of purposefully targeting reporters. “Since June, journalists have been the target of police …

California power company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) cut power Wednesday to millions of Californians due to high winds that could down power lines sparking wildfires. Utilities companies have warned for months that cutoffs were possible, but the power cut seems to have caught many by surprise.   Twitter was buzzing with comments about the outage from consumers in the Northern California area. Many posted angry tweets about the power company’s website, serving Northern and Central California, being down and making updates on the cuts inaccessible. While many East Coast residents have learned to cope with power outages from hurricanes, weather-related outages are a relatively new phenomenon in California. Where are the outages? PG&E began shutting off power Wednesday morning. Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses in Northern California were without power and by midday it expanded to parts of the Bay Area, including San Jose and Santa Cruz. Farther south, where Santa Ana winds weren’t expected until early Thursday, Southern California Edison said it might cut power to more than 170,000 customers. It included more than 50,000 in northern Los Angeles County and nearly 20,449 in Ventura County. San Diego Gas & Electric also said it could cut power to nearly …

The price of electricity jumped an alarming 320% in Zimbabwe on Wednesday as the country continues to spiral into the worst economic crisis in more than a decade. The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) said it had approved the request by the national power company to increase the rate from 38 Zimbabwe cents per kilowatt hour to 162 Zimbabwe cents. The price hike was the second in three months. In August, ZERA approved a price hike of 400%. Authorities said the hike was needed for the power company to be able to afford to maintain its equipment and buy fuel for its generators. Supporters of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power after long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was deposed in late 2017, had hoped he would be able to revive the economy quickly. But that has failed to materialize. Mnangagwa has pleaded for more time and patience from his countrymen even as inflation continues to skyrocket. The government stopped publishing inflation figures after they peaked at 176% in June.  The International Monetary Fund has estimated that inflation hit 300% in August.   …

Ukraine’s president appears to be playing to both sides of the American political divide, hedging his bets to ensure U.S. financial and military aid keeps flowing no matter who wins next year’s election. First, a point for U.S. President Donald Trump’s team: Ukraine’s top prosecutor agreed to revisit past investigations into a gas company executive who recruited Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son to his board. And now, a nod to the anti-Trump camp: Ukraine has appointed a man who exposed under-the-table payments to Trump’s onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a senior prosecutor. So which team is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on? He’s not taking that bait — not at a time when he needs American support to fend off pro-Russia separatists but also prove himself an independent leader to his own people. Instead, he insists that he’s maintaining separation of powers and not interfering in prosecutors’ decisions. Analysts say the Ukrainian leadership is trying to keep its options open, by showing that Zelenskiy is not Trump’s yes-man, and not his enemy either. Zelenskiy is central to the impeachment inquiry against Trump, who pressed the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to investigate Democratic political rivals.   The …

U.S. lawmakers of both political parties on Wednesday continued to savage President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, where U.S.-allied Kurds are under attack from Turkey. FILE – Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaks to reporters after a briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 21, 2019. “Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump administration,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted. “This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS,” an acronym for the Islamic State. He also tweeted he would “lead effort in Congress to make (Turkish President) Erdogan pay a heavy price” for launching a military offensive against the Kurds. “I urge President Trump to change course while there is still time,” added Graham, who is usually one of the president’s most loyal defenders. ‘Abandoning’ Kurdish allies In a statement, Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons accused the Trump administration of “abandoning our Syrian Kurdish allies,” adding that the offensive “is a direct result of President Trump’s failure to stand up for our partners and interests in the region — a move that calls into question the credibility and reliability of the United States.” For his part, Trump sought to distance himself …