A prolific fundraiser charged with funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions to American political candidates surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles on Wednesday and was released on $3 million bond. The court appearance came about a week after prosecutors announced charges against Imaad Zuberi, a venture capitalist who raised millions of dollars for both Democratic and Republican political candidates and committees, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump. Zuberi has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion, violating campaign finance laws and concealing his work as a foreign agent as he lobbied high-level U.S. government officials. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Zuberi’s defense attorney declined to comment. Zuberi, 49, is accused of soliciting donations from foreign nationals and companies and giving the money to several political campaigns, violating a federal law that forbids foreign contributions. He claimed he could use his influence to change foreign policy and create business opportunities for clients and himself. Prosecutors have not alleged any campaign that received money from Zuberi was aware of his scheme or that any foreign nationals were aware of wrongdoing, and they did not identify the campaigns or foreign nationals in court papers. But The …

As of early Thursday, India lost one state and gained two federal territories as part of the government’s effort to take control of years of insurgency. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi split the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir into two territories to be ruled directly by New Delhi. One will be Jammu and Kashmir, which will include the restive Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-majority Jammu. The second territory will include the high-altitude Buddhist enclave of Ladakh. The split comes just months after Modi’s Hindu nationalist government stripped the former state of its semiautonomous status. Modi has defended the move, saying the special status had impeded the region’s progress, had given rise to terrorism and was used as a weapon by rival Pakistan to “instigate some people.” India has long accused Pakistan of supporting and training militants to foment a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, charges Islamabad denies. Modi won praise in several quarters for taking the bold, decisive step that they say in the long run may address the alienation in Kashmir and integrate it with the rest of the country. Critics, however, fear that it will deepen anti-India sentiment and could fuel insurgency among people worried …

U.S. humanitarian policy toward Iran is under scrutiny as the European Union calls for more details about a new U.S. trade mechanism aimed at shielding exports of food and medicine to Iranians from U.S. sanctions. Conflicting evidence also has emerged about whether the Trump administration’s previous system for facilitating humanitarian trade with Iran has helped or hurt the Iranian people. In a FILE – A member of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division looks out over Pennsylvania Avenue as he stands in front of a temporary barrier in front of the White House in Washington, Oct. 3, 2014. In a study published Tuesday, New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch criticized the Trump administration’s previous system of exempting humanitarian trade from U.S. sanctions, saying it had “failed to offset the strong reluctance of U.S. and European companies and banks to risk incurring sanctions and legal action by exporting or financing exempted humanitarian goods.” HRW said that reluctance to trade with Iran meant U.S. sanctions “drastically constrained the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines, causing serious hardships for ordinary Iranians and threatening their right to health.” Our @hrw report on the impact of US sanctions on Iranians …

A fire has spread among structures at Shuri Castle on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, nearly destroying the UNESCO World Heritage site. Firefighters were still battling the blaze a few hours after it started early Thursday, and nearby residents were evacuated to safer areas, Okinawa police spokesman Ryo Kochi said. The fire in Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa, started from the castle’s main structure. The main Seiden temple and a Hokuden structure, or north temple, have burned down. A third structure, Nanden, or south temple, was nearly destroyed, Kochi said. Nobody injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Footage on NHK television showed the castle engulfed in flames. The ancient castle is a symbol of Okinawa’s cultural heritage from the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom that existed from 1429 until 1879, when the island was annexed by Japan. The castle is also a symbol of Okinawa’s struggle and effort to recover from World War II. Shuri Castle burned down in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa near the war’s end, in which about 200,000 lives were lost on the island, many of them civilians. The castle was largely restored in 1992 as a national park and …

As major tech companies step up efforts to curb extremist content on their platforms, far-right white extremists continue to find ways to spread violent messages and attract sympathizers on the internet. Experts warn that far-right extremists in the West are turning to fringe sites such as Gab, BitChute, 4chan, 8chan and others to propagate their conspiracies. While significant progress has been made to remove extremist content on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, a large chunk of white extremist content on fringe platforms could go unnoticed. The 8chan logo from an anonymous online forum. “White supremacists are typically early adopters of technology. They go and hang out in places where there aren’t strong rules — places they’re more likely to get a foothold,” Keegan Hankes, interim research director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told VOA. In September, the FILE – People mourn outside the synagogue in Halle, Germany, a day after two people were killed in a shooting. Shortly after a gunman opened fire on a synagogue in the German city of Halle in October, a video of the shooting circulated among nearly 10 white supremacist Telegram channels to tens of thousands of users, many of whom hailed the shooter as …

More details from the Pentagon on the bold U.S. military raid that took out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Video and images released late Wednesday show the daring assault. Our Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has details.  …

The Pentagon released video and photos on Wednesday of the US special forces raid that resulted in the death of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Among the images released by the Defense Department was grainy black-and-white footage of US troops approaching on foot the high-walled compound in northwestern Syria where Baghdadi was holed up. The Pentagon also released video of airstrikes on a group of unknown fighters on the ground who opened fire on the helicopters that ferried US forces in for the assault on Baghdadi’s compound in Syria’s Idlib province. Before and after pictures of the isolated compound were also released. The compound was razed by US munitions after the raid, leaving it looking like “a parking lot with large potholes,” said Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command. McKenzie, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, also provided several new details about Sunday’s raid. He said that two children were killed — and not three as President Donald Trump previously said — when Baghdadi blew himself up with a suicide vest in a tunnel as he tried to escape US troops. He said the children appeared to be under 12 years old. McKenzie was …

Hungary’s prime minster said Wednesday after hosting a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that good relations with Russia are a necessity because of his country’s geographical location. Analysts see Prime Minister Viktor Orban as Putin’s closest ally in the European Union and Hungary has long advocated for the end of sanctions against Russia for actions in Ukraine, saying they hurt the Hungarian economy. Trade between Hungary and Russia increased in 2018 for the first time since sanctions were put in place. “It’s a simple geographical fact: No country can change its address,” Orban said during a news conference with Putin about Hungary’s need to cooperate with Russia. “Every country is located where God created it. For Hungary, it means being in a Moscow-Berlin-Istanbul triangle.” A convoy transporting Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in central Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 30, 2019. Orban mentioned Hungary’s membership in the European Union and NATO but said that it did “not rule out establishing political cooperation with Russia on certain issues.” Orban said Hungary, which depends greatly on Russian gas and oil, was trying to cooperate with Russia on issues like preventing migration to Europe, stabilizing the Middle East and aiding Christian communities around the …

Twitter is banning all political advertising from its service, saying social media companies give advertisers an unfair advantage in proliferating highly targeted, misleading messages.    Facebook has taken fire since it disclosed earlier in October that it would not fact-check ads by politicians or their campaigns, which could allow them to lie freely. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress last week that politicians have the right to free speech on Facebook.    The issue arose in September when Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, refused to remove a misleading video ad from President Donald Trump’s campaign that targeted former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic presidential candidate.   FILE – Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey leaves after his talk with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, June 7, 2019. In response, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, another presidential hopeful, ran an ad on Facebook taking aim at Zuckerberg. The ad falsely claimed that Zuckerberg had endorsed Trump for re-election, acknowledging the deliberate falsehood as necessary to make a point.    Critics have called on Facebook to ban political ads. CNN chief Jeff Zucker recently called the policy of allowing lies ludicrous and advised the social media giant to sit …

BANGKOK — Almost one in five children under the age of 18 living in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh suffers from a severe mental health problem, according to aid groups operating in the camps. “We’re dealing with a mental health crisis,” said Bhanu Bhatnagar of Save the Children. More then 700,000 ethnic Rohingya started pouring into Bangladesh two years ago because of a military campaign in neighboring Myanmar. U.N. investigators have accused Myanmar’s security forces of mass murder, gang rapes and burning down scores of Rohingya villages. Myanmar has denied almost every accusation of an atrocity crime and says its troops conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation. Aid groups say the strain of daily life in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, in which refugees are not allowed to leave, adds to emotional stress. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA) Save the Children says that, in some cases, mental distress among child refugees could stem from violence witnessed or experienced during the military crackdown, but there are other reasons as well. “They could be things like victims of child marriage,” Bhatnagar said. “Children who might’ve been abused within the home.” Bhatnagar added that the strain of daily life in the camps, which refugees are not allowed …

One of the Islamic State terror group’s media divisions is promising supporters that a major announcement is on the way — the first of its kind since the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a U.S. raid on Sunday.    IS’s Al-Furqan Foundation started promoting the announcement at midday Wednesday.    “Coming Soon … By the Willingness of Allah the Almighty,” the announcement said, without sharing details.  In first significant announcement since Baghdadi’s death ISIS teases a forthcoming release from its Al Furqan media foundation- the media wing responsible for the most important releases (such as the Baghdadi video and audio earlier this year) pic.twitter.com/9PASdNIPI3 — jihadoScope (@JihadoScope) October 30, 2019 The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications, said supporters quickly began distributing the poster on social media platforms, with some expressing hope that Baghdadi was still alive while others were preparing to celebrate his martyrdom.    IS official media operatives have been issuing their usual news updates on operations in Syria, Iraq and around the world, but they have been silent so far about the fate of Baghdadi, who was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid on a compound in Barisha in Syria’s Idlib province.    U.S. President Donald Trump …

Chile has cancelled climate and economic summits as anti-government protests continue, President Sebastian Pinera announced Wednesday. The South American country was set to host the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November as well as the COP25 climate summit in early December. The protests that began October 18 over a 4% increase in subway fares in Santiago have spread across the nation, inflamed by the frustration of ordinary Chileans who feel they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America’s wealthiest country. Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces on Monday – the same day President Pinera replaced eight cabinet members in an attempt to tame the country’s political crisis.   While most of the protests have been peaceful, some have turned violent, leaving at least 20 people dead. The protesters are seeking improved economic equality in the country, as well as reforms in the pension and medical systems. Pinera, a center-right billionaire, last week offered a host of proposals to try to calm the protesters, including a raise in the minimum wage and pensions as well as lower prices for medicines and public transportation. …

The American economy slowed a touch in the third quarter but remained solid, thanks to a pickup in home sales and steady consumer spending, government figures showed Wednesday. GDP growth avoided the steeper dropoff feared by economists but the US-China trade war still walloped the business sector, according to Commerce Department data. The steady expansion offered President Donald Trump a measure of relief for his economic agenda, which has failed to produce the three percent growth he touted. The economy expanded 1.9 percent in the July-September period, well above economists’ expectations but a notch lower than the 2.0 percent growth seen in the second quarter. The result, which is subject to revision, muddies the waters a bit for the US Federal Reserve, which later Wednesday is expected to announce a third consecutive interest rate cut in the effort to buoy flagging growth amid the uncertainty caused by Trump’s trade wars. “The Greatest Economy in American History!” Trump tweeted an hour before the data was released. But while the White House may breathe a sigh of relief, the details also offered a few reasons to gasp. Rattled by the uncertainty of Trump’s trade wars and a global economic slowdown, business investments …

Denmark said Wednesday that it is giving permission for a joint German-Russian underwater gas pipeline to be laid through its territory, in a blow to the United States, which had fiercely opposed the project. The decision by the Danish Energy Agency to approve the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s route is a victory for the governments of Russia and Germany, which had staunchly supported it. The plan to transport natural gas about 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe has come under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and several European countries, who argue that it could increase Europe’s dependence on Russia as a supplier of energy. The government agency said it had granted a permit to Switzerland-based Nord Stream 2 “to construct a section of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines on the Danish continental shelf southeast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.” FILE – A general view shows the headquarters of Gazprom, with a board of Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom seen in the foreground, in Moscow. Washington, which wants to sell its liquefied natural gas to Europe, has threatened sanctions against companies involved in the undersea pipeline. While the …

The United States and six other countries imposed sanctions on Wednesday on 25 corporations, banks and people linked to Iran’s support for militant networks including Hezbollah, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The targets were announced by the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) nations — which also include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was on a Middle East trip to finalize details of an economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. All 25 targets were previously sanctioned by the United States. “The TFTC’s action coincides with my trip to the Middle East, where I am meeting with my counterparts across the region to bolster the fight against terrorist financing,” Mnuchin said in the Treasury statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin deliver joint statements during their meeting in Jerusalem, Oct. 28, 2019. In Jerusalem on Monday, Mnuchin said the United States would increase economic pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, making the pledge during a Middle East trip that includes visits to U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. Sanctions reimposed on Tehran by President Donald Trump after …

In Myanmar’s Kachin State, eight years of conflict and displacement has caused some civilians to turn to drugs as authorities struggle to control and rehabilitate heroin and amphetamine addicts, both in the refugee camps and cities across the state. Users and officials tell of the struggles – both on and off the battlefield. Steve Sandford filed this report for VOA …

South Africa is home to one of the world’s top rugby’s teams. It’s also home to Africa’s only national league of wheelchair rugby. But while wheelchair rugby is an amateur sport with limited resources, there is no shortage of dedication and determination. The finals of the South African Wheelchair Rugby League mean the country’s best players literally get to crash things out on the court. As a boy, Okkie Anker of Pretoria dreamed of becoming part of South Africa’s top rugby team, the Springboks.  But he broke his neck during a high school match in 2011.  Now, he considers himself honored to have played twice for the Wheelboks, South Africa’s national wheelchair rugby team, and face off rugby’s famous pregame challenge ritual. “From the first day, I was just loving the game, and the contact and the adrenalin that pumps is almost the same than normal rugby. We faced the haka two times in 2013 and three times in 2015. … It was a great experience to still face the haka and then sing the national anthem,”  Anker said. Leratho Netchane is not only taking the lead during warmup, she became Africa’s first female wheelchair rugby player 12 years ago. …

The news of the Lebanese prime minister’s resignation is fueling concerns about the future of the eastern Mediterranean country, bordering Israel and Syria. Prime Minister Saad Hariri handed in his resignation to President Michel Aoun on Tuesday, after nearly two weeks of nationwide protests, sparked by steep economic downturn, growing national debt and the rising cost of living. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Hariri’s departure creates a vacuum that could deepen the crisis, but some Lebanese people see it as an opportunity for improvement. …

U.S. President Donald Trump has made protecting Syria’s oil reserves a top priority, and is deploying U.S. troops to the oil fields even as he pulled American forces out of the border area with Turkey, clearing the way for a Turkish military assault earlier this month on the Kurds.  Senior administration officials say the U.S. wants to keep the oil fields from falling back into the hands of Islamic State militants.  But as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, experts question Trump’s focus on the oil fields.  …

An international conference has concluded in Brussels with the European Union pledging an additional 150 million euros [166 million USD] to address the Venezuelan migration crisis. The United States also contributed to the effort. Experts at the conference estimate that by the end of next year more than six million Venezuelans will have fled their country.  From Brussels, VOA reporter Celia Mendoza has more.  …

China’s direct investment in the U.S. has slowed to a trickle, dropping 80% from 2016 to 2018, according to New York-based research provider Rhodium Group.  Among the hardest-hit sectors are real estate and hospitality, with Chinese investors no longer scrambling to buy prime properties in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports on on what’s behind this downward trend and how it’s impacting one American city in particular. …

George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Katie Hill. Papadopoulos didn’t immediately comment, but on Sunday he tweeted, “I love my state too much to see it run down by candidates like Hill. All talk, no action, and a bunch of sellouts.” Hill, whose district covers Los Angeles County, announced her resignation on Sunday amid an ethics probe into allegations she had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. She’s admitted to a consensual relationship with a campaign staff member, but denied one with a congressional staff member, which would violate U.S. House rules. She’s called herself the victim of revenge porn by an abusive husband she is divorcing. Papadopoulos, meanwhile, was a key figure in the FBI’s Russia probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. The FBI’s counterintelligence investigation that later became the Mueller probe was triggered, in part, from a tip from an Australian diplomat who had communicated with Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of stolen emails that would be potentially damaging to …

The United States and 22 other countries at the United Nations pushed China on Tuesday to stop detaining ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, prompting China’s U.N. envoy to warn it was not “helpful” for trade talks between Beijing and Washington. China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in remote Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centers” to stamp out extremism and give people new skills. The United Nations says at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained. “It’s hard to imagine that on the one hand you are trying to seek to have a trade deal, on the other hand you are making use of any issues, especially human rights issues, to blame the others,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters. He said there was “progress” in the trade talks. But he said of the U.S. criticism of China at the United Nations: “I do not think its helpful for having a good solution to the issue of trade talks.” U.S. and Chinese negotiators are working to complete the text of an interim trade agreement for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation …

Twenty years after first toying with the idea, German film director Roland Emmerich brings his World War II drama “Midway” to cinemas next month, focusing on the 1942 Battle of Midway. Known for big-budget disaster movies filled with special effects like “Independence Day” and “Godzilla,” Emmerich long wanted to recount the giant air and sea battle in the Pacific during which U.S. forces defeated an attacking Japanese fleet. The June 4-7 1942 clash, the subject of a 1976 film starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda, took place six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which had catapulted the United States into the conflict. But a new studio deal, financing and the 2001 release of romantic war drama “Pearl Harbor” put Emmerich’s version project on hold, he told Reuters in an interview. “I chose another war movie, I did ‘The Patriot’ but it (‘Midway’) never left my mind,” the 63-year-old said referring to his 2000 film set during the American Revolutionary War. “All of a sudden ‘Pearl Harbor’ was there so I had to wait.” “Midway” was rekindled several years ago when work on a script began. The film focuses on real-life U.S. Navy bomber pilot Richard ‘Dick’ Best, …