Category World News

Nearly three weeks of striking bus drivers and roadblocks by angry farmers have put Ecuador President Daniel Noboa in one of the tensest moments of his presidency.

The outcry comes in response to the government’s increase in diesel fuel costs, after a subsidy was cut last month.

With no signs of dialogue after 18 days, one protester has been killed, numerous protesters and authorities injured, and more than 100 people arrested.

The army announced a large deployment to the capital on Thursday, saying it would prevent vandalism and destruction of property. As many as 5,000 troops were being deployed after dozens of protesters had marched at various sites in the city earlier in the day.

Though the demonstrations called for by Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organisation, CONAIE, are supposed to be nationwide, the most acute impact has been in the northern part of the country, especially Imbabura province, where Noboa won in April’s election with 52 percent of the vote.

On one side is “a president who assumes that after winning the elections he has all of the power at his disposal, who has authoritarian tendencies and no disposition for dialogue”, said Farith Simon, a law professor at the Universidad San Francisco in Quito.

On the other side, he said, is “an Indigenous sector that has shown itself to be uncompromising and is looking to co-govern through force”.

Protesters attacked Noboa’s motorcade with rocks on Tuesday, adding to the tension. The administration denounced it as an assassination attempt.

The Indigenous organisation CONAIE, however, rejected that assertion. It insists its protests are peaceful and that it is the government that is responding with force.

What led to the demonstrations?

The protests were organised by CONAIE, an acronym that translates to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador.

The group mobilised its supporters after Noboa decreed the elimination of a subsidy on diesel on September 12.

Diesel is critical to the agricultural, fishing and transport sectors in Ecuador, where many Indigenous people work. The move raised the cost of a gallon (3.8 litres) of diesel to $2.80 from $1.80, which CONAIE said hit the poor the hardest.

The government tried to calm the backlash by offering some handouts, and unions did not join the demonstrations. The confederation rejected the government’s “gifts” and called for a general strike.

What are the protests like?

The Indigenous confederation is a structured movement that played a central role in violent uprisings in 2019 and 2022 that nearly ousted then-Presidents Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso.

Its methods are not always seen as productive, particularly when protests turn violent.

Daniel Crespo, an international relations professor at the Universidad de los Hemisferios in Quito, said the confederation’s demands to return the fuel subsidy, cut a tax and stop mining are efforts to “impose their political agenda”.

The confederation says it’s just trying to fight for a “decent life” for all Ecuadorians, even if that means opposing Noboa’s economic and social policies.

What are Noboa’s policies?

Noboa is a 37-year-old, politically conservative millionaire heir to a banana fortune. He started his second term in May amid high levels of violence.

One of the steps he has taken is raising the value-added tax rate to 15 percent from 12 percent, arguing that the additional funds are needed to fight crime. He has also fired thousands of government workers and restructured the executive branch.

The president has opted for a heavy-handed approach to making these changes and rejected calls for dialogue. He said, “The law awaits those who choose violence. Those who act like criminals will be treated like criminals.”

What has been the fallout?

A protester died last week, and soldiers were caught on video attacking a man who tried to help him.

The images, along with generally aggressive actions by security forces confronting protesters, have fuelled anger and drawn criticism about excessive use of force from organisations within Ecuador and abroad.

The Attorney General’s Office said it was investigating the protester’s death.

Experts warn that the situation could grow more violent if the protests that have largely been in rural areas arrive in the cities, especially the capital, where frustrated civilians could take to the streets to confront protesters.

The meeting was supposed to be the prelude to the purchase of Finnish icebreaker ships.

But as United States President Donald Trump welcomed Finland’s President Alexander Stubb to the Oval Office on Thursday, he veered into a discussion of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) — and his ongoing feud with one of its members, Spain.

At a NATO summit in June, Spain was the most prominent holdout against Trump’s push to increase defence spending among member states.

Trump has long sought for all NATO members to commit 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to building up their military assets. But Spain successfully pushed for an exemption at June’s meeting, allowing its expenditures to remain around the previous benchmark of 2 percent.

That resistance lingered on Trump’s mind at Thursday’s meeting, as he discussed the US commitment to NATO with Stubb.

“As you know, I requested that they pay 5 percent, not 2 percent,” Trump said of the NATO members.

“And most people thought that was not gonna happen. And it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain. Spain. You have to call them and find out: Why are they a laggard?”

He then mused about taking retribution: “They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.”

It was a bitter note in an otherwise friendly meeting with Stubb, whom Trump hosted in March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Since his first term as president, Trump has wavered in his public comments about NATO, at times embracing the alliance and, at other moments, rejecting it as “obsolete”.

But seated next to Stubb and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Trump took a decidedly enthusiastic approach to defending Finland, one of the newest members of NATO. It joined the alliance in April 2023, followed by Sweden less than a year later.

Reporters at Thursday’s Oval Office meeting pressed Trump about what he might do if Russia expands its war in Ukraine to other countries in Europe.

In Finnish politics, the spectre of Russian interference looms large: The former Soviet Union invaded Finland in the 1930s, and since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, relations between the two countries have soured even further.

Finland closed its shared border with Russia in 2024, an international divide that stretches across 1,340 kilometres, or 841 miles.

“What if Russia and Vladimir Putin attacks Finland? Would you defend Finland?” one reporter asked Trump on Thursday.

Trump did not mince words in his reply. “I would. Yes, I would. They’re a member of NATO.”

He nevertheless cast doubt on the prospect of a Russian invasion under Putin.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think he’s going to do that. I think the chances of that are very, very small,” he said, turning to Stubb. “You have a very powerful military, one of the best.”

When pushed to specify how he might defend Finland in case of an attack, Trump offered one word in reply: “Vigorously.”

Those warm remarks offered a stark contrast with his approach to Spain. In the wake of the June NATO summit, for instance, Trump called Spain’s position “hostile” and threatened its economy, pledging to make it pay “twice as much” in tariffs to the US.

“I think Spain is terrible, what they’ve done,” he told reporters, accusing the country of taking a “free ride” at other countries’ expense. “That economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening.”

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – For the first time in a long time, Palestinian mother Wiam al-Masri can clearly recognise the cries of her infant son, Samih, who is not yet two months old. His soft wailing rises in the quiet air of al-Mawasi, in southern Khan Younis, hours after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of the peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump to end the Gaza war – largely halting Israeli air and artillery strikes and ushering in an unfamiliar calm.

After two years of war that left more than 67,190 people dead – an assault the United Nations described as genocide – Palestinians in Gaza are beginning to celebrate a long-awaited silence. The agreement has dramatically reduced the constant shelling and the buzzing of warplanes that have dominated the skies since 2023 – although Israel has conducted some attacks, killing at least 29 Palestinians on Thursday, particularly in Gaza City.

Inside a worn tent where she has lived for five months with her firstborn, her husband and his parents, Wiam listens as the sea wind brushes through the fabric. She says softly, “Finally, the sound of the sea is no longer drowned out by the noise of war. This calm is a blessing only those who have listened to death’s roar for two years can truly understand.”

Wiam’s family fled to al-Mawasi after Israeli forces destroyed her husband’s apartment in Gaza City, just six months after their marriage in November 2024.

At 24, Wiam had been studying pharmacy at the University of Palestine before the war destroyed her campus and forced her to drop out.

Now, she presses her ear, signalling the stillness around her – no explosions, no roaring aircraft. From just 400m (1,300 feet) away, she can hear the gentle breaking of waves on Gaza’s coast, once drowned out by the sound of bombardment.

The buzz of the ‘zanana’

“Since his birth, I never left my baby’s side,” Wiam recalls. “I could barely hear him cry over the shelling or the drones. The most terrifying were the quadcopters that flew right between and inside the tents – once, one hovered just above us.”

A quadcopter is a small, camera-equipped drone that Israel uses extensively for surveillance across Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It emits a distinctive, continuous buzz that Palestinians call “al-zanana” – Arabic for “the buzzing drone.”

She smiles faintly. “Now I hear birds chirping in the palm trees, the sea, and my baby’s cry – sounds I was deprived of before.”

As a breastfeeding mother, Wiam says, “My son’s cry gives me comfort. The real terror was when the [Israeli] tanks approached al-Mawasi – at least three times – or when a drone hovered so close we thought it would strike.”

Wiam pauses, then adds: “And al-zanana was the worst. You can’t hear anything else. It’s not just surveillance; it’s psychological warfare meant to break us.”

She dreams of returning to the rubble of her home. “The sounds of war were not just noise. They were constant fear – every roar could become death in a second. Today, only hours into the truce, the difference is enormous. We can finally hear each other again.”

During the war, she often played recordings of the Quran to calm her baby and herself. “Every sound around us meant death,” she says quietly. “We could barely stand from fear. Imagine living surrounded by the constant noise of destruction – you feel death breathing beside you.”

Memories of loss

The harshest sound Wiam remembers came 36 days into the war, when Israeli strikes hit her extended family’s home as she stood just metres away visiting her aunt. The blast killed six of her siblings, her father’s wife, and her niece, and injured several others, including her twin sister, Wisam.

“It was a sound I’ll never forget,” Wiam says. “A massacre in every sense. Thank God the war has stopped – even temporarily – so that these explosions and massacres won’t happen again.”

Not far away in al-Mawasi, Ahmed al-Hissi, 73, can barely believe the silence. “We’ve lived with the sounds of death chasing us day and night,” he jokes to his sons and grandchildren. “It will take time to get used to peace.”

He is a father of eight – the eldest, Mahmoud, is 50, and the youngest, Shaaban, 28. His son Khaled, 34, was killed on November 8, 2023, by an Israeli naval shell near Gaza’s fishing port. Khaled’s wife, Thuraya, 30, was killed days later when a neighbouring apartment was bombed.

Now Ahmed sits inside a borrowed tent, surrounded by some of his children and grandchildren – including Ahmed, 13; Ghazza, 11; and Shawq, 3 – the children of his late son. They survived because they were playing on the first floor when the third floor, where their mother stood, was hit.

“The sounds of war are unbearable,” he says. “Sometimes we jumped out of bed from the blasts, hugging the children as they shook uncontrollably. Those sounds were omens of death. That’s why today feels unreal.”

As he repairs a fishing net stretched between his knees, he adds, “Even now, my grandchildren flinch at the slightest sound – if I clap my hands, they cry. Here, every sound means something. It means survival or death.”

He looks toward the sea. “Tomorrow, I’ll return to fishing. We’ll hear the gulls and the vendors at Beach Camp again, not the cries of mourners or the rumble of tanks. Gaza is moving from the sounds of death to the sounds of life.”

Empty pots and quiet hunger

In northern al-Mawasi, Tawfiq al-Najili, 40, volunteers as a supervisor at a camp for displaced families. He scrapes the last grains of rice from a large pot donated by a local charity into a plastic bowl for a hungry child clinging to his leg. Exhaustion and sadness shadow his face.

He says the sound of an empty pot scraping its bottom is, to him, “as painful as an explosion”.

“When the ladle hits the bottom of the pot, I know there are families who won’t eat tonight,” he explains. “The war forced many sounds on us – the terrifying ones like jets and bombs, but also the heartbreaking ones: empty pots, children crying from hunger.”

Each time he hears that sound, sorrow fills his chest. “You see adults and children turn away in despair, some in tears. I pray never to hear that sound – or the sound of children crying – again.”

Displaced from northern Khan Younis five months ago, Tawfiq hopes the truce brings not only quiet skies but also food, water, and medicine.

“The war will have truly stopped,” he says, “when the cries of the hungry and the sick fall silent – when we no longer hear weeping or drones, only peace.”

US President Donald Trump pressed Israel’s prime minister to agree to a ceasefire deal.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime foe of US President Donald Trump, has been indicted for bank fraud, the Reuters news agency has reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, as the administration seeks to use government power against those who have pursued investigations into Trump or publicly resisted his agenda.

Reuters and The Associated Press reported the development on Thursday.

James was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on one count after a mortgage fraud investigation, AP said, citing an unnamed source. The James case remained under seal on Thursday, making it impossible to assess what evidence prosecutors have.

In a statement, James called the charges “baseless”. She added, “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State attorney general.”

Trump, a Republican who campaigned for re-election in part on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes since his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has repeatedly assailed James, a Democrat, on social media and at political rallies as a partisan enemy.

The indictment of James comes after a grand jury in Virginia on September 25 indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation. Comey has said he is innocent. Trump has regularly assailed Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

James is one of several Democratic state attorneys general who have sued to block Trump administration actions. She is best known for bringing a civil fraud case against Trump and his family’s real estate company in 2022. The case resulted in a $454.2m penalty against Trump after a judge found he fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders.

A New York state appeals court in August threw out the penalty, which had grown to more than $500m with interest, but upheld the trial judge’s finding that Trump was liable for fraud. Both Trump’s and James’s offices are appealing to the state’s highest court.

Trump denied wrongdoing. He has accused James’s office of bringing the case against him for political reasons.

In May, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into mortgage fraud allegations against James.

The probe was opened after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, a Trump appointee, sent a letter to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) alleging James “falsified records” to obtain favourable loans on homes she purchased in Virginia and Brooklyn.

James’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said at the time that those accusations were “baseless and long-discredited”.

The DOJ, after receiving referrals from Pulte, has also opened mortgage fraud probes into US Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat who led the House of Representatives’ inquiry that led to Trump’s impeachment in 2019, and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors appointed by former US President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Neither Schiff nor Cook has been charged with a crime, and they both deny wrongdoing.

‘Weaponization of the justice system’

In August, the DOJ convened a grand jury and subpoenaed James’s office for documents about the lawsuit and a separate case she brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA), a person familiar with the investigation told Reuters at the time.

In the NRA case, jurors found its former CEO, Wayne LaPierre, and others liable for years of financial mismanagement, but a judge decided not to impose an outside monitor for the gun rights group.

The federal prosecutors looking into James were examining whether her cases deprived Trump and others of their civil rights, the person said.

Legal decisions are often appealed, but it is highly unusual for government lawyers to face criminal investigation over cases they have brought, especially those that have gone to trial and been sustained by courts.

Lowell called the civil rights probe “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign”.