World. Im natalie allen, and cnn newsroom starts right now. 5 00 in the morning here in the state of georgia. Its 6 00 p. M. In hong kong. And the people there are taking a break. For months of mass protests to cast their ballots in local elections. So far 1 Million People have turned out to vote for district counselors. The elections will help measure the support behind the citys prodemocracy protests. The sometimes fierce demonstrations rattled hong kong now for almost six months. Lets go live to hong kong with paula hancocks. Shes out and about watching this vote take place. Its very heartening that it has been such a peaceful day there and a good turnout. Reporter absolutely, natalie. A record turnout. 52 of those eligible to vote had voted by 4 30. Thats an hour and a half ago. In the first six hours of voting, the amount of people that had voted was more than for the entire day back in 2015, the last time these local District Council elections took place. Certainly the very fact
something that may be a snub to baghdad but perhaps it was an attempt to try emphasize to the kurds in iraq and syria as well that the u.s. still views them as being a key ally. vice president pence making a clear point to say that the americans and the kurds share blood ties. at this stage it is unclear if there is any damage control in terms of reappearing its damage in iraq, syria and across the region. arwa damon, cnn, istanbul. protests in iraq, protests in hong kong, and we re following protests in colom pia. they welcome the national conversation. the goal is to end days of violent unrest in bogota, the capital. tens of thousands of