QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast, sending the Andean nation into a state of emergency. As rescue workers rushed in, officials said Sunday at least
Ecuador is sending mixed messages to Turkey – summoning its ambassador in Quito in protest, while also formally apologizing – after Turkish security attacked female protesters and a socialist lawmaker attending a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the South American capital.
Cuban illegal immigrants are surging in large number across the Texas-Mexico border — more than 40,000 have made the long trip to the United States.
Contents: Central Americans reach agreement on letting Cuban refugees reach the US; ISIS may be linked to massive suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan
WikiLeaks co-founder and confirmed lefty hero Julian Assange maintained his innocence over sexual assault charges when he appeared by video-link before members of Cambridge University’s debating society. Working media were banned from the event, with members of the 200-year-old union being balloted
Leftist Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has challenged an opposition party Congressman to a fistfight on national television and received an enthusiastic “yes” from Congressman Andrés Páez, who promised to pay his medical bills after the fight.
A much-publicized summit between Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos to reestablish diplomatic relations following the mass deportations of Colombians without due process in socialist Venezuela has not resulted in a concrete solution regarding the fate of the forcibly displaced.
Contents: Colombia and Venezuela withdraw ambassadors over border dispute; European officials demand forced fingerprinting of migrants
After the first jam-packed day of his apostolic journey to several Latin American countries, Pope Francis seemed little affected by the long flight or full timetable that kept him working throughout the day, with an open-air Mass with as many as a million in attendance, meetings with bishops, indigenous groups, and students, as well as a visit to a historic Jesuit church.
Eschewing for the moment other topics such as poverty, the environment, and social justice, Pope Francis kicked off his pilgrimage through Central and South America with a series of reflections on the family and its importance for society.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, a hardline leftist and long ally of South American socialists Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales, tweeted “¡Heil Hitler!” in response to a Twitter user posting an article reporting that ex-Ecuadorian President Osvaldo Hurtado had called him a “fascist” for his repeated crackdowns on journalists.
