Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre

Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre
A Special Operations Group (GOE) vehicle enters the Del Litoral prison facilities after clashes that left 15 inmates dead in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Nov. 12, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre

Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre
  • “Serious incidents were reported between inmates, resulting in a preliminary toll of 15 dead and 14 wounded,” the prison service said
  • The prison service said that a “significant contingent” of troops and police had been deployed to restore order at the prison, which was now under the “full control” of the authorities

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador: At least 15 inmates were killed and 14 injured in clashes Tuesday at a prison in the Ecuadoran port of Guayaquil, the latest in a series of massacres blamed on a war between drug cartels.
Once seen as a beacon of stability in South America, Ecuador has become one of the world’s most violent nations and a major drug trafficking hub in recent years.
Much of the violence has taken place in prisons where more than 460 inmates have been killed since February 2021, often in gruesome fashion, with their bodies dismembered and burnt.
The latest bloodshed took place in Litoral penitentiary, the country’s biggest, where 119 inmates were killed in September 2021 in Ecuador’s worst prison massacre.
“This morning, in a pavilion of the Litoral penitentiary, serious incidents were reported between inmates, resulting in a preliminary toll of 15 dead and 14 wounded,” the prison service said.
AFP drone images of the prison yard showed inmates in orange prison garb placing a body on the ground next to a dozen corpses wrapped in blankets.
In another part of the prison, dozens of prisoners could be seen sitting in rows, guarded by security force members.
The prison service said that a “significant contingent” of troops and police had been deployed to restore order at the prison, which was now under the “full control” of the authorities.
The violence in Ecuador’s prisons has spilled over onto the streets.
The Andean country registered a record 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, up from a rate of six per 100,000 in 2018.
In January, the violence reached a new peak following the jailbreak of a powerful narco boss, Jose Adolfo Macias.
In the most dramatic incident, gunmen stormed the studios of a television station in Guayaquil and held a presenter at gunpoint live on air.
Gang members also took scores of prison guards hostage and set off explosions prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare war on organized crime and deploy the army to combat the gangs.
Tuesday’s massacre is the first at a prison since then.
But tit-for-tat gang attacks left at least 17 dead near Guayaquil last month and prison officials continue to be targeted.
Five penitentiary staff were shot dead in the space of a month between late August and late September.
The victims included the director of Litoral, who was shot dead after her car was ambushed while traveling near Guayaquil and the head of another prison in the Amazonian province of Sucumbios, who too was shot dead while traveling by car.
Noboa claims his offensive against organized crime is nonetheless yielding results.
Between January and September, 4,236 murders were reported, down from 5,112 for the same period in 2023.


Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports
Updated 59 min 4 sec ago
Follow

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports
  • There were 597,000 deaths the vast majority among African children aged under 5 years old, the WHO said

LONDON: There were around 11 million more cases of malaria in 2023 than in 2022, up to an estimated 263 million, according to a new World Health Organization report, marking another year of negligible progress against the age-old killer.
There were 597,000 deaths, a similar total to 2022, the vast majority among African children aged under 5 years old, the WHO said.
“No-one should die of malaria; yet the disease continues to disproportionately harm people living in the African region, especially young children and pregnant women,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a statement.
Malaria cases and deaths fell significantly between 2000 and 2015, but since then progress has stalled and even reversed, with a particular jump in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Case numbers are not only going up as populations grow. In 2015, there were 58 cases for every 1,000 people deemed to be at risk; in 2023, there were 60.4, nearly three times higher than the WHO’s target. There were 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people at risk, more than twice the target.
There are new tools available to fight the mosquito-borne disease, including two vaccines as well as next-generation bed nets, but climate change, conflict and displacement, drug and insecticide resistance and a lack of funding have all combined to challenge the response, the WHO said, despite progress in some countries.
In 2023, $4 billion was available to fight malaria, compared with an estimated $8.3 billion needed, the UN health agency added.


Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say

Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say
Updated 11 December 2024
Follow

Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say

Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say
  • Photos posted on the emergency’s Telegram messaging channel showed rescuers and machinery working in piles of rubble from a collapsed building at night

The death toll from a Russian missile strike that destroyed a clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday has risen to six, while four more people remain under the rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said on Wednesday.
An additional 22 people were injured, governor Ivan Fedorov said on his Telegram messaging channel.
“All emergency services of the city are working at the scene,” he said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service of Ukraine said its rescuers were able to pull out two women overnight from underneath the ruins of the building.
Photos posted on the emergency’s Telegram messaging channel showed rescuers and machinery working in piles of rubble from a collapsed building at night.
Russia regularly carries out airstrikes on Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding region. Last Friday, an attack on the city killed 10 people and wounded more than 20.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, saying the aim of the strikes is to undermine infrastructure key to each other’s war efforts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukraine’s allies on Tuesday to provide 10-12 more Patriot air defense systems that he said would fully protect the country’s skies.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has consistently asked its allies to supply more advanced air-defense systems.


Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
Updated 11 December 2024
Follow

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
  • Protesters demanded UN intervention, criticizing the world body for not doing more to address problems in Bangladesh
  • They also rejected claims by interim government officials in Bangladesh that the targeting of minorities was internal matter

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of protesters rallied near the Bangladesh diplomatic mission in the Indian capital on Tuesday, pressing for an end to reported attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh after former premier Sheikh Hasina fled into exile in India in August.
The protesters demanded an intervention by the United Nations, carrying banners and placards that criticized the world body for not doing more to address the problems in Bangladesh. They also rejected claims by interim government officials in Bangladesh that the targeting of minorities was an internal matter.
“It’s a very serious attack, a very sustained attack on the lives of the (Hindu) minority,” said Veena Sikri, a former Indian ambassador to Bangladesh. Attacks on the livelihoods, homes and businesses of minorities in Bangladesh must stop, she said.
Scores of social and cultural organizations joined the protest in New Delhi a day after top Foreign Ministry officials from the two countries, Vikram Misri and Mohammad Jashim Uddin, met in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, to discuss their strained relations. It was the first high-level visit to Bangladesh by an Indian official since massive protests ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Following Hasina’s ouster, minorities — and particularly Hindus — have reported widespread attacks in the Muslim-majority nation of Bangladesh, but Bangladesh says the reports are widely exaggerated.
Most Bangladeshi Hindus are thought to support Hasina’s secular Awami League party.
Tensions spiked over the recent arrest of a Hindu spiritual leader in Bangladesh, which is currently being run by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. India also stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshis, except for emergency medical visas, after Hasina fled. Many Indian nationals working on infrastructure projects also left Bangladesh because of security threats.
After Monday’s meeting, Misri told reporters there was no reason for the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries to deteriorate.
“To that end, therefore, I have underlined today India’s desire to work closely with the interim government of Bangladesh,” he said.


Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says

Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says
Updated 11 December 2024
Follow

Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says

Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says
  • Children accounted for 38 percent of detected victims, compared to 35 percent for figures for 2020 which formed the basis of the previous report

VIENNA: Human trafficking has risen sharply due to conflicts, climate-induced disasters and global crises, according to a United Nations report published on Wednesday.
In 2022, the latest year for which data is widely available, the number of known victims worldwide rose to 25 percent above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons said. A sharp fall in 2020 had largely disappeared by the following year.
“Criminals are increasingly trafficking people into forced labor, including to coerce them into running sophisticated online scams and cyberfraud, while women and girls face the risk of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence,” the report said, adding that organized crime was mainly responsible.
Children accounted for 38 percent of detected victims, compared to 35 percent for figures for 2020 which formed the basis of the previous report.
The latest report showed adult women remain the largest group of victims, representing 39 percent of cases, followed by men at 23 percent, girls at 22 percent and boys at 16 percent.
The total number of victims in 2022 was 69,627.
The most common reason by far for women and girls being trafficked was sexual exploitation at 60 percent or more, followed by forced labor. For men, it was forced labor and for boys, it was forced labor and “other purposes” in roughly equal measure.
Those other purposes include forced criminality and forced begging. The report said the growing number of boys identified as victims of trafficking could be linked to rising numbers of unaccompanied minors arriving in Europe and North America.
The region of origin that accounted for the largest number of victims was sub-Saharan Africa with 26 percent, though there are many different trafficking routes.
While improved detection could account for the growing numbers, the report said it was likely a combination of that and more trafficking in general.
The biggest increases in cases detected were in sub-Saharan Africa, North America and the ‘western and southern Europe’ region, according to the report, with migration influxes being a significant factor in the latter two.


South Korean police raid president’s office

South Korean police raid president’s office
Updated 11 December 2024
Follow

South Korean police raid president’s office

South Korean police raid president’s office
  • Defense minister Kim Yong-hyun resigned last Thursday and was formally arrested Tuesday on charges including “engaging in critical duties during an insurrection” and “abuse of authority to obstruct th

Seoul: South Korean police raided President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office on Wednesday as the investigation into his declaration of martial law gathered pace.
Prison authorities, meanwhile, said the country’s former defense minister tried to kill himself shortly before his formal arrest over the events of the night of December 3.
The extraordinary drama saw troops and helicopters sent to parliament in an apparent — but failed — attempt to prevent lawmakers from voting down Yoon’s martial law declaration.
The deeply unpopular Yoon is already under a travel ban as part of an “insurrection” probe into his inner circle.
On Wednesday, a special investigation unit of South Korea’s police said it raided the presidential office as well as the National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the National Assembly Security Service.
A statement gave no further details.
Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun tried to kill himself shortly before midnight on Tuesday (1500 GMT Tuesday) while in custody, authorities said.
Kim was first detained on Sunday. The suicide attempt took place shortly before he was formally arrested, the justice ministry and a prison official said.
They added that he was in good health on Wednesday.
Kim was arrested on charges of “engaging in critical duties during an insurrection” and “abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.”
The former defense minister said through his lawyers that “all responsibility for this situation lies solely with me” and that subordinates were “merely following my orders and fulfilling their assigned duties.”
He had already been slapped with a travel ban along with the former interior minister and the general in charge of the martial law operation.
Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were also arrested early Wednesday, police said.

'Fascist dictatorship'
North Korean state media on Wednesday made its first comments about what it called the “chaos” in the South.
“The shocking incident of the puppet Yoon Suk Yeol, who is facing impeachment and a governance crisis, suddenly declaring a martial law decree and unhesitatingly wielding the guns and knives of its fascist dictatorship wrought chaos across South Korea,” a commentary said.
Yoon had said his declaration of martial law was intended, in part, to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness.”
Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles in violation of UN sanctions.
Former defense minister Kim had been accused by opposition lawmakers of calling for strikes on sites from which North Korea was launching trash-carrying balloons, an order reportedly refused by his subordinates.
He also allegedly ordered drones sent to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in an apparent attempt to provoke a conflict as a pretext for declaring martial law.

Task force
Yoon survived an impeachment motion in parliament on Saturday even as tens of thousands of South Koreans braved freezing temperatures to demand his ouster.
Further smaller protests have continued every evening since, with polls showing record-low public support for Yoon.
A special task force within Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday proposed a plan for the president to resign in February or March, followed by fresh elections in April or May.
But the proposal has not yet been adopted by the party as a whole.
Even if approved, the roadmap is unlikely to head off another opposition attempt to impeach Yoon on Saturday.
The motion only needs eight members of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) to secure the necessary two-thirds majority.
Last week, two PPP lawmakers — Ahn Cheol-soo and Kim Yea-ji — voted in favor, and two more said Tuesday they would support the motion this time.