Ecuador under state of emergency after presidential candidate killed

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador declared a state of emergency Friday and asked the FBI to help probe the assassination of a popular presidential candidate, whose death has highlighted the once-peaceful nation’s decline into a violent hotbed of drug trafficking and organized crime.

Police said six Colombians have been arrested in the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old journalist and anti-corruption crusader who was gunned down as he left a campaign rally in the capital Quito on Wednesday night.

Another attacker, also Colombian, was shot dead by security agents, authorities said.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata said the assailants belonged to “organized crime groups,” without specifying which ones.

Ukraine urges evacuations for civilians

KHARKIV, Ukraine—Ukraine has urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already seized once during the conflict.

Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in September but Moscow has since pushed back into the region.

“Given the difficult security situation and the increasing amount of shelling by Russian terrorist forces in Kupiansk community, you have the opportunity to evacuate to a safer place,” the city administration said.

It said residents could evacuate to Kharkiv, some 90 kilometers west, where they would have the option to move to safer regions, and urged children, the elderly and the sick to leave.

“Do not neglect your safety and the safety of your loved ones,” said the statement.

The warning came as Russia’s defense ministry announced its soldiers had “improved their position” along the front line near the city, after reporting advances earlier in the week.

“In the course of offensive operations near Kupiansk, assault teams of the Western battle group improved their positions along the forward edge of the front line,” it said in a daily briefing. AFP

President Joe Biden on Thursday declared the fires a “major disaster” and unblocked federal aid for relief efforts, as residents said they needed more help in a recovery that could take years.

US Coast Guard commander Aja Kirksey told CNN around 100 people were believed to have jumped into the water in a desperate effort to flee the fast-moving flames as they tore through Lahaina.

Kirksey said helicopter pilots struggled to see because of the dense smoke pouring from the huge fire, but that a Coast Guard vessel had been able to rescue more than 50 people from the water.

“It was a really rapidly developing scene and pretty harrowing for the victims that had to jump into the water,” she added.

For resident Kekoa Lansford, the horror was far from over.

“We still get dead bodies in the water floating and on the seawall,” Lansford told CBS.

“We have been pulling people out... We’re trying to save people’s lives, and I feel like we are not getting the help we need.” AFP people were “outraged” by the murder of a man she saw as “the hope for honesty in our country. A candidate who denounced the corruption of narcopolitics.”

She described the situation in the country as “very worrying. You can’t walk peacefully... there is no security.”

President Guillermo Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency, and said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had accepted the country’s request for help, with a delegation arriving soon.

Villavicencio had complained of receiving threats from Los Choneros, one of the country’s most powerful drug gangs.

“They told me to wear a (bulletproof) vest. I don’t need it. Let the hitmen come! They may bend me but they will never break me,” the politician told a rally earlier this week in Chone, the gang’s birthplace. AFP

West African bloc backs military ‘standby’ force for Niger

ABUJA, Nigeria—West African lead- ers have approved the deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order” in Niger, an intervention that will take place as soon as possible, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has said.

The ECOWAS regional bloc did not provide details on the force to be deployed or the timetable for action against the military officers who seized control of Niger two weeks ago, deposing Mohamed Bazoum as president.

But on his return to Abidjan from the emergency summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, Ouattara said: “The Chiefs of Staff will have other conferences to finalize things but they have the agreement of the Conference of Heads of State for the operation to start as soon as possible.”

Ivory Coast would provide a battalion of 850 to 1,100 men alongside soldiers from Nigeria and Benin, and other countries would join them, Ouattara said.

“We are determined to restore president Bazoum to his functions.”

Earlier, in Abuja, ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray had announced the deployment of the bloc’s force.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a non-violent solution to reverse the coup, praising the “determina-

US prosecutors propose January for Trump trial

WASHINGTON, DC—Prosecutors recommended Friday that Donald Trump go on trial in January for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 US election, threatening the former president with a high-profile court case days before the Republican primary contest begins.

The Justice Department accuses the 77-year-old billionaire of plotting with aides to illegally pressure local and national government officials and have party activists fraudulently certify bogus Trump victories in several states won by Joe Biden.

“The government’s proposed trial date represents an appropriate balance of the defendant’s right to prepare a defense and the public’s strong interest in a speedy trial in the case,” lead prosecutor Jack Smith said in court filing asking for a January 2 start.

tion of ECOWAS to explore all options for the peaceful resolution of the crisis” in a statement on Thursday.

The bloc was “playing a key role in making clear the imperative of a return to constitutional order, and we very much support ECOWAS’ leadership and work on this”, he told reporters earlier Thursday.

Former colonial power France gave its “full support to all the conclusions” ECOWAS reached, the foreign ministry said.

But even as the summit took place, Niger’s new military rulers moved to consolidate their position and signalled further defiance by appointing a new government. AFP

BEIJING—The death toll from recordbreaking rains across northern China rose to at least 78 on Friday, as authorities warned of more flooding and another storm approached the country.

Deaths from flooding in Hebei province rose to 29, state media reported Friday, after Storm Doksuri, which hit mainland China as a typhoon two weeks ago, brought on the most severe rainfall since records began 140 years ago.

Rescuers have continued to search for people swept away by the floods, as another storm, Khanun, approaches over the weekend.

The deluge followed weeks of historic heat, with scientists saying such extreme weather events are being exacerbated by

Trump, who is facing prosecution in multiple jurisdictions over allegations of criminal conduct before, during and after his presidency, quickly responded to the request with a furious post claiming “Election Interference.”

“These Fake Indictments against me didn’t come down from heaven, they came from the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, Crooked Joe Biden, in order to Rig & Steal another Election,” he said.

Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor at the Hague, charged Trump last week with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct, and actual obstruction of, an official proceeding; and conspiracy against the right to vote. AFP climate change.

Streets in parts of Hebei, which borders the capital, were still caked in mud when AFP visited on Wednesday.

Residents were scrambling to recover waterlogged belongings and clean up damaged homes.

During a visit to affected communities last week, Hebei province party chief Ni Yuefeng said that the area could “reduce the pressure on Beijing’s flood control” and serve as a “moat” for the capital.

As of Thursday, 29 people had been killed by the rains across the province, six of whom had been previously listed as missing, state broadcaster CCTV said Friday. AFP