Ecuador

Ecuador grants citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Assange

London - Muslimchronicle

Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after more than five years of living in asylum at the nation's embassy in London, officials announced Thursday. Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said officials accepted Assange's request for naturalization in December, and they continue to look for a long-term resolution to a situation that has vexed officials since 2012. "What naturalization does isRead more

Ecuador seeks mediator to resolve 'untenable' Assange standoff: minister

Quito - Muslimchronicle

Ecuador is seeking a "third country or a personality" to mediate a final settlement with Britain to resolve the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the foreign minister said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said the South American country was "considering and exploring the possibility of mediation" to end the "untenable" five-year impasse. Assange moved into Ecuador's embassy inRead more

Arteaga supports Egypt’s tourism

Cairo - Fady Ameein

Former Ecuadorian President Rosalia Arteaga, the first woman to rule Ecuador, has said she is keen to visit Egypt every year because she has a special nature and a magical climate. She is happy to visit the pyramids, which she has always heard about in history books. Regarding the measures taken by the Egyptian authorities to improve economy, she revealedRead more

Ecuador warns Assange over support for Spain's Catalonia

Quito - Muslimchronicle

Ecuador has told WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to avoid making statements that could affect the country's international relations after he expressed support for Catalonian independence from Spain, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Assange, who initially moved into London's Ecuadorian embassy five years ago to avoid arrest over now-dropped Swedish rape charges, angered Madrid after addressing hundreds of people in BarcelonaRead more

UAE non-resident Ambassador meets Foreign Minister of Ecuador

Quito - Musimchronicle

Mohammed Yusouf Al Awadi, UAE Ambassador to Peru and non-resident Ambassador to Ecuador, has met with Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador, in the country's capital, Quito. During the meeting, the two sides discussed means of enhancing bilateral relations, strengthening trade cooperation and encouraging investment between their countries.Read more

Ecuador's president strips VP of all functions

Quito - Muslimchronicle

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno on Thursday stripped his vice president, Jorge Glas, of all his functions after his deputy delivered a stinging critique of the new leftist leader. Moreno, who came to office on May 24, issued a decree removing his running mate from all his functions as vice president, but stopped short of sacking him. Glas, who has servedRead more

Selling $600 frogs -- to save them from poachers

Quito - Muslimchronicle

Poachers in Ecuador have long known the hefty prices their country's rare frogs can fetch. But now environmentally conscious firms are starting to sell the amphibians too -- to try to save them from the black market and threatened extinction. In San Rafael, just outside the capital Quito, the scientific company Wikiri is raising 12 species of frog. Some areRead more

Chevron prevails in Ecuador pollution battle

Washington - AFP

Oil giant Chevron prevailed in a long-running legal battle over pollution in Ecuador, with the US Supreme Court blocking villagers from collecting a $8.65-billion foreign judgment against the company. The court declined to hear an appeal against lower-court decisions which had refused to enforce the Ecuadorian damages award over pollution in the rainforest, finding that the foreign judgment resulted fromRead more

Endangered Galapagos tortoises saved from suspected traffickers

Quito - AFP

Nearly three dozen Galapagos tortoises considered vulnerable to extinction will return to Ecuador after being rescued in Peru from alleged traffickers, the Galapagos National Park said. Peruvian wildlife authorities found 29 small tortoises -- two of them dead -- in a cardboard box on a bus on its way from northern Peru to Lima. Officials made the discovery while workingRead more

Ecuador president accuses opposition of brewing Venezuelan-style "upheaval"

Quito - Arab Today

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Saturday accused the right-wing opposition of trying to foment a Venezuelan-style "state of upheaval" through baseless claims of electoral fraud. "Part of their strategy is to take us towards a state of upheaval similar to the one in Venezuela, to prevent governability. They are desperate," Correa said in his regular weekly report. An April 2Read more