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Ecuador shocked by on-air take-over of TV studio by gunmen

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Ecuador faced a string of violent incidents on Tuesday, including the on-air invasion of a TV station by gunmen, as President Daniel Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations and military targets.

Police arrested 13 gunmen who took over television station TC during a live broadcast, while elsewhere at least seven police officers were kidnapped and there were several explosions around the country, Reuters reported.

Noboa, who took office in November promising to stem drug trade-related violence, declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday in response to prison violence – including hostage-takings of guards by inmates – and the apparent escape of Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias over the weekend.

In a revised decree on Tuesday, Noboa recognized an “internal armed conflict” and identified nearly two dozen gangs as terrorist groups, including Los Choneros.

The government has said the violence is a reaction to Noboa’s plan to build a new high security prison and transfer jailed gang leaders.

“Today’s events show that the actions and decisions taken by the national government are gravely affecting criminal structures, and as an answer they have created a wave of violence to frighten the populace,” Admiral Jaime Vela, head of the joint command of the armed forces, said after a security meeting with Noboa and other officials.

All the groups mentioned in Noboa’s decree are now military targets, Vela added.

Prison transfers of major leaders have historically led to violence. Hundreds of inmates have been killed in recent years.

The unrest in Ecuador led Peru’s government to declare an emergency along its border with Ecuador, while Brazil, Colombia and Chile expressed their support for the Ecuadorian government.

Live invasion

The take-over of TC’s studio in Guayaquil was broadcast live for about 20 minutes, as people wearing balaclavas and mostly dressed in black wielded guns and accosted staffers huddling on the floor.

Gunshots and yelling were heard on the live feed, and some of the invaders gestured at the camera. Someone could be heard yelling “no police”.

TC, which broadcasts nationally, shares a site with another public broadcaster, Gamavision, and several radio stations.

The attackers entered through Gamavision’s reception, assaulting staff there and leaving dynamite behind, TC news coordinator and reporter Leonardo Flores Moreno told Reuters earlier on Tuesday, when the operation to retake the site was still ongoing.

“We were in a meeting and they alerted us and we were able to hide,” said Flores.

Police said their operation resulted in the confiscation of explosives and guns, and police social media posts showed young men with their hands zip-tied behind their backs kneeling on the floor.

“All hostages were freed … the perpetrators will confront justice and be sentenced for terrorist acts,” the police said on X.

The channel was back on-air for its evening news broadcast, with anchors saying the attorney general’s office was on site collecting evidence. Two employees were injured, the channel said.

In the southern city of Machala, Quito and Los Rios province seven police officers were kidnapped in three separate incidents, police said earlier.

The three officers taken in Machala were freed late on Tuesday, the police said, and ten arrests were made.

The police confirmed explosions in Esmeraldas and Los Rios, while mayor’s offices in Cuenca and Quito confirmed others, and the attorney general’s office said it was investigating one in Guayaquil. Local media reported additional explosions in Loja and Machala.

Authorities have not given a cause for any of the explosions, and no one has claimed responsibility.

Prisons agency SNAI said earlier on Tuesday a group of prisoners escaped from a penitentiary in Riobamba, including accused gang member Fabricio Colon Pico, who was allegedly involved in an attack plot against the attorney general. Seventeen of the 39 escapees have been recaptured, the prosecutor’s office said.

Eleven prison guards who had been taken hostage over the past two days have been released, SNAI added, but 139 guards and other staff are still being held.

Local authorities in Guayaquil said there were “take-over” incidents at five hospitals in the country’s largest city, but that police and soldiers had restored order. It was unclear exactly what the incidents entailed.

Some Ecuadoreans are already questioning Noboa’s efforts to control violence, which stymied his predecessor. Noboa plans to hold a plebiscite this year focused on security efforts.

Violent deaths nationally rose to 8,008 in 2023, the government has said, nearly double the 2022 figure of over 4,500.

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EU to give Greenland a cash boost amid Trump annexation drive

While Denmark is a member of the EU, Greenland left the bloc in 1985. But its people, as Danish citizens, are also citizens ⁠of the ​EU.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to unveil on Monday a ​boost in EU investments in Greenland and closer political ties with the Danish Arctic territory, which Donald Trump ‌has insisted should belong to the United States, Reuters reported.

Von der Leyen arrived in Greenland on Sunday for a two-day visit serving as a show of support for the governments of Greenland and Denmark, which have strongly rebuffed Trump’s campaign to annex the world’s largest island.

The head of the 27-nation European ​Union’s executive body, von der Leyen is expected to unveil plans to invest in sectors including critical minerals, satellite ​communications and renewable energy in Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Danish realm.

On Sunday in Nuuk, ⁠the capital, von der Leyen said the package would be “substantial” but gave no details. Greenland Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen said his ​country wanted to build on its “close friendship and good partnership” with the EU.

Von der Leyen’s visit reflects the increasing geopolitical importance ​of the Arctic to major powers, such as the United States, Russia, China and Europe, as melting ice opens new shipping routes to make the region’s mineral wealth more accessible.

“Greenland’s stunning landscapes and natural beauty will stay with me for a long time. But so will the ​visible scars of climate change on the ice sheet,” von der Leyen posted on X after a boat trip under ​clear blue skies in a fjord scattered with chunks of ice.

“As the ice melts, a new reality is taking shape.”

Trump, the U.S. president, sparked a crisis in U.S.-European ties and turmoil within the transatlantic NATO military alliance this year when he stepped up his demands for the U.S. to control Greenland, arguing that fellow NATO member Denmark could not defend it.

European officials stressed Greenland is part of NATO territory, meaning it is covered by the alliance’s mutual defence pact, and that ​the U.S. already has the ​right to increase its military ⁠presence there under a longstanding treaty.

Tensions lowered after Trump and NATO boss Mark Rutte agreed in Davos in January that the United States, Denmark and Greenland would begin talks to resolve ​their differences and NATO would step up its role in Arctic security, read the report.

However, the trilateral talks ​have yet to ⁠yield an agreement and, at a NATO summit in Turkey in July, Trump restated his insistence that the U.S. should control Greenland.

While Denmark is a member of the EU, Greenland left the bloc in 1985. But its people, as Danish citizens, are also citizens ⁠of the ​EU.

The EU has long provided funding to Greenland, mainly to pay for ​fishing rights and support its education system. The package to be announced by von der Leyen will represent not only a big increase in funding but ​a broadening of the sectors that will receive EU cash, according to EU officials.

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US envoys make first Kyiv visit amid Ukraine war peace push

Kushner and Witkoff travelled ‌from Moscow, where they held three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday but did not appear to secure a breakthrough in the conflict, Reuters reported.

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U.S. peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met with Ukrainian President ​Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday as the Trump administration renewed its push to end Russia’s four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.

Kushner and Witkoff travelled ‌from Moscow, where they held three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday but did not appear to secure a breakthrough in the conflict, Reuters reported.

Previous rounds of U.S.-mediated peace talks encouraged by President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, have yielded few results. He suggested on Friday that the U.S. had a fresh proposal though he did not ​elaborate.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described Saturday’s meeting as “highly useful”, while a White House official told Reuters that next steps would be announced in the ​coming weeks.

The two envoys met Zelenskiy and other top Ukrainian officials in central Kyiv.

Zelenskiy, who believes Washington will be key to ⁠any peace deal, has said a window of opportunity to make peace exists before the U.S. begins focusing on its next presidential election.

After the first round ​of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators that lasted about three hours, the U.S. envoys said that they were looking forward to making more progress.

“Substantive, important, and we ​are very encouraged,” Witkoff told reporters after the talks, which also included a working lunch.

Zelenskiy said that more talks, which would also include European representatives, were planned later on Sunday. British, French and German national security advisers were in Kyiv on Sunday.

“Security guarantees are needed. A dignified post-war peace is needed. Our proposals have been drawn up,” Zelenskiy said as his negotiating team ​was preparing to meet U.S. envoys.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM ON THE STREETS OF KYIV

Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have visited Moscow several times in their roles as peace envoys. ​But Sunday is their first visit to Kyiv in their capacity as U.S. negotiators.

Their visit has long been sought by Ukraine’s leadership, and on the streets of Kyiv, which has been bombarded ‌heavily in ⁠recent weeks, some residents were hopeful.

“The issue can be solved in the blink of an eye. We want peace. I’ve fought myself, so I know what war is like. We need peace, because there’s no other way,” said military veteran Stepan Yermak.

In previous talks, the sides have remained far apart on key issues, including the future of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. Russia has demanded Ukraine’s withdrawal from an entrenched belt of towns that it still controls there, but Kyiv has refused, ​reasoning that it can still hold ​on.

For Ukraine, hard security guarantees from ⁠its European allies and the U.S. are crucial to deterring Russia from invading again.

“We need an agreement that will never be broken,” said Svitlana Kurylenko, a 19-year-old cafe worker.

“Just leave Ukraine alone and let people live in peace.”

TEMPORARY HALT IN STRIKES

Though ​the front lines of the ground war remain largely static, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have intensified long-range air strikes ​in recent weeks.

Russia has ⁠pounded the Ukrainian capital day and night with missiles and drones for the past two weeks, including an attack on Friday on the headquarters of the SBU security service.

The Kremlin has said it would pause strikes on Kyiv until Monday, while Zelenskiy has said Ukraine would also halt strikes on Moscow.

There was no let-up in fighting along the ⁠1,200-km (750-mile) front, however, ​and Russia bombarded other Ukrainian cities on Saturday.

Ukraine has inflicted damaging hits throughout the summer on ​Russian refineries, oil terminals and the warehouses of online retailer Wildberries, in an attempt to raise the cost to Moscow of continuing the war.

Ukraine said on Sunday it had struck the Ryazan oil ​refinery, around 480 km (300 miles) inside Russia, overnight, causing a fire.

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World food prices at highest since 2022 as supply risks mount, FAO says

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World ​food prices rose in August to their highest since late 2022, as adverse weather and ‌war disruption in the Black Sea heightened concern over supply of staples, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

Extreme heat and drought in Europe, the threat of a severe El Nino weather pattern and trade upheaval caused by the Ukraine ​and Iran wars have unsettled agricultural markets, pushing grain prices to three-year highs and sugar to a one-year ​peak.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded ⁠food commodities, averaged 133.3 points in August, up from July’s revised reading of 130.8.

That was the highest ​score since November 2022, though nearly 17% below a record peak from March 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of ​Ukraine.

“August’s increase in global food prices is a warning that the risk premium is returning to food markets: climate shocks, geopolitical tensions and disrupted trade logistics are converging to tighten supply expectations,” FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said in a statement.

The FAO’s ​price benchmarks for cereals, vegetable oils, sugar, meat and dairy all rose in August.

The extreme weather in Europe ​affected prospects for the maize (corn) and sugar beet harvests as well as livestock output, while the anticipated El Nino phenomenon ‌fuelled concerns ⁠for palm oil and sugar output in Asia, it said.

Escalating attacks in the Black Sea have curtailed grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine in their 4-1/2-year-old war, while the U.S.-Iran conflict was straining flows of fertiliser for crops.

Among food categories, FAO’s cereals price index rose 2.2% month-on-month to its highest since May 2024, and the ​vegetable oil index edged up ​0.6% to its highest ⁠since June 2022.

The agency’s sugar benchmark jumped 11.9% to its highest since June 2025, with lower production in Brazil’s crucial center-south region adding to weather concerns in ​Europe and Asia.

In a separate report, the agency cut its 2026 global cereal production ​forecast by ⁠3.4 million metric tons from a previous estimate in July to 2.980 billion tons, now 2.0% below 2025 in the largest annual decline since 2018.

Projected output would still be the second-largest on record, however.

Forecast world cereal stocks at the close of 2026/2027 were revised ⁠down ​1.1% to 947.2 million tons, now only marginally above the previous ​season.

A reduced estimate of coarse grain stocks outweighed an upward revision for wheat that reflected an anticipated build-up in Russian and Ukrainian stocks ​due to shipping disruption, the FAO said.

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