Tag Archives: Ecuador

High Lead Levels Found At Ecuador Applesauce Plant

The Washington Post reports: A U.S. inspection of a plant in Ecuador that manufactured pouches of contaminated applesauce linked to at least 125 cases of suspected lead poisoning in children found “extremely high” levels of the metal in a key ingredient: cinnamon. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that samples of cinnamon from the plant that were tested contained …

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FDA: Applesauce Lead Poisonings May Be Intentional

NBC News reports: The lead contamination in recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches that potentially poisoned at least 65 children may have been intentional, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. The FDA has been investigating the lead contamination in the cinnamon-flavored applesauce products from Florida-based food manufacturer WanaBana since October. The agency has homed in on the cinnamon specifically as …

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Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate Assassinated At Rally

The Guardian reports: The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead as he left a campaign event in Quito, days before an election where the central issue is the rise violence and crime. Videos on social media show Villavicencio, a former journalist who had collaborated with the Guardian and was outspoken about alleged links between organised crime and …

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FIFA May Fine Ecuador For Anti-Gay Chants By Fans

The Associated Press reports: Discriminatory chants allegedly by Ecuador fans at the World Cup opening game led FIFA to open the first disciplinary case of the tournament on Tuesday. FIFA said the charge was brought “due to chants” at the game against Qatar on Sunday and cited the section of its disciplinary code dealing with discrimination. The chants were reportedly …

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Julian Assange Fathered Two Children While Holed Up

The Daily Beast reports: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with a lawyer who was helping him fight extradition to the U.S. while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, according to The Daily Mail. The lawyer, Stella Morris, told the Mail that she had decided to come forward about the relationship now because she fears …

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ECUADOR: High Court Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Gay Star News reports: Ecuador has voted in favor of marriage equality in a landmark ruling today (12 June). Confirming the hopes of local activists, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in the country. Today’s ruling centered on whether the Inter-American Court Ruling of January 2018, which recognized same-sex marriage, compels Ecuador to legalize same-sex marriage. Judges …

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Ecuador: Assange’s Poop-Smearing Was The Final Straw

CBS News reports: Ecuador revoked Julian Assange’s asylum status because he smeared his feces on the walls of the country’s embassy, Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno said. In an interview with CBS News’ partner BBC News, Moreno said Assange “even attacked some of the guards, something that definitely can’t be tolerated.” “He exhausted our patience and pushed our tolerance to the …

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Ecuador Govt Deluged With 40 Million Cyber Attacks

Agence France-Presse report: Ecuador said on Monday it has suffered 40 million cyber attacks on the webpages of public institutions since stripping Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of political asylum. Patricio Real, Ecuador’s deputy minister for information and communication technologies, said the attacks, which began on Thursday, had “principally come from the United States, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Romania, France, Austria and …

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US Verbally Pledged No Death Penalty For Assange

ABC News reports: The process of moving Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy started a year ago, on March 7, 2018, when the Ecuadorians made their first request to the U.K.: a letter asking for written assurances that the U.K. would not extradite Assange to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to the Ecuadorian Interior Minister …

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Ecuador President: Assange Used Embassy For Spying

The Guardian reports: Julian Assange repeatedly violated his asylum conditions and tried to use the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a “centre for spying”, Ecuador’s president has said in an interview with the Guardian. Moreno’s move against Assange has proved controversial in Ecuador. The previous president, Rafael Correa, has accused his one-time political ally of “a crime humanity will never …

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Ecuador Claims Assange Had Mysterious “Panic Button”

Business Insider reports: Julian Assange’s arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was carried out in a specific way to prevent him from pressing a mysterious panic button he said could bring dire consequences for Ecuador, its foreign minister said. During this stay, Assange is accused of threatening Jaime Merchan, the Ecuadorian ambassador to the UK, with activating some kind …

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Ecuador’s President: Britain Has Guaranteed Us That Assange Won’t Be Extradited To Death Penalty Country

Reuters reports: Britain has guaranteed to Ecuador that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to a country that has the death penalty, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno said on Thursday after Assange was arrested in London. “In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr Assange would not …

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BREAKING: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum At Embassy [VIDEO]

The Guardian reports: Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder was granted refuge in 2012 while on bail in the UK over sexual assault allegations against him in Sweden. At the time, Assange claimed that if he was extradited to Sweden he might be arrested by the US and face charges relating …

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Ecuador Denies Plan To Expel “Ingrateful” Assange

NBC News reports: Ecuador has denied WikiLeaks’ claims that it is set to expel Julian Assange from its embassy in London, rejecting what it called “an attempt to stain the dignity of the country.” On Friday, WikiLeaks tweeted that Assange would be expelled from the embassy “within ‘hours to days'” and claimed that Ecuador “already has an agreement with the …

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Assange Claims Expulsion Would Violate Refugee Law

CNN International reports: The legal team of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be “illegal” and would “violate international refugee law.” “It will be a sad day for democracy if the UK and Ecuadorean governments are willing to act as accomplices to the Trump administration’s determination to prosecute a publisher for …

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Wikileaks: Assange To Be Expelled From Embassy

Agence France-Presse reports: Julian Assange’s stay at the Ecuadorean embassy will reportedly end within “hours to days.” WikiLeaks tweeted today that its founder would be turfed out of the embassy in London where he has lived for more than six years. “A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within “hours …

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Assange Files To Force US To Unseal “Secret Charges”

The Guardian reports: Julian Assange, the fugitive WikiLeaks founder whose diplomatic sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy appears increasingly precarious, is launching a legal challenge against the Trump administration. Lawyers for the Australian activist have filed an urgent application to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) aimed at forcing the hand of US prosecutors, requiring them to “unseal” any …

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Ecuador Says Assange Can Leave Embassy If He Wants, Britain Has Promised No Extradition For Death Penalty

The Associated Press reports: Ecuador’s president has ramped up pressure on Julian Assange to leave his country’s embassy in London, saying that Britain had provided sufficient guarantees that the WikiLeaks founder won’t be extradited to face the death penalty abroad. Lenin Moreno’s comments in a radio interview Thursday suggest that months of quiet diplomacy between the U.K. and Ecuador to …

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Ecuador Terminates Ambassador To United Kingdom

CNN reports: The Ecuadorian government has removed its ambassador to the UK, sparking speculation over Julian Assange’s future at the diplomatic mission there. The 47-year-old founder of WikiLeaks moved into the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London in 2012 while wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations in Sweden. Assange maintained his innocence and claimed the charges were nothing more than …

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Assange: Ecuador Wants To Hand Me Over To The US

Reuters reports: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Monday that Ecuador is seeking to end his asylum in its London embassy and hand him over to the United States, citing new rules governing his residence at the Andean nation’s diplomatic mission as evidence. Assange spoke from the embassy via teleconference at the first hearing in Quito of his lawsuit challenging …

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