QUITO: Ecuador is on maximum alert over an alleged assassination plot against recently reelected President Daniel Noboa, the government said on Saturday.
Noboa won the race in an April 13 runoff vote, but his main rival Luisa Gonzalez has accused him of committing “grotesque electoral fraud.”
A military intelligence report saying that assassins entering Ecuador from Mexico and other countries planned to carry out “terrorist attacks” against Noboa was leaked on social media this week.
“We strongly condemn and repudiate any intention against the life of the president of the Republic, state authorities or public officials,” Ecuador’s Ministry of Government said in a statement early Saturday.
“The state is on maximum alert,” it added.
The government accused “criminal structures in complicity with political sectors defeated at the polls” of hatching the plot, though it did not offer any specific names.
Ecuador’s electoral council and international observers have dismissed claims of fraud in the runoff vote, but Mexico and Colombia have yet to officially recognize Noboa’s win.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has expressed support for leftist Gonzalez, who has said she will seek a recount.
Mexico severed ties with the South American nation a year ago after security forces stormed its embassy in Quito to arrest a former vice president granted asylum.
Noboa, who is expected to be sworn in on May 24, faces the herculean task of uniting his violence-plagued nation, which averaged a killing every hour at the start of the year as cartels vied for control over drug smuggling routes.
Ecuador on ‘maximum alert’ over alleged assassination plot
https://arab.news/4twv3
Ecuador on ‘maximum alert’ over alleged assassination plot
Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
- Two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon
- Pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport
The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press.
The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region.
The unit had begun a return to flight within the last week, with plans to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by the AP.
Thursday’s close call involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
They were instructed by air traffic control to “perform go-arounds” because of a “priority air transport” helicopter, according to an emailed statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion provide transport service to top Pentagon officials. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport known as PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January.
That crash was the worst US midair disaster in more than two decades. In March, the FAA announced that helicopters would be prohibited from flying in the same airspace as planes near Reagan airport.
The NTSB and FAA are both investigating the latest close call with an Army helicopter.
The Army said after the latest incident that the UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and air traffic control from Reagan airport when it was “directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a ‘go-around,’ overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures.”
But helicopter traffic remains a concern around that busy airport. The FAA said that three flights that had been cleared for landing Sunday at Reagan were ordered to go around because a police helicopter was on an urgent mission in the area. All three flights landed safely on their second approaches.
The NTSB said after the January crash that there had been an alarming number of close calls near Reagan in recent years, and the FAA should have acted sooner.
Malta brings six crew members off ship in drone strike row
VALLETTA: Pro-Palestinian activists aboard a boat damaged in an alleged Israeli drone strike have allowed a Maltese surveyor to inspect the vessel and six crew members have agreed to disembark, Malta’s premier told parliament Monday.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that Malta could tow the stricken Conscience to port for repairs once a maritime expert has been allowed to board the ship and study the results of Friday’s alleged attack.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition had hoped to pick up supporters, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, in Malta then sail on to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian victims of Israel’s blockade of the territory and renewed military assault against the Hamas militant group.
But, on Friday, a fire broke out on board the vessel after what the group says was a double drone strike, which the activists argue was most likely launched by Israel to halt or delay their mission.
Neither Israel nor Malta, whose vessels intervened to help douse the fire, have confirmed the attack.
But Abela promised that the Conscience will be allowed to continue on its mission once any necessary repairs are concluded. The Flotilla Coalition has welcomed the offer.
“Six people on this ship made a request to come ashore to our country and then immediately leave to their countries,” Abela told parliament Monday.
Previously, the international activists had resisted calls for them to abandon ship, fearing being forced to drop their mission.
“This request was accepted immediately and those people are in the process of being transported to Malta by the Armed Forces of Malta, and they will catch a plane back to their country later today,” the premier said.
Initially, Flotilla Coalition volunteers had said the surveyor would only be allowed on board if the ship was towed into Maltese territorial waters, but Abela said that was not acceptable, as Malta wanted to know more about the condition of the vessel before taking charge of its safety.
Malta also refused a request that three individuals currently not on board be taken out to the Conscience with the inspector.
“The ship’s captain now has accepted that the surveyor is allowed on board while the ship sits outside Malta’s territorial waters, and I’m informed that the surveyor is in process of arriving at the ship,” Abela said.
During an online press conference on Sunday, before Monday’s departure of six crew members, the flotilla group said there were 18 people on board, 12 crew members and six “human rights observers.”
The activists explained the Conscience has no flag because the government of the Pacific nation of Palau had announced that they were withdrawing their registration on Friday, the day of the alleged strike.
Otherwise, they insisted they had made every effort to comply with international maritime law when embarking on the mission to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience was attacked in international waters, causing a fire that disabled the vessel and minor injuries to crew members.
Online flight tracking service ADS-B Exchange showed that an Israeli C-130 military cargo plane had been in the area immediately before the incident and had made several low altitude sweeps over the area.
Israel is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later.
The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat’s generator.
Thunberg told reporters that the incident should not distract from the focus of the boat’s mission to Gaza.
“What we are doing here is to try our very best to use all the means that we have to do our part, to keep trying to break the inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza and to open up humanitarian corridors,” she said.
Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in China
BEIJING: Four boats capsized in a sudden storm at a tourist spot in southwestern China, killing 10 people, state media said Monday.
More than 80 people fell into a river when strong winds hit the scenic area in Guizhou province late Sunday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said. The boats capsized after a sudden rain and hail storm on the upper reaches of the Wu River, a tributary of the Yangtze, China’s longest river. In one video shared by state media, a man could be seen performing CPR on another person, while one of the vessels drifted upside down.
Initial reports said two tourist boats had capsized, but state media said on Monday that four boats were involved. The other two boats had no passengers, and the seven crew members were able to save themselves, CCTV said.
Guizhou’s mountains and rivers are a major tourism draw, and many Chinese were traveling during a five-day national holiday that ended Monday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to find the missing and care for the injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday.
Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport
- Donald Trump: ‘We’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from’
- Trump: ‘We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people’
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration said Monday it will pay for the travel and give $1,000 to undocumented migrants who “self-deport” back to their home country.
US President Donald Trump said some of the undocumented migrants who take advantage of the self-deportation scheme will be given a path to legally return to the United States.
“We’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.
“We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people, if they’re the kind of people that we want in our (country),” he said. “It will give them a path to coming back into the country.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, announcing the travel assistance and $1,000 stipend program, said “self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is “offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”
CBP Home refers to an app already created by the DHS through which people can deport themselves.
DHS said the stipend of $1,000 will be paid after a person’s return to their home country has been confirmed through the app.
“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the US and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” the department said in the statement.
DHS said that even with the payment of travel assistance and the stipend “it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent.”
It said that the average cost currently to arrest, detain, and remove an undocumented migrant is $17,121.
DHS said an undocumented migrant from Honduras had already taken advantage of the program to return home.
Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to carry out mass deportations and claimed during the White House event that there are as many as 21 million undocumented migrants in the United States.
However the number of undocumented migrants stood at 11.0 million in 2022, according to Pew Research Center estimates based on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Trump eyes Erdogan’s help to end Ukraine war
- Two leaders discussed “all things Syria, Gaza and more” in what Trump called a “very good and productive telephone conversation” with Erdogan
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday he wanted to work with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Trump added on his Truth Social network that Erdogan had also invited him to visit Turkiye and that the Turkish leader would be meeting him in Washington.
“I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous, but deadly, War between Russia and Ukraine ended — NOW!” Trump posted.
Trump, who promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of starting his second term in January, has been pushing Kyiv and Moscow to reach a ceasefire deal.
NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion and has twice hosted talks aimed at ending the war.
The two leaders also discussed “all things Syria, Gaza and more” in what Trump called a “very good and productive telephone conversation” with Erdogan.
Trump said he and Erdogan had an “excellent” relationship during his first term as US president from 2017 to 2021.
The Turkish president’s office said Erdogan had told Trump that US efforts to ease sanctions on Syria would “contribute” to stabilizing the war-torn country.
Washington has said any normalization or lifting of sanctions following the December ouster of Bashar Assad will depend on verifiable progress by Syria’s new authorities on priorities including actions against “terror.”
Erdogan also thanked Trump for his “approach to ending wars,” with the statement mentioning Ukraine, Gaza and negotiations on Iran.
He raised the issue of the war-battered Gaza Strip, telling Trump that humanitarian aid should “be delivered to Gaza without interruption.”
Israel halted all aid to the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza in March and its security cabinet has approved the expansion of military operations in Gaza including the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory.
Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.
