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Quito, Ecuador CNN —A candidate in Ecuador’s upcoming presidential election, Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated at a campaign event Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso confirmed on social media, vowing the killing will not go unpunished. He was gunned down 10 days before the first round of the presidential election was set to take place on August 20. Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office said the suspected gunman died in police custody following an exchange of fire with security personnel. Seven of the eight presidential candidates, including Villavicencio, were under police protection, Ecuador’s Interior Minister Juan Zapata said earlier this week, local media reported Tuesday. All the candidates in the country’s presidential election have pledged to rein in the escalation of violence.

Persons: Ecuador CNN —, Fernando Villavicencio, Guillermo Lasso, Villavicencio, Cristian Zurita, Rodrigo Figueroa, “, Lasso, ” Lasso, Juan Zapata, paz ”, Agustin Intriago, Ariana Chancay, CNN En, CNN En Español Conclusiones, ” Organizations: Ecuador CNN, Movimiento, CNN, Ecuador’s, General’s, Judicial, Fire Department, Ecuador Police, National, Lasso, paz, Security, CNN En Español Locations: Quito, Ecuador, Villavicencio, Peru, Colombia, South America, North America, Europe, Manta, Darien, United States

☆ Ecuador declares state of emergency amid violent clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Lasso declared the state of emergency in the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios and in the city of Duran, near Guayaquil, after Agustin Intriago, the mayor of coastal city Manta, was shot dead on Sunday. It also comes on the back of riots over the weekend in the prison Penitenciaria del Litoral, in Guayaquil, involving clashes between gangs inside the prison. Lasso has frequently resorted to declaring states of emergency as Ecuador struggles with prison riots and waves of violence throughout the country. The state of emergency will last for 60 days in the provinces, while the curfew will vary during that period, the government said. Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Guillermo Lasso, Karen Toro, Lasso, Agustin Intriago, del, Prisoners, Alexandra Valencia, Carolina Pulice, Sonali Paul Organizations: National Assembly, REUTERS, Monday, Rios, United Nations, Inter, American, Human Rights, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, QUITO, Manabi, Duran, Guayaquil, Cotopaxi, El Oro, Napo

☆ Netanyahu: Israel to work to prevent collapse of Palestinian Authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, July 9 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet on Sunday decided that Israel would work to prevent the collapse of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), but did not offer any concrete steps to do so. Israel has been stepping up military operations against armed groups in the occupied West Bank, where the PA has limited autonomy. The volatility has laid bare the weakness of the PA in the face of hundreds of Palestinian militants and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu's office said his security cabinet had decided to act to prevent the collapse of the PA, though it was not a unanimous decision. The statement said Netanyahu and his defense minister would bring forward "steps to stabilize the civil situation in the Palestinian arena," but did not give any specifics.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu's, Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas, Joe Biden, it's, Ari Rabinovitch, Hugh Lawson, David Holmes Organizations: Sunday, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, CNN, Thomson Locations: Israel

☆ Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village after deadly Hamas strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] An aerial view shows burned vehicles after an attack by Israeli settlers near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 21, 2023. "There was heavy gunfire but we couldn't distinguish whether it came from settlers or the soldiers because of the darkness." Attacks were also reported in other West Bank towns and villages. Netanyahu's government is set on expanding settlements in the West Bank and includes members who rule out a Palestinian state. Hamas, which advocates armed resistance against Israel, has been steadily expanding its operations in the West Bank.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Yaqoub Oweis, Lubban, Eli, Mahmoud Dawoud, Gharbeya, Itamar Ben, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Israel Katz, Nidal al, James Mackenzie, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: West Bank, REUTERS, Bank, Rampage, Al, Palestinian, Monday . Local, Israeli National Security, Energy, Cabinet, Army Radio, West, Hamas, Seven, Thomson Locations: Ramallah, RAMALLAH, West, Palestinian, West Bank, Huwara, Hamas, Gaza, Jenin, Monday, Al, Israel, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem

☆ Netanyahu convenes Iran war drill, scorns UN nuclear watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Israel has long maintained that for diplomacy to succeed, Iran must be faced with a credible military threat. The agency's capitulation to Iranian pressure is a black stain on its record," Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks. After then U.S. President Donald Trump quit the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Tehran ramped up uranium enrichment. In a 2012 U.N. speech, Netanyahu deemed 90% enrichment by Iran a "red line" that could trigger preemptive strikes. Focussing domestic attention on Iran might provide Netanyahu with respite from a months-long crisis over his proposals to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu ramped, U.N, Israel, Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Dan Williams, Angus MacSwan, Grant McCool Organizations: Iran's, UN, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Thomson Locations: Tehran, Iran, Israel, Tel Aviv, Syria, IRAN, Soviet, Vienna

In areas of southern Israel around Gaza, schools were still closed on Sunday and many of the thousands of residents who had been evacuated had yet to return. "It's no simple matter to come back from such a situation," Gadi Yarkoni, mayor for several Israeli towns on the Gaza border, told radio station 103 FM. Palestinian health officials said 33 people, including women and children as well as Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed in Gaza. Israeli forces had "successfully concluded five days of fighting the Islamic Jihad terrorist group," he said in the televised remarks, without mentioning a ceasefire agreement. "We dealt a serious blow to Islamic Jihad (but) we have not solved the Gaza problem.

☆ Zelenskiy: Ukraine, West can make Russia's defeat 'irreversible' this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, May 14 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Kyiv and its Western supporters could make Russia's defeat in the war in Ukraine "irreversible" this year, as he thanked Germany for its military support. The Ukrainian leader told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin that Kyiv would always be grateful to Germany for its support during Russia's full-scale invasion. "Now is the time for us to determine the end of the war already this year, we can make the aggressor's defeat irreversible already this year," he said. "The war is happening on the territory of our country and so any peace plan will be based on Ukraine's proposals," he said. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk Writing by Tom Balmforth Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BERLIN, May 14 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Germany for its support as he met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday in his first visit to the country since Russia's invasion. Zelenskiy arrived in Berlin from Rome, where he met separately on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis. "In the most challenging time in the modern history of Ukraine, Germany proud to be our true friend and reliable ally," Zelenskiy wrote in the guest book of the German presidency. Zelenskiy last visited Germany for the Munich Security Council in February last year just before the war broke out. Germany was constrained in its support for Ukraine at that time both by its energy dependence on Russia and a pacifism rooted in its bloody 20th century history.

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskyy thanks Germany for support in visit to Berlin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) says goodbye to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right), as he departs the Bellevue Palace on May 14, 2023, in Berlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Germany for its support as he met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday in his first visit to the country since Russia's invasion. Zelenskyy arrived in Berlin from Rome, where he met separately on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis. Zelenskyy last visited Germany for the Munich Security Council in February last year just before the war broke out. Germany was constrained in its support for Ukraine at that time both by its energy dependence on Russia and a pacifism rooted in its bloody 20th century history.

☆ Mexican officials to hold talks in U.S. on fentanyl smuggling -president
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The meeting's agenda will include other topics, including arms trafficking, the president said, without providing details on which U.S. officials would participate. U.S. officials say almost all fentanyl on U.S. streets is mass produced by powerful crime groups on Mexican soil, a claim Lopez Obrador denies. Lopez Obrador on Monday repeated that no fentanyl is synthesized inside Mexico, a claim the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) disputes. "In Mexico fentanyl is not produced, the raw material for fentanyl is not produced. Who is producing it?," Lopez Obrador said during a regular news conference Monday.

☆ Israeli strikes target Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza after rocket attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

GAZA CITY - Flames rise from the area after Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on the central part of the Gaza Strip, on April 07, 2023. "We strongly condemn the blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon in the vicinity of Tyre at dawn today," Hamas said. The strikes came in response to rocket attacks from Lebanon towards northern Israeli areas, which Israeli officials blamed on Hamas. As the Israeli jets struck in Gaza, salvoes of rockets were fired in response and sirens sounded in Israeli towns and cities in bordering areas. An Israeli military spokesman said the Israeli operation was over for the moment.

[1/4] Israeli policemen stand next to smoke from a fire following incoming rockets from Lebanon to Israel in Bezet, northern Israel, April 6, 2023. The Israeli military said 34 rockets were launched from Lebanon, of which 25 were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome, anti-missile system. There was no claim of responsibility but an Israeli military official also said that Israel was working on the assumption that the attack was Palestinian-linked. "It's not Hezbollah shooting, but it's hard to believe that Hezbollah didn't know about it," Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence said on Twitter. In response, Israel has hit targets in Gaza linked to Hamas, which it holds responsible for any attacks from the blockaded coastal strip.

☆ West Bank settlers 'sing and dance' after outpost recognized
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] An aerial view shows mobile homes in the Jewish settlement of Givat Haroeh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunJERUSALEM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Drama therapist Yael Drori left bustling Jerusalem 16 years ago to live in an unrecognised outpost in the Israeli occupied West Bank. She moved to the West Bank out of ideology, but what she found was a sense of community. Along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, the Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank for a state. Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

☆ Israeli West Bank settlers 'sing and dance' after outpost recognised
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] An aerial view shows mobile homes in the Jewish settlement of Givat Haroeh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunJERUSALEM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Drama therapist Yael Drori left bustling Jerusalem 16 years ago to live in an unrecognised outpost in the Israeli occupied West Bank. As a youth, she was active in the Israeli settler movement supporting new communities in the West Bank and protesting against Israeli disengagement from Jewish communities in Gaza. She moved to the West Bank out of ideology, but what she found was a sense of community. Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

☆ Israel authorises West Bank outposts, despite U.S. admonition
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Israel granted retroactive authorisation on Sunday to nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and announced mass-construction of new homes within established settlements, moves likely to draw U.S. opposition. Since capturing the West Bank in a 1967 war, it has established 132 settlements, according to the Peace Now watchdog group. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's administration, whose U.S.-sponsored statehood talks with Israel broke down in 2014, said Sunday's announcement should be "condemned and rejected". While welcoming the Netanyahu government's announcement, West Bank settler leader Yossi Dagan urged "a total removal of curbs on construction, to enable construction in full swing". The other Palestinian territory, Gaza, is under Hamas Islamists who reject peacemaking with Israel.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel will increase security and “strengthen the settlements” in response to gun attacks in Jerusalem Friday and Saturday that killed seven Israelis and badly wounded five others, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday. On Saturday, two people were allegedly injured in a separate gun attack in east Jerusalem by a Palestinian shooter in his early teens. In response, Palestinian militants in the Gaza strip fired rockets into Israel, which in turn triggered retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. The attacks present a challenge for the recently re-elected Netanyahu, who on Sunday visited those injured in Friday's attack at two hospitals in Jerusalem. At protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday night, demonstrators held a moment of silence for the Jerusalem shooting victims.

☆ Israel seals off home of Palestinian synagogue shooter
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It was the worst such Palestinian attack on Israelis in the Jerusalem area since 2008 and followed a fatal Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city Jenin on Thursday, the deadliest there in years. Still, there was no sign Israel was preparing for a large-scale military response to the shooting. With U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visiting this week, Israeli and Palestinian leaders were expected to try to contain violence. Most world powers consider as illegal Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land it captured in the 1967 war. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not remarked on Friday's attack and on Saturday blamed Israel for the spiralling violence.

☆ 2 wounded in new Jerusalem attack, Israeli paramedics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The shooting in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem, near the historic Old City, wounded at least two men, aged 23 and 47, in their upper bodies, paramedics said. Authorities taped off the scene of the attack and emergency vehicles and security forces swarmed the area as helicopters whirled overhead. Saturday’s events raised the possibility of even greater conflagration in one of the bloodiest months in Israel and the occupied West Bank in several years. Security forces fanned out into the gunman’s neighborhood of At-Tur in east Jerusalem and arrested 42 family members, neighbors and others close to him for questioning. The earlier Friday attack, which occurred as residents were observing the Jewish sabbath, came a day after an Israeli military raid killed nine Palestinians in the West Bank.

☆ Israeli Far-Right Leader Ben-Gvir to Take Important Security Role in New Government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Rory Jones | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Benjamin Netanyahu is tasked with forming Israel’s next government since his right-wing and religious bloc won a narrow majority in Parliament. Benjamin Netanyahu ’s Likud party signed a coalition deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party that gives the latter control of the police ministry and a seat in the security cabinet. Mr. Netanyahu was tasked with forming Israel’s next government after his right-wing and religious bloc won 64 seats in the 120-member Parliament in elections this month. Friday’s agreement doesn’t account for a full new government but marks a step toward that end, and the potential establishment of Israel’s most right-wing administration.

☆ Netanyahu signs coalition deal with Israeli far-right
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party signed its first coalition deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party, Likud said in a statement on Friday. “We took a big step tonight toward a full coalition agreement, toward forming a fully, fully right-wing government,” Ben-Gvir said in the statement. Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir shows his ballot during the Israeli elections earlier this month. His efforts to quickly form a government have hit roadblocks, however, as negotiations with coalition partners drag on. The incoming government looks to be the most right-wing in Israel’s history, forcing Netanyahu into a diplomatic balancing act between his coalition and Western allies.

☆ Israeli far right's Ben-Gvir to be police minister in coalition deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Israeli ultranationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks at the president's residence during consultations on Israel's next government with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunJERUSALEM, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud party signed its first coalition deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir's far-right Jewish Power party, Likud said in a statement on Friday. "We took a big step tonight toward a full coalition agreement, toward forming a fully, fully right-wing government," Ben-Gvir said in the statement. Netanyahu's Likud and its religious and far-right allies marked a clear victory in Israel's Nov. 1 election, ending nearly four years of political instability. The incoming government looks to be the most right-wing in Israel's history, forcing Netanyahu into a diplomatic balancing act between his coalition and Western allies.

☆ Ukraine moves to cut diplomatic ties with Iran after drone attacks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine's foreign minister said on Tuesday he was submitting a proposal to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to formally cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after a wave of Russian attacks using what Kyiv says are Iranian-made drones. Russia launched dozens of "kamikaze" drones on targets in Ukraine on Monday, striking energy infrastructure and killing four people in the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine says the attacks were carried out with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, though Tehran denies supplying the drones. "Tehran bears full responsibility for the destruction of relations with Ukraine", Kuleba told a news conference. "I am submitting to the president of Ukraine a proposition to sever diplomatic ties with Iran."

☆ Ukraine asks France to prove its love with weapons
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

France has delivered Caesar howitzers, portable air defence systems and heavy armoured vehicles primarily. Wednesday's clip made clear to France that it wanted more than just words and promises. France does have the SAMP/T (Mamba) surface-to-air defence system, although quite how many it could provide is unclear. "We have not had any answers from France to our requests on this," Vadym Omelchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to France, told reporters on Monday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by John Irish; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A view shows the border wall between Lebanon and Israel as pictured from Kfar Kila village, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2022. The agreement is meant to resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern Mediterranean sea in an area where Lebanon aims to explore for natural gas. It was also endorsed by the heavily armed, Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which until recently has threatened to attack Israeli gas facilities, according to two officials. While Israel has moved ahead with production and export of natural gas, Lebanon's efforts have been hamstrung by political dysfunction. An Israeli official said final approval was expected within the next three weeks.

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