International

Police arrest suspect in deadly Ecuador blast

AFP

Ecuadoran police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in a weekend blast that killed five people in the port city of Guayaquil and was blamed by the government on organized crime, the interior minister said Wednesday.

The suspect “admitted to being involved in the terrorist attack” in the neighborhood of Cristo del Consuelo, minister Patricio Carrillo said on Twitter.

The man had “a history of murder and robbery,” he added.

Five people died and 17 were wounded — two seriously — when two people on a motorcycle threw a bag of explosives into a restaurant in Guayaquil on Sunday.

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“This is the type of crime that now faces #Ecuador, a clear message for all: either we act as a… determined State or the consequences will be very serious,” said Carrillo.

Sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest cocaine producers, Ecuador is facing a drug-fueled crime wave that has produced scenes of horror, including decapitated bodies hanging from bridges.

Ecuador in 2020 accounted for 6.5 percent of all the cocaine seized in the world, according to United Nations figures.

Tensions between rival drug gangs have reached Ecuador’s prisons, where clashes and massacres have claimed at least 400 lives since February 2021.

Last year, the country of 18 million inhabitants registered a murder rate of 14 per 100,000 people — almost double the previous year although not among the highest in the world.

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Guayaquil, the main port and commercial hub of Ecuador with 2.8 million inhabitants, is the city with the highest number of homicides — almost a third of the national total.

President Guillermo Lasso declared a 30-day state of emergency in the country’s second largest city after Sunday’s attack, which damaged eight houses and four cars.

Wednesday’s arrest also saw police net a cache of drugs, guns, ammunition and a grenade, according to Carrillo.

So far this year, 861 people have been killed in the Guayaquil metropolitan area.

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International

Brazil offers to mediate Colombia-Ecuador tensions, calls for restraint

The government of Brazil has offered to mediate in the ongoing tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, while calling on both nations to exercise restraint.

In a statement released Wednesday, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the parties involved to act with moderation and seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

“Brazil encourages all sides to act with moderation in order to find a peaceful solution to the controversy. It stands ready to support dialogue efforts aimed at preserving peace and security in the region,” the statement said.

Brazil also expressed “serious concern” over reports of deaths in the border area between Colombia and Ecuador, noting that the circumstances surrounding the incidents have not yet been clarified.

The diplomatic move comes amid rising tensions between the neighboring countries, increasing regional concern over stability and security along their shared border.

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International

U.S. lowers travel advisory for much of Venezuela but keeps high-risk zones under warning

The U.S. Department of State announced on Thursday that it has lowered its travel advisory for much of Venezuela to Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”), reflecting what it described as improved security conditions in parts of the country.

However, the agency will maintain the highest Level 4 warning (“Do Not Travel”) for several regions, including the states of Táchira, Amazonas, Apure, Aragua and Guárico, as well as rural areas of Bolívar, citing ongoing risks such as crime, kidnapping and terrorism.

The updated advisory marks a shift from December, when the United States raised the alert for Venezuela to Level 4 nationwide, warning of severe security threats.

Despite the partial downgrade, U.S. authorities continue to urge caution, emphasizing that conditions remain volatile in certain areas and that travelers should carefully assess risks before planning any trips to the country.

International

EU lawmakers move to ban AI tools that generate non-consensual nude images

Members of the European Parliament are pushing to ban across the bloc artificial intelligence services that allow users to digitally “undress” people without their consent.

The proposal, adopted on Wednesday at committee level, aims to prohibit applications that generate non-consensual explicit images. Irish lawmaker Michael McNamara, one of the sponsors, said the measure seeks to stop tools that “have caused significant harm for the benefit of a few.”

Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak welcomed the move, calling it “a major victory, especially for women and children in Europe.”

The amendment, part of broader EU legislation on artificial intelligence, was approved by the Parliament’s civil liberties and internal market committees. It specifically targets systems that use AI to create or manipulate sexually explicit or intimate images resembling identifiable individuals without their consent.

The proposal will be put to a full vote in the European Parliament on March 26. If adopted, lawmakers and European Union member states will need to agree on a final version before it can take effect.

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Separately, representatives of the 27 EU countries recently backed a Franco-Spanish amendment seeking to ban AI services used to generate non-consensual sexual images or child sexual abuse material.

The initiative follows controversy surrounding a feature introduced in Grok, developed by xAI, which allowed users to create simulated nude images from real photos. The tool sparked widespread criticism and prompted an EU investigation.

In response, xAI restricted image generation features in mid-January to paying subscribers and stated it blocks the creation of sexualized images in jurisdictions where such content is illegal.