Ecuador says abducted journalists are ‘well’

Ecuadorean Interior Minister Cesar Navas (L), accompanied by Defence Minister Patricio Zambrano, speaks during a press conference at the Carondelet presidential palace in Quito, in this March 27, 2018 photo. (AFP)
Updated 01 April 2018
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Ecuador says abducted journalists are ‘well’

QUITO: Two Ecuadoran journalists and their driver, who are believed to be held by dissident Colombian rebels, are “well,” the country’s interior minister said Saturday.
As of the previous day, “they were well, and the situation is stable,” Cesar Navas told journalists ahead of a meeting with relatives of the editor, photographer and driver.
The three, all working for the prominent Ecuadoran newspaper El Comercio, were seized early Monday in the village of Mataje, in Esmeraldas province, according to officials.
The area where the abduction happened has seen increased Ecuadoran military activity in a crackdown against armed insurgents who have split from Colombia’s former rebel group FARC, which has laid down arms and become a political party under a 2016 peace deal.
The journalists’ kidnapping has alarmed and unsettled Ecuador, with media saying it was the first such abduction in the country in three decades.


UK, allies convinced Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned

Updated 14 February 2026
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UK, allies convinced Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned

  • That was the conclusion of the five ⁠governments based on analyzes ‌of ‌samples from Alexei Navalny – statement

LONDON: Britain and allies France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are convinced that late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal ‌toxin in a ‌penal colony ‌two ⁠years ago, they ⁠said in a joint statement on Saturday.

That was the conclusion of the five ⁠governments based on analyzes ‌of ‌samples from Navalny, ‌according to the ‌statement issued in London.

It added that the analyzes had conclusively ‌confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin ⁠found ⁠in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia. The Russian government has denied any responsibility for Navalny’s death.