Ecuador’s biggest city ‘a desert’ as state tries to restore order after gang violence

A soldier patrols in a commercial area, in the aftermath of a wave a violence, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Thursday. Photograph: Iván Alvarado/Reuters

Guayaquil eerily quiet as armed forces patrol in wake of stunning wave of arson, bombings and prison riots that killed as many as 15

Tom Phillips in Guayaquil

Ecuador’s largest city has been transformed into a virtual ghost town by a stunning wave of criminal violence that prompted the South American country’s recently elected president to declare his country was in “a state of war”.Read the rest

Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

Of nine people transported by ambulance from the Hardmission festival held at Flemington racecourse on Saturday, eight were placed in medically induced comas. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP

Calls for nationwide pill testing after suspected MDMA overdoses at Melbourne music festival

Eight people were in induced comas after the Hardmission event at Flemington on Satuday

Adeshola Ore

The suspected MDMA overdoses at a Melbourne music festival that left eight young people in medically induced comas over the weekend has sparked renewed calls for nationwide pill-testing programs.

Read the rest
Skip to content