Ecuador

A hidden microphone has been found in the office of Ecuadorian ambassador to Britain Ana Alban as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains holed up in the building for fear of arrest by the British police. The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said they have yet no clues as to who planted the bug, found last month.

Ecuador is not considering Edward Snowden's asylum request and never intended to facilitate his flight from Hong Kong, president Rafael Correa said as the whistleblower made a personal plea to Quito for his case to be heard. Snowden was Russia's responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said.

The plan to assist Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence agent-turned-whistleblower accused of espionage by Washington, into a safe haven in Latin America is unravelling the warning we have made about the Zionist shill - Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks: President Rafael Correa, who previously has hailed Snowden for exposing US spying, and has earned kudos for defying Washington pressure over the affair, reduced Snowden's chances of making it to Quito. He halted an effort to help Snowden leave Russia amid concern Assange was usurping the role of the Ecuadoran government, according to leaked diplomatic correspondence published on Friday. Amid signs Quito was cooling down on the Snowden's case and irritated with Assange's lack of respect for protocol, Correa declared invalid and unauthorised a temporary travel document which could have helped extract Snowden from his reported location in Moscow.

Ecuador seeks to sign a trade agreement with the European Union (EU) characterised by mutual respect, sovereignty and understanding, the foreign ministry said over the weekend.

Ecuadorean lawmakers vote this week on reforms to the country’s mining law, which aim to pave the way for large-scale mining in the Andean nation, eager to attract investment to reduce the economy’s dependence on oil exports. Ecuador does not currently have a large-scale resource industry, but the country is largely unexplored and could potentially have big copper, gold and silver deposits.

Ecuador is going to open a diplomatic mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, more than two years after the South American country recognized Palestinian an independent state.

September 22, 2012 (TSR) - Foreign minister Ricardo Patiño told reporters that there are several possibilities to resolve the standoff with Britain over Assange, including “that his statement be...