BOYACA, Ecuador (Reuters) - A drought in Ecuador is causing power blackouts throughout the country, slowing the economy's recovery and helping to push Rafael Correa's popularity to the lowest point of his presidency. The approval rating of the firebrand socialist fell to 42 percent in a recent Cedatos Gallup poll, half of what it was in the early days of his government in 2007. Already frowned upon by some investors for his 2008 bond default and the tough stance he has taken with... Read Full Story
Members of Ecuador’s Army Elite Force inspect a clandestine FARC base camp found while patrolling the border with Colombia in the Amazon province of Sucumbios on January 31, 2009. Rodrigo Buendia / AFP / Getty
Ecuador Officials Linked to Colombia Rebels — Time Magazine
Several former officials of the Ecuadorian government had ties with Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas, a commission named by President Rafael Correa conceded Tuesday. The announcement is sure to stir up new questions about... Read Full Story
Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant. In his weekly report on government activities, Correa said some of the conditions China's Eximbank required for the loan were "really a threat against our sovereignty." "All of a sudden, negotiating with China is worse than the IMF" (International Monetary Fund), he added. The leftist leader's... Read Full Story
Ecuador and China will form a joint venture to develop an oil bloc in the South American country that has proven reserves of 120 million barrels of crude, an Ecuadoran official said Wednesday. Germanico Pinto, the minister of non-renewable natural resources, announced the creation of a joint venture between Ecuador's state-owned Petroecuador and China's Sinopec International Petroleum at a meeting in Quito with about 20 Chineses business representatives, said a statement. Pinto said the new... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will probably approve a short extension of trade benefits for Ecuador that expire next month despite concerns about actions that country has taken, a senior senator said on Tuesday. "Ecuador is sticky. It's difficult. It's not easy ... Ecuador is not helping itself. It's a word to the wise. If they want to continue, a lot of that is in their hands too," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said. The comment came one day after U.S. trade... Read Full Story
LONDON (Reuters) - Germany, Spain and France have expressed interest in a pioneering Ecuadorean plan not to pump oil from under a tropical forest in return for international compensation, Ecuadorean officials said on Tuesday. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, on a London visit, called for support for the Yasuni initiative, under which Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground as a contribution to countering climate change. In return for not exploiting the... Read Full Story
QUITO (AFP) -- Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant. In his weekly report on government activities, Correa said some of the conditions China's Eximbank required for the loan were "really a threat against our sovereignty." "All of a sudden, negotiating with China is worse than the IMF" (International Monetary Fund), he added. The leftist... Read Full Story
Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil... Read Full Story
Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil... Read Full Story
Foreign pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer have agreed to accept Ecuador's decision to bypass patents on 2,000 drugs in order to produce them locally or buy cheaper versions elsewhere. "We accept the democratic decision... to legally implement this extraordinary measure," the 14 companies including European and American giants such as Bayer and GSK said through the local pharmaceutical industry association on Wednesday. "No legal right is superior to the requirements of public health... Read Full Story
From Spain's Princess Letizia to Italy's Mara Carfagna, the game of politics is no stranger to beautiful, powerful women. Following is a list of women whose influence is matched only by their sheer hotness.
We've rounded up the fifty most infamous female teacher sex scandals the Internet has seen, and ranked them from most famous to least. We do it because we care.
