Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso has imposed a state of emergency and called for a concerted fight against the rising violence of drug cartels. But observers suspect other reasons behind the measure.

Africa's abundant sunshine is ideal for renewable energy production. But the continent relies heavily on crude oil. Experts warn that the economy will continue to suffer if governments don't wean themselves off of oil.

The WikiLeaks' founder is currently fighting an appeal by Washington to extradite him back to the US. Assange's legal team has rejected US assurances that he won't be sent to a "Supermax" prison.

The Swedish teen joined protesters ahead of the COP26 climate conference to rail against banks profiting off environmental destruction. Organizers say similar protests were being staged in 26 countries around the world.

A video doing the rounds showing Alitalia flight crew engaging in a choreographed protest in Rome has been attributed to them being fired for being unvaccinated against Covid-19. In fact, it was to show their discontent at the new state airline ITA absorbing just 3,000 of the 10,000 former Alitalia employees. Also, pharmaceutical companies deny there are living microorganisms in the Covid-19 vaccines, as one US osteopath claims to have seen under the microscope. That claim has quite literally grown legs in some videos circulating online.

Martin Luther King III, son of the iconic civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King Jr, was arrested while protesting for voting rights in front of the White House on Wednesday as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act was blocked in the US Senate. He and scores of other protesters were detained before later being released. The reasons for the arrests remain unclear. The 13-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr, Yolanda King, gave a speech at the rally.

Adunni Abdul says using charcoal and firewood causes her chest pain - but amid a price rises for liquified petroleum gas, she has little choice to go back to such fuels despite the environmental and health risks.

Drug trafficking gangs went on a killing spree in the same Ecuadorean prison where 119 people died in September. Ecuador plans to release some prisoners at the overcrowded facility.

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso deployed police and the military to "take control of all the country's prisons" after scores of inmates were killed in gang clashes.

The benchmark price for natural gas in Europe continued to rise in early trading on Wednesday, after spiking by 18 percent on Tuesday. The move comes after Germany's energy regulator temporarily suspended certification for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would link the country to Russia. Gas supplies in Europe have been under pressure for months, with prices rising sharply for consumers since the summer. Also, we look why factories in China are experiencing a shortage of workers.

The US has announced it will release 50 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves, in coordination with several major consumer nations including China and India.

Police fired tear gas at protesters as they burned tires and ransacked a government building in Ouagadougou. Citizens of the capital of Burkina Faso are upset about jihadist violence and a recent attack.