GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP): It was a day like any other at the TC Television studio in Ecuador, with its mid-afternoon newscast underway, when masked gunmen burst in, unleashing at least 15 minutes of threats and fear — all broadcast live. First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV station’s live transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third and more. With the show’s “After the News” title behind them, station employees were brought onto the set and ordered to lie down. Screams could be heard followed by the sound of gunshots.

London (AP): More than 50 countries that are home to half the planet’s population are due to hold national elections in 2024, but the number of citizens exercising the right to vote is not unalloyed good news. The year looks set to test even the most robust democracies and to strengthen the hands of leaders with authoritarian leanings. From Russia, Taiwan and the United Kingdom to India, El Salvador and South Africa, the presidential and legislative contests have huge implications for human rights, economies, international relations and prospects for peace in a volatile world. In some countries, the balloting will

A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted on Tuesday by balaclava-clad gunmen, the most dramatic recent example of a renewed explosion of violence in the previously tranquil South American country. New president Daniel Noboa has pledged to hit back at the rising crime that stymied his predecessor, but he faces an uphill battle amid gang control of prisons, kidnappings of police and bombings. WHY HAS ECUADOR’S SECURITY DETERIORATED? Security in Ecuador has been worsening since the coronavirus pandemic, which also brutally battered the economy. Violent deaths nationally rose to 8,008 in 2023, the government has said, nearly double