Day: October 7, 2023

According to initial reports, the railway line close to the main line station of. Azyaryshcha, where reputedly Russian military equipment is often loaded in the Minsk region, was blown up.

Six Colombians arrested as the alleged assassins of a candidate in Ecuador’s August presidential election were slain Friday inside a prison in Guayaquil, officials announced, without providing details on what happened.

The prison authority said only that six prisoners killed inside Litoral Penitentiary were the men “charged with the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.” It identified them as Jhon Gregore R., Andrés Manuel M., Adey Fernando G., Camilo Andrés R., Sules Osmini C. and José Neyder L.

Earlier, the agency had reported that “an event occurred inside” the prison and six people were dead. Litoral is Ecuador’s biggest prison and is considered one of its most dangerous, being the scene of several riots with deaths the past three years.

The killings came as the Prosecutor’s Office was near the conclusion of the investigation stage into the killing of Villavicencio, who was gunned down Aug. 9 while leaving a political rally.

The 59-year-old politician had not been considered among the front-runners, but the assassination in broad daylight less than two weeks before the vote was a shocking reminder of the surge in crime besetting Ecuador. He had reported being threatened by affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the many international organized crime groups operating in Ecuador.

Villavicencio’s alleged hitmen were captured hours after the crime and ordered held in preventive detention. Six other people also have been arrested for suspected involvement.

Although authorities released no information on the killings Friday, local media said the deaths occurred in pavilion 7, which officials have said is dominated by the local gang Los Choneros, led by Adolfo Macías. In his election campaign, Villaviciencio directly denounced Macías as the author of threats against his life.

President Guillermo Lasso, who is out of the country, wrote on the social network X, formerly called Twitter, that he would return to Ecuador to attend to the emergency.

“Neither complicity nor cover-up, the truth will be known here,” he said.

Ecuador is holding a runoff presidential election Oct. 15 pitting the two top finishers in the August vote — leftist Luisa González and former lawmaker Daniel Noboa, who is the son of a banana tycoon.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrived in China on Saturday leading a bipartisan congressional delegation and starting a series of meetings in the world’s second-largest economy amid rising tension between Washington and Beijing.

The goal of the trip to Asia, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan, is to advance U.S. economic and national security interests, and in China, the group hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. officials said.

After passing a sweeping bill last year to boost competition with China in semiconductors and other technology, Schumer and Democratic committee leaders said in May they would write legislation to limit the flow of technology to China, deter it from initiating a conflict with Taiwan and tighten rules to block U.S. capital from going to Chinese companies.

Schumer “will focus on the need for reciprocity in China for U.S. businesses that will level the playing field for American workers, as well as on maintaining U.S. leadership in advanced technologies for national security”, his office said.

The trip follows visits by a series of high-level Biden administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August.

The group of six senators, co-led by Republican Mike Crapo, will meet government and business leaders in the three countries they are visiting, and from U.S. companies operating in the region.

Other senators on the trip include Republicans Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy and Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jon Ossoff. The group landed at Shanghai’s Pudong airport at 2 p.m. (0600 GMT).

China welcomes Schumer’s visit and hopes it will deepen the U.S. Senate’s “objective” understanding of China and facilitate dialogue between the nations’ legislative agencies, China’s foreign ministry said this week.

The Biden administration has placed curbs on chip exports to China, saying they aim to deny it access to advanced technology that could further military advancements or rights abuses. China hit back with accusations of economic coercion.

Raimondo said in August that U.S. companies had complained to her that China has become “uninvestable”, pointing to fines, raids and other actions that made it risky to do business there. “For U.S. business in many cases, patience is running thin, and it’s time for action,” she said.

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Spanish company PLD Space launched its reusable Miura-1 rocket early on Saturday from a site in southwestern Spain, carrying out Europe’s first fully private rocket launch and offering hope for the continent’s stalled space ambitions.

The startup’s test nighttime launch from Huelva came after two previous attempts were scrubbed. The Miura-1 rocket, named after a breed of fighting bulls, is as tall as a three-story building and has a 100-kilogram cargo capacity. The launch carries a payload for test purposes, but this will not be released, the company said.

Mission control video showed engineers cheering as the rocket gained altitude against the dark nighttime sky, shouting for joy and congratulating one another.

A first attempt to launch the Miura-1 rocket in May was abandoned due to strong high-altitude winds. A second attempt in June failed when umbilical cables in the avionics bay did not all release in time, halting the lift off as smoke and flames spewed out from the rocket.

Airspace, areas of the sea and roads were closed around the high-security launch site ahead of the launch.

Europe’s efforts to develop capabilities to send small satellites into space are in focus after a failed orbital rocket launch by Virgin Orbit from Britain in January. That system involved releasing the launcher from a converted Boeing 747. Competitors lining up to join the race to launch small payloads include companies in Scotland, Sweden and Germany.

Saturday’s mission on the Miura-1 demonstrator was the first of two scheduled suborbital missions. However, analysts say the most critical test of its ambitions will be the development of orbital services on the larger Miura-5, planned for 2025.

In July, the last launch of Europe’s largest rocket, the premier Ariane 5 space launcher, took place at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Europe has until recently depended on Ariane 5 and its 11-tonne-plus capacity for heavy missions, as well as Russia’s Soyuz launcher for medium payloads and Italy’s Vega, which is also launched from Kourou, for small ones.

The end of Ariane 5 has left Europe with virtually no autonomous access to space until its successor, Ariane 6, is launched. Russia halted access to Soyuz in response to European sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the upgraded Vega-C has been grounded for technical reasons and Ariane 6 is delayed until next year.

The European Space Agency said last week that Vega-C would not return to service until the fourth quarter of 2024, following a failed mission last December.

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As Americans shed pounds on weight loss drugs like Ozempic, snack food companies could be in for some shrinkage, as well.

“The food, beverage and restaurant industries could see softer demand, particularly for unhealthier foods and high-fat, sweet and salty options,” Morgan Stanley food analyst Pamela Kaufman says in a company report.

A survey of 300 people currently taking semaglutide weight loss drugs such as Ozempic showed the medicine can reduce calorie intake by 20% to 30% a day.

The people surveyed said they cut back the most on foods that are high in sugar and fat, reducing their consumption of sweets, sugary drinks and baked goods by up to two-thirds. The survey found 77% of people on weight loss drugs went to fast food restaurants less often, while 74% reduced their visits to pizza shops.

Approximated 1 in 5 American adults is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s all of these food companies [and] beverage companies that have created the obesity,” says Angelica Gianchandani, professor of marketing at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. “At one time, it was innovation — creating all these different products and being able to put foods in bags and ziplocks [plastic bags] and easy to carry and transport — that was innovation. But all of this food creation in packaged goods, there’s a lot of processed foods, and the impact, if you’re not eating in moderation, has created this obesity.”

Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that 24 million people, roughly 7% of the U.S. population, will be taking this new class of obesity drugs by 2035. They project that overall consumption of soft drinks, baked goods and salty snacks could fall up to 3% by 2035.

But James Schrager, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at the University of Chicago, says the snack industry continues to grow, and he doesn’t expect the increased use of semaglutides to have a major long-term impact.

“The growth comes from younger users, and younger users may not be the primary target for the drug,” he says. “Younger people — who don’t become obese usually, or at least in many cases — and who aren’t going to be taking the drug.”

Schrager says he’s worked as a consultant with some of the largest processed food companies in the world, and they are already concerned about providing healthier options.

“Way before this drug, [they worried] that the market will go away,” Schrager says. “They very much know that some of these are not good for some people’s health. …They would often say, ‘In a health-conscious world, we realize we may be out of business. How do we fix that?’”

The rise in semaglutide use also could cut into other obesity-related industries. The proportion of people paying for weight loss programs fell from 29% to 20% once they started taking the drug, according to the data. Gianchandani says weight loss businesses will pivot to health and wellness to stay afloat.

“And it will require people to have coaches, people to have nutritionists, to help give them a regimented diet to help them monitor,” she says. “These weight loss companies will encompass all of that, everything from food programs to coaching and support groups to help them maintain their weight and stay healthy.”

The report finds that patients taking the obesity drugs say they’re cutting back on sugary carbonated drinks (65%) and alcohol (62%). Almost one-fourth completely gave up alcohol. But Gianchandani says alcohol producers could benefit from the semaglutide craze.

“It’s going to capture a whole new market share. For them, it’s good,” she says, pointing out that alcohol producers are increasingly developing lower-calorie beverages. “They’re going to have a new product line to target a whole new demographic, and it will be millions of dollars of a market for them to benefit from.”

Maldives President-elect Mohamed Muizzu’s election victory has put South Asian countries’ attempted balancing act between China and India into the global spotlight.

Muizzu is known as a pro-China politician, and analysts predict he will try to institute some pro-China policies. At the same time, they think India’s active presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago will force Muizzu to strike a delicate balance between Beijing and New Delhi.

“Muizzu tapped into the anti-India sentiment [during the campaign] and he certainly will try to distance his government from India to some extent, but I don’t think this means he is going to jump onto the China bandwagon,” David Brewster, a senior Australian National University research fellow, told VOA by phone.

“India’s interests are much broader and deeper across the Maldives. In the security sphere, India is building a new coast guard base near Maldives’ capital, Malé, and they also have various projects around the Maldives,” he added.

While it remains to be seen what actions Muizzu will take to fulfill his campaign promises under the “India Out” slogan, Brewster said he thinks India’s deep involvement in Maldives will make Muizzu feel “restrained and act cautiously.”

Muizzu, backed by a coalition that calls for closer ties with China, won Maldives’ presidential runoff September 30, beating incumbent president Ibrahim Solih by winning 54% of the vote.

The election was viewed as a virtual referendum on China’s and India’s influence on Maldives. Muizzu vowed to reduce India’s presence in Maldives by removing the 75 Indian military personnel stationed in the archipelago.

At an event celebrating his electoral victory on Monday, Muizzu said he would stick to his campaign promise. “We will send back foreign soldiers in the Maldives,” he told a group of supporters.

Traditionally, India views Maldives as part of its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean, and under outgoing President Solih, who adopted an “India First” foreign policy since coming to power in 2018, New Delhi has kept a small group of soldiers in the country for “humanitarian purposes.”

In addition to the regular military presence, India has provided Maldives with defense-related facilities and equipment in recent decades, including a military hospital, a coastal surveillance radar system, and the Greater Malé Connectivity Project, a $500 million infrastructure project connecting Malé with several nearby islands.

However, Muizzu’s party has voiced concerns about the two countries’ elevated security ties.

“The argument that Muizzu’s party put forward was that India was infringing on Maldives’ territorial integrity by stationing 75 Indian military personnel on one of the islands,” said Yogesh Joshi, an expert on South Asian affairs at the National University of Singapore, by phone.

Despite growing skepticism toward India in Maldives, some experts say they think Muizzu will have to consider other factors, such as infrastructure projects supported by India, when he decides how to manage Maldives’ relationship with New Delhi.

“There are more things that Muizzu has to consider, and this process will have a sobering effect on him when he takes over the office soon,” Srikanth Kondapalli, professor of China studies at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told VOA by phone.

As for India’s government, Brewster said he thinks it will continue projects it initiated under the previous government, including the connectivity project and the new coast guard base, while working out a new approach to engage with Muizzu’s administration.

In a brief statement on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Muizzu on his election victory and vowed to keep strengthening bilateral ties with the Maldives.

While India has enhanced cooperation with Maldives over the last five years, China has been expanding its presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago since 2010.

Beijing funded a number of infrastructure projects under its Belt and Road Initiative, causing Maldives to owe $935 million in sovereign guarantees to Chinese companies and another $600 million to the Chinese government, according to figures shared by Maldives Foreign Ministry in 2019.

Since Muizzu will likely focus on reviving economic ties with China, Brewster said he thinks his government should carefully weigh the risks and benefits of such an attempt.

“I’m not sure to what extent Muizzu will reopen the floodgate to major Chinese infrastructure projects, but [since] Maldives is still highly indebted, any additional amount of debt that the country takes on will be a real problem for them,” he told VOA.

As for Beijing, Joshi said he thinks it will try to reduce India’s involvement and present Maldives as a shining example of the Belt and Road Initiative.

“China would like to capitalize on the domestic political change in Maldives,” he told VOA. “They will try to not only recover its lost space but also consolidate its security and economic presence in the country.”

Following Muizzu’s victory, Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulated him Tuesday, saying that he attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations between Maldives and China and stands ready to work with Muizzu to carry forward the friendship.

Despite his seemingly pro-China and India-skeptical stance, Brewster said he thinks Muizzu will try to play a balancing act between India and China rather than tilting too much toward Beijing.

“He will maintain the primacy of India in foreign policy and security while also reopening economic links with China,” he told VOA, adding that such a balancing act has been a common approach adopted by other South Asian countries, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

While Muizzu’s victory may suggest a recalibration of Maldives’ foreign policy approach to some extent, Brewster said he thinks it will not significantly affect the competition between China and India in South Asia.

“I don’t think this election adds anything different,” he told VOA. “In each South Asian country, there is a pendulum that seems to swing back and forth between tilting towards India or tilting towards China, and that exact dynamic has been playing out throughout the region. This is just another swing of the pendulum in Maldives,” he said.