Ecuador’spresident Alfredo Palacio has sacked economy minister Jose Jouvin, just 17 days before he himself is due to leave office.

THE US yesterday called for new ways to support “fragile” democracies in the Western Hemisphere but was immediately accused by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez of seeking to impose a “global dictatorship.”

BRAZIL has granted asylum to former Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez, who took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy yesterday after being removed from office by Congress amid street protests calling for his ouster for abuse of power.

A small bomb attributed to left-wing extremists exploded outside the British consulate in an Ecuadorian port but no one was injured.

Two bombs exploded near a five-star hotel in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, overnight, blowing out windows and damaging an American Airlines office in its lobby.