President Rafael Correa is raising taxes and imposing a one-off levy on millionaires to rebuild cities devastated by Ecuador's worst earthquake in decades.

The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades has flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast.

Dublin has made it onto a list of the world’s top 10 cities to visit in 2016.

Pope Francis flew to Bolivia after drawing about 1.5m people to Masses in Ecuador on the first leg of a “homecoming” tour, where he urged the world to take better care of the environment and the poor.

Pope Francis has challenged Latin America’s youth to take up his environmental protection campaign, saying the defence of God’s creation is not just a recommendation but a requirement.

Pope Francis has left Rome for his first trip to Spanish-speaking South America, a ‘homecoming’ to a continent where he will champion the rights of the poor and of the planet.

We think of polar bears as slow-moving, rather lazy, animals which sleep a great deal. In fact, these giants are some of the greatest wanderers on four legs.

Sizing Europe and First Lieutenant are among a classy entry of nine for the JNwine.com Champion chase at Down Royal on Saturday.

A UK-based surveillance group today denied claims that it was behind the bugging of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living for the past year.

Intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in 21 countries, the WikiLeaks website said today.

Russia defied White House pressure to expel former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to the US before he flees Moscow on the next stop of his globe-crossing escape from US prosecution.

Footballer Lionel Messi is facing legal action for €4m in unpaid income tax in Spain.

Colm Murphy’s Quito De La Roque, a horse who had been struggling to find form, came back to his best at Thurles yesterday when landing the Grade 2 Matty Ryan Memorial Kinloch Brae Chase.

Kauto Stone made a successful seasonal bow as he landed the Grade One JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused US president Barack Obama of seeking to exploit the Arab uprisings for personal and political gain as he addressed a fringe meeting of the United Nations General Assembly via videolink from his embassy hideout.

Middle East: Some analysts believe Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967, in order to ensure control over water resources.

The attempt by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to avoid extradition from Britain took a dramatic turn yesterday, as he was granted political asylum by the government of Ecuador.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by Ecuador after taking refuge in the country’s embassy in London.

Ecuador’s foreign minister says Swedish officials have refused to accept his country’s offer to let them question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Lawyers convened by Ecuador’s government are studying the political and legal implications of granting asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the country’s foreign minister said.

The Ecuadorian ambassador is understood to be flying out to her nation’s capital this weekend for talks on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last night applied for political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after failing in his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London seeking political asylum, sources told the Press Association.

THERE are two noticeable powerhouses dominating Irish racing this season - Willie Mullins and Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud.

Tony Martin is no hurry to commit Bog Warrior to Cheltenham following his all-the-way win at Naas on Saturday.

DESSIE HUGHES has made no secret of the regard in which he holds Minsk, his high-profile recruit off the level from John Oxx.

The stage is set for Kauto Star and Long Run to clash again in the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 16.

THERE aren’t too many high fliers who can get the better of Michael O’Leary but his horseracing rival JP McManus brought the Ryanair boss down to earth with a bump at Leopardstown yesterday.

Robbie Hennessy believes Rubi Light has every chance of getting three miles in the Lexus Chase tomorrow as the ground continues to dry out at Leopardstown.

IT was the week before Christmas.

Quito De La Roque and Rubi Light are the star names among 13 possible runners for the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown on December 28.

Ecuador’s government is urging four villages to evacuate because of increased activity in the Tungurahua volcano not far from the country’s capital.

PAUL Nicholls has given Tataniano and Kauto Stone entries in the Sportingbet Tingle Creek at Sandown on Saturday as he seeks to continue his domination of the two-mile feature.

Colm Murphy celebrated a big-race Grade One double on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival today as Big Zeb and Quito De La Roque came up trumps for the Wexford trainer.

COLM Murphy’s dual Grade Two winner Quito De La Roque is poised to run in the four-mile National Hunt Chase rather than the RSA Chase.

BIG ZEB is on course to run at Punchestown later this month before attempting to defend his crown in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

The Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador is billowing ash into the sky and sending super-hot pyroclastic flows surging down its slopes, causing authorities to evacuate nearby villages.

If WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange needs a home, Ecuador’s deputy foreign minister said the Andean nation is happy to provide one.

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador rejected suggestions from opposition politicians that he give an amnesty to police officers implicated in last month’s uprising over plans to strip them of promotion bonuses.

The pope named 24 new cardinals today.

Search teams in Ecuador found the bodies of two miners and were still looking for two other men missing since a tunnel collapsed 490 feet underground the previous day.

US President Barack Obama called Ecuadorean counterpart Rafael Correa to urge that tensions in that country be resolved through democratic means, the White House said.