In a chilling reminder of the delicate balance between political aspirations and security concerns, Ecuador was shaken to its core when an attempt was made on the life of Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The incident serves as a stark reminder, the importance of close protection cannot be underestimated.

The Complex Landscape of Close Protection

Close protection, often referred to as executive protection, is an intricate dance of anticipation, strategy, and vigilance. It involves safeguarding high-profile individuals from a wide range of potential threats, from political adversaries to extremist elements. In the case of a Presidential candidate like Fernando Villavicencio, whose policies and ideas challenge the status quo, the need for a comprehensive security detail becomes even more critical.

We feel it is important to address the recent India boat capsized near the coastal town of Tanur in the Malappuram district of Kerala state. This tragic incident highlights the importance of maritime safety and security measures that need to be put in place to prevent such occurrences.

According to reports, the boat was carrying 40 people and capsized due to rough weather conditions. While 38 passengers were rescued, two individuals lost their lives in the incident. The incident occurred despite the fact that the Indian government has taken measures to ensure safety and security in coastal areas.

We are deeply concerned about the recent flash floods in the village of Nyamukubi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Flash floods can occur without warning, leaving little time to evacuate or prepare. They are often caused by heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt, and can cause widespread damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. In the case of Nyamukubi, the flooding has caused significant damage to roads, bridges, and homes, leaving many families without shelter or access to basic services.

Three people were shot and wounded in a terrorist shooting near a cafe in central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, police and medics said.

Police said the Palestinian attacker opened fire at people outside the cafe on the corner of Dizengoff Street and Ben Gurion Street, an area typically bustling on Thursday night. He then fled the scene while shooting at other people in the area, before being shot dead in a shootout with police officers a short time later.

One victim was listed in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery and was still fighting for his life, said doctors at Ichilov Medical Center, where the injured were taken. The other two were listed in serious and moderate condition, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

A gunman has opened fire in central Paris, killing three people and wounding four others.

Witnesses said the attacker targeted a Kurdish community centre and restaurant and prosecutors said they would look into a possible racist motive.

A suspect aged 69 was quickly detained by police. Prosecutors said he was known to authorities. Authorities appealed for people to avoid the area in Strasbourg-Saint Denis in the 10th district of Paris.

At least six people have been killed and 81 wounded in an explosion in a busy area of central Istanbul, Turkish authorities have said.

The blast happened at about 16:20 local time (13:20 GMT) on a shopping street in the Taksim Square area, the Turkish city's governor Ali Yerlikaya said. Vice-President Fuat Oktay said the blast was thought to be a terrorist attack carried out by a woman. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the perpetrators would be punished.

Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, has been shot and wounded in the leg in an attack on his protest march in the eastern city of Wazirabad.

A senior aide told AFP news agency it was "an attempt to kill him", but police are yet to confirm that he was the target. Members of his PTI party said another four people were hurt in the shooting.

Mr Khan, 70, was leading the march on the capital Islamabad to demand snap elections after he was ousted in April. The former prime minister was seen being taken to a hospital in Lahore. A party spokesman said he had been hit in the shin. Another party leader, provincial health minister Yasmeen Rashid, said Mr Khan was in a stable condition.

Security officials say 10 people have been killed after al-Shabab militants stormed a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Police said attackers detonated two explosives outside the hotel before entering the building and opening fire. They were reported to be holed up on the top floor of the Hotel Hayat, hours after the attack began.

A special police unit is said to have rescued dozens of guests and staff from the hotel. "The security forces continued to neutralise terrorists who have been cordoned inside a room in the hotel building. Most of the people were rescued, but at least eight civilians were confirmed dead so far," said an official, Mohamed Abdikadir.

Earlier, a website affiliated to al-Shabab said a group of militants had "forcibly entered" the hotel and were "carrying out random shooting". The Hayat is described as a popular location for employees of the federal government to meet.

Israel has killed a second top militant from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, as the death toll continues to rise from air strikes in Gaza.

Six children and several PIJ fighters - including leaders Khaled Mansour and Tayseer Jabari - are among the 32 Palestinians reported to have died. Nearly 600 Palestinian rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel since Friday, an Israeli official said. Israel says it launched the operations due to "immediate threat" from PIJ.

The latest violence is the most serious flare-up between Israel and Gaza since an 11-day conflict in May 2021 left more than 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis dead. The Israeli military is warning this latest operation - codenamed Breaking Dawn - could last for a week.

On Sunday, Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip reached Jerusalem for the first time since the 2021 conflict. The attacks came after Israel killed senior PIJ leader Khaled Mansour in an air strike on a house in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza. The commander had previously survived five assassination attempts by the Israeli military, who accused him of planning militant operations out of Gaza.

The US has killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has confirmed.

He was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday. He and Osama Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together, and he was one of America's most wanted terrorists. Mr Biden said al-Zawahiri had "carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens".

"From hiding, he co-ordinated al-Qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational guidance and calling for and inspired attacks against US targets," the president said in a live television address from the White House. "Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more," he added.

The FBI updated its Most Wanted Terrorist poster on Monday with Zawahiri's status: "Deceased." The 71-year-old Egyptian doctor took over al-Qaeda after the death of Bin Laden in 2011. Mr Biden said he had given the final approval for the "precision strike" after months of planning.

More than 200 people have been killed in gang violence in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, in the space of 10 days, United Nations figures reveal.

Almost half of those who died were residents without ties to the gangs which are fighting for control of the Cité Soleil neighbourhood, the UN says. Locals say they are running out of drinking water and food as deliveries have been halted amid the shoot-outs. One resident described his life as "a cycle of fear, stress and despair".

Gang violence had already shot up since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by mercenaries a year ago, but it has reached shocking new levels since a battle erupted on 8 July between two criminal alliances, known as G9 and G-Pèp. The UN says that 209 people were killed between 8 and 17 July, of which 114 were gang members. A further 254 people have sustained gunshot wounds, more than half of them residents without links to the gangs.

The UK government has reinstated advice against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka as a severe economic crisis has sparked civil unrest.

A shortage of basic necessities including medicines, cooking gas, fuel and food has sparked protests and violence in the Asian country.

Sri Lanka's government said it only had enough petrol to last one day as it faces its worst crisis in 70 years.

The travel warning was previously in place from 13 May to 10 June.

About 50,000 people have been urged to evacuate their homes as floods hit Australia's largest city for the third time this year.

Parts of Sydney have received about eight months of rain in four days.

Roads have been cut off, some houses are under water and thousands have been left without power.

Widespread flooding across Australia - driven by a La Niña weather pattern - has killed more than 20 people this year, many in New South Wales (NSW).

More than 100 evacuation orders have been issued across Greater Sydney for the current emergency.

Ukrainian army says immediate clashes have broken out on the streets of Ukraine’s second city after landing of Russian paratroopers.

The Ukrainian military says immediate clashes have erupted after Russian paratroopers landed in Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv on the seventh day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

“Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv … and attacked a local hospital,” the army said on Wednesday, in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. “There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians.” According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, a fire broke out on Wednesday in the barracks of a flight school in the city following an air raid. “Practically there are no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not yet hit,” he said in a statement posted on Telegram.

The city’s governor, Oleg Synegubov, also said on Telegram that seven people were killed in an attack on a government building and that 24 people were wounded. The reports could be independently confirmed. Russia says it is only targeting Ukraine’s military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with high-precision weapons.

Russia claims control of southern Ukrainian city of Kherson

Defence ministry says talks are under way between Russian army and local authorities on maintaining order. The Russian army has claimed it has taken control of the strategically important city of Kherson in southern Ukraine as Moscow’s invasion of the country entered its seventh day. “The Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional centre of Kherson under full control,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in televised remarks on Wednesday.

He claimed that public services and transport were operating as usual. “The city is not experiencing shortages of food and essential goods,” he said. He added that talks were under way between the Russian army and local authorities on maintaining order, protecting the population and keeping public services functioning.

Kherson’s Mayor Igor Nikolayev, however, said in a post on Facebook: “We are still Ukraine. Still firm.”

Apparently contradicting the Russian army’s claims, he said he needed to find a way to “collect the [bodies of the] dead” and “restore electricity, gas, water and heating where they are damaged”. “But I warn you right away: To complete these tasks today means to perform a miracle,” he added.

A Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any moment, a defence minister has warned.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has described the massing of roughly 130,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border as a "credible force set to do something imminently".  It comes after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace compared diplomatic efforts to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine to appeasement as he said it is "highly likely" Vladimir Putin will order an attack despite the concerted talks to avert war.

Iran-backed Houthis say they plan new military operation inside UAE as seven-year-long conflict in Yemen deepens.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says it has intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Yemen as the Gulf state hosted Isaac Herzog on the first-ever visit to the country by an Israeli president. The UAE’s defence ministry said on Monday the debris of the missile fell on an uninhabited area. It did not say whether the missile was targeting the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

The UK Defence Secretary said there were individuals already in Ukraine "linked to the Russian state in ways that are not conventional".

Russia may already have personnel in place in Ukraine to assist with an invasion, the UK Government believes. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs there were individuals already in Ukraine "linked to the Russian state in ways that are not conventional" and "that should give cause for concern". He added: "We are becoming aware of a significant number of individuals that are assessed to be associated with Russian military advance force operations that currently are located in Ukraine."

It comes as concerns over a potential Russian invasion into Ukraine continue to increase. Moscow has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. Mr Wallace told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that any incursion into Ukrainian territory would be unacceptable. He said: "Any crossing into Ukraine, whether small or large, would be viewed as a breach of that sovereignty, against international law and an invasion. "You can't be half-pregnant, you are either invading a country or you are not."

US President Joe Biden has said he thinks his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will "move in" on Ukraine but does not want "full-blown war".

He told a news conference Mr Putin would pay a "serious and dear price" for invading, but indicated a minor incursion might be treated differently. The White House later stressed any Russian military move would be met with a swift, severe response from the West.

Russia has some 100,000 troops near the border but denies planning an invasion. President Putin has made a series of demands to the West, insisting Ukraine is never allowed to join Nato and that the defensive alliance abandons military activity in Eastern Europe.

Talks between the West and Russia have so far failed to reach a breakthrough, with some of Moscow's demands rejected as non-starters. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet the Russian foreign minister in Geneva on Friday, having warned that Russia could attack Ukraine "on very short notice". However, at his news conference on Wednesday, Mr Biden said: "There are differences in Nato as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens. "If there's Russian forces crossing the border… I think that changes everything.

"What you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades and it depends on what it does," he said. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do etc."

White House officials rushed to clarify the US position after Mr Biden's comments. "If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies," press secretary Jen Psaki said. Hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron told the European Parliament that Europeans had to conduct their own dialogue with Moscow.

Security forces in Kazakhstan say they have killed dozens of anti-government rioters in an operation to restore order in the main city, Almaty.

They moved in after protesters tried to take control of police stations in the city, a police spokeswoman said. Twelve members of the security forces have been killed and 353 injured in the unrest, sparked by a doubling in the cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Russia is sending in troops at the request of the Kazakh president. They will be deployed to help "stabilise" the country, which is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) along with Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. The CSTO confirmed Russian paratroopers were being dispatched as peacekeepers, with advance units already deployed, and footage released by Russian media showed soldiers boarding a military transport plane.

Protests began on Sunday when the government lifted its price cap on LPG, which many people use to fuel their cars, but the unrest has since spread to include political grievances. Accusing foreign-trained "terrorist gangs" of being behind the trouble, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev imposed a nationwide state of emergency that includes a curfew and a ban on mass gatherings.