QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Less than 48 hours into his term, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa on Friday repealed controversial guidelines established by the country’s left a decade ago that eliminated penalties for people found carrying illegal drugs under certain amounts.

Noboa’s decision fulfilled a campaign promise to fight drug trafficking. Consequences of the illegal trade, particularly cocaine, have kept Ecuadorians on edge as killings, kidnappings, robberies, extortion and other crimes reached unprecedented levels.

FREETOWN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Gunfire could be heard in some neighbourhoods of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Sunday afternoon following an attempt by unidentified gunmen to break into a military armoury.

The government declared a nationwide curfew after assailants attacked the armoury at the Wilberforce barracks in the early hours of Sunday. The assailants were rebuffed by the country's security forces, it said in a statement.

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands took to the streets of Italy’s main cities on Saturday to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, just as an Italian man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend was extradited from Germany.

The slaying of 22-year-old university student Giulia Cecchettin, allegedly at the hands of her former boyfriend, sparked outrage across Italy, where on average one woman is killed every three days.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and China met Sunday to discuss when to resume their leaders’ trilateral summit after a four-year hiatus and how to strengthen cooperation among the three Northeast Asian neighbors.

LONDON (AP) — One of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey.

The iceberg, known as A23a, split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. But it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the Weddell Sea.

The iceberg is about three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).

KABUL, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Afghan authorities will build at least 285 health centers in several provinces of Afghanistan, local TOLOnews TV channel on Saturday quoted the country's top health official as saying.

Qalandar Ibad, acting minister of public health, said the ministry is urging trained and professional doctors abroad to come back to their homeland amid a shortage of medics, the media outlet reported.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: The coup occurred in Kiev a decade ago and the legitimate power was overthrown, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"It brought the flourishing of ultranationalist and then overtly Nazi sentiment to Ukraine. Then it brought emergency of such regime in Kiev that turned out to be dangerous for us, became dangerous for a portion of its people - the Russians are met - and [it] regrettably continues by tragedies we observing every day in Ukraine," Peskov said.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Attempts to reach 41 construction workers stuck in a collapsed tunnel in northern India for two weeks were again stymied Saturday.

The drilling machine broke down late Friday while making its way through the rubble, stones and metal, forcing the rescuers to work by hand to remove debris in hopes of reaching the stranded workers, but the whole operation has ground to a halt.

Arnold Dix, an international expert assisting the rescue team at the site in the mountainous Uttarakhand state, said that it was unclear when the drilling will start again.

DHAKA, Nov 26 (NNN-BSS) – The Bangladeshi government has decided to construct 120 more cyclone shelter centres in 13 coastal districts, to safeguard communities facing disaster risks.

The cyclone shelter centres will be built between Jan next year and Dec, 2027, under a project taken up by the Department of Disaster Management, with full funds from the government, the Financial Express reported, yesterday.

KANEOHE, Hawaii (AP) — The flight data recorder of a large U.S. Navy plane that overshot a runway and ended up in the water near Honolulu this week has been recovered as the military continues to plan for the aircraft’s removal.

The Navy’s Aircraft Mishap Board is investigating on scene at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, trying to determine the cause of the accident and any contributing factors, the Navy said Friday in a statement.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - China and the United States exchanged accusations at the weekend over the disputed South China Sea, after China's military said it had driven away a U.S. warship that the U.S. Navy said was on a routine freedom of navigation operation.

According to a post on the official WeChat social media account of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command on Saturday, the Chinese military deployed its naval and air forces to "track, monitor and warn away" the U.S. destroyer.

MOSCOW, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Defense Ministry announced Sunday that the country's air defense forces had downed nine Ukrainian drones attempting to attack several regions in Russia, including Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his social media channel that the air defense forces had intercepted and destroyed several drones flying towards Moscow over the Moscow region early Sunday morning. There were no casualties or property damage, he added.