Transport workers strike in Ecuador

Transport workers in Ecuador have gone on strike over the government's proposed tax reform and its plans to reduce bus fares.

Reports indicate the stoppage has disrupted business and education in several cities, although some public transport was operating in Quito, where the trade union is not backing the strike.

The Ecuadorean government had been talking to indigenous organisations about the possibility of lowering transport fares, after their protests paralysed large parts of the country last month. They were demonstrating against the planed tax reform, which is one of the conditions for a loan greed with the International Monetary Fund last year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service