QUITO -- Daniel Noboa, a presidential candidate of Ecuador, consolidated his position as president-elect, the National Electoral Council (CNE) said, citing the preliminary official results of the presidential runoff held Sunday.
With 88.42 percent of the votes counted as of 7:40 p.m. local time (0040 GMT), Noboa, from the right-wing National Democratic Action alliance, had obtained 52.29 percent of the valid votes compared to 47.71 percent for his rival, Luisa Gonzalez from the Citizen Revolution movement led by ex-president Rafael Correa. (Ecuador-Elections)
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UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza and for the release of hostages kept by Hamas.
"In this dramatic moment, as we are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East, it is my duty as secretary-general of the United Nations to make two strong humanitarian appeals," he said in a statement. (UN-Gaza-Humanitarian Access)
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TEGUCIGALPA -- Four people were killed and 27 injured Sunday in Honduras when a bus carrying migrants plunged into a ravine and fell into a river, the fire department said.
The accident occurred at about 3 a.m. local time (0900 GMT), in the northwest community of Santa Rosa de Copan, a municipality in Honduras when "the bus fell into the Higuito River on the international highway," it said. (Honduras-Road Accident-Casualty)
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TOKYO -- The bodies of five people were found on Sunday in a submerged car in the sea off the coast of Mie prefecture, central Japan, local police said.
The victims, a man who ran his own business in Ise, a city in the same prefecture, and his four children, were discovered with the vehicle at a location five meters deep and 15 meters from the shore. (Japan-Road Accident-Casualty) ■
