South America

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A conservative businessman seemed headed to Ecuador’s presidency, with voters rejecting the leftist movement started by former President Rafael Correa more than a decade ago. And in neighboring Peru, a crowded field of 18 presidential candidates was virtually certain to result in a second round of voting in June.

The South American nations held elections Sunday under strict public health measures amid a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and the return of lockdowns. Peruvians also elected a new Congress.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — April is shaping up to be Brazil’s darkest month yet in the pandemic, with hospitals struggling with a crush of patients, deaths on track for record highs and few signs of a reprieve from a troubled vaccination program in Latin America’s largest nation.

The Health Ministry has cut its outlook for vaccine supplies in April three times already, to half their initial level, and the country’s two biggest laboratories are facing supply constraints.

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadoreans will vote in a presidential runoff on Sunday to decide whether to maintain the pro-market policies of the last four years or return to the socialism of the preceding decade as the Andean country seeks to revive its stagnant economy.

Left-wing economist Andres Arauz won the first round of the election in February, garnering almost 33% of the vote, on promises of generous cash handouts and a resumption of the socialist policies of his mentor, former President Rafael Correa.

SANTIAGO, April 10 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Chile and India are discussing furthering bilateral trade under the so-called Partial Scope Agreement (PSA). Authorities from both countries held a series of virtual encounters that concluded on Friday.

Heading Chile’s delegation is Felipe Lopeandía, general director of bilateral economic affairs within the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations (Subrei) while leading India’s team is Assistant Commerce Secretary Suresh Kumar.

QUITO, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuadoreans on Sunday will choose between a conservative banker and a left-wing economist in a presidential runoff that follows months of debate over whether the country’s economic malaise can be best treated through socialism or market-friendly policies.

Polls broadly indicate socialist Andres Arauz, a protege of former President Rafael Correa, with a lead over rival Guillermo Lasso, with many showing a quarter or more of the electorate either undecided or planning to spoil their ballot.

SAO PAULO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Brazil reported another 93,317 infections and 3,693 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the national tallies to 348,718 and 13,373,174, respectively, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

Hospitals in 19 states and the capital Brasilia are collapsing under the weight of rising infections, as more than 90 percent of intensive care beds have been occupied.

The country's average daily number of deaths in the last seven days has increased to 2,930, the highest in the world.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A surging coronavirus pandemic that has brought on new lockdown measures and exacerbated fatigue in Ecuador and Peru has left many voters generally indifferent to the names they will see on the ballots Sunday, when the neighboring South American nations are set to choose new presidents.

No candidate in each nation has garnered enough support to be a clear favorite, and after a year of collective suffering and corruption scandals, voters seem to be hoping for a winner who can pull them out of the pandemic’s economic mess with the least stumbles possible.

(AP) --- Last summer, two U.S. officials ventured into hostile territory for a secret high-stakes meeting with American adversaries.

The Syrian government officials they were scheduled to meet in Damascus seemed ready to discuss the fate of U.S. hostages believed held in their country, including Austin Tice, a journalist captured eight years earlier. The release of the Americans would be a boon to President Donald Trump months ahead of the election. And a breakthrough seemed possible.

SANTIAGO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Chilean Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that it will strengthen the search for new variants of COVID-19, with the genomic sequencing of 500 samples a week to investigate the cause of the new wave of infections that is affecting the country.

"So far, the Brazilian and the British variants have been detected in Chile. We were doing 176 sequences a week and, for next week, we are going to sequence 500 samples to try to search for any new or strange strains that may explain the increase in cases," said Minister of Health Enrique Paris.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has tested positive for the new coronavirus, is waiting for the result to be confirmed and is in good spirits despite having a light fever, the first-term Peronist leader tweeted on Saturday.

“I am in good physical condition,” the president, who turned 62 on Friday, said in a tweet. He had received Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus early this year.