Ecuador will choose its next president on Sunday amid surging violence and crime
CNN
Ecuadorians will head to the polls on Sunday in a runoff presidential election, choosing between a conservative incumbent or a leftist lawyer as the country struggles with a cocaine-fueled security crisis.
Ecuadorians will head to the polls on Sunday in a runoff presidential election, choosing between a conservative incumbent or a leftist lawyer as the country struggles with a cocaine-fueled security crisis. President Daniel Noboa is vying for a full four years in office after winning a special election in 2023 to complete his predecessor’s term. He will be running against Luisa González, the protégé of Ecuador’s left-wing former President Rafael Correa. The first round of voting in February ended with a near tie between both candidates. Whoever wins Sunday’s vote will have to steward a country suffering under surging violence and organized crime. Here’s what you should know: Once an island of peace in an otherwise turbulent region, the surging drug trade in recent years has caused Ecuador to have the highest homicide rate in Latin America in 2023, according to InSight Crime. The rate dropped slightly in 2024, but the violence continues as criminal groups have adapted and fragmented in the wake of a government crackdown.
A National Guard deployment in New Orleans authorized by President Donald Trump will begin Tuesday as part of a heavy security presence for New Year’s celebrations a year after an attack on revelers on Bourbon Street killed 14 people, officials said Monday.
Roughly two dozen ISIS operatives have been killed or captured in Syria by US and partner forces since US airstrikes earlier this month, which were carried out in response to the killing of two American service members.
Ahead of a detention hearing Tuesday for the man accused of placing two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee buildings in 2021, defense attorneys argue their client should be released from jail while awaiting trial, in part because the bombs never detonated.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration will feature Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two most prominent leaders of the Democratic Party’s progressive movement.
Another year of action and uncertainty in America’s abortion care system is coming to a close, after states that weighed in on abortion rights in the 2024 election continue to grapple with the impact of those votes.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist has just a few weeks before the start of state and city budget season begins at the end of January. His top policy ideas include freezing increases on rent-stabilized apartments, making public buses free to ride, and opening city-controlled supermarkets.
The Kennedy Center has been hit with a string of abrupt cancelations in the wake of its board of trustees’ adding President Donald Trump’s name to the landmark performing arts institution.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security say they are “surging” to investigate fraud in Minnesota, including at child care centers, in the latest show of federal force in the state — home to the country’s largest Somali population.
The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country.
The US military conducted a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people, according to US Southern Command.
President Donald Trump’s Monday meeting in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generated plenty of warm words — but no clear progress in their peace plan for Gaza.
Rosario Olmos spent this Christmas without one of her greatest gifts. Her 19-year-old daughter, Camila Mendoza Olmos, had gone missing the day before just outside San Antonio, Texas.
On a day meant for family and rest, a father’s holiday joy turned to fear in Texas when his 15-year-old daughter didn’t come back from walking her dog, authorities said.