Colombia
2 dozen police hurt by bomb
A homemade bomb exploded near Bogota’s bullring on Sunday, injuring two dozen police officers and two civilians, Colombian authorities said. The explosive device, which shattered windows in nearby apartment buildings, appeared to have been left in a sewer outside a new youth hostel popular with foreign backpackers. It was detonated just a few hours before a scheduled bullfight as police in riot gear were gathering ahead of a demonstration by animal rights activists. Authorities did not give a motive for the blast and said they had no evidence it had anything to do with the resumption of bullfighting at the ring. Some local media speculated the bomb might have been placed by members of the rebel group National Liberation Army.
ISRAEL
Report: PM nixed peace deal
Israel’s prime minister turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-Secretary of State John Kerry, former American officials confirmed Sunday, in apparent contradiction to Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of involving regional Arab powers in resolving Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organized in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. The secret meeting was first reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Ecuador
Socialist is leading in votes
The hand-picked candidate of socialist President Rafael Correa took the lead in early results from Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, and was just under the threshold needed to win outright and avoid a runoff. With more than 24 percent of polling stations reporting, ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno had nearly 38 percent of the votes, compared to 31 percent for former banker Guillermo Lasso, the closest contender among seven opposition candidates.
Mexico
Five bodies dumped by road
Mexican authorities said the bodies of five men were dumped along a highway in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. The state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the corpses were found Sunday next to the road between La Tinaja and Cosoleacaque. Prosecutors say the victims were shot in the head.
Compiled from wire reports