World
Slain Ecuador candidate’s running mate picked to run for presidency
Andrea Gonzalez to contest the August 20 polls in place of Fernando Villavicencio, his party announced.
The running mate of Ecuador’s assassinated presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, has been named to stand in his place in the August 20 elections, according to their party.
The centrist Construye party said in a statement on Saturday that Andrea Gonzalez will replace the 59-year-old leader, who was shot dead last week after leaving a campaign event in the capital, Quito.
Gonzalez, a 36-year-old environmental activist who has not previously held public office, was selected by Villavicencio to be his running mate in the snap election called by outgoing President Guillermo Lasso.
While ballots have already been printed, by law votes for Villvicencio will automatically transfer to the party candidate.
“The name of the vice presidential candidate will be announced in the next hours and will be chosen among the most trusted of those who have shared the struggles of comrade Fernando Villavicencio,” the party added.
Six suspects – all Colombian nationals whom police accuse of links to criminal groups – have been charged with the murder of Villavicencio, an ex-lawmaker and journalist with a track record of exposing corruption.
All the suspects remain in custody after a judge on Thursday ordered they remain behind bars as the criminal investigation continues.
Authorities on Saturday transferred the leader of a powerful gang accused of threatening Villavicencio before he was assassinated to a maximum-security prison.
Veronica Sarauz, Villavicencio’s widow, told reporters on Saturday she holds the state directly responsible for her husband’s murder.
“The government still has to provide a lot of answers for everything that happened,” she said, after arriving at the news conference with an armed police escort and wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet.
Sarauz criticised the party’s decision to pick Gonzalez as the replacement. She described the party’s decision to tap Gonzalez as “arbitrary”.
The South American nation of some 18 million has seen a rising tide of violence in recent years, including a sharp increase in the murder rate.
Villavicencio had been polling around the middle of the pack in a field of eight candidates prior to his assassination.
Beyond security, employment and migration have emerged as key campaign issues.
World
Reuters withdraws its story that stated UK's Cameron said UK not against its weapons being used inside Russia – Euromaidan Press
On 2 May in Kyiv, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron pledged £3 billion ($3.75 billion) in annual military assistance for Ukraine for “as long as is necessary,” saying the UK has no objections to the weapons it provided being used within Russia, according to Reuters. Update: the story is withdrawn.
In an interview with Reuters in Kyiv, Cameron noted that some of the British equipment “is actually arriving in Ukraine today, while I’m here,” also noting:
“We will give three billion pounds every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” the British Foreign Secretary said.
World
Mexican cops find tents, question people in the case of 2 Australians, 1 American missing in Baja
Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned three people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California.
María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the state’s chief prosecutor, would not say whether the three people questioned were considered possible suspects or witnesses in the case. She said only that some were tied directly to the case, and others indirectly.
2 AMERICANS FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL ROOM IN MEXICO’S BAJA CALIFORNIA
But Andrade Ramírez said evidence found along with the abandoned tents was somehow linked to the three. The three foreigners were believed to have been surfing and camping along the Baja coast near the coastal city of Ensenada, but did not show up at their planned accommodations over the weekend.
“A working team (of investigators) is at the site where they were last seen, where tents and other evidence was found that could be linked to these three people we have under investigation,” Andrade Ramírez said. “There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public.”
“We do not know what condition they are in,” she added. While drug cartels are active in the area, she said “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”
On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons, Jake and Callum. Robinson said her son had not been heard from since Saturday April 27. They had booked accommodations in the nearby city of Rosarito, Baja California.
Robinson said one of her sons, Callum, is diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Jack Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of a U.S. citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.
Andrade Ramírez said her office was in contact with Australian and U.S. officials. But she suggested that the time that had passed might make it harder to find them.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the last few days that they were reported missing. So, that meant that important hours or time was lost,” she said.
In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
World
European elections: What do voters want? What have candidates pledged?
Watch episode one of Euronews’ guide on the European elections, taking place from June 6 to 9.
Ahead of European elections in June, Euronews asked voters to name one proposal they would do if elected to the European Parliament and questioned candidates on their pledges.
Watch the video above to find out more.
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