Quito - After midnight with 81.5% of the votes counted, Lenin Moreno, of the governing PAIS Alliance, had a ten point lead over his closest political rival, ex banker Guillermo Lasso, but one point short of the 40% needed to win in the first round of Ecuador''s Sunday presidential elections.

Caracas -The Strategic Command Operations of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB) has confirmed the downing of an aircraft that was violating Venezuelan airspace, in southern Maracaibo Lake, Zulia state.

Moscow - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on the European Union (EU) to improve relations with Russia, at a meeting in Munich with that country''s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, local television reported.

United Nations - More than 1.4 million children are in imminent danger of suffering from malnutrition in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, the United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.

Quito - Starting at 00:00 (local time) today Ecuador is in the process of electoral silence, a stage prior to the general elections that will take place throughout the national territory and three special foreign circumscriptions on the coming Sunday, February 19.