Ecuador's embassy in London

Ecuador will hold a run-off presidential election in April after a hard fought and inconclusive first round, the electoral commission said Feb. 22.

The voting is being watched closely to see if oil-producing Ecuador will become the latest leftist-run country in Latin America to shift to the right.

The interrogation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on a Swedish rape accusation has been postponed by a month at his request, Ecuadoran prosecutors said Oct. 12.

The questioning, initially scheduled for Oct. 17, will now take place on Nov. 14 at 10:00 a.m. at Ecuador's embassy in London, where Assange has been holed up since June 2012, the national public prosecutors' office said.

The Turkish president's office has noted that the release of daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül does not mark the end of the judicial process, adding that it is "closely following" the case.

Swedish prosecutors said June 15 they had submitted a request to British and Ecuadorian authorities to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London in June and July over rape allegations.

Sweden's Supreme Court said May 11 it had rejected an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange against his arrest warrant for alleged rape and sexual assault.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Monday he would "soon" leave Ecuador's embassy in London but his organisation played down the comment, saying he would not depart until there was an agreement with Britain's government.          

Assange, who sought asylum in the embassy two years ago, told a press conference: "I can confirm I will be leaving the embassy soon."