■ Perubr
Garcia looks set for runoff
Left-of-center former president Alan Garcia looked set on Monday to go through the election runoff as allies of conservative Lourdes Flores accepted defeat and election officials said they did not expect the few remaining votes to make a difference. Garcia, 56, whose 1985-1990 government left the country in economic ruin, would face ex-army nationalist Ollanta Humala, who has said he would impose greater state control over the economy and has 30.7 percent of the vote, in a May or June runoff. With 98.2 percent of ballots counted, Garcia had 24.3 percent of the votes, versus Flores' 23.7 percent.
■ Israel
Eye in the sky launched
A new spy satellite went into service yesterday which will increase the levels of surveillance of Iran's nuclear program, organizers of the launch said. The Eros B satellite was to go into orbit in an evening launch in eastern Russia, carried on the back of a Russian ballistic missile that has been refitted to serve as a launcher. The satellite is being launched by ImageSat, a company that is part-owned by state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries. ImageSat said that the 280kg satellite, which is able to spot objects of no more than 70cm long, would be fired into space from a site in Siberia.
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