Candidates headed to runoff

A banana tycoon who waged an old-fashioned populist campaign and a leftist admirer of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez will head to a runoff vote after neither scored an outright victory in Sunday’s tight presidential election, partial results showed.

With nearly a third of the ballots counted, Alvaro Noboa, Ecuador’s wealthiest man, had 25.7 percent of the vote compared with 23.7 percent for Rafael Correa, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.

A Nov. 26 runoff had been ordered if none of the 13 candidates in the field managed to get 50 percent, or at least 40 percent of the valid vote and a 10-point lead over the rest.

BERLIN

Train hits, kills two U.S. soldiers

Two U.S. soldiers died after they were hit by a train in southwestern Germany, police said Sunday.

The two women, aged 21 and 22, started walking across the tracks at Neckarsteinach station, east of Heidelberg, as a train was approaching late Saturday evening, police said.

The train driver sounded a warning signal and braked but was unable to avoid a collision.

The U.S. military said the soldiers belonged to the Army’s 5th Corps, headquartered in Heidelberg.

BONAPARTE, Iowa

Man arrested in his family’s slaying

A 22-year-old man has been charged with murdering his parents and three teenage sisters at their home in southeastern Iowa, a sheriff’s office said Sunday.

Shawn Bentler is accused of gunning down five family members and faces five counts of first-degree murder, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office said. He is being held on a $2.5 million bond at the Adams County jail in Quincy, Ill.

The victims were found early Saturday near Bonaparte, according to the sheriff’s office. They were identified as Michael Bentler, 53; his wife, Sandra, 47; and their daughters Sheena, 17; Shelby, 15; and Shayne, 14.

The sheriff’s office said that it received a 911 call from Shayne Bentler at 3:38 a.m. Saturday and that she told the dispatcher her brother was “going to do something.”