BOGOTA -- Gustavo Petro was elected president of Colombia on Sunday after defeating independent candidate Rodolfo Hernandez in the second round of elections in a very close race, the state-run National Civil Registry reported.

With 99.67 percent of polling stations reporting, Petro, candidate of the leftist Historic Pact for Colombia coalition, obtained 11,266,138 votes, or 50.48 percent, while Hernandez gained 10,546,163 votes, or 47.26 percent. (Colombia-President-Elections)

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CAIRO -- An Egyptian fighter jet crashed during a routine training, with the pilot surviving the accident, the Egyptian army announced Sunday.

The crash occurred because of an unknown technical malfunction, said a statement by the Egyptian Armed Forces. (Egypt-Fighter Jet-Crash)

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ISTANBUL -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog on Sunday pledged to boost cooperation between the two countries.

During a phone call, Erdogan and Herzog discussed Turkish-Israeli relations and regional issues, and agreed that dialogue and cooperation would continue on the matters of mutual defense and the fight against terrorism, the Turkish Directorate of Communications said in a statement. (Turkey-Israel-Bilateral Cooperation)

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NEW DELHI -- Amid the ongoing protests against the Indian government's new recruitment policy for armed forces, the defense ministry said on Sunday that the scheme would not be rolled back.

"No, why should there be a rollback?" Lt. Gen. Anil Puri, additional secretary in the defense ministry, said at a press briefing when answering a question on whether the government was reviewing or rolling back the scheme because of the protests. (India-Recruitment Policy-Rollback)