Ecuador begins constitutional revamp

The Constitutional Assembly in Ecuador has convened in the town of Ambato, south of the capital, Quito, to begin the overhaul of the country's constitution.

Its seventy delegates -- headed by the former President, Osvaldo Hurtado -- have until February to reform the constitution in an attempt to end more than a year of political upheaval.

In February, the Congress of Ecuador voted to replace the then president Abdala Bucaram with President Fabian Alarcon, despite criticism that the move violated the country's constitution.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service