From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting.

Norbert Hofer has lost his bid to become the first Austrian leader from the political right since World War II.

Hofer has conceded the election to independent Alexander Van Der Bellen. Van Der Bellen told his supporters that they comply with a movement.

"The first time in history, I think an enormously broad electoral movement has taken place. Young people, old people, people from all income classes, all society classes. An electoral movement beyond all party lines. You know people that they engaged not because we told them, they did by themselves." :Alexander Van Der Bellen.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says he is resigning after voters Sunday turned down a constitutional change that would have cut Italy's bureaucracy and made the country more competitive. He conceded defeat after exit polls showed his proposal losing by a margin of about 60 percent to 40 percent.

His opponents were hoping to tap into the populist anti-European Union sentiment that has been gaining ground in Europe.

The remains of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro were buried in eastern Cuba early Sunday morning. The ceremony in Santiago de Cuba was made private at the last minute.

The Syrian government army has ordered rebels in Aleppo to leave the city or face death. But the rebels say they will not leave even though their top commander has been wounded.

Meanwhile, pro-government forces attacked neighboring areas in Idlib province, killing a number of people.

Aleppo shook throughout the day as fighters loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad attacked opposition communities to the east of the city, capturing a number of them.

This is VOA news.

Remarks by the U.S. secretary of state on Sunday are being quickly interpreted by the Israeli media as harsh criticism and undiplomatic.

John Kerry told generally pro-Israel audience at the Brookings Institution's annual Saban Forum in Washington that Israel is heading to what he called a "place of danger" because of its policies toward the Palestinians.

"I do believe that Israel, because of decisions that are being made on a daily basis quietly and without a lot of people seeing them or fully processing the consequences, is heading to a place of danger."

Kerry characterized the long-stalled peace process as moving in the wrong direction.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied an easement for the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline project. The project has been the subject of months of protest by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which contends the project would affect its drinking water supply and destroy sites it considers sacred.

Sarah Krakoff is an Indian law expert at the University of Colorado: "All the tribes would be affected if ???anything happened to the Missouri, if there was a leak or spill, and then the other issue or that the pipeline construction has gone across land that were ancestral land or are an ancestral land or the Sioux and other tribes of the former Great Dakota nation."

In a statement Sunday, the Corps of Engineers said it would be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes for the project.

Donald Trump's transition team is downplaying the significance of the president-elect's telephone conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan.

No U.S. president or president-elect has had such a discussion with a Taiwanese leader since the late 1970s when the U.S. recognized the mainland's "one China" policy that regards self-ruling Taiwan as one of its provinces.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence spoke Sunday on ABC's This Week program: "I think I would just say to our counterparts in China that this was a moment of courtesy." :Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Meanwhile, Trump has widened his search for a secretary of state after high-profile meetings with four top candidates failed to yield a decision last week.

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway told reporters in New York Sunday that the president-elect has "a very full slate of meetings" set to begin on Monday to fill the remaining cabinet positions.

From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.