The right-wing coup d'état is faltering, but its supporters have powerful friends in Washington.The international group of right-wingers who staged the coup d'état against the democratic government of Honduras on 28 June are watching their plot fast unravel. There is stiffening international opposition to their protégé, Roberto Micheletti, who, in his capacity as President of Congress, ordered President Manuel Zelaya to be expelled from the country by plane in his pyjamas. Mr Zelaya gave negotiators meeting in Costa Rica until midnight yesterday to restore him to office, threatening to secretly return to Honduras and attempt to retake power on his own if no agreement is reached. At a news conference at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua, he said: "I am going back to Honduras, but I am not going to give you the date, hour or place, or say if I'm going to enter through land, air or sea." But indications last night suggested the interim government would call his bluff. Related articles
The international group of right-wingers who staged the coup d'état against the democratic government of Honduras on 28 June are watching their plot fast unravel.
There is stiffening international opposition to their protégé, Roberto Micheletti, who, in his capacity as President of Congress, ordered President Manuel Zelaya to be expelled from the country by plane in his pyjamas.
Mr Zelaya gave negotiators meeting in Costa Rica until midnight yesterday to restore him to office, threatening to secretly return to Honduras and attempt to retake power on his own if no agreement is reached. At a news conference at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua, he said: "I am going back to Honduras, but I am not going to give you the date, hour or place, or say if I'm going to enter through land, air or sea." But indications last night suggested the interim government would call his bluff. Related articles
1. The legitimate restitution of José Manuel Zelaya Rosales as President of the Republic, an office in which he will remain until the end of the constitutional period for which he was elected, and that concludes the 27th of January of next year, the date on which he will transfer power to the candidate designated freely and democratically by the people, in elections supervised and recognized by the international community. The formation of a government of unity and national reconciliation, composed of representatives of the principal political parties. The declaration of a general amnesty exclusively for all those political crimes committed in the event of this conflict, before and after the past 28th of June. The express renunciation by President Zelaya, and his government, of the intention of placing a "fourth ballot-box" in the next elections, or to carry out any popular poll not expressly authorized by the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras. Moving up the national elections of the 29th of November to the last Sunday in October, and moving up the electoral campaign from the first days of September to the first days of August. The transfer of the command of the Armed Forces from the Executive Power to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, one month before the elections, to guarantee transparency and normality of suffrage, in conformity with the terms of the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras. The integration of a commission of verification composed by distinguished Hondurans and members of international organizations, in particular, by representations of the OAS, that will oversee the fulfillment of these accords and supervise the correct return to constitutional order.
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Sunday an American call to hold off on a planned Jewish housing development in East Jerusalem, saying Israel's sovereignty over the disputed city could not be challenged.Mr. Netanyahu issued the statement because State Department officials had raised concerns over the project with Israel's new ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, during discussions last week on a range of issues. The American officials suggested that going ahead with the development now would cause problems in negotiations toward a two-state solution."I would like to re-emphasize that united Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel," the prime minister said. "Our sovereignty over it cannot be challenged; this means -- inter alia -- that residents of Jerusalem may purchase apartments in all parts of the city."
Mr. Netanyahu issued the statement because State Department officials had raised concerns over the project with Israel's new ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, during discussions last week on a range of issues. The American officials suggested that going ahead with the development now would cause problems in negotiations toward a two-state solution.
"I would like to re-emphasize that united Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel," the prime minister said. "Our sovereignty over it cannot be challenged; this means -- inter alia -- that residents of Jerusalem may purchase apartments in all parts of the city."
Israel has rejected calls by the US to suspend a planned housing project in East Jerusalem, positioning the two allies for a potential standoff over settlement construction. Israeli officials said on Sunday that Michael Oren, the country's ambassador to Washington, had been summoned to the state department and told that a project in the disputed section of the holy city should be abandoned. According to the Israeli Army Radio, the US has demanded that planning approval for the project, which is being developed by an American millionaire, be revoked. But Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, rejected the US demands, telling a cabinet meeting on Sunday that there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem".
Israel has rejected calls by the US to suspend a planned housing project in East Jerusalem, positioning the two allies for a potential standoff over settlement construction.
Israeli officials said on Sunday that Michael Oren, the country's ambassador to Washington, had been summoned to the state department and told that a project in the disputed section of the holy city should be abandoned.
According to the Israeli Army Radio, the US has demanded that planning approval for the project, which is being developed by an American millionaire, be revoked.
But Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, rejected the US demands, telling a cabinet meeting on Sunday that there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem".
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
ISTANBUL -- With all eyes on the pullout of U.S. troops from major Iraqi cites in June, another milestone on its road to full sovereignty passed relatively unnoticed: Iraqi Kurds exported oil to Turkey for the first time since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. Situated to the southeast of Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan may well already have realized its potential to be the world's newest petrostate were it not for a long-running struggle between Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government. Better late than never would appear to be the reigning sentiment in the international oil sector, with energy companies are scrambling to gain a foothold in Kurdish Iraq. The restarting of exports, meantime, is a source of pride for Iraq's Kurds, as the oil is flowing from fields that they control.
ISTANBUL -- With all eyes on the pullout of U.S. troops from major Iraqi cites in June, another milestone on its road to full sovereignty passed relatively unnoticed: Iraqi Kurds exported oil to Turkey for the first time since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.
Situated to the southeast of Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan may well already have realized its potential to be the world's newest petrostate were it not for a long-running struggle between Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government.
Better late than never would appear to be the reigning sentiment in the international oil sector, with energy companies are scrambling to gain a foothold in Kurdish Iraq.
The restarting of exports, meantime, is a source of pride for Iraq's Kurds, as the oil is flowing from fields that they control.
An American soldier, who went missing on June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed captured, has appeared on a video posted on a website by the Taliban, the Associated Press news agency says. The soldier was shown in the 28-minute video on Saturday with his head shaved. The Pentagon on Sunday identified the soldier as 23-year-old private Bowe Bergdahl of Ketchum, Idaho. His status was changed two weeks ago from "whereabouts unknown" to "missing-captured". The video shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan dress, being prompted in English by his captors to call for forces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
An American soldier, who went missing on June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed captured, has appeared on a video posted on a website by the Taliban, the Associated Press news agency says.
The soldier was shown in the 28-minute video on Saturday with his head shaved.
The Pentagon on Sunday identified the soldier as 23-year-old private Bowe Bergdahl of Ketchum, Idaho.
His status was changed two weeks ago from "whereabouts unknown" to "missing-captured".
The video shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan dress, being prompted in English by his captors to call for forces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Time for a Green Shoots alert?
