Honduras’ interim government rejects Zelaya’s proposed return

Negotiations to resolve Honduras’ political crisis failed Sunday after representatives of its interim government and ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya were unable to reach a consensus. The interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti on Sunday rejected a proposal advanced by a mediator to resolve the crisis by reinstating Zelaya

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Ecuador’s leader hotly denies FARC gave him money

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa denied Saturday that a Colombian guerrilla group donated money to his 2006 presidential campaign, asking his country’s civil commission to investigate the allegation. Colombian media broadcast a 2008 video Friday in which guerrilla leader Víctor Julio Suarez Rojas, better known as Mono Jojoy, said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia donated money to Correa’s campaign. The guerrilla group, known by its Spanish acronym FARC, also has had conversations with Correa’s emissaries and has reached “some accords, according to documents that we have,” Suarez said in a videotape

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Police may have found Jakarta bomber’s laptop

Indonesian police have recovered a laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers of Friday’s twin hotel attacks in Jakarta, the country’s official news agency said Sunday. The laptop contained information and codes that the attackers may have used to communicate with each other, the state-run Antara News Agency said.

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How the Jakarta Bombers Slipped Through Hotel Security

He is a politician for whom the adjective “cautious” seems tailor-made. But in the aftermath of the July 17 bombing of two luxury hotels in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono showed a new face to his nation

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France set to relax Sunday shopping ban

The French are in for a significant cultural shift next week if the Senate approves a new law from President Nicolas Sarkozy to allow more shops to open on Sundays. What seems routine in much of the Western world has been fiercely resisted in France, where Sundays have officially been set aside as a day of rest for more than a century and where a 35-hour workweek remains the norm.

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Police Fire Tear Gas During Iran Prayers

— Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran’s main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting “freedom, freedom” and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country’s leadership over the crackdown on election protests. Outside, police and pro-government Basiji militiamen fired tear gas and charged thousands of protesters who chanted “death to the dictator” and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign

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Conditions of Zelaya’s return key for weekend talks

A second round of talks between two disputed governments of Honduras is scheduled to take place Saturday in Costa Rica The outcome of this weekend’s talks, following an unproductive initial mediation last week, could set the tone for how the crisis, now in its third week, will play out, observers say. “If you take too long too resolve this type of issue, the force of the mediation loses clout,” Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said. Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military-led coup June 28.

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Mexico floods president’s home state with police

In response to a spate of attacks allegedly by a drug cartel, Mexico more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling the state of Michoacan, a government spokeswoman said. The government on Thursday dispatched 1,000 federal police officers to Michoacan state in southwest Mexico, increasing its presence to 1,300 total, Public Safety spokeswoman Veronica Penunuri told CNN.

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