- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ |
Castro to be sworn in as first woman president of Honduras
Honduras president-elect Xiomara Castro is due to be sworn in as the country's first woman president on Thursday, as confusion reigns over who will be head of congress during her four-year term.
Two rival factions in Castro's left-wing Libre party have voted in their own president of congress and negotiations to reach a solution stalled overnight on Wednesday.
Luis Redondo, who has the support of Castro and much of her party, has been invited to preside over her inauguration.
However, rebel deputy Jorge Calix, bolstered by the right-wing opposition National and Liberal parties, has the support of more than 70 of the 128-member congress, including close to 20 Libre deputies.
Castro made a last-ditch attempt to resolve the dispute on Wednesday night by offering Calix the job of Cabinet Coordinator -- a similar role to chief of staff -- in her government, in a bid to convince him to drop his claim to the congress president role.
Calix sparked hope of a breakthrough by replying to Castro with: "You will soon receive my answer."
The congress dispute is an embarrassing distraction for the president-elect, with US Vice President Kamala Harris, King Felipe VI of Spain and Taiwan Vice President William Lai due to attend the inauguration.
Once she assumes office, Castro, 62, will inherit "a country in a deep crisis -- above all a social crisis -- whose despair, whose deterioration of living conditions have become so profound," Eugenio Sosa, a sociologist at the National University of Honduras, told AFP.
The "main reflection" of the crisis, he added, "is in the massive exodus of families to the United States."
But before tackling those challenges, Castro must first resolve the congress dispute.
The schism emerged last Friday when a group of Libre dissidents ignored an agreement with the Savior Party of Honduras (PSH), whose support was key to Castro winning the November elections.
PSH leader Salvador Nasralla agreed to withdraw from the presidential race in return for the position of vice president and a pledge to support the PSH's Redondo as president of congress.
But dissidents refused, arguing that congress should be led by the party with the most members -- Libre has 50 deputies, to just 10 for the Savior party.
The dispute turned nasty, with some deputies coming to blows.
Castro accuses the dissidents of allying with the National Party of outgoing president Juan Orlando Hernandez to prevent the changes she promised in her campaign, including the restitution of laws against impunity that were rolled back by the previous administration.
- Migration talks -
During her visit, US vice president Harris is due to hold talks with Castro on the root causes of Central American migration toward the United States, a senior US official said.
"The topics will include expanding economic opportunity, combating corruption, and humanely managing migration," the official added.
Some 71 percent of the close to 10 million Hondurans live in poverty, according to the FOSDEH NGO.
"Everyone wants to leave because there's no work. If there were more work opportunities here, there would be no need to look for another country," university student Jensi Davila told AFP in central Tegucigalpa.
Honduras is also wracked by violence instigated by criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking. The murder rate is close to 40 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Lai is due to hold separate talks with Castro and Belize Prime Minister John Briceno during his visit.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said Lai's meeting with Castro would be "to exchange views on issues of mutual concern."
Honduras is among just 14 countries that still recognise democratic, self-ruled Taiwan.
China, which considers Taiwan as its own, has spent decades successfully encouraging the island nation's allies to switch sides.
During her election campaign, Castro vowed to "immediately open diplomatic and commercial relations with mainland China" if she won.
N.Fournier--BTB