Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al Malki said Thursday that he would soon visit Bosnia, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas would visit Colombia and Portugal in October, as part of efforts to secure the necessary nine votes in the UN Security Council to pass a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state as a full member in the world body, The Telegraph reported. Bosnia, Colombia and Portugal are three of the 15 nations currently sitting on the UN Security Council that must make a...

Medardo Flores, a radio journalist who supported former President Manuel Zelaya, was gunned down on the night of 8 September, joining the long list of journalists who have been killed since Zelaya’s ouster in a June 2009 coup. Employed by Radio Uno in San Pedro Sula, he was slain in an ambush near his home in the Caribbean coast city of Puerto Cortés. Regional finance manager of the pro-Zelaya Broad Front for Popular Resistance (FARP), Flores was shot just two days after another...

Nery Jeremías Orellana, 26, the manager of Radio Joconguera in the town of Candelaria, in the western department of Lempira, was gunned down yesterday morning, bringing the number of Honduran journalists killed since the start of the year to three. A total of 12 journalists have been killed in the past 18 months in Honduras without any of their murders being solved. “Orellana headed a commercial radio station that works with civil society organizations and belongs to an...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez is moving to consolidate his hold on Honduras, after orchestrating the return last Saturday of his puppet, . Officials in Chávez's inner circle are wondering how their cash-strapped government can finance yet another "revolutionary" government in Central America. What they fail to realize is that Chávez's backup plan is to sow chaos in Honduras so it is hospitable territory for his partners in the illegal drug trade and a headache...

Honduran authorities should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the serious threats received recently by a prominent human rights defender, Leo Valladares Lanza, Human Rights Watch said today. Valladares is Honduras' former ombudsman and the former president of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Valladares told Human Rights Watch that he has received intimidating phone calls, and noticed people monitoring his home and following him, after he questioned the...

Honduran authorities should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the serious threats received recently by a prominent human rights defender, Leo Valladares Lanza, Human Rights Watch said today. Valladares is Honduras' former ombudsman and the former president of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Valladares told Human Rights Watch that he has received intimidating phone calls, and noticed people monitoring his home and following him, after he questioned the...

Honduran authorities should take concrete steps to end impunity for abuses committed after the country's 2009 coup, and to curb ongoing attacks against journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists, Human Rights Watch said in a report released. The 65-page report, "After the Coup: Ongoing Violence, Intimidation, and Impunity in Honduras," documents the state's failure to ensure accountability for abuses committed under the country's de facto government in 2009. The...

There has a new surge in cases of harassment and censorship of journalists working for radio stations that have been outspoken in their criticism of the government since the June 2009 coup d’état. Radio Uno, an educational station in the northern city of San Pedro Sula that has repeatedly criticised the regime, was forced off the air by an act of sabotage on the night of 30 August. It has since been able to resume broadcasting amid much tension. Its staff has often been the...

Honduras should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into a recent wave of killings and threats against journalists, Human Rights Watch said today. Three journalists have been killed in March, and five others have been threatened. “It’s impossible to know the exact motive of these attacks without an adequate investigation,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “But the murders and threats are generating a climate...

Six months after President Porfirio Lobo took office, Honduras has made little progress toward addressing the serious human rights abuses since the 2009 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. Threats and attacks against journalists and the political opposition have fostered a climate of intimidation, while impunity for abuses remains the norm. "Violent attacks on journalists and political opponents have had a profound chilling effect on basic freedoms in Honduras," said José...