Honduras’ post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti said on Thursday that he was willing to resume talks with ousted President Manuel Zelaya after a planned meeting between them failed to be held in Costa Rica.
Earlier on Thursday, Micheletti returned home from San Jose after a meeting with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who is acting as a mediator to help resolve the Honduran political crisis after the coup on June 28.
Micheletti said he would return for the talks “If necessary and if I am invited by President Arias.”
After the meeting with Arias, Micheletti said Honduras’ elections, scheduled for Nov. 29 to choose a new president, 128 deputies and 298 mayors, will be “transparent and safe” and will “consolidate” democracy in his country.
He said a negotiation commission had been formed, which will meet with the commission formed by Zelaya to continue talks.

Indicted U.S. financier Allen Stanford will remain in jail pending trial on charges that he swindled investors of as much as 7 billion U.S. dollars, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Stanford was initially granted bail by a magistrate judge, but U.S. District Judge David Hittner revoked the bond after prosecutors argued that the 59-year-old Texas financier is a serious flight risk.
Stanford’s lawyer had asked Hittner to reopen or reconsider Stanford’s detention while he awaits trial on charges that could imprison him for life if he is convicted.
“Having considered the motion and the applicable law, the court determines that the motion should be denied,” Hittner wrote in an order filed Thursday in federal court in Houston.
“Given the new evidence presented in our motion to reconsider, I’m surprised and disappointed that it was overruled without a hearing,” Dick DeGuerin, Stanford’s criminal-defense lawyer, said in a statement. He said they will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Stanford has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 18. He was indicted, along with his three associates and a top Caribbean regulator, on charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Stanford and the co-defendants all entered not guilty pleas.

Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti on Friday ended their talks here on Honduras’ political crisis without reaching an agreement, but promised more meetings.
The meeting between the two rivals was scheduled for two days beginning on Thursday, with the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
However, Zelaya and Micheletti failed to meet face-to-face, but instead left four commissioners on each side to continue the talks after they met separately on Thursday with Arias.
Although the meeting did not yield expected results, Arias said it was a great advance as both sides had a “frank and direct dialogue” and promised more talks to resolve the current political crisis in Honduras.
“Both sides have agreed to continue talks as soon as possible … to resolve the crisis,” Arias said. He expects a date for more talks to be set within days.
Micheletti’s representative, former Honduran foreign minister Carlos Lopez. thanked Arias for his mediation, and said the interim government is ready to attend further meetings.
He said the delegates expect to find a solution to the conflict under the framework of the Honduran constitution.
Meanwhile, Zelaya’s representative, Milton Jimenez, also a former foreign minister, reaffirmed Zelaya’s position of not accepting other options but his reinstatement.
On June 28, Zelaya was seized by armed troops and was forced to leave the country. Micheletti took over the presidency and formed a new cabinet hours later.
Jimenez said Zelaya’s delegates will attend the coming meetings mediated by Arias, with the participation of a delegation formed by teachers, peasants and union workers.
Zelaya’s supporters rallied in Honduras on Friday, calling for the return of the ousted president.
Thousands of protestors blocked the road linking Tegucigalpa and the country’s economic capital San Pedro Sula for about two hours. Demonstrations also reportedly took place in some other parts of the country.
Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), on Friday criticized the “inflexibility” of the negotiators.
Insulza told Radio Cooperativa de Chile the negotiation teams “lacked the will to discuss the issue.”
Insulza said he had expected a better defined framework before the delegations left Costa Rica.
He said the first thing to do is to restore Zelaya to power and then the parties should negotiate.
Insulza also said it would be difficult for Honduras to stay isolated from the international community since it is a country with one of the lowest incomes per capita in the continent.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday criticized the U.S.-backed mediation talks. He said it was “a trap that sets a very grave precedent.”
At a news conference at Miraflores Palace, Chavez said the meeting was a big mistake because it would impede the return of Zelaya to Honduras.
Micheletti should have been arrested in Costa Rica, and the United States should be exerting more pressure on Honduras to return Zelaya to power, Chavez said.
He also called on the international community to support Zelaya. He said Venezuela will not recognize the future government of Honduras because it would be the product of a coup.
“Only with Zelaya in charge, will the new government of Honduras be valid,” Chavez said.
The president also urged his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to take more severe measures against the “coup plotters in Honduras.”
The remarks of Chavez were described by U.S. officials as “premature.”
Also on Friday, the Honduran interim government removed its Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez Colindres from office after his remarks about Obama, and reappointed him as Interior Minister.
But Micheletti said the removal of Colindres, who had referred to Obama as a “black man who does not know where Tegucigalpa is,” was not related to his racist comments about Obama.
Obama told the media in Moscow on Wednesday that “America supports the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies.”
The United States has cut off 16.5 million dollars in military aid to the nation but continues to fund social programs. It has also kept its ambassador in the nation, while most others have reduced their official representation to the lowest levels.

Passengers were evacuated from an aircraft when smoke engulfed its cabin at Phoenix International Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona on Friday night, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported on its website.
The incident took place shortly after 8 p.m. local time when the 747 aircraft was about to depart for London, England, the report said.
Sky Harbor Airport spokesman Michael Set told the paper that smoke surged into the plane’s cabin, prompting the evacuation.
The passengers exited the plane by using the emergency escape chutes, with some reporting minor cuts and bruises.
“This is no indication of how the smoke started,” Set said.
Set said he did not know how many passengers were on board. A747 aircraft is capable of accommodating more than 300 passengers.

A Boeing 747 plane full of passengers were evacuated before takeoff at an airport in the southern U.S. city of Pheonix Friday night after smoke was tested in the cabin.
The passengers used slides to evacuate at about 8 p.m. local time (0200 GMT) and no serious injuries were reported among the approximately 350 passengers and crew, U.S. media reported.
Only one person was taken to a hospital with shoulder pain, airport fire authorities said.
The British Airways flight was preparing to leave for London from Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix in Arizona state.

The battle lasted several hours

Mr Nunu said: “Anyone who belongs to this group has to immediately hand himself and his weapons over to the Palestinian police and security forces.”

Another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, branded the cleric’s speech “wrong thinking”.

Sealed off

Hamas fighters on Friday fired rocket-propelled grenades at Ibn-Taymiyah mosque, where at least 100 Jund Ansar Allah supporters were holed up.

These declarations [of an Islamic emirate] are aimed towards incitement against the Gaza Strip

Ismail Haniya,
leader of Hamas in Gaza
The entire neighbourhood was sealed off as the shooting continued after dark – in what was one of the most violent incidents in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip since an Israeli offensive in December and January.

Abdul-Latif Moussa and his armed supporters had sworn to fight to the death rather than hand over authority of the mosque to Hamas.

During his own Friday sermon, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, dismissed Mr Moussa’s comments.

“These declarations [of an Islamic emirate] are aimed towards incitement against the Gaza Strip and an attempt at recruiting an international alliance against the Gaza Strip.

“And we warn those who are behind these Israeli Zionist declarations: the Gaza Strip only contains its people.”

Israel must investigate the “unlawful” killing of 11 civilians carrying white flags during its Gaza operation earlier in 2009, Human Rights Watch has said.

Five women and four children were among those killed in seven incidents detailed by the US-based rights group.

Researchers said the soldiers at best failed to protect civilians, and at worst deliberately shot at them.

Israel has launched investigations into five “white flag” incidents, but says Hamas exploited civilians with flags.

In one incident, east of Jabalya, HRW said Israeli soldiers fired at two women and three children, three of whom were holding pieces of white cloth.

Two girls, aged two and seven were killed, and another, now aged four, was left paralysed below the waist.

The five were standing outside their home after an Israeli soldier had ordered them to leave it, HRW said.

Paralysed girl reflects Gaza plight
Injured girl treated in Egypt
Israel ’shot at fleeing Gazans’
“We spent seven to nine minutes waving the flags, and our faces were looking at them [the soldiers],” HRW quoted the girls’ grandmother as saying.

“And suddenly they opened fire and the girls fell to the ground.”

Two of the incidents in question have also been investigated by the BBC.

In five of the seven incidents, Israeli soldiers shot at civilians who were walking down the street with white flags, trying to leave the areas of fighting, HRW said.

“All available evidence indicates that Israeli forces were in control of the areas in question, no fighting was taking place there at the time, and no Palestinian forces were hiding among the civilians or using them as human shields,” the report said.

The Israeli foreign ministry has opened investigations into at least five cases involving Palestinians who were waving white flags.

As of the end of July, one case had been closed. The Israeli military said troops had fired at “suspicious men” who ignored warnings as they walked near a Palestinian family carrying a white flag.

Sadly, Hamas terror operatives ruthlessly pervert the intent of the IDF’s obligations to prevent harm to civilians by exploiting those with white flags as cover for belligerent action and to protect themselves from return fire

Statement by Israeli military

Israelis ‘followed law in Gaza’
HRW said its findings were based on site investigations, ballistic evidence found at the scene, medical records of victims and lengthy interviews with multiple witnesses.

An Israeli government spokesman said the report lacked credibility because it was based on evidence from an area under Hamas control.

The Israeli military said troops were obliged to respect white flags, but accused “Hamas terror operatives” of “exploiting those with white flags as cover for belligerent action and to protect themselves from return fire”.

But it gave no details of specific incidents.

Israel has said its soldiers acted lawfully during the operation, although some mistakes were made, such as the bombing of a house containing 21 civilians by accident.

It says it went to great lengths to distinguish between civilians and combatants, while Hamas put civilians at great risk by firing rockets from near schools and UN facilities, commandeering hospital facilities and ambulances, hiding weapons in mosques and booby trapping civilian neighbourhoods.

War crime accusation

Human Rights Watch last week accused Hamas of war crimes, for firing rockets at Israeli population centres.

The group also says Palestinian militants operated from populated areas.

HRW’s Bill Van Esveld said last Thursday that a Newsweek report quoted in a recent Israeli Foreign Ministry briefing was “as clear evidence of human shielding [by Hamas] as you’re going to get”.

Journalist Rod Nordland wrote on 20 January: “Suddenly there was a terrific whoosh, louder even than a bomb explosion. It was another of Hamas’ homemade Qassam rockets being launched into Israel – and the mobile launch-pad was smack in the middle of the four [apartment] buildings, where every apartment was full.”

But Mr Van Esveld said he was only aware of evidence of “three or four” such cases, and had seen more evidence of the use of human shields by Israeli troops than by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli activist group Breaking the Silence has published anonymous testimonies of Israeli soldiers describing a procedure in which they said Palestinians were forced at gunpoint to enter building where militants were hiding.