The CIA withheld information from Congress about a secret counterterrorism program on orders from former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, a U.S. senator said on Sunday amid calls for an investigation.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told “Fox News Sunday” that CIA Director Leon Panetta disclosed Cheney’s involvement when he briefed members of Congress two weeks ago. She said Panetta told them he had canceled the program.

President Barack Obama appointed Panetta to head the agency early this year. The still-secret program, which The New York Times said never became operational, began after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

News of Cheney’s involvement, reported by the Times on Sunday, prompted an outpouring of criticism by Obama’s fellow Democrats and support by rival Republicans in Congress.

Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “Director Panetta did brief us two weeks ago — I believe it was on the 24th of June … and, as had been reported, did tell us that he was told that the vice president had ordered that the program not be briefed to the Congress.”

Asked if the matter should be investigated, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said, “Absolutely.”

“The executive branch of government cannot create programs like these programs and keep Congress in the dark. There is a requirement for disclosure,” said Durbin said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“It has to be done in an appropriate way so it doesn’t jeopardize our national security, but to have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate; it could be illegal,” he said.

Feinstein and Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, insisted no one should go outside the law.

Asked about Cheney’s involvement, Leahy told CBS’s “Face the Nation”: “I’d like to know if it’s true or not. I mean, nobody in this country is above the law … You can’t have somebody say, well, if you’re vice president, you don’t have to obey the law.”

Feinstein said Congress “should have been told” about the secret problem and that the vice president shouldn’t be above the law.

“This is a big problem, because the law is very clear. And I understand the need of the day, which was when America was in shock” after September 11, she said on Fox. “But … I think you weaken your case when you go outside of the law.”

CHENEY’S POST-ELECTION BATTLE

Cheney was a key advocate in the Bush administration of using controversial interrogation methods such as waterboarding on terrorism suspects and has emerged as a leading Republican critic of Obama’s national security policies.

Since Obama took over from President George W. Bush on January 20, Cheney has engaged in an increasingly contentious battle with the new administration over the CIA interrogation procedures that undermined the United States’ reputation around the world.

In one of his first acts as president, Obama ordered more humane treatment for terrorism suspects.

Panetta has vowed not to allow coercive interrogation practices, secret prisons or the transfer of terrorist suspects to countries that may use torture, a pledge seen as a break with the agency’s policies under Bush.

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, told “Face the Nation” he said he believed the Cheney allegations will be investigated.

Asked if he expected the situation to be looked into, Sessions said, “Well, I’m sure it will be.”

“I don’t know what the facts are. But I believe that Vice President Cheney served his country with as much fidelity as he could possibly give to it. And he tried to serve us in an effective way. And I hope that nothing like this would impact on his outstanding record.”

(Reporting by World Desk Americas; Editing by Doina Chiacu) – Reuters

Honduras’ interim government on Sunday lifted a curfew imposed since the June 28 coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, saying it had succeeded in restoring calm and reducing crime.

The announcement by the caretaker administration of President Roberto Micheletti, installed by Honduras’ Congress after the coup, came as a relief for the already battered economy and for people struggling to return to normal life.

Isolated by the international community after Zelaya’s ouster, Honduras is bracing for austerity under the weight of economic sanctions, and the lifting of the curfew indicated Micheletti’s government felt it could control the Central American nation despite frequent pro-Zelaya demonstrations.

Ordinary Hondurans have sought to put a brave face on the coup crisis, from a village that forged ahead regardless with its annual fiesta, complete with a brass band and fireworks, to the gang-plagued slums surrounding the capital, where the poor are bracing for higher prices and unemployment.

Even the wealthy have felt the pinch. At the upscale restaurant El Patio, where Saturday nights are normally a rollicking affair of mariachi music and rum-fueled laughter, the neon lights were dimmed early on a dining terrace that was half-filled even though the national soccer team was on TV.

“Nobody knows how this is going to turn out,” El Patio manager Dolores de Jesus Ordonez said. “I have a lot of faith in the dialogue going on in Costa Rica.”

Micheletti’s interim government is holding talks with Zelaya’s representatives under the auspices of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. But he says Zelaya’s reinstatement is not negotiable because he contravened the constitution by seeking to illegally extend his rule.

The talks have resulted in little apparent progress, aside from an agreement to keep talking.

Zelaya, now traveling the Americas in search of support, also ran afoul of his political base and ruling elites in the conservative country by allying himself with Venezuela’s firebrand leftist president, Hugo Chavez.

Zelaya told Caracas-based Telesur television on Sunday he intended to return “at any time, on any day, anywhere” even though the new government vows to arrest him.

At least one pro-Zelaya protester was killed in clashes at Tegucigalpa’s airport a week ago when Honduran troops blocked an attempt by Zelaya to return in a plane provided by Chavez.

TENSION WITH VENEZUELA

In a sign that tensions with Venezuela remained, Honduran police on Saturday night detained for several hours members of TV crews of the Venezuelan state channel VTV and Caracas-based Telesur, which have been extensively covering pro-Zelaya protests and other news developments.

Speaking in Caracas, Chavez condemned the detention.

“Is this the path they want to take?” Chavez said.

He said he was convinced it was the “Yankee empire” (United States) behind Zelaya’s ouster in Honduras, even though U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration quickly condemned the coup and has called for Zelaya’s restoration, drawing praise from Zelaya himself.

Reflecting widespread international condemnation of the coup, foreign ministers and diplomats from 50 democracies on Sunday urged the reinstatement of Zelaya and said his overthrow represented a threat to democracy.

The call came from a meeting in Portugal of the Community of Democracies, an intergovernmental organization that seeks to strengthen democratic institutions.

Micheletti is due to hand over power after scheduled November elections, which he says will go ahead as planned.

He has asked citizens to prepare for austerity after foreign lenders suspended about $200 million in credits and the United States cut off $16.5 million in military assistance while threatening to halt a further $180 million in aid.

In the Santa Cecilia slum in hills above Tegucigalpa, where unemployment and crime are rife, the people are familiar with hardship.

“The men go out to steal and the women stay at home waiting for their husbands to come back from stealing,” said Fedelina Zepeda, 52, who makes 80 lempiras (about $4) a day selling hand-made tortillas from her brick and corrugated tin house.

The coup was triggered by a planned voted on June 28 called by Zelaya to measure support for convening a constitutional assembly that could have lifted limits on presidential terms. The Supreme Court and Congress had deemed the vote unconstitutional and ordered Zelaya’s removal.

A day before the national plebiscite, the village of San Buenaventura was preoccupied by another vote — one to choose the child queen of the annual fiestas in honor of the saint bearing the name of the farming enclave of 2,300 people tucked in a forest-covered valley 20 miles from the capital.

Seven-year-old Jessy Ordonez prevailed, but the next day’s coup suddenly cast doubt on whether the fiesta could be held.

“She got very sad. Every day she asked what was going to happen,” said her father, Jorge Ordonez.

In the event, Jessy got her moment of glory as the fiesta went ahead despite the political crisis, accompanied by a band of ancient, beat-up instruments played by elderly musicians

“This is what the people want,” Mayor Jose Andres Amador said, “not all the political games.”

(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner, Enrique Andres Pretel, Juana Casas in Tegucigalpa, Patricia Zengerle in Caracas, Shrikesh Laxmidas in Lisbon; Editing by Pascal Fletcher) – Reuters

The rivals for power in Honduras agreed on Friday to hold more talks to seek a solution to the crisis created by last month’s coup, keeping alive hopes that dialogue would prevail over confrontation.

The talks’ mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, made the announcement after chairing a first round of discussions between teams representing ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the man put in his place by the June 28 coup, Roberto Micheletti.

“Both sides have agreed to continue talks in the shortest time possible and not rest until they reach an agreement to resolve this crisis,” Arias told reporters in the Costa Rican capital San Jose, saying the date for the next meeting would be set in coming days.

Both sides had committed to solving the dispute with “words not gunpowder”, he said, but the task could be tough to reconcile the entrenched positions of the parties.

Mediator Arias won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping resolve Central America’s Cold War conflicts of the 1980s.

While the Organization of American States and President Barack Obama’s administration have thrown their weight behind Arias’ mediation, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned the Costa Rica talks as “dead before they started”. He called for a total trade embargo on Honduras.

Chavez said Zelaya, who had angered his country’s ruling elite and military by increasingly allying himself with the Venezuelan leader, was determined to return to his country “by air, land, I don’t know where, but he’s going to enter”.

In a contrasting view of the Costa Rica talks, U.N. General Assembly president Miguel D’Escoto on Friday expressed optimism over a solution to restore Zelaya to office.

“I hear we may be very close to a solution for the restitution of President Zelaya,” D’Escoto told a U.N. news conference, saying his belief was based on “conversations”.

But Micheletti, installed by Honduras’ Congress after the coup, has shown no signs of yielding to international pressure to give power back to Zelaya. He has said if Zelaya returns it will be to face justice, arguing the deposed president violated the constitution by trying to scrap presidential term limits.

Micheletti said in Tegucigalpa on Friday the talks would resume next week and added Honduras was “preparing for the worst” by cutting back government budgets to confront the suspension of credits and aid by foreign governments.

Chavez said in Caracas Obama’s administration had made a “crass error” in engineering the Costa Rica talks, and that there could be no negotiations with “a usurper” in Honduras.

POPE, OBAMA DISCUSS HONDURAS

Washington played down Chavez’ comments.

“There is a negotiation going on. It is … the best route to try to resolve this peacefully and help Honduras return to democratic constitutional order,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington.

He added U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Arias by telephone on Friday to get an update on the negotiations and to discuss how the United States could help.

Obama and Pope Benedict discussed Honduras during a meeting at the Vatican on Friday, White House deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough said.

Chavez’ comments about Zelaya’s determination to return seemed likely to rekindle fears that he and other leftist allies of Zelaya, like Cuba and Nicaragua, might seek to help the ousted president re-enter the country against the wishes of the interim government and against U.S. advice.

Zelaya said he was working on “peaceful, non-violent methods” to return to office. He spoke in the Dominican Republic and was due travel to Guatemala on Saturday before returning to Washington.

Honduran soldiers blocked the runway when Zelaya tried to return home in a plane provided by Chavez on Sunday. At least one person was killed when the troops clashed with pro-Zelaya protesters.

“The truth is that there is still a lot of intransigence on both sides,” OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza told local radio in Chile on Friday.

Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez said in Santo Domingo he and Zelaya had discussed seeking resolutions to back Zelaya’s return to power from leaders at a Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt next week and also from the African Union.

A CID-Gallup poll published in Honduran media on Thursday showed 41 percent of Hondurans thought Zelaya’s ouster was justified versus 28 percent who opposed the coup.

In Tegucigalpa, Micheletti announced the resignation of the foreign minister of his interim government, Enrique Ortez, who had insulted Obama by calling him “negrito” — little black guy.

But he offered Ortez a new post as minister of justice and government.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta, Gustavo Palencia, Simon Gardner in Tegucigalpa, Patricia Rondon and Frank Jack Daniel in Caracas, Patrick Markey in San Jose, Anupreeta Das at the United Nations, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, and Manuel Jimenez in Santo Domingo; writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Mohammad Zargham) – Reuters

The two rivals for power in Honduras started a dialogue through a mediator on Thursday, but there was no face-to-face meeting or breakthrough to solve the political crisis sparked by last month’s coup.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, and the man who replaced him after the June 28 coup, Roberto Micheletti, left behind teams in Costa Rica’s capital San Jose, holding talks under the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Zelaya maintained his demand, which he said was widely backed by the international community, to be reinstated as head of state of Honduras, a small coffee and textile exporting nation which is among the poorest in the Americas.

But Micheletti, who argues Zelaya was lawfully ousted last month because he violated Honduras’ constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits, ruled this out.

“The topic not for discussion is the return of ex-President Zelaya, unless he hands himself over to justice,” Micheletti, who was appointed by Honduras’ Congress after the coup, said after returning to his country from Costa Rica.

Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in San Jose he was pleased a dialogue had started, but he stressed the key issue of debate and contention was Zelaya’s restoration.

“Dialogue can produce miracles but not immediate ones and this could possibly take much longer than one might imagine,” he said. Arias won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to solve conflicts in Central America.

Both Zelaya and Micheletti met separately with Arias in the Costa Rican capital, but they did not sit down for direct discussions. “There was no face-to-face meeting,” said Costa Rican presidential spokesman Pablo Gueren.

The absence of a direct meeting or any public sign of reconciliation suggested Arias faced a tough task in trying to bring together the entrenched positions held by the rivals over the coup, which has stirred up tensions in Central America.

The United States and the Organization of American States are pressing for Zelaya’s peaceful reinstatement, which OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza said was the key for a successful outcome to the talks in San Jose.

U.S. President Barack Obama, apparently looking to wipe clean Washington’s record of supporting often bloody military coups and regimes in Latin America when it suited U.S. interests, has made clear he considers the coup was wrong.

On the eve of Thursday’s talks, the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa said Washington had suspended $16.5 million in military assistance programs to Honduras, and added an additional $180 million in U.S. aid could also be at risk.

BOTH SIDES CITE CONSTITUTION

Micheletti said Honduras would go ahead with previously scheduled elections in November, but he showed no sign of being ready to give back power to Zelaya. He said he could return to Costa Rica for talks with Arias if this was “opportune.”

Costa Rican Communications Minister Mayi Antillon said the two delegations in the dialogue would try to move toward an agreement “and hopefully … the presidents will come back”.

“There are respectful talks around a table,” she added.

Micheletti said any solution must respect Honduras’ constitution, which he says justified Zelaya’s removal.

Zelaya stressed that both the OAS and the United Nations General Assembly backed his reinstatement. He has called Micheletti a “criminal” and said he was guilty of treason.

“The stumbling block is that the de facto government accept the return of the constitutional government,” OAS chief Insulza said in Washington. He said that, provided Zelaya’s restoration was accepted, all other options, like bringing forward the elections, or a national unity government or an amnesty, were open to negotiation.

But for the OAS, which suspended Honduras on Saturday, early elections would be acceptable only if held after Zelaya is restored and not under Micheletti, Insulza said.

Zelaya, a logging magnate who was elected in 2005 and was due to leave office in 2010, angered his country’s ruling elite and military by increasingly allying himself with Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington.

Failure to strike a definitive deal in Honduras could prompt Zelaya to renew attempts to return to his country to try to win back power with the help of his supporters and left-wing allies like Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Venezuela’s Chavez, who lent Zelaya a plane in which he made an abortive bid to return home on Sunday, has vowed to do everything possible to obtain his reinstatement.

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, Arias called the Honduran coup a “wake-up call for the hemisphere” and blamed it on “reckless military spending” in the region.

Honduran media on Thursday published a poll showing 41 percent of Hondurans thought that Zelaya’s ouster was justified. The CID-Gallup poll carried out between June 30 and July 4 found 28 percent of those interviewed opposed the coup.

(Additional reporting by John McPhaul in San Jose, Gustavo Palencia, Enrique Andres Pretel and Daniel Trotta in Tegucigalpa, Anthony Boadle in Washington; writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Doina Chiacu) – Reuters

Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder and Usher sang emotional farewells Tuesday to Michael Jackson, who was hailed as “the greatest entertainer that ever lived” and described by his tearful 11-year-old daughter Paris as “the best father you could ever imagine.”

Some 18,000 fans, family members and friends took part in a public memorial for Jackson in the Los Angeles sports arena where the singer had rehearsed the day before his death for a highly anticipated series of comeback concerts.

Jackson’s brothers, each wearing a single sequined glove in homage to his signature look, carried the singer’s golden casket into the downtown Staples Center.

Carey performed Jackson’s 1970 ballad “I’ll Be There,” Usher’s voice cracked as he sang “Gone Too Soon” and the King of Pop’s three children made a rare public appearance without veils used for years by Jackson to shield them from the media.

But it was Jackson himself who loomed larger than life, shown in old concert footage, music videos and news clips, singing, dancing his moonwalk and surrounded by adoring crowds.

“The more I think about Michael, and talk about Michael, the more I think that ‘King of Pop’ is not good enough,” said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who signed The Jackson 5 to a recording contract in 1968. “I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”

The two-hour memorial focused on Jackson’s musical achievements, overshadowed in the last 10 years by the darker side of the singer’s life, including his humiliating 2005 trial and acquittal on charges of child sex abuse.

Jackson’s sudden death from cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on June 25 at the age of 50 stunned fans across the world and sent sales of his biggest hits from albums such as “Thriller” and “Off the Wall” back to the top of music charts.

President Barack Obama, on a visit to Russia, said he was “one of the greatest entertainers of our generation, perhaps any generation,” and added: “I think like Elvis, like Sinatra, like The Beatles, he became a core part of our culture.

The memorial focused on Jackson’s 45-year musical career in which he was awarded 13 Grammys, his charity work for childrens’ groups and his role in opening the mainstream pop and celebrity world to African-Americans.

It was broadcast live on U.S. national TV networks and Internet company Akamai, which handles 20 percent of the world’s Web traffic, said it was the most widely viewed event on the Web since the inauguration of Obama in January.

Gordy was among the few who referred obliquely to Jackson’s recent troubles. “Sure there was some sad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of,” said Gordy.

“NOTHING STRANGE” ABOUT DADDY

Jackson was on the eve of a comeback after his career collapsed in the 1990s. The exact cause of his death is still awaiting toxicology results amid reports of abuse of prescription drugs, including the powerful narcotic Diprivan.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, who has lashed out at media coverage of the bizarre aspects of Jackson’s life, had a message for the singer’s three children.

“Wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with,” he said.

The children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris and Prince Michael, 7, joined the family on stage for a mass chorus of Jackson’s inspirational hits “We Are the World” and “Heal the World.”

Paris, in tears, took the microphone to say: “Ever since I was born my daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine and I just wanted to say I love him, so much.”

Jackson’s family and close friends held a brief private ceremony earlier Tuesday at a Los Angeles cemetery before the memorial and were reported afterwards to have gathered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

But the destination of the singer’s body remained unknown with speculation that he could yet be laid to rest at his beloved ranch, Neverland, in central California.

Police had estimated more than 250,000 people would gather at the arena but the orderly crowds were much smaller than expected.

Police, security, escorts and sanitation for the memorial are expected to cost cash-strapped Los Angeles city council nearly $4 million and the city council Tuesday launched a website asking for fans to make donations toward the costs.

(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant, Alex Dobuzinskis and Jim Finkle; Editing by Mary Milliken and David Storey) – Reuters

Canadian officials said on Tuesday they had identified yet another new flu virus, this one a mixture of human and swine influenzas, in two farm workers in Western Canada.

The new virus did not make the two workers seriously ill and is not related to the current H1N1 pandemic influenza strain, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

The two workers, both employees at a hog barn operation in the province of Saskatchewan, have fully recovered. A third case is under investigation.

“Preliminary results indicate the risk to public health is low and that Canadians who have been vaccinated against the regular, seasonal flu should have some immunity to this new flu strain,” Canada’s health minister, Leona Aglukkaq, said in a statement.

The new virus contains genes from a seasonal human H1N1 flu strain and a flu virus common in the swine population called triple reassortant H3N2, said Dr. Greg Douglas, Saskatchewan’s chief veterinary officer.

The virus is not connected to the new swine flu H1N1 strain that has killed 429 people worldwide. That strain, labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, is also a mixture of swine viruses with some genes from human and avian influenzas.

Since the new H1N1 broke out, officials in Canada, the United States and a few other countries have stepped up testing of both people and swine for flu viruses. People and pigs can swap flu viruses, although it has been documented only rarely.

In April, a herd in Alberta became infected with the new H1N1 virus and although health officials initially suspected a visiting worker infected the herd, that has since been ruled out and no one knows how the pigs became infected.

“Initial testing of some of the pigs on the farm suggests they were infected with swine influenza A virus, a common flu found in swine herds,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.

HUMAN HEALTH ISSUE

But Douglas said the herd did not have an unusually high level of illness. Flu viruses are common among pigs and cause mild disease, usually. “This is a human health issue,” Douglas said. “Saskatchewan pork continues to be safe … This is not a food safety issue at all.”

The Saskatchewan farm is not under quarantine, but the owner has agreed not to move the pigs, said Dr. Frank Plummer, chief science adviser for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The virus would likely not have been detected at all if not for heightened influenza testing as a result of the pandemic, Plummer said.

“Any time there’s a new influenza A strain, we have to be concerned about it, but these events occur and are almost always dead ends,” he said.

All workers on the hog farm are being vaccinated. Douglas said he expects the hogs will eventually go to slaughter as they normally would.

The workers have been in Saskatchewan for about one year and had not recently traveled, said Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer.

Plummer said the new virus was likely transmitted from the pigs to the workers.

More than a dozen countries have banned Canadian hogs or pork since the quarantine.

Bob Harding, executive director of the Canadian Swine Health Board, said there is concern that markets could misinterpret the new virus’s connection to swine.

“This is a poorly understood science. It’s changing as we speak, but it’s not a pig thing,” Harding said.

(Editing by Rob Wilson and Maggie Fox) – Reuters

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was due to meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday just over a week after he was toppled in a coup that has pushed the Central American state into international isolation.

The high-profile meeting with Washington’s top diplomat will shore up support for Zelaya after troops foiled his attempt to fly back into Honduras on Sunday and clashed with his followers in the capital city. At least one person was killed.

The talks with Clinton in Washington will also signal that President Barack Obama’s administration wants to give clear support to Zelaya.

The United States has already condemned the June 28 coup in the impoverished coffee and textile exporting country and is urging dialogue to achieve a peaceful constitutional solution to the crisis.

Defying international pressure to reinstate Zelaya, caretaker President Roberto Micheletti, appointed by Honduran lawmakers after the coup, has insisted the ousted leader was legally removed and should be arrested if he returns to Honduras.

Zelaya, a timber magnate who irked opponents by shifting to the political left after his 2006 election, was forced out at gunpoint last week and flown into exile by the military in Central America’s first coup since the Cold War.

“This is the responsibility of the powerful countries too, especially the United States, which has a lot of force … and should take measures,” Zelaya told Telesur regional network.

Speaking in the Nicaraguan capital Managua, he said statements from Obama and his administration so far had been “firm” in favor of his return to office.

His ouster sparked widespread international condemnation, from the White House to his Latin American leftist allies, and is a test of regional diplomacy for the Obama administration as it tries to mend Washington’s battered image in the hemisphere.

The Organization of American States late on Saturday took the rare step of suspending Honduras — only the second country after Cuba to be barred — for its refusal to reinstate Zelaya.

INTERIM GOVERNMENT MAINTAINS STANCE

Honduras’ interim government insists Zelaya’s removal was a constitutional transition carried out by the army and supported by the Supreme Court. It argues Zelaya had illegally tried to organize a vote on changing presidential term limits.

“I am confident Secretary Clinton will recognize the rule of law is the reason we are here and that Mr. Zelaya should account for his unconstitutional position,” Micheletti said in a national broadcast on Monday.

A commission of Honduran private sector representatives flew to Washington on Monday to seek guarantees on trade and make the case for the interim government, which cannot officially hold talks with the U.S. administration.

Zelaya had upset the country’s traditional ruling elites, including members of his own Liberal Party, by seeking changes to the presidential term limits and by establishing closer ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington.

The OAS suspension will complicate Honduras’ access to multilateral loans. Washington has held back from issuing a legal definition of the ouster as a coup — such a definition would force a cutoff of U.S. aid to the country, the third poorest in the hemisphere after Haiti and Nicaragua.

The State Department has requested $68.2 million in aid for Honduras for the fiscal year 2010, more than the $43.2 million in the current year, covering development aid, funds for U.S. arms as well as military training and counter narcotics aid.

(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel in Caracas; editing by Pascal Fletcher and Mohammad Zargham) – Reuters

Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya said he was denied permission to land at Tegucigalpa’s airport Sunday evening after a deadly clash between Zelaya’s supporters and government troops.

Zelaya told the Venezuela-based news network Telesur that his jet was denied permission to land in Tegucigalpa, where military vehicles were arrayed on the runway. The aircraft was en route to San Salvador, the capital of neighboring El Salvador, after what Zelaya called a “fruitless” attempt to land.

At least one person was killed and eight wounded after security forces opened fire and used tear gas on protesters who ringed Tegucigalpa’s airport, said Hugo Orellana, a Red Cross director in Honduras. Protest leaders put the death toll at three.

After being denied permission to land in Honduras, Zelaya’s plane made a stop to refuel in Nicaragua’s capital, Managua.

During the stop, he met with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega — who is a leftist ally of both Zelaya and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez — and told Telesur that his supporters had been trying to remove obstacles from the runway in Tegucigalpa when troops opened fire. “The people pulled back when fired upon,” he said.

In a statement read on national television, the interim government said police opened fire when protesters tried to force their way onto the airport grounds.

“The outcome of police intervention has not been verified,” the statement said, adding, “The government regrets the consequences of these violent demonstrations.”

“We call on national and international people who participate in these actions to abstain from encouraging disorder and disquiet of our population not to interfere with our country’s development efforts,” the statement said.

The provisional government that took power after the Honduran military removed Zelaya from office June 28 has vowed to keep him from coming back from exile. Government officials said Zelaya would be arrested if he returned, but several thousand protesters who ringed the airport said they would protect the ousted president with a human cordon. Watch military block runway »

The small jet was transporting Zelaya and United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto from Washington. The U.N. General Assembly condemned the coup last week.

Zelaya called on the U.N., the Organization of American States and the United States to take action after his return was thwarted Sunday.

“What are at risk are social reforms started in Latin America,” he told Telesur. “What we see is a return of the right in Latin America — a more reactionary right, more prone to killing, more fascist than in the past. They’re regrouping. It’s almost a conspiracy, a plot.”

At a news conference earlier Sunday, provisional President Roberto Micheletti said that Zelaya’s return could create unrest in a country that has seen demonstrators for both sides in the streets since the coup.

“I don’t want a single drop of blood to be spilled in Honduras,” Micheletti said.

The leftist Zelaya was ousted in a military-led coup the same day he planned to follow through with a referendum that the courts and the congress had ruled illegal and that the military said it would not support. Lawmakers voted to strip Zelaya of his powers and named Micheletti as provisional president.

The provisional government maintains that the military action against Zelaya was backed by a court order and that arrest warrants have been issued against him for violating the constitution.

Before his jet reached Tegucigalpa’s airspace, Zelaya told Telesur he remained commander-in-chief of the Honduran armed forces and demanded they “to open up the airport and avoid any problems with the landing.”

A delegation supporting Zelaya, including the head of the OAS and Presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, was to fly on a separate plane heading to neighboring El Salvador.

The OAS voted Saturday to suspend Honduras from the organization after the provisional government failed to respond to a 72-hour deadline to restore Zelaya as president. The United States and the World Bank have suspended some aid from Honduras, and the European Union and other nations have recalled their ambassadors from the country. Watch report on suspension of Honduras »

In his remarks Sunday, Micheletti extended a diplomatic branch to Chavez and Ortega. The interim leader said his government was open to “good faith” talks with the OAS, but reiterated his government was legitimate and would not be moved.

“We are going to remain here until the country becomes calm,” he said.

In a conference call with journalists, senior U.S. administration officials — who insisted on anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities — said that if Honduras denied Zelaya entry, he would be expected back in Washington on Monday to continue conversations at the OAS.

After 18 years of nearly uninterrupted military rule, Honduras returned to civilian control in 1981. Since then, the military has not seemed interested in holding power in the nation of more than 7 million people, about 70 percent of whom live in poverty.

Military interventions were once common in Latin America, but civilian governments have held sway since the 1980s. Before Sunday, the only other barracks revolt this decade was an unsuccessful 2002 coup attempt against Chavez, when the military displaced him but backed down days later and allowed his reinstatement. – CNN

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has left the US on a flight bound for Honduras, in a bid to reclaim his post.

Mr Zelaya, who was removed from office by troops a week ago, says he is determined to return to his country.

But the interim government says it will not allow Mr Zelaya’s plane to land. There are growing fears of violence in the Central American nation.

Thousands of Zelaya supporters are said to be heading to the airport, where security forces have taken position.

Mr Zelaya left Washington at 1900GMT. Flight time to the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, is about four hours.

He is being accompanied on the plane by UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann and a number of journalists.

The presidents of Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay and the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) left Washington at the same time as Mr Zelaya, bound for El Salvador to monitor events.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti, meanwhile, has said troops from neighbouring Nicaragua are moving towards the Honduran border. The Nicaraguan government has denied this.

‘Banned’

The military – backed by Congress and the courts – forced Mr Zelaya out of Honduras on 28 June over his plans to hold a vote on possible constitutional change.

Hours before Mr Zelaya’s departure from the Washington, Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez said the ousted president would not be allowed back in, “come what may”.

“The landing of the plane which will bring the ex-president is banned,” he said.

The aviation agency under the interim government has said the aircraft has to be diverted to El Salvador, Reuters news agency reports.

And, says the BBC’s Stephen Gibbs, who is in Tegucigalpa, the government says any attempt to land would be a violation of international air regulations.

The removal of Mr Zelaya has been condemned by the international community.

On Saturday the OAS suspended Honduras – the first time the organisation had taken such a measure since Cuba was suspended in 1962, when it allied itself with the USSR.

As Mr Zelaya departed from Washington, the interim government said it had offered dialogue “in good faith” with the OAS.

Honduras itself appears divided between supporters of the ousted leader and those who back the authorities that removed him.

Both sides have protested in recent days, but the demonstrations have remained largely peaceful.

Mr Zelaya, a wealthy businessman, is a left-wing politician and supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

His opponents, which includes the Supreme Court and a majority in parliament, accuse him of seeking to prolong his rule.

He had wanted to hold a popular vote on convening a constitutional convention – a move that could have removed the current one-term limit for presidents. – BBC

The Organization of American States has suspended Honduras in protest at the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya.

The rare decision was made at an emergency meeting of the 35-member group in Washington.

It comes ahead of Mr Zelaya’s expected return home on Sunday, accompanied by several Latin American leaders.

The new government has threatened to arrest him. The BBC’s Stephen Gibbs, in Honduras, says there are growing fears of violence.

“The clock definitely does seem to be counting down to what we are suspecting might be an extraordinary showdown,” our correspondent says.

The OAS approved suspending Honduras by 33 votes to zero, with Honduras itself not voting.

It was the first time the organisation had taken such a measure since Cuba was suspended in 1962, when it allied itself with the USSR.

Warning

Mr Zelaya was forced to leave the country by the military as he pressed on with plans to hold a non-binding public consultation on 28 June, to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution.

On Saturday, he again said he intended to defy his country’s new government by returning home.

“I am organising my return to Honduras… This is the return of the president elected by the sovereign will of the people,” he said, saying he would arrive between 1300 and 1400 local time (1900 to 2000 GMT).

He called on his followers to join him “without arms” on his arrival in the capital, Tegucigalpa.

He said he would be accompanied by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina and Rafael Correa of Ecuador.

Thousands of his supporters are expected to be at the airport.

Mr Zelaya also warned the new administration of interim leader Roberto Micheletti that the international community had turned against them.

“Your actions will not go unnoticed because the international courts will have to try you for the genocide that you are carrying out in our country, in suppressing rights and repressing our people,” he said.

The Honduran interim government says it acted within the law and has the backing of the majority of the population.

Church warning

Earlier, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Honduras called on the ousted president not to return from exile, in order to avoid provoking what he called a “bloodbath”.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez said nobody had been killed since Mr Zelaya lost power, and he appealed to him to check his actions before it was too late.

The country is becoming increasingly polarised, our correspondent says.

Each day there are mass demonstrations, both in support and against the government.

Mr Zelaya, a wealthy businessman, is a left-wing politician and supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

His opponents, which includes the Supreme Court and a majority in Parliament, accuse him of seeking to prolong his rule.

He had wanted to hold a popular vote on convening a constitutional convention – a move that could have removed the current one-term limit for presidents. – BBC