Hand back power, Lula tells Honduras coup leaders

September 30th, 2009 Honduras sets 10-day deadline on embassy standoffTEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras is giving Brazil 10 days to decide what to do with ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who has been inside the Brazilian Embassy since sneaking back into the country last week. The government in charge since a June 28 coup that deposed Zelaya says it will take unspecified "additional measures" if Brazil does not define his status.

September 28th, 2009 PORLAMAR - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva here said that it "does not accept ultimatums from a coup-making government". He was talking about the 10 days ultimatum given by the present Honduran government for clearing the status of expelled Honduran president Mel Zelaya who is holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

September 23rd, 2009 Brazil hopes for negotiations in HondurasNEW YORK — Brazil's president said Wednesday he hoped deposed President Manuel Zelaya's surprise return to Honduras would deter coup plotters and force an eventual restoration of democracy in the Central American nation. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for patience with regard to the stand off that has Zelaya holed up inside the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras, and disputed the notion the Honduran had been asked by Brazil to refrain from politics.

September 22nd, 2009 Brazil's president says he spoke with ZelayaNEW YORK — Brazil's president said Tuesday he asked deposed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya not to provide a pretext for coup leaders to invade the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya has been staying since slipping back into the country. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he spoke with Zelaya by phone on Tuesday morning, and that Zelaya had passed the night as peacefully as could be expected.

September 12th, 2009 Honduras' interim president: US revoked my visaTEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim president says the United States has taken away his diplomatic and tourist visas to protest the June 28 coup. Roberto Micheletti says he was expecting the action and called it "a sign of the pressure that the U.S.

August 18th, 2009 BRASILIA - Brazil and Mexico have called for the restoration of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya who was forced into exile in Costa Rica by the country's military. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon Monday demanded Zelaya's immediate return to power for restoration of democracy in Honduras.

July 31st, 2009 BRUSSELS - European Union (EU) member states should ban leaders of the coup in Honduras from travelling to Europe, EU diplomats agreed in Brussels Friday. "Each member state will monitor that (EU) policy is closely adhered to, including the possibility of restrictions to the entry into their territories by senior officials of the de facto government in Honduras," a statement from the Swedish government, which currently holds the EU presidency, said.

July 21st, 2009 TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran de-facto regime Tuesday broke off diplomatic relations with Venezuela, whose president Hugo Chavez has stood by President Manuel Zelaya since his unceremonious ouster and expulsion in late June. The move represented an escalation in the crisis.

July 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has called on the US to withdraw its troops from Honduras to ease the situation after the recent coup in the Central American state. The Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya from office and flew him to Costa Rica June 28, the day polls were due to open for a non-binding referendum on extending the president's non-renewable four-year term of office.

July 17th, 2009 Castro blames Bush appointees for Honduran coupHAVANA — Fidel Castro blames the coup in Honduras on the U.S. Embassy in that Central American country and other American diplomats in the region appointed during the administration of George W.

July 9th, 2009 L'AQUILA - US President Barack Obama has urged his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to help convince Iran to keep its nuclear programme peaceful. The two leaders met for about 30 minutes on the sidelines of the G8 summit in the Italian city of L'Aquila and discussed issues like energy, climate, the political crisis in Honduras, global economic downturn and Iran, the White House said Thursday.

July 6th, 2009 MANAGUA - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega Sunday denied an accusation from Honduras' post-coup government that Nicaraguan troops were massing on their shared border. "Brother Honduran soldiers, brother Honduran officials, I want to assure you, swearing before God and nation, that Nicaragua is not deploying troops towards Honduras and that we are not preparing any kind of attack on Honduran garrisons on the border," he told domestic radio.

July 5th, 2009 OAS suspends Honduras after coupWASHINGTON — The OAS on Saturday night suspended Honduras participation in the organization because of last week's military coup. Honduras' interim government has already said it's quitting the organization rather than meet demands to reinstate the ousted president.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) was meeting Saturday to discuss suspension of troubled Honduras just hours after the unrecognised post-coup government said it was walking out anyway. Tegucigalpa has defied the OAS demand to reinstate by Saturday the democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, who was expelled from the country by the military last weekend over power-grab suspicions.

June 30th, 2009 NEW YORK - The UN General Assembly Tuesday condemned the military coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, saying that the event interrupted the democratic and constitutional order in the Central American nation. Zelaya was present in the 192-nation assembly when that body adopted a resolution to condemn Sunday's coup.