Observers from the Americas and Europe said Monday there was no reason to suspect fraud in the recent Honduran election but criticized a sluggish vote count, as US President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate maintained a slim lead.The Central American country has not yet certified results from the November 30 election in which Nasry Asfura, a 67-year-old right-wing businessman backed by Trump, holds a razor-thin lead.Salvador Nasralla, a 72-year-old fellow conservative in second place, and outgoing left-wing President Xiomara Castro have alleged tampering.Castro has accused Trump of election interference and the candidate from her leftist camp, Rixi Moncada, has called for the election to be annulled.Eladio Loizaga, a Paraguayan diplomat who headed an Organization of American States (OAS) observer mission, said there was a lack of expertise on the part of vote organizers, but ruled out “any evidence that would cast doubt on the results.”More than 99 percent of the votes have been counted, but the CNE election council says some 2,800 tally sheets — representing nearly half a million votes — need to be re-examined in a special recount for alleged inconsistencies.The CNE legally has a month to call the winner, but the OAS urged it to release the final result “as quickly as possible.””The current delay in processing and publishing the results is not justifiable,” Loizaga said in a report to OAS members.A European Union observer mission also reported Monday to the OAS it had “not observed any serious irregularities that could affect the current preliminary results.”According to representative Despina Manos, EU observers were still on the ground, monitoring the tally.”We are aware that with more than two weeks after the election day, with counting delays and technical setbacks, the post-electoral context remains very uncertain,” Manos added.- ‘Unlawful pressure’ -Nasralla, who had held a slight lead in early tallying, is demanding a full recount.CNE member Cossette Lopez said on X Monday that the special recount had not yet started “because unlawful pressure is being exerted on the CNE, demanding recounts outside the legal framework.”On the latest count, Nasralla trailed Asfura by just over a percentage point, or some 42,000 votes, according to his team.Trump has come under fire for his public backing of Asfura and his threat that if his chosen candidate doesn’t win, “the United States will not be throwing good money after bad.”On the eve of the vote, the US leader also issued a surprise pardon for former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of Asfura’s National Party.Hernandez was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States, where a jury found him guilty of belonging to one of “the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world.”In what many saw as an attempt at political interference, Hernandez was released despite Trump’s stated commitment to eradicating Latin American drug trafficking.”Ever since Trump said he supported Asfura, we already knew he was going to win. The gringos (Americans) are the ones in charge,” 53-year-old taxi driver Sergio Canales told AFP in Tegucigalpa.Trump has openly sought to pick favorites in Latin American elections this year, as his administration seeks to renew its dominance in the region.

European leaders on Monday proposed a European-led “multinational force” with US support to enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, as key powers met in Berlin to push forward efforts to end the war.The force would be part of “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine from the United States and European powers aimed at guaranteeing that Russia would not violate an agreement to end the war, the leaders meeting in Berlin said in a joint statement.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that talks in the German capital with US President Donald Trump’s envoys on ending the war with Russia were “not easy” but brought “real progress” on the question of security guarantees.Zelensky met for a second day with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for talks aimed at ending the war that started with Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, building on a proposal initially put forward by Trump.He hailed new security guarantees offered by Washington but also said differences remained on the question of what territories Ukraine would have to cede to battlefield enemy Russia.”There has been sufficient dialogue on the territory, and I think that, frankly speaking, we still have different positions,” Zelensky told reporters.An upbeat German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the talks had created the “chance for a real peace process” and praised the US for offering “substantial” security guarantees.From Washington, Trump said he would hold a phone call later Monday with Zelensky and the European leaders, among them UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.The United States said it had offered strong, NATO-like security guarantees to Ukraine and voiced confidence that Russia would accept, in what Washington said would be a breakthrough in ending the war.- ‘Very strong deterrence’ -US officials described the hours of talks in Berlin as positive and said Trump in his call would seek to push forward the deal.The US officials warned Ukraine must accept the deal, which they said would provide security guarantees in line with NATO’s Article Five — which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all.”The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees — Article Five-like — also a very, very strong deterrence” in the size of Ukraine’s military, a US official said on condition of anonymity.”Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if there’s a conclusion that’s reached in a good way,” he said.Trump has previously ruled out a formal entry of Ukraine into NATO and sided with Russia in calling Kyiv’s aspirations to the alliance a reason for the full-scale invasion by Moscow.Merz said any ceasefire must be “secured by substantial legal and material security guarantees from the United States and Europe, which the United States has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees”.”This is truly remarkable. This is a very important step forward, which I very much welcome,” he said.- ‘Criminal attack’ -Zelensky said of the talks with the US side that “these conversations are always not easy” but that it had been “a productive conversation”.An official briefed on the US-Ukrainian talks earlier told AFP that US negotiators still want Ukraine to cede control of the eastern Donbas — made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.Moscow controls almost all of Lugansk and about 80 percent of the Donetsk region, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants territory”, said the official, adding that the United States was demanding that Ukraine “withdraw” from the regions and that Kyiv was refusing.One of the US officials acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory. Trump has called it inevitable that Ukraine would need to surrender territory to Russia, an outcome unacceptable to Zelensky.Russia, meanwhile, has signalled it will insist on its core demands, including on territory and on Ukraine never joining NATO.Moscow has also previously objected to any European-led force in Ukraine to police a peace agreement.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was expecting the United States to “provide us with the concept that is being discussed in Berlin today”.burs-fz/rlp/rmb

The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago said Monday it had authorized US military aircraft to use its airports, amid growing fears Washington may be preparing an attack on nearby Venezuela.The archipelago of Trinidad and Tobago, situated just a dozen kilometers from Venezuela at its closest point, is a staunch backer of President Donald Trump’s campaign of military and economic pressure on Caracas.Trinidad’s foreign ministry said it had given the green light for US military aircraft to use its airports “in the coming weeks.”The ministry said Washington would use them for “logistical” operations, including “facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations.” Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has thrown open her country to US forces as Washington builds a major military deployment in the Caribbean.US officials say the operation aims to counter “narco-terrorists,” but the Trump administration is particularly piling pressure on Venezuela and its leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington does not recognize as the legitimate president.In October, a US guided missile destroyer docked off the island of Trinidad for four days of joint drills, within firing range of Venezuela.Last month, a contingent of US Marines took part in exercises in the archipelago.The United States has also installed radar at a new airport on the island of Tobago, which Persad-Bissessar says is aimed at detecting Venezuelan drug trafficking and sanctions-busting oil deliveries.On Monday, Caracas accused Trinidad and Tobago of participating in the “theft” last week of Venezuelan oil after US forces seized a tanker they said was in breach of US sanctions.Washington said the move was aimed at Maduro’s “regime,” but Caracas decried it as an act of “international piracy.”Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez accused Persad-Bissessar of having a “hostile agenda towards Venezuela” and reiterated Caracas would halt natural gas exploration with its neighbor.Trinidadian Foreign Minister Sean Sobers said the decision was part of a government commitment “to cooperation and collaboration in the pursuit of safety and security for Trinidad and Tobago and the wider region.”