- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
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- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
Honduras: Poor, violent and corrupt
Honduras, which inaugurated Xiomara Castro as its first-ever woman president Thursday, is a small country with idyllic beaches at the heart of Central America's "triangle of death," plagued by gangs, poverty and corruption.
- Gang war, migrant caravans -
More than a million of Honduras's nearly 10 million people live in the United States. Those who remain, suffer one of the highest murder rates in the world outside war zones.
In 2020, there were 37.6 recorded homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. With Mexico, Honduras is also among the most dangerous places to be a journalist, with 92 killed in the last two decades.
Along with neighbors El Salvador and Guatemala, Honduras forms the so-called "triangle of death" plagued by the murderous gangs called "maras" that control drug trafficking and organized crime.
Poverty affects about seven in 10, according to the Fosdeh NGO.
The violence has helped trigger a wave of illegal immigration northward, notably by minors who fear being forced into gangs.
In 2018, hundreds of Honduran children were separated from their parents in the United States under then-president Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" of illegal immigration. He abandoned the practice following a backlash.
- Political instability -
Independent since 1821, Honduras has endured many coups, armed uprisings and conflicts with its neighbors, including with Guatemala in 1880 and the brief so-called Football War with El Salvador in 1969.
An almost uninterrupted period of military rule for nearly 20 years ended in 1982 with the election of president Roberto Suazo Cordova.
Since then, the center-right Liberal Party and right-wing National Party have fought it out for power.
Elected under the liberal banner in 2005, president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown four years later in a military coup backed by the right and the business world after swinging to the left and cozying up to Venezuela's late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.
Zelaya later created the leftist Libre party which brought his wife, now-president Castro, to power.
Juan Orlando Hernandez, known as "JOH", was first elected under the National Party banner in a disputed 2013 poll and re-elected in 2017. The opposition said the vote was rife with fraud.
- Narco state? -
Hernandez faced violent protests demanding that he stand down after controversial health and education decrees.
His brother Tony was arrested in 2019 for allegedly trafficking 185 tonnes of cocaine to the US, and jailed for life there last year.
Even though Hernandez supported US anti-drug campaigns, traffickers caught in the United States claimed to have paid bribes to the president's inner circle.
He strongly denies the allegations and says drug cartels are trying to get back at him for standing against them.
- Coffee and hurricanes -
Honduras is one of Latin America's poorest countries. Its plight was worsened by the coronavirus and the devastation caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020.
It is the world's fifth-biggest coffee producer, and the industry is its biggest employer.
It also produces bananas, timber, corn, pineapple, palm oil, rice, beans, prawns and tobacco, and the United States is its main trading partner.
Remittances by emigrants account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product.
But endemic and worsening graft has it ranked 157 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption index.
- 'Mayan Athens' -
The ruins of the ancient city of Copan in the west of the country is a UNESCO world heritage site, with some 1,000 buildings gathered around an acropolis.
But the "Mayan Athens" -- which had its golden age from the fifth to the ninth century -- is in a precarious state.
F.Pedersen--AMWN