Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega was re-elected in a landslide, according to results released today, overcoming a constitutional limit on re-election and reports of voting problems.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile, a surprising and perplexing move that comes as his country struggles with a political crisis and the stalled effort to recover from last year’s devastating earthquake.

SINGING and praying sounded across Haiti yesterday as ceremonies marked the moment a year ago to the day when the earthquake struck and left over 250,000 dead.

A second-round vote to choose Haiti’s president will not be possible until late February, after the constitutional end of current President Rene Preval’s term, the electoral council says.

More than 100 protesters angered by a dysfunctional election commemorated Haiti’s Independence Day today by burning tyres and demanding that President Rene Preval be arrested.

Haiti’s election ended in discord with nearly all the major presidential candidates calling for it to be disallowed over fraud and claims that large numbers of voters were turned away across the quake-stricken country.

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s investigator on freedom of expression said a Venezuelan court’s ban on publishing information and photos about violence was a form of prior censorship and should be changed.

Voters in the Caribbean nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines decide today whether to break their ties with Britain's monarchy, even as the Queen is making a visit to the region.

Representatives of ousted president Manuel Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government that could help end the dispute over Honduras’ June 28 coup, and possibly pave the way for Mr Zelaya’s reinstatement.

Negotiators trying to resolve the Honduran political crisis said talks have broken off, the third such announcement in the past week.

Honduras' interim leaders put in place new rules that threaten broadcasters with closure for airing reports that "attack national security", further restricting media freedom following the closure of two opposition stations.

Diplomats pushed the two sides of the Honduran political conflict into direct talks for the first time in nearly three months, but left the country with no commitment from the coup-installed government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Dozens of supporters abandoned former Honduras president Manuel Zelaya to an increasingly isolated embassy in the country’s capital today as the stand-off over his return continued.

Honduras was sealed off from the world today after its deposed president made a dramatic return that sparked off street riots.

Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya charged that the interim government delayed the arrival of a mission from the Organisation of American States to keep diplomats from seeing protests supporting the exiled leader.

Honduras’ interim government says it will accept a visit by foreign delegates aimed at resolving the country’s political crisis provided one controversial delegate attends only as an observer.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya took a symbolic step into his homeland, vowing to reclaim his post a month after soldiers flew him into exile.

Honduras’ interim leader said he is willing to step down if it helps end his country’s political crisis but only if ousted President Manuel Zelaya isn’t allowed to regain power.

The OAS suspended Honduras’ participation in the organisation because of last week’s military coup.

The head of the Organisation of American States said he found no willingness in Honduras’ interim government to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

A top diplomat said he is heading to Honduras to demand the return of the president toppled at gunpoint – a mission he said is likely to meet rejection, bringing diplomatic and economic punishment for the impoverished Central American nation.

Thousands of Hondurans demonstrated for the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who vowed to fly home this weekend despite a warrant for his arrest.

Honduras' ousted president Manuel Zelaya has won overwhelming international support as he planned a high-profile return to his chaotic country.

HONDURAS’S ousted president, bolstered by international support, said he will return home this week to regain control.

Police and soldiers clashed with thousands of protesters outside Honduras’ national palace, leaving at least 45 people injured, as world leaders from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez demanded the return of a president ousted in a military coup.

The Organisation of American States lifted a decades-old ban on Cuba’s participation in the group and cleared the way for the island’s return despite initial US objections.

The US and Cuba, trading their warmest words in half a century, built momentum towards renewed ties, with President Barack Obama declaring he “seeks a new beginning” – including direct talks – with the island’s communist regime.

Fidel Castro said US rules allowing unlimited family travel and remittances to the island were “positive, although minimal”.

Nicaragua lambasted the US government and the head of the Organisation of American States, accusing both of trying to destabilise President Daniel Ortega’s government by criticising local elections.

Cries of adulation – and hunger – followed Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean and actor Matt Damon as they toured flood-ravaged Gonaives to call attention to widespread suffering in the marooned city.

A CRISIS between three Latin American nations worsened yesterday when Venezuela said it was closing its border with Colombia, as diplomatic talks to stave off war were about to begin.

Venezuela and Ecuador have punished Colombia for killing a rebel leader in the Ecuadorian jungle by expelling its diplomats, ordering troops to the border and cracking down on trade.

January 1, 1959 — Dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba and Fidel Castro’s rebels take power.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez echoed Fidel Castro’s cry of “socialism or death” as he was sworn in for a new six-year term today, promising to accelerate Venezuela’s transformation into a socialist state.

The UN Human Rights Council has appointed three commissioners to investigate whether Israel committed systematic human rights abuses in Lebanon.

Haitians voted in overwhelming numbers in an election aimed at restoring democracy in the impoverished nation, swamping officials who struggled to cope with the large turnout.

PRESIDENT Hugo Chavez’s governing party won full control of the 167-National Assembly, claiming a sweeping victory in congressional elections boycotted by major opposition parties.

A CROWD of 10,000 protesters chanting “Get out Bush!” swarmed the streets of the Argentine resort of Mar Del Plata yesterday, hours before the hemisphere’s leaders sat down to debate free trade, immigration and job creation.

Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque says US president George Bush should not attend the Summit of the Americas in Argentina this weekend, because he was neither liked nor respected in Latin America.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said his government could request the extradition of US religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for suggesting American agents should kill him.

The orange alert instituted two weeks ago for US mass transit systems is likely to be prolonged after the latest terrorist attacks in London.

Hurricane Emily strengthened dangerously today after slamming into Grenada, where it blasted out windows and flooded two main hospitals and tore roofs from homes still damaged by last year’s storms. At least one man was killed.

A Peruvian judge has ordered the arrest of 118 current and retired soldiers for their alleged involvement in the 1988 massacre of peasants in an Andean village.