International

Honduras elections: the top three candidates

AFP

Thirteen candidates will contest Honduras’s razor-tight presidential election on Sunday to see who will succeed scandal-tainted Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Here are short profiles of the top three challengers.

– Left –

Xiomara Castro was never meant to run for president, but she is the front runner to become her country’s first female leader.

As the wife of Manuel Zelaya, she was first lady in 2009 when her husband was deposed in a coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.

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She made her name leading mass street protests against the coup and there began her own rise to presidential hopeful.

Tough but softly spoken, her popularity stems from her defense of the poor.

But in a deeply conservative and macho country, she faces the twin difficulties of opponents branding her a communist and a puppet for her husband.

“The shadow of Zelaya weighs heavily on her, and in Honduran society it can be assumed that Zelaya is the power behind the throne,” sociologist Eugenio Castro told AFP.

The ruling party has also tried to discredit her proposals to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage — touchy issues in much of Central America.

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Often seen wearing denim jeans, and always with a white cowboy hat, the 62-year-old insists she stands for a “Honduran-style democratic socialism” and has tried to distance herself from the leftist models in Cuba and Venezuela that scare many voters.

Already an unsuccessful candidate in 2013, when she narrowly lost to Hernandez, Castro has some heavyweight backing this time — not least in Salvador Nasralla, a television host who lost out to Hernandez in 2017 amidst accusations of fraud.

Castro was born into a middle-class Catholic family and married Zelaya aged just 16. The couple have four children.

Zelaya says the children have a mix of Spanish, Basque, indigenous, Arab and Senegalese blood.

– Right –

Tall, slim and always seen in jeans, a long-sleeved blue shirt and farming boots, Nasry Asfura likes to present himself as a rural worker allergic to offices.

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The 63-year-old of Palestinian descent, the current mayor of Tegucigalpa, is the candidate for the ruling right-wing National Party (PN).

With that comes the benefit of the political machinery that has kept the PN in power for a dozen years, but also the stigma of being linked to drug trafficking and corruption.

“I have never spent a single day sat in my office in the town hall, every day I go out into the streets to serve and see where there are problems,” he said, vowing to generate jobs if elected.

He is credited with improving the traffic congestion in Tegucigalpa by building many bridges, tunnels and roundabouts in the capital during his two four-year terms as mayor.

The father of three is a graduate in civil engineering and created a construction company that became one of the biggest in the country.

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Although styled as the law-and-order candidate, Asfura has not escaped the accusations of corruption blighting many Honduran politicians.

“He has been accused not just in Honduras, (but also) the Pandora Papers and in Costa Rica. That’s not a good sign,” said Eugenio Sosa, a professor of sociology at the National University.

Asfura was accused in October 2020 by the public prosecutor of embezzling $700,000, while he was linked in the Pandora Papers to influence peddling in Costa Rica.

And while he has not been linked himself to drug trafficking, “he’s been compromised by protecting Hernandez,” said Sosa.

– Center –

The centrist candidate, Yani Rosenthal, is a convicted drug trafficker.

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He spent three years in a US jail after admitting laundering drug trafficking money. He was released in August 2020, just in time to run for president.

He is the son of the late Jaime Rosenthal, one of the richest people in Honduras — and prison time was tough on someone used to a silver spoon.

“I learned to wash myself from the waist up in the sink and from the waist down in the toilet,” said the 56-year-old.

Despite his criminal record, in March he won the primaries to be the center-right Liberal Party’s candidate.

The law graduate has his work cut out as his beaten rival, Luis Zelaya, refused to support him and is instead backing Castro.

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He has presented himself as the centrist candidate against “left-wing extremism” and PN corruption.

“We don’t want a radical leftist path, nor a corrupt right-wing one, we want a liberal path down the center,” he said.

He claims to be the only candidate able to present “viable” economic solutions and has vowed to give every adult a $60 monthly voucher.

A father of four, he was minister of the presidency for two years under Zelaya and says he has a track record of creating jobs.

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International

Child Found Malnourished in Van in France; Father Admits Confinement

French gendarmes discovered a child in a van in Hagenbach, in northeastern France, after a neighbor reported hearing what she described as “childlike noises” coming from the parked vehicle.

After unlocking the van, officers found the boy lying in a fetal position, unclothed and covered with a blanket, surrounded by garbage and near human waste, according to a statement from the Mulhouse prosecutor, Nicolas Heitz.

Authorities said the child appeared pale and severely malnourished. Due to prolonged confinement in a seated position, he was no longer able to walk. He was immediately taken to a hospital in Mulhouse for medical care.

The boy’s father, who lived with his partner and two daughters aged 10 and 12, admitted to keeping the child confined and depriving him of proper care.

According to the prosecutor, the man said he placed the child in the van in November 2024, claiming he wanted to “protect him” because his partner intended to have the boy admitted to a psychiatric facility.

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The suspect also stated that he allowed the child out of the vehicle in May 2025 and permitted him to enter the family apartment around mid-year, when the rest of the family was on vacation.

The man’s partner—who is not the child’s mother—also faces charges, including failure to report abuse. However, she has denied all accusations.

International

Europe Faces Jet Fuel Shortage Risk Amid Hormuz Disruption

The Airports Council International Europe has warned of a potential “systemic shortage” of jet fuel if maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is not restored within the next three weeks, according to a letter reviewed by AFP on Friday.

In the document, addressed to the European Commission and first reported by the Financial Times, the European airport lobby stated that a “systemic jet fuel shortage will become a reality” in the European Union unless stable and significant transit through the strait resumes soon.

The association, which represents around 600 airports across 50 countries, called on Brussels to implement “urgent monitoring of fuel availability and supply” over the next six months.

Jet fuel prices have surged amid the conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy transport.

The conflict escalated on February 28 following joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iran.

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In response, Tehran imposed several countermeasures, including blocking maritime traffic through the strait, a route through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil, jet fuel, and gas supply passes.

International

Artemis II crew prepares for Earth return and splashdown recovery

Astronauts from the Artemis II mission are expected to be extracted from the Orion spacecraft approximately two hours after splashdown, scheduled for 20:07 UTC this Friday (6:07 p.m. in San Salvador), according to NASA.

Following recovery, a rescue team will transport the crew by aircraft to the USS John P. Murtha. Once onboard, they will undergo medical evaluations before boarding another flight to the Johnson Space Center.

On Thursday, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, continued preparations for their return to Earth.

Their activities include stowing equipment used during the mission, securing cargo and storage compartments, and installing and adjusting crew seats to ensure all items are properly fastened. The crew will also review the latest weather updates, recovery operations status, and reentry timeline, while preparing for post-landing procedures.

At 21:53 UTC (9:53 p.m. in San Salvador), Orion’s thrusters are scheduled to perform a second trajectory correction maneuver, refining the spacecraft’s path back to Earth. During this operation, Hansen will monitor guidance, navigation, and propulsion systems.

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NASA explained that during Friday’s reentry, the service module will separate about 20 minutes before Orion reaches the upper atmosphere southeast of Hawaii. If necessary, a final trajectory adjustment will fine-tune the flight path before the capsule begins a series of roll maneuvers to safely distance itself from jettisoned components.

Just before atmospheric interface, Orion will reach a peak speed of approximately 3,800 km/h. As it descends to about 400,000 feet (around 121.9 km), communications will be interrupted for approximately six minutes due to plasma formation around the capsule during peak heating.

NASA expects the crew to experience up to 3.9 G during a nominal reentry profile. After exiting the blackout phase, the capsule will jettison its forward bay cover. Drogue parachutes will deploy at around 22,000 feet (6.7 km), followed by the three main parachutes at approximately 6,000 feet (1.8 km).

Artemis II marks NASA’s first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon. The mission aims to validate capabilities for deep space human exploration and lay the groundwork for future long-term scientific missions on the lunar surface.