What recent developments occurred in Honduras regarding its former president?
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The former president of Honduras has been released from a U.S. prison. He'd been convicted of drug trafficking but was pardoned by President Trump. NPR's Ada Peralta reports this comes as Honduras tries to untangle a presidential election.
Juan Orlando Hernandez was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison last year for trafficking some 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. At the time, the Justice Department said he abused his power to help one of the most powerful drug trafficking conspiracies in the world. Now, after President Trump issued a pardon, he was released from a prison in West Virginia.
Honduras is currently in the middle of a tense presidential election. Voters went to the polls on Sunday. Citing technical issues, the vote count stopped on Monday. Now, two opposition candidates are in a statistical tie, and the ruling party, which will lose power, denounced U.S. interference in the vote. Eder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.
President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Moscow. They'll discuss a U.S.-backed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says he appreciates the work.
We welcome the ongoing efforts led by the United States to make this a reality. And I'm confident that these sustained efforts will eventually restore peace in Europe.
But the Kremlin released a video of Putin speaking to his top brass yesterday. He blamed Ukraine's government for the war. Observers suggest Putin will not support the U.S. peace plan recently revised with Ukrainian and European input. The nation's public health agency has lost a quarter to a third of its staff this year. The Trump administration is downsizing government agencies.
NPR's Ping Huang reports the cuts have left gaps in function at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Programs aimed at preventing cavities, car crashes, drownings and shootings have halted. Workers who respond to nuclear emergencies or to virus outbreaks that can cause birth defects are gone. Dr. Dimitri Daskalakis, a former CDC official who resigned in August, says the agency is in critical condition.
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