Ban Ki-moon urges peaceful solution to crisis in Honduras

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UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
voiced deep concern about the latest developments in Honduras, according
to the statement attributable to the spokesperson for the
Secretary-General.
Ban Ki-moon "expresses his strong support for the country's democratic
institutions and condemns the arrest today of the constitutional President
of the Republic."
He urges the reinstatement of the democratically elected
representatives of the country and full respect for human rights,
including safeguards for the security of President Zelaya, members of his
family and his government.
He calls on all Hondurans to engage peacefully and in the spirit of
reconciliation to resolve their differences.
The statement stressed that the United Nations stands ready to provide
assistance in overcoming this crisis.


.Yushchenko seeks to put constitutional amendments to public vote.

KIEV, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
wants to put amendments to the Constitution he had come forward with to a
referendum, as the parliament disregards them.
"I have no confidence that the parliament will fulfil its duties. I am
sure that these amendments should be put to a referendum. Let's people
submit their amendments and proposals and give the answer," he told the
Inter TV Channel on Sunday.
At the same time, ex-president Leonid Kuchma called on politicians not
to amend the Constitution and "not to discredit themselves with the
world." "It is necessary to work in compliance with the effective basic
law."
In an interview with a Ukrainian channel Kuchma said, "some
politicians offer the Constitution as a subject of sale under the counter."
"Nobody has seen this product and its price cannot be defined, but
this price is well-known in advance - 301 votes (of parliamentarians -
Itar-Tass). Therefore it is necessary to stop not to discredit themselves
with the whole world and work in compliance with the effective
Constitution," he said.
The leader of the opposition Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovich
stressed that the time to make amendments to the Constitution "has already
passed."


.Russia, Azerbaijan hope to sign two accords after summit in Baku.

BAKU, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and Azerbaijan are expected to sign
two agreements after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Baku
that begins on Monday.
The first one is a cooperation deal between Russia's gas giant Gazprom
and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic. Under this agreement
Azerbaijan will export gas to Russia as of January 2010. At first, this
will be not high gas export volume.
In June 2008 the Russian side offered Azerbaijan to buy all gas it
will produce within the framework of the second stage of development of
one of the world's biggest gas condensate fields - Shakh Deniz with
estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
This agreement will open a new page in the two countries' relations.
Iran, the European Union and Israel have already expressed readiness
to buy Azerbaijan's offshore gas from the second stage of Shakh Deniz.
Baku says it calls for diversified routes of gas exports to the world
market and considers Russia as one of such routes. At present, Azerbaijan
and Russia are linked by the Mozdok-Kazi-Magomed pipeline with the annual
throughput of 6 billion cubic meters.
The second document prepared for signing is an accord on the use of
water resources of the border river Samur. Experts say if signed this deal
would be an important step towards completing the two countries' border
delimitation process.
This accord will also speed up the construction of a bridge that will
help to increase freight traffic and boost bilateral trade that for the
first time exceeded the margin of 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.

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