HONDURAN presidential challenger Salvador Nasralla alleged ballot fraud and urged protests for Wednesday as troops rolled toward the capital. Fears of a repeat of the 2009 US-backed coup against president Manuel Zelaya were raised after video posted on social media on Tuesday showed long lines of army trucks carrying soldiers on the road from Sigatepeque to La Esperanza — west of the capital Tegucigalpa. Counting of votes in Sunday’s presidential election resumed after a mysterious two-day hiatus. Mr Nasralla’s five-point lead over incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez rapidly shrank to 24,000 — less than one per cent — with around half a million ballots left to count. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) promised a final result by Wednesday night. On Tuesday Opposition Alliance candidate Mr Nasralla accused the ruling National Party of Honduras (PNH) of pressuring the TSE, which had called his 45 per cent to 40 per cent lead irreversible days earlier, to steal the election. H

THE ANC's women's and youth leagues have slammed threats of a credit downgrade for South Africa if Vice-President Cyril Rampahosa is not anointed president. The the two structures, who support Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for election as party president at next month's ANC congress, spoke out on Saturday after former minister Pravin Gordhan's comments to a meeting in Johannesburg's posh Sandton business district on Thursday night.  Mr Gordhan said: "If we support Ramaphosa I can guarantee you we will not see a downgrade.  "If we get that team going we have no worries about downgrades, we will see a change in growth." The ANC Women's League said it was "irresponsible, self-serving and advancing of narrow political agenda for any ANC leader to indirectly lobby for rating agencies to downgrade South Africa if his/her candidate does not emerge." And the Youth League said Mr Gordhan had made it clear "rating agencies are not apolit