NATO is stepping up pressure on the Libyan government's strongholds with targeted aerial attacks and psychological warfare operations.
Wing Commander Mike Bracken said Tuesday NATO has air-dropped leaflets and broadcast messages to troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi asking them "to return to their barracks and homes.''
The messages also urge them to move away from any military equipment, as they are potential targets for NATO airstrikes.
Airstrikes by the alliance targeted a building used by Libya's security services in the capital, Tripoli Tuesday, as well as the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency. Both structures were on fire after the bombing.
Meanwhile, pressure continues on the diplomatic front. Canada says it is expelling five diplomats from the Libyan embassy in Ottawa for what it calls "inappropriate" actions that are "inconsistent with normal diplomatic functions." The foreign affairs ministry announced the action in a statement on Tuesday. The ministry says Canada has not severed ties with Libya, but has suspended operations at its embassy in Tripoli.
Libya is also getting pressure from neighboring Tunisia concerning shelling from Libya on to Tunisian soil. Tunisia's state-run TAP news agency says the government considers the shelling "hostile activity" and may refer the issue to the United Nations.
Russia has urged Libya to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution and withdraw its armed forces from civilian areas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with representatives of the Libyan government Tuesday in Moscow. Lavrov said the Libyans expressed a willingness to look at an African Union peace plan if NATO ends its bombing campaign.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said U.N. and Libyan officials are looking for a way for the embattled Libyan leader to go into exile.
In a separate development, officials in Tunisia say Libya's oil minister has left his post and defected to their country. Libyan officials have not confirmed the defection. Shukri Ghanem was the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation and veteran member of Gadhafi's regime.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has urged the International Monetary Fund to formally appoint an interim leader while IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is held on charges of criminal sexual acts and attempted rape.
Speaking at an event in New York City Tuesday, Geithner became the latest in a string of international finance officials to speak out about Strauss-Kahn and the future of the IMF.
Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Strauss-Kahn should quit to avoid damaging the IMF. Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said her sympathies are with the woman who was allegedly assaulted.
Officials in China and Brazil suggest that the next IMF leader come from outside Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says world leaders should not pre-judge Strauss-Kahn. But she added that Europe has good candidates available to take his place.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of attempted rape and criminal sexual acts against a maid at a luxury hotel in New York. He denies the charges.
A law enforcement official said Tuesday that Strauss-Kahn is under a 24-hour suicide watch at Rikers Island, a maximum security prison.
The prison official Tuesday said Strauss-Kahn was placed under a suicide watch after undergoing a psychological exam. He gave no other details.
A New York judge has denied Strauss-Kahn bail, saying he could be a flight risk. Strauss-Kahn is reported being kept in a single cell away from the general prison population.
Strauss-Kahn has weathered past sexual scandals. In 2008 he apologized for what he termed an "error in judgment" for an affair with one of his subordinates. Also, a lawyer for French writer Tristane Banon says she is considering filing a legal complaint against Strauss-Kahn, claiming he sexually assaulted her in 2002.
Strauss-Kahn is due back in court on Friday.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to leave early Monday for a six-day, four-nation tour of Europe. The president will talk with European leaders about improving the global economy and regional security as well as bilateral and multilateral relations.
After a week of concentrating on the upheavals in the Middle East, President Obama will turn his attention to Europe and its concerns, mainly the state of the global economy.
The president will start in Ireland, whose economy, once called Europe's "tiger," is now reeling from a debt crisis.
Mr. Obama will mix business with pleasure in Ireland, visiting a small village where some of his ancestors had lived. "I am expecting to go not only to all the famous sites, but also to go to Moneygall, where my great-great-great-great-great grandfather hails from," he said.
Almost 37 million Americans claim Irish heritage, and Mr. Obama says the two countries share a close kinship.
Next, the president will spend two days in London for a formal state visit.
He and Mrs. Obama will stay at Buckingham Palace, where Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will host a state dinner in their honor.
In London, Mr. Obama will speak to both houses of the British Parliament, and he will talk with Prime Minister David Cameron about the economy, security and other issues.
Steven Clemons, a senior fellow at Washington's New America Foundation, says the United States and Britain have an enormous stake in the recent changes in the Middle East and North Africa. "The phenomenal changes underway and which will likely continue for years in the Middle East, the ongoing challenges of troop deployment in Afghanistan, the combined NATO and allied forces intervention in Libya," he said.
But analysts say the main purpose of the meetings in London might be to smooth over recent rough spots in the so-called "special relationship" between the United States and Britain.
After disagreements, including the Obama administration blaming Britain for last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Steven Clemons says the special relationship is not as special as it once was. But he says that might not be cause for concern. "I do not look at the conflict as a problem as much as it is a sign of a natural and healthy move to a different kind of relationship in the future that may actually be more effective," he said.
The president moves on to Normandy, France, and the resort city of Deauville, where the Group of 8 industrial countries will hold its annual economic summit.
The leaders will cover numerous issues, including global health, food security and arms control. But their primary focus will be on the state of the world's economy.
Domenico Lombardi, a senior fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution, says Mr. Obama knows the economic health of the other G-8 nations will affect the pace of America's economic recovery. "But, of course, it still contains some elements of fragility, and in that sense, it is very important for the U.S. economy that the other systemically important economies are doing well," he said.
Lombardi says he expects Mr. Obama to push America's European partners for tougher fiscal policies, especially toward heavily indebted countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. "If anything, President Obama will be asking his European counterparts to be more aggressive in devising a more appropriate response to the crisis in Europe," he said.
At the same time, the president hopes to reassure his counterparts on the strength and importance of their relationship.
Mr. Obama will conclude his trip with a long-delayed visit to Poland. The president had planned to visit Poland last year, for the funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and other officials who were killed in a plane crash. But the trip was canceled due to the huge cloud of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland.
During this visit, Mr. Obama and President Bronislaw Komorowski are expected to sign an agreement to station U.S. F-16 fighter jets in Poland, a proposal that has angered Russia.
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At the White House on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah discussed the popular uprisings in the Middle East and efforts to move Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts forward.
The talks began a week of intense Middle East-related activity for the president, which will include a major address Thursday on the U.S. approach to the upheaval and political changes in the region, followed by his meeting on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president said he and King Abdullah shared views on the "extraordinary changes" in the region, including the situation in Libya and what Obama called "rapid transformation" in places like Egypt and Tunisia.
"We both agreed that it is critical that not only does political reform proceed, but economic reform accompanies those changes there because so much of what is taking place has to do with the aspirations of young people throughout the Arab world, for their ability to determine their own fate, to get an education, to get a job to be able to support a family," said Obama. "And that means that some of the old structures that were inhibiting their ability to progress have to be reworked."
The president said their talks included "reform efforts" taking place in Jordan. He also said the United States welcomes initiatives that will be good for the security and stability of Jordan, and the economic prosperity of the Jordanian people.
Thanking the president for U.S. economic support for Jordan and its reform process, King Abdullah said Jordan will continue to be a strong partner with the United States on all issues in the Middle East. He reiterated his view about the importance of settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I am delighted to be back here, and again to take this opportunity to thank you and your government for the tremendous support that you are showing Jordan economically, and the support of the United States and a lot of our friends internationally, on really being able to push reform in an aggressive manner in our country and again your continued interest and support on the core issue of the Middle East, which is the Israeli-Palestinian peace," said Abdullah.
Mideast peace efforts have been complicated by the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, and a unity accord between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Obama reiterated a view that he and administration officials have stressed in recent months, that an Israeli-Palestinian settlement has become even more important against the background of developments in the region.
"Despite the many changes, or perhaps because of the many changes that are taking place in the region, it is more vital than ever that both Israelis and Palestinians find a way to get back to the table and begin negotiating a process whereby they can create two states that are living side by side in peace and security."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the president's speech on Thursday will be an opportunity for him to assess the historic changes in the Middle East, and to explain to the world how his administration will support these changes and the democratic aspirations of the people in the region.
Carney avoided going into specifics on what Obama will say about the Israel-Palestinian peace process, saying he would leave that for the president on Thursday. He did say, though, that the moment of opportunity the president likely will discuss in his address applies to everyone in the Middle East, including Israelis and Palestinians.
"This is a moment of opportunity, and not just for other countries in the region, but for Israeli and the Palestinians as well," said Carney. "There is historic change taking place in the region."
Against the backdrop of that historic change, Carney said that President Obama believes it is incumbent upon political leaders in the region to take steps that encourage positive change.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Washington this week in an effort to muster U.S. support for Israel in the face of political changes in the Arab world and rising pressure from the Palestinians.
The Israeli leader will have an opportunity to explain to U.S. President Barack Obama how he plans to deal with changes in the Arab world and the growing internal and external pressure for a peace with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials say it is too early to tell what changes will come in neighboring Arab states in the wake of recent uprisings, but they are concerned that more hostile governments will replace the ones that have fallen.
Speaking to Israeli lawmakers Monday, Netanyahu said that during this transition period, Israel's situation might become more problematic and challenging.
The Israeli leader said Israel sees what is happening in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, which he says is now ruled by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. He noted that the demonstration by thousands of Palestinians at Israel's border fences on Sunday, calling it an attempt to invade Israel's territory and harm its sovereignty.
Sunday's unprecedented wave of protests by thousands of Palestinian demonstrators at Israel's borders and checkpoints along the Palestinian territories showed that the so-called Arab Spring has arrived at Israel's doorstep.
Demonstration organizers used Facebook and other social media to call protesters from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. Many described themselves as Palestinian refugees seeking to return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.
Netanyahu says Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, and he laid out a list of conditions on Monday. None of them hinted at changes in policy or concessions ahead of his Washington trip.
The Israeli leader said the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state, allow for Jerusalem to remain undivided under Israeli rule, and agree that a future Palestinian state would be demilitarized.
He also ruled out the return of refugees to lands inside Israel, saying that Palestinians who want to return to Israel threaten the existence of the Jewish state.
Netanyahu said he is ready to accept a Palestinian state, but that he is not ready to accept a Palestinian state instead of the state of Israel.
Also causing concern for Israel's leaders is a reconciliation agreement recently signed by the moderate Fatah faction that runs the West Bank and the militant Islamist group Hamas that rules Gaza.
Israel opposes dealing with any Palestinian leadership that includes Hamas, which the United States considers to be a terrorist organization and whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Beverley Milton-Edwards, a political scientist at Queens University Belfast, specializing in Palestinian Islamist groups, says "Israel feels very insecure with the threat that Hamas poses on its doorstep in Gaza combined or tied to the threat that it perceives is posed from the northern border from other Islamist forces and in particular in Hezbollah. So I think this explains why Israel finds it difficult to believe in such overtures."
Palestinian officials plan to be in Washington at the same time as Netanyahu and are expected to make a case for their reconciliation deal.
"Unity is a requirement for anything. How can we sign an agreement with Israel, but we can only guarantee its implementation in the West Bank? It is ridiculous. Unity is a requirement for peace," said Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official.
The Palestinians are preparing for September, when they will seek United Nations support for statehood.
Israel, meanwhile, is working to shore up international support to prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state before a final peace agreement is reached.
At home, Netanyahu is under pressure from the political opposition, which has been calling on him to come up with a peace proposal.
"I believe he should come up with a certain peace initiative, peace plan, or political program, and present it worldwide in order to first of all convince us Israelis and the Palestinians and finally the entire world that Israel does mean peace and intends to achieve peace and this is the way to go," said Nachman Shai, a lawmaker with the centrist Kadima party. "I wish very much to see him putting out this plan while he meets with President Obama at the end of the week. I am almost sure this is just a dream."
Relations between the United States and Israel have been strained during the Obama administration, as the Netanyahu government has resisted White House pressure for it to curb settlement construction in the West Bank.
With conditions in the region becoming more uncertain, many Israelis are watching to see how far Netanyahu is willing to go to bolster relations with Israel's biggest ally.
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The United States and European Union are warning of new action against the Syrian government in the coming days if it does not halt its crackdown against protesters. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton discussed Syria and efforts to get Iran back to big-power nuclear talks.
Clinton and Ashton made clear they are losing patience with Syrian leaders and their reform promises, and are indicating that new sanctions or other punitive steps against Damascus are imminent.
Meeting reporters after talks at the State Department, the two expressed alarm about reports this week of mounting casualties in clashes between Syrian security forces and demonstrators.
Both the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions against Syrian officials implicated in the violence, but have not yet directly targeted President Bashar al-Assad.
Ashton said she spoke with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim last week and told him the Damascus government needs to take advantage of what she termed a "closing window of opportunity" and change course.
"If the government really does, and it keeps telling us it does, want to see some kind of change, it has got to be now," she said. "I think we are all very aware that the situation is so grave, that it is now in the situation where we need to consider all of the options. And I think there will be a number of moves in the coming hours and days that you will see."
Clinton said she agreed with Ashton that further steps will be taken in the days ahead in the face of a Syrian crackdown, which she said has killed, by best estimate, nearly 1,000 people.
"They have embraced the worst tactics of their Iranian ally, and they have refused to honor the legitimate aspirations of their own people in Syria," said Clinton. "President Assad talks about reforms, but his heavy-handed brutal crackdown shows his true intentions."
Ashton has been a go-between with Iran in efforts to get it to return to talks about its nuclear program with world powers.
She and Clinton expressed disappointment over a letter from Tehran earlier this month on Iran's terms for returning to the bargaining table, with Clinton saying Iran should drop all conditions.
"Lady Ashton is preparing a response to Iran's recent letter," she said. "But let me make clear that the burden remains on Iran to demonstrate it is prepared to end its stalling tactics, drop its unacceptable preconditions and start addressing the international community's concerns."
Ashton said she would like to see a new round of talks, but does not anticipate that happening soon, based on the Iranian note.
The last meeting between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council member states and Germany was in January in Istanbul.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has arrived in the Irish Republic - the first ever visit there by a British monarch.
Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip received a state welcome upon the start of their four-day visit Tuesday, just hours after a series of bomb threats in both countries.
Some 8,000 police were deployed to protect the British monarch, clearing the streets of Dublin to prevent any potential attack.
Members of a violent IRA splinter group opposed to Britain's continued rule in Northern Ireland are believed to be behind the threats.
Dressed in green, the symbolic color of Irish Catholics, the queen met Tuesday with Irish President Mary McAleese. She then went on to visit a memorial honoring Irish war dead.
McAleese described the historic visit as an extraordinary moment in Irish history and a sign of the success of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
King George V was the last reigning British monarch to visit what is now the Irish Republic. He did so in 1911, when it was still part of the United Kingdom.
The queen and Prince Philip are traveling in an armored Range Rover, on loan from the British province of Northern Ireland to the independent south of the island.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to join the queen on Wednesday.
The Irish military on Monday defused a bomb found in the luggage compartment of a bus near Dublin.
Shortly after, a second suspicious device was found at a nearby tram station and determined to be a hoax.
London authorities received a coded bomb threat warning on Monday, leading police to block off streets near Buckingham palace and sweep the area.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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Pakistan's military has filed a strong protest after an exchange of fire between its ground forces and NATO helicopters along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Pakistan says troops at a border post opened fire early Tuesday when the helicopters violated Pakistani airspace. It says two soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire.
NATO confirms it had helicopters flying near the border, and said it is investigating the incident.
A Western military official in Kabul said the helicopters were on the Afghan side of the border and received fire from inside Pakistan. He said one of the helicopters shot back only after coming under fire twice.
Tuesday's exchange near the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan came amid heightened tensions between the United States and Pakistan, following the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
U.S. Senator John Kerry was in Pakistan Monday on a visit aimed at repairing relations. On Tuesday, he chaired a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on ties with Pakistan.
A former U.S. national security adviser told the panel in Washington that Pakistan must change its behavior if frayed ties are to be salvaged.
Retired Marine General James Jones said Pakistan has tough choices to make, and needs to show the world that it will not tolerate the existence of terrorist organizations on its soil. He said what happens in coming weeks will have significant "strategic consequences" for the future U.S.-Pakistani relations. He said that when it comes to mending fences, more responsibility is on Pakistan.
Senator Kerry, a Democrat, said the United States has "100,000 reasons" to maintain a productive relationship with Pakistan - a reference to America's troop commitment in neighboring Afghanistan.
The committee's senior Republican, Senator Richard Lugar warned that the U.S. does not give out "blank checks," referring to billions of dollars in aid given to Pakistan. He said Pakistan must do "much more than it has" to root out terrorists in the country.
Separately on Tuesday, Pakistani security forces say they foiled a suicide attack in the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, Quetta. Officials say five militants, including three women, were planning to attack an army checkpoint when police intercepted them and killed all five of them.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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Zimbabwe's main political parties are at odds again, this time over the process of transferring public opinion into 17 clauses of the proposed new constitution. About a million people attended some 5,000 public meetings last year, and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party says its supporters' views dominated this outreach program and should therefore determine the content of the new charter.
A last-minute compromise between ZANU-PF and MDC was negotiated last week so that both the quantity and quality of views expressed at the outreach program will be represented in the new constitution.
Crispen Mutungwazi, a supporter of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, the largest political party in Zimbabwe, said the constitution is for all the people of Zimbabwe, not just ZANU-PF, even if more of its supporters contributed to the public outreach program last year.
"As MDC we are a democratic party," said Mutungwazi. "The constitution is supposed to represent the wishes of the people not of a particular party, whether your view is ZANU-PF and whether your view is MDC."
He said he hoped the new charter would represent the people's views, from both MDC and ZANU-PF, and the constitutional clauses, such as a bill of rights, would not end up "being hammered out at the negotiating table."
Paul Mangwana, ZANU-PF's co-chairperson of the parliamentary committee which has run the constitution-making process, said ZANU-PF prepared carefully for the public outreach program to be sure the party's views dominated the charter.
"ZANU-PF thoroughly planned for the outreach, we started by crafting a document of their views, and the views they hold dear, this they disseminated to their structures engaged in pre-outreach meetings where people understood the views of the party," said Mangwana.
The MDC co-chairperson, Douglas Mwonzora, who is also a legislator in the 27-month-old inclusive government, says the quality of the public's input at the outreach program was more important than the numbers of those who attended. He said many from ZANU-PF were forced to attend the public meetings, but conceded that the MDC had not mobilized its supporters to attend.
"This exercise was not a quantitative exercise, so the numbers didn't really matter, it is a qualitative exercise," said Mwonzora. "After seeing that people were being coerced we then said there is no voting at the meetings. We recorded the views that came out, it is impossible to say this is a majority view or a minority view in important questions, so the MDC position was not as dominating as it should have been because they didn't take it seriously, but there were a few brave people who spoke and their position is coming out."
The constitution-making process was delayed in February when Mwonzora was arrested and charged with public violence, charges he denies.
Phineas Zimuto, a supporter of the small MDC, the third political party in the inclusive government, says ZANU-PF supporters who attended the outreach program had been instructed to present their party's views by their leaders, particularly in rural areas.
"The main advantage which ZANU-PF wants to take is that during the outreach programs when we were visiting the rural areas they used to bus people and they also used to tell people what to say as compared with what happened in the urban areas." said Zimuto.
He said the outreach meetings were not elections on what to put into the new charter.
"So for us having a quantitative approach will not work, because this is not a voting process. What we just want to hear is to take the views of the people, what they said, no matter who said that or the number of people who said the same statement," added Zimuto.
A ZANU-PF supporter, Newton Matutu, who lives 250 kilometers south of Harare, says more ZANU-PF supporters, particularly in the rural areas, contributed opinions about what the party wants in a new charter, than the MDC. He said if the ZANU-PF views were not included in the new charter, it would be unfair.
"Our party has got so many supporters in the rural areas so their voices were supposed to be heard and not just the people in the urban areas," he said. "We don't care what MDC is going to say at the end of the day, because it is what the people said that we are really concerned about."
The multi-party political agreement which brought the inclusive government to power in February 2009 spelled out that a new constitution must be created before the next elections.
The process has been delayed by shortage of funds, political party squabbles, some violence in Harare last year, and complex logistics of arranging thousands of meetings around the country.
Some analysts say at the end of the day, the new charter will emerge from negotiations. Currently, 17 multi-party committees are meeting to thrash out each of the 17 clauses which will make up the new constitution.
Few expect a draft to be ready for a referendum before September this year.
If a majority of people reject the new constitution, Zimbabwe will carry on under its present, much amended charter which came into operation at independence in 1980.
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Opposition parties in Senegal are looking for a consensus candidate to challenge President Abdoulaye Wade in elections early next year.
Toward that end, hundreds of people gathered for a large and noisy opposition rally in Ziguinchor, the regional capital of the southern Casamance region.
Called "Benno Siggil Senegal" - or "Unite to Empower Senegal" - the opposition coalition featured speakers railing against what they call the failed policies of President Wade.
The rally attracted more than 30 opposition groups, including several former members of Wade's party and the socialist regime that preceded him. The goal of the meeting was to begin to field possible candidates who could unite the fragmented opposition and run a viable campaign against the president.
Among the half-dozen politicians present, it is still unclear who might fill this role. Though the 84-year-old president's popularity has faded over his 10-year rule, he retains much support in the capital Dakar.
Wade says he intends to run in next February's election, though many political observers believe he is preparing his son Karim to succeed him. The president says his son has as much right to run for president as anyone else in Senegal and believes that he would be a strong candidate. He currently is the minister of state for international cooperation.
At the Ziguinchor rally, 27-year-old opposition supporter Alassane Diallo said he has had enough of the president and his son.
Diallo said it's a matter of Wade doing whatever he feels like. Diallo said there are no checks and balances on the president's power like one finds in other countries, and ministers are making outlandish salaries.
Diallo said he has voted for Wade in the past, but said that now the time for change is long overdue.
Many politicians at the event also spoke of the insecurity that has plagued the Casamance for 30 years. Separatists have been fighting for the independence of the agricultural region since 1982. There have been a series of cease-fires, but renewed violence over the past year has set back a once-thriving tourist trade.
Political leader Amath Dansokho of the Party for Work and Independence spoke to the rally's boisterous crowd of young and old, saying a new government would be the region's best chance at peace.
Dansoko said peace will never come to Casamance as long as Wade is in power. Because of the president, Dansokho said, everyday the prices of food and fuel go up and taxes go up.
Though he did not address the crowd, the former mayor of Ziguinchor, Robert Sagna, appeared to garner the loudest and most prolonged applause.
Voulymata Badji sat in a plastic chair at the edge of the crowd. She would like to see Sagna run because she said he did much for Ziguinchor before being voted out of office when President Wade came to power.
Badji said Sagna is in her heart. She said he would do well to represent the Casamance region, which has long felt ignored.
Whoever emerges as the candidate of the opposition coalition will not be running just against Wade. Former ruling-party prime ministers Idrissa Seck and Macky Sall have both launched independent presidential campaigns, as well.
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A law enforcement official says International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is under a 24-hour suicide watch in a New York prison.
Strauss-Khan is being held at Rikers Island, a maximum security prison, for allegedly trying to rape a New York City hotel maid.
The prison official Tuesday said Strauss-Kahn was placed under a suicide watch after undergoing a psychological exam. He gave no other details.
Some global financial leaders are suggesting that Strauss-Kahn resign as head of the IMF.
Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said he should quit to avoid damaging the IMF. Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said her sympathies are with the woman who was allegedly assaulted.
Officials in China and Brazil suggest that the next IMF leader come from outside Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says world leaders should not pre-judge Strauss-Kahn. But she added that Europe has good candidates available to take his place.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of attempted rape and criminal sexual acts against a maid at a luxury hotel in New York. He denies the charges.
A New York judge denied Strauss-Kahn bail, saying he could be a flight risk. Strauss-Kahn is reported being kept in a single cell away from the general prison population.
Strauss-Kahn has weathered past sexual scandals. In 2008 he apologized for what he termed an "error in judgment" for an affair with one of his subordinates. Also, a lawyer for French writer Tristane Banon says she is considering filing a legal complaint against Strauss-Kahn, claiming he sexually assaulted her in 2002.
Strauss-Kahn is due back in court on Friday.
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Public health experts say quick and timely action prevented the tsunami-struck Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan from turning into a major disaster. The experts presented an overview of radiation risks and public health concerns arising from this event at a special meeting at the World Health Assembly.
Director of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization (WHO), Maria Neira, says the decision by the Japanese authorities to evacuate people living outside a 20-kilometer radius of the stricken Fukushima Dalichi power plant prevented a catastrophic impact on public health.
"That was a decision taken in the first 24 hours, which is exactly when you need to take it and from that day we were avoiding the worst scenario," said Neira. "So, that was a very important decision and the one that is protecting the human health from those that had been evacuated."
The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan's northeast coast on March 11 killed more than 25,000 people, destroyed or damaged some 60,000 houses, and left 110,000 homeless. This event also struck the nearby nuclear facilities, resulting in a meltdown and potentially dangerous release of radiation into the atmosphere.
Makoto Akashi is Executive Director at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan. He says the amount of radioactive cesium released into the atmosphere is much smaller than that released in the nuclear accident in Chernobyl.
But, no one knew this at the time, so he says screening of people for radiation began one day after the earthquake on March 12.
"We provided radiation monitoring for many, many people," Akashi noted. "But, no treatment was provided because level of contamination for the workers and also public people not so high…Fortunately, there are no workers or public people requiring treatment for radiation exposure or contamination with radionuclide. And, monitoring system has been established for tap water and food. So, there is no dangerous food or tap water in Japan."
The experts agree no major public health impact is expected from the release of radiation from the Fukushima plants. They say there is no immediate risk of people getting cancer. Nevertheless, they say it is prudent to remain vigilant and they plan to maintain a system to monitor the people and the environment involved in this nuclear disaster in the years to come.
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In U.S. presidential politics, it has been a week of turmoil for Republicans hoping to challenge President Barack Obama in next year's election. Two prominent Republican contenders, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and New York businessman Donald Trump, have decided against a run for president in recent days, leaving some major questions about who will run for the party nomination in 2012.
Donald Trump got a lot of attention before he decided to pull out of the race on Monday. But the biggest impact on the 2012 Republican field so far is Mike Huckabee's decision not to seek the nomination despite the fact that he was at or near the top of most public opinion polls.
Huckabee explained his decision on Fox News Sunday. "But I just somehow believed deep within me that it was not the right time and it was not to be, and whether it was a lack of detailed preparation, it is not going to happen this time," he said.
With Huckabee and Trump now out of the race, some Republicans are turning their attention to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. He has not formally declared, but is raising large sums of money and is at the top of most public-opinion polls of likely Republican contenders.
Romney, though, is facing stiff criticism from conservatives for a health-care reform plan in Massachusetts he passed as governor that became the model for President Obama's national health care plan approved by Congress last year.
Conservatives wanted Romney to disown the Massachusetts plan, something Romney said he would not do. Instead Romney has criticized the Obama plan as too sweeping. "I believe it is an economic nightmare. It does not lower health care costs, overall, in our system," he said.
Romney is not the only Republican contender with challenges to overcome. Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has officially entered the race, but continues to face questions about his two divorces and a history of adultery, an issue of concern to social conservatives, a key voting bloc within the Republican Party.
Gingrich spoke on NBC's Meet the Press. "I have made mistakes in my life. I have had to go to God for forgiveness and to seek reconciliation and I would ask them to look at who I am today," he said.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul has joined the race and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum have also taken steps toward a White House bid.
But some recent surveys suggest Republicans are dissatisfied with the developing field of presidential candidates and would like to see other choices, bolstering the notion that this is the most wide-open Republican field in decades.
Peter Brown is with the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Connecticut. "One thing is pretty clear. Republican voters are looking for someone who can beat Barack Obama and that is a big deal to them and I think that will, to a large degree, drive the race," he said.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says he will decide soon on whether to make a bid, as will Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a favorite among social conservatives and supporters of the Tea Party movement pushing for smaller government.
But analysts say it is never easy running against an incumbent president, especially one like Barack Obama who is a proven fundraiser and campaigner.
Stephen Wayne is a professor of government at Georgetown University in Washington. "So running against an incumbent with a recovering economy and an incumbent who can raise a lot of money and have no opposition [from within his own party], that is a big Herculean feat and none of the people who are serious contenders want to do it now if they could wait four years," he said.
Most experts see Mr. Obama in a favorable position for re-election, but far from a sure thing. They say the president's re-election likely hinges on continued economic and job growth and that an unexpected downturn could quickly change the political dynamic for 2012.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, hope to lure other contenders into the race, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. But both of them have said no to a presidential run.
One prominent Republican who has given no hint of her intentions is former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who was the party's vice presidential nominee in the 2008 campaign.
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While the 2009 murder of a Peace Corps volunteer in the West African country of Benin remains unaccounted for, activists and former volunteers are seeking reforms to the U.S. overseas service program.
A hearing last week in the U.S. Congress failed to bring answers from Peace Corps officials about the murder of Benin Peace Corps volunteer Kate Puzey. Prior to her death, Puzey had sent an email to other Peace Corps officials accusing a Benin national employee of sexually abusing children at a school in the northern village of Badjoude, where she also taught.
Disappointment
Former Peace Corps volunteer and executive editor of a widely read blog called Gender Across Borders, Emily Heroy, was one of many activists who was disappointed after closely following the proceedings.
"What happened, that was atrocious," Heroy said. "That family deserves to hear what happened to their family member."
Needed reform
She says there needs to be not just accountability from Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, but also a complete change of how Peace Corps offices and employees worldwide deal with cases of sexual assault.
"Some of the country directors I know were not former Peace Corps volunteers, which I think makes a big difference," noted Heroy. "Maybe they do not understand the volunteer's point of view in that respect, but also the doctors also working with Peace Corps volunteers and the program directors as well, many of them are country nationals, so they may not understand where we are coming from as U.S. citizens and how we deal with sexual assault. It may be different in their country."
Betrayal
During the hearing, Kate's mother, Lois Puzey, said that Kate's email about the sexual abuse was passed on to the accused, Constant Bio, despite Kate's insistence that her identity be protected.
"Kate particularly emphasized the need for confidentiality because she understood that the brother of Mr. Bio worked in that same country office as the Peace Corps director," explained Puzey. "Tragically the way that Kate's email was handled ultimately led to her death."
The suspect
Bio has been in custody since the March 2009 murder, while authorities in Benin continue to investigate. In a letter to a Benin newspaper, Bio asserted his innocence, claiming he was being framed by Americans.
Activists have called for new legislation, ranging from whistle-blower protection for those who accuse other Peace Corps employees of crimes to better care of volunteers who become victims of sexual abuse themselves.
Congressional hearing
Last week's hearing focused on testimony by former volunteers who had been sexually assaulted during their service, some of them by Peace Corps officials. They all testified that they had been mistreated by the Peace Corps after the attacks, being told to hide what happened or finding themselves ignored.
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Florida Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the Peace Corps needed a "culture change".
"Peace Corps safety and security failures have been a recurrent problem with tragic consequences for thousands of volunteers," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Some who seek to ignore those problems have asserted that volunteer service itself is inherently risky as an excuse for lax and ineffective safety and security measures. That attitude is unacceptable."
Apology
Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams apologized to victims.
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"The brave women who have come forward have shown us that the Peace Corps has not always been sufficiently responsive, compassionate or sensitive to victims of crime and their families," Williams said. "It is heartbreaking to learn that. And I apologize for any additional pain the agency has inflicted on our volunteers."
Williams said changes are being made and implemented. But during his testimony, he did not acknowledge any role the Peace Corps may have played in the death of Kate Puzey. The volunteer organization, which this year marked 50 years of existence, has more than 8,000 volunteers serving in more than 70 countries, many of them in remote locations working for better health and education.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on anti-government protesters has been leavened with at least verbal concessions to reform. But given the history of the country, the government and his family, some political analysts believe those promises will never be fulfilled.
There was a telling moment a few weeks back, as the Syrian president appeared before parliament. His army was using tanks and guns against his citizens, but inside the legislature, lawmakers heaped praise upon the president, some appearing overcome with emotion. Assad stood smiling broadly, basking in their accolades. The disconnect between government and the Syrian people is not what everyone hoped for when the Western-educated eye-doctor took power in 2000.
But Hilal Khasan, political science professor at the American University in Beirut, says the president is steeped in his family's political tradition.
"You cannot undo the work of the formative years," said Khasan. "Bashar was socialized by his father, and Bashar grew up in a household that considered Hafez al-Assad, the father, the owner of Syria."
For three decades, Hafez al-Assad ran Syria with an iron fist. He consolidated power in his fractured country by manning key government positions with members his family and others of his minority Alawite sect, a Shi'ite group in the majority Sunni country. He crushed his opponents, most notably an uprising in Hama in 1982, at the cost of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of lives.
In what is referred to informally as a hereditary republic, Bashar al-Assad has continued the tradition, with his brother and brother-in-law among those holding top positions in the army and intelligence.
"It is impossible to separate between the Assad regime and the security forces," added Khasan. "Actually, without the security forces, this regime would not be able to stay in power for a single day."
The Assads' ideology is secular, but the alliances have been with fellow Shi'ites, most notably Iran and the militant Lebanon-based Hezbollah. The backdrop they present is that the country is segmented, and faces threats from Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as its enemy Israel.
"People believed the stories that give the Assad regime legitimacy," said Nadhim Shehadeh, a Middle East and North Africa analyst at Chatham House. "And basically a dictatorship needs to prove that it is indispensable, that it is irreplaceable and that beyond it there is chaos that is very unimaginable, so that people could cling to it for all these reasons. And also, the creation of an atmosphere of fear also helps because it bonds all of these elements together."
The Israel narrative has been largely dormant since Syria lost the Golan Heights to its neighbor in 1967. But in recent days, it proved handy again, with the government allowing Palestinian refugees to cross through to the Golan boundary.
The U.S. called it a cynical move to distract attention from domestic unrest. Others argued it was also a reminder to Israel and its backers that the Assads, both father and son, left the Golan alone.
But how long can this system - forged in another era, when information was tightly controlled and the current uprisings sweeping the region seemed unimaginable - stay viable? London-based analyst Shehadeh believes there is a limit.
"It is impossible to reconcile such a system with the reforms that are necessary," noted Shehadeh. "And that's why such a regime can survive for a very long time as people buy the idea of the regime. But once this is exposed, or once the credibility or legitimacy is gone, it's very difficult to maintain such a facade."
American University in Beirut's Khashan argues that there is no question that the idea of legitimacy is shaken in Syria. He asks, how else could anyone explain the continued uprising against Assad, despite the heavy toll in human life.
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NATO is stepping up pressure on the Libyan government's strongholds with targeted aerial attacks and psychological warfare operations.
Wing Commander Mike Bracken said Tuesday NATO has air-dropped leaflets and broadcast messages to troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi asking them "to return to their barracks and homes".
The messages also urge them to move away from any military equipment, as they are potential targets for NATO airstrikes.
Airstrikes by the alliance targeted a building used by Libya's security services in the capital, Tripoli Tuesday, as well as the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency. Both structures were on fire after the bombing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with representatives of the Libyan government Tuesday in Moscow. Lavrov said the Libyans expressed a willingness to look at an African Union peace plan if NATO ends its bombing campaign.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said United Nations and Libyan officials are looking for a way for the embattled Libyan leader to go into exile.
In neighboring Tunisia, officials say Libya's oil minister has left his post and defected to their country. Libyan officials have not confirmed the defection.
Shukri Ghanem was the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation and veteran member of Gadhafi's regime.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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Tokyo Electric will step up measures to prevent groundwater contamination at the stricken Fukushima nuclear-power plant amid worries that highly radioactive water is leaking from the core of at least one reactor.
Company officials say work will begin immediately to build a drainage system that will pump the water to a reprocessing facility where much of the radioactivity can be removed. It will then be re-circulated through the cooling system.
Recent data analysis concluded a meltdown of nuclear fuel likely occurred within a day of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region. The melted fuel is thought to have created holes allowing water to leak from the center of the reactor.
The work is one of the new measures in Tokyo Electric's plan for taking the Fukushima Daiichi plant from crisis to stability. Other measures will be visually apparent at the plant in the coming months.
To guard against further damage from a possible tsunami created by future aftershocks, Tokyo Electric will install stone-filled cages along the shoreline to mitigate waves.
In early June the company will begin building a large shell around the Reactor-1 building. The temporary building's job is twofold: to keep environmental emissions of radioactive materials down and to shield the damaged building from late summer typhoons. There are also plans to add similar shields around the damaged Reactor-3 and Reactor-4 buildings.
It has been one month since the Fukushima recovery plan was published.
Tokyo Electric says it remains on schedule to bring the plant under control sometime between November this year and January 2012. Most work is on track and at least one measure, the installation of remote-controlled water-spraying machinery, is ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government says a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency will arrive in Japan next week to investigate the Fukushima accident. The news was announced by Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
Edano says the 20-person team will be in Japan for about a week and will report its results to a June ministerial meeting in Vienna. It will be led by Mike Weightman, Britain's chief nuclear inspector and head of its nuclear safety and security regulator.
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Chinese officials are downplaying a U.N. report that accuses North Korea of continuing to export banned ballistic missile technology. On Tuesday, Chinese officials refused to engage allegations that the illegal shipments went through China.
China is coming under mounting pressure after diplomats claimed the Chinese representative on the U.N. panel refused to sign the report accusing North Korea of remaining "actively engaged" in illegal ballistic missile exports.
The report says the missile components and technology were moved through a third country in violation of United Nations sanctions. While the report does not mention which country that is, some diplomats have told news agencies it is China.
When quizzed by reporters Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu refused to engage with the accusations.
Jiang said China has maintained close and cooperative relations with all parties involved in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and always adopts what she described as a constructive attitude.
In an earlier faxed statement to journalists, she said that China is, in her words, "earnest and responsible when implementing Security Council resolutions."
The report is from a UN panel charged with monitoring the implementation of sanctions against North Korea.
Investigators said they suspect prohibited nuclear missile components have been transferred between North Korea and Iran on their national air carriers, Air Koryo and Iran Air. The flights are suspected of going through China.
The U.N. first imposed sanctions against North Korea banning the import or export of large scale arms, nuclear technology and other items in 2006, following Pyongyang's first nuclear test.
After its second test in 2009, authorities strengthened the arms embargo and authorized searches of ships. The U.N. also imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on companies and individuals involved in the country's nuclear and weapons programs.
The panel's 81-page report was sent to the 15 Security Council members and they will discuss the findings Tuesday. If all parties agree on its content, the U.N. will make the report public.
Beijing held up the first report exactly a year ago, but dropped its objections six months later.
Burma began releasing thousands of prisoners Tuesday under a limited clemency program that will have little impact on the nation's political prisoners.
Human rights groups and the U.S. State Department have said the government must go further and immediately release Burma's estimated 2,200 political prisoners. U.S. President Barack Obama renewed American economic sanctions on Burma for another year Monday, saying the large-scale repression of the democratic opposition in that country has not been resolved.
The clemency program, proclaimed Monday by President Thein Sein, commuted death sentences to life imprisonment and reduced all other jail terms by one year.
The government Tuesday began releasing more than 14,000 prisoners who had less than one year left on their terms. However the release was expected to affect very few political prisoners, most of who are serving terms of up to 65 years.
The French news agency AFP quoted an unidentified Burmese official saying the release would include some intelligence officers who were on the losing side of a power struggle in 2004. However former prime minister and intelligence chief Khin Nyunt is serving a 44-year sentence and was not expected to be freed.
Human Rights Watch on Monday dismissed the clemency program as a "pathetic response" to demands for increased political freedom. It called the program a "slap in the face" for a senior United Nations envoy who had just urged the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made the call at the end of a visit to Burma last week.
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The World Bank says six major emerging economies, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia, will account for more than half of all global economic growth between now and 2025.
In a study released Tuesday, the World Bank also predicts the international monetary system will no longer be dominated by a single currency, but instead successful economies will help drive growth in lower-income nations through trade and financial transactions.
The report says advanced economies such as the European Union, Japan, and the United States will all continue to play a core role in fueling global growth.
World Bank chief economist Justin Yifu Lin has called the economic outlook "multipolar" and says international financial institutions must adapt quickly to keep up with changes in the global economy.
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Syria's interior ministry is denying reports by opposition sources of the existence of a mass grave in the southern flashpoint city of Daraa, the scene of a violent crackdown by the government. Opposition websites showed video Monday of bodies being pulled from the alleged mass grave on the outskirts of the city.
The interior ministry denial of the mass grave report was met with skepticism.
France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe insisted Tuesday that there was enough support in the UN Security Council to condemn Syria for the brutal crackdown against its people.
Syrian opposition groups posted a call for a "general strike" Wednesday on Facebook to protest the government crackdown. Activists are urging the Syrian public to hold "mass protests" that encompass the closing of "schools, universities, stores and restaurants."
Several thousand students at Aleppo University held a candle-light protest vigil overnight that was later broken up by police. Many students were reportedly arrested. Other candlelight vigils were also held in two Damascus suburbs, according to media reports.
Witnesses say pro-government militiamen continued their crackdown in the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh, and sporadic gunfire could be heard on the Lebanese side of the border. Hundreds of refugees have fled to Lebanon since the crackdown began four days ago.
The Lebanese press is also reporting that the Syrian government has requested that three soldiers that fled into Lebanon over the weekend be handed over. Human rights groups say the soldiers could be tortured if they are sent back and are urging Lebanon not to heed the request.
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In Libya, British jets bombed two government building in the capital Tripoli overnight, according to Britain's defense ministry. One building was reportedly used by the government's secret police to crack down on opponents.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim condemned the attacks, demanding that NATO and the Western alliance open a dialogue with Tripoli, instead of bombing the country:
"If they are really interested in protecting civilians, which is the main and only justification they proposed for their aggression against our nation," he said. "If they are truly interested in that, then we have called upon them to stop and to start talking to us."
Arab satellite channels also reported that Libyan Oil Minister Shoukri Ghanem defected to Tunisia, following dozens of other former Libyan officials and ambassadors in recent weeks. Witnesses said clashes between Libyan rebels and pro-Gadhafi forces near a rebel-held bordering crossing with Tunisia.
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