The United States on Monday accused Syria of inciting Palestinian unrest along the Israeli-held Golan Heights to divert attention from its violent crackdown on protests. The State Department called it a "cynical" ploy by the beleaguered Damascus government.
U.S. officials say they regret the casualties in Sunday's clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian protestors in Lebanon, along the Golan Heights, and in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Crowds of Palestinians, marking the 63rd anniversary of Israel's founding, tried to force their way across Israel's northern border with Lebanon and along the dividing line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria.
At least 13 people were killed by Israeli gunfire, including at least three along the Golan boundary, which has been quiet almost the entire time since Israel captured the area in the 1967 Middle East war.
The Golan incident followed a published warning last week by a Syrian businessman with close ties to the Damascus leadership, Rami Makhlouf, that instability for Syria, which has been convulsed by anti-government protests, would mean instability for Israel too.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said it is apparent that the Golan incident was an attempt to distract attention from legitimate protests by the Syrian people.
"We do think that this is an effort by the Syrian government to play a destabilizing role," said State Department Acting Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner. "It's clearly an effort by them to take the focus off the situation that's happening right now in Syria. And it's a cynical use of the Palestinian cause to encourage violence along its border as it continues to repress its own people within Syria."
Toner spoke after Jordan's King Abdullah began a Washington visit by meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and said that Arab political turmoil notwithstanding, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the "core" problem issue in the region.
Scott Lasensky, a Middle East expert at the United States Institute of Peace, says Syria might be exploiting the situation, but that does not diminish the importance of the Palestinian problem.
"Even if that's the case, or likely, or a possibility, one should not be so cynical as to dismiss the Palestinian issue as being unimportant," said Lasensky. "It is a very important question; it has been for a long time. It remains the core of the Israeli-Arab dispute. And I think for people who are watching the 'Arab Spring' or the 'Arab Awakening,' as some have called it, unfold in these weeks and month, it would be wrong-headed to ascribe the agenda across the Arab world as entirely an internally-driven one."
Lasensky noted that the violence on the Israel anniversary precedes a major policy speech by U.S. President Barack Obama on the Middle East planned for Thursday.
He cited a "vacuum" in Middle East peace efforts that began last September, when U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israeli and the Palestinians broke down, almost as soon as they were convened by former U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Lasenksy said that vacuum is being filled by a unilateral effort by Palestinians to have their prospective state endorsed by the United Nations, and violence on the ground as seen by Sunday's events.
In his comments here, State Department spokesman Toner said Israel, like any other country, has a right to secure its borders. But he appealed for restraint by all sides, while commending Palestinian security forces for helping keep order in the West Bank.
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A New York City Judge has denied bail to International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is in custody on charges of sexual assault against a hotel maid. Strauss-Kahn has been determined a flight risk.
Assistant District Attorney John McConnell told the Manhattan Criminal Court the defendant faces multiple charges, including criminal sexual assault and attempted rape. McConnell asked Judge Melissa Jackson to deny bail, saying Strauss-Kahn has the personal, political and financial resources to pay millions of dollars in bail and not return.
McConnell said Strauss-Kahn has no ties to the United States or New York, noting also the absence of an extradition agreement with France that would help ensure his appearance for trial.
The defendant stood just a few meters away looking dejected, and dressed in the long dark trench coat he wore the previous day. One of his defense attorneys, Benjamin Brafman, offered what he said was a generous $1 million bail package. It included an agreement that Strauss-Kahn would stay with his daughter, currently a New York City resident, wear an electronic monitoring device, and surrender all of his travel documents.
Speaking to reporters after the proceeding, Brafman said the defense is disappointed by Judge Jackson's decision.
"We do not believe he has any intention of ever fleeing the jurisdiction, his principal intention is to try to clear his name, and re-establish his good name," said Brafman.
The prosecution said forensic evidence is still being compiled against the IMF official. Preliminary evidence, according to Assistant District Attorney McConnell includes a vivid and consistent account by the victim, identification of the defendant in a police lineup and a hotel surveillance tape that appears to show him leaving the hotel in a considerable hurry.
Brafman argued that Strauss-Kahn was late for a luncheon meeting before his planned departure from John F. Kennedy airport to France and subsequent meetings with European leaders. He also said his client cooperated with hotel security officials and police because he has nothing to hide.
The defendant stepped into the courtroom twice. The first time was for just a few minutes during a series of petty cases that are normally on the docket in the Manhattan criminal court. They include public disorder, drug possession, and possession of stolen goods. His actual hearing lasted nearly 30 minutes.
Strauss-Kahn has been considered a leading Socialist Party candidate for the French presidency
The prosecution says he could face from five to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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In asking for the arrest warrants, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the evidence is clear: Moammar Gadhafi personally ordered the attacks on unarmed civilians that have been taking place since the uprising began in mid-February.
"He committed crimes with the goal of preserving authority. He has absolute authority. He uses that authority to commit crimes," said Ocampo.
Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo said Mr. Gadhafi ruled through fear, that his security forces opened fire onto demonstrators, used heavy artillery on funeral processions, and used snipers to shoot worshippers leaving mosques.
But Mr. Gadhafi, on his way to deliver a speech to his supporters in Tripoli, refuted the charges, saying there were absolutely no protests in Libya, and no firing on protesters because armed gangs related to Al-Qaida do not appear on streets and do not make protests.
The prosecutor said Colonel Gadhafi couldn't do it without the help of what he called the colonel's inner circle: his second oldest son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who he called the de facto prime minister. And his brother-in-law, Abdullah al-Sanousi, his right-hand man and head of Libya's military intelligence. The prosecutor says he has evidence that the three men held meetings to plan the attacks.
Prosecutors have had a lot of help in their two-month long Libya investigation - the court's quickest to date.
The international police agency Interpol and Libyans who have left the country have all provided evidence.
Prosecutors say they've interviewed 50 people - including insiders and eyewitnesses - and have reviewed about 1,200 documents, and are almost ready for trial. But first, judges will have to decide whether or not there's enough evidence to issue the arrest warrants. They have three months to do that. And then, if granted, it will be up to Libyan authorities to turn the men over to The Hague.
Because the U.N. Security Council ordered the ICC investigation, all U.N. member states would be obliged to arrest him if he ventures into their territory.
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An announcement is expected to be made within days by the U.S. State Department on whether there will be a rare diplomatic mission to North Korea.
U.S. and South Korean government sources say Washington is preparing to send an official delegation to Pyongyang, perhaps this month.
The trip, according to the sources, would be led by Ambassador Robert King, the special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. It would assess Pyongyang's urgent requests for substantial outside food aid.
A visiting U.S. envoy to Seoul, Stephen Bosworth, was asked about that after meeting with officials at South Korea's foreign ministry Tuesday.
"We will be making a decision on that in the next few days and it will be announced from Washington," he said. "We had a good discussion today of the North Korean request for food assistance. And, I think, we have largely reached a common view on that and we will be addressing that as we move ahead."
Ambassador Bosworth, the special representative for North Korean policy, is on his first trip to South Korea in four months. It comes amid continuing international discussions about the food situation in the North.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-je says Seoul and Washington share "almost" the same stance on the issue of providing food to North Korea.
Cho says even if Ambassador King goes to Pyongyang, the visit itself should not be seen as an indication that Washington has already made a decision on aid.
South Korea has held firm to a decision not to resume large-scale food aid to Pyongyang any time soon. But it has continued to allow charity groups to send small amounts of emergency assistance for North Korean children.
North Korea, in recent months, has made urgent appeals for substantial food aid.
United Nations' agencies and private organizations express concern about nutrition in the North, saying the situation is at its worst since the famine of the mid-1990s. But some U.S. and South Korean-based analysts are skeptical. They say there is no proof of severe malnutrition. They add North Korea may be attempting to hoard food for next year's celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung.
Support for providing such aid dwindled in Seoul and Washington following last year's sinking of a South Korean warship in the Yellow Sea. An international investigation concluded the vessel was struck by a North Korean torpedo.
There was a further chill following the fatal shelling of a South Korean island. North Korea said it fired on Yeonpyeong island because of a provocative South Korean military exercise near disputed waters on the frontier island.
Seoul and Washington are also discussing a Chinese request to re-engage Pyongyang diplomatically for talks about its nuclear weapons development.
Talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia on compensating Pyongyang for nuclear disarmament have not been held since 2008. The following year North Korea carried out a second nuclear test. That resulted in tougher U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.
Neither the United States nor South Korea has official ties with North Korea.
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Syria deployed more tanks on Monday around villages near the Lebanese border and the flashpoint city of Daraa, as activists say the death toll from the crackdown on anti-government protesters has risen to at least 850.
The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria says violence in the southern villages of Inkhil and Jassem has killed at least 34 people in the past five days. Residents reported tanks patrolling Monday around the town of Arida, near the Lebanese border, and Inkhil, near Daraa.
Syrian security forces killed at least seven civilians Sunday when troops shelled the western city of Talkalakh near the Lebanese border, after hundreds of people fled into Lebanon to escape the crackdown.The exodus into Lebanon peaked over the last three days as the Syrian government intensified forces on the western city.
Syria Turmoil
More than 5,000 Syrian civilians have fled into Lebanon since protesters began calling for President Bashar al-Assad's resignation in mid-March.
Rights groups say arrests continue in some parts of Syria, but that several leading politicians and activists have been released from detention.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Following Monday's talks with Pakistani leaders, U.S. Senator John Kerry told reporters he had not come to ask forgiveness from Pakistan, but instead to make repairs in the relationship caused by the U.S. raid.
"My goal in coming here was not to apologize for what I consider to be a triumph against terrorism of an unprecedented consequence," said Kerry. "My goal has been to talk with the leaders here about how to manage this critical relationship more effectively."
Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the most senior U.S. official to visit Pakistan since the May 2 raid, met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad, after holding talks with Pakistan's army chief on Sunday.
Prime Minister Gilani warned last week that any future unilateral actions such as the U.S. military operation that killed bin Laden would carry serious consequences. U.S. officials, meanwhile, questioned how the al-Qaida leader was able to hide out in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad without being detected.
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There has also been speculation that the leadership actually helped bin Laden to find refuge in Pakistan. Senator Kerry said, at this time, there is no proof of Pakistani complicity in hiding the al-Qaida leader.
"None, no evidence to suggest that the high leadership of this country: civilian or military, intelligence- had any knowledge, we don't know that," Kerry said.
But Kerry warned that mistrust and anger in the United States concerning Pakistan. The senator says several of his colleagues in the U.S. Congress have expressed a desire to break or significantly alter the relationship with Islamabad.
Senator Kerry highlighted that the plan to move forward would be based on real developments and not empty promises.
"Let me emphasize, and I emphasized this in every meeting that we had, this road ahead will not be defined by words, it will be defined by actions," he said.
Senator Kerry said he understood the concern by Pakistan about the breach in national sovereignty, but said Pakistanis need to recognize the circumstances.
"We recognize that the Pakistani people and their leaders take their sovereignty seriously. Every nation does," said the senator. "That's why it's important to underscore the extra-ordinary circumstances behind the mission against Bin Laden."
Before leaving Pakistan, Senator Kerry said he hoped that the relationship could be repaired because both sides share common strategic interests, primarily the fight against terrorism and extremism.
The U.S. lawmaker announced that his trip this week would be followed up by a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the coming weeks.
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Human Rights Watch says at least 800 people were killed in last month's electoral violence in Nigeria.
Three days of rioting began when supporters of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari burned electoral commission offices and police stations following results that showed President Goodluck Jonathan winning the vote last month.
Human Rights Watch Nigeria researcher Eric Guttschuss says the violence then turned sectarian as northern; predominantly Muslim Buhari supporters began attacking southern, mostly Christian Jonathan supporters.
"Individuals from the south who were seen as supporting the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan were also attacked and houses and shops burned," Guttschuss said.
Kaduna state was the most violent. Guttschuss says Human Rights Watch believes at least 180 people were killed in the northern cities of Kaduna and Zaria. Christians in southern parts of Kaduna state responded with their own attacks. "Members of Christian ethnic groups retaliated by also attacking Muslims and Hausa-Fulani, who are predominantly Muslim. From Christian and Muslim leaders who Human Rights Watch interviewed, as well as witnesses, more than 500 people were killed in southern Kaduna state. The majority of the victims in these areas were Muslim," he said.
In both northern and southern Kaduna state, civilians at risk found shelter in army barracks and police stations. But Guttschuss says those security forces also took part in human-rights abuses during the unrest.
"In responding to the violence, both the soldiers and the police were implicated in excessive use of force, including the extra-judicial killings of unarmed residents, and in some areas the systematic beating of people who were arrested during or following the violence," stated Guttschuss.
President Jonathan has appointed a 22-member panel to determine what caused the electoral violence and how such unrest might be prevented in the future.
Guttschuss says Nigerians are rightly skeptical about the panel's impact, given how many previous commissions of inquiry have been ignored.
As for preventing such violence in the future, Guttschuss says Human Rights Watch has traced past incidents of communal violence to state- and local-government policies that discriminate against non-indigenous residents and exacerbate existing communal tensions. "State and local-government policies have effectively relegated millions of Nigerians to the status of second-class citizens in the states in which they reside," he said.
While last month's nationwide elections were among the fairest in Nigeria's history, Human Rights Watch says they were also among the most violent. The group says newly elected authorities should build on democratic gains by bringing to justice those who organized that violence.
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Russia says it wants legal guarantees from the United States that a proposed missile defense shield for Europe will not threaten Russian security.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday that Moscow has been disappointed by Washington's reluctance to provide such assurances, saying it cannot agree to missile defense cooperation with the U.S. and NATO without it.
Russia demanded defense safeguards from Washington earlier this month, after the U.S. reached an agreement to deploy anti-missile interceptors in Romania as part of the new defense shield. Moscow says the prospective missile defense system may pose a risk to Russian strategic nuclear forces in the future.
The U.S. says the system is aimed at countering possible missile attacks from countries such as Iran or North Korea, and is not aimed against Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter to NATO heads of state in recent days, saying that a European missile defense system could only be viable if Russia takes part.
Medvedev has warned that failure by Russia and Western nations to reach an agreement on the issue could trigger a new arms race.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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A European Union finance ministers meeting is being overshadowed by the euro zone's ongoing economic problems and sexual assault charges against International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had been expected to attend the two days of talks in Brussels.
The financial troubles of Greece, Portugal and other weaker euro-zone economies are expected to dominate the Brussels talks that end Tuesday. Finance ministers from the 27 European Union states are expected formally approve a $112 billion rescue plan for Portugal and discuss the possibility of more aid to Greece, which received its own bailout last year.
The chief economist for the Brussels-based European Policy Center, Fabian Zuleeg, says the 17-nation euro zone is facing a tough period.
"Portugal is needing help, there are some uncertainties around there," Zuleeg said. "There are questions about the long-term future for Greece and now, of course, we are having developments with the IMF and Strauss-Kahn in particular."
At issue is Saturday's arrest of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges. The incident is certain to cast a cloud over the talks.
But EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio told reporters it would not impact their outcome. He also praised the IMF's new interim head, former American banker John Lipsky.
"He has a very large experience," noted Tardio, "he is globally recognized as a strong economist, he has a very good knowledge of Europe. So we have no doubt about the continuity also in that respect."
But experts like Zuleeg note Strauss-Khan's absence will be felt on a larger scale. The former French finance minister worked closely with European countries in planning the recent rescue packages.
"He has been personally involved and I think his involvement has also made it more possible, more acceptable for European leaders to bring the IMF in[to] the process," Zuleeg said.
Last week, the IMF warned the debt crisis could spread to other euro-zone members as well as some non-members in eastern Europe.
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The space shuttle Endeavour has lifted off on its 25th and final mission.
"8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 ... and liftoff for the final launch of Endeavour, expanding our knowledge and expanding our lives in space."
And, with that, six astronauts and the youngest shuttle in NASA's fleet, Endeavour, blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for the International Space Station.
Astronaut Mark Kelly is commanding Endeavour's final mission.
He shared a few words with mission control about 10 minutes before launch.
"As Americans, we endeavor to build a better life than the generation before, and we endeavor to be a united nation," said Kelly. "In these efforts, we are often tested. This mission represents the power of teamwork, commitment and exploration. It is in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop."
Kelly's wife, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, attended Monday's launch. Giffords was severely wounded during a shooting rampage in Arizona in January and has been recovering at a medical center in Houston, Texas.
She was among the estimated half-million spectators at the liftoff.
Endeavour was set to launch in late April, but an electrical problem in a heater circuit forced a delay. Engineers replaced the switchbox and installed new wiring.
A few hours ahead of Monday's launch, technicians repaired damage to tile around the shuttle's crew hatch, but NASA said it would cause no issue for the flight.
After the successful liftoff, Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach spoke to reporters.
"Endeavour is in orbit safely and is going to perform a great mission, and we'll see her back here on June 1," he said. "So, a great day here at the Kennedy Space Center and for the shuttle program."
The primary objective of Endeavour's 16-day mission is to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. The spectrometer, or AMS, is a sophisticated detector that will help researchers study the formation of the universe.
It will look for elusive evidence of anti-matter by searching for anti-carbon and anti-helium molecules among all discernible particles.
This will be the last mission for Endeavour, and the second-to-last mission for the U.S. shuttle fleet. NASA is retiring the shuttles in order to focus on developing the next generation of spacecraft that could go beyond low-Earth-orbit.
The next and final launch of the space shuttle Atlantis is set for July.
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Castoff American t-shirts, which have flooded African markets for years, are starting to trickle back to the United States as part of a non-profit initiative spearheaded by two young American social entrepreneurs.
American Sean Hewens said he recently was stuck in a traffic jam in Nairobi, Kenya, when he saw a t-shirt worn by a rickshaw pusher promoting a 2006 bar mitzvah for a teenager called Josh in California.
Hewens became curious about how that t-shirt had traveled so far, and found out many castoff t-shirts from the United States end up being sold in markets across the developing world.
T-shirt turnaround
"You know a t-shirt that means something specific, such as Josh's bar mitzvah, in one place, and then these t-shirts go to the Goodwill and they get sold overseas and resold. From a cultural perspective, things get all mixed up and turned around."
So Hewens decided to turn some of these t-shirts around another time in what he calls Project Repat, as a side project to finance his expanding technology and cultural non-profit called Smallbean.
Retro, funny, ironic, sports-themed, place- and event-specific t-shirts are bought in African markets, cleaned up, stamped with date and location and the Project Repat logo, and sold back to U.S. consumers for $25, of which $20 goes toward funding non-profits.
Using social media
Hewens said he was amazed by the social media-fueled positive response, not only from buyers, but also from volunteers who are buying t-shirts in Africa and donating them to Project Repat.
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"The response that we have gotten from Project Repat, I think it had something to do with the t-shirts, I think it had something to do with this really authentic story behind it," he said.
"But I will be honest, we have just been absolutely flabbergasted by the response and definitely in a good way."
Hewens said so-called t-shirt agents - or "repatriots" as he also calls them - will never take a t-shirt off someone's back, but only buy them in markets.
Supporting local markets, non-profits
The other initiator of the project is Ross Lohr. He heads the Newton Tanzania Collective, which helps schoolchildren in Tanzania and connects them to students in the United States.
Lohr says "Project Repat" also reinforces the meaning of each t-shirt. "Each shirt is incredibly unique. It has a story to tell and in a way it is sort of a double hero because it is supporting local markets in places like Kenya and Tanzania, while at the same time it is supporting non-profits."
And he said the t-shirt return process has proven to be a very effective way to raise funds. "It is tough to be going back to your donor base all the time, the same donors trying to secure funding," said Lohr. "For us, this was really a way to leverage a new demographic, philanthropy and fundraising. You need to find a revenue-generation model, you need to find a way to get new people interested."
The two Boston residents also have used an online fundraising platform to make a documentary movie. Filming is due to begin later this month in Nairobi, when they aim to delve deeper into the stories of the t-shirts and the people who wear, sell, buy and recover them.
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Zimbabwe's national airline has been suspended from the International Air Transport Association for failing to pay its dues. Air Zimbabwe, one of Africa's oldest airlines, has other major financial and operational difficulties.
Top executives at Air Zimbabwe say they are trying to find about $280,000 from the government to pay the International Air Transport Association so it can resume foreign bookings.
The International Air Transport Association has ordered international travel agents to refund foreign travelers with bookings placed with Air Zimbabwe.
The airline, founded 47 years ago, has suffered several strikes this year when pilots refused to work until they were paid what they said were outstanding allowances.
Several privately owned Zimbabwean newspapers have recently reported Air Zimbabwe is massively overstaffed for its small fleet of aircraft.
The airline says its most profitable flight is its twice-weekly Harare to London run, as the airline is the only one in Zimbabwe flying directly to Britain. Most other major airlines pulled out of Zimbabwe under the former ZANU-PF government.
Air Zimbabwe chairman Jonathan Kadzura said recently the pilots' strike had hammered Air Zimbabwe's liquidity.
Earlier this year, when President Robert Mugabe regularly travelled to Asia for medical treatment, striking pilots were ordered to fly the 87-year-old leader on a charter Air Zimbabwe flight to Johannesburg to catch a connection to Singapore. Mugabe, unlike his colleagues in government, shuns medical treatment in Zimbabwe or South Africa.
The Air Zimbabwe board said recently it needs to upgrade the small national fleet, but did not have sufficient funds to do so. Many economic analysts in Zimbabwe say that the airline is a financial drain on the economy and should be privatized.
Air Zimbabwe officials in Harare and London say many travelers lost confidence in the airline's reliability after the pilots' strike.
But since Zimbabwe's unity government came to power 27 months ago, tourism has revived and many foreign tourists travelled to and around the country with Air Zimbabwe.
The airline continues to operate locally and with its Johannesburg to Harare flights.
Zimbabwe struggles to raise foreign loans to repair infrastructure devastated under Mugabe's rule, before the unity government was formed. Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that Zimbabwe has a cash economy, and that he has to run the country on tax revenues, which have slowed this year.
The Zimbabwean government is unable to access loans from the International Monetary Fund because it is in arrears and because of U.S. and European sanctions imposed in 2002 after violent elections.
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Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a Saudi diplomat Monday in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.
Officials say Hassan al-Khatani was driving to work at the Saudi Arabian consulate when the attack happened. Khatani worked in the consulate's security office.
The Pakistani Taliban denied it was involved in the killing, which follows an attack last week in which grenades were thrown at the consulate building in Karachi.
Pakistani police are investigating whether Monday's attack is a result of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned the diplomat's killing and said it has asked Pakistani authorities to increase security around the consulate in Karachi and the embassy in Islamabad.
Pakistani leaders also condemned the attack and promised a full investigation.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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The head of the International Monetary Fund is being held without bail in New York on charges of sexual assault, following a complaint by a hotel maid.
Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn say he is not guilty, and has agreed to undergo a forensic examination as police gather more evidence in the case.
He appeared in a New York court Monday. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
Presidential aspirations
Strauss-Kahn, who has been considered a leading candidate to be the next president of France, was arrested Saturday and later charged with criminal sexual assault, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday he "won't comment on a legal matter," but that the U.S. remains "confident in the institution of the IMF and its ability to continue to execute its mission effectively."
Video footage of arraignment
The accuser
Police say a 32-year-old chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel says she was assaulted by Strauss-Kahn after she entered his $3,000-a-night luxury suite to clean it Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for French writer Tristane Banon said the woman is considering filing a legal complaint saying Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in 2002.
The International Monetary Fund says it remains fully functioning and operational. It appointed an acting managing director on Sunday.
About DSK
Strauss-Kahn is married to a prominent French television reporter, and has weathered previous sex scandals. In 2008, he apologized for what he termed "an error in judgement" for an affair with one of his subordinates.
Strauss-Kahn was taken into custody late Saturday afternoon when he was pulled from his first-class seat on a plane that was just minutes away from taking off for Paris. Police say when they had earlier arrived at his hotel, Strauss-Kahn had already left for the airport, leaving behind his mobile phone and other personal items.
Strauss-Kahn was considered a leading contender to run as the Socialist party's candidate against President Nicolas Sarkozy in France's 2012 election.
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The family of well-known artist-activist Ai Weiwei says he appears to be in good shape, after they were allowed to see him for the first time since he disappeared into detention more than one month ago.
Wife's visit
Ai Weiwei's wife Lu Qing saw her husband for only about 15 minutes Sunday.
Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer who is close to Ai's family, says he was told this is the first time any family member has seen the artist-activist.
Liu says Ai's wife told him Ai appears to be physically fine, and that the food he is eating while in detention is also fine. Liu says Ai only talked about personal family matters, but did not discuss any legal matters.
Activist
Ai is one of China's most internationally famous artists. He also became known for his outspoken activism following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, when he conducted his own investigation into the deaths of thousands of school children. The artist was among critics who blamed official corruption and shoddily-constructed school buildings for exacerbating the threat.
Although Ai was detained more than one month ago, the Chinese government has not officially notified his family about his status or whereabouts. Chinese media say he is being charged with economic crimes, but there are few details.
Information
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Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu has brushed aside foreign reporters' repeated questions about Ai.
Jiang says she cannot comment on the case because it is still under investigation. In the past, she has urged critics to wait for the results.
In Beijing at the end of April, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner pointed to the latest crackdown on dissent in China as evidence of what he described as "serious backsliding" on human rights.
"We have been and are very concerned over recent months by reports that dozens of people, including public interest lawyers, writers, artists like Ai Weiwei, and others have been arrested, detained or in some cases disappeared, with no regard to legal measures."
Human rights
Posner's comments came at the end of two days of US-China human rights talks in Beijing. <!--IMAGE-->
Another human rights controversy surfaced last week, during high-level U.S.-China strategic and economic talks in Washington. In an interview with the Atlantic Magazine, about the turmoil in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called China's human rights record "deplorable," and said history is not on the side of governments that resist democracy.
The Chinese spokeswoman initially said reporters only partially understood Secretary Clinton's remarks. One day later, she more bluntly rejected the U.S. official's comments, saying it is not appropriate to compare China to North African countries that are facing turmoil.
China's latest crackdown on dissent sharply escalated earlier this year, following the Jasmine Revolution protests that led to leadership changes in the Middle East.
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A roadside bomb attack in southern Thailand's restive Yala province killed at least two Buddhist monks early Monday. The region has been the site of an ongoing insurgency since 2004 that has killed thousands of people. The violence has only increased in recent months. As Thailand prepares for a tightly-contested national election in July, politicians are considering options that are aimed both at calming tensions and winning votes.
The southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Yala are the focus of a separatist insurgency that since 2004 has killed more than 4,600 people.
In recent months militant attacks have grown more brazen, with car bombings on military bases and outposts and shootings targeting state officials. Thailand's military and civilian governments have struggled to deal with the violence, despite deploying more counterinsurgency forces and tightening security.
Imtiyaz Yusuf, a professor of Islamic studies and religion at Assumption University, says the violence has led to fresh calls for a political solution in the region. "It is a general discussion that is going on in the Thai political community that the only option to address the problems in the South is to take measures towards self governance. It will be like a valve to release lots of frustrations and demands which are going on in the South. It will help, but not in the long run," said Yusuf.
While Thailand's population is largely Buddhist, the residents of these provinces are mostly Muslim Malays who feel they have been ignored by the central government in Bangkok. The southern insurgent groups have never identified themselves, nor their objectives. However, they usually target people viewed as symbols of the Thai Buddhist state or their collaborators.
The region remains under emergency rule with more than 30,000 troops, some 20,000 territorial light infantry and police forces stationed across the four provinces. Critics have accused the military of using heavy-handed tactics against locals.
But with elections scheduled for July 3rd, both the governing Democrat Party and opposition Puea Thai Party hope to lure voter support in the region.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader, last week set out policies promoting special development zones. But Panitan Wattanayagorn, the government spokesman, says those reforms rule out regional autonomy.
"There are various study groups working on these issues along the way of creating a special zone specifically for the needs of the locals based on the current constitution. The constitution doesn't allow the separation of the areas in such a way that reduces the sovereignty or the unity of the country," stated Wattanayagorn.
In a bid to win votes in a region historically dominated by the Democrats, the opposition Puea Thai Party has favored a form of decentralization, but not the complete autonomy called for by insurgent groups. Kudeb Saikrajang is a Puea Thai Party supporter and former party spokesman.
"We believe in the kind of autonomous entity for the provinces to work that way. But it doesn't mean to have to be absolute authority to run the province. We may have more decentralization for the people there. And I think it's the model for the South. I believe that a policy remains, remains with the party," said Saikrajang.
The Thai military resists moves by the government for greater civilian control in the region which remains under emergency rule. Analysts say the Thai military fears any moves to autonomy would boost insurgency demands for complete independence from the Thai state.
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A human rights group says election-related violence in Nigeria killed more than 800 people last month, when clashes broke out following the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Monday that Nigerian authorities have failed to stop the recurring violence, and called for the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
The group said it has documented cases of police and the military using excessive force in trying to control rioting and sectarian violence.
It said the worst clashes happened in southern Kaduna state, where Muslim and Christian leaders told Human Rights Watch the violence left more than 500 people dead. A majority of those killed were Muslims.
Jonathan has formed a panel to investigate the violence, including determining how many people were killed, what led to the clashes and how to prevent future violence.
Much of the violence broke out in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, after it was announced that President Jonathan, a Christian from the south, won re-election on April 16.
Jonathan defeated his northern Muslim rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari has refused to concede defeat. His Congress for Progressive Change party says the voting process was flawed and has asked a court to throw out some of the poll results.
Nigeria has a population of 140 million that is divided roughly evenly between Muslims and Christians. The country has endured periodic sectarian violence, primarily in the central region where the two groups often live side-by-side.
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