A divided U.S. House of Representatives has sent a mixed message to President Barack Obama on U.S. military involvement in Libya.
Lawmakers handed President Obama a symbolic setback by refusing to authorize the U.S. involvement in Libya for one year. But in a second vote, the House stopped short of cutting off funds for the Libya involvement in what was seen as a symbolic victory for the White House.
During Friday's debate, it was clear that objections to the U.S. military involvement in Libya spanned the ideological spectrum.
Many Republicans are upset with Mr. Obama for refusing to abide by the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires the president to seek congressional approval for the use of U.S. military forces involved in hostilities abroad within 60 days.
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House Speaker John Boehner supported a Republican proposal to cut most of the funding for U.S. involvement in the Libyan operation. The funding restriction would have cut off the use of drone attacks in Libya but continued funding support missions including search and rescue, intelligence, surveillance and refueling.
"I support the removal of the Libyan regime. I support the president's authorities as commander in chief," said Boehner. "But when the president chooses to challenge the powers of the Congress, I as speaker of this House will defend the constitutional authority of the legislature."
Republicans were joined in the effort by a few anti-war Democrats who are tired of the military commitments in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya.
"Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you I have been all over this country and I haven't had a single person come up to me to tell me, 'you know, Dennis, what America needs is another war.' The last thing we need is to be voting to go to war," said Congressman Dennis Kucinich is a Democrat from Ohio. "There are plenty of reasons to oppose the war in Libya."
Eighty-nine Republicans joined forces with most members of the Democratic minority in the House to reject the effort to cut most of the funding for U.S. involvement in Libya by a vote of 238 opposed to 180 in favor.
In the earlier vote, the House rejected an attempt to give President Obama the authority to continue military operations in Libya for another year by a margin of 295 to 123. Seventy Democrats joined most Republicans in refusing to authorize the U.S. role in support of NATO.
Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland argued that the Republican-led effort to eliminate funds for the Libya operation would have sent the wrong message around the world.
"The message will go to Moammar Gadhafi. The message will go to our NATO allies," said Hoyer. "The message will go to every nation of the world that America does not keep faith with its allies. America must lead. We must not equivocate."
At the State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised lawmakers for rejecting the proposal that would have cut most of the funding for the Libya mission.
"We need to stand together across party lines and across both branches of government with the Libyan people and with our friends and allies and against Gadhafi," Clinton said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney expressed disappointment in the earlier House vote against authorizing the Libya mission, and said it was not the time for Congress to send mixed signals on Libya.
Next week, the focus shifts to the Democratically-controlled Senate, which is expected to be more receptive to the president's policy on Libya.
Democrat John Kerry and Republican John McCain have co-sponsored a resolution that would authorize limited U.S. military involvement in Libya for one year. The Obama administration says it would welcome approval of that resolution, which will be taken up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and eventually by the full Senate.
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The International Committee for the Red Cross has brought some 300 people out of Tripoli to be reunited with family members in eastern, rebel-held Libya. Among them are prisoners of war captured by government forces in the uprising.
The ship pulled into the brilliant blue waters of Benghazi harbor Friday, on the first of three journeys the Red Cross has arranged to bring those displaced by the conflict back to their homes.
One of the passengers said he couldn't begin to describe how good it was to see Benghazi again.
Some 300 people made the journey eastward. Another 110 people, caught in Tripoli away from their homes when fighting broke out in February, are taking the ship back west.
A final trip, set for the coming days, will bring several hundred more back to the rebel stronghold. Dibeh Fakr is spokesperson for the ICRC in Benghazi:
"The ICRC is doing this operation today to reunite families that were separated because of the recent conflict - some families that were in Tripoli, working, studying or even visiting relatives and they couldn't come back because of the conflict and the front lines," said Fakr. "Same for families here in Benghazi. The main criteria was that these people should be initially residing on both sides."
Officials of the rebel's Transitional National Council kept the reunion on hold as they went on board to double check the documents and histories of those returning, ensuring no spies from the government of Moammar Gadhafi were among them.
Families on the dock waited patiently in the midday sun during the delay, knowing their ordeal was almost over. Abdsalaam Fatouri's nephew was among those coming home.
"He's been caught in the first day in the attack on Benghazi on the 19th of February," said Fatouri. "We thought he was dead, but we found out through one of his friends, one of the people who was arrested that he was in prison in Tripoli."
He was among about 50 former detainees on board. It was not clear why the government released the prisoners. Red Cross officials said they were not involved in getting them freed.
But not everyone was lucky to find a loved one.
Hassan al Bejou came down to the waterfront when he heard former POW's were were arriving. His brother was last seen in March on the frontlines of Ajdabiya, when his rebel unit came under attack.
He said he didn't have confirmation his brother was on board, but added it's better to have hope.
All the passengers had been accounted for, but it was a determination to remain positive that is shared by others across the country.
Rebel relief officials estimate there are about 10,000 people in eastern Libya whose whereabouts are unknown.
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At least three Yemeni soldiers were killed on Friday after an explosion in the southern port city of Aden.
The blast in Aden's free-trade zone came after Yemeni security forces opened fire on thousands of people gathered nearby for a funeral, killing at least one person. The violence wounded at least six other people Friday.
Since January, thousands of people across the country have been calling for an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's autocratic rule. Many of the protests have turned violent, with security forces killing at least 200 people.
There were reports Friday of demonstrations demanding Mr. Saleh's ouster in several locales across Yemen.
Mr. Saleh is recovering in Saudi Arabia from injuries sustained in a recent bomb attack on the presidential compound, as various factions, including Islamist militants, vie for power throughout the country.
The ongoing violence has prompted the United Nations to send a mission to Yemen next week to investigate human rights issues.
U.N. officials said Friday the three-member delegation would arrive in Yemen on Monday for a 10-day fact-finding mission. The delegation will meet with government authorities, rights activists, members of the opposition and alleged victims of human rights violations. The group also is planning to visit medical and detention centers.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council on Friday expressed "grave concern" about the deteriorating situation in Yemen and called on all sides to show restraint and engage in dialogue.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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At least 12 people were killed Friday when Syrian security forces fired on crowds as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide in another round of demonstrations aimed at overthrowing President Bashar Assad.
The demonstrators gathered throughout the north and around the capital, Damascus, despite a heavy military presence and the fear of the continuing military crackdown. Protesters have been under assault by pro-government forces for more than 100 days.
Rami Abdel Rahman, an activist with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the French news agency by telephone from the town of Kiswah that security forces opened fire on demonstrators there and wounded an unknown number of people.
Deaths were reported near Damascus and elsewhere. Syrian state-run television blamed "armed gangs" for shooting at security forces in a Damascus suburb, killing three people.
Details of Friday's violence have not been independently confirmed, largely because Syria does not permit outside media to cover protests. Activists say Syria's crackdown has killed at least 1,400 people in the last three months.
Turkish officials said Friday that more than 1,500 Syrian refugees crossed the border into Turkey after Syrian troops stormed the town of Khirbet al-Jouz.
According to Turkish government estimates, nearly 12,000 Syrians are now housed in massive tent encampments in Turkey.
Syrian troops are said to be within 500 meters of the border.
Syria's deployment is the closest its troops have come to Turkish territory since military operations in the area began two weeks ago. Turkish troops moved their border positions several hundred meters back, apparently to avoid potential confrontations with Syrian units.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the border scene is "very worrisome," and has warned Syria to pull back its troops. She says their presence is worsening an already bad situation for refugees and risks sparking border clashes with the Turks.
Related video of Syria/Turkey border area
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Stock markets rallied Friday after European Union leaders agreed on a new bailout for Greece, provided that Athens commits to more austerity measures. But the Greek deal fails to address fundamental problems threatening the future of the 17-member eurozone.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the bailout deal for Greece agreed by European Union leaders in Brussels as "good." Merkel said the 27-member EU was going to push Greece and another ailing eurozone member, Portugal, to respect austerity programs they have agreed to in exchange for massive loans. European finance ministers are meeting in early July to carve out the details of the new Greek rescue package, which will reportedly be worth more than $171 billion.
But the months-long eurozone crisis - which has not only hit Athens, Portugal and Ireland, but also threatens Spain - is far from over. First, Greek lawmakers must approve more austerity measures in exchange for a new bailout, and it's by no means certain they will do so.
But Simon Tilford, chief economist for the London-based Center for European Reform, says true reform is going to take more than just a parliamentary vote.
"Resolving the Greek crisis is going to need more than a series of bailouts," said Tilford. "Basically, unless the Greek economy can return to economic growth, they won't be able to bring about ongoing improvements in the country's public finances."
Tilford says doing so means addressing fundamental problems not only facing Greece, but the 17-member eurozone as a whole.
"Going forward, one of two things have to happen within the eurozone," added Tilford. "Either they bite the bullet and they forge some fiscal union that is they have a federal budget whereby countries with stronger public finances transfer moneys to those with weaker public finances."
Or, Tilford says EU leaders should address the huge trade imbalances within the eurozone marked by strong exporters like Germany and weak ones like Greece.
Janis Emmanouilidis, senior policy analyst for the Brussels-based European Policy Center, agrees the European Union must address fundamental imbalances within the eurozone if the monetary union is to remain intact.
"I think the member states will come out of the crisis," said Emmanouilidis. "I'm not saying in total. I'm not saying some of the member states won't face even more severe problems. In the Greek case we don't know how the case will in the end start to develop."
If the EU resolves its eurozone debt problems, analysts like Emmanouilidis believe the block could emerge strengthened from the experience. If not, some analysts fear the decade-old currency zone may not survive, at least not in its current form.
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Farm ministers from the G20 group of leading and emerging economies wrapped up their first-ever meeting this week with a call for better regulation of the global commodity markets.
French leaders in particular have blamed financial speculators for contributing to this year's rise in food prices and the unrest they have triggered in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.
But while experts agree commodity speculation has grown sharply in recent years, they do not agree how much blame it deserves for today's high and volatile food prices.
Wild swings
Woody Barth has been farming and raising cattle in North Dakota for about 30 years. He says he always looked to the commodity markets for stability. But that's changed in recent years.
"We've seen a lot of wild swings in the market," says Barth. "I mean, a day of five cents up on the corn market, 10 cents up on the wheat market, up or down, was a big day five, seven years ago, 10 years ago. But that's a quiet day nowadays."
Corn, or maize, has hit its 30-cent one-day trading limit 51 times so far this year on the major U.S. grain exchange. That's up from 36 times in all of last year.
Avoiding these wild price swings is one reason why farmers and food makers are in the commodity markets to begin with. They can set prices today for crops that are still in the ground.
Transferred risk
That lowers the risk that weather or other factors beyond their control will push prices up or down come harvest time, says economist John Anderson with the American Farm Bureau Federation.
"There are so many things we don't know. And so, the people who are involved in these markets face tremendous risk. And the whole point of these markets is to allow a way for that risk to be transferred."
Transferred to someone who is willing to gamble on what the price of a commodity will be in the future. That is what speculators do - they take on that risk because where there is risk, there may be reward.
So a certain amount of speculation is a good thing, says Michael Masters, head of the hedge fund Masters Capital Management. "You need enough liquidity from speculators to provide grease for the wheels, if you will."
Flood of new money
But something changed in the mid-2000s. Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other large institutional investors began looking to commodity market speculation as a way to diversify their portfolios.
Masters says investments in commodity index funds rose from $13 billion in 2003 to about $400 billion today. He says the flood of new money is helping to push prices up.
"Prices move when new money comes into a market. So if you have a house, and one buyer shows up, you may sell it at one price. On the other hand, if you have a house and five buyers show up, you're going to sell it at another price."
Masters adds that speculators used to make up about a third of the money in commodity markets. Now they dominate many of them. He says markets today are much more volatile because there is much more money reacting to good or bad news about crop supplies.
"If there's a certain amount of speculative capital, it's going to move a certain price. But if there's 20 times that amount of speculative capital, then it's going to move much more."
Push for new regulations
France has used its position as current head of the G20 to speak out against excessive speculation.
French agriculture minister Bruno Le Maire says high and unstable food prices affect the poor the most. "Nobody can accept to have speculation on the poorest countries in the world, on the people in the world."
The French have been pushing for stricter regulations on commodity speculation in their role as head of the G20. But the negotiations faced stiff opposition -- for the simple reason that many are not convinced that speculators are to blame.
"I don't think there's a very good case at all to be made for much of a speculative impact in our grain markets right now," says economist Scott Irwin at the University of Illinois, adding that most research on the subject does not show that the mere presence of more speculators pushes prices up.
And the evidence that they are adding to volatility is not conclusive.
"There's no smoking gun that clearly points towards the kind of volatility and manipulation problems," says Irwin. "If that's not there, why do you need the new regulations to begin with?"
Irwin adds that new regulations may even push out the speculators the markets need to function smoothly.
He says there is a much simpler explanation for why prices are so high and unpredictable today: supplies of many food commodities are extremely low and demand is extremely high. With such small margins of error, any little bump will send shudders through the market. And the market has taken a lot of bumps in the past year, from drought in Russia to floods in Canada to heat waves in the United States.
"We just have had a really kind-of amazing string of just plain bad luck with weather. And it just keeps accumulating recently."
Experts say it will take at least two years of good harvests to build enough stocks to buffer prices.
In the meantime, the agreement the G20 agriculture ministers reached calls for "appropriate regulation and supervision" of commodity markets. It makes some suggestions, but provides few details. And it leaves the issue to the G20 finance ministers to work out what regulations are appropriate. A G20-appointed commission is expected to deliver its recommendations in the fall.
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France says it will pull hundreds of troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, following a similar announcement by the United States earlier this week.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that the withdrawal comes at a time when the security situation in Afghanistan has improved and the threat of terrorism has diminished with the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The French president spoke during the European Union summit in Brussels. Sarkozy did not specify the number of French forces that will be leaving Afghanistan.
A leading U.S. newspaper reports a cell phone found during the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group that has "strong ties" to Pakistan's intelligence agency.
Citing unnamed U.S. officials, The New York Times said the discovery of the phone indicated that the group, Haradat-ul-Mujahideen, was part of bin Laden's support network within Pakistan.
The report said the cell phone belonged to bin Laden's "trusted courier" who was killed along with the al-Qaida leader in the May 2 raid by Navy Seals on bin Laden's compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
According to the Times, U.S. analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, but there was no "smoking gun" proving Pakistan's spy agency had a role in protecting bin Laden.
One U.S. official is quoted as saying the phone was "a serious lead" in determining how bin Laden was able to live for years in a town dominated by the Pakistani military.
On Friday, officials reported that bin Laden's youngest widow, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, who is also known as Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, was expected to leave Pakistan for her native country, Yemen.
Pakistani authorities detained Abdullfattah and two other of the al-Qaida leader's wives during last month's U.S. raid.
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The U.S. State Department's chief Asia diplomat Friday appealed for restraint by all parties to the South China Sea territorial dispute as he prepared for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell meets Saturday with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai in Hawaii.
The Hawaii meeting, a follow-up to last month's U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue in Washington, comes amid heated rhetoric over the South China Sea, including remarks by Vice Minister Cui, seen as a threat to Washington.
Speaking in Beijing Wednesday, the Chinese official said those countries challenging China's expansive claim to South China Sea islands and waters are "playing with fire," and that he hoped that fire "would not be drawn" to the United States.
The comment prompted a statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Thursday, urging restraint by all parties, and a resolution of the maritime dispute based on international rules including the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty.
At a press event Friday, Campbell pointedly refused to address Cui's comments, saying the U.S. aim is to calm the situation.
"The United States has no intention to fan the flames in the South China Sea and we have a very strong interest in the maintenance of peace and stability," said Campbell. "And Secretary Clinton very carefully laid out our strategic objectives in the South China Sea. And we would urge all interested parties to review those matters carefully."
Clinton, in her comments Thursday with Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to the Philippines - one of China's rival claimants to the disputed ocean area along with Vietnam and Malaysia, among others.
The Campbell-Cui talks in Hawaii will be the first high-level U.S.-Chinese meeting since China's release this week, after three months of detention, of well-known artist and activist Ai Wei Wei. The United States had urged his release and while welcoming the move, Campbell said China's human rights record remains a major concern.
"We are very pleased with the release of Ai Wei Wei and we welcome that step," he said. "However, the United States continues to be deeply concerned by the trend of forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and convictions of public interest lawyers, writers, artists and intellectuals in China for exercising their internationally-recognized human rights."
After the Hawaii talks, Campbell leads a senior U.S. delegation on a week-long tour of eight Pacific island states beginning with Kiribati and ending in the Marshall Islands. Campbell said the trip is unprecedented and will address common concerns of the remote island countries, including global warming and endemic poverty.
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The UN refugee agency is expressing alarm at a dramatic rise in the number of new refugee arrivals from Somalia into Kenya. The UN refugee agency [UNHCR] reports more than 20,000 Somali refugees have arrived in the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya over the past two weeks.
The new arrivals are mostly farmers and animal herders from Lower Juba and the city of Dhobley. The UNHCR said last year, between 6,000 and 8,000 Somalis on average arrived in Kenya's Dadaab camp every month. This year, the monthly average has risen to 10,000.
The UNHCR said even this record is now being broken, with twice that number having been reached in just two weeks. Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said it is not just the numbers that are shocking. It also is the terrible condition of the people when they arrive in Kenya that is shocking.
"There is a horrible drought in Somalia. As if these people were not suffering enough from the violence," she said. "And this is causing a horrible phenomenon of malnutrition. So, when these people arrive, they have walked for days exhausted and they have not eaten or had anything to drink."
Fleming said the UNHCR is doing its best to help in this crisis. But, she noted that it is difficult to provide aid in a systematic and proper way when people are not living in a camp. She said Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp is overcrowded. Therefore, more than 50,000 refugees, including the newly arrived 20,000, currently are living in makeshift shelters outside the structured camp.
The Dadaab refugee complex is the largest refugee settlement in the world. It was established in 1991 and 1992 following the collapse of the Siad Barre government in Somalia. The camp, which was designed to shelter some 90,000 refugees, is now home to more than 360,000 refugees.
Fleming said the UNHCR and its partners are providing tents, latrines and water. She said many of the refugees continue to have very limited access to basic humanitarian services and need to walk for long distances to receive assistance.
"They are able to receive the basic nutritional aid, basic medical aid," she said. "However, the conditions are not great - the living conditions. And this can fuel continued health problems. So we are very concerned."
Fleming said the UNHCR is grateful to the Kenyan government for keeping its borders open to the refugees. She said the agency has established a new site in the Dadaab refugee complex.
She said the refugee situation will ease once the government allows the UNHCR to move the more than 50,000 newly arrived Somali refugees into the site.
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While U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has left South Africa after an emotional visit, many South African volunteers already have been practicing what she preached - ensuring healthy nutrition for at-risk students.
It is the beginning of a school break at Reasoma high school in Soweto, but before they head home, students jostle in line as volunteers distribute loaves of bread, milk cartons, oranges and bags of cereal called Morvite.
Rosina Maredi is one of the volunteers. "They take it at home to get to eat it at home because they have got nothing at home," she said.
One of the students biting through an orange is 13-year-old Tshepo Motsoko.
"Some of us we cannot afford to get money from our parents. Some of us we cannot afford to pay school fees. Some of us we cannot afford to get food like milk, Morvite and bread, so I think it is a good project for us who do not have enough money to pay for things like this," said Motsoko.
Helping high school students
Grants for teenagers like Tschepo usually cover school fees, but not food. There are government feeding programs for primary school children, but not yet for high schools.
But on lunch breaks here at the Reasoma high school, about 120 at-risk students usually get peanut butter or jam sandwiches and sometimes soup, with fruit and milk. The bread is bought from a local baker.
School staff is also working on a vegetable garden which should reap cabbage, spinach and beet root to add to the lunches in a few month's time.
Lunchbox Fund
The initiative which extends to several other schools is spearheaded by a U.S.-based non-profit organization called the Lunchbox Fund. It relies on private and corporate donations mostly from the United States and partnerships with more affluent schools.
Project manager Gillian Wilkinson says the program encourages students to go to school since they know they will get food, keeps them healthy and also helps them concentrate. She says there is also an important psychological dimension.
"I think it also gives the children a sense of worthwhileness and a spirit that somebody, somewhere, cares enough that they do not have to live in this bleak dispirited empty world that they have been offered so far," she said.
Many of the students targeted in the program live without their parents. Some take care of their siblings. Some are AIDS orphans. Some previously turned to prostitution to survive. Others used to buy marijuana instead of food to numb their hunger since a matchbox full of drugs can be purchased for less than one dollar.
Improving the program
Teacher Lydia Rakhivhani is cleaning up a school desk. She says the program can still be better organized. The distribution of food can be a little hectic, she says.
"Most of the kids who come and get the food they are the boys. Ladies they are very shy," she said. "In my class, I have this one kid, she is a lady, so she asked me to get food for her, so I went there and took some food and put it in my class during lunch break. She came and fetched it from me."
Involving local businesses
Reasoma graduate 18-year-old Lesedi Lion also felt more could be done. Several years ago, she wrote a letter to a grocery store in Soweto asking for help.
Now, every week, she comes by the store to pick up cartons of milk and bags of cereal to add to the program.
"I am from an unfortunate family so I just thought of that and then I put it in my shoes to help out more children in my school because mostly people do not take into consideration that most children in high schools are needy. They concentrate on primary schools. So I wanted to uplift our high school and encourage people to start sponsoring high schools," she said.
The grocery store operator, Joao Jardim, was impressed.
"It is a good thing to help. What inspired me? Her age and the courage she has and I think she is doing quite well to keep the young kids and I think that is why I tried with her and it is working," said Jardim.
Lion graduated last year, but is currently unemployed. She does not have enough money to go to university. She says it is still important to help others, even if she faces her own difficulties.
Several of the volunteers said Michelle Obama's visit had inspired them, and that her recent speeches in South Africa had given them more strength to continue trying to help more and more challenged students, one lunch at a time.
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A U.N. court has sentenced a former Rwandan government minister to life in prison for her role in the 1994 genocide in that country.
The United Nations-backed tribunal in Tanzania sentenced Pauline Nyiramasuhuko Friday on charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity. She is the first women convicted by the tribunal.
Nyiramasuhuko was minister for family and women's affairs when some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered during a three-month period. She was accused of ordering and assisting in atrocities that occurred in the southern Butare region during the killing spree.
Her son, Arsene Shalom Ntahobalim, was also sentenced to life in prison by the tribunal on similar charges. Four other local officials received sentences between 25 years and life in prison.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives takes on two critical votes Friday on the U.S. military role in Libya that has been a source of anger for many in Congress.
House lawmakers are considering two resolutions: one that would cut off funding for U.S. military attacks in Libya and a competing one that would authorize U.S. forces to take part in the NATO-led operation against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
The measure to cut funding would allow U.S. forces to remain engaged in non-hostile actions in Libya such as search and rescue efforts, intelligence, surveillance and refueling.
Both Republicans and Democrats are angry with U.S. President Barack Obama for failing to seek congressional authorization to intervene in the Libya conflict. Some lawmakers accuse Obama of violating the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires congressional approval when U.S. forces are involved in hostilities. But Obama says the three-month-old Libya campaign does not constitute "hostilities," so congressional approval is not needed.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met privately with House Democrats Thursday in a last-ditch effort to garner support for the Libya mission.
Gadhafi vowed this week to continue fighting and denounced NATO for airstrikes that caused civilian casualties.
Related video of guided government tour of damage to Gaddafi aide's compound
The Libyan leader said in an audio statement broadcast late Wednesday that NATO states are "murderers" who have "killed our children and grandchildren."
NATO acknowledged an airstrike on Sunday that caused civilian casualties and one last week that hit a column of rebel military vehicles.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP..
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Chinese foreign policy analysts are rejecting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pledge to support the Philippines, amid rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes involving China and other claimants in the South China Sea.
Qu Xing is the president of the China Institute of International Studies, which advises Beijing on foreign policy issues.
He used very strong language when asked about Secretary Clinton's comments that the United States is committed to the Philippines by a mutual defense treaty.
Qu says he thinks the premise of Secretary Clinton's statement is that China is going to invade the Philippines - a notion he calls "totally groundless."
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The Spratly Islands are the main focus of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China shares claims over the potentially oil rich islands with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The Chinese analyst says Beijing is committed to a peaceful resolution of the overlapping claims, but only on a bilateral basis. He says the U.S. actions are "not conducive" to dialogue and negotiations.
The Spratlys also lie near important shipping routes, and Washington has expressed concern that U.S. ships will no longer be able to freely navigate in the South China Sea.
Former Chinese Ambassador to Britain Ma Zhengang also advises Beijing on foreign policy matters. He said he does not see any problem with free navigation in the area and accuses the United States of linking two different issues.
Ma said he has read articles alleging that the United States is using the South China Sea issue as an excuse to return to Asia. He added that other countries involved in the territorial disputes are hoping that with Washington's involvement, they can have more strength in confronting China.
He compared current events to Vietnam's reassertion of its Spratly claims in the 1970's. He said Hanoi at the time had the backing of the former Soviet Union, and so acted "tougher" against China.
He said China has been committed to safeguarding peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, and has, up until now, constrained its actions there.
Meanwhile, how China handles the Spratly issue also has implications for the country's other territorial disputes. Amer Latif, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says officials in India are closely watching developments in the South China Sea.
"I think that India is concerned Chinese behavior in the South China Sea may be an indicator of how China will act towards it in the settlement of Sino-Indian border disputes," Latif said. "If we see China is flouting international norms and is antagonizing its neighbors, I think that would be a bad sign for New Delhi in how China might act towards it in its bilateral border discussions."
China and India fought a brief, but bitter, border war in 1962. The two countries are in talks to resolve the issue, but a solution appears far off amidst reports that both countries have recently increased military presence on both sides of the border.
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India's Finance Minister will hold high level economic talks next week with U.S. government and business leaders in Washington. Both governments are looking at ways to step up trade and investment.
Pranab Mukherjee's talks with U.S Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and business executives come at a time when India's economy is slowing as it grapples with high inflation, rising interest rates, and corruption scandals.
Foreign investment
Analysts say Mukherjee will seek to assure foreign investors in Washington that India remains an attractive investment destination despite these challenges, and its economy will grow at a buoyant pace despite the slight slowdown.
Anjan Roy, an economist at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says trade and investment between India and the United States, though growing, is considered below potential considering the size of their economies.
"So far as trade is concerned, it is not much to write home about, it is not too high I must say," said Roy.
For India, the priority is to win more foreign direct investment, particularly in its infrastructure sector. New Delhi needs billions of dollars to build highways, ports and industrial plants as its economy grows at over eight percent. But foreign investment in the past year actually declined, raising some worries.
Closed economy
Part of the reason is that many sectors of India's economy remain closed, such as retail and insurance.
Analysts say Minister Mukherjee will likely face calls from the United States to open up these two sectors, which are considered key growth markets for U.S. companies. At the moment, India only allows foreign direct investment in single brand retail.
Mukherjee is expected to assure investors that India is trying to build a political consensus around the contentious issue of opening up its economy.
However, economist Roy warns that it will still take time for India to allow retail giants such as Walmart to enter the country.
"These are being talked about, discussed very deeply in India," he said. "It is very difficult to give out very quick policy responses on these things because political ramifications and political compulsions are there. But I am sure we are making some progress towards opening up." Economic reforms
India's congress-led government was expected to introduce economic reforms after winning a second term in 2009. But under pressure from a series of corruption scandals, it is taking a cautious approach to further economic liberalization.
Mukherjee's visit to the United States is part of a high-level economic dialogue started by the two countries two years ago.
India-U.S. trade grossed $45 billion last year. Analysts say trade volumes in the coming years will increase, largely due to purchase of defense equipment by India from the United States. Earlier this month, India approved its biggest defense deal with the United States - the purchase of 10 Boeing transport aircraft.
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After more than two decades of civil war with the North, Southern Sudan is set to become an independent country on July 9. The fledgling nation will be starting virtually from scratch in enacting policies, programs and institutions. It will be a daunting task, given that few people who lived in Southern Sudan during the war were able to attend school. Southern Sudanese who fled the war and were educated abroad are returning home with knowledge and skills to build the new state. Neighboring Africans are also moving into Southern Sudan.
Technology transfer
William Deng Deng is chairperson of Southern Sudan's Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission. As a youngster, he fled the chaos of the civil war, ultimately settling in Toronto, Canada, where he earned two university degrees.
Now he is back in the capital Juba, in charge of retraining and reintegrating former civil war combatants.
"I could have still contributed being in Canada, but it is better I contribute directly right here so that somebody can see that okay, I can leave the nice life of Toronto and come here and be with you," he said.
Deng Deng calls his presence in Southern Sudan a "transfer of technology" - a chance to apply the skills and knowledge he gained in Canada. He says he also sees it as a way of connecting Southern Sudan to the rest of world.
"In other words, it is Canada's contribution directly through a human resource like me, which is taking place. I bring the Canadian knowledge, the Canadian support. And Canada is directly involved through people like myself," he said.
Filling the void
Deng Deng is one of many Southern Sudanese returning to help build the fledgling nation. Very few people who lived in Southern Sudan during the more than 20 years of civil war had the chance to go to school. As a result, there is a vacuum of skilled and educated Southern Sudanese available to set up the necessary programs and services of the new nation.
Beda Machar Deng, Southern Sudan's Undersecretary of Agriculture and Forestry, who earned his university degree in Britain, said "The Ministry of Agriculture has got priorities. One of the priorities is capacity building, human resource development. We need enough manpower to be trained at the county level, at the state level - in agricultural production also in animal resources."
Much of those human resources are coming from neighboring Kenya and Uganda.
Joe Feeney of the United Nations Development Program says that professionals in African countries - especially those in the region - have a major role to play in helping Southern Sudan set up government structures and institutions to deliver services such as health care.
"Only last week we had 42 Kenyans coming here - 22 of them are medical people - pediatricians, gynecologists, midwives," he said. "They are going to make a difference. They're not going to be working in some big foreign-run center run by NGOs. They are going to be working in the government hospitals and they are going to make a difference."
Career move
Hellen Wairimu is a Kenyan professional working for a Sudanese women's group in Juba. She says that coming to Southern Sudan was a good career move.
"It's easier to get a job in Juba then in Kenya," she said. "In Juba, there are a lot of opportunities. But in Kenya, when you leave a job or you don't have a job, you'll stay for one year, two years, without getting a job. But when I came here, I didn't even finish like two weeks and I landed a job here."
Government ministries in Southern Sudan are working with international donors on training and capacity-building programs. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization have implemented computer system that monitors food production, market prices, weather patterns. Several Southern Sudanese within the ministry were selected to be trained on how to gather and analyze this information, which will be important in forming the country's agricultural policy.
In his role as chairperson of the Southern Sudan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, William Deng Deng is training ex-combatants to run projects in fisheries, forestry, agriculture and construction. He says that attracting investment to the new country will be crucial to job creation.
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U.S. first lady Michelle Obama helped paint an HIV/AIDS clinic on her first stop in Botswana on Friday.
Obama and family members traveling with her painted a mural at the Botswana-Baylor Adolescent Center of Excellence in the capital, Gaborone.
The mural is part of a facility that is being constructed to support children and teens infected with or affected by HIV-AIDS.
Related video of Michelle Obama's arrival in Botswana
Later, Obama attended a women's leadership conference where she again pushed for the empowerment of young women.
The first lady noted she came from humble means. But after attending college, she learned her success depended not on where she came from, but on how much she believed in herself and how hard she was willing to work. Courtesy call
Mrs. Obama also visited with President Ian Khama. She was scheduled to visit a game reserve with her family on Friday evening.
Botswana is the second stop on her her two-nation tour of southern Africa to promote youth leadership and health and wellness.
Healthy living
On Thursday in South Africa, the first lady teamed up with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu to promote healthy living. The first lady met with the archbishop emeritus at Cape Town Stadium, before kicking a football around with some children.
Obama told the children they needed to make smart choices and take care of their health if they want to be productive individuals.
Archbishop Tutu told the children Obama's presence was proof the possibilities for their futures are endless.
Last year, Obama helped launch a program in the United States called "Let's Move," to help fight the growing problem of childhood obesity.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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In January, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard, who claimed Taseer had violated the country's blasphemy law. Taseer, a Muslim, was shot dead in broad daylight on January 4 in Islamabad. His alleged assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, has yet to be tried, though he does not deny pulling the trigger. The late governor's daughter, Shehrbano Taseer, has become a critic of the blasphemy law, saying it is is often abused.
Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who Taseer sought to defend against charges of blasphemy, faces the death penalty - accused by women in her village of blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed.
Bibi protested her innocence in November.
"They [neighbors] filed fake charges against me," she said. "In the past I have had conflicts with them due to a sewerage issue. They stole my goat."
Shehrbano Taseer, the governor's daughter, is on a speaking tour of the United States to discuss the issues surrounding the case. She says blasphemy laws are easily twisted to victimize Christians, Hindus and even Muslims, to serve the self-interest of the accusers.
"The ground reality is that they are mostly used as an instrument of oppression and terror. Anyone can level a blasphemy charge against anyone," explained Taseer. "You know, it's mostly due because of personal vendettas or land disputes."
In the case of Asia Bibi, local clerics reportedly took the accusations against her at face value. One of them, Maqsood Ahmed Masoomi, insists that courts are not necessary to punish blasphemy.
"We are saying that anybody in this world who says anything blasphemous against the Holy Prophet has to be killed, and anyone who hears it [blasphemous words], should kill him on the spot. This is our belief," the cleric said.
Taseer says Pakistani leaders fail to adequately pursue cases against those who abuse the blasphemy laws - partly because they fear being killed by extremists.
"This is not just this government, but previous governments have a tendency to appease these religious extremists, and there needs to be a no-holds-barred policy," Taseer said. "They need precedents to be set to ensure that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated by the state."
Taseer warns that in Pakistan, knives are being turned inward - by people who take the law into their own hands, hiding behind religion to pursue selfish ends. She says her father's murder should serve as an occasion for the people of Pakistan to consider whether this is the kind of country they want.
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A strong earthquake struck off the coast of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska late Thursday.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.2 magnitude quake was detected near the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, more than 1,600 kilometers southwest of the city of Anchorage. The quake was measured at a depth of 40 kilometers.
The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Amchitka Pass to Dutch Harbor, but lifted it about an hour after the quake struck. There have been no reports of injuries or damage.
David Nyland, a geologist with the center, told VOA if the quake had generated a tsunami, the impact would have been minimal.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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The European Union has expanded its financial and travel sanctions against Syria and moved to condemn its brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The EU on Friday announced it froze the assets and banned European travel of seven more individuals and four companies, bringing its overall list to 34, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Among others, the new sanctions targeted three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard the EU accused of supporting Assad's three-month effort to quell dissent in the Arab nation.
The Iranians were identified as Major General Qasem Soleimani and Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari of the Revolutionary Guard, as well as the guard's deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb.
The EU also imposed sanctions on a Syrian property company, an investment fund and two other enterprises it accused of funding Assad's government.
Later on Friday, at a meeting in Brussels, EU leaders were set to adopt a declaration condemning what a draft said was Syria's "unacceptable and shocking violence" it was imposing on its citizens. The draft said that Syria's "path of repression" is "calling its legitimacy into question."
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Chinese officials are defending their approach to engagement with Africa, saying embargoes and sanctions against Sudan and other brutal African governments do not work. The country's former envoy to Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, Liu Guijin says China is offering a new type of engagement with Africa based on equality and mutual benefit. Sudan President al-Bashir visits China next week
China's special envoy for Africa Affairs, Liu Guijin, insists China will not repeat the mistakes of former colonial powers in Africa and will build long-lasting legacies that benefit ordinary Africans.
Liu spoke to journalists ahead of next week's visit to China by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region.
Liu dismissed claims Beijing is acting irresponsibly in inviting al-Bashir and insisted China is putting pressure on both sides in Sudan to end the latest outbreak of violence that threatens a landmark peace agreement.
"If you genuinely wish to resolve problems there, conflicts there, on the ground, simply resorting to embargoes or sanctions will not solve the problems. That has been proved with much evidence. That's why China has a kind of new type of engagement with Africa - and that is built on equality and mutual benefit kind of arrangement," Liu stated.
China's interest in Sudan
Sudan's oil-rich south splits from the north on July 9th to form an independent country, and China has already embarked on engagement with the new administration. China is also Sudan's biggest arms supplier. President al-Bashir is expected to discuss Chinese investments in Sudan during his visit next week.
Liu's briefing Thursday followed recent criticism of China's policies in Africa from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Last week Clinton warned African leaders in Zambia about the perils of creeping "new colonialism" led by China.
She said that she is concerned that China's investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with international norms of transparency and good governance. She also said that China has not always utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business interests.
Liu described Clinton's warning as unreasonable and unfounded. "We try to give advice to African countries or try to reason out what they need to do. We try to analyze the situation together, try to engage with them from an equal footing. I think that sometimes this works, if not on all the time, it does work," he said.
He says Chinese investment now accounts for 20 percent of Africa's GDP.
Trade between China and Africa grew from $20 billion in 2001 to more than $120 billion in 2009, while direct Chinese investment on the continent has risen from under $500 million in 2003 to more than $9 billion in 2009.
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