China has offered its own critique of the United States in response to Washingtons annual review of Beijings human rights record.
Chinas State Council issued a report Friday blaming the subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S. for triggering the global economic recession.
The report also accused the United States of restricting the rights of its citizens in a number of areas, including racial equality, personal security, and political and economic advancement.
The U.S. State Department accused China of numerous human rights violations in its annual global report, which it issued Thursday. It said Beijing harassed and detained more human rights activists last year, and accused the communist government of severe cultural and religious repression in Tibet and Xinjiang province.
But China says the U.S. uses the issue of human rights as a political instrument to interfere in other countries internal affairs.
The Chinese counter-report says it is a pity how Washington revels in pointing a finger at other nations human rights records, while ignoring its own failings.
Tensions between Beijing and the U.S. have grown in recent months over several trade disputes, a major weapons sale to Taiwan, and Chinas alleged interference with U.S.-based Internet giant Google.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is urging the worlds women to continue building on recent advancements, saying lasting progress is not possible if women and girls are denied their rights. Secretary Clinton spoke Friday on the final day of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which has been reviewing progress made since the Beijing Declaration promoting gender equality was signed 15 years ago.
Secretary Clinton praised women around the world for the economic, political and social gains they have made since she addressed the Beijing Conference in 1995 as U.S. First Lady. But she said that for millions of women, opportunities still remain beyond reach. Women are still the majority of the worlds poor, the uneducated, the unhealthy, the unfed. In too many places, women are treated not as full and equal human beings with their own rights and aspirations, but as lesser creatures undeserving of the treatment and respect accorded to their husbands, their fathers and their sons, she said.
She said when women are free to vote and run for public office, governments are more effective and accountable; when they work and start small businesses, economies thrive; when education and health care are available to them, their families and communities prosper; and when women have equal rights, nations are more stable, peaceful and secure. We must declare with one voice that womens progress is human progress and human progress is womens progress, once and for all, she said.
Clinton told a packed audience of both women and men that the United States sees the oppression of women as a threat to its national security. President Obama and I believe that the subjugation of women is threat to the national security of the United States. It is also a threat to the common security of our world. Because the suffering and denial of the rights of women and the instability of nations go hand-in-hand, she said.
She said the United States is incorporating initiatives targeted to helping women into its foreign policy to help reduce that threat.
Clinton spoke on the final day of the Commission on the Status of Women Conference, at which the U.S. co-sponsored a resolution on eliminating maternal mortality. Several other resolutions were adopted during the session, focused on empowering women economically, ending harmful traditional practices such as female circumcision, and welcoming the U.N.s intention of establishing an agency dedicated to womens issues and advancing gender equality.
Israel has imposed a security clampdown on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank amid fears of unrest.
Israel sealed off the West Bank for 48 hours, saying police had intelligence information that Palestinian youths would cause disturbances after prayers for the Muslim Sabbath on Friday. This Palestinian was turned away by Israeli troops at the entrance to Jerusalem from Bethlehem.
Its surrounded by soldiers. And now we cant reach Jerusalem to pray, and you know, to do the activities of the religion, said Mos.
There has been sporadic violence for the past several weeks since Israel declared two West Bank shrines national heritage sites: The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachels Tomb in Bethlehem. Some 3,000 Israeli police and soldiers patrolled the area in and around Jerusalems Old City.
Restrictions were imposed on entry to the Mosque of al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock compound, the third holiest place in Islam. Palestinian men under the age of 50 were barred from entering the compound, which is a flashpoint of Jewish-Muslim tensions. For Jews it is the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and site of the biblical Temples.
There were sporadic stone-throwing clashes in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. But the security clampdown had its desired effect, and prayers at the volatile Mosque of al-Aqsa passed quietly.
The Swedish parliaments passage of a resolution recognizing the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide is drawing strong condemnation from Ankara. The vote comes after the U.S. Congresss Foreign Affairs Committee passed a similar motion earlier this month.
Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Sweden and canceled a summit in Stockholm after Swedish lawmakers passed the measure Thursday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the vote calling it irresponsible.
Similar sentiments came from all of Turkeys main political parties.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul, dismissed the Swedish parliaments vote. We know very well how these decisions are taken, he said. This decision has no value on our part. Those who voted are neither historians or scientists. No need to exaggerate this voting or make it look like more important than it actually is, he said.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks slaughtered as many as 1.5 million people from 1915 until 1923. Turkey recognizes that Armenians were killed, but says the death toll is greatly exaggerated. It says the Armenians died in a civil war which accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
A U.S. congressional committee approved a similar resolution last week and sent it to the full House of Representatives. The move prompted Turkey to recall its ambassador to Washington.
Like the U.S., Sweden is an important ally for Turkey. It is one of the few countrys in Europe that still strongly advocates Ankaras bid to join the European Union.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt reached out to Ankara saying his government opposed the parliamentary motion and did not want it to undermine Turkish-Armenian rapprochement efforts.
Turkey and Armenia have been making inroads in restoring diplomatic relations and resolving their historical differences. Last October the Turkish and Armenian president signed a protocol to normalize relations. Ankara has repeatedly warned that those rapprochement efforts are undermined by countries passing motions accusing it of genocide.
The State Department says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday to reiterate deep U.S. concern over an announcement this week that Israel will build more housing in East Jerusalem. The action coincided with an Israel visit by Vice President Joe Biden.
In one of the strongest U.S. protests of Israeli conduct in recent years, the State Department says Clinton told the Israeli leader that the housing move undermined both trust and confidence in the peace process, and American interests in the Middle East.
The telephone conversation, initiated by Clinton, was a follow-up to previous U.S. complaints about Israels announcement Tuesday that it will build 1,600 new Jewish housing units in predominately-Arab East Jerusalem.
The announcement was an embarrassment to Vice President Biden, who had just begun a visit to Israel, and it threatened to torpedo a U.S.-brokered tentative agreement under which Israel and the Palestinians would resume indirect peace talks.
Prime Minister Netanyahu later expressed regret over the timing of the announcement but gave no indication it will be rescinded.
State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said Clinton, in her call, reiterated strong U.S. objections about both the timing and substance of the Israeli action.
He said the United States views it as a deeply negative signal about Israels approach to bilateral relations, and counter to the spirit of the Biden trip. The Secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States strong commitment to Israels security. And she made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words, but through specific actions, that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process, he said.
Asked if Clinton had expressed anger in her comments to Mr. Netanyahu, a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters said frustration would be a better term.
The Israeli decision to build more housing in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope to make the capital of a future state, prompted Arab calls for Palestinians to back out of their agreement have so-called proximity peace talks with Israel.
It prompted an intensive round of U.S. telephone diplomacy to try to save the agreement brokered by U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Crowley said Mitchell and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman since Thursday have called, among others, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Officials said Mitchell still intends to make a visit to the region in the coming days that was to have sealed an agreement on the proximity negotiations.
But they said Mitchell, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Northern Ireland peace negotiator, might first join Secretary Clinton in Moscow next Friday for a meeting of the international quartet on the Middle East.
The informal grouping of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations has been trying to expedite negotiations based on among other things the road map to regional peace it issued in 2003.
Partial results from Iraqs parliamentary elections Saturday show Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikis political coalition leading in Baghdad.
The preliminary tally puts Mr. Maliki in the race for the top job, with only former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi having emerged as a potential rival.
Baghdad accounts for 70 parliamentary seats or more than one-fifth of the 325-member Council of Representatives, making it a crucial win for any would-be government.
On Friday, a cleric close to Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for the vote counting process to be completed as soon as possible so that a new parliament can be formed.
No single faction is expected to win an outright majority, and building a coalition to form a new government could take months.
On Friday, elections officials announced Mr. Malikis State of Law coalition was ahead in Muthanna province. The election commission also announced the mostly Shiite Iraqi National Alliance had pulled ahead in Maysan, a province near the countrys border with Iran.
Elections officials announced Thursday the Kurdish Alliance was ahead in the northern province of Irbil, which is part of the autonomous Kurdistan region.
Meanwhile Friday, both Iraqi national election commission and United Nations officials downplayed reports of fraud in the vote-counting process.
The Mr. Allawis Iraqiya coalition claims in some instances, ballots were found in garbage dumps. The party claims the alleged-vote rigging took place to bolster results for Prime Minister Malikis coalition.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
President Barack Obama will postpone for several days his trip to Indonesia and Australia, so he can help push health care reform legislation through the U.S. Congress. Plans for the presidents family to accompany him on the trip have been scrapped.
President Obama will leave for the South Pacific region on Sunday, March 21, three days later than planned, and will return on Friday, March 26.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs Friday dismissed reporters questions about further delaying or even canceling the trip, saying Indonesia and Australia are vital to U.S. interests. For quite some time we have been absent from this important region of the world. We have important partnerships that lead to increasing our security, increasing our economic growth and increasing the likelihood that we deal with important problems, in having strong bilateral relationships with places like Indonesia and Australia, he said.
Gibbs also said Mr. Obamas stay in Indonesia will be an important part of his outreach to the worlds Muslims. We are going to visit, obviously, Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim population, an emerging democracy. The president will follow up on his speech from Cairo in a speech in Indonesia, a key partner, obviously, in our counterterrorism efforts, he said.
The presidents spokesman also called Australia a very important trading partner and an important ally in U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.
Gibbs said the presidents wife and two daughters will not go with him on the trip, as had originally been planned, because of conflicts with the girls school schedules.
Meanwhile, Gibbs said the effort to pass health care reform legislation has gained momentum, and Mr. Obama will make a final push for it, calling and meeting with lawmakers. I doubt we would be where we are on health care after this long if the president were not personally invested in, from the very beginning, getting this done, he said.
Republicans in Congress are solidly against the presidents health proposal, and the administration is working to enlist the support of Democrats.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, says she is positive that Mr. Obamas decision to stay in Washington will help get the legislation passed quickly. I am delighted that the president is going to be here for the passage of the bill. It is going to be historic, she said.
Key Democrats announced Friday that they will include reforms to college lending in the health care package. Republicans immediately denounced the idea.
The U.S. State Departments chief Africa diplomat said Friday the United State is not providing direct military aid to Somalias Transitional Federal Government, the TFG. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson also told reporters the military position of the TFG is not as precarious as depicted in most news reports.
The United States has acknowledged giving military advice and in the past brokering delivery of some weapons to the transitional authorities, while also providing training and logistical support for African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.
But Assistant Secretary Carson says the United States has no military advisors or troops on the ground in Somalia and does not want to Americanize the long-running conflict there.
Carson spoke to reporters at the State Department with the aim, he said, of refuting recent press reports - including an account by the New York Times - that covert U.S. forces may stage air strikes or otherwise become directly involved in helping the TFG in a planned offensive against Islamic insurgents. The United States does not plan, does not direct, and does not coordinate the military operations of the TFG and we have not and will not be providing direct support for any potential military offensives. Further we are no providing, or paying for military advisers for the TFG. There is no desire to Americanize the conflict in Somalia, he said.
Fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu has increased in recent days with insurgent fighters of the al-Shabab militia, said to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, fighting government troops and African peacekeepers near the national palace.
The transitional administration of President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif is frequently described in news reports as controlling only a small area of the capital, but Carson said the tenacity of the TFG has long been understated. I think the TFG has demonstrated an enormous capacity to survive. When Sheikh Sharif took office as the head of the TFG approximately 16 months ago, there were individuals who predicted that his government would fall within a matter of months and that he would not be able to reside and govern from Mogadishu. That has not been true, he said.
At the same time, Carson said the long-term solution in Somalia is political not military, and that the TFG needs to widen its base to include major clans and sub-clans, along with Islamic moderates who want peace and denounce Al-Shabab.
The senior U.S. diplomat said a United Nations report this week that as much of half of the international food aid delivered to Somalia is being diverted to Islamist militants and others is a troubling allegation, but that the United States is still studying the document.
Officials say annual U.S. food aid contributions to Somalia are about $150 million a year, and that a similar amount goes to support the Ugandan-led African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM, formed in 2007.
Carson said direct U.S. aid to the TFG last year was about $12 million. He urged African states with an interest in regional stability to step up and contribute forces to AMISOM, which has never reached its authorized strength of 8,000 troops.
Bosnia has indicted a former Serb police commander suspected of taking part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
Authorities say Nedjo Ikonic ordered and oversaw the detention and execution of more than 1,000 Muslims who tried to flee the United Nations safe haven Srebrenica in 1995.
He was arrested in the United States and extradited to Sarajevo earlier this year.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is on trial in the Hague for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre. His ex-military chief, Ratko Mladic, is still at large.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
White House officials say U.S. troops and their allies are making steady progress against militants in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama held a video conference call with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan Friday. They discussed increased success on recent military efforts by the U.S. and its allies.
White House Officials said President Obama was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal and others.
Mr. Obama and his team praised Afghan and international forces military achievements in Marja, a major city in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says that General McChrystal also reported that the U.S. military is keeping President Obamas commitment to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the war-torn country. We were on schedule on our force flow in getting additional forces approved by the president into Afghanistan by the end of summer, he said.
But, Gibbs said Mr. Obamas security team now relies heavily on the Afghan government to take over future efforts to secure the Afghan people. Were not going to be there forever, not only are we going to need improved governance but were going to need a police force that can keep the peace, he said.
The council also discussed NATOs contributions to improve the training of Afghan forces. NATOs Training Mission Commander, U.S. Lieutenant General William Caldwell said early this month Afghan police officers had not been given formal training until recently, and Gibbs said problems such as this must be addressed immediately. We have critical improvements that have to be made as it relates to an Afghan national army, and critical improvements that have to be made in an Afghan national police, and the importance of getting additional trainers from NATO countries to Afghanistan as quickly as possible, he said.
Gibbs said the security team also stressed the need of continued support from neighboring Pakistan, which he says is increasing every day. Weve enjoyed almost an unprecedented level of cooperation with them, dating back probably almost a year now to extremist movements that threatened the Pakistanis and I think in many ways alerted them to many of the concerns that we have long had, he said.
Pakistan has captured several Taliban leaders in recent weeks.
Gibbs says U.S. Islamabad Ambassador Anne Patterson reported that Pakistans increased action against Taliban and al-Qaida militants on its territory has been a critical addition in the international fight against terrorism.