Top news: In an effort to smooth over a growing rift in U.S.-Israeli relations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last night to propose several confidence building measures. It's not known what specifically the prime minister proposed, but the United States has announced that envoy George Mitchell will be returning to the Middle East after a planned trip was canceled last week.
The Obama administration had issued a rare public rebuke last week after the Israeli government announced during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden that an additional 1,600 homes would be constructed in East Jerusalem. The White House has demanded that Netanyahu reverse that decision and agree to put the status of Jerusalem on the table in indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu's call came as the "quartet" of Middle East peacemakers -- the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations -- were meeting in Moscow. Speaking on behalf of the quartet, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel's new settlement construction and demanded a complete halt to new building.
"The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001 and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem," Ban said.
U.S. politics: The U.S. House of Representatives is head for a cliffhanger vote on health care reform this Sunday.
Middle East
- Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared his country's war with northern separatists over.
- Former Iranian Vice President Hossein Morashi was arrested for spreading propaganda against the regime.
- The United States has imposed sanctions against two Gaza-based companies linked to Hamas.
Asia
- Former U.N. envoy Kai Eide said that the recent arrests of senior militants have ended talks between the West and the Taliban.
- Google may make an announcement on Monday about whether it is pulling out of China.
- China announced that it is sending an envoy to Washington to help ease tensions over its currency.
Europe
- Pope Benedict XVI has written a letter addressing Ireland's priest abuse scandal which will be read at Mass on Sunday.
- After meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she believes an agreement on nuclear weapons reduction is near.
- Hungarian officials have denied speculation that a low-level pass by two Israeli fighter jets had anything to do with the killing of a Syrian man in Budapest this week.
Americas
- About 200 U.S. law enforcement officers have launched a crackdown in El Paso, Texas on a Mexican-American gang suspected of involvement in the killing of U.S. embassy employees in Ciudad Juarez.
- Venezuela has asked Spanish authorities for details of the case against ETA rebels said to be collaborating with Colombia's FARC.
- Cuban dissidents marched in Havana for the seventh anniversary of a crackdown by the government.
Africa
- Lagos has recalled its ambassador to Libya after leader Muammar Qaddafi suggested that Nigeria be divided into two countries.
- President Jacob Zuma survived a no-confidence vote in South Africa's parliament.
- Rebels in the Niger Delta took credit for an attack on an oil processing facility.
YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images
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