Top story: Mobs of Jewish settlers rioted in the West Bank attacking Palestinians and setting fire to agricultural land in protest of the Israeli government's pledge to crack down on "wildcat" settlements. Settlers are also waging an ongoing legal battle to evict Palestinians from homes in East Jerusalem.
The disputes come as the Barack Obama administration is pushing the Israeli government to halt all new settlement construction, including the "organic growth" of existing communities. Benjamin Netanyahu called these demands "unreasonable" and has dispatched defense minister Ehud Barak to Washington in hopes of reaching a compromise.
This weekend also saw an outbreak of intra-Palestinian violence, with a clash between Hamas and Fatah security forces claiming six lives. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had assured President Obama last week that he was getting the violence under control.
Story to watch: The Obama administration has set itself up for a legal battle over the controversial "state secrets" privilege. The Justice Department informed a federal judge in San Francisco last weekend that it would continue invoking the privilege to suppress evidence of wiretapping in the trial of an Islamic charity accused of aiding terrorism. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday.
Americas
- General Motors has filed for bankruptcy protection. The U.S. federal government will take a 60 percent ownership stake in the company.
- The U.S. and Cuba have agreed to resume talks on migration issues, suspended since 2003.
- Just hours before starting his term, Salvadoran President-elect Mauricio Funes appointed his wife and a former Marxist guerilla to his cabinet.
Asia
- North Korea is reportedly planning another long-range missile test.
- The Pakistani Army has lifted curfews on several towns in the Swat Valley.
- The majority of the U.S. military's 17,000 additional troops will be in Afghanistan by mid-July.
Middle East
- The Israeli government has thrown out a proposed "loyalty oath" bill aimed at Israeli Arabs that was proposed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's party.
- Nearly a fifth of Kuwaiti lawmakers walked out of the new parliament's first session to protest the makeup of the cabinet.
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main election rival Mir Hossein Mousavi has been hammering him on foreign policy.
Europe
- Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer is the latest official accused of abusing public funds in Britain's ongoing MP expenses scandal.
- An Air France plane carrying 228 people has gone missing over the Atlantic.
- The breakaway territory of South Ossetia elected a parliament. Supporters of pro-Moscow President Edward Kokoity will dominate.
Africa
- Finnish prosecutors will file charges against a Rwandan man accused of killing 15 people during the 1994 genocide.
- Niger Delta militants released a British hostage they had held for nearly nine months.
- The U.N. says tribal violence in Southern Sudan is now worse than in Darfur.
JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/Getty Images
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