Top Story: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Honduras for a meeting of the Organization of American States, where she is facing near-unanimous calls to readmit Cuba and lift the United States' decades-old embargo.
Cuba and the United States did agree yesterday to resume talks on migration issues, but Clinton says the United States is not prepared to support Cuba's readmission until it lives up to the OAS's democratic charter.
"We think that there is an opportunity for Cuba to be more involved, but at the same time, we want to see the peaceful transfer of power that we saw this morning possible for the Cuban people," she said on Monday, referring to the inauguration of El Salvador's new president, Mauricio Funes.
Funes is El Salvador's first leftist president and comes from a party of former guerilla fighters. As his first act as president, he restored diplomatic ties with Cuba, but downplayed fears of radicalism by citing Barack Obama and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as his models of progressive leaders.
Clinton returned the compliment saying that, "It is very clear that President Obama and President Funes share so much in common."
Under the radar: Britain's Telegraph reports that the U.S. is selling "bunker buster" bombs to South Korea, which would be capable of destroying underground facilities in North Korea.
Asia
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly named his son Kim Jong-un as his successor.
- China is blocking access to Twitter ahead of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
- Visiting China, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he found leaders in Beijing to be confident in U.S. economic recovery efforts.
Middle East
- U.N. human rights investigators have entered Gaza to look into possible abuses that occurred during last January's Israeli incursion.
- Sectarian violence is increasing in the run-up to Iran's presidential election.
- Iraq's Kurdish region began pumping oil to Turkey, the first time it has exported oil abroad.
Europe
- British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will reportedly resign over allegations in Britain's ongoing parliamentary expenses scandal.
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy will host Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday in a rare meeting between a western head of state and a high-ranking Iranian official.
- Eurozone unemployment has reached its highest point in a decade.
Americas
- Mexico has detained 29 police officers for ties to drug cartels.
- Brazil's air force says it has found debris that could be from the Air France flight that went missing yesterday.
- After 83 years, General Motors has been removed from the Dow Jones industrial average.
Africa
- Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres says South Africa is denying medical care to Zimbabwean refugees.
- Over sixty miners were killed in an illegal gold mine in South Africa.
- China's special envoy to Darfur met with Sudanese President Omar al Bashir and pledged $3 million in aid to the region.
Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images
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