World / Nation Briefs May 21, 2011
Israeli leader cool on Obama's Palestine request
WASHINGTON - Indicating no progress toward peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat alongside President Barack Obama on Friday and declared that Israel would not withdraw to 1967 borders to help make way for an adjacent Palestinian state. Obama had called on Israel to be willing to do just that a day earlier.
The Israeli leader said he would make some concessions but Israel would not go back to the lines from decades earlier because they would be "indefensible."
For his part, Obama said that there were differences of formulations and language but that such disputes are going to happen "between friends."
The president never mentioned the 1967 borders as the two men talked with reporters. The leaders spoke after a lengthy meeting in the Oval Office, amid tense times.
Former IMF chief posts $1M bail
NEW YORK - The former head of the International Monetary Fund was released from a New York City jail late Friday afternoon after spending nearly a week incarcerated on charges accusing him of trying to rape a hotel chambermaid.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from the city Department of Correction custody shortly after 5 p.m. and was handed over to the security firm managing his house arrest.
The one-time French presidential candidate posted $1 million cash and $5 million bond Friday, and a judge signed off on an order clearing him to be released from the Rikers Island jail.
Pawlenty enters presidential race
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a laid-back Midwestern Republican who governed a Democratic-leaning state, is running for president and will declare his candidacy on Monday in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, an adviser told The Associated Press.
The adviser, who disclosed the plans on the condition of anonymity in advance of next week's announcement, said Pawlenty will formally enter the race during a town hall-style event in Des Moines, Iowa.
He's choosing to make his long-expected bid official in a critical state in his path to the GOP nomination. Advisers acknowledge that Pawlenty, 50, must win or turn in a strong showing during next winter's caucuses in the neighboring state of Iowa to have any chance of becoming the Republican nominee.
Giant bronze sculpture of John Paul II panned
ROME - A new, modernist sculpture of Pope John Paul II is turning into a monumental bust. The Vatican on Friday slammed the giant artwork outside Rome's Termini Train Station, saying it doesn't even resemble the late pontiff.
Some Romans and tourists say the bronze statue looks more like Italy's wartime dictator Benito Mussolini than the widely beloved pope.
"How could they have given such a kind pope the head of a Fascist?" said 71-year-old Antonio Lamonica.
- The Associated Press