The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned rumors that the United States is planning to divide the war-torn country, saying the suggestions were "lies that dishonor the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan."

Ambassador Ryan Crocker said in a statement that a "free and independent media plays a vital role in any democracy" and that Afghanistan's media and the Afghan government spokespersons were "important elements in our close bilateral relationship."

---

But he then went on to say that, "rumors that the United States has a plan to divide Afghanistan or change its form of government are, frankly speaking, lies that dishonor the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan, governed by its Constitution."

And he added that the idea "that the United States is seeking a secret deal with the Taliban at the expense of the Afghan government and people" was "another false and absurd rumor."

'Democratic and unified'
Crocker stressed that the United States was "committed to supporting the efforts of the central government, to build a strong, secure, democratic, and unified Afghanistan."

"We have no other aim or goal," he added, pointing out that American taxpayers had provided billions of dollars over the past decade to support "the government and people of Afghanistan."

• Afghan soldiers killing more of their US allies

Crocker appeared to be addressing reports in the Afghan media, although The New York Times also reported Thursday last week that Afghan officials were worried about the possibility the Taliban might make a "secret deal" with the United States.

"Afghanistan and the United States both support a peace process for Afghanistan. But only Afghans can decide the future of Afghanistan," he added, according to the statement. "For a peace process to succeed, Afghans must talk to Afghans."

• Afghan Taliban: We recruited soldier who killed French troops

He noted that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had spoken in support of the idea of the Taliban opening an office in Qatar, seen as key for peace talks to go ahead.

But Crocker said "nothing has been concluded on the opening of an office" and that the Afghan Taliban had to give a "clear statement ... against international terrorism and in support of a peace process to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan" before it could open.

"And for reconciliation to take place, we are in full agreement with the Government of Afghanistan that three conditions must be met by the Taliban and other armed insurgents: a complete break with al-Qaida; an end to violence; and respect for the Afghan constitution, including its protections for women and minorities," he added, according to the statement.

A mass-stranding of whales on a New Zealand beach has left 36 of the creatures dead.

John Mason, area manager of the country's Department of Conservation said 99 pilot whales stranded themselves Monday on Farewell Spit on the South Island. By Tuesday, 36 whales had died and another 40 remained stranded and were in danger.

---

Mason said conservation staff and volunteers had successfully refloated 17 whales, which had swum out to deeper water. Another six whales remained unaccounted for.

The 40 beached whales were briefly swimming in shallow water early Tuesday afternoon local time (late Monday ET) but became stranded again by the evening as the tide went out. Mason said volunteers would try to keep the whales cool and wet until dark. He said after that, all they could hope for was that the whales would swim away on the next high tide.

Pilot whales grow to about 20 feet, and large strandings are common during the New Zealand summer. Experts describe Farewell Spit as a whale trap due to the way its shallow waters seem to confuse whales and diminish their ability to navigate.

Department of Conservation Takaka ranger Nigel Mountfort told television station TVNZ the overnight conditions at the site were "pretty inhospitable".

Mountfort said rescuers in wetsuits would try to form a human wall and try to stop refloated whales coming back ashore.

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The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

A 21-year-old Syrian-American has been missing for three weeks after returning to Syria from suburban Detroit, according to a family member in Michigan.

Obada Mzaik flew to Damascus from Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Jan. 3, but wasn't seen leaving an immigration checkpoint, Dr. Firas Nashef, his uncle in Farmington Hills, said.

---

Mzaik, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, was planning to study civil engineering at Al-Yarmouk University.

He had been temporarily living in the Detroit area with a younger brother while taking fall classes at Oakland Community College, Nashef said.

The brother, Obaie Mzaik, 19, who was on the same flight, was not detained in Damascus, Nashef said.

"We have no idea what happened," the dentist said.

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"It's horrendous because knowing what we know about the prison system over there, anything goes," Nashef told the Detroit News Monday. "The prison system and justice system over there is not very impressive."

He added that Mzaik had been detained in Syria for 37 days last year, but had not been charged officially.

The State Department said it was aware of the matter and was working with authorities in Syria.

On Jan. 11, the U.S. government urged Americans to get out of Syria and to avoid any travel there.

• More of msnbc.com's Syria coverage

Mzaik has citizenship in the U.S. and Syria. Nashef said the family returned to Syria in 1994 when his nephew was about 3.

"Most of his life he's been in Syria," Nashef said.

'Deep concern'
The Detroit News noted that a Facebook page, entitled "Freedom to our friend Obada Mzaik," has been set up.

It had 1,220 likes as of early Tuesday morning.

A link on that page led to a petition on the www.change.org website, which urges the State Department to help free Mzaik.

• NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin answers reader questions from Syria

"As Syrians looking for freedom, we are outraged by the obscure circumstances surrounding Obada's arrest, and we express our deep concern over his safety in the Syrian regime's custody," the petition says.

One message, which msnbc.com was immediately unable to verify, says "because he is my son ... I want him free and now."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BOSTON -- President John F. Kennedy's library is releasing 45 hours of privately recorded meetings and phone calls, providing a window into the final months of his life.

The tapes include discussions of conflict in Vietnam, Soviet relations and the race to space, plans for the 1964 Democratic Convention and re-election strategy. There also are moments with his children.

---

On one recording, made days before Kennedy's assassination, he asks staffers to schedule a meeting in a week.

He tells them he's booked for the weekend, with no time to meet with an Indonesian general then.

"I'm going to be up at the Cape on Friday, but I'll see him Tuesday," JFK tells staffers.

The tapes, released on Tuesday by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and downloadable in .zip file format from the archive website, are the last of more than 260 hours of recordings of meetings and conversations JFK privately made before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

In the scheduling discussion three days before his killing, JFK also eerily comments on what would become the day of his funeral.

"Monday?" he asks. "Well that's a tough day."

"It's a hell of a day, Mr. President," a staffer replies.

Kennedy kept the recordings a secret from his top aides. He made the last one two days before his death.

Kennedy library archivist Maura Porter said Monday that JFK may have been saving them for a memoir or possibly started them because he was bothered when the military later gave a different overview of a discussion with him about the Bay of Pigs.

The latest batch of recordings captured meetings from the last three months of Kennedy's administration. In a conversation with political advisers about young voters, Kennedy asks, "What is it we have to sell them?"

"We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil," he says. "He's not unprosperous, but he's not very prosperous. ... And the people who really are well off hate our guts."

• STORY: JFK hearse goes on auction block

Kennedy talks about a disconnect between the political machine and voters.

"We've got so mechanical an operation here in Washington that it doesn't have much identity where these people are concerned," he says.

On another recording, Kennedy questions conflicting reports military and diplomatic advisers bring back from Vietnam, asking the two men: "You both went to the same country?"

He also talks about trying to create films for the 1964 Democratic Convention in color instead of black and white.

"The color is so damn good," he says. "If you do it right."

Porter said the public first heard about the existence of the Kennedy recordings during the Watergate hearings.

In 1983, JFK Library and Museum officials started reviewing tapes without classified materials and releasing recordings to the public. Porter said officials were able to go through all the recordings by 1993, working with government agencies when it came to national security issues and what they could make public.

In all, she said, the JFK Library and Museum has put out about 40 recordings. She said officials excised about 5 to 10 minutes of this last group of recordings due to family discussions and about 30 minutes because of national security concerns.

• STORY: JFK Jr. assistant: I urged Carolyn to get on that plane

Porter has supervised the declassification of these White House tapes since 2001, and she said people will have a much better sense of the kind of leader JFK was after hearing them. While some go along with meeting minutes that also are public, she said, listening to JFK's voice makes his personality come alive.

She said he comes across as an intelligent man who had a knack for public relations and was very interested in his public image. But she said the tapes also reveal times when the president became bored or annoyed and moments when he used swear words.

The sound of the president's children, Caroline and John Jr., playing outside the Oval Office is part of a recording on which he introduces them to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.

"Hello, hello," Gromyko says as the children come in, telling their father, "They are very popular in our country."

JFK tells the children, mentioning a dog Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted the family: "His chief is the one who sent you Pushinka. You know that? You have the puppies."

JFK Library spokeswoman Rachel Flor said the daughter of the late president has heard many of the recordings, but she wasn't sure if she had heard this batch.

"He'd go from being a president to being a father," Porter said of the recordings. "... And that was really cute."

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KATMANDU, Nepal -- Police in Nepal have arrested a U.S. man who was allegedly a member of a smuggling ring that sent illegal drugs into the United States by concealing them in Buddhist prayer wheels.

The drugs, which were also put into metal bowls, were sent via Federal Express, authorities said.

---

Police official Navraj Silwal said Kristian Peter Stiegler, 45, was detained while trying to send 2.5 pounds of hashish, a form of cannabis, and 2 pounds of suspected opium.

If tests confirm the substance is opium, Stiegler could face up to 20 years in prison.

However, Silwal said Stiegler would likely get a lighter sentence because he was cooperating in the investigation into the alleged drug ring.

'Hefty sum'
Silwal said Stiegler has lived in Nepal and India for three years and was suspected of sending several drug shipments.

The Himalayan News Service said hashish was allegedly sent to Europe, as well as to the United States.

It reported the smuggling ring was discovered when police in Dubai intercepted two parcels of hashish that Steigler had allegedly sent to a New Orleans woman.

"Stiegler used to send hashish to the woman via airmail in the form of parcels and the woman used to distribute the drug in black market for a hefty sum," Yadav Raj Adhikari, chief of the Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit, told the Himalayan News Service.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reporter's Notebook

KABUL – Michael Vick would feel right at home here.

Just north of Kabul, on the edge of the mountains, around 1,000 people recently  gathered in the cold for a dog fight. The crowd was basically all men, of all ages, even babies, sharing in a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.
 
Dog fights are popular all over the country, and in some cases gambling is involved. In this particular case, we were told there was no gambling taking place, although I’m not sure that was true.
 
The dog fight is led by an old man, the fight master,  who stands with a stick. He rules the show and is very powerful and very confident. The crowds gather in a series of circles, and no one steps out of line. Only the dog owners and their dogs are allowed to enter the circle.

---

At the start of the fight, there is a green cloth between the dogs so they cannot see each other. The dogs are held by their owners without leashes. Then the cloth is dropped, and the dogs run towards each other and start the fight.

Contrary to common belief, the goal is not for the dogs to kill one another. The winner is the dog that best controls the other – usually by holding on to the skin that surrounds the dogs’ necks – which is decided by the old man. And once he has made his pronouncement, the fighting stops immediately.
 
I know that the notion of dog-fighting is very controversial. I understand this view – I have had dogs, and love these animals. But at the same time, the dogs do not die and the owners do not want their animals to get hurt.

In fact, the dog owners are very protective of their animals. After all, owning a fighting dog is an expensive proposition for an Afghan. One dog owner told us that the prices for a fighting dog start at $500 and go as high as $10,000 – a lot of money anywhere, but particularly in Afghanistan.  The owners seemed to care for their dogs and treated them with respect.

That said, Afghans tend not to be concerned about cruelty to animals. Taking care of their fighting dogs is more about protecting a valuable asset.

After the fights were over, the elderly fight master told us that he has been going to fights since he was a 10-year-old, attending at first with his father. This is a part of Afghan tradition, a way of life and a bit of excitement on Fridays, the day of rest here.

NBC News’ Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – According to his family,  Mukarram Khan Aatif, 47, knew the risks he faced, but still decided to continue reporting.

As a journalist in Pakistan's northwest and tribal regions, Aatif worked for the U.S.-government funded Voice of America Pashto-language radio service Deewa, and for a local Pakistani Urdu-language network called Dunya. He covered his own communities in the tribal regions which are ravaged by militancy and terrorism.

Aatif told the stories of those who had been displaced after military operations forced them from their homes. His colleagues say he tried to balance the stories about violence and terror with the underreported, but vital stories about education and health.

---

"He used to find a news story in everything," said colleague Hameedullah Khan.

But his reporting upset the Taliban, who say Aatif refused to cover them the way they wanted, and dared to criticize their actions - which is why, they say, two gunmen armed with AK-47's entered the mosque where Aatif was praying last week, and shot him dead. 

"He was on our hit list," Taliban spokesman Ihsannullah Ihsan told NBC News. "And now we will target other journalists who have become a party against the Taliban."

Aatif became the 38th Pakistani journalist to be killed since 2002, and the first to be assassinated in 2012.

The Committee to Protect Journalists named Pakistan the deadliest country to report from for the second consecutive year in 2011. Of the 46 journalists killed as a result of their work across the world last year, seven died in Pakistan. In 2010, out of 44 journalists killed worldwide, eight were from Pakistan. Local journalists, typically working in and around their home communities, are often at greater risk. 

Aatif was no exception. He narrowly escaped a twin suicide attack while reporting from the Mohmand tribal region in December 2010. Two other journalists were killed in that attack. His colleagues say he often talked about the horror he witnessed that day, as he watched the blasts from less than 100 yards away. 
 
Three years ago, when the Taliban decided they were unhappy with his reporting and passed along a death threat through the local journalists’ association, Aatif chose to move his family from the tribal regions to an area just outside of Peshawar, rather than stop working.

"We left our native village in Mohmand and shifted our family to Shabqadar because of threats from the Taliban militants, but they chased us even here," said Haji Yaqoob Khan, Aatif's older brother. "He was a journalist, and well-known to everybody, but to me, he was still a child. I was always worried for his security, but I couldn't save his life."

Colleagues and family members remember Aatif as an honest, hospitable, and hard-working man. Hundreds attended his funeral prayers in Mohmand last week, and dozens of his colleagues called for justice outside the Peshawar Press Club, as they protested the murder of the man they had all come to know and respect over the years.

Colleague Hameedullah Khan remembers Aatif as a man who was shy with strangers, but was the life of the party among friends; a man who loved to share jokes and laugh.

"He used to buy chocolates from the village shop, just to hand them out to the local children," said his brother.

Voice of America Director David Ensor said that Aatif  “risked his life on a daily basis to provide his audience with fair and balanced news from this critical region."

"We mourn the loss of our colleague," said Ensor. "We call on authorities in Pakistan to do more to protect journalists working there and bring his killers to justice."

Safdar Hayat Dawar, president of the Tribal Union of Journalists, knew Aatif as a "thoroughly professional" journalist who remained committed to his reporting, despite the threats. Dawar worries for the dozens of journalists who continue to work in the region.

"How are they supposed to work, when they're suspected of spying for the U.S. or for Pakistan's armed forces?" said Dawar. "Twelve journalists have been gunned down in the tribal areas since 2005, and we don't know what will happen next."

NBC News’ Amna Nawaz contributed to this report from Islamabad.

BEIJING – As the Chinese diaspora rings in the New Year around the world this week, many are asking what 2012 and the Year of the Dragon has in store for China, its people, its economy and its relationship with the rest of the world.

For the answer to these questions and countless others that define our everyday lives, mainlanders often turn to their local feng shui expert for answers.

Feng shui, the Chinese art of balancing yin and yang to create harmonious surroundings, has experienced something of a revival here since being squelched during the Cultural Revolution. While it has become something of a novelty for most, there are still many Chinese who take predictions from feng shui experts seriously, elevating the art of feng shui into a highly lucrative profession for experts who provide their expertise to superstitious clients.

Just how profitable? Some top consultants are said to make tens of thousands of dollars per consultation.

But for those of you who do not have thousands in spare cash to hire a top feng shui expert, we here at Behind the Wall consulted Beijing-based feng shui master, Chen Shuaifu, to get his thoughts and predictions for 2012.

---

Good year for Dragons, Rats, Monkey and Roosters
Chen, 59, has been in the industry for years and is currently chairman of the Chinese Feng Shui Association, a trade group that has between 50,000-60,000 members.

Chen predicts that this will be a prosperous year for those born in the year of the Dragon (those born in 1940, ’64, ’88,’ ’12), Rat (’36, 60,’84,’08), Monkey (’32, ’56, ’80, ’04) and Rooster (’33, ’57, ’81, ’05). Of these zodiac animals, those born in the year of the Rat are poised to have particularly good luck in 2012.

As snakes grow up, they get longer and eventually turn into dragons, so Chen also believes that those born in the year of the Snake (’29, ’53, ’77, ’01) also stand to benefit from this being a Dragon year.

That prediction probably bodes well for politician Xi Jinping, who was born in 1953 and is widely expected to be elevated to the top Communist Party post in 2012.

Conversely, those born in the year of the Dog (’34, ’58, ’82, ’06) seem poised for a bad 2012 and Chen strongly urged Dogs to postpone major life decisions like weddings until next year when their luck should improve. Whatever choices Dogs of the world make in 2012, Chen especially urges them to think twice about marrying a Dragon this year.

For everyone else, 2012 is an auspicious year to get married.

Watch out for real estate deals
Besides a zodiac animal, every year also has an element assigned to it as well. This year’s element, water, paired with the Dragon is said to be an auspicious combination that should allow prosperity to flow freely.

To that end, Chen believes that as that positive energy flows through the start of 2012, there should be a rebound in China’s export trade. Though he echoed the concern of senior Chinese leadership – most noticeably Premier Wen Jiabao – that inflation and price instability could creep back, Chen predicted it would not be the issue it was in 2011.

Chen’s confidence, though, ends with Chinese real estate. On this issue, it would seem that the zodiac’s message echoes many financial institutions in predicting that this will be a tough year for the already deflating mainland housing market. Chen urges people to avoid real estate decisions at all costs and instead invest in commodities like gold, building materials and agriculture food products.

In regards to the Sino-U.S. relationship, Chen sees good momentum that should lead to increased mutual cooperation and development.

Feng shui experts also dabble in physiognomy, the study of man’s outer features to determine their personality or character and Chen is no exception. In evaluating President Barack Obama’s first term, Chen pounces on his trim figure, particularly his thin jawline. Chen believes that Obama’s weak-looking chin fuels the perception that he is weak and thus prone to challenges by his opponents.

However, despite Chen’s poor assessment of Obama’s facial features, it’s not all bad for the president. The feng shui master’s final prediction for the year of the Dragon: Obama in 2012.

On behalf of all us at Behind the Wall, a very happy Chinese New Year and best wishes for a prosperous Year of the Dragon.

NBC News’ Bo Gu and Eric Baculinao contributed to this report.

TRIPOLI - Supporters of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi seized control of the town of Bani Walid on Monday after clashes with a militia loyal to the new government in which four people were killed, witnesses told Reuters.

The violence was bad enough that authorities in Tripoli felt forced to dispatch dozens of revolutionary fighters to Bani Walid, the Guardian reported, quoting brigade commander Saddam Abdel-Zein.

---

A resident of Bani Walid, about 120 miles south-east of Tripoli, said the sides fought using heavy weaponry, including 106 mm anti-tank weapons, and that 20 people were wounded.

Another witness told Reuters the fighting had now stopped but that Gadhafi loyalists were in control of the town center, where they were flying green flags, a symbol of allegiance to the ousted administration.

• Libya could fall into 'bottomless pit', leader warns

"They control the town now. They are roaming the town," said the witness, a fighter with the 28th May militia which was fighting the Gadhafi loyalists.

Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns in Libya to surrender to the anti-Gadhafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the country's new leadership.

The uprising in Bani Walid could not come at a worse time for the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). It is already reeling from violent protests in the eastern city of Benghazi and the resignation of its second most senior official.

• Militias may drag Libya into civil war

An air force official told Reuters that jets were being mobilized to fly to Bani Walid. In Tripoli, there were signs of security being tightened, Reuters reporters in the city said.  

Fighters "massacred"
The violence in Bani Walid was sparked when members of the May 28 militia arrested some Gadhafi loyalists.

That prompted other supporters of the former leader, who was captured and killed in October, to attack the militia's garrison in the town, said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They massacred men at the doors of the militia headquarters," said the resident.

During Libya's nine-month civil war, anti-Gadhafi rebels fought for months to take Bani Walid.

Local tribal elders eventually agreed to let NTC fighters enter the town, but relations have been uneasy since and there have been occasional flare-ups of violence.

In November last year, several people were killed in Bani Walid when a militia group from Tripoli's Souq al-Juma district arrived in the town to try to arrest some local men.

Taking back control of the town will be challenging because it has natural defenses. Anyone approaching from the north has to descend into a deep valley and then climb up the other side, giving defenders an advantage.

It was this landscape, in part, that prevented anti-Gadhafi militias from taking the town during the civil war, despite the fact they were heavily armed and had superior numbers.

Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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CAIRO – Egyptians were greeted by a series of firsts Monday:  Egypt's first democratically elected parliament and first predominantly Islamist parliament convened for their first session.  

New lawmakers were greeted by a now familiar sight.  Roughly 1,000 chanting demonstrators greeted them – despite being kept at a distance from the parliament building by riot police, metal barriers and sharp shooters mounted on roofs. 

They had come to hold lawmakers accountable for a wide variety of promises they believe are essential for the new Egypt.

---

From labor laws to honoring martyrs
Shima'a Sa'ib, a 28-year-old engineeer from Cairo, stopped chanting for a minute to explain why she came to protest. “We want them to hear our voice, to give us rights and to give rights to the families of the martyrs,” she said, referring to those killed in the revolution.  

Mahmoud Hussein held a poster filled with photos of people who were killed when police opened fire on them near a police station during the revolution. He pointed to the picture of a father of two who was killed.

"He was my neighbor.  His family was never compensated by the government,” said Hussein. “Now their landlord lets them stay for free. They can't afford to pay rent.” He fears that the new politicians will also ignore their needs.  "They are in power now, they will forget those in need."

Ahmed Desouki, a lanky university student, explained in perfect English why he had come.  "I am here for worker's rights because workers have been suffering from this capitalist government. We need better wages, stop privatization and make the labor unions stronger."  Asked if he thought the new parliament would meet his demands, his reply was swift.  "No. I don't have hope.”

Desouki also expressed distrust about the cozy relationship between the military government known as the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, and the Islamists.

Hazdem Mohammed, a 25-year-old computer system administrator from Cairo and a member of the April 6 Youth Movement, the main organization behind the revolution, agreed.

“The people in parliament stole the revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood stole it in order to come to power,” said Mohammed. “The Brotherhood is like Hamas in Gaza, once they come to power, they will never leave.  If the revolution was on the right track, those in the military would be in prison for killing protesters."  He said the April 6 Youth Movement plans to continue organizing opposition to the government. 

Pediatrician Hazem Nasser said he was there to remind lawmakers that they are accountable for upholding some of the larger goals of the revolution. "Nothing has changed in Egypt since the revolution. Maybe they will be dictators, too, if people don’t stand up and tell them right from wrong.  If we don't do that, maybe 500 Mubaraks will arise." 

Looking for more man-friendly family law
Still others, like Salah Hassan and Ahmed Ibrahim, were there for very personal reasons: to protest some of the more female-friendly divorce laws introduced under former President Hosni Mubarak that give mothers preference in child custody disputes.

Both men said their divorced wives had prevented them from seeing their children for the past 10 years, so they were hopeful that the majority Islamist parliament would uphold religious Muslim laws that are more favorable to men. 

Under the current law, women gain child custody in divorce cases until the children are 15 years old, at which time the child can decide who he or she wants to live with. Mothers are also allowed to stay in their homes while they have custody.

But under Islamic law, the father would get the child and the home when boys reach the age of 7 and girls reach the age of 9. 

"I may not agree with the Muslim Brotherhood in other things but for this reason, I voted for them," said Ibrahim, a civil engineer. “I have not seen my child for 10 years."  He also wants to revoke a woman’s right to divorce with ease.  "She just called and told me, I am divorcing you and taking your child and your house.”

Ibrahim reckoned there were as many as 300 others there who were also protesting to overturn Egypt's moderate family laws.

With all of the diverse issues, it will be a wonder what the parliament can get done, but the protesters seem determined to at least make their demands heard.

See Photoblog: Egypt parliament opens for the first time following the fall of Mubarak

MOSCOW - A top Kremlin aide said on Monday Moscow could do little more for Syrian President Bashar Assad, opening the door to a shift in Russia's position after 10 months of bloodshed.

Moscow is one of Assad's few remaining allies, resisting pressure to call for his resignation and, with China, blocking a Western-crafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned a crackdown that has killed thousands of civilians.

---

But Russia can do no more, state-run news agency Itar-Tass quoted Mikhail Margelov, a senior lawmaker who is President Dmitry Medvedev's special Africa envoy and has also engaged in diplomacy over Syria, as saying.

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"(Our) veto on the U.N. Security Council resolution was the last instrument allowing Bashar al-Assad to maintain the status quo in the international arena," Margelov was quoted as saying.

The veto "was a serious signal to the president of Syria from Russia. This veto has exhausted our arsenal of such resources," said Margelov, who is chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper parliament house.

Syria earlier rejected the Arab League's wide-ranging new plan to end the crisis, saying the League's call for a national unity government in two months is a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty.

President Bashar Assad blames the uprising that erupted in March on terrorists and armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country. His regime has retaliated with a brutal crackdown that the U.N. says has killed more than 5,400 people.

There is growing urgency, however, to find a resolution to a crisis that is growing increasingly violent as regime opponents and army defectors who have switched sides have started to fight back against government forces.

• Syria rejects Arab League peace plan, brands it a conspiracy

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in a suburb outside the capital, Damascus, to mourn 11 residents who were either shot dead by security forces or killed in clashes between army defectors and troops a day earlier, activists said.

The crowd in Douma — which one activist said was 60,000-strong — was under the protection of dozens of army defectors who are in control of the area after regime forces pulled out late Sunday, said Samer al-Omar, a Douma resident.

The reports could not be independently confirmed.

• Strong show of support for Assad in Syrian capital

The Arab League has tried to stem the bloodshed by condemning the crackdown, imposing sanctions and sending a team of observers to the country. On Sunday, the League called for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Texas family survives Honduras plane crash into ocean
• Slideshow: Slices of life in Iran

The United States is still flouting international law at Guantanamo Bay, despite President Barack Obama's election pledge to shut the facility, the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said Monday.

"It is ten years since the U.S. Government opened the prison at Guantanamo, and now three years since 22 January 2009, when the President ordered its closure within twelve months. Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained -- indefinitely -- in clear breach of international law," Pillay said in a statement, ahead of Obama's next annual speech Tuesday.

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Pillay said that she is deeply disappointed the U.S. government has "entrenched a system of arbitrary detention."

She said she also was "disturbed at the failure to ensure accountability for serious human rights violations, including torture, that took place."

Six trials in 10 years
Former President George W. Bush set up the camp at a U.S. naval base in Cuba after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to expel al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Eight prisoners have died at Guantanamo, two deaths ascribed to natural causes and the rest classified as suicides, and many detainees have said they were tortured.

• Al-Qaida-linked Inspire magazine delivered to Guantanamo Bay

Only six trials have been completed in 10 years.

"While fully recognizing the right and duty of states to protect their people and territory from terrorist acts, I remind all branches of the U.S. government of their obligation under international human rights law to ensure that individuals deprived of their liberty can have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed before a court," Pillay said.

• 'Tortured' Guantanamo Bay prisoner seeks release of secret videos

"Where credible evidence exists against Guantanamo detainees, they should be charged and prosecuted. Otherwise, they must be released," she added.

Obama had planned to move some detainees to the United States, but Congress blocked funding for that plan and tightly restricted all transfers out, demanding his administration must notify congressional intelligence committees and guarantee the prisoner will not engage in terrorism.

Pillay urged Congress to enable the administration to close the camp.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's prime minister on Monday fired the foreign minister over insulting remarks he made about anti-government protesters.

Emil Boc said in a speech that Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi was fired for making inappropriate remarks about protesters, who have taken to the streets for the past 10 days to demonstrate against austerity measures and call for the resignation of President Traian Basescu and the government.

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Last week, as anti-government protests raged in Romania, Baconschi wrote on his blog that Romanians who work for a living will decide the country's future, not the "violent and clueless slums." Baconschi's comments caused outrage.

Boc apologized to protesters during an extraordinary two-day Parliament session called by opposition parties following the protests.

"I present apologies from the parliamentary tribune to the Romanian public for these verbal errors," he said.

Some protesters gathered in Bucharest's University Square said the dismissal did not satisfy them. The opposition also said the firing of Baconschi did not go far enough, and lawmakers called for early elections, saying Basescu, parliament and the government are no longer wanted by the people.

"Romania needs radical solutions — early presidential and early general elections to be held as soon as possible," said Crin Antonescu who leads the opposition Liberal Party. "We believe most Romanians are discontented and reject their political leaders."

Baconschi was appointed foreign minister in Dec. 2009, and before that he was Romania's ambassador to the Vatican and to Paris.

He is currently in Brussels for a European Union meeting of foreign ministers. According to the Mediafax news agency, Baconschi said he had received a text message from the prime minister telling him that he was fired.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Interpol faces legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents
• EU adopts Iran oil embargo amid 'Lockerbie' fear
• North Korea marks lunar New Year with flowers named after dictator
• Megaupload suspect Kim Dotcom denies Internet piracy, money laundering
• Thai man marries dead girlfriend, posts to YouTube
• Texas family survives Honduras plane crash into ocean
• Slideshow: Slices of life in Iran

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Benny Wenda was born in a village of the Lani people in the Baliem valley, a remote and beautiful mountain region of West Papua. It should have been an idyllic childhood.

Instead Wenda says one of his earliest memories is the bombing of his village in 1977; that at the age of five he witnessed his aunts being raped — "it make me hard cry, you know?"  — and that later his uncle Kepas was beaten and buried alive.

The culprits, he told msnbc.com, were Indonesia's security forces.

• Interpol faces legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents

As an adult, Wenda became a leader of the campaign for West Papuan independence. But he then found himself accused of inciting people to attack a police station and an arson attack that resulted in several deaths.

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While awaiting sentence in 2002, he escaped prison after hearing rumors he was going to be killed and fled Indonesia.

Wenda was granted asylum in Britain and settled down with his family in Oxford, while still continuing to campaign for freedom for his people and setting up his own website.

But late last year, he became aware that Interpol had issued a "red notice" for him at Indonesia's request and that he was listed as a "wanted person" on Interpol's website.

"I think Indonesia is just trying to stop me and my campaign," he told msnbc.com. "Because I'm getting support around the world, that's why they put Interpol on me. I'm telling the truth and I'm standing for my people."

'Justice, freedom and dignity'
Wenda admitted there was an armed resistance movement in West Papua, but said they were freedom fighters, not terrorists.

"They are standing for justice, freedom and dignity," he said.

Wenda said some fighters had guns but "mainly they are fighting with bows and arrows."

"They know where to go, they are hiding on their own lands, hiding in the bush," he said, of their conflict with one of the world's largest militaries.

"We're not scared of those Indonesians, because we are standing for our rights," Wenda said.

In 2004, a 75-page Yale Law School report detailed bombings of the Baliem Valley in 1977, citing a former Indonesian official's estimate that 3,000 people had died.

"The Jakarta daily, Kompas, reported ... (the) 'Baliem River was so full of corpses that for a month and a half ... people could not bring themselves to eat fish'," the report said.

Natural resources
Wenda said while the U.S., U.K. and other countries had previously been mainly interested in the region's natural resources, he sensed "a new generation" of politicians were changing their views.

In October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced her concern about violence and human rights violations in the region, the Jakarta Globe reported in an article that said 2011 had been "marked by violence and increased militarization."

Indonesia says West Papua — officially divided by Indonesia into the regions of Papua and West Papua, names rejected by Wenda — belongs to them because it was part of the Dutch East Indies colony, which became independent as Indonesia in 1949.

The Dutch retained control over West Papua at that time and in 1961, Indonesia threatened to invade. After discussions at the United Nations, it was decided to let West Papuans make the decision in an "Act of Free Choice" in 1969. Just over 1,000 specially chosen tribal leaders voted.

'A Greek tragedy'
According to an article published by The George Washington University in 2004, a secret U.S. Embassy telegram in 1969 said the Act was "unfolding like a Greek tragedy, the conclusion preordained."

"Dissident activity is likely to increase but the Indonesian armed forces will be able to contain and, if necessary, suppress it," it added.

Ambassador Frank Galbraith said in another secret 1969 document that "possibly 85 to 90 percent" of the population "are in sympathy with the Free Papua cause." He added that recent Indonesian military operations had resulted in the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians, leading to rumors of "intended genocide."

However, secret briefing papers show that Henry Kissinger told President Richard Nixon not to raise the West Papuan issue on a July 1969 visit to Indonesian capital Jakarta, the GWU article said.

According to Amnesty International, "human rights violations are a daily reality" in modern-day West Papua.

"Freedom of express and association are severely restricted. Since the late 1990s, hundreds of people have been arrested for pro-independence activities, and dozens of peaceful protesters remain in prison," Amnesty says on its website.

"Reports indicate that the security forces use unnecessary force during demonstrations, and torture those who are perceived to be pro-independence supporters ... torture by Indonesian police is also widespread," it adds.

In Nov. 2001, BBC News quoted an Indonesian official as saying Wenda was part of a "clandestine organization dedicated to secede from Indonesia using any means available to them."

Billy Wibisono, Third Secretary (Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs) at the Indonesian Embassy in London, told the BBC: "Mr. Wenda and several other accomplices participated in an attack of the Abepura Police Station on December 7, 2000 and caused the deaths and destruction of property."

He told the BBC that six police officers and civilians were killed. Wibisono added that the red notice would be withdrawn if Wenda "can prove his innocence in our court of law."

Father of six
Now a U.K. citizen and living with his wife Maria and six children, aged from one-and-a-half to 11, Wenda said he was confident he is safe from the Indonesian authorities.

"I'm not alone, because all the British people are surrounding me. They are really nice people," he said, adding that he has not heard anything from the British authorities about the red notice.

But his children are not so certain.

"They are really scared. My oldest daughter ... she really worries because 'I don't want my daddy in prison again, I don't want my daddy tortured again,'" he said.

"I'm confident one day my people will be free, just like other people. That is my dream: One day my people will be able to get freedom."

Follow msnbc.com's Ian Johnston on Twitter.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET: Hours after the European Union imposes an oil embargo and sanctions on Iran's central bank, France, Britain and Germany say they are willing to negotiate with Iran if it is ready to talk seriously about its nuclear program.

"We call on Iran's leadership immediately to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and abide fully by its international obligations," the European countries say in a joint statement. "Until Iran comes to the table, we will be united behind strong measures to undermine the regime's ability to fund its nuclear program."

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In response, the offices of Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issues the following statement, according to NBC News:

 

"We welcome today's decision by the European Union to ban imports of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank, and take additional action against Iran's energy, financial, and transport sectors."

Updated at 12 p.m. ET: Iran says a European Union decision Monday to impose new sanctions over its nuclear program is "psychological warfare," Reuters reports.

"... Imposing economic sanctions is illogical and unfair but will not stop our nation from obtaining its rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast is quoted as saying by state television, referring to Iran's nuclear energy ambitions.

Updated at 11 a.m. ET: Russia's Foreign Ministry says the European Union was wrong to impose an oil embargo on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, The Associated Press reports.

"It's apparent that in this case there is open pressure and diktat, aimed at 'punishing' Iran for uncooperative behavior. This is a deeply mistaken policy, as we have told our European partners more than once. Under pressure of this sort, Iran will not make any concessions or any corrections to its policies," the ministry says.

Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised a European Union decision to place sanctions on Iranian oil exports, Reuters reports. "I think this is a step in the right direction," Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud faction in parliament. "For now, it is impossible to know what the result of these sanctions will be. Heavy and swift pressure is needed on Iran and the sanctions must be evaluated according to their results."

Netanyahu also said that despite world pressure so far "Iran is continuing undeterred to develop nuclear weapons," Reuters adds.

• USS Lincoln sails through Strait of Hormuz

Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET: A member of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, says Tehran should respond to an EU decision to impose sanctions on Iran -- some of which come into force in July -- by stopping oil sales to the bloc immediately. This would deny the Europeans time to arrange alternative supplies and damaging their economies with higher oil prices.

"The best way is to stop exporting oil ourselves before the end of this six months and before the implementation of the plan," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying, Reuters reports. He also reiterated that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of all oil tanker traffic passes to importers around the world.

Published at 7:45 a.m. ET: The European Union on Monday adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear program, a day after U.S., British and French warships sailed into the Persian Gulf.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday called the measure part of "an unprecedented set of sanctions." 

"I think this shows the resolve of the European Union on this issue," he said.

Diplomats say the measures, adopted by the EU's 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.

Tehran denies claims that its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons, saying it is for peaceful purposes.

In a report that examined how Iran might respond to an EU oil embargo, Professor Paul Stevens, a visiting professor at University College London (Australia) and research fellow at U.K. think tank Chatham House, said it was "extremely unlikely" that Iran would not retaliate.

'Lockerbie-type response' feared
Stevens said that if Iran seriously threatened the transit of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world supplies, this would "rapidly degenerate into a shooting war" between Iran and the U.S., supported by its allies.

He expressed doubts Iran would try to do this, saying it was a "very powerful card that Iran is unlikely to play early in the game."

However, Stevens said Iran had other retaliation options, warning that there "could even be a Lockerbie-type response prompted by elements from within Iran," referring to the bombing ofPan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which led to 270 deaths. That attack was blamed on Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan regime.

He also said Iran could try to push oil prices upward by creating further instability in Iraq, hitting that country's oil exports; make "serious trouble" for NATO in Afghanistan; and also put "huge pressure" on other Gulf oil exporters and "at worst" threaten oil facilities."

• Slices of life in Iran

Stevens said the Abqaiq processing facility in Saudi Arabia was "well within Iranian missile range."

On Sunday, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its battle group sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, despite previous threats from Iran to attack the aircraft carrier Stennis if it returned to the Gulf.

U.S. military officials said the Lincoln saw no sign of Iranian speed boats that sometimes harass U.S. warships.

The U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper reported that the nuclear-powered Lincoln was accompanied by a British navy ship and a French warship.

A U.K. defense ministry spokesman told the paper that HMS Argyll had joined the U.S. carrier group "to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage (to the Strait of Hormuz) under international law."

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

LONDON -- A landmark lawsuit alleging that dictatorships and other oppressive regimes are using Interpol's alert system to harass or detain political dissidents is being planned by rights activists and lawyers.

Campaigners allege that rogue states have fabricated criminal charges against opposition activists who have been given refuge in other countries and then sought their arrest by obtaining "red notices" from the global police body.

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There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone.

In one case, Rasoul Mazrae, an Iranian political activist recognized by the United Nations as a refugee, was arrested in Syria in 2006 as he tried to flee to Norway after a red notice was issued.

Mazrae was deported back to Iran, where he was tortured, according to a report by Libby Lewis, of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. He was later jailed for 15 years, Amnesty International says.

'Torturers and murderers'
In one of the latest cases, a red notice has been issued for Benny Wenda, a tribal leader who campaigns for independence for the West Papua region from Indonesia. He was granted asylum in the U.K. after claiming he had been tortured and prosecuted for inciting people to attack a police station. Wenda says he was in a different country at the time of the incident.

• Wanted activist Benny Wenda tells of 'bow and arrows' revolt

Mark Stephens, a leading British human rights lawyer, told msnbc.com that the red notice system can allow Interpol to unwittingly become "an aider and abettor of torturers and murderers in oppressive regimes."

Amid mounting anger within the legal community, the U.K.-based rights campaign group Fair Trials International is now seeking people who allege their red notices are politically motivated to take part in a class action lawsuit against Interpol.

If successful, the case would potentially make France-based Interpol subject to the rulings of a court for the first time.

That would have implications not just for political dissidents, but could also create an extra legal hurdle for any country seeking to extradite alleged terrorists, murderers, international fraudsters, and other criminals based in another country.

Jago Russell, the chief executive of Fair Trials International, highlighted that Interpol's 190 member states include "countries that routinely abuse their criminal justice systems to persecute individuals."

Despite this, there is no independent court where someone can challenge a notice and "no remedy for the damage that notices can cause," he said.

Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Belarus and Zimbabwe — all widely condemned for human rights abuses by their governments — are members of Interpol and each country currently has red notices listed on its website.

"Powerful international organizations with the ability to ruin lives have to be accountable for their actions," Russell wrote in an email.

"Interpol's own credibility relies on proper accountability mechanisms to weed out cases of abuse, but if Interpol refuses to put its own house in order it could ultimately be up to the courts to step in and demand action," he added.

There have been legal challenges to Interpol's decisions heard in some countries' courts in the past, but these have failed "to hold the organization to account," Russell wrote.

Russell hopes that a court with jurisdiction over a number of countries, such as the European Court of Human Rights, will take a different view.

"This would no doubt be a long, hard process but with thousands of people affected by red notices every year and, with the rule of law at stake, it would be worth the fight," he said.

Political persecution
Fair Trials International is currently highlighting Wenda's case in particular and trying to help get his red notice removed.

He escaped from prison before being sentenced and fled Indonesia in 2002. Wenda traveled to the U.K., where he was granted asylum due to Indonesia's persecution of him on political grounds, according to Fair Trials International.

Wenda then renewed his campaign, meeting politicians and others as he traveled the world. He also has a website highlighting the West Papuan cause.

In 2011, he became aware that Interpol had issued a red notice. According to those details of the notice that have been made public by Interpol, Wenda is wanted for "crimes involving the use of weapons/explosives" by the Papua Regional Police.

According to Wenda, he was charged with inciting an attack on a police station and burning buildings that resulted in the deaths of a number of people even though he says he was not in Indonesia at the time.

Wenda says he was tortured, held in solitary confinement, and the judge and prosecutor requested bribes among other irregularities during the trial.

Wenda believes the red notice was sought partly to try to prevent him from traveling outside the U.K. to highlight the plight of West Papuans.

A report by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at the Yale Law School in 2003 found that "the West Papuan people have suffered persistent and horrible abuses" at the hands of the Indonesian government since the area was annexed in 1969. It also accused Indonesian military and security forces of engaging in "widespread violence and extrajudicial killings."

The research team concluded that historical and contemporary evidence "strongly suggests that the Indonesian government has committed proscribed acts with the intent to destroy the West Papuans ... in violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."

'My people are crying'
Wenda says that his people continue to be "killed, raped and tortured."

"I think Indonesia is just trying to stop me and my campaign. I think that's the reason. I think this is just political motivation," Wenda told msnbc.com. "I'm not terrorist, I'm not criminal. Who's real terrorist or criminal? It's Indonesia itself. 

"My people are crying ... That's why I am up and down the country, traveling the world, telling the truth."

Human Rights Watch's World Report 2012 also highlights that the U.S. provides "extensive military assistance to Indonesia" and adds that "impunity for members of Indonesia’s security forces remains a serious concern, with no civilian jurisdiction over soldiers who commit serious human rights abuses."

Jennifer Robinson, a London-based human rights lawyer and member of International Lawyers for West Papua, told msnbc.com in an email that "the charges that form the basis of the Interpol warrant are the very same politically motivated charges brought against Benny in 2002 -- and the very same charges that were the basis of the UK's decision to grant him political asylum."

"I attended his trial in West Papua on these charges, heard the evidence and witnessed the flagrant breaches of due process at that trial. I am witness to the fact the charges are without evidential basis," she added. "This was recognised by the U.K. in granting Benny refugee status for the political persecution he suffered in Indonesia. Now Indonesia is seeking to abuse the Interpol system to extend its political persecution across borders, undermining the protection afforded to Benny under the U.N. Refugee Convention."

In addition to the threat of arrest in the country of refuge, Fair Trials International says that a red notice makes international travel risky — partly because countries tend to deal with each one on a case-by-case basis.

And even if a court in one country decides not to extradite the wanted person, the red notice remains and another country could take a different decision.

The stigma of being wanted for an alleged crime can also make everyday life difficult -- by making it hard to get a bank account, for example, due to background checks.

Michelle Estlund, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based lawyer who writes a blog focusing red notices, told msnbc.com that there should be some kind of quasi-judicial proceedings to level the "playing field" between an Interpol member state and an individual. Part of the issue, she said, is that Interpol initially assumes that red notice applications are properly submitted.

"If you are I are playing basketball and I haven't followed the rules and I haven't told you where the hoop is, it's going to be very hard for you to win, especially if the referee is presuming everything I do to be right," Estlund said.

Little transparency?
It is possible to complain about red notices but critics say the procedure suffers from a lack of transparency.

Complaints to Interpol that red notices are issued because of politically motivated charges are considered internally at first and then by a specially created body called the Commission for Control of Interpol's Files (CCF).

However, the panel -- which consists of five unpaid commissioners and three members of staff -- holds its discussions in private and does not have to give any reasons for its decisions.

There are few successful challenges. According to statistics published in the commission's latest annual report, 16 percent (or 32) of 201 requests that it received in 2010 raised questions about "the application of Article 3 of Interpol's constitution." Article 3 prohibits Interpol from activities of a "political, military, religious or racial character."

The CCF dealt with 170 requests in 2010 and 26 percent (or 44) of those cases resulted in the deletion of an Interpol file. Assuming 16 percent of those were Article 3 complaints, then just seven people had red notices removed in 2010 after claiming they were being prosecuted for political or other such unjustified reasons.

Billy Hawkes, the CCF's chairman, said the body examined complaints "very thoroughly."

"We recognize the dangers of red notices being used inappropriately for political objectives," he told msnbc.com from Dublin, Ireland. "Obviously we must all be concerned about the rights of individuals and dangers of abuse of the red notice system."

Hawkes warned, however, that adding judicial oversight of Interpol's red notices could hamper its ability to help catch criminals.

"We must remember that the object of a red notice is to have fugitive criminals stopped as quickly as possible, so they can face trial in the country they have committed the crime," he added.

One potential obstacle to taking legal action against Interpol is a deal it made with the French government that gives it immunity from some French laws. It is unclear how a European court would regard that deal.

'Unfairness'
Anand Doobay, a U.K.-based lawyer, confirmed to msnbc.com that he was "investigating the possibility of some kind of legal challenge on behalf of clients who are affected by politically motivated prosecutions which have resulted in Interpol red notices being issued."

"The unfairness which is caused by having an unwarranted Interpol red notice is very difficult to address," he said.
"What we are looking at is ways of trying to deal with the unfairness."

Estlund, the Florida-based lawyer, said oppressive regimes should not be expelled from Interpol because they might become "safe havens for people who have committed real crimes."

Instead she argued that red notice requests from countries with a record of corruption should be subject to greater scrutiny. "I do think Interpol is capable of doing that," she added. "I don't think it's too much to hope that that will happen."

A statement emailed to msnbc.com by an Interpol spokeswoman on Jan. 11 said there were 26,051 valid red notices at that time, including 7,678 issued in 2011.

It listed three ways people "can challenge a red notice and/or the national arrest warrant upon which the request was submitted":

• argue their case before the national authorities of the requesting country;
• contact the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files; 
• or request their country to take the case itself and protest against the red notice.

The statement added that the "issuance of a red notice is not a judicial decision." "Each Interpol member country decides for itself what legal value to give red notice within their borders," it said.

"Interpol's role is not to question allegations against an individual, nor to gather evidence, so a red notice is issued based on a presumption that the information provided by the police is accurate and relevant," the statement added.

Follow msnbc.com's Ian Johnston on Twitter.

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Bundled up against the freezing cold, soldiers and children lined up Monday at Pyongyang's main plaza to pay their respects again to late leader Kim Jong Il.

It was North Korea's unique way of marking the lunar New Year which was celebrated in China and elsewhere in the region with fireworks.

A massive portrait of Kim that had been taken down after a mourning period following his Dec. 17 death was back up at Kim Il Sung Square.

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People scurried across the vast plaza to get in line to bow and lay single red flowers, the late leader's namesake "kimjongilia" begonias, made of fabric. The song "It's snowing" blared from the loudspeakers, a reminder of Kim's solemn funeral procession through the capital city's snowy streets late last month.

For several weeks after the funeral, Pyongyang was barren and somber. But almost overnight the city has filled with color again. North Korea's red, white and blue national flag fluttered from signposts. Banners celebrating "Juche 101" — the current year, according to the North Korean calendar, which begins with the 1912 birth of national founder Kim Il Sung — and posters marking the holiday were pinned to buildings and walls.

• Report: Kim Jong Un won't 'last long,' half brother says

At the plaza in front of the Pyongyang Grand Theater, hundreds of children scampered and shouted as they played traditional Korean games in frigid temperatures. Signs in front of the theater spelled out "We are happy" in big, bold letters.

Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. State television aired a segment late Sunday on making rice cake soup, a traditional New Year's meal in both Koreas.

The holiday comes as new leader Kim Jong Un makes a round of visits to military units.

• North Korea generals vow to be 'human bombs'

Outside observers have raised questions about whether Kim Jong Un — who's believed to be aged in his late 20s — is ready to rule a country of 24 million with a nuclear program as well as chronic food shortages.

But the North has dismissed such worries, and state media have put out a stream of reports and images meant to show that Kim has strong military and governing experience. Late last week, for example, North Korea credited Kim Jong Un with spearheading past nuclear testing and said he was "fully equipped" with the qualities of an extraordinary general.

Kim Jong Un, anointed his father's successor at least three years ago, was declared "supreme leader" of the North Korean people, party and military after his father's death. He has pledged to uphold his father's "military first" policy.

The new era of leadership comes as North Korea prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary in April of the birth of his grandfather, late President Kim Il Sung.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.