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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the Department earlier today. The Secretary expressed great appreciation for the dedication and sacrifice of the brave men and women of the UN who have, in recent days, endured several tragedies — the attack and ruthless murder at a UNAMA compound in Afghanistan, a UN staff member killed while trying to save civilians in Cote d’Ivoire, and the tragic crash of a UN plane in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United States honors the sacrifices they made, and Secretary Clinton expressed condolences to the UN and to the loved ones of those lost.

The United States Agency for International Development’s Office of Food for Peace has approved a food aid contribution to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the amount of $6.5 million. The official handover ceremony of the donation took place in Bangui, CAR on April 5, 2011. The WFP’s protracted relief and recovery operation will provide food assistance to people impacted by ongoing armed conflicts.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sharply criticized for his handling of a migrant wave on Lampedusa — an island in the Mediterranean Sea that is the southern most point of Italy, about 70 miles from Tunisia. Last week, Tunisians who had fled the unrest in North Africa outnumbered the 5,000 islanders.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signalled that his country is ready to become a mediator to help attain an early ceasefire in Libya over fears that the country could turn into a "second Iraq" or "another Afghanistan".

Kanybek Imanaliev MP at an OSCE-supported event on a national strategy for Kyrgyzstan’s inter-ethnic relations, Bishkek, 28 March 2011.

Libyan women hold pictures of leader Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli earlier this month during a protest against the U.N. resolution authorizing a no-fly zone. The government wants Tripoli to seem like a place full of people who revere Gadhafi. There are signs, however, that Gadhafi's grip on the capital could be loosening.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) holds press conference with Secretary General of Arab League Amre M. Moussa

The U.S. military said Tuesday that an Air Force fighter jet crashed in Libya but was not shot down, as coalition forces bombarded the North African nation for a third straight night.