WASHINGTON/AMMAN (Reuters) – Syria was under growing pressure on Thursday to stop using military force against anti-government protesters after the United States slapped sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad over human rights violations.

Broadening its campaign against pro-democracy rallies, Syrian tanks have been shelling a border town for days in the latest attempt to crush a revolt against Assad’s 11-year rule.

WASHNGTON/AMMAN (Reuters) – Washington imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for human rights abuses on Wednesday in a dramatic escalation of pressure on Syria to cease its brutal crackdown on protesters.

Assad had been partly rehabilitated in the West over the last three years but Western powers have condemned his use of force to quell protests against his 11 years in power.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and six other top aides for human rights abuses on Wednesday in a dramatic escalation of pressure on Syria to cease its brutal crackdown on protesters.

Targeting Assad personally with sanctions, which the United States and European Union have so far avoided, is a significant slap at Damascus and raises questions about whether Washington and the West may ultimately seek Assad’s removal from power.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and the European Union said on Tuesday they plan to implement new steps against Syria soon if it does not abandon its brutal crackdown, and diplomats said both would impose sanctions on Syrian officials for rights abuses.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for two months of violence against protesters seeking greater political freedoms.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Libyan opposition leader made a plea on Thursday for the United States to free up some of the billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets, saying the Benghazi-based rebels were in a financial crisis.

Mahmoud Jebril, a U.S.-educated technocrat who has become the public face of the rebel Transitional National Council, is making the rounds in Washington seeking greater support for rebels struggling to end Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year rule.

TRIPOLI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Libyan rebels will meet senior White House officials in Washington Friday, seeking both cash and diplomatic legitimacy in their war to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

The head of the rebel National Transitional Council’s executive bureau, Mahmoud Jebril, will meet President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Tom Donilon, and other senior officials, the White House said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) – The United States is taking
a harsher tone toward China on human rights, saying its record
is “deplorable” and calling it a “fool’s errand” to try to halt
the march of freedom.

But rights advocates and analysts said it was by no means
clear the tougher public stance would temper a Chinese
crackdown on dissidents or presage a more muscular U.S. policy
to advance rights in China.

ROME (Reuters) – The world has to take swift action to arrest steadily rising food prices and step up its commitment to sustainable agriculture, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.

“We must act now, effectively and cooperatively to blunt the negative effect of rising food prices,” she said in a speech to the United Nations food agency in Rome.

ABBOTTABAD/ROME (Reuters) – A senior Pakistani security official said U.S. troops killed Osama bin Laden in “cold blood”, fuelling a global controversy and straining a vital relationship Washington was trying to repair on Thursday.

And Pakistan’s army, in its first comment since Monday’s raid, threatened to halt cooperation with its military sponsor if it repeated what it called a violation of sovereignty.

ROME (Reuters) – The United States aims to release billions of dollars in frozen Libya-owned assets to help rebels fast running out of cash, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the anti-Gaddafi “contact group” in Rome on Thursday.

Washington has frozen some $30 billion in assets owned by Muammar Gaddafi’s government but there are legal obstacles to accessing them. Nor can the rebels, based mainly in eastern Libya, sell oil abroad due to United Nations sanctions.