The New York Police Department denied being the source of the leak regarding the Strauss-Kahn’s DNA report. According to several news outlets, traces of his DNA were found on the clothes of the chambermaid who accused him of attempted rape in his hotel suite.

There is no official statement from the investigators about the DNA test results but news reports last Tuesday already said that the DNA tests gave a positive result. A spokesman from the New York Police Department denied that results were already released to the press.

Strauss-Kahn is the former head of the International Monetary Fund. He faces sexual assault charges for allegedly attacking a 32 year old maid at a New York hotel suite earlier this month. He denies the charges and is currently out on bail at a New York safe house.

Various media outlets have quoted sources close to the investigation and reported that Strauss-Kahn’s DNA matched the semen sample found on the collar of the maid’s shirt. The lawyers of the accused have no comments with regards to the reports.

According to Garo Ghazarian, a criminal defense lawyer, a DNA match doesn’t prove guilt of the accused. There are several instances that can explain why Strauss-Kahn’s body fluids found their way on the maid’s clothing, including consensual sex or secondary transfer.

President Obama spoke at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in the hopes of easing the worries of major Jewish donors. According to Steve Rosen, former director of foreign policy for AIPAC, stated that a lot of people in the Jewish community feel that US-Israeli relationship is in danger because of the way President Obama confronted the Israel’s prime minister.

Pro-Israel donors are likely to look for an alternative to President Barack Obama for next year’s presidential election. Two donors said that the president’s speech at the AIPAC didn’t answer the concerns they had about the lack of trust between the governments if the United States and Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was supposed to calm the tensions between the Obama administration and the Jewish state. But the president surprised the Israeli prime minister by proposing that any peace talk with the Palestinians should be based on the borders before the 1967 Six Day War.

Because of this issue, the Republican Party could woo the traditionally Democratic Jewish donors. People are concerned that Israel’s security is placed at risk because of Obama administration’s unbalanced approach. Voters might be turned off because of Obama’s record of breaking promises to its allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected United States President Barack Obama’s peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel. Jewish settler leader in the West Bank criticized the president’s speech, saying that Israel can’t be safe under the 1967 borders.

President Barack Obama said that any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians should be based on the 1967 borders. Both parties should agree with land swaps and this is an idea that Israel doesn’t want to hear.

There were some pro-Israeli points in President Obama’s speech, including his rejection of Palestinian plans to ask the United Nations for statehood recognition and his demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Palestinians remained mum about President Obama’s speech. According to the aides of President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader would consult with other Arab and Palestinian leaders first before he would issue a statement.

In general, the Palestinians are satisfied with President Obama’s support of the 1967 borders as the basis of any peace negotiations. But there are points in the U.S. president’s speech that they didn’t like. Like how Obama rejected the Palestinian plans to ask the United Nations to vote for statehood in September. President Obama was also concerned about the participation of the Hamas in a Palestinian unity government.

The United States Department of Justice charged six Pakistani Americans for helping the Taliban based in Pakistan. Three of the people charged are already in custody, including two imams at mosques in southern Florida. The remaining three are still at large and currently in Pakistan.

The six people who were tagged as Taliban supporters are Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan; his sons Izhar and Irfan; his daughter Amina and her son Zeb; and Faisal Ali Rehman. Izhar and Hafiz are imams at mosques in Florida where they were arrested. Irfan was arrested in Los Angeles. Rehman, Amina, and Zeb are in Pakistan.

The six Pakistani Americans are charged for being supporters of the Pakistani Taliban. Aside from the conspiracy charges, Hafiz, Rehman and Zeb were charged for providing material support to the terrorist organization.

The Department of Justice said that Hafiz founded and controlled a madrassa, which is a religious school for Muslims. This madrassa is used by the Pakistani Taliban to train child terrorists to kill the U.S. troops in Pakistan.

As part of the evidence, the Department of Justice said they have tapes of Hafiz and Irfan in conversations that encouraged violence against the United States troops in Afghanistan and the Pakistani state.

Al Qaeda’s online propaganda arm didn’t call for a major terrorist plot after its leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed in Pakistan. Instead the terrorist group urges its members around the world to plan their own attacks.

The message posted online praised Bin Laden for his long term tactics and visions but goes the opposite direction when it incites militants to carry out individual acts of terrorism, which require little preparation.

The message is clear that without the Al Qaeda founder, the organization’s core is weakened. Even before Bin Laden’s death, it was observed that factions have already formed within the terror group. With no apparent heir to the leadership position, the future of the group is bleak and unclear.

Some intelligence analysts believe that a power struggle is happening within the Al Qaeda and this is the reason why there is still no announcement of a successor after more than a week of Bin Laden’s death. Losing him was a big blow to the organization.

Intelligence analysts from the C.I.A. and other agencies are looking at the computer files and documents that were taken from Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. They are surprised how the terror leader is in touch with the other members.

Osama bin Laden pondered on how many more Americans need to die so that the United States would leave Middle East alone. This and other private thoughts were revealed through notes left by the al Qaeda leader.

It was bin Laden’s mindset that more bloodshed is needed to make the U.S. change its foreign policies with regards to the Middle East. He reportedly told his followers that small attacks would not have the desired effect.

This revelation comes from bin Laden’s writings that were found in his den in Pakistan. It was seized by the Navy SEALS team and brought to the United States after he was killed. It has been said that the stash could be compared to a small college library and it included five computers and at least a hundred digital storage devices. There was also a diary which Bin Laden updates by hand.

United States intelligence officers are sifting through the data and commented that Bin Laden continued to be hands-on even when al Qaeda is a defensive stance. He didn’t seem like he had the ability to coordinate attacks from his Abbottabad lair but he did managed to have his input in al Qaeda missions in the past year.

Several Republicans expressed some criticism on President Obama’s time frame for military actions regarding Libya, as the U.S. and allies continue to bomb the country as part of the current operations in Libya.

Rep. Senator John McCain said he felt the president waited a bit longer than he should have, but that he still believes we should support both him and the troops in this endeavor. McCain, who is the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, added that he believed that had the U.S. taken action a few weeks ago before the UN put a cease fire into effect, then a no-fly zone may have been sufficient to stop Libya from going downhill.

McCain added that even still, Gadhafi is on borrowed time, and that eventually the U.S. will be able to defeat him because we are the most powerful country on Earth and Libya is merely a third or fourth rated power.

The U.S. was joined by forces from France and Great Britain in the current operation and was convinced Gadhafi wasn’t following the cease-fire that the U.N. put into effect, and are continuing the bombing of Libya military locations to encourage Gadhafi to obey the no-fly zone.

Another politician, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, an Independent,  voiced his opinion and also said he thought Gadafi needs to be taken out of power and that it wasn’t too late to do something about the problems in Libya.

McCain too, added, that it was only a matter of waiting and that the U.S. would be able to get the Libya leader out of office.

Suddenly ‘democracy’ seems to be the catchword for the people in the Arab and African world. The ruled want it desperately while the rulers hate the very mention of it. What happened in Tunisia and Egypt is also happening Yemen, Libya and Bahrain, to name a few.

The local citizenry is on the boil. They want rights and they want their voices to be heard. No longer are they willing to be mute spectators living on the promises and crumbs thrown their way by their ruling class. Lack of job opportunities worthy of their educational qualifications, poverty, rampant corruption and the ostentatious lifestyle of the rulers are giving rise to their seething anger. Individual dissent is impotent but the collective dissent has the force to make a change and this is what is happening.

The unprecedented protests in Sohar, an industrial town of Oman, in which many were reported killed, have observers worried. Will Egypt repeat in Oman? Just a spark is enough to ignite an uprising, as it happened in Tunisia and Egypt.  Oman has seen some peaceful protests in the past, so what happened in Sohar was no surprise but the level of violence was.

However, an important difference between Oman and other larger Arab nations is that the Omani ruler, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said is a genuinely popular monarch. His people are not calling for a change in the regime but their demands are for more jobs, controlling the ever increasing food prices and bringing to book some allegedly corrupt members of the government. One notable difference also, is that there is no sectarian divide unlike Bahrain.

To prevent the situation from becoming uncontrollable, due to the reported deaths of some protesters, the US has advised restraint, to engage in dialogue to find an amicable solution and commit to a road map for reforms.

Oman has long been a valuable ally of the US and what road Muscat will take towards ending the impasse and whether they will pay heed to the US advice will remain to be seen in the days to come.

What started as a protest over the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 year old fruit vendor on December 17, 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, a province in Central Tunisia, has snowballed into one of the largest anti-government uprisings in the Arab world.

The suicide of Bouazizi, a young unemployed graduate, was one of the five suicides that led to massive protests and citizen-police clashes, which left over a dozen people killed and many injured. Protesters were unrelenting in their campaign to oust the Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Thousands of funeral marchers vowing revenge and chanting farewell to Bouazizi said “We weep for you today; we will make those who caused your death weep.”

The tyrant dictator was finally overthrown but the Tunisian virus seemed to have infected Bahrain, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Albania, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. It is now gnawing at Libya.

Political analysts and policy experts are of the opinion that the happenings in Tunisia eventually have a “Domino effect” in rest of the Arab world;  and wherever there is authoritarian rule. It happened in Eastern Europe a couple of decades ago.

In Sohar, an industrial town in Oman, about a thousand protestors clashed with the police over a demand for jobs, leaving at least two dead and many injured.

In Bahrain, it is a case not just of economic issues but sectarian disputes, between the ruling Sunni royal family and the majority Shia populace who feel very let down by the ruling class. Morocco seems to be the next on the boil as there is already a call for a new constitution.

The simmering discontent of the people over lack of job opportunities, poverty and rising prices make for a volatile mix for civil unrest. The extravagant lifestyle of the ruling class and their close relatives and friends germinates frustration in the disgruntled minds of the populace and explodes into collective unrest.

That the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents were forced to relinquish their powers by the collective force of the citizens should be eye-openers to the authoritarian rulers of the rest of the world.

The White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced on Friday that the United States will move for “unilateral” sanctions against Libya. He said that these would involve cutting off the limited military cooperation with Libya and freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his four children that are held in the US.

Carney also confirmed US embassy operations have been suspended following the evacuation of the last US embassy personnel from the strife torn country. The US sanction is the “first step” to pressure the Gaddafi regime to “stop killing its own people”. He believes that Gaddafi has lost his legitimacy to rule his people.

This is not all. The United States is in tandem with European partners to impose additional sanctions and other multilateral actions against the current Libyan regime. The United States, also, “strongly supports” a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution that was passed on Friday condemning the human rights abuses. While calling for an international inquiry the US recommends suspending Libya the council.

President Obama briefed world leaders on U.S. plans. The President Obama spoke with leaders from the United Kingdom, France, and Italy on Thursday. He spoke with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Friday and talked on measures to fix accountability on the Libyan government for its “unacceptable” violence on its people.

The US embassy was closed down sine die, after evacuating its personnel but can resume operations when normalcy returns. The evacuation would not have been a smooth affair, if not for the Libyan security forces that facilitated the operation, for which the US officials have been grateful.

The US Treasury Department, following the Swiss government’s move to block all Gaddafi’s assets in Switzerland, have advised all US financial institutions to exercise caution on the private accounts held by or on behalf of the Libyan politicians.