Kerry says he'll answer questions on Benghazi

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he's determined to answer any questions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as the House Republican leader pushed for more information from the Obama administration.

One day after a lengthy House hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, Kerry told reporters as he traveled overseas that anyone culpable of wrongdoing will be dealt with appropriately. But he's withholding judgment on testimony in Congress suggesting that senior State Department officials were pressured or demoted for objecting to the administration's initial and since-debunked explanations for the attacks.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died when insurgents attacked the facility in two night-time assaults several hours apart.

Top administration officials first said the attackers were spontaneous protesters, angry about an anti-Islamic video circulating on the Internet. But they later acknowledged the attackers were well-equipped terrorists acting under plans.

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday asked President Barack Obama to direct the State Department to release internal emails, sent the day after the Benghazi assault, that deal with the cause for the attacks.

Boehner told reporters that Republican investigators learned that "a senior State Department official emailed her superiors to relay that she had told the Libyan ambassador the attack was conducted by Islamic terrorists." Boehner said the State Department "would not allow our committees to keep copies of this email when it was reviewed."

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., read from the email during Wednesday's committee hearing.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters Thursday the department was following up directly with the House leadership and members about Boehner's request to publicize the emails that the committees saw privately.

Boehner and others have sharply criticized the administration's initial description of the Benghazi attacks by Libyan protesters, rather than a planned terrorist assault. Five days after the attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on the Sunday talk shows and cited the protests, statements that have been widely discredited.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate panel earlier this year that the criticism was unfair because Rice was "going on what we were giving her." Officials in the intelligence community have said they were responsible for substantive changes in the talking points provided to Rice.

Boehner pointed out that an interim report by Republicans on five House committees suggests otherwise.

"Our committees' interim report quotes specific emails where the White House and State Department insist on removing all references to a terrorist attack to protect the State Department from criticism for providing inadequate security," Boehner said at his weekly news conference in the Capitol. While a few House members "were able to review these emails, they were not allowed to keep them or share them with others," the speaker said.

"Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal," Boehner said.

The White House dismissed Boehner's call for the document release, with spokesman Eric Schultz saying the administration has cooperated sufficiently with Congress.

"This administration has made extraordinary efforts to work with the five congressional committees investigating the Benghazi attacks — including, over the past eight months, testifying in what is now 11 congressional hearings, holding 20 staff briefings, and providing over 25,000 pages of documents," Schultz said.

Ventrell said part of an email that Gowdy read have been entered into the record incorrectly, so the department was working with the House to correct the record. The department's concern was over the use of the word "terrorist," he said.

Three State Department witnesses, including Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission who was in Tripoli, recounted the chaotic events during the deadly assault. But Ventrell said they had not revealed new information. He also said they wouldn't face retaliation for going public.

"We don't believe that new information was necessarily presented that hadn't been already either entered into the public record through congressional testimony or investigated by the ARB or otherwise looked at," Ventrell said, referring to the review conducted by former top diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The department has not and will not retaliate against Mr. Hicks," Ventrell said.

Hicks had told the committee on Wednesday that he had been essentially demoted.

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Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Rome and Jim Abrams, Charles Babington and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

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Kerry heads to East Asia, seeks help on NKorea

LONDON (AP) — John Kerry had been secretary of state for little more than a week when North Korea tested a nuclear bomb.

He gathered top aides together for a morning meeting and asked for ideas, prompting a conversation about how to get China to join the United States in putting pressure on Pyongyang, according to a senior administration official who was present. The debate encapsulates America's struggle to come up with a strategy — based on sticks, carrots or a combination of both — to convince China to police its own backyard.

As Kerry heads to East Asia for his first time as America's top diplomat, some progress has been made in convincing Beijing, North Korea's biggest benefactor, to start getting tough with its neighbor. The question is whether it will make a difference.

North Korea's government agency said Thursday that it has "powerful striking means" on standby for a launch, amid speculation in Seoul and Washington that North Korea will test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. It was the latest warning from the North, which launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted an underground nuclear test in February.

For years, Washington has been putting its hopes in Beijing to rein in the provocative behavior and combative rhetoric from North Korea. China has more leverage over the North than any other country, having massively boosted trade ties with the isolated regime in recent years and maintaining close military relations.

But the U.S. has been frustrated by the reaction from a government that in many ways has different priorities. China, analysts and officials often say, fears the implosion of North Korea's impoverished state and the regional instability that would cause far more immediate damage than the North's nuclear proliferation and missile program. And China remains wary of any enhanced U.S. involvement in its backyard.

"If anyone has real leverage over the North Koreans, it is China," U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress Thursday. "And the indications that we have are that China is itself rather frustrated with the behavior and the belligerent rhetoric of ... Kim Jong Un."

China's role in containing North Korea is expected to be front and center when Kerry arrives in Seoul on Friday. He then travels to Beijing and Tokyo.

At a meeting Wednesday in London, Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida "discussed the special role China can play in exerting pressure on the North Korean leadership," according to a State Department official who was present.

Kerry, the official added, stressed the need to "change the dynamic in North Korea, and he emphasized the importance of continuing to put pressure on North Korea with economic sanctions." The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the closed-doors meeting and demanded anonymity.

Kerry and the other foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations "condemned in the strongest possible terms" Thursday the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

"They condemned DPRK's current aggressive rhetoric and confirmed that this will only serve to further isolate the DPRK," the final communique said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "They urged the DPRK to engage in credible and authentic multilateral talks on denuclearization."

In recent weeks, Washington and Beijing have cooperated on new sanctions against the North and both have decried the increasing threats from Kim Jong Un's government, which have expanded to include talk of a nuclear strike against the United States. It is not believed to have such capacity, but the provocative rhetoric has officials around the world extremely worried.

At the State Department meeting after North Korea's Feb. 12 nuclear test, different ideas for how to bring about a new assertiveness from Beijing were tossed around, according to the senior U.S. official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and demanded anonymity.

One approach could be described best as the power of persuasion: Make the case to Chinese authorities, offered many times previously, that both the U.S. and China share a common interest in ensuring a stable Korean Peninsula, without the threat of nuclear war in the Asia-Pacific.

The other approach is more akin to the power of example: Show the Chinese what it means if they cannot control the North's behavior by beefing up U.S. defenses and sending more American military assets right into China's backyard.

Over the past few weeks, the Obama administration has applied doses of both, while keeping up diplomatic efforts. President Barack Obama called Chinese President Xi Jinping in mid-March to discuss North Korea.

Military maneuvers in South Korea have served as a reminder of the overwhelming deterrent force the U.S. and its ally maintain. The deployments also have sent a message to Beijing.

But the North's history of unpredictability means no one knows for sure what it will all mean, even if analysts say North Korea is unlikely to initiate any attack on South Korea like the one that started the Korean War in 1950, and is unlikely to target Japan or American interests in the region.

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AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report from Washington.

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Kerry upbeat after 3 days of Mideast diplomacy

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday wrapped up three days of high-level Mideast diplomacy on a positive note, saying he held "very constructive talks" with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and promising to press on in an effort to break a four-year deadlock over resuming direct negotiations.

Talking to reporters after holding private talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kerry said the parties all committed to a process that could "create the conditions for peace" so that they can return to the negotiating table.

Kerry stressed that he was being mindful of the "good intentions and failed efforts" that have dogged Middle East diplomacy in the past and said he'd focus on "laying the groundwork so we can bring people to the table with a clear understanding of what we're beginning on, what we're trying to do, and where we're trying to end up."

Kerry, who has committed the United States to a multi-month diplomatic effort, stressed that he was being intentionally coy on the specifics of his new peace push.

"It's not going to be done and shouldn't be done in piecemeal public releases," he said. "It's best done quietly."

The secretary of state also said he would be engaging in a parallel effort to break down red tape and other barriers to economic progress in the West Bank to improve the lives of Palestinians and provide a climate for two-state solution. He said such an effort would also improve Israel's security.

He said changes would come soon, and said more details would be announced in the coming week after meetings in Washington with U.S. aid agencies and financial institutions.

Netanyahu told reporters earlier Tuesday that he wanted peace. He welcomed proposals for economic assistance to the Palestinians, but said issues of recognition and security remain "foremost in our minds."

"I'm determined not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all," he told reporters before meeting Kerry. Addressing the top American diplomat, he said, "This is a real effort and we look forward to advance in this effort with you."

Kerry stressed that he was not trying to dictate the terms of any peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians.

He noted the importance of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, a document that has gotten renewed attention this week as Kerry and Arab officials have discussed modifying its terms to boost Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes. But he said the document belongs to Arab countries themselves.

"It suggests ... a way forward for the Arab world to make peace with Israel," he said. "As such, it remains a very important statement."

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Kerry makes new, ambitious Mideast peace push

JERUSALEM (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry worked Monday to corral Israeli and Palestinian leaders into a new and ambitious peace process that includes reviving parts of a long-dormant plan embraced by the Arab world a decade ago, officials said.

The 2002 initiative that Kerry wants to revive parts of would have provided Israel recognition throughout the Arab world in exchange for a pullout from territory conquered in 1967.

On his third trip to Jerusalem in the last two weeks, Kerry committed himself to a multi-month peace push that could mean numerous follow-up trips to the region. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Monday, a day after sitting down for private one-on-one talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

"I am intensely focused on this issue and the region because it is vital really to American interests and regional interests to try and advance the peace process and because this festering absence of peace is used by groups everywhere to recruit and encourage extremism," Kerry told reporters.

"Both sides mistrust each other deeply and there are reasons that mistrust has built up," he added. "I am convinced that we can break that down."

Kerry's foremost goal is to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that have hardly taken place at all over the last 4½ years. And, in a break from previous American-led efforts, he also wants to focus on a modified version of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

The initiative was revolutionary when Saudi Arabia introduced it and the 22-member Arab League endorsed it. It offered Israel comprehensive recognition in exchange for withdrawal from the lands it conquered in the 1967 Mideast war.

Although Israel never embraced the plan and the Palestinians oppose any changes to it, the basic parameters seem to be gaining traction as a framework for future talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Arab League chief Nabil El-Araby and Qatar's prime minister will lead a delegation to Washington this month to discuss the initiative with Kerry, Arab officials said.

Kerry, however, is seeking new conditions to sweeten the deal for Israel, officials said. Arab and Palestinian officials say he has talked about upgraded guarantees for Israel's security and allowances for border adjustments based on mutual agreement.

A senior State Department official would only say Kerry wanted the plan "enhanced." The American official spoke on condition of anonymity because of Kerry's orders not to brief reporters.

Earlier Monday, Kerry told U.S. consulate staff in Jerusalem that he was coming so regularly to the Mideast because he believed peace could be reached. "If we can get on a track where people are working in good faith to address the bottom-line concerns, it is possible to be able to make progress and make peace," he said.

Among the countless peace plans and confidence-building strategies devised for Israel and the Palestinians over the years, the Arab League's initiative was one of the quickest to be dismissed. It was overshadowed by fierce Israeli-Palestinian fighting at the time and Israel has never softened its objections to the 1967 lines, which it sees as indefensible.

There is also a spiritual component. For Israel, returning to its old borders would mean a withdrawal from east Jerusalem, home to the city's holiest Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites

Winning Netanyahu's support will be difficult. He sharply clashed with President Barack Obama two years ago when the American president publicly endorsed the 1967 borders as the basis of a two-state solution. While Netanyahu has described the Arab peace initiative as a welcome sign of acceptance, he has refused to accept its take-it-or-leave it conditions.

The Palestinians, too, don't want to make new concessions. They've won a score of diplomatic victories over the last year, including recognition as a non-voting member state of the United Nations and as full members of other multilateral institutions, and feel international support of their cause is growing.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Kerry has been floating the Arab initiative as a possible way out of the deadlock but that it could not be changed. "Kerry asked us to change a few words in the Arab Peace Initiative but we refused," he told the Voice of Palestine radio station on Sunday.

Abbas left Monday for talks on the plan at an Arab League meeting in Qatar. There, a special committee was holding an "urgent meeting" on the subject, said Mohammed Subeih, the Arab League's undersecretary for Palestinian affairs. Qatar's prime minister chaired it and the foreign ministers of key countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Palestinians participated.

Israel, whose officials refused to comment on the matter, took control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Sinai and Golan Heights in the 1967 war. It returned the Sinai to Egypt in 1982 as part of a peace treaty and pulled out of Gaza unilaterally in 2005. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 and peace talks with Syria over the territory have repeatedly failed.

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Associated Press writer Josef Federman contributed to this report.

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Kerry in Paris to talk Syria with French

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Kerry, Karzai make show of unity after weeks of tensions

KABUL (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday for talks with President Hamid Karzai, a U.S. official said.

Kerry and Karzai will discuss a host of issues including Afghan reconciliation, the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces as most foreign troops prepare to leave and Afghanistan's elections, the official told reporters.

The United States and Afghanistan are hoping to stabilize the country before most U.S.-led NATO combat troops leave by the end of 2014.

Karzai's government is trying to open formal negotiations with the Taliban, who have remained resilient in the face of superior NATO firepower in the war now in its 12th year.

Karzai is due to travel to Qatar within days to discuss the peace process and the opening of a Taliban office for the purposes of conducting negotiations.

Commenting on Karzai's trip to Qatar, the official told reporters: "I wouldn't want to overplay it but I think that it's a very positive sign. It's another step on a continued path toward ... getting to some sort of reconciliation process.

"Nobody is expecting that he will open an office there in a week. Nobody is expecting that he will be sitting down with Taliban in a week. This is a long process and this is one more small but positive step in that ... process."

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Michael Georgy)

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Kerry warns Iraq on Iran flights to Syria

BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he's made it clear to Iraq that it shouldn't allow Iran to use its airspace to ship weapons and fighters to Syria.

Kerry told reporters Sunday during an unannounced trip to Baghdad that the Iranian overflights were a major point of discussion in his private talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kerry said he told Maliki that anything that supports President Bashar Assad and his regime was, quote, "problematic."

Kerry also said that U.S. lawmakers and the American people are watching what Iraq is doing and "wondering how it is a partner."

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Kerry voices conditional U.S. support for U.N. arms treaty

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry voiced his support on Friday for an international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global arms trade, but restated Washington's "red line" that it will not accept limits on domestic gun ownership.

The U.N. General Assembly voted in December to hold a final round of negotiations from March 18 to 28 on what could become the first international treaty to regulate international weapons transfers after a drafting conference in July 2012 collapsed because the United States and others wanted more time.

Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence and a convention is needed to prevent the unregulated and illicit flow of weapons into conflict zones and fueling wars and atrocities.

"The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achieve a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address the adverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace and stability," Kerry said in a statement.

"An effective treaty that recognizes that each nation must tailor and enforce its own national export and import control mechanisms can generate the participation of a broad majority of states, help stem the illicit flow of conventional arms across international borders and have important humanitarian benefits."

But he repeated that the United States - the world's No. 1 arms manufacturer - would not accept any treaty that imposed new limits on U.S. citizens' right to bear arms, a sensitive political issue in the United States.

"We will not support any treaty that would be inconsistent with U.S. law and the rights of American citizens under our Constitution, including the Second Amendment," he said.

The point of the treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of any type of conventional weapon - light and heavy. It also would set binding requirements for nations to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure the munitions will not be used in human rights abuses, do not violate embargoes and are not illegally diverted.

DISPUTE OVER AMMUNITION

The leading U.S. pro-gun group, the National Rifle Association, has vowed to fight against the treaty, dismissing suggestions that a December U.S. school shooting massacre in Connecticut bolstered the case for such a pact.

If a treaty is approved in New York, it will require ratification by countries' legislatures before it goes into effect. The NRA has warned the arms trade treaty would undermine the right to bear arms and says it will fight hard to prevent ratification if the Obama administration supports the treaty.

Backers of the treaty accuse the NRA of deceiving the U.S. public about the pact, which they say will have no impact on domestic gun ownership and would apply only to exports.

Some 150 countries will participate in the negotiations that begin on Monday at U.N. headquarters.

Gun control advocates welcomed Kerry's statement.

"While the U.S. government reaffirms its red line on the Second Amendment, it did not issue any new red lines or demands on the international community," said Frank Jannuzi of Amnesty International. "We hope that this means that they will lead the next round (of negotiations) to consensus."

Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association, said Kerry's remarks were a "long overdue positive statement that makes it clear the administration is dedicated to pursuing a robust treaty."

Jannuzi said the fact that the statement was issued on a Friday afternoon - a time when U.S. media interest is often at its lowest point of the week - showed that the arms treaty "is not an issue that they see as a political advantage."

He added that it was positive Kerry did not raise the issue of ammunition, something the United States has previously demanded be excluded from the treaty. Supporters of a tough treaty in Europe and elsewhere insist on including ammunition.

Last month deputy U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Washington would continue to oppose the inclusion of ammunition in the draft treaty.

"Ammunition is a fundamentally different commodity than conventional arms," Hayden said. "It is fungible, consumable, reloadable, and cannot be marked in any practical way that would permit it to be tracked or traced."

A U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity on Friday that the U.S. position on ammunition has not changed.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Kerry: US confident in arms-vetting for Syrians

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday the Obama administration is confident that the vast majority of weapons being supplied to Syrian rebels by U.S. allies are going to moderates and not finding their way to extremists.

Speaking in Qatar, one of several Arab nations providing weapons to the rebels, Kerry told reporters he had spoken to Qatari leaders about the matter and said there are now "greater guarantees" that nearly all the arms and ammunition going to the opposition inside Syria are getting into the hands of moderates.

"We did discuss the question of the ability to try to guarantee that it is going to the right people and the moderate Syrian Opposition Coalition and I think it's really in the last months that that has developed as a capacity that we have greater confidence in," he said at a joint news conference with Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim.

"You can't guarantee that one weapon or another may not fall in that kind of a situation into the hands that you don't want it to," he said. "But, in terms of fundamental balance of battlefield tactics and of effort, I think it is pretty clear that the prime minister shares a belief in trying to do what we need to do rapidly and to try to effect this through the SNC."

"There are greater guarantees now that the weapons are being transferred directly into the moderate Syrian opposition," he said.

Kerry last week announced that the United States would be providing the Syrian Free Army with direct non-lethal military assistance like rations and medical supplies, but would continue to hold off on arms.

He said U.S. officials were aware of the weapons flows to the rebels and that that knowledge informed President Barack Obama's decisions on what to give to the opposition.

"Obviously, we are aware and it is that awareness that informs the president's decision about what is needed and what the United States is prepared to do at this point in time," Kerry said.

He added that should Syrian President Bashar Assad not change his calculation on clinging to power, the U.S. remained ready to consider "other options" in the future.

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Kerry: U.S. more confident arms flow to Syria moderates

DOHA (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday Washington was increasingly confident that weapons being sent by others to the Syrian opposition were going to moderate forces within it rather than to extremists.

Kerry, on his first overseas tour since his appointment, said at a news conference in Doha that he had had talks in Qatar and during an earlier stop in Saudi Arabia about which kinds of arms were being sent to which Syrian opposition forces.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are widely believed to be providing weapons to the rebels, but the United States says it does not wish to send arms for fear they may find their way to Islamist hardliners who might then use them against Western targets.

"We had a discussion about the types of weapons that are being transferred," Kerry said.

Referring to the supply of weapons, he said, "We did discuss the question of the ability to try to guarantee that it's going to the right people and to the moderate Syrian opposition coalition and I think it's really in the last months that that has developed as a capacity that we have greater confidence in."

Some 70,000 people have been killed in Syria and nearly a million have fled the country in a two-year uprising, the United Nations says.

The conflict began two years ago as peaceful protests that turned violent when President Bashar al-Assad tried to crush the revolt.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar share the West's alarm at the rise of al Qaeda-aligned groups in Syria, and say the answer is for outsiders such as them to be more involved in backing rebels there.

The two Gulf Arab states have argued that building ties through aid to favored opposition groups is the only way to ensure that other, hardline Islamist factions are sidelined.

(Writing by Sami Aboudi and William Maclean; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Kerry says US releasing millions in aid to Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the Obama administration is rewarding the Egyptian government with financial aid because of Cairo's promises of economic and political reforms.

Kerry says the U.S. is providing $190 million immediately as part of a larger pledge of $450 million over time.

Kerry says the money reflects Egypt's "extreme needs" and President Mohammed Morsi's commitment to satisfying conditions to close a $4.8 billion package of International Monetary Fund loans.

Kerry also says that a separate $60 million is for a new fund to provide direct support to Egyptian entrepreneurs and young people.

The announcement of the aid came after Kerry's meeting Sunday with Morsi.

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Kerry talks Syria, Iran in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. Secretary John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi and Gulf Arab officials expected to focus on the crisis in Syria and fears about Iran's nuclear program.

Kerry was meeting in Riyadh Monday with the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman as well as the Saudi crown prince and foreign minister. Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states are believed to be involved in shipping weapons to Syrian rebels, who have yet to receive lethal aid from the West. They share deep U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and increasing assertiveness in the region.

Kerry is in Saudi Arabia as part of his nine-nation maiden overseas trip as secretary of state. He travels next to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before returning to Washington Wednesday.

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With Kerry on the way, Egypt liberals angry at US

CAIRO (AP) — As John Kerry heads to Egypt on Saturday for his first visit as secretary of state, he faces a barrage of accusations from liberal and secular Egyptians who say Washington is siding with the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the country's sharp political divisions.

The United States has had its own frustrations with the mainly liberal and secular opposition, which has been plagued by disorganization and divisions. This week, it pressed the main opposition grouping, the National Salvation Front, to reverse its decision to boycott parliamentary elections due to begin in April.

For months, Egypt has been locked in political crisis, amid successive waves of protests against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi that have repeatedly turned into deadly clashes and rioting.

The opposition accuses Morsi and the Brotherhood, from which he hails, of dominating power in Egypt, effectively stepping in to the same role as ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak and failing to carry out reforms while their supporters seek to instill a more religiously conservative system. Morsi's administration and the Brotherhood, in turn, say their opponents are trying to use street unrest to overturn their election victories.

Washington, Egypt's longtime economic and military benefactor, has kept relatively warm ties with Morsi. The Obama administration has praised him for helping resolve last year's battles between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant rulers of the Gaza Strip, and for maintaining Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

The U.S. has said it wants to encourage the building of democracy in Egypt and, amid the political turmoil, has urged all sides to work out their differences. But the opposition says U.S. officials have voiced little criticism of what it calls the Brotherhood's undemocratic ways of imposing power, including pushing through an Islamist-backed constitution despite an opposition boycott at the end of its drafting.

At least two opposition figures said they rejected invitations to meet with Kerry when he holds talks with Egyptian political parties Saturday, ahead of the American diplomat's meetings the next day with Morsi and the head of Egypt's powerful military.

Ahmed el-Borai, a member of the National Salvation Front, was quoted in local newspapers saying that he rejected a U.S. Embassy's invitation "so as to not allow a foreign party to dictate its will on Egyptians."

Similarly, Egypt's oldest opposition party, al-Wafd, said its chairman, el-Sayed el-Badawi, had also declined the embassy's invitation to meet with Kerry.

Also not meeting with Kerry is Mohamed ElBaradei, one of the Salvation Front's top leaders and perhaps the country's most prominent opposition figure — though it is not clear if he was ever invited for a face-to-face.

The anti-Morsi camp's anger with Kerry and the U.S. was on clear display Friday.

On its front page, the independent Al-Tahrir daily ran a large cartoon of Kerry, calling him "the Ikhwani" — or Brotherhood member — and depicting him with an Islamist's beard and the "zibeeba," a mark on the forehead many devout Muslim men have from kneeling in prayer five times a day.

Also on display was the continued, angry polarization in the country's politics.

The head of the Press Syndicate, Brotherhood member Mamdouh el-Wali, was mobbed by young journalists chanting "down with Brotherhood rule" as he left the syndicate headquarters during elections for a new chief of the union. The crowd shoved and jostled el-Wali, with one person slapping him on the back of the head, before he was hustled into his car.

El-Wali has been sharply criticized by other journalists for not taking legal action over the death of a young journalist during street battles between Brotherhood supporters and anti-Morsi opponents in December. He was also a member of the Islamist-dominated assembly that drafted the country's new constitution but did not push for inclusion of articles to protect reporters from imprisonment as many in the media demand.

Several thousand backers of the army on Friday also held a rally in a Cairo suburb calling on the powerful military to come back a take power, a sign of how a contingent in the anti-Morsi camp sees the generals as a possible protection against Islamist rule.

The State Department's call on all political groups to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections particularly angered many in the opposition, who saw Washington's support for the election as backing for the Islamists themselves.

One opposition group, the National Association for Change, denounced the comments as "blatant interference in Egypt's internal affairs."

Hamdeen Sabahi, another senior figure in the Salvation Front, called on Kerry to be consistent in his comments about human rights and U.S. support of democracy.

In an interview with the Egyptian satellite channel ONTV late Thursday, Sabahi said Washington is only thinking of its interests in the region and accused the United States of striking a deal with the Brotherhood.

President Barack Obama spoke by phone this week with Morsi, emphasizing the Egyptian leader's "responsibility to protect the democratic principles that the Egyptian people fought so hard to secure" and urged him and all political groups to find consensus, the White House said.

Obama also "welcomed Egypt's continued role in advancing regional peace and maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza" — in what many in the anti-Morsi camp here see as a sign that Washington is more concerned with ensuring peace with Israel than with democracy in Egypt.

Bahey Eldin Hassan, of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, wrote an open letter to Obama earlier this month, saying that Washington should stop commenting on developments in Egypt. He said Washington's comments give Morsi's government "political cover."

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Kerry: Turkish comments complicate Mideast process

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that comments by the Turkish prime minister equating Zionism to a crime against humanity complicate the efforts to find peace in the Middle East.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Kerry stressed the "urgent need to promote a spirit of tolerance, and that includes all of the public statements made by all leaders."

Kerry said he had raised the comments "very directly" with Davutoglu and would do the same when he saw Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Friday.

Addressing the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations conference in Vienna this week, Erdogan complained of prejudices against Muslims. He said Islamophobia should be considered a crime against humanity "just like Zionism, like anti-Semitism and like fascism."

Kerry said the on the U.S. side, "we not only disagree with it, we found it objectionable."

He added: "I believe there is a way forward, but it obviously gets more complicated in the aftermath of a speech such as the one we heard in Vienna."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sharply condemned the remark late Thursday, calling it a "dark and mendacious statement, the likes of which we thought had passed from the world." The United Nations joined the criticism.

Davutoglu at the news conference with Kerry denied that Turkish officials were uttering hostile or offensive language. He repeatedly referred to the deaths of nine civilians at the hands of Israeli commandos aboard a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship in 2010.

He added: "If Israel wants to hear positive statements from Turkey, it needs to review its attitude. It needs to review its attitude toward us, and it needs to review its attitude toward the people in the region and especially the West Bank settlements issue."

Kerry said that despite the comments, he was hopeful Turkey and Israel could eventually find a way to restore their previously close relations.

The uproar has overshadowed Kerry's previously planned visit to the Turkish capital, where he had hoped to spend much of his time discussing the crisis in neighboring Syria and coordinating plans with the Turks to assist the Syrian opposition, which is fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

The deterioration of Turkish-Israel relations has been a matter of deep worry for the U.S., which has unsuccessfully sought to push the two countries to get back on friendly terms.

Turkey and Israel were once important allies, but relations deteriorated sharply after the 2010 raid.

Turkey is a co-sponsor, along with Spain, of the U.N. initiative to promote tolerance and understanding between various religions.

A U.N. statement said: "If the comment about Zionism was interpreted correctly, then it was not only wrong but contradicts the very principles on which the Alliance of Civilizations is based."

The statement said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "believes it is unfortunate that such hurtful and divisive comments were uttered at a meeting being held under the theme of responsible leadership."

Turkey's state-run news agency, Anadolu, reported Erdogan's remarks on Wednesday but removed the reference to "Zionism" in a correction sent out an hour later. It said the correction was "made by the source" but gave no other explanation.

Erdogan, whose ruling party has roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, frequently criticizes Israeli actions against Palestinians but rarely speaks out against Zionism. In November, he accused Israel of state terrorism and of an "attempt at ethnic cleansing," a euphemism that describes using violence to force a population to flee an area.

 Kerry is in NATO ally Turkey on the fourth leg of a nine-nation dash through Europe and the Middle East that is his first official overseas trip as secretary of state. Kerry has spent much of his time at his first three stops — Britain, Germany and Italy — focusing on the conflict in Syria.

Kerry's first stop in Ankara on Friday was the U.S. Embassy where he spoke at a memorial service for a local Turkish security guard who was killed in a Feb. 1 suicide attack at the embassy gates. Kerry presented the man's family with an award for heroism.

 From Turkey, Kerry will travel to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before returning to Washington in the middle of next week.

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Turkish PM's Zionism comments "objectionable": Kerry

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's reported comment equating Zionism with crimes against humanity is "particularly offensive" and has a "corrosive effect" on U.S.-Turkish relations, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

"This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity," the senior U.S. official told reporters as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Ankara. "It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)."

"I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Alison Williams)

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Kerry, Russian counterpart Lavrov talk about Syria

BERLIN (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, met for the first time Tuesday, spending more than an hour discussing the civil war in Syria and other joint matters.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the two met for an hour and 45 minutes, spending more than half that time on Syria in what she called a "really serious and hardworking session."

Kerry and Lavrov discussed how they could implement the so-called Geneva Agreement, which is designed to get the Syrian government and rebels to plan a transitional government for the time after President Bashar Assad leaves office.

That discussion comes two days before nearly a dozen nations, excluding Russia, meet in Rome Thursday with the Syrian opposition to continue to try and find a way forward on resolving the conflict that has cost nearly 70,000 lives.

Lavrov told Russian newswires that his talks with Kerry were "quite constructive."

"I have a feeling that President Barack Obama's second administration, in the foreign policy field led by John Kerry, will try to play a more constructive role in all those areas," Lavrov said.

On Syria, Lavrov said the two reaffirmed their "intention to do all Russia and the U.S. can do.

"It's not that everything depends on us, but we shall do all we can to create conditions for the soonest start of a dialogue between the government and the opposition."

The Syrian foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday and expressed willingness to meet with opposition leaders.

The Syrian National Coalition is skeptical about outside help from the West and threatened to boycott the Rome meeting until a series of phone calls and meetings between Kerry and his ambassadors and Syrian opposition leaders repaired the schism. The council now says it will attend the meeting, but is hoping for more concrete offers of help, including military assistance, which the United States and others have been unwilling to supply.

Kerry told reporters in London on Monday that when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he asked the Obama administration to consider supplying arms to the Syrian rebels. But now he noted that he is an administration official and has to follow administration policy.

Despite urging from Pentagon leaders including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama has opposed lethal aid.

Earlier in Berlin, Kerry told young Germans of his adventures as a 12-year-old son of an American diplomat in divided postwar Berlin, and urged them to be true to their ideals and values as Europe struggles to emerge from economic doldrums and deal with the threat of terrorism.

Speaking at a town hall meeting, Kerry spoke a few sentences of passable German to the delight of a crowd in a packed Internet cafe before regaling the audience with tales of his boyhood in Berlin in 1954.

He recalled a clandestine bicycle ride into communist East Berlin. "I saw the difference between east and west. I saw the people wearing darker clothing. There were fewer cars. I didn't feel the energy or the movement."

When he returned home, Kerry said, his father "got very upset with me and said: 'You could have created an international incident. I could have lost my job.' So I lost my passport, and I was grounded and I never made another trip like that."

Today, Kerry said: "I never forgot and now it's vanished. Now, so many other countries have followed with this spirit of giving life to people's individual hopes and aspirations."

Kerry urged Germans to be tolerant of all points of view.

"People have sometimes wondered about why our Supreme Court allows one group or another to march in a parade even though it's the most provocative thing in the world and they carry signs that are an insult to one group or another," he said. "The reason is, that's freedom, freedom of speech. In America you have a right to be stupid. ... And we tolerate it. We somehow make it through that."

Kerry also took the opportunity to plug a New England clothing line after one audience member complimented him on his pink tie. A graduate of the noted St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and Yale University, Kerry extolled the sartorial virtues of Vineyard Vines, a Connecticut purveyor of — in its own description — "preppy" clothes that has a pink whale for a logo.

"I don't own any stock in the company," he said to laughter.

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