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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a strong defense of Obama administration policy on North Korea and Iran during an extended interview Sunday on American television.

Secretary of State Clinton is sending a joint message to Pyongyang and Tehran: give up your quest for nuclear weapons and return to negotiations.

Clinton - just back from talks in Asia - told NBC television's Meet the Press that North Korea is more isolated than ever before.  She said the North Korean government must realize that the world is united, and there will be no reward for bad behavior.

"We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of an international effort that will lead to denuclearization," said Hillary Clinton.

She pointed to strong cooperation among the countries heavily involved in the North Korean issue. She made specific mention of China - which has hosted talks in Beijing. She said the Chinese have been extremely positive and productive.

"We have been extremely gratified by their forward-leaning commitment to sanctions, and their private messages that they have conveyed to the North Koreans," she said.

The secretary of state was then asked about the outlook for a dialogue with Iran on its nuclear program.

She said she saw no conflict of interest in seeking to negotiate with Iran's leaders despite the controversy that continues to surround the recent presidential election in that country.

"You can go back in history - and not very long back - where we have negotiated with many governments who we did not believe represented the will of their people," said Hillary Clinton. "Look at all the negotiations that went on with the Soviet Union, look at the break-through in subsequent negotiations with communist China."

Last week, Clinton talked in vague terms about the creation of a nuclear umbrella to protect Mideast allies against a possible Iranian nuclear attack.

She refused to go into specifics on Meet the Press.  And she stressed that she did not mean to imply that a nuclear armed Iran is inevitable.

She said Iran's leaders must understand that the United States will never let them develop nuclear weapons.

"First, we are going to do everything we can to prevent you from ever getting a nuclear weapon," she said. "But your pursuit is futile!"

At the same time, Clinton urged Israel to give U.S. policy on Iran more time to work. Israel is seen as a primary target of Iran's nuclear-weapons program, and there are fears the Israelis might launch a pre-emptive strike.

"The United States believes that Israel has a right to security," she said. "We believe, however, that this approach we are taking holds out the promise of realizing our common objectives."

Clinton noted top U.S. officials will be meeting with Israeli leaders in the coming days, and will listen to their concerns. 

Iran TV: At Least 10 Killed in Clashes with Police 

Iran's capital, Tehran, was tense Sunday, following a week of sometimes violent opposition protests against a disputed election victory by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad June 12.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets and clashed with police, despite a warning by the country's supreme leader to halt demonstrations. State-run television reported 13 people were killed.

Witnesses in Tehran said riot police used tear gas, batons and water cannons to disperse supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, meanwhile, told an interviewer on Iranian TV (according to Iran's Press TV) that the opinion of those who think the results from the disputed presidential election are not accurate, should be respected. Iran's Press TV quoted him as saying it was necessary to abide by the law and urging "politicians and candidates" to pursue their claims through legal channels, saying the issue should not be taken to the streets.

He called on the powerful body that supervises elections, the Guardian Council, to use every possible means to convince protesters that their complaints will be thoroughly investigated.

In a speech to parliament, Larijani also criticized the United States, Britian, France and Germany, saying they were interfering in Iran's affairs.

On Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged Iran's government to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

In his strongest response to Iran's post-election unrest, Mr. Obama said the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. He called on Iran to "govern through consent, not coercion."

Analysts say a power struggle continues between Iran's veteran former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite Khamenei's praise for Mr. Rafsanjani during Friday's prayers in Tehran. 

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would accept a Palestinian state as long as it has no military force and recognizes Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. His remarks came in a major policy speech late Sunday in which he said he believes peace is possible. Mr. Netanyahu's remarks have drawn an angry response from the Palestinian leadership.

It was the first time the Israeli Prime Minister has called for the creation of a Palestinian state since taking office this year.

The speech, delivered at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, was aimed at easing tensions with Washington.

Benjamin Netanyahu's earlier refusal to endorse a Palestinian state is one of the issues that has put him at odds with the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, who says Palestinian statehood is the only way to resolve the conflict.

Mr. Netanyahu said he is willing to restart negotiations, and he laid out Israel's conditions for agreeing to Palestinian statehood. First, he said, the Palestinians must explicitly recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.

He also said that in any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel.

He added that Israel would continue to control the airspace of any future Palestinian state.

Mr. Netanyahu said that if Israel gets a guarantee for demilitarization and security arrangements, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Israel would be willing to reach a peace agreement that includes a demilitarized Palestinian state.

The Israeli leader's speech drew immediate criticism from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A spokesman for Mr. Abbas accused the Israeli leader of sabotaging the peace process. The spokesman said Mr. Netanyahu's conditions would not lead to a complete and just peace.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, a former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, says she does not see Mr. Netanyahu's remarks pushing the peace process forward.

"The first condition is that all Palestinians transform themselves suddenly to become Zionists, i.e., to adopt the Zionist ideology that our homeland is not ours, that our history not ours, that our future and our future state is not ours," said Hanan Ashrawi. "In a sense, he's saying, 'Okay, you can have whatever entity you want. You can call it a state, but it will have none of the attributes of sovereignty or your own genuine control.'"

Ashrawi calls Mr. Netanyahu's position "regressive".

"It is just a new formulation - not even new," she said. "It's a reformulation of an old and tired and failed ideology, and it's not going to get us anywhere."

The Israeli leader said the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank - one of the key sticking points in the peace process - would be discussed as part of a final peace agreement. He suggested that there would be no immediate moves to remove the settlements and said the settlers should be allowed to live normal lives for the time being.

Mr. Netanyahu repeated Israel's longstanding position that it will not allow a return of the Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 after the creation of the State Israel. He said Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state, would remain the undivided capital of Israel. 

Some analysts say Mr. Netanyahu's new willingness to negotiate might represent a move forward in the peace process.

President-elect Barack Obama has indicated his administration is likely to be less reliant on the threat of military force to persuade and influence other countries, and more likely to use so-called "soft power," the attractiveness of a nation's ideals, culture and way of life.

The sheer military might of the United States is unquestioned - U.S. troops are among the best trained and equipped in the world and they are stationed in some 130 countries. But as American military superiority has increased, its reputation and ability to persuade others appear to have taken a hit.

A recent Pew Global Attitudes survey shows that positive views of the United States declined in 26 of the 33 countries where the question was posed in 2002 and 2007, with even close U.S. allies critical of American foreign policy. Recent surveys show majorities in nearly all countries think it is time for U.S. troops to leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nancy Snow is associate professor of public diplomacy at Syracuse University in New York. She says the election of Barack Obama itself is likely to boost America's standing in the world, before he even sets foot in the White House.

"The world was holding its collective breath, hoping that the outcome would favor Obama-Biden," said Snow. "And it did. And I think there was an immediate downtick of the anti-American sentiment. Now how long that will last is another thing. Because now he has to govern. But just as candidate, a candidate of change, to use his words, really symbolically represented a release from a very unpopular president worldwide."

During his victory speech on election night in Chicago, President-elect Obama promised "a new dawn" of American leadership in the world.

"And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope," he said.

Mr. Obama has promised to take the nation in a different direction than the Bush administration. He has said he will close down the prison at Guantanamo Bay as one of his first acts in office, and declared the United States will not use techniques such as water-boarding to obtain information.

Nancy Snow say Mr. Obama knows that restoring trust is key.

"He said he wants to restore trust in government. He wants to restore trust in American leadership, both abroad, and at also here at home," she said. "I think what is required now through soft power, it includes non-violent practices of attracting people, through what you represent, and what you do, and that is the type of president he has said he would be."

Snow says Mr. Obama can make use of his excellent communication skills and his multi-cultural background to restore America's ability to wield soft power through diplomacy and development programs.

Kristen Lord is an expert on U.S. relations with the Islamic world at the Brookings Institution in Washington. She says she is optimistic Mr. Obama will immediately change the tone of dialogue with other countries, from a "go it alone" approach, to one of mutual respect and cooperation.

"When Americans show that they are willing to listen, when they are willing to engage, when they are willing to address some of the underlying challenges that Muslim societies are facing, perhaps paradoxically to some, that actually makes the United States more secure," said Lord.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Obama's choice to be Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, vowed to move away from what she called the "rigid ideology" that many analysts have associated with President Bush's foreign policy.

"I believe that American leadership has been wanting, but is still wanted. We must use what has been called smart power, the full range of tools at our disposal - diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural - picking the right tool or combination of tools for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of our foreign policy," she said.

Clinton said she and Mr. Obama would always try persuasion first, and would rely on military force only as a last resort. Mrs. Clinton said the United States needs to make more friends and fewer enemies, and called for the State Department to be fully empowered and funded to seize the many opportunities for leadership.

President Bush's former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was a well known skeptic of the notion of soft power, saying popularity is fleeting and should not guide U.S. foreign policy. Rumsfeld maintained the U.S. is strong enough to pursue its interests as it sees fit, and must accept that others will sometimes resent it.

Others caution that many people in the United States and abroad have such high expectations for Mr. Obama to resolve the world's many problems, that some measure of disappointment is inevitable.

But millions of people across the world are expected to watch the inauguration of the new president with a sense of pride and hope for a better future, and will look to Mr. Obama's administration for a new kind of American leadership.

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says it is launching a four-month emergency response in Zimbabwe because of what it calls the "closure" of many hospitals, failing social services and the collapse of the country's education system.

Spokesperson Shantha Bloemen says years of decline in water, sanitation and health services have caused a cholera epidemic that has spread to nine of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces and into neighboring countries.

"The immediate concern is making sure that we provide life- saving responses which continue to be providing emergency safe water, doing health education for communities and keeping the cholera treatment centers going," said Bloemen.

UNICEF has been trucking clean water to high-density residential areas, distributing water purification tablets and drilling wells in neighborhoods to prevent the spread of disease.

Humanitarian groups say the epidemic is the result of deteriorating public services due to years of economic decline and hyper-inflation.

Some 100 soldiers Monday clashed with police in Harare after taking money from foreign currency dealers and looting some shops. Media reports say the soldiers rampaged because they could not collect salaries from cash-strapped banks.

The Zimbabwean government Tuesday blamed the clashes on undisciplined troops and said military police were patrolling to prevent further incidents.

Frustration is rising in Zimbabwe over a power sharing dispute between the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change party of Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai.

Bloemen of UNICEF says the crisis is affecting women and children of Zimbabwe the most.

"For your average Zimbabwean family now, life has become incredibly tough and this is reaching the breaking point. And I think we have to remember we have a responsibility to respond and that people can't be held hostage to politics so we need to make sure we continue to provide the humanitarian relief that is needed," noted Bloemen.

But donor agencies say they are running short of funds partly because of the global economic downturn.

The World Food Program says that next month it will run out of funds needed to feed five million people, one-half of the Zimbabwean population, needing food aid. UNICEF has appealed for $9 million to fund its latest effort.