U.S. to seek seat on human rights body

The Obama administration has decided to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Tuesday, reversing a decision by the Bush administration to shun the U.N.’s premier rights body to protest the repressive states among its membership.

The United States announced it would stand as a candidate in elections May 15 to decide three seats on the 47-member council, joining a slate of Western candidates that includes Belgium and Norway. New Zealand, which had planned to run as well, offered to step aside to allow the United States to run unchallenged.

Clinton and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that the decision was part of a broader push for “a new era of engagement” in U.S. foreign policy.

“Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy,” Clinton said in a statement. “With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system to advance the vision of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights.”

Baghdad

U.K. troops nearly gone from Iraq

British forces handed over control of their base in Basra to the U.S. military on Tuesday, a symbol of Britain’s withdrawal from Iraq six years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Britain, America’s closest western ally in Iraq, once had as many as 40,000 troops in the country but has gradually reduced its presence as Iraqis have taken over more security responsibilities. The 4,100 British service members who remain are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of July, although a few hundred will remain as advisers, British officials said.

From wire reports