Editor’s Note: Ousted Honduran President Jose Manual Zelaya met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today in Washington. One week after surgery to repair a broken right elbow, Clinton is seen here sporting a sling, complete with the official State Department seal. For the latest on the situation in Honduras, tune in to AC360° tonight 10p ET.

Ousted Honduran President Jose Manual Zelaya meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today in Washington. (U.S. Department of State Official Photo)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joked about her broken elbow at a State Department briefing today.

Joe Von kanel
CNN Campbell Brown Writer

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joked about her broken elbow today, telling reporters, “I’m engaged in a different form of arms control, I think.”

Clinton fractured her right elbow when she fell at the State Department on June 17th. Her arm was in a sling today when she took questions during a brief news conference.

When a reporter asked if it’s still painful she answered, “It is. It is. Don’t break your elbow. That’s my last word of advice.”

“But you know,” she added, “every day gets a little bet better.”

Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

Yesterday’s groundbreaking move by President Obama to provide some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees came to fruition in large part due to Secretary of Clinton, who first put the issue on the table.

It is unclear whether the Obama administration came to office planning to offer government-wide benefits to domestic partners of civil service employees, but Clinton, a longtime advocate of gay rights, was on it day one. Since President Obama named her as his pick for Secretary of State in November, Clinton’s transition staff and the State Department had been working with members of the American Foreign Service Association and the group GLIFAA (Gays & Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies) on what could be done to extend benefits to domestic partners of diplomats serving abroad.

At her very first senior staff meeting Clinton instructed the State Department to review whether she had the authority to extend benefits to same-sex domestic partners. About a week later a gay employee asked Clinton during a town hall with employees to eliminate discrimination against same sex partners. The Secretary of State drew loud applause when she said the issue was “of real concern” to her, and that she was already working on it.

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CNN

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fractured her right elbow Wednesday during a fall, State Department officials said.

Clinton fell Wednesday afternoon on her way to the White House and was taken to George Washington University Hospital. She was treated and released, and will have surgery to repair her elbow in coming weeks.

“Secretary Clinton appreciates the professionalism and kindness she received from the medical team who treated her this evening and looks forward to resuming her full schedule soon,” said Cheryl Mills, a State Department spokeswoman.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for special coverage of World Refugee Day on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. And learn more about how you can help by visiting Impact Your World.

Displaced Pakistanis battle severe winds and dust at Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar.

AC360°

The refugee crisis in Pakistan is one of the grimmest in the world and the situation is only worsening. As of January 2009, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported nearly 1.8 million people had fled their homes to escape the violence, primarily between the Pakistani army and the Taliban in and around Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Today, estimates of refugees range near 2.5 million.

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new way for people to donate to the U.N.’s Pakistani refugee efforts by texting on a cell phone. This is in addition to the $100-million humanitarian aid package the U.S. government pledged last month.

By texting “SWAT” to 20222, Americans can make a donation to the U.N. to help alleviate Pakistan’s refugee crisis. “A $5 contribution will help the UNHCR provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people,” Clinton said.

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Ready for today’s Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the ‘Beat 360°’ pic:

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listens as President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak conduct a joint press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Have fun with it. We’re looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.

UPDATE: Check out our Beat 360° Winners!

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report aims 'to shine the light brightly on … modern slavery.'

Hillary Rodham Clinton
For the Washington Post

Twenty-year-old Oxana Rantchev left her home in Russia in 2001 for what she believed was a job as a translator in Cyprus. A few days later, she was found dead after attempting to escape the traffickers who tried to force her into prostitution.

Oxana’s story is the story of modern slavery. Around the world, millions of people are living in bondage. They labor in fields and factories under threat of violence if they try to escape. They work in homes for families that keep them virtually imprisoned. They are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the streets. Women, men and children of all ages are often held far from home with no money, no connections and no way to ask for help. They discover too late that they’ve entered a trap of forced labor, sexual exploitation and brutal violence. The United Nations estimates that at least 12 million people worldwide are victims of trafficking. Because they often live and work out of sight, that number is almost certainly too low. More than half of all victims of forced labor are women and girls, compelled into servitude as domestics or sweatshop workers or, like Oxana, forced into prostitution. They face not only the loss of their freedom but also sexual assaults and physical abuses.

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Jill Dougherty
CNN Foreign Affairs Editor

Forty-seven years after Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States, the 34-member organization has decided to revoke that decision and allow Cuba to rejoin.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who represented the United States at the meeting, called the decision a “consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past.”

The move by the OAS to lift the Cold-War-era suspension does not mean that Cuba immediately regains its seat; it can return to the OAS if the OAS decides that the island nation’s participation is in line with the purposes and principles of the organization, especially in its protection of democracy and human rights. Secretary Clinton said Cuba’s rejoining the OAS was “down the road – if it ever chooses to seek reentry.”

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Editor’s Note: A series of explosions in northwest Pakistan killed eight people Thursday night, and two suspected militants died in a gunbattle with Peshawar police on a rooftop, authorities said. Earlier this month,  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a way for people to text aid to the refugees in Pakistan. See that story below and learn more about the situation tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

These children are among the thousands of refugees this week at the Jalozai camp in western Pakistan.

Charley Keyes

CNN Senior Producer

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived at the State Department promising what she called 21st century tools to meet global problems. It turns out you may have one of those tools in your pocket right now.

Tuesday Clinton enabled every American with a cellphone to help some two million Pakistanis driven from their homes in and around the Swat Valley in the battle against the Taliban. A quick text message from your personal phone sends in a $5 donation. This is in addition to the $100-million U.S. government aid package Clinton went to the White House to announce on Tuesday.

“Now, Americans can use technology to help, as well. Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word “swat” — to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people,” Clinton said Tuesday in the White House briefing room.

Clinton tried it out herself, off camera. “And before I came over here, we did that in the State Department. So we are making some of the first donations to this fund.”

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A Pakistani girl displaced by the offensive against the Taliban rests at a camp Saturday north of Islamabad.

CNN

The United States is sending $100 million in aid to Pakistan to help alleviate the plight of the estimated 2 million people displaced by the offensive against Taliban extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday.

The money comes on top of $60 million in assistance already provided by the United States to Pakistan since last August.

The assistance is “essential to the global security and security of the United States,” Clinton said in a White House briefing. Much of the aid will be directed toward the purchase of Pakistani grain as part of a larger “investment in the people and economy in Pakistan.”

The Pakistani government is helping to lead the fight against extremists threatening “our collective security” and therefore deserves to be supported, she argued.

Clinton called on individual Americans to support the relief effort in the form of $5 donations by texting the word “SWAT” to the number 20222.

Pakistan’s military launched a massive operation against Taliban militants in its northwest region earlier this month after a peace deal collapsed and the militants moved within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad.

Much of the recent fighting has been centered in and around Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

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