With Col. Muammar Gadhafi's rule in Libya seemingly over, President Obama called for him to step down, to avoid further bloodshed as rebel forces continue to fight loyalists in the capital of Tripoli. Republicans are calling for an even bigger military presence in Libya. It's safe to say that Obama has some difficult decisions ahead, in regard to how the U.S. will be involved in Libya's transition to democracy.

President Obama is expected to announce this week new appointments for top posts in his national security team. Leon Panetta, the current director of central intelligence, will be named as defense secretary. General David Petraeus, who is currently the top commander in Afghanistan, is expected to be named as director of the CIA. These announcements come as Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans on stepping down from his post this summer. We talk with Mark Landler, reporter for our partner The New York Times, to help preview Obama's new national security team.

Officials from both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly faced with the question of whether coalition forces should intensify the campaign against Colonel Moammar Gadhafi by arming Libyan rebel fighters. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke yesterday at diplomatic meetings being held London to discuss the situation in Libya. She said it’s possible that UN Security Council Resolutions could allow certain countries to supply weapons to Libyan rebels.

Following Thursday's vote by the UN Security Council to authorize military action and the imposition of a no-flight zone in Libya, Col. Gadhafi responded by calling for an “immediate ceasefire and the stoppage of all military operations” against rebels seeking his ouster. Mark Landler, New York Times White House correspondent has the latest.

The United States has stepped up its rhetoric as fighting continues in Libya between Gadhafi's forces and rebel groups. At the same time, the American military is faced with the question of how to respond. From establishing a no-fly zone to assisting the pro-Democratic forces on the ground, what should the military do? Mark Landler, White House correspondent for The New York Times explains the complications with any military response. "It's diplomatically a difficult hill to climb," he says.

The New York Times has reported that the Obama administration is discussing a proposal with Egyptian officials for President Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately and hand over power to Vice President Omar Suleiman. Under this proposal, Suleiman would run a transitional government until elections are held later this year. Before being appointed to the vice presidency last week, Suleiman was the coordinator of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program.

Correspondent for The New York Times, Anthony Shadid writes that the future of the Arab world "was fought for in the streets of downtown Cairo on Wednesday." The populace is rethinking its role in Egypt as it calls for a new government. However, a new government will also mean a new understanding of U.S.-Egypt relations.

There’ll be a lot more "out of office" emails in Washington this week as key members of the Obama administration are on trips in South Asia, Asia and the Arabian peninsula. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in China today and will travel to South Korea and Japan later in the week. Vice President Joe Biden has just left Afghanistan and is in Pakistan today; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Qatar, continuing her tour of Arab states after her surprise trip to Yemen yesterday. What do these three top officials hope to accomplish abroad, and what challenges do they face?

The State Department is working to warn foreign officials, human rights activists and businesspeople who are named in the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. Although there haven't been any reports of harm, the State Department is worried that the documents could put hundreds at risk. Correspondent for The New York Times, Mark Landler reports on this move by the U.S.

In one the first tests of his military command in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus is pushing the Obama administration to add top leaders of a feared Pakistani insurgent group to the State Department’s list of designated terrorists. The Haqqani network is an insurgent group notorious for suicide attacks, car bombings and kidnappings. But designating the group as a terrorist organization could complicate things for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been working with the group to reach a political settlement with the network.

After nearly 30 years of stony diplomatic silence, Iran and the U.S. sat down together at a negotiating table early today. Six countries are attending the meetings in Geneva to talk to Iranian representatives about the country's nuclear program. U.S. representatives are sharing the table with Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, but reports yesterday evening suggest the U.S. could meet one-on-one with Iran. We preview the talks and look at the pros and cons of imposing more sanctions.

We speak with John Limbert, author of "Negotiating With Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History." He was an American diplomat in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution, and was held hostage for over a year during that time. We also speak to George Lopez, a sanctions expert and senior fellow at the University of Notre Dame; and Mark Landler, diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been out of the media spotlight lately. But yesterday she staged a coming out party in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her speech focused on Iran and she had forceful words for the Islamic nation. Mark Landler is The New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent and he joins The Takeaway with his analysis of Clinton’s speech yesterday. Also joining the conversation is Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom, to help us understand the shifting relationship with the U.S. and a post-crackdown Iran.

Watch Hillary Clinton's speech below:

Leaders at the G-20 represent 85% of the global economy. And there are possibly as many financial rescue plans as there are world leaders at the summit. One option has Germany and France pushing the U.S. to accept global financial regulations that could reach well inside American borders. Helping us to make sense of what's happening at the G-20 today is The New York Times' Mark Landler who is in the Excel Center in London, where the meeting is taking place.

For more, read Mark Landler's and David Sanger's article, Global Leaders Meeting to Resolve Rift on Economic Plan, in today's New York Times.

President Obama visited the State Department on his second full day in office yesterday, signaling the renewed importance of diplomacy in US foreign policy. He appointed two special envoys to troubled regions — former Northern Ireland mediator George Mitchell to oversee Arab-Israeli issues and longtime diplomat Richard Holbrooke to handle Pakistan and Afghanistan. The New York Times’ Mark Landler joins John and Adaora with a look at these two appointments and what they say about the new President's foreign policy strategy.