Bangladesh is probing accusations that an alleged war criminal used “money laundering and other illegal activities” to pay the U.S. firm Cassidy to lobby lawmakers and the Obama administration on his behalf, according to reports from pro-government media.

Mir Quasem Ali is a leader of an Islamist opposition party and a media owner who's accused of drawing up kill lists of intellectual leaders during Bangladesh's war for independence with Pakistan. He was arrested June 17 by the Bangladesh International War Crimes Tribunal, which was set up by the ruling Awami League two years ago to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes during the 1971 war.

Cassidy's vice chairman, Gregg Hartley, said media reports that Ali paid the firm $25 million were false and part of a pattern of intimidating government critics. He said the firm broke no U.S. laws in taking on Ali and later his brother, Mir Masum Ali, as clients. Mir Masum Ali is a U.S. citizen who got involved after his brother's assets were frozen.

“The sensational stories reported in the Bangladesh media are not based in fact and look like an effort to discourage international advocates, like Cassidy, from helping to inform and provide factual information to world leaders and in particular U.S. foreign-policy makers,” Hartley told The Hill in a statement.

A decision not to press criminal charges against the troops disciplined could reignite protests that occurred earlier this year.

The State Department on Monday resumed full consular services for U.S. citizens in Libya but reiterated year-old advice to avoid “all but essential” travel to the violence-racked North African country.

Until now, consular services inside the country were available only to emergency services, with routine visa applications processed abroad. Monday's travel warning confirms that the country remains in chaos almost a year after the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

“The incidence of violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, has become a serious problem,” Monday's travel warning states. “In addition, political violence in the form of assassinations and vehicle bombs has increased in both Benghazi and Tripoli.”

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Iran began hosting the weeklong 120-member Non-Aligned Movement summit over the weekend as it tries to break its international isolation. During the opening of the conference on Sunday, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on the Cold War-era grouping to oppose U.S.-backed sanctions against the country's alleged nuclear weapons program. [The Wall Street Journal]

The summit comes as the Obama administration is insisting that a peaceful resolution to the crisis can still be found even as the U.N. atomic watchdog failed to reach a compromise with Iran on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to say that Iran is continuing to expand its nuclear-fuel production and moving more of its infrastructure underground in its quarterly report, to be released this week. [The New York Times]

New plan for Syria: In his first major foreign-policy initiative, Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, has proposed creating a “committee of four,” to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to quell the violence in Syria. [The New York Times]

The leader of Georgia’s main opposition is pushing the Obama administration to denounce alleged campaign violations ahead of Oct. elections.

The International Energy Agency reportedly changed its position after the Obama administration insisted on tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) wants the Obama administration to explain how it will address Iranian attempts to evade sanctions with help from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Ros-Lehtinen asked the administration to say whether it would condition U.S. security cooperation with Iraq and Afghanistan on their willingness to counter Iranian attempts to get around economic sanctions.

“Given the U.S. investment of blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is vital that the Iraqi and Afghan governments cooperate with the U.S. and other responsible nations to address the Iranian threat,” Ros-Lehtinen wrote. “Failure to cooperate should be met with a reconsideration of bilateral security arrangements.”

Jewish Democrats are criticizing the Republican convention's plan to honor Rep. Ron Paul.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and might be speeding up production of nuclear fuel, according to a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency that could become an issue in the U.S. presidential race. Republican candidate Mitt Romney says President Obama has failed to curtail Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons ambitions. [The New York Times]

The report comes as the IAEA, the U.N.'s atomic watchdog, is meeting with Iranian officials at Iran's embassy in Vienna for the first time since June to press for access to Iranian sites, scientists and documents. [AFP]

No pity: The prime minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras, can expect to be rejected when he goes hat in hand to Germany and France today and Saturday to ask for flexibility with the country's austerity plan. [The Guardian]