LONDON: Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague and two senior colleagues arrived in Afghanistan Saturday for their first visit since a new coalition government took power in London this month reported by A Pakistan News.

Hague plus Defence Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell are to meet President Hamid Karzai as well as ministers and officials, the Foreign Office said.

BEIJING: Twenty-one miners have been killed in a gas blast at a colliery in southwest China, state news agency reported Friday, citing rescuers reported by A Pakistan News.

The accident occurred late Thursday at a coal mine in the city of Anshun in Guizhou province. All workers were accounted for following the explosion, as 10 workers escaped to safety, rescuers said.

MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday defended its contacts with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas after President Dmitry Medvedev met the group’s leader, saying the organisation must play a role in peace efforts reported by A Pakistan News.

“Hamas is not an artificial structure,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement. “It is a movement that draws on the trust and sympathy of a large number of Palestinians.”

The Russian president, who met exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus Tuesday, later said that no group should be excluded from peace efforts.

Israel reacted angrily to the meeting, however, saying it expected Russia to stand by the Jewish state against “Hamas terror”.

“Issues related to the reestablishment of Palestinian unity as an indispensable condition for the success of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were at the centre of the meeting,” Nesterenko said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday briefed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on the meeting in Damascus, the foreign ministry said.

Western governments continue to blacklist Hamas, which rules Gaza, as a terrorist group despite its victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.

Nick Clegg has delivered his most outspoken attack on Gordon Brown, calling him “a desperate politician” as he signalled that he would find it difficult to do a deal with the Prime Minister in a hung parliament.

Labour has become increasingly keen to ally itself with the Liberal Democrats as its chances of victory fade. But in his first newspaper interview since his party’s shock rise in the opinion polls, Mr Clegg told The Daily Telegraph that Labour had failed to deliver in its 13 years in charge and could not be trusted now.

He said: “Brown systematically blocked, and personally blocked, political reform. I think he is a desperate politician and I just do not believe him.” He added: “And do I think Labour delivered fairness? No. Do I think the Labour Party in its heart has a faith in civil liberties? No. Do I think they’ve delivered political reform? No. They are clutching at straws.”

The highly personal attack on Mr Brown’s integrity will lead to further speculation that the price for any deal with Labour would be that it ditches Mr Brown as leader. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has been touted as a possible replacement who would be acceptable to the Lib Dems.

Mr Brown made overtures to the Lib Dem leader in last week’s television debate, which catapulted Mr Clegg’s popularity to previously unthinkable levels. However, Mr Clegg is exasperated with the way the Prime Minister has suddenly decided to talk about changing the electoral system.

A Populus poll for The Times last night showed that the Lib Dems’ support has risen 10 points in a week. The party now stands on 31 per cent, with Labour down five points on 28 per cent and the Conservatives down four on 32 per cent.

However, a ComRes poll for The Independent gave the Tories some relief, showing them on 35 per cent and enjoying a nine-point lead over both the Lib Dems and Labour. That would still leave Mr Cameron short of a majority.

British parliamentarian Dr. Liam Fox Calls on Sri Lanka President, A parliamentarian of the Britain’s main opposition Conservative Party and Shadow Defence secretary called on the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today at the Temple Trees.

Ministers Rohitha Bogollagama, Prof. G.L Peiris, Secretary to the President Lalith Weerathunge, and Secretary of Foreign affairs Romesh Jayasinghe also participated in the discussion.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan had to do more to combat terrorists on its soil if it wanted to continue to receive substantial US aid, says John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate.
Kerry said the weekend bomb blast in Pune shouldn’t derail the resumption of diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan.

Senator Kerry also suggested that the Pune blast should be the first item on the agenda if India found a Pakistani link to the attack.

“The right thing is to talk; you lose nothing by talking,” said the senator who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. “I hope India will have that conversation with Pakistan and, if they have evidence to that effect, that should be the first thing on the table and Pakistan has to deal with it.”

He reiterated the US stance that Pakistan had to do more to combat terrorists on its soil if it wanted to continue to receive substantial US aid. “Pakistan has got to make clear its willingness to take on internal enemies,” he said.

Senator Kerry said that in his view discussions over Kashmir should not be a “prerequisite” in the initial conversation between the two nations and that the US stood ready to assist either side if asked. But, he said, “I do not think we should impose ourselves in any way.”

The senator called on Pakistan’s army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani after his arrival in Islamabad. He will meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today.

NEW DELHI: The US, the UK and Australia have issued travel advisories to its citizens in view of the bomb blast at a famous eatery frequented by
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foreigners in Pune, asking them to maintain a “heightened situational awareness and a low profile”.

“American citizens are advised to be alert to the continued possibility of terrorist attacks in India.

“The February 13 terrorist bombing in a bakery frequented by Westerners in Pune, Maharashtra, serves as a reminder that terrorists and their sympathisers are capable of attacking targets where US citizens or Westerners are known to congregate or visit,” the US travel alert said.

In its travel alert, updated after the blast, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the UK government said, “On 13 February a bomb exploded in a bakery/coffee shop in Pune killing nine and injuring up to 53 people. Foreigners were among the casualties. British nationals are reminded to remain vigilant in public places.”

“There is a high general threat from terrorism throughout India. Recent attacks have targeted public places including those frequented by westerners and expatriates,” it said.

Australia, in its alert said,”we advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in India at this time because of the high risk of terrorist activity by militant groups…We continue to receive reporting of possible threats against prominent business and tourist locations, including in Mumbai and New Delhi.”

In the first major attack after 26/11, terror struck Pune on Saturday night as a powerful bomb ripped apart at a popular bakery-cum-cafe near the Chabad House, killing nine people and injuring 57 others.

Pune bomb blast , blast kills eight in Pune Breaking news updates :-  A bomb ripped through a restaurant popular with foreign tourists in Pune on Saturday, killing at least eight people in the country’s first major attack since the Mumbai massacre of 2008. Four foreign women were among the dead at the city’s German Bakery restaurant but their nationality was not known, said Dilip Band, a senior police official. “The explosive was in a bag kept in the bakery,”.

The explosion occurred late in the evening when the restaurant was packed with tourists and foreigners.

Debris was strewn all around the building located near a Jewish centre and Osho ashram, which is also frequented by foreigners. The impact knocked the bakery’s sign off and blew out windows.

DIR, Pakistan News: Some six people including four foreign journalists were killed while several others injured when a blast took place near a girls’ high school in Koto, Lower Dir.
According to sources, inauguration ceremony of the said school was about to start when the blast occurred in which four foreign journalists among six killed. Many journalists including a foreign journalist were among the participants of the ceremony. Police and law enforcement agencies threw cordon around the area and started investigation. Rescue efforts were also kicked off. Lower Dir DPO Mumtaz Zareen said that a security forces’ convoy was targeted in the blast. It merits to mention that so far militants have destroyed several schools in Koto.

ISLAMABAD,Pakistan News: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that Pakistan’s stability hinged on peace in Afghanistan, adding that UK believed in result-oriented talks with Pakistan.
He expressed these views during a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad today. Strategic dialogue, London Conference on Afghanistan, defecne cooperation, bilateral ties, FoDP forum, public–private economic partnership, sustainable aid for economic growth of Pakistan were mainly deliberated upon in today’s meeting, Qureshi noted during the briefing. He hailed Pakistan’s role against war on terror and added that development of a country based on its security situation. He noted that UK would extend its expertise in education sector through Pak-UK Education Task Force and termed it an important step forward towards education reforms in the country. Referring to EU-Pak ties, the British Foreign Secretary said that there was great untapped potential in Pakistan in terms of trade. “I am here as a European too…. It makes incumbent on us to think how EU and Pakistan work together”, he added.
Q&A session
Replying to a question about promised aid, the Foreign Secretary said that UK was committed to fiscal support to Pakistan and was to provide 65 million pounds in three years, and assured to fulfil the promise saying that “We believe in turning words into deeds and it is the basis of our bilateral ties”.
Terming it a significant development, the Foreign Secretary commended the national unity against war on terror. Replying to a question about threat to democracy in Pakistan, Miliband said that “all friends support civilian government in Pakistan”, while referring to India-Pak ties, he said that both the nations seemed committed in this regard. In reply to a question, he noted that UK has given around 34million pounds for the rehabilitation of IDPs of Swat.
Zamir Haider about the plight of arrested students on suspicions in UK and the ensuing legal complications, Miliband said that the legal proceedings took much time that was why they were detained for so long. He parried a question about Afia Siddqui, saying that this issue must be talked about carefully and added that UK was very clear about human rights.