Clinton offers Myanmar first rewards for political reform

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform today, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades.

Clinton said she had “candid, productive” conversations with President Thein Sein and other Myanmar ministers, and told them Washington stood ready to support further reforms as the country seeks to emerge from decades of authoritarian military rule.

Clinton meets Aung San Suu Kyi on Myanmar visit

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting with opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) on a historic visit to Myanmar.

Clinton urges Africa to drop Gaddafi, embrace rebels

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urged African leaders to abandon Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, saying it was time to live up to their pledges to promote democracy across the continent.

Clinton, the first US secretary of state ever to address the 53-member African Union, said unreformed African leaders were themselves at risk from the same tide of democracy sweeping the Middle East, proclaiming “the status quo is broken and the old ways of governing are no longer acceptable.”

“It is true that Gaddafi has played a major role in providing financial support for many African nations and institutions, including the AU,” Clinton said in her speech at the AU’s headquarters in Addis Ababa.

“But it has become clear that we are long past the time when he can remain in power.”



Clinton urged African states — many with longtime diplomatic and financial ties to the oil-rich Libyan strongman — to join the international coalition demanding his exit as the condition for a ceasefire.

She also urged them to close pro-Gaddafi Libyan embassies, expel his diplomats and to build ties with the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council which the United States and its European and Arab allies are promoting as a future interim government for the country.

“Your words and your actions could make the difference in building this situation to finally close and allowing the people of Libya to get to work writing a constitution and rebuilding their country,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s AU speech came at the end of a three-nation Africa tour during which she sought to highlight the Obama administration’s drive to boost trade ties with Africa and encourage better political and economic governance.

Sudan talks

She praised many African countries for implementing reforms and moving away from a tradition of strongman rule. But on a continent where autocrats still rule from Equatorial Guinea to Zimbabwe, Clinton said more needed to be done.

“We know that too many people in Africa live under long-standing rulers — men who care too much about the longevity of their reign and too little about the legacy that should be built for their country’s future,” she said.

Clinton won applause for advocating women’s rights, and for speaking gamely on even as the lights flickered briefly out in the AU’s main meeting hall, leaving delegates in the dark.

US officials say the African Union has played a more constructive role in regional affairs including the political deadlock in Ivory Coast and mustering peacekeepers for other regional crises.

On Libya, US officials have praised several African nations including Senegal and Mauritania for publicly declaring that Gaddafi must go.

But the AU’s position has been murkier and the organisation — long itself the beneficiary of Gaddafi’s largesse — has declined to join calls for Gaddafi’s ouster, instead accusing Western nations of undermining its own efforts to find a solution to the conflict.

Diplomats say the lack of a clear African voice on the Libyan conflict has complicated the Libyan crisis, where Nato has unleashed air strikes to support Libyan rebels demanding Gaddafi’s exit.

Clinton is scheduled to hold meetings in Addis Ababa today on Sudan, where diplomats said President Omar Hassan al-Bashir agreed Sunday to pull troops out of the disputed border region of Abyei before the south secedes — a move which could help reduce tensions.

The two sides have yet to agree on sensitive issues such as where to draw the common border and how to share oil revenues, leaving the potential for further conflict as the South prepares for formal independence on July 9.

Clinton, speaking before her arrival in Addis Ababa during a stop in Tanzania, said the United States supported a proposal to put Ethiopian peacekeepers in the disputed Abyei region and called on Khartoum to withdraw its troops from the area.

At the AU, she repeated her call for both sides to redouble their efforts to resolve the situation “peacefully through negotiations, not violence.”

US, Russia cap ‘reset’ in ties with START treaty

Clinton and Lavrov exchange documents formally, bringing into force the landmark nuclear arms reduction pact START during the 47th Conference on Security Policy in Munich today, February 5, 2011

The United States and Russia formally inaugurated their new START nuclear arms treaty today, capping two years of work to “reset” the sometimes strained ties between the former Cold War enemies.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov exchanged the final START documents at the Munich security conference, where two years ago US Vice-President Joe Biden launched the Obama administration’s push for better relations with Moscow.

“Two years ago we all laughed about the translation of the ceremonial ‘reset’ button I gave to the foreign minister,” Clinton said, referring to a diplomatic gaffe in which she presented Lavrov with an oversized button on which “reset” was mistranslated into the Russian for “overcharge”.

“But when it came to the translation that mattered most, we turned words into action to reach a milestone in our strategic partnership.”



Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama signed the deal in April after a year of tough negotiations, committing the world’s top two nuclear powers gradually to reduce their atomic arsenals.

The START treaty has been at the centre of Washington’s effort to improve ties with Moscow, which hit a low with Russia’s 2008 war against pro-western Georgia and were further strained by disagreements on trade and US concerns over Russia’s record on human rights and free speech.

US officials say the “reset” has delivered results on a number of fronts including efforts to rein in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, co-operation on the halting Middle East peace process and growing ties between Russia and Nato.

The START treaty itself is also seen as an important step towards Obama’s goal of nuclear disarmament — though analysts say there are much higher hurdles ahead if further progress is to be made.

Obama faced down sharp objections from some Republican senators, who said the new treaty gave too much away, to win Senate ratification late last year in a major political victory.

The START treaty commits the two nations, with 95 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, to ceilings of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads in seven years, up to 30 per cent lower than in the 2002 Moscow treaty.

It will limit each side to 700 deployed strategic missiles and bombers and establish verification rules, absent since the US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) expired in 2009, enabling them to keep tabs on each other’s arsenals.

Now the treaty has taken effect, the two nations will begin exchanging information about the status of their nuclear forces and, within weeks, hold the first on-site inspections of each other’s nuclear arsenals in nearly two years.

The United States and Russia have already signalled differences over further cuts, including on tactical nuclear weapons that many analysts regard as a more immediate danger.

The US Senate has asked Obama to seek negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons within a year after START enters into force. But Russia, which has a stockpile several times larger than that of the United States, has resisted, saying talks should not be held until each country confines its tactical nuclear weapons to its own territory.

Chelsea Clinton Weds at Exclusive NY Estate-America's 'Royal' Wedding-Clintons on Eve of Chelsea's Wedding

Bill and Hillary Clinton 'so happy' as they see their daughter Chelsea marry in front of 500 guests

Happy family: (left to right) Marc Mezvinsky with Hillary Clinton, his bride Chelsea and father-in-law Bill Clinton after the couple's wedding

Chelsea Clinton has finally become a married woman, saying her vows in an idyllic gazebo decked with white roses under the late afternoon summer sun.

The groom was ‘a bundle of nerves’ and the father of the bride ‘so emotional’ he considered just getting his daughter down the aisle was ‘a major accomplishment’. As for the bride, she had, she told friends jokingly, rather hoped for a small wedding.

But it’s hard to be low-key when your big day is hailed as America’s ‘Royal wedding’, and last-minute preparations include shutting down a chunk of federal airspace, with the secret service making sure access roads to the venue are secure.






Flower bower: The couple had an interdenominational service as Marc is Jewish and Chelsea is a practising Methodist








Perfect day: Chelsea and Marc's big day is said to have cost around £3.2million while her Vera Wang dress came in at around £20,000


It's all for our girl: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary arrive for the rehearsal dinner at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York


Line up: Limousines wait outside a hotel in Rhinebeck before yesterday's service


Protection: A team of security patrol the Rhinebeck streets ahead of the ceremony which took place at 5pm


Glittering: Guests wait for a bus to depart from the Delamater Inn to go to the wedding


Glammed up: A wedding guest makes her way through to one of the buses in Rhinebeck which was ferrying the exclusive congregation to Chelsea's wedding

Like clockwork: Buses at the front of the Astor estate, which ferried the guests to the ceremony in the gardens to the back of the building


Sweet music: A small chamber orchestra can be seen to the left of the gazebo where Chelsea got married yesterday



The congregation: Friends and family of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky, some with white parasols to shade them from the afternoon sun, gather in front of the white rose-decked gazebo where the couple said their wedding vows

Chelsea, 30, married childhood friend, financier Marc Mezvinsky, 32, in a ceremony that took place at 5pm local time in Astor Courts, the former home of millionaire businessman John Jacob Astor IV, set in 50 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York state.

Shortly afterwards her proud parents released a statement saying: 'Today, we watched with great pride and overwhelming emotion as Chelsea and Marc wed in a beautiful ceremony at Astor Courts, surrounded by family and their close friends.

'We could not have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate the beginning of their life together, and we are so happy to welcome Marc into our family. On behalf of the newlyweds, we want to give special thanks to the people of Rhinebeck for welcoming us and to everyone for their well-wishes on this special day.'

When it came down to it, the ‘hoopla’, as Chelsea described it, that comes with being the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, was worth it.

President Obama had reportedly offered the White House as a venue, while actor Ted Danson, a family friend, suggested his home on Martha’s Vineyard. But the couple opted for a small town 90 miles north of Manhattan and the relative seclusion of the Astor estate.

Residents inconvenienced by the circus surrounding the wedding were given a bottle of wine from Clinton Vineyards – coincidentally the name of the wine producer that neighbours the Astor estate.

The bottle came with a hand­written note of apology from the couple’s wedding planner and offered a telephone number to call if there were any problems.

The night before, wellwishers lined the streets of Rhinebeck as the wedding party enjoyed a rehearsal dinner at the local Beekman Arms Inn. But though they smiled and waved, Chelsea and Marc’s parents were silent about the details of yesterday’s ceremony, which is estimated to have cost £3.2million.

With a guest list of 500, it could hardly be described as intimate but, according to one source, ‘Chelsea actually has a very small circle of friends.

Of course she understood that, her parents being who they are, she didn’t have much choice but to have a big do.

So her one stipulation was that she and Marc had to have at least met everybody who was invited.’

Who received an invitation has been the subject of much speculation, but Steven Spielberg, producer Steve Bing, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey were expected to attend.

Tony Blair was believed to have been invited, but was unable to go.

Chelsea has been a vegan for more than ten years and instructed society caterer Olivier Cheng to provide vegetarian and vegan dishes for the wedding feast.

Her £7,000, five-tier wedding cake was gluten-free. But the meat-eaters among her guests would have been relieved to see that organic beef was also on the menu.

The scale of the wedding has been made clear by the small army of workmen employed over the past week to construct pavilions and marquees at a cost of £400,000.

Tables and crockery are believed to have added another £75,000 to the bill.

But though Chelsea’s dress – thought to be designed by Vera Wang – reportedly cost between £16,000 and £20,000 and she was expected to wear £160,000 worth of jewellery (as well as her £600,000 engagement ring), her own style, according to one friend, is, ‘low-key and modest’.

She is currently studying for a masters degree at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.

And though she may be a far cry from the awkward, curly-haired 12-year-old who stood with her parents on the steps of the White House in 1992 when Bill was first elected President, Chelsea has no desire to follow her parents – mum Hillary is the US Secretary of State – into public office.

The couple met as teenagers and their friendship gradually turned into romance. According to a friend of the couple: ‘Chelsea adores Marc and her parents do, too’.

Clinton Denounces North Korean Belligerence, Myanmar Oppression

"A key element of our strategy is to strengthen regional and global institutions," Hillary Clinton said

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced North Korean aggression and urged Myanmar to make its first elections in two decades more democratic.





“Here in Asia, an isolated and belligerent North Korea has embarked on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior,” Clinton told the 27-member Asean Security Forum in Hanoi today. “Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean Peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behavior.”

The remarks, made in the presence of North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, came two days after Clinton announced new U.S. sanctions against the regime for sinking a South Korean warship in March. North Korea yesterday attacked her actions and maintained that it didn’t torpedo the corvette Cheonan.

Clinton also used her speech to put pressure on Myanmar, an Asean member that she referred to by its former name of Burma.

“The United States also remains deeply concerned about the oppression taking place in Burma, including restrictive electoral laws that further stifle the lives of the Burmese and make the possibility of free and fair elections this year unlikely,” she said, according to a State Department transcript. “We urge Burma to put in place the necessary conditions for credible elections, including releasing all political prisoners, respecting basic human rights, and ceasing attacks against ethnic minorities.”

US to resume ties to Indonesia's special forces

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The United States announced Thursday it will resume cooperation with Indonesia's special forces after ties were severed more than a decade ago over human rights abuses allegedly committed by the commando unit.






U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement after meeting with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday in the capital Jakarta. Indonesia had said it wanted the United States to reconsider resuming joint training.

Indonesia's special forces have concentrated on counterinsurgency issues in recent years, but were accused of major abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in the late 1990s. East Timor has since become independent.

Several countries, including the U.S. and Australia, suspended joint military training in the wake of the allegations, though Australia resumed training in 2005.

The U.S. lifted an overall ban against training the Indonesian military in 2005, though it kept the restrictions against the Indonesian special forces — known as Kopassus.

International rights groups said members of Kopassus were linked to the disappearance of student activists in East Timor in 1997 and 1998 and were never held accountable.

In May, 13 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gates, saying they worried about whether Indonesia will punish senior officers for past abuses.

Vietnam abuzz over Chelsea Clinton's wedding

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, left, and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem raise their glasses for a toast during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of relations between Vietnam and the U.S. in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, July 22, 2010

Chelsea Clinton's big day may be half a world away but that hasn't tempered enthusiasm in Vietnam for her upcoming nuptials.

In Hanoi on Thursday for diplomatic meetings a little over a week before the July 31 wedding, mother-of-the-bride and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was given a wedding present — a white tablecloth — for her daughter by the Vietnamese government along with gemstone mosaic portrait of her and Chelsea during their 2000 visit to the country.





"Very nice," Clinton said when Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem presented her with the tablecloth and congratulated her on the marriage of her only child. "I'm very honored. I will be very pleased to give it to her."

Arriving at a hotel to speak to a luncheon hosted by the local American Chamber of Commerce, she was greeted by and posed glowingly for photos with a group of young American women holding a congratulatory sign reading "Mazel Tov Chelsea."

Clinton, who is on the last leg of a four-nation tour that also took her to Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Korea, was introduced by chamber president Hank Tomlinson as "the first secretary of state to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan, Korea and Vietnam while also planning her daughter's wedding."

Clinton laughed and said jokingly that traveling while "trying to help organize my daughter's wedding is proof ... that I may be lacking in common sense." She said she was very focused on her trip but also ready to "return home and enjoy a most wonderful event and experience."

Kabul meeting to lay ground for 2014 deadline

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, speaks with the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the presidential palace in Kabul Afghanistan on Monday, July 19, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, a day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan


Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quresh gestures during a press conference, one day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010, in Kabul, accompanied by Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq.

The strategy sits for now on a table in a locked-down Afghan capital: Hand over security in all 34 provinces to the government by the end of 2014 — more than three years after President Barack Obama's date for the start of an American troop drawdown.






Afghan police officers check vehicles as security measures are tightened ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010. Some 40 foreign ministers are expected to attend the conference.


Afghan National Army soldiers walk towards their vehicles before going on a patrol at Combat Outpost Terra Nova in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19,


An Afghan National Army soldier prepares a machine gun before going on a patrol outside Combat Outpost Terra Nova, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, July 19, 2010.


Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Monday, July 19, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan, a day ahead of the International Conference on Afghanistan.

By Tuesday, it will be adopted at a one-day international conference, giving war-weary Americans and Europeans a date for when their involvement in Afghanistan may begin to come to an end. It will also give President Hamid Karzai a chance to show whether his struggling government is making progress toward running the country.

The conference comes at a time of growing anxiety in the U.S. and Europe about the course of the war — concerns underscored by Taliban attacks on Monday that killed six Afghan police and two American soldiers. A major security operation virtually shut down Kabul for the conference in which some 60 nations will focus on the postwar transition.

The country's intelligence agency arrested a number of insurgents Monday night who were camped out at a house in Kabul and presumably planning an attack on the city, said a police official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to comment on intelligence agency operations.

Officials with the intelligence agency declined to comment, saying they would make a formal statement in coming days.

Afghan officials want the U.S. and other international donors to give them a greater say in spending the billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction funds that have flowed into the country since the war began in 2001 — often with only limited results and amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement that have bolstered the Taliban in the eyes of many ordinary Afghans.

Talk of lofty development goals will take place against the backdrop of rising casualties, especially in the Taliban strongholds of the south and east.

Mindful that public patience is running out, the delegates will endorse the goal of gradually turning over security to Afghan forces by the time Karzai leaves office at the end of 2014, according to a draft communique obtained by The Associated Press.

The Afghan government and the international community are expected to agree on a plan to decide which of the 34 provinces would be ready for Afghan control and when. The communique however makes no mention of international troop levels during the transition period.

If NATO follows the model used in Iraq, the coalition will likely keep substantial numbers of troops in Afghanistan through much of the transition to help train Afghan forces and to intervene if the Afghans cannot control security and prevent the Taliban from mounting a comeback in provinces cleared of major insurgent forces.

Although Obama said in December that U.S. troops would begin coming home in July 2011, he did not say how many troops would leave then. Critics complained that the date signaled to the Taliban that all they had to do was hold out until the Americans and their allies were gone.

Vice President Joe Biden told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the number of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan "could be as few as a couple of thousand," but was once quoted as saying next July's drawdown would mean "a lot of people moving out."

In London, a senior British diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because final details of the communique have not yet been finalized, said the conference would likely agree that the process of handing over control to Afghan forces would begin early next year.

The diplomat said a NATO conference in Lisbon in October would decide which areas would be handed over immediately. A conference working paper on security says that during the transition, NATO troops may "remain in the lead in specific districts" of provinces nominally under Afghan control.

Ahead of the conference, representatives of Britain and Afghanistan's neighbor, Pakistan, said some troops may have to remain past 2014 to help train Afghan forces.

"We recognize that there'll be further work to do in terms of training and improving the quality of those forces beyond that, which is why we've said that training forces may be available after that date but we have made it very clear that that will not be combat forces," British Defense Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, expressed skepticism that the Afghans will be ready to take over security by 2014, saying "in my personal assessment, it might take longer."

"But again it depends on how quickly they are able to train their armed forces, their civilian law enforcement agencies, to take on the responsibility of security and protection of the ordinary Afghan citizen," said Qureshi, whose government has longtime ties to insurgents. He said Pakistan was ready to help the Afghans achieve stability "because we feel that a stable, peaceful, prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest."

Underscoring the security challenge, bombs killed six Afghan policemen in the biggest southern city of Kandahar and two American troops in the south, Afghan and U.S. officials said. The American deaths brought to 42 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this month.

To demonstrate their commitment to good governance, Afghan officials have been working feverishly in recent weeks to prepare action plans with benchmarks for agriculture, reintegrating insurgents back into society and economic and social development.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is leading the U.S. delegation, told reporters the Kabul conference "is going to show more Afghan ownership and leadership, which is something we've been pushing." She said the U.S. is "pressing the Afghan government at all levels to be more accountable, to go after corruption," but that the U.S. also had a responsibility to improve management of its programs.

The Afghans have long complained that the U.S. and other donors have squandered aid money through hiring overpriced international contractors and pursuing development projects that the country does not need or cannot afford to maintain.

Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, 77 percent of the $29 billion in international aid spent in Afghanistan has been disbursed on projects with little or no input from Afghan government officials, according to the Afghan Ministry of Finance's 2009 donor financial review.

At a January meeting in London, donor nations agreed to have half of development aid delivered through the Afghan government to 50 percent in two years.

On Tuesday, Karzai will ask the international community to restate this commitment and to align at least 80 percent of development and governance assistance over the next two years to a list of more than 20 national priority programs being introduced at the conference. In return, Karzai's government will promise to improve its financial management system, improve collection of taxes and customs revenues and fight corruption.

Hllary Clinton in Kabul ahead of key conference

Clinton: US, world stand with Afghanistan-Clinton seeks more from Pakistan in terror fight

Clinton (L) confirmed that US planned to formally designate Pakistan's Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday vowed the United States and its allies will stand by Afghanistan even as fears are growing about the course of the nearly 9-year-old war and the Obama administration plans to begin withdrawing American troops from the country next year.





Clinton (L) called for "additional measures" by Pakistan to combat militant groups on its soil


Clinton (C) arrived in Islamabad Sunday en route to a donor conference in Kabul


The aid focused on water and energy needs of Pakistan

Clinton acknowledged deepening opposition to international involvement in the conflict amid the rising death toll of foreign troops in the country. But she told an international conference on Afghanistan's future that the "world is with Afghanistan" and that the planned drawdown of U.S. forces was not a sign of flagging commitment.

"The July 2011 date captures both our sense of urgency and the strength of our resolve," she said of U.S. plans to accelerate the process of turning over security to Afghanistan's police and military. "The transition process is too important to push off indefinitely."

"But this date is the start of a new phase, not the end of our involvement," Clinton told the conference, which is being attended by senior officials from about 70 countries. "We have no intention of abandoning our long-term mission of achieving a stable, secure, peaceful Afghanistan."

Mounting concerns about the war and rampant corruption in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government have prompted many in the U.S. and allied countries to raise serious questions about the wisdom of carrying on the fight.

Clinton allowed that "the road ahead will not be easy," particularly given those concerns, which could threaten funding for military operations.

"Citizens of many nations represented here, including my own, wonder whether success is even possible — and if so, whether we all have the commitment to achieve it. We will answer these questions with our actions," she said, pledging to step up U.S. civilian assistance to help rehabilitate and reconstruct the war-shattered nation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday announced major aid projects for Pakistan as she sought tougher action from Islamabad to combat militants ahead of a key donor meeting in Afghanistan.

Clinton is bidding to build on a shaky alliance with Pakistan, whose mountainous western border shields Taliban militants fighting the insurgency next door, as well as groups responsible for attacks in the United States.

The aid focused on water and energy needs of Pakistan is part of US efforts to deepen engagement with the Asian nuclear power and overcome rife anti-Americanism after years of perceived neglect of bilateral relations.

Washington believes Pakistan is integral to any result in the Afghan war and has long voiced concern that Pakistan's powerbrokers were supporting Taliban insurgents, despite crackdowns by the military in some border areas.

Clinton met Pakistan's prime minister and president on Sunday and in a media interview acknowledged greater joint efforts on terrorism, but called for "additional measures" from Islamabad to combat militants on its soil.

"There are still additional steps that we are asking and expecting the Pakistanis to take," she told the BBC.

"... there is no doubt in anyone?s mind that should an attack against the United States be traced to be Pakistani it would have a very devastating impact on our relationship," she added.

A Pakistani-American arrested over the botched car bombing in New York's Times Square in May allegedly received explosives training from experts linked to the Pakistani militant group the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

The group operates from the tribal zones of Pakistan, considered by Washington to be the global headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in Al-Qaeda, as well as a base camp for the Afghan Taliban.

Clinton confirmed that Washington planned to formally designate Pakistan's Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation.

The network, which is battling coalition troops in Afghanistan and is thought to have close links with Pakistan's intelligence services, is one of the toughest foes faced by foreign forces in Afghanistan.

A senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity said closer ties with Pakistan's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were helping in the struggle against the militant Haqqani network.

"The amount of engagement we have with General Kayani... is unprecedented. We feel that we're making some slow but steady forward movement (on Haqqani)," the official said.

Clinton was due to meet Kayani for closed-door discussions later Monday before travelling to Kabul for a key international conference focused on charting a course for the war-torn country's future involving less dependency on its Western backers.

Pakistan and the United States had been allies throughout the Cold War years as both played a key role in arming Islamist insurgents who ousted Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989.

Ties then cooled until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

On Monday, Clinton hailed progress in relations.

"We have moved beyond a stand-off where we are engaged in a most important dialogue... I'm pleased and impressed to see the leadership of Pakistan tackling some hard problems," she said.

Pakistan has been hard hit by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence, with attacks killing more than 3,500 people across the country since government troops besieged a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in the eastern city of Sargodha Sunday evening, wounding at least 12 people, officials said.

Opening Monday talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Clinton said she hoped the aid projects would "lay the foundations for an enduring partnership" with Pakistan.

They include two energy dams, various drinking water and irrigation projects, as well as the building of health centres and schemes to improve agriculture and private sector income.

They are part of a five-year 7.5-billion-dollar funding approved by the US Congress last year.

Clinton also lauded a new transit trade deal signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday that officials said could boost cross-border trade from an annual 1.5 billion dollars to five billion.

Hillary Clinton 'stands ready' to help Argentina and Britain resolve Falkland Islands row

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Hillary Clinton will meet Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

The pair share a laugh during their meeting

Hillary Clinton with Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner during a meeting in Buenos Aires yesterday

Hillary Clinton has pledged to help Argentina and Britain resolve new tensions over the disputed Falkland Islands, which sparked a war between the two countries in 1982.

Argentina is expected today to urge the U.S. secretary of state to press Britain to negotiate over the Falklands.

Its president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is meeting with Mrs Clinton at the inauguration of Uruguay's new president Jose Mujica in Montevideo.
Mrs Kirchner, who is known as the Queen of Argentina for her imperial manner, counts Mrs Clinton and ex-U.S. president Bill Clinton as friends.

She and husband Nestor, a former president, are said to want to take advantage of that relationship to put pressure on the Government.

The U.S. has said that it remains neutral on the issue of the islands' sovereignty.

But Mrs Clinton said today that America stood ready to help.

'We'll be going to Buenos Aires later today, I look forward to meeting with President (Cristina Fernandez) de Kirchner and discussing a full range of issues,' Mrs Clinton said during an appearance in Montevideo.

'It is our position that this is a matter to be resolved between the United Kingdom and Argentina. If we can be of any help in facilitating such an effort, we stand ready to do so.'
President Obama was irritated by the fact Mrs Kirchner spent the day of his presidential inauguration with her friend Fidel Castro in Cuba.

Americans were also angered by George Bush being snubbed by the country's then leader Nestor Kirchner at a summit in Argentina in 2005.

President Barack Obama was accused of being 'feeble' by failing to back London in the stand-off with Argentina over the disputed islands, despite the 'special relationship'.

London and Buenos Aires are at odds over UK firm Desire Petroleum's decision to drill for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands.

Geologists estimate there are up to 60billion barrels of oil in the seabed.

The Argentine government has tabled a UN resolution condemning the plan. It has also secured backing from 32 South American nations supporting its claim that Britain has occupied the islands illegally since 1833.

The Falklands remains an emotive issue in Argentina and offers a way for a populist president to whip up public support.

Mrs Kirchner issued a presidential decree last month forcing ships sailing to the Falklands from Argentina to seek a permit, after learning that an oil rig was to start exploratory drilling.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he did not expect any direct contact between Mr Brown and Mrs Kirchner on the issue and said Britain had given no thought to any military response.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery

Mrs Clinton had been in a meeting with President Obama when she heard her husband had been taken ill

Three Presidents: Clinton with George W. Bush and Barack Obama last month

Clinton was rushed to the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York

The world's media gather to hear about Mr Clinton's progress

The view of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital tonight, where Mr Clinton is recovering following his stent operation

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is flanked by secret service agents as arrives at the hospital to see her husband

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, seen here helping the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti on January 18, was rushed to hospital last night

Bill Clinton is today recovering after major heart surgery after being taken to hospital in New York with chest pains last night.

The fast food-loving ex-President was said to be in 'good spirits' after an emergency operation to clear a blocked coronary artery by implanting two surgical stents.

A stent is a small mesh tube inserted into a narrowed or weakened artery to support it and allow blood to flow through.
His wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left the Oval Office after a meeting with President Obama in snowbound Washington to be at her 63-year-old husband's bedside at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.

An eye witness outside the hospital said he had seen Mr Clinton being wheeled in.

'We saw eight men wheeling a gurney and when we saw closer we saw Mr Clinton with an oxygen mask on his face being wheeled into hospital,' he said.

The former President had been taken to the hospital after feeling 'discomfort', an aide said, adding: 'He knew that something was wrong. He didn't feel right. He didn't collapse, but he knew he should head to see his cardiologist right away.'

The operation was carried out by Craig Smith, the heart surgeon who performed a 2004 heart bypass on Mr Clinton.
In 2004, he had a quadruple heart bypass at the same hospital. Doctors then found four major blood vessels that supply oxygen to the heart were blocked, some by as much as 90%.

High cholesterol and a love of fast food like McDonald's hamburgers were regarded as the likely culprits.

Since the surgery, he went back to his active life, campaigning for his wife's presidential campaign and remaining heavily involved in his charity and humanitarian efforts.

It is understood that one of the bypass grafts from the 2004 operation had become obstructed, making it necessary for two stents to clear the artery.
In a statement, Mr Clinton's spokesman Douglas Band said: 'Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.

'President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts.'

It is understood that one of the bypass grafts from the 2004 operation had become obstructed, making it necessary for two stents to clear the artery.

Health experts described the procedure as 'relatively routine'. Mr Clinton was expected to return to his home in Chappaqua in upstate New York to rest soon after the procedure.

There was speculation last night that Mr Clinton's work as a special U.S. ambassador to Haiti may have exacerbated his heart problem.


Since the surgery he had returned to his active life, campaigning for his wife's presidential bid and remaining heavily involved in his charity and humanitarian efforts.

In a statement last night, Mr Clinton's spokesman Douglas Band said: 'Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.

'President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts.'

Mrs Clinton was expected to cancel or delay a planned diplomatic trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In 2001, shortly after his presidency ended, Mr Clinton had a cancerous growth removed from his back.

A pre-cancerous lesion was removed from his nose, and a year before that had a benign cyst taken off his chest.

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