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A senior police officer says it was the police, and not MPs, who devised the “more robust” approach that restored calm after four nights of rioting in England.

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Zardari open to talks with Taliban

Zardari, left, and Cameron said they had put their differences behind them [AFP] Pakistan‘s president has said he is willing to embark on negotiations with the Taliban in his country, despite the group intensifying its campaign of attacks in recent months. Asif Ali Zardari‘s comments came hours after a meeting on Friday with David Cameron, the British prime minister, aimed at ending a diplomatic row over whether Pakistan was doing enough to combat terrorism. “We never closed the dialogue,” Zardari said. ”We had an agreement, which they broke. Talks will resume whenever they feel we’re strong enough and they can’t win, because they won’t win.” Last year Pakistan struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley giving them de facto control over the region, but the agreement broke down when the fighters moved into other parts of Pakistan. Zardari’s comments are likely to raise eyebrows amongst Pakistan’s western allies, who have been encouraging the country to fight the Taliban, not talk to them. Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Mir, a political analyst, said: “I feel this is going to bring in a lot of criticism. “People are losing lives on an everyday basis in Pakistan and, of course, on the borders. “So to talk and sit down with them [the Taliban], and again, give them time to regroup, and again, bring their mindset, it’s going to be a very difficult task.” Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/

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Labour has accused David Cameron of committing a gaffe by mistakenly claiming Iran has a nuclear weapon.

Asked why he was backing Turkey to join the EU, he said it could help solve the world’s problems, “like the Middle East peace process, like the fact that Iran has got a nuclear weapon”.

A No 10 source said the PM “misspoke”, later adding he had been talking about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

But Labour said he was becoming a “foreign policy klutz”.

Shadow Europe Minister Chris Bryant said: “This is less of a hiccup, more of a dangerous habit.

“Considering Iran’s nuclear ambitions constitute one of the most important foreign policy challenges facing us all, it is not just downright embarrassing that the prime minister has made this basic mistake, it’s dangerous.”

‘Junior partner’

He said Mr Cameron had been forced to “explain away another foreign policy gaffe” – a reference to the diplomatic rows that erupted over his recent comments about Pakistan.

Read More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10886435?ls

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Pakistan‘s President Asif Ali Zardari (C) speaks to journalists after a meeting with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris August 2, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

PARIS, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is being lost, mainly because the West has failed to win the support of ordinary Afghans.

“I believe that the international community, which Pakistan belongs to, is in the process of losing the war against the Taliban,” Zardari said in an interview published on the website of the French newspaper Le Monde. “And that is, above all, because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds.”

“The military reinforcements are only a small part to answer the question and to face the challenge of the Taliban insurgents .. . To win the support of the Afghan people, we must bring to them economic development, and prove that we can not only change their life, but improve it,” he stressed.

The Pakistani leader also rebutted British Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks during a recent visit to India that Pakistan should do more to prevent “the export of terror.”

Pakistan “pays the highest price of this war (against terror) in human lives,” said Zardari.

However, he said the dispute will not affect his scheduled visit to London, immediately after the three-day official visit to Paris.

“A frank discussion will allow us to reintroduce a little bit of calm. So I will not cancel my visit to London … The relations between our two countries are old and solid enough for that,” he noted.

Source  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/

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David Cameron promises there will be “light at the end of the tunnel” for the economy following the government’s cuts programme.

Pakistan’s government summons Britain’s envoy in Islamabad following recent critical remarks by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Pakistan says it expects “fruitful” talks between its president and David Cameron despite a row over comments about its alleged links to terror.

Pakistan says it expects “fruitful” talks between its president and David Cameron despite a row over comments about its alleged links to terror.

David Cameron in discussions with Barack Obama in Washington last week.

Cameron described Britain as America’s ‘junior partner’. Photograph: Getty Images

If you’re determined to tell it how it is, it’s important to know it how it is – and on the evidence of his travels in foreign parts this week, it is uncertain whether David Cameron really does. Regarding Turkey and Europe, Israel and Gaza, and India and Pakistan, the inexperienced British prime minister’s blunt interventions left a trail of overseas outrage as well as surprised approbation. Fans admired his plain talking. Critics said he plainly doesn’t know what he’s talking about – and risked damaging Britain’s interests.

Cameron stood his ground in Delhi, vowing always to speak his mind frankly. In fact, his truth telling has been highly selective. Turkey’s EU membership, for example, could advance more swiftly if it fulfilled prior undertakings on Cyprus. He barely mentioned that – or discrimination against minority Kurds. Pakistan’s behaviour might be less paranoid and duplicitous if India were less threatening. In deference to Delhi’s hypersensitivity, Cameron eschewed all mention of Kashmir – an incendiary issue overdue for open, international discussion, as proposed long ago by Robin Cook.

Read More http://www.guardian.co.uk/

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David Cameron reiterates demand for Islamabad to do more to tackle “terrorists”.

UK ‘terror’ warning angers Pakistan

Cameron is visiting India to promote increased trade with the United Kingdom AFP] Remarks by David Cameron, the British prime minister, that Islamabad should not “promote the export of terror” have angered Pakistani officials. Cameron made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to promote increased trade with India, which has tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan. “We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country [Pakistan] is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world,” Cameron said in Bangalore. The comments were likely welcomed in India, which has accused Pakistani intelligence officials of harbouring and abetting groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India has blamed the 2008 attacks in the city Mumbai. ‘Sharp reaction’ But Pakistan was swift to condemn the comments, accusing the UK of “kicking their own friends”. Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/

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Prime Minister David Cameron warns Pakistan not to have any relationship with groups that “promote the export of terror”.

Cameron, left, held talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan [AFP] Cameron urges lifting of Gaza seige

David Cameron, the British prime minister, has urged Israel to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip, describing the current state of the Palestinian enclave as a “prison camp”.

Speaking on Tuesday at a meeting of a Turkish business association in Ankara, Cameron said: “Let me be clear that the situaion in Gaza has to change … Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Cameron, who also held talks with with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart, defended his harsh description, saying that “even though some progress has been made we’re still in a situation where it’s very difficult to get in, it’s very difficult to get  out…”

Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/

UK Prime Minister David Cameron condemns the blockade on the Gaza Strip during a visit to Turkey, describing the territory as a “prison camp”.

Cameron ‘anger’ at slow pace of Turkish EU negotiations

David Cameron is to argue strongly for Turkey‘s membership of the European Union, saying he is “angry” at the slow pace of negotiations.

On his first visit to Turkey as prime minister, Mr Cameron will say he will “fight” for Turkey’s bid to join the EU and to become a “great European power”.

He is expected to compare hostility in some parts of the EU to this to the way in which UK entry was once regarded.

After concluding his visit to Turkey, Mr Cameron will travel on to India.

Read More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

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David Cameron denies sending “mixed messages” over plans to withdraw British troops from Afghanistan by 2015.

David Cameron is to outline details of the planned national citizen service, aimed at getting 16-year olds to do community work.

David Cameron is criticised after saying the UK was the “junior partner” in the allied fight against Germany in 1940.

David Cameron denies sending “mixed messages” over plans to withdraw British troops from Afghanistan by 2015.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted BP should not be blamed for the “completely wrong” decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.

Standing alongside US President Barack Obama, he said the Scottish government was responsible for freeing Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi last year.

Claims have been made that BP lobbied for the release.

Read More  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world

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