Nick Clegg 'Backed by Top Lib Dems' for Election Talks with Tories
Protestors of pressure groups for parliamentary reform demand proportional representation outside the Lib Dem talks. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Nick Clegg has the full backing of his party's senior ranks as he prepares to strike a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, one of the Liberal Democrats' negotiators said today.

David Laws described the leader’s talks with his parliamentary party and the Lib Dem shadow cabinet as “very positive and constructive” and said the party was determined to put the national interest before “party advantage” to deliver “stable and good government”.

Winning the backing of his party's most influential members was the first hurdle for Clegg as he attempts to form an alliance with the Tories after voters delivered a hung parliament.

Clegg pledged today that he would push for "fundamental" reform of the British electoral system. Ahead of a meeting with the Lib Dems’ 57 MPs and 72 peers, he added that he would prioritise fairer taxes, help for disadvantaged schoolchildren and a new approach to the economy.

Laws, who is one of four Lib Dem negotiators due to resume talks with their Tory counterparts tomorrow morning, said the MPs and peers endorsed the strategy “in full and completely”. >>> Amar Singh | Saturday, May 08, 2010

Israel Names Russians Helping Iran Build Nuclear Bomb
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.

Netanyahu flew to the Russian capital with Uzi Arad, his national security adviser, last month in a private jet.

His office claimed he was in Israel, visiting a secret military establishment at the time. It later emerged that he was holding talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev.

“We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb,” said a source close to the Russian defence minister last week.

“That is why it was kept secret. The point is not to embarrass Moscow, rather to spur it into action.”

Israeli sources said it was a short, tense meeting at which Netanyahu named the Russian experts said to be assisting Iran in its nuclear programme. >>> Uzi Mahanimi Tel Aviv Mark Franchetti and Jon Swain | Sunday, October 04, 2009

Bill Clinton Meets North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il for Talks
TIMES ONLINE: Bill Clinton, who flew into North Korea today on a surprise mission to secure the release of two American journalists, was taken from the airport into a rare face-to-face meeting with the regime’s “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong Il.

The unexpected summit meeting has raised hopes across the region that North Korea may soon be enticed back to multinational disarmament talks after three months of mounting atomic tensions and provocation.

North Korea’s official news agency reported that Mr Clinton and Mr Kim engaged in “sincere and exhaustive discussions” on a range of issues and that the former US president came armed for his encounter with a “courteously conveyed” personal message from Barack Obama. The White House quickly denied there had ever been such a message.

In another striking break with tradition, footage of Mr Clinton’s arrival and images of his meeting with Mr Kim were aired almost immediately on North Korea’s tightly-controlled state television channel – an indication, said close observers of North Korea, of how the visit will likely be used by the regime to parade its out-manoeuvring of the US.

It appears that the groundwork for the talks were well-laid and that Mr Clinton is likely to return to the US with the two journalists in tow on Wednesday. Although nominally carried out in a private capacity, Mr Clinton’s visit is believed to have the double purpose of both freeing Laura Ling and Euna Lee from their sentence of 12 years hard labour and of bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table on nuclear weapons.

Relations between Washington and Pyongyang have deteriorated rapidly since May after the unpredictable regime test-fired what it said was a nuclear device and declared the six party” multinational disarmament talks with South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, America “dead in the water”.

The Pyongyang state news agency put what experts said was a predictable spin on the visit, declaring that Mr Clinton had first appealed for the release of the two American prisoners and then for the opportunity to meet Mr Kim – a request that was graciously granted. >>> Leo Lewis | Tuesday, August 04, 2009