King Abdullah on Monday welcomed US President George W. Bush’s call for an international conference to revive Middle East peace talks, describing it as “a step in the right direction”, a Royal Court statement said.

Since July 3, when Pakistani troops laid siege and eventually stormed the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, more than 100 people, mostly from the security forces, have been killed in attacks in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), primarily in the Swat region over the past few days.

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian officer who died of radioactive poisoning on November 23, was, as the Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons yesterday, a horrifying and lingering death.