US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan today to repair badly-frayed relations after the killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden at a hideout not far from Islamabad.

The Pentagon is about to pull its attack planes out of the international air campaign in Libya, hoping Nato partners can take up the slack.

The US Senate gave its blessing to an arms control treaty with Russia that reins in nuclear weapons, giving President Barack Obama a major foreign policy win in the closing hours of the post-election congress.

South Korea’s president pledged today to boost security around islands near the site of a North Korean artillery attack as the North warned of more retaliation for any “reckless military provocations”.

Hundreds of mourners wept today as villagers buried victims of a horrific suicide bombing at a Pakistan election rally, an attack that killed 27 people and stoked fears about security ahead of next week’s crucial parliamentary election.