Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will meet Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday as part of a strategic review of the situation in Afghanistan.

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the meeting is "part of the overall strategic review that we're having with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Clinton will on Thursday meet Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta and hold a three-way meeting with the two diplomats.

Washington  - The special US envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, has begun his second trip seeking to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mitchell arrived Tuesday in London for talks with British officials and will later head to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Berlin  - Tibetan exiles in Germany said Tuesday they were calling off celebrations of the Tibetan new year this week to protest at China's actions last year in their homeland.

The Tibet Campaign of Germany (TID) and the Association of Tibetans in Germany (VTD) appealed to the German government to speak out on behalf of Tibetans.

Washington - US President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a foreign leader at the White House on Tuesday, telling Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso that US relations with his country are the "cornerstone" of security in East Asia.

Aso's visit shows the importance of the US-Japanese relationship, Obama said, as the two countries try to pull out of their worst recession in decades. The United States and Japan respectively boast the two largest economies in the world.

London  - The British government Tuesday vetoed the publication of confidential cabinet papers relating to discussions over the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told parliament that he could not permit the release of the records because it would cause too much "damage" to democracy.

He had signed a certificate vetoing rulings by the Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal that key records should be disclosed, Straw said.

Amman - The United States on Tuesday extended a grant of 100 million dollars to Jordan under four aid agreements, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair al-Ali said.

The accords were signed by al-Ali and the US Ambassador in Amman Stephen Beecroft, who praised Jordan's pivotal role in shoring up stability in the Middle East.

He also renewed the commitment of the US administration of President Barack Obama to extend more financial and technical aid to Jordan in all spheres.