Barack Obama finally makes his peace with Bill Clinton
Mr Obama is forging a fragile partnership with his bitter adversary from the 2008 presidential race in the hope of dragging his presidency out of the doldrums and salvaging Democratic prospects in a bleak campaign season.
With his time in the White House linked for many Americans to an era of economic boom, Mr Clinton will be dispatched to campaign in key states where Democratic candidates regard Mr Obama as a political liability.
A senior Clinton advisor recently sat down with Obama aides to map out the strategy to support "endangered" Democratic candidates as the party battles to retain its majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in November.
It is a dramatic transformation from the hostilities of 2008 when Mr Clinton was often reduced to red-faced rants as an unbridled cheerleader for his wife Hillary in her acrimonious battle with Mr Obama for the Democratic nomination.
As The Sunday Telegraph revealed the former president was so furious with the way that he was portrayed by the rival camp, particularly his belief that that they had portrayed him as racist, that he told friends that Mr Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support.
Mr Obama for his part ran his campaign against Mrs Clinton on the mantra that he was overturning "politics as usual" – a barely-veiled dig at the Clintonian style of operations.
There was an uneasy truce before the general election in November 2008 and Mr Clinton delivered a handful of set-piece speeches for the Democratic nominee before focusing on his philanthropic work.
But two years is an eternity in politics – as Mr Obama can testify after seeing his sky-high popularity ratings slide inexorably in the meantime.
In the latest polling, 43 per cent of American strongly disapprove of his leadership, while only 26 per cent strongly approve. And a mere 13 per cent believed that his economic policies had benefitted them.
So it was significant that Mr Obama last week invited Mr Clinton to a meeting at the White House to discuss the economy on Wednesday just as the US Chamber of Commerce accused him of a "general attack on our free enterprise system".
The previous day, the President named Jack Lew, Mr Clinton's budget director at a time when the US was enjoying several years of surpluses, to the same role in his administration.
He is the latest in a slew of Clintonistas drafted to fill key roles in Mr Obama's staff. Indeed, the Senate will this week vote on Mr Obama's nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy – Elena Kagan, yet another former Clinton official.
Of course, the most notable Clintonista in Mr Obama's government is the former First Lady herself, whom he drafted as his secretary of state after vanquishing her in the primary campaign.
Her husband's presidency is most notoriously remembered for the Whitewater financial scandal and his illicit sexual liaisons, most notably with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in an affair that ended in impeachment proceedings.
But as the US flounders with unemployment rates at near 10 per cent and a soaring budget deficit, his stewardship of the economy is the legacy many Americans now recall, however rose-tinted their view.
Mr Clinton was elected in 1992 after relentlessly targeting President George HW Bush over his handling of the economy. Indeed, his advisor James Carville coined the memorable phrase, "It's the economy, stupid".
And he bequeathed a booming economy and budget surplus to the next President Bush, George W, in 2001 - even if many economists now blame his relaxation of bank lending rules for the sub-prime mortgage crisis that sparked the global economic meltdown of 2008.
Mr Clinton will carry his economic clout when he returns to his most beloved role – on the hustings. He will shortly visit Arkansas, his native state, plus Kentucky and Florida in an effort to woo voters, particularly white Southerners, with whom Mr Obama has never gelled. He will also be deployed in swing states such as New Hampshire that he won during his own presidential campaigns.
The former president's increasingly high profile has prompted embarrassing talk of a Clinton restoration. "This week alone, President Obama has taken several steps to implement Bill Clinton's third term," Dana Milbank, the Washington Post political sketch-writer, noted wrily.
The picture caption accompanying his article helpfully clarified: "The current president is on the left" - locating the incumbent.
Mr Obama is not the first prominent Democrat to face the challenge of deciding whether and how to harness Mr Clinton's formidable but sometimes unpredictable campaigning his skills.
Mr Clinton's vice-president Al Gore did not turn to him in his 2000 presidential battle with George W Bush after strategists decided the fall-out from the Lewinsky scandal would be too toxic. It was a fatal miscalculation as Mr Gore narrowly lost several states, including Arkansas, where Mr Clinton could have swung the vote.
"It was a disastrous mistake," Dan Gerstein, a Democratic strategist who worked on the campaign of Joe Lieberman, Mr Gore's running mate, told The Sunday Telegraph. "All they had to do was send Clinton to Arkansas or New Hampshire and Gore would have been the next president."
He said that for all the personal animus of 2008, President Obama was making a wise political calculation now. "There is certainly lingering resentment, but Obama is not going to allow the bad blood from then get in the way of his interests now.
"Bill Clinton is a tremendous political asset, not just within the Democratic fold but more broadly in the general electorate. He won the presidency in 1992 by focusing on the economy but also by connecting brilliantly with the middle-class.
"He is a brilliant communicator who has a rare knack for boiling issues down and getting to the heart of the matter in a way that really resonates with voters. And his achievement in creating the economic boom of the 1990s gives what he says credibility. When he talks about the economy, people listen."
Republican strategists have been revelling in Mr Obama's decision to turn to his old nemesis. "President Obama taps Bill Clinton to be president," read one email circulated among activists after Wednesday's White House meeting.
There is no doubt that Mr Obama faces the unwelcome narrative of the young pretender who usurped the old order with a message of "hope" and "change", only to be forced to call his predecessor back for assistance as he struggles with the job.
Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman who as a senior Obama campaign operative was closely linked to the pre-election criticisms of Mr Clinton, seemed ill at-ease last week when asked about the former president's unannounced meeting with his boss last week.
He said that the meeting was focused on improving energy efficiency in buildings – an area that Mr Clinton's philanthropic foundation has championed. He declined to answer questions about whether Mr Obama needed Mr Clinton's assistance on business matters.
He added the opportunity for the President to meet with Mr Clinton was too great to turn down.
"I think it would be crazy not to have a real popular former president out campaigning as he has," he said.
The Clinton brand has historically been viewed as a mixed blessing by many Democrats. But if the former president and his team ride to the rescue this autumn, it could set the stage for yet another saga in the seemingly never-ending Clinton political psycho-drama.
For among family loyalists, there is still the hope that if Mr Obama looks like becoming a one-term liability, the party may yet ditch him for a more experienced candidate for the next presidential campaign – Hillary 2012
Prince William starts RAF rescue training on Anglesey
Prince William has arrived at RAF Valley on Anglesey to start his training as a search and rescue pilot.The 27-year-old prince, who is known as Flt Lt Wales, will be based on the island until the end of the summer.
If successful on the course, he will become a fully operational pilot with one of the six UK-based RAF Search and Rescue Force flights later this year.
He graduated from a 12-month advanced helicopter training course at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire this month.
Prince Charles attended the graduation ceremony and presented a flying badge to his elder son.
During the search and rescue conversion course at RAF Valley, William will be taught to use his new skills to fly Sea King helicopters.
Once operational, a typical tour for a pilot in the Search and Rescue Force (SARF) is between 30 and 36 months.
The prince is following in the footsteps of his father, who flew helicopters in the Royal Navy, as did his uncle, the Duke of York, a Sea King helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War.
William previously spent two weeks on work experience at RAF Valley in December 2005.
Prince William policing bill row
The taxpayers of north Wales should not have to pay to protect Prince William if he chooses to live off an RAF base, says a former head of royal protection. Dai Davies made the comments after a report in the Sunday Times that the policing bill could cost up to £1.4m if the prince lives off the Anglesey base.
A Clarence House spokesman said: "It is not unusual for an officer of William's age and rank to live off base for reasons of privacy."
North Wales Police are due to comment.
Dai Davies, a former head of Scotland Yard's royal protection squad, said: "I don't think the ratepayers of north Wales should be paying it, I think it should come out of central funds allocated to protecting the royals which are currently in excess of £50m.
"There clearly are difficulties in protecting what is a remote cottage wherever that is, and it adds an extra strain on those whose duties whoever it is to protect the royal.
"He is much safer in the RAF camp where he can be protected by RAF police and those trained to do it.
"It does add a burden to others but that's what we have when we have a monarchy.
"He is considered a high risk and the police have to protect him."
Mr Davies said there should be a debate about which of the 21 royals should be entitled to taxpayer-funded protection.
He said: "In William's case, it is necessary."
On Tuesday, the Metropolitan (Met) Police chief Paul Stephenson suggested the budget for protecting VIPs and members of the Royal Family may be cut.
He said the cost of providing armed police bodyguards faced close scrutiny.
The Met has been caught in a long-running dispute with the government over how much it receives for so-called dedicated security posts each year.
In March MPs were told that about £4m which would have been used for policing went into a VIP protection budget.
Dozens dead in train crash in eastern India
A train crash in eastern India has killed at least 40 people, officials say. They say a passenger train ploughed into another that was waiting at a station in the town of Sainthia, West Bengal state, early on Monday.
More than 100 people were reportedly injured in the accident.
TV footage showed local residents climbing through the mangled trains as they searched for survivors. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
A major rescue operation is now under way.
Local officials say the accident occurred when the Uttar Banga Express crashed into the stationary Vananchal Express at the station, about 200km (125 miles) north of Calcutta.
"The people who have lost their lives were travelling in unreserved coaches," local rail traffic manager Sunil Banerjee told the AFP news agency.
"We do not have their names and any vital information about them to inform their relatives," he said.
The impact of the collision was so strong that the roof one of the coaches hit a footbridge above the tracks.
At least 40 bodies have already been recovered, but there are fears that the death toll will rise further.
Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railways, which operates an immense network connecting every corner of the vast country.
It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.
Troops to stay in Afghanistan until 2014 says minister
The government has restated a target of removing UK troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Leaked documents to a Sunday newspaper suggested a timetable for a phased transition to Afghan forces could begin within months.
But Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said 2014 remained the target for the handover of security control to Afghan forces.
Earlier, it was revealed that aid to the country is to be increased by 40%.
During and interview on the Andrew Marr Show, the defence secretary refused to comment on the Independent on Sunday's report on an accelerated timetable for troop withdrawals.
"It has always been our aim to be successful in the mission, and the mission has always said that the Afghan national security forces would be able to deal with their own security by 2014," he said.
Blueprint for withdrawal
But he said only combat troops would be expected to be withdrawn at that time, with a continued presence likely for training.
Mr Cameron's aim of 2015 was "quite conservative by comparison", he said.
Dr Fox went on: "As you would expect I would not comment on any leaked document but a leaked draft document for a potential communique of a conference that hasn't yet happened is, I think, quite a leak."
It has been reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will use a forthcoming international conference to publish a blueprint for the withdrawal of international troops by 2014.
Meanwhile, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell outlined plans to increase spending on aid projects in Afghanistan by 40%.
He told the Politics Show the government had been looking "very carefully" at the way money was being spent in Afghanistan.
"We've found some additional funding from less good programmes, so in principle we have an additional 40% money going into the development budget," he said.
It is believed the money for Afghanistan would be used to stabilise the most insecure areas, with more policing, emergency food and medicine, and thousands of job and training opportunities.
Shadow International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander called on the minister to clarify exactly how the aid money would be spent.
He said: "Thanks to the efforts of the last government, the UK was already the second-largest donor to Afghanistan and Helmand is already amongst the most heavily aided regions on earth.
"The primary challenge in those areas affected by the insurgency has not been a lack of money but a lack of security."
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said the government is "using foreign aid, not just to help people around the world but also to further British foreign policy".
"That's quite a change. It's also an answer, perhaps, to MPs who ask why aid budgets are being protected when so many others are being cut," said our correspondent.
The UK death toll in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 now stands at 322, with four British serviceman dying since Friday.
At least three people were killed on Sunday by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital Kabul.
The bombing came despite heightened security across Kabul ahead of the international conference of foreign ministers on Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary William Hague, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon are among those scheduled to attend.
Clinton raises pressure on Pakistan to fight militants
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worries all the time about the possibility that an attack against the US could emanate from Pakistan and has called on Islamabad to take further, specific actions against militant networks. Without entering into the details, she seemed to indicate in a BBC interview that the US wanted Pakistan to do more to tackle the Haqqani network, a branch of the Afghan Taliban which operates in Pakistan and is widely suspected of having close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
During the interview at the US embassy compound in Islamabad, Mrs Clinton also said the state department was looking into the possibility of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation.
The violent and feared network operates along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan and is seen as the main threat to US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
"We have designated a number of their leaders over the years as terrorists, and we're now looking at whether and how to describe the group and if it meets the legal criteria for naming it," she said.
Since the network is a loose grouping and not a formal organisation as such, it's unclear how the designation would be made.
The idea of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation was first raised by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the chairman for the Armed Services Committee in the Senate.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worries all the time about the possibility that an attack against the US could emanate from Pakistan and has called on Islamabad to take further, specific actions against militant networks.
Without entering into the details, she seemed to indicate in a BBC interview that the US wanted Pakistan to do more to tackle the Haqqani network, a branch of the Afghan Taliban which operates in Pakistan and is widely suspected of having close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
During the interview at the US embassy compound in Islamabad, Mrs Clinton also said the state department was looking into the possibility of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation.
The violent and feared network operates along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan and is seen as the main threat to US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
"We have designated a number of their leaders over the years as terrorists, and we're now looking at whether and how to describe the group and if it meets the legal criteria for naming it," she said.
Since the network is a loose grouping and not a formal organisation as such, it's unclear how the designation would be made.
The idea of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation was first raised by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the chairman for the Armed Services Committee in the Senate.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worries all the time about the possibility that an attack against the US could emanate from Pakistan and has called on Islamabad to take further, specific actions against militant networks.
Without entering into the details, she seemed to indicate in a BBC interview that the US wanted Pakistan to do more to tackle the Haqqani network, a branch of the Afghan Taliban which operates in Pakistan and is widely suspected of having close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
During the interview at the US embassy compound in Islamabad, Mrs Clinton also said the state department was looking into the possibility of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation.
The violent and feared network operates along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan and is seen as the main threat to US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
"We have designated a number of their leaders over the years as terrorists, and we're now looking at whether and how to describe the group and if it meets the legal criteria for naming it," she said.
Since the network is a loose grouping and not a formal organisation as such, it's unclear how the designation would be made.
The idea of listing the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation was first raised by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the chairman for the Armed Services Committee in the Senate.
Destitute in Dubai: One man's story
It was six o'clock in the morning when I met Nicholas Warner down by the Dubai Creek and already the temperature was 35C. We both knew that in a few hours it would climb to nearer 50C. He eagerly showed me to a bench shaded by a palm tree that faced the waterfront so we could talk without getting burnt.
"Is this where you're sleeping at the moment?" I asked.
"Oh no," he replied. "It's not like England. You can't lie down on a bench and just sleep. You have to prop yourself upright and nod off or you'll attract unwanted attention or get moved on. I sleep on the ground behind that hedge, when I'm here."
And when he's not there?
"I started off in my car - but it's too hot for that now - you'd bake. Obviously, I can't afford petrol to keep the air con running.
"Then I was under a bridge. There's been a few days in a car park at a hotel. The manager there kindly took my clothes off me sometimes and washed them. He also let me use the shower after a guest checked out of a room."
But that all stopped when the hotel manager lost his job.
"So now I'll be back to washing in the public toilets."
'Debt skipper'Nicholas Warner is British and sleeping on the street in Dubai. He got into a dispute with his bank, Emirates NBD, initially over whether his credit card repayments had been made.
He went on holiday at Christmas and the bank says that by leaving the country without its permission while they were in a dispute, he got reclassified as a so-called "debt skipper" - one of the many expats who left Dubai in a hurry with large debts, never to return.
Of course, Nicholas did return. When he arrived back at Dubai airport, he was arrested. His passport was seized by police on the authority of the bank.
Although he was released and tried to negotiate with the bank he got into further difficulties.
Brushes with the authorities are frowned upon in Dubai.
He had been working as a strategy adviser for an alternative medicine company, but his employer decided it was safer to let him go while he sorted everything out.
Now he had no job, no way to pay the debt the bank was demanding and no passport - leaving him with no way home.
'Without my wife'The complex ins and outs of what happened next would fill a book. Emirates NBD - the largest bank in the Middle East by assets - says it tried to negotiate a settlement with him that he reneged on.
Nicholas says what was orally agreed was not what the bank wrote down on paper.
Either way, Emirates NBD is refusing to let his passport be released until the debts are paid. Nicholas has no way of paying them without a job. And he cannot get a job without being able to show he's in the country legally. For that, he needs his passport.
"I've said to them, I've not got that sort of money that I just do that," he says, clicking his fingers.
"Because if I did, I would. There is no way I would not want to be with my wife for four months and be living rough, hoping that someone gives me their sofa and that the bank or the embassy come up with something.
"If I had that money, I would pay it."
Emirates NBD was unwilling to discuss the specifics of the case with the BBC.
In a statement it said: "All actions by the bank in this matter have been in accordance with prevailing UAE laws, and in line with the contractual agreement signed by the customer who was unable to meet his commitments and approach the bank for appropriate settlement of his dues."
Rising temperaturesFour months ago, Nicholas sold all the furniture in his house and took the money to the bank. It was just enough to cover the £6,000 the bank said he owed at that time.
The offer was rejected. Nicholas says he was told that with interest and charges, he now needed to pay nearer £11,500.
With no furniture in their rented house, Nicholas told his wife it would be safest for her to leave the country while she still could. She returned to her native Spain.
For a while, Nicholas was able to rely on friends letting him stay in their spare rooms or on their sofas.
But as time dragged on, they became worried that they might get embroiled in his predicament.
Which is how he ended up sleeping rough. As summer moves on, temperatures are set to rise still higher in the Emirate.
Nicholas hopes desperately that he won't still be on the streets in August. With no job, he has no medical insurance. If he gets ill, he's on his own.
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