:00:17. > :00:20.Good afternoon. President Karzai of Afghanistan has
:00:20. > :00:25.confirmed the United States and other countries are engaged in
:00:25. > :00:28.peace talks with the Taliban. He said negotiations had started and
:00:28. > :00:31.were "going well". Shortly after the announcement, a group of
:00:31. > :00:41.suicide bombers attacked a police station in Kabul, killing two
:00:41. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:49.officers. Paul Wood reports from the Afghan capital.
:00:49. > :00:54.Behind the scenes, a secret effort is going on to end this war. The
:00:54. > :00:59.confirmation came from the Afghan leader at a news conference. Talks
:00:59. > :01:02.with the Taliban have started, they are going well, said President
:01:03. > :01:07.Karzai. The United States are carrying out the talks themselves.
:01:08. > :01:12.The Taliban always said they would not open peace talks and will
:01:12. > :01:16.foreign forces left. Only then would they negotiate with the in
:01:17. > :01:21.the Afghan government. Who are the Americans talking to? The
:01:21. > :01:25.leadership orate go-between, it is not clear. It is necessary to
:01:25. > :01:32.engage with elements of the opposition in Afghanistan, to try
:01:32. > :01:37.to split away parts of the insurgency that may be amenable to
:01:37. > :01:43.being persuaded government positions or other incentives.
:01:43. > :01:47.New York, the United Nations has voted to separate the sanctions
:01:47. > :01:52.regime for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It is another step towards bringing
:01:52. > :01:56.in the Taliban. Eventually, a peace agreement could mean the return of
:01:56. > :01:59.the Taliban in some form, perhaps joining the Afghan government.
:01:59. > :02:07.We can talk to Paul now, live from Kabul. Realistically, can these
:02:07. > :02:12.talks lead to peace? We should be clear we are at the
:02:12. > :02:16.very early stages and these are not substantive negotiations but simply
:02:17. > :02:21.contacts, designed to prepare the way somewhere down the road for
:02:21. > :02:26.serious talking to take place. Nobody should expect quick results.
:02:26. > :02:31.NATO, the United Nations, the Afghan government, the Taliban, are
:02:31. > :02:36.predicting another summer of fighting. If the prospects of talks
:02:36. > :02:42.becomes more serious, you will see the violence being stepped up. That
:02:42. > :02:44.is what we are hearing from the Taliban. NATO believes they have to
:02:45. > :02:49.pound the Taliban on the battlefield now to make the outcome
:02:49. > :02:55.of the talks more conducive to what NATO and the Afghan government
:02:55. > :03:02.wants. In Kabul there has been a multiple attack in the heart of the
:03:02. > :03:09.city, four suicide attackers at a police station close to the finance
:03:09. > :03:13.ministry. One attacker blew himself up, two were shot dead. To one
:03:13. > :03:16.attacker is left exchanging fire with the police. The leader of
:03:16. > :03:19.Britain's biggest public sector union, Unison, has said workers
:03:19. > :03:22.could mount the biggest campaign of industrial action since the General
:03:22. > :03:25.Strike in 1926, in protest at plans to change their pensions. Dave
:03:25. > :03:28.Prentis said unions were prepared for sustained strikes over
:03:28. > :03:30.proposals to make public sector staff pay more for their pensions,
:03:30. > :03:40.and work until they're 66. Our political correspondent Jo Coburn
:03:40. > :03:43.
:03:43. > :03:48.reports. It was the largest public service
:03:48. > :03:52.protest since the Iraq War, 250,000 people marching in London against
:03:52. > :03:57.public spending cuts. Now government proposals for changes to
:03:57. > :04:03.public sector pensions have led to two teaching unions and the PCAS
:04:03. > :04:07.taking strike action on June 30th. But the stakes have been raised
:04:07. > :04:12.higher today with threats of the biggest walkout since the General
:04:12. > :04:18.Strike in 1926. The leader of the largest public sector union has
:04:18. > :04:28.warned of a similar sustained wave of industrial action. In an
:04:28. > :04:31.
:04:31. > :04:35.interview for the Guardian, Dave Despite the rhetoric, both sides
:04:35. > :04:40.said they wanted a negotiated settlement, although Vince Cable
:04:40. > :04:46.was recently heckled by union activists for warning of tougher
:04:46. > :04:51.strike clause. David Cameron as Trade Union envoy said the
:04:51. > :04:55.government of was a good one. need to give the government credit
:04:55. > :04:59.for preserving a defined benefit pensions, the only part of the
:04:59. > :05:03.British Labour force that the sees them. It is looking for an
:05:03. > :05:08.achievable solution to finance them. You cannot expect the taxpayer to
:05:08. > :05:13.keep picking up the tab. government has promised low-paid
:05:13. > :05:17.public sector workers earning under �15,000 a year will not see their
:05:17. > :05:21.contributions increase. Unions claim that isn't enough and they
:05:21. > :05:25.will defend their members's writes. The Foreign Office has advised all
:05:25. > :05:28.British nationals in Syria to leave now. This footage, which we have
:05:28. > :05:31.been unable to verify, appears to show protesters in the city of Homs.
:05:31. > :05:36.At least 18 people were killed during demonstrations across the
:05:36. > :05:40.country yesterday. The Foreign Office says the British Embassy in
:05:40. > :05:44.Damascus may no longer be able to provide a normal service to any
:05:44. > :05:46.Britons who remain in Syria, if there is a further breakdown of law
:05:46. > :05:48.and order. There has been a surge of
:05:48. > :05:51.applications for voluntary redundancy in the British Army.
:05:51. > :05:55.Figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph show that 900 soldiers
:05:55. > :05:57.have applied, almost twice as many as required. Cuts in the numbers of
:05:57. > :06:07.British military personnel were announced in the government's
:06:07. > :06:07.
:06:07. > :06:10.strategic defence review last year. Efforts to clean huge quantities of
:06:10. > :06:13.radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan
:06:13. > :06:16.have suffered a setback. Engineers suspended the operation hours after
:06:16. > :06:20.it began, because of a rapid rise in radiation. More than 100,000
:06:20. > :06:27.tons of water built up during efforts to cool the reactors which
:06:27. > :06:30.were damaged in the earthquake and tsunami in March. The South Korean
:06:30. > :06:34.military says its troops have fired at a civilian airliner after
:06:34. > :06:36.mistaking it for a North Korean air force plane. The soldiers were
:06:36. > :06:39.stationed on an island near the border.
:06:39. > :06:42.Officials say they fired rifle rounds, as the Asiana Airlines
:06:42. > :06:44.flight from China came in to land at Seoul's international airport.
:06:45. > :06:48.The plane landed safely. Five new witnesses are due to
:06:48. > :06:51.appear at a court in Italy, during Amanda Knox's appeal against her
:06:51. > :06:54.murder conviction. The American is also expected to make a statement
:06:54. > :06:57.in the courtroom at the hearing. She is serving a 26-year jail