When will US secretary of State Hillary Clinton depart on Europe, Russia tour?”
LONDON — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the glow of praise from her Nobel laureate boss on Saturday after spearheading successful efforts to salvage historic accords between longtime bitter foes Turkey and Armenia. President Barack Obama, who a day earlier was the surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, telephoned Clinton in Switzerland to congratulate her on overcoming a last minute-hitch that threatened to scuttle the Turkish-Armenian deals, a senior State Department official said. Clinton was headed to the airport in the Swiss city of Zurich following an intense and frantic day of negotiations when she got the call from Obama, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. “He was very excited, he felt like this was a big step forward and wanted to check in,” the official told reporters aboard Clinton’s plane as she flew from Zurich to London, the second leg of a five-day tour of Europe and Russia. “He called
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left for Europe and Russia to pursue Washington’s drive to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and rally more support behind its war in Afghanistan. In a frenetic five-day, six-city tour, Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Zurich on Saturday to watch Armenia and Turkey sign what aides call a “historic” Swiss-brokered deal to normalize their relations. She then travels to London, Dublin, Belfast, Moscow and Russia’s mainly Muslim city of Kazan. Visiting Ireland and Russia for the first time as chief US diplomat, she will aim to bolster Northern Ireland’s reconciliation process and push for a new US-Russia nuclear arms cut deal by a December 5 deadline, aides said. But since September, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan have taken up much of the agenda in Washington and the UN General Assembly in New York, and aides said the countries will be high on the list for Clinton’s talks in Zurich, London and Moscow. Washington has expressed some hope of eventually gett
