Police are reported to have opened fire on crowds of stone-throwing opposition activists in several Bangladesh towns, killing at least three people and injuring more than 100.

A BANGLADESHI Buddhist monk told the High Court yesterday he will face severe persecution if he is deported to his own country.

A SURPRISED world greeted the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama with a mixture of praise and scepticism.

THOUSANDS of Pakistani lawyers and other opponents of President Pervez Musharraf embarked on a “long march” aimed at reinstating judges sacked by the embattled US-backed leader.

On-the-run Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan was handed over to police today when he appeared at a student demonstration against emergency rule.

Police were today holding up to 1,800 opponents of Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf in a ruthless crackdown following his declaration of emergency rule.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court today dismissed legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf’s bid for a new five-year term.

Islamists chanting slogans against Pakistan’s military leader rallied outside the Supreme Court today as judges heard petitions challenging President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s right to contest presidential elections set for October 6.

Legal wrangling over President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid intensified today after exiled former leader Benazir Bhutto accused the general’s allies of pushing Pakistan toward a dangerous crisis by refusing to restore democracy and share power.

Gun battles and attacks killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens today as Pakistan’s political crisis descended into violence between rival parties over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s suspension of the chief justice.

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 55 other political activists have been charged by police for their alleged roles in the killings of five rivals during riots last year, news reports said.

Hundreds of female supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group protested today against government amendments to controversial rape laws.

Pakistani troops backed by missile-firing helicopters killed an estimated 80 militants today after destroying a purported al-Qaida-linked training facility near the Afghan border, the military said.

A top Pakistani Islamic group today criticised the dismissal by a Danish court of a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed that sparked mass protests across the Muslim world this year.

Security was tightened across Pakistan today during a strike called by radical Islamic groups to protest against the Prophet Mohammed drawings, with most shops and businesses closed in several cities.

About 5,000 children chanting “Hang those who insulted the Prophet” rallied in Pakistan’s largest city today in the latest fiery protest in the Islamic nation against the publication of Prophet Mohammed cartoons.

Thousands of Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 15 people, police and residents said.

About 200 supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, rallied in the capital of Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir today to protest against the detention of a group member in a police raid a day earlier.

QUAKE survivors marked a normally joyous Muslim festival with sombre prayers in debris-strewn fields and visits to the graves of victims yesterday, as Pakistan’s president deferred a key purchase of US fighter jets to focus on reconstruction.

Pakistani police detained dozens of suspected militants overnight as part of a crackdown on radical groups in the wake of the London suicide bombings, officials said today.

A senior leader from a coalition of radical Islamic political parties today said the attacks in London might have been orchestrated by the West as a strategy to turn public opinion against Muslims, a claim sure to produce outrage around the globe.

Dozens of stone-throwing Muslim youths set fire to shops in the Pakistani city of Karachi today as sectarian unrest rumbled on despite a citywide shutdown called by a hardline Islamic alliance to protest against violence that has left 12 dead this week.

Tony Blair’s European colleagues mixed hearty election victory congratulations with birthday greetings today as the British Prime Minister celebrated winning an historic third term, while Asian and South Pacific leaders lauded him for overcoming opposition to the war in Iraq.

Activists in three of Asia’s main Muslim countries today decried US and British forces’ alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners as a “despicable” show of Western hatred toward Muslims, and demanded that the coalition leave Iraq immediately.

The French government has taken its first formal step toward legally banning the Muslim head scarf from public schools, adopting the measure in a Cabinet session.

THE net is closing around terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday, confirming the number three al-Qaida man captured one week ago met bin Laden in December.

The net is closing around terror leader Osama bin Laden, Pakistani intelligence officials said today.

Pakistani and US forces have intensified the search for Osama bin Laden along a south-western stretch of the border with Afghanistan following information from a newly captured al-Qaida deputy, Pakistani intelligence and military officials say.

The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, could also turn out to be the man who murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a Pakistani intelligence official has said.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks and a senior operative in Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, was in the hands of US authorities today, after being been captured in a joint raid by CIA and Pakistani agents.

ANTI-AMERICAN religious parties in Pakistan swept to power in Afghan border areas in yesterday’s elections as no single party emerged with an overall majority.

A coalition of pro-Taliban religious parties today swept to victory in an Afghan frontier province, in the first solid results from Pakistan’s election.

PAKISTANI opposition figures today denounced constitutional amendments granting President Pervez Musharraf sweeping powers, saying they were a blow to democracy.

Pakistani opposition figures today denounced constitutional amendments granting President Pervez Musharraf sweeping powers, saying they were a blow to democracy.

India moved its warships away from waters near Pakistan as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in South Asia with ideas for helping the nuclear-armed neighbours avoid another war over Kashmir.

India and Pakistan are toning down their war rhetoric and sounding more conciliatory, but shelling resumed today in divided Kashmir, killing a 17-year-old youth on the Pakistan side.

Initial results from Pakistan’s referendum tonight indicated an overwhelming majority of voters approving another five year term as president for General Pervez Musharraf.

At least nine people have been injured after a bomb exploded outside a club in Karachi.

Pakistan’s President Gen Pervez Musharraf met his top politicians today, assuring them that the armed forces are capable of countering any Indian aggression.

Pakistan's Islamic groups say they will continue nationwide rallies in support of the Taliban militia.

Police were out in strength in a city in southern Pakistan today after Islamic militants vowed to marshal thousands of supporters to storm an air base providing support to US military personnel.

Anti-American demonstrators clashed with police in Pakistan cities today as Pakistan’s president insisted his endorsement of US attacks against Afghanistan enjoyed wide support.

Some of Pakistan’s most influential clerics swiftly denounced the US and British attacks, calling them an attack against Islam and grounds for holy war.

Muslim clerics - disappointed by the rigid stands of the Taliban and the US, have cancelled a planned visit to Afghanistan aimed at resolving the crisis over Osama bin Laden,.