Despite nationwide protests by hard-liners, Pakistan president Gen. Pervez Musharraf today signed into law an amendment to the country’s controversial rape laws to make it easier to prosecute sexual assault cases.

About 50,000 people, many chanting “Hang those who insulted the prophet”, rallied in a southern Pakistani city to protest at cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad.

Police detained former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, the leader of a small opposition party, at his Islamabad home ahead of a planned protest today against the US president’s visit.

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.

A coalition of radical Islamic parties called for nationwide protests in Pakistan today after police arrested hundreds of religious activists to thwart a weekend rally against Prophet Mohammed cartoons in the eastern city of Lahore.

Police today arrested about 70 people, including clerics and religious school administrators, in the eastern city of Lahore in a bid to prevent an illegal rally against Prophet Muhammad cartoons from going ahead, police said.

Thousands of Islamists today defied a ban on rallies in Pakistan’s capital, joining protesters across the country in condemning the Prophet Mohammed cartoons printed by some Western newspapers.

PAKISTANI security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners and virtually sealed off the capital Islamabad yesterday before using gunfire and tear gas to disperse a protest that had been banned by the government after a wave of deadly riots.

Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners and virtually sealed off the capital Islamabad today, before using gunfire and tear gas to disperse a Prophet Mohammed cartoon protest that had been banned by the government after a wave of deadly riots.

Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked the US Embassy in Indonesia with rocks and sticks today as police detained lawmakers in Pakistan and fired tear gas to quell demonstrations there.

Outrage at the US has continued in Pakistan, with thousands taking to the streets chanting “Death to America” and calling for holy war over an airstrike that devastated a remote border village.

A coalition of radical Muslim groups will stage nationwide demonstrations in Pakistan to protest an ongoing crackdown on Islamic schools, mosques and offices that has netted more than 200 suspects, a senior cleric 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.

Political allies welcomed the inauguration of President George Bush to a second term today, while critics expressed hope that he would use it as a turning point by acknowledging mistakes in Iraq and mending damage done by the war.

A formula proposed by Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf for solving the long-running issue of Kashmir has been rejected by opposition groups.

Tens of thousands of cable television subscribers in northwest Pakistan were cut off today after armed masked men stormed a broadcaster’s offices and smashed equipment.

Pakistan’s hard-line Islamic parties have reached an agreement with a bloc of pro-democracy parties to form a coalition government and choose the next prime minister.

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.

SHOOT-OUTS between political rivals killed three people yesterday, marring the first general elections in Pakistan since a 1999 military coup led by President Pervez Musharraf ended democratic rule.

From the rugged northern frontier to the teeming southern port of Karachi, Pakistanis began voting today in the first general election since a coup in 1999 ended democratic rule.