A reconstituted Pakistani Supreme Court, loaded with judges chosen by President Pervez Musharraf, began deliberations today on the legality of the general’s emergency rule and his eligibility to serve a third term as head of state.

A top US envoy delivered a blunt message to Pakistan’s military leader, telling him that emergency rule must be lifted and his opponents freed before elections.

Washington’s second most senior diplomat will have a crucial meeting with Pakistan’s military leader President Pervez Musharraf today, hoping that face-to-face diplomacy will convince the general to move back on the path to democracy.

Pressure mounted on Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf tonight as a senior US envoy arrived to personally urge him to end the country's political crisis.

Pakistan’s military leader President Pervez Musharraf pressed ahead with plans for parliamentary elections today by swearing in a caretaker government, despite the threat of an opposition boycott.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto deepened Pakistan’s political crisis by demanding the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf as Washington prepared to send a top diplomat to urge the general to lift emergency rule.

OPPOSITION leaderBenazir Bhutto yesterday called on President General Pervez Musharraf to resign and ruled out serving under him in a future government after she was placed under house arrest for the second time in five days.

Two of Pakistan’s most influential opposition leaders banded together today in an attack on President Pervez Musharraf’s regime, demanding he step down.

Sudan insisted that African countries have offered enough troops for a peacekeeping force in Darfur despite UN concerns that the mission will not be effective without contributions from outside the continent.

Pakistan vowed to step up its fight against terrorism today after a suicide attacker detonated an explosive-laden vehicle inside a high-security military base, killing 16 soldiers from an elite counter-terrorism task force.

Time is running out for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to finalise a pact with ex-premier Benazir Bhutto that would keep the US-allied leader in office, Bhutto’s party warned today.

The United States is not ruling out military force to free South Korean hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a senior State Department official said.

A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned today, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a revered Shiite shrine.

The janjaweed militia that is accused of widespread atrocities in Darfur is actively supported by the Sudanese government, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said today.

The US State Department's number two diplomat arrived in South Korea today amid intense diplomacy aimed at ensuring North Korea keeps its pledge for nuclear disarmament.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government is redoubling efforts to detect assassination plots, calling US diplomat John Negroponte a “professional killer” and saying he believes enemies – including the CIA – are out to kill him.

North Korea's number two leader reiterated today his country's pledge to abandon its nuclear weapons, as the impoverished nation sought a resumption of aid at its first high-level talks with South Korea since conducting an atomic test.

Admiral William Fallon, who is poised to become the top American commander in the Middle East, says the United States miscalculated the ability of Iraqi forces to take control and underestimated the enemy’s persistence.

Pakistan’s army destroyed suspected al-Qaida hideouts in an air strike near the Afghan border today, killing several militants including foreigners, the army said.

Pakistan today demanded that US intelligence networks share information on the whereabouts Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida figures.

Rejecting accusations from America’s top spy that Pakistan is harbouring al-Qaida and Taliban leaders, Islamabad today said it remained committed to fighting international terrorism and extremism.

The White House announced a shuffling of US military leaders in the Iraq war today as Congress’ new Democratic chiefs criticised plans president George W Bush is considering to boost US troop strength in the war zone.

The White House today announced a shuffling of US military leaders in the Iraq war today as Congress' new Democratic chiefs criticised plans President George W Bush is considering to boost US troop strength in the war zone.

US president George Bush today nominated intelligence veteran, former National Security Agency Director Mike McConnell, to be the second US national intelligence director.

A SPANISH surgeon who has examined Cuban leader Fidel Castro said yesterday he was making a good recovery from intestinal surgery, did not have cancer and could return to governing his country.

CUBAN leader Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, the US director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told a newspaper.

US President George Bush today met with a bipartisan group seeking consensus on a new approach for the war in Iraq amid widespread agreement that the administration's current efforts have not worked well enough or fast enough.

US President George Bush is reportedly “open to ideas” as he meets a panel studying the war on Iraq today.

US military commanders are re-evaluating strategy in Iraq to determine what changes are needed, the top general said.

US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte met with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, yesterday amid spiralling violence that included four American deaths and the discovery of 56 bodies bearing signs of torture.

AMERICA’S top intelligence official took down a government website with captured Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi documents after questions were raised about whether it provided too much information about making atomic bombs.

America’s top intelligence official took down a government website with captured Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi documents, after questions were raised about whether it provided too much information about making atomic bombs.

Israeli helicopter gunships, tanks and ground troops tightened their grip today on a northern Gaza town they overran yesterday, killing two Palestinians in Israel’s biggest push in months to stop militant rocket fire.

South Korean and Japan monitored reports today of North Korea’s possible preparations for a second nuclear test, a day after the US confirmed that communist country had, as it claimed, detonated its first nuclear device.

US President George Bush today said it is naïve and a mistake to think that the war with Iraq has worsened terrorism, disputing a national intelligence assessment by his own administration.

US president George Bush has embarked on nearly 24 hours of sombre observances at the three sites where 9/11 terrorists wrought death and destruction and transformed his presidency.

US president George W Bush today embarked on nearly 24 hours of sombre observances at the three sites where 9/11 terrorists wrought death and destruction and transformed his presidency.

The man chosen by US President George Bush to head the CIA will face the toughest test of his 37-year-old government career today when he faces a grilling by politicians over domestic spying operations.

US President George Bush’s nomination of General Michael Hayden as CIA chief has ignited a confirmation fight over the intelligence veteran’s ties to the controversial eavesdropping programme and his ability to be independent from the military establishment.

US President George W Bush’s nomination of Gen Michael Hayden as CIA chief ignited a confirmation fight Monday over the intelligence veteran’s ties to the controversial eavesdropping program and his ability to be independent from the military establishment.

CIA director Porter Goss resigned suddenly, nudged out after a turmoil-filled 18 months at the spy agency as it struggled to forge a new identity in an era of intelligence blunders and government overhauls.

CIA Director Porter Goss resigned unexpectedly today, pushed from the helm of a spy agency still reeling from intelligence failures before America’s worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the US rationale for invading Iraq.

US administration officials say they remain committed to a diplomatic solution to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, but they will not rule out military action as an option, even as they try to calm down talk about military planning.

IRAQI documents collected by US intelligence show that Saddam Hussein’s regime was investigating reports of al-Qaida activity in the country.