Corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have been reopened in Pakistan, and a court today ordered the arrest of his younger brother ahead of their return home from exile next week.

Exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has travelled to Dubai ahead of expected talks today on a political pact that could keep Pakistan president Gen. Pervez Musharraf in office, officials said.

An embittered former prime minister promised to return to Pakistan next month to fight what he called a battle against dictatorship and thwart President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s bid to extend his rule.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return to Pakistan from exile, the Supreme Court ruled today, in another setback for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out of a meeting of more than 600 Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders, an apparent snub to a US-backed strategy to stem rising border violence that has destabilised both countries.

A state of emergency could be declared in Pakistan because of “external and internal threats” and deteriorating law and order in the volatile north-west near the Afghan border, the government said today.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf held secret talks with opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto about a possible power-sharing deal, it was reported today.

Islamabad’s Supreme Court today reinstated Pakistan’s top judge, ruling that his suspension by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was illegal.

Militants bombed a Pakistan army convoy then raked it with gunfire, killing 17 soldiers and continuing a wave of violence that has seen 41 deaths in the past few days.

Shots were fired after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s plane took off from a military base in Pakistan today in what one official described as a failed assassination attempt.

Thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s opponents rallied nationwide today, the first street protests since a burst of political violence in Pakistan’s business capital deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he would not allow former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif - his two main political rivals - to return to Pakistan to take part in forthcoming elections.

At least 24 people were killed and 25 wounded when a suicide attacker detonated a bomb that ripped through a crowded Pakistan hotel restaurant in the north-western city of Peshawar today.

Karachi and other major Pakistani cities were hit by a general strike today in protest against violence that has left 41 dead.

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.

Police have detained more than 500 activists from opposition political parties ahead of what organisers predict will be the biggest rally yet in support of Pakistan’s ousted chief justice.

Pakistani police separated supporters and opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as the two sides held rival rallies in Islamabad today during a hearing on a top judge’s contentious suspension.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf today claimed that tribesmen backed by the Pakistan army have killed about 300 foreign militants near the Afghan border during a weeks-long offensive.

Pakistan's prime minister today told the United States not to criticise his country's anti-terrorism efforts, saying it could prove counterproductive.

Two more Pakistani judges resigned today to protest against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s controversial removal of the country’s chief justice.

Pakistan has arrested former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, regarded as a top figure in the Afghan insurgency, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

Pakistan successfully test-fired a new version of its long-range nuclear-capable missile today, the military said.

Tribesmen from a Pakistani mountain village where an airstrike hit a suspected al-Qaida hideout this week today claimed missiles were fired from an American plane and denied the dead were terrorists.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh said today that he “welcomed” recent proposals from neighbouring Pakistan for ending their decades-long dispute.

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.

Indian and Pakistani officials today held extensive talks on terrorism and Kashmir - the two key issues that have fuelled decades of hostility between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours.

Stopping terror attacks in India is expected to top the agenda when Indian and Pakistani officials resume peace talks tomorrow, their first face-to-face meetings since train bombings killed more than 200 people in India’s financial capital.

Thousands of angry tribesmen and Islamists protested today across Pakistan against an airstrike that killed 80 people at a religious school near the Afghan border this week, as state TV aired video footage purportedly showing militants in training there before the attack.

Pakistan’s military had to destroy an Islamic school, killing 80 people in the process, with helicopter-fired missiles to prevent trainee terrorists escaping the building, the army said today as critics denounced the government for using disproportionate force.

Top Foreign Ministry officials from Pakistan and India will resume the South Asian rivals’ peace process next month that was put on hold after the July bombings on Mumbai’s commuter rail network that killed more than 200 people.

The Nato commander in Afghanistan arrived in Pakistan today for talks with military officials on the contentious issue of security along the porous Pakistan-Afghan border.

Pakistan’s government will eventually have to recognise Israel, but it would be political suicide to do so today, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has said.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrived in Kabul today for talks with his Afghan counterpart on combating terrorism and improving security cooperation between the two nations, both key players in the US-led war on terror.

US artillery and airstrikes killed between 50 and 60 suspected Taliban militants today, the fourth day of a Nato-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, a Nato spokesman said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kabul today for talks with president Hamid Karzai on Afghanistan’s political progress and the international military campaign to quell Taliban-led violence in the south.

When Taliban militant Syed Azizullah died during fighting in southern Afghanistan, his body was sent to his native Pakistan where a provincial official gave a eulogy before hundreds of Pashtun tribesmen. A flag of the Islamist militia fluttered by the grave.

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.

Pakistani authorities stopped 2,000-strong convoy of protestors heading for the scene of a US missile attack, an official said today.

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.

The pre-dawn airstrike aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri in a remote Pakistani village was intended as a devastating blow to al-Qaida but it has strained ties with a key US ally in the war on terror and could provoke more anti-Americanism in the Islamic country, analysts said today.

Forecasts of rain showers and light snow on earthquake-hit regions of northern Pakistan today threatened to compound the misery of hundreds of thousands of people living in the open with little or no shelter.

India has offered $25m (€20.5m) in aid to Pakistan, an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, in the latest goodwill gesture between the two countries since a powerful earthquake devastated the disputed Kashmir region.

PAKISTANI and US military helicopters delivered aid at a brisk pace to the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir yesterday.

Torrential downpours today threatened to cause crucial delays in quake relief efforts in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, where only a fraction of the tents needed for an estimated 2.3 million people left homeless have been provided as winter nears.