At least nine policemen and a civilian were killed and 25 others injured in a massive explosion near the controversial Lal Masjid, minutes after thousands of Islamic hardliners demanded the public hanging of President Pervez Musharraf at a meeting to mark the shrine's storming by the Pakistani military.

Pakistani security forces on Saturday temporarily suspended a crackdown against militants in the troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan to allow local elders to negotiate with them. An 18-member peace jirga met Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh at Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency to discuss

Special envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen said they have told Chinese officials during the two-day talks in

In a fresh salvo against his detractors, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he will not quit his post or leave the country because he still has a role to play, along with the political parties, in steering the country out of the 'present crisis'. Criticising reports that he might attempt to flee the country or be arrested, Musharraf made it clear that he has no intention of going abroad.

The apex court detailed its views in a 26-page judgment on Friday on a petition seeking a review of its earlier validation of the emergency. A 13-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar refused to take back an earlier judgment in favour of Musharraf. The judgement also made observations about the deposed judges, the lawyers' movement and the media.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, is hogging US media headlines as he mulls challenging a recent controversial Supreme Court ruling forbidding the death penalty in child-rape cases. The Supreme Court's June 25 decision said there was no legal precedent for the death penalty, but the court neglected to consider a 2006 federal law that says the rape of children by military personnel could attract capital punishment.

The United States has introduced a resolution in the UN Security Council seeking freezing of assets of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and

At least 42 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres and one soldier were killed in running gun battles between the rebels and security forces in the embattled Northern Sri Lanka, the army said on Thursday

According to researchers, the flavonoids in green tea relax the cells, called the endothelium, which is a thin layer

The US defence department chose to sidestep queries on whether it had the authority to carry out unilateral action against Taliban or al Qaeda leadership on Pakistani soil but pressed Islamabad to "move rapidly" against the militants in its restive tribal areas.