PAKISTAN

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday he would end a state of emergency next month, bowing to domestic and international pressure to restore normal government ahead of general elections in January.

General Pervez Musharraf finally quit as Pakistan army chief on Wednesday, trading the post for a second five-year term as president and fulfilling a promise many Pakistanis doubted he would keep.

Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf said farewell to military colleagues on Tuesday as he prepared to become a civilian president ahead of January's general election.

Back in Pakistan from exile, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was due to file nomination papers on Monday for polls in January, but he may not take part unless President Pervez Musharraf ends emergency rule.

An Indian film will be released officially Friday in Pakistan, a first for two countries that have banned each other's films for more than three decades.

Nearly simultaneous explosions from homemade bombs planted outside courts in three northern Indian cities killed at least 13 people in what a senior government official said were terrorist strikes. Officials said 59 people were wounded in the blasts at Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, all in the populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Many of the dead were lawyers.

Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire head of Egyptian cell phone group Orascom Telecom, has approached Vivendi about a possible telecoms tie-up but the pair failed to agree on price, Les Echos said on Friday.

Exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the man President Pervez Musharraf deposed, is set to return to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia within days, aides said on Friday.

Pakistan's Supreme Court, stacked with judges friendly to President Pervez Musharraf, on Thursday threw out a final challenge to his re-election and paved the way for him to quit as army chief.

A summit of the 53-nation Commonwealth this weekend will be dominated by a decision on whether to suspend Pakistan for a second time because of President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf returned from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday expecting to be sworn in as a civilian leader in days, having already freed thousands of detainees held under emergency rule.

Pakistan freed thousands of lawyers and opposition activists held under emergency powers on Tuesday, as President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Saudi Arabia, where old foe Nawaz Sharif lives in exile.

President Pervez Musharraf, defending his decision to declare emergency rule, has said Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands if elections led to disturbances.

U.S. envoy John Negroponte spoke to Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday and said moderate forces should work together to put the country back on a democratic path.

Southeast Asian nations plan to sign a charter in Singapore next week aiming for lofty goals in areas such as free trade and human rights even as the 40-year-old group wrestles with how to handle the divisive issue of Myanmar. The West has urged the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) to put more pressure on Myanmar's junta after its crackdown on pro-democracy protests, but the group's principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs is likely to prevail.

For a ruler who's given himself ultimate powers, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has provoked an awful lot of doubt over how long he can survive.

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto hopes to forge an alliance with Islamists and other opposition parties to launch a campaign to force military president Pervez Musharraf from power.

Detained Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on Tuesday for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as president, isolating him in the run-up to a general election.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday called on President Pervez Musharraf to end the state of emergency in Pakistan but said the United States would not abandon a key ally in fighting extremism.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Monday urged Pakistanis of all shades to join a motorcade protest against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule and vowed it would go ahead even if police try to block her.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday a general election would be held by Jan. 9 but under a state of emergency he imposed eight days ago.