Sunday, November 4, 2007, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)

Emergency in Pakistan Musharraf suspends Constitution, removes the independent-minded Chief Justice
Gen Pervez Musharraf today suspended the Constitution and imposed emergency in the country and removed the independent-minded Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry from his office, exercising supra-constitutional authority as army chief.
FOUR MAIN Triggers 1. The court challenge on General’s election 2. The judicial activism being displayed by the court 3. The contempt of court against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and 14 other senior officials 4. Latest sentences passed against six police and administration officials Sharif’s party flays decision Road to emergency

Threat of extremist takeover: Bhutto
Islamabad, November 3
Warning that Pakistan is facing an “increasing threat of an extremist takeover,” former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto has said the deadly suicide attack on her homecoming procession may have been the handiwork of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza.

PM takes stock of Pak situation
New Delhi, November 3
India today gave Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf a cause to smile as it did not condemn the imposition of emergency in Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the Pakistan situation with his number two and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee this evening, after which the ministry of external affairs promptly issued a two-line reaction.

30 illegal Punjabis caught in France
Chamonix (France), November 3
Thirty illegal Indian immigrants travelling in "inhuman conditions" were stopped while crossing the French Alps in a small truck,the police said. "They were packed together, standing up, in inhuman conditions in an area of less than six square metres. It was horrible," Michel Drezen, head of the border police in France's Haute-Savoie region, said yesterday.

Kidnapped workers return from Nigeria
Chennai, November 3
Three Indian workers who were working at an oil rig in Nigeria and were kidnapped by armed terrorists to extort money returned to their homes in southern Tamil Nadu with a nightmarish experience. The three workers, hailing from a village in Tirunelveli district, 600 km from here, were among the six who were kidnapped by the armed terrorists from their ship off the Nigerian coast last week.

Cong candidate among 4 shot
Guwahati, November 3
Four persons - a poll candidate of the Congress, two police men and civilian - were shot dead by unidentified militants at Ratzol near Haflong town of North Cachar hill district of Assam at around 1.30 pm today.

Lalu’s security withdrawn
Patna, November 3
The Nitish government today decided to withdraw the special security provided by it to the union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav as former chief minister. Describing it as a purely administrative move, sources in the special branch claimed that the decision was guided by the widely condemned assault on three journalists by some official bodyguards of the ruling JD(U) MLA Anant Singh.

3,000 Bhutan refugees accept US resettlement
Kathmandu, November 3
About 3,000 Bhutanese, languishing in refugee camps in Nepal for nearly two decades, have become the first to accept the US government's offer to resettle in American cities and villages, defying pressure by a group that is seeking to return to Bhutan. (Details on World page)