Barely a year after Pakistanis reinstated a democratically-elected government by voting Pervez Musharraf out of power, the country is again faced with a major political turmoil with the Supreme Court on Wednesday barring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections because of prior criminal conviction.

The apex court unseated his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab, because of alleged irregularities in the elections. While charges against Nawaz stemmed from the Musharraf-led coup in 1999, Shahbaz's rivals had challenged his election to the provincial assembly.

Governor's rule has been imposed in the province.

The city police, it seems, is in no mood to entertain the state government's idea of holding a massive rally at Palace Grounds on Saturday at the culmination of the students' anti-terror campaign.

Aravind Limbavalli, state minister for higher education, had indicated that he expected around six lakh students to gather. But Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari has different plans. "I have informed the education department that the police will not accept an application for such a large gathering. They can apply for the license as per the ruling of the High Court.''

Cairo  - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah held talks in Cairo on Wednesday ahead of broader Palestinian national unity talks scheduled for Thursday.

Hamas politburo member Ezzat al-Rishq described the atmosphere in the talks as "positive and promising" in remarks aired by the Arabic satellite broadcaster al-Jazeera.

Amman - The reshuffled Jordanian government said Wednesday it was embarking on a new era of "openness" with the Islamic-led opposition in order to speed up political reforms, including the enactment of a new election law.

"Upon instructions from King Abdullah II, the government will be staging a new epoch of openness with all political parties and civilian society organizations in the run-up for the enactment of laws that boost democracy and reforms," newly-appointed Minister of Political Development Mussa Maaita said.

Athens/Nicosia  - Rival leaders seeking a solution to reunify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus focused talks Wednesday on the complex issue of seized property.

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Taye-Brook Zerihoun told reporters that Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Tatat will continue talks on March 5 and after that they will move on to discuss European Union matters.

Madrid  - A corruption scandal affecting Spain's main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) widened Wednesday as a judge investigating the allegations implicated at least two legislators or senators in the affair.

National Court magistrate Baltasar Garzon asked anti-corruption prosecutors whether the Supreme Court should take over the case, because national-level politicians had become implicated, in addition to local or regional ones.

Garzon did not give the names of the new suspects.