WORLD BRIEFS

PAKISTAN: Quelling corruption unrest

After days of anti-government protests, sectarian violence and political turmoil, Pakistan managed on Thursday to retreat from the brink of the kind of chaos that has often ushered in military rule during the nation's 65-year history. The Supreme Court delayed the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on corruption allegations, while the government bowed, in part, to the demands of a populist Muslim preacher whose followers had massed in the capital by the tens of thousands in hopes of dissolving Parliament. The cleric, Tahirul Qadri, emerged mysteriously last month, returning to his native Pakistan after seven years in Canada to denounce government corruption and promote electoral reform. The government agreed to dissolve Parliament before March 16, when its five-year term expires, to provide a 90-day period before elections are held.

RUSSIA: Mobster killed in gang war

One of Russia's top crime lords was gunned down in Moscow in what police described as a war between two powerful mobs over lucrative construction projects, allegedly including ones for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Police said an unidentified sniper fired seven shots Wednesday at Aslan Usoyan near a Moscow restaurant, the third assassination attempt on him since the late 1990s. Usoyan, 75, also known as Grandpa Khasan, an ethnic Kurd, headed a powerful criminal group that trafficked in drugs and weapons and controlled underground casinos.

LIBYA: Gadhafi's son in court

The imprisoned son of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi made his first appearance Thursday in a local court on charges of harming state security, attempting to escape prison and insulting the nation's new flag, Libya's official news agency said. LANA said the trial of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the ousted leader's longtime heir apparent, began in the western town of Zintan where he is being held by militiamen.