state of emergency

It was 20 times more painful, more debilitating, than any electrical shock she had ever experienced. Yet, a few minutes later, Arkansas National Guard state Command Sgt. Maj. Deborah Collins was walking and talking as normally as if she had never had a shocking encounter with one of the newest weapons available to the National Guard.

Armenia's military said it would confront opposition protests with force, a day after riots killed eight people in the ex-Soviet state. Outgoing President Robert Kocharyan imposed a 20-day emergency on the capital Yerevan on Saturday after protesters accusing him of rigging last month's presidential election battled police with petrol bombs and sticks.

Taliban fighters are tightening their grip in areas in the north-west of Pakistan as a result of the country's state of emergency, officials in the Swat valley have said. Pro-Taliban fighters have advanced in recent days and government officials say they now control as much as 70 per cent of the valley, just a few hours' drive from Islamabad.

A top Pentagon official on Wednesday said the fate of Pakistan's military arsenal was a "primary concern" after President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in his country.

Police officers armed with tear gas and clubs attacked thousands of protesting lawyers Monday in the city of Lahore and rounded up lawyers in other cities as the government of the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, faced the first signs of concerted resistance to the imposition Saturday of emergency rule.