Pakistan flung into fresh turmoil

Pakistan headed into fresh crisis Sunday with President Asif Ali Zardari locked into a humiliating confrontation with the country's top judicial authority over the appointment of a senior judge.

The crisis arose when the president appeared to ignore a candidate nominated by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry for a vacancy on the Supreme Court, instead selecting another senior judge.

The Supreme Court suspended the president's decree appointing Khawaja Sharif, the top judge in Pakistan's second biggest city Lahore, and a judge to fill Sharif's shoes, and summoned the attorney general to appear in court.