US Flexes Military Muscle After North Korea's Latest Missile Test - NORTH KOREA MISSILE'S TEST - LATEST WORLD WIDE UPDATES

U.S. displays military firepower after North Korea’s latest ICBM test

The United States pointedly showed off its military prowess over the Pacific and the Korean Peninsula on Sunday in response to North Korea's launch Friday of a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, a test Pyongyang said was a "stern warning" for Washington to back off from threats and more sanctions.

In a sign that tensions are spiraling upward rapidly, the United States flew two supersonic B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula as part of a joint exercise with Japan and South Korea. And U.S. forces conducted a successful missile defense test over the Pacific Ocean, sending aloft from Alaska a medium-range ballistic missile that it detected, tracked and intercepted using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System.

The sense that time is running out in the confrontation with North Korea was reinforced when Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, retweeted a photo of the bomber drills and wrote, in her own words, "Done talking about NKorea. China is aware they must act. Japan & SKorea must inc pressure. Not only a US problem."

Amid the show of force by the United States and its allies, North Korea said it would respond with a "resolute act of justice" if it were provoked either militarily or economically.

"In case the U.S. fails to come to its own senses and continues to resort to military adventure and 'tough sanctions,' the DPRK will respond with its resolute act of justice," the state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying, using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The spokesman said the United States should "wake up from the foolish dream of doing any harm to the DPRK," and warned Washington against a preemptive nuclear strike.

"If the Yankees ... dare brandish the nuclear stick on this land again ... the DPRK will clearly teach them manners with the nuclear strategic force," the spokesman said.

The Trump administration's frustration has grown exponentially in recent days, since Pyongyang on Friday conducted its second successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Though it landed off the Japanese coast, experts said if the missile had flown in a lower arc it could have reached the U.S. mainland.

U.S. officials have been trying to get China, North Korea's main trading partner and economic lifeline, to exert pressure on its neighbor. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called Beijing and Moscow the "principal economic enablers" of Pyongyang. Though China voted last year for harsh U.N. sanctions against the country's leaders and state-tied companies, it fears that a destabilized regime would send refugees flooding across the border and has urged dialogue as the only pragmatic approach.

President Donald Trump on Saturday berated China, tweeting that "they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue." And Vice President Mike Pence, traveling Sunday in Estonia, told reporters that "all options are on the table."

"The continued provocations by the rogue regime in North Korea are unacceptable, and the United States of America is going to continue to marshal the support of nations across the region and across the world to further isolate North Korea economically and diplomatically," Pence said.

North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon in 2006 and has been burdened with six sets of U.N. sanctions since then. The North claims its weapons are for defensive purposes. But a series of missile launches and tests conducted since Kim Jong Un came to power have increased concern that North Korea may be closing in on the ability to fit a nuclear weapon on a missile's nose cone.


The North Korean leader himself had openly boasted that more missile tests would be coming. In late March, he vowed to send a "bigger gift package to the Yankees," state-run media reported.

"People have been warning about the North Korean ICBM for 20 years," Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "But the wolf is at the door. This a very real threat to the United States."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," called North Korea a "clear and present danger" that must be taken seriously.

"I'm convinced that North Korea has never moved at the speed that this leader has to develop an ICBM to put solid fuel, to have an interesting launch device, and to have a trajectory which, as of the latest analysis, would enable it to go about 6,000 miles and maybe even hit as far east as Chicago," she said. "We can't have that."

Feinstein said she hoped John F. Kelly, the incoming White House chief of staff who starts his new position Monday, would be able to begin negotiations with Pyongyang that would eventually end its nuclear program.

For now, however, worried capitals are focusing on bulking up their militaries. South Korea announced Saturday that it will start talks with the White House about building more powerful ballistic missiles capable of striking the North.

And the U.S. military was blunt in its assessment of the threat posed by North Korea. In a statement accompanying the departure of the two B-1 bombers from Guam to the Korean Peninsula, the Pacific Air Forces commander, Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, called the country the "most urgent threat to regional stability."

"If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal, and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing," he said.

Chinese Soldiers Entered Uttarakhand's Barahoti Last Week: Home Ministry Officials - Cheap Chaina - LATEST WORLD WIDE UPDATES

Chinese army entered Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district while Doklam was on, claims report
The transgression in Uttarakhand comes in the middle of a standoff with China at the border in Sikkim, the longest between the two countries since 1962 war.

The Chinese entered around 800 metres to 1 km into Indian territory
The Chinese soldiers stayed for about two hours before leaving
People were reportedly asked to take their cattle and leave.

Some 50 Chinese soldiers entered into Uttarakhand's Barahoti last week and spent about two hours before going back, home ministry sources said on Monday. The incident took place on July 25, Tuesday, around 9 am. The Chinese entered 1 km into Indian territory and allegedly ordered cattle herders to leave with their animals. Last year, there was a similar transgression by fewer Chinese soldiers, also in July.

Officials say there have been many such transgressions as both sides have different perceptions of the Line of Actual Control.

This year, however, it has taken place at a time India and China are locked in a massive standoff at the border in Sikkim, the longest between the two countries since the 1962 war.

China says Indian troops crossed the border at Sikkim in June to stop the Chinese army from constructing a road on a remote Himalayan plateau it calls Donglang. Bhutan says the region is Doklam, and is part of its kingdom. India, a close ally of Bhutan, deployed troops to stop the road project, prompting Beijing to accuse India of trespassing on Chinese soil.


Two days after Chinese soldiers entered Barahoti, India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travelled to Beijing and met with the Chinese leadership including President Xi Jinping. Mr Doval highlighted "major problems" in ties during his meetings.

Mr Doval's meeting with President Jinping has not resulted in the defusing of tension.

India says China has violated a 2012 understanding that tri-junction boundary points between India, China and third countries will be finalised in consultation with the countries concerned. On June 30, India told China that its attempt to construct a road in the Doklam area would cause a "significant change of status quo" and lead to "serious security implications."

ICC's dream of cricket in Olympics hinges on India- కొత్త ట్విస్ట్‌: ఒలింపిక్స్‌లో క్రికెట్‌! - IS CRICKET AGAIN BACK TO OLYMPICS ! - READ CONTENT IN TELUGU & ENGLISH LANGUAGES

BCCI not keen on ICC's proposal to bring cricket into Olympic fold?

Cricket was last played in the Olympics in the 1900 Paris Games.
ICC is pushing for a return of the T20 variant of the sport in the 2024 event.
ICC needs BCCI, a firm believer of cricket being a non-Olympic sport, on board.

CHENNAI: Cricket in Olympics means a couple of definite medal prospects for India. But guess who has strongly opposed the idea? India itself.

Cricket was last played in the Olympics in the 1900 Paris Games and now the International Cricket Council (ICC) is pushing for a return of the T20 variant of the sport in the 2024 event, likely to take place at the French capital again. But for that to happen, the ICC needs the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a firm believer of cricket being a non-Olympic sport, on board. And, this time too, most of the BCCI officials are not ready to play ball.
"We have heard about the ICC's Olympics initiative but most members are not keen," a senior BCCI functionary said.
The International Olympic Council (IOC) has made it clear to the ICC that there has to be an assurance of the top teams and players participating in the event -only then the bid can even be considered. It means that the ICC is not in a position to go ahead with the bid without India, the nerve-centre of world cricket. The Indian diaspora, too, is a huge market for the sport and that has to be tapped for cricket to have a chance of making the Olympic cut.

"The ICC is continuing to explore the possibility of cricket's inclusion in the Olympics and the main thrust of that at present is on convincing the BCCI. But with everything that has happened there over the last few months, it has delayed the process," a source close to the developments told TOI. The world body has approached the BCCI to take a call on the issue so that it can move forward with the bidding process, which will take place in September. Time is running out for the ICC but the Indian board, which has been mired in a legal tangle, has not made much of a headway. The court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), which has a final say on the day-to-day workings of BCCI, has asked for a report from the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri on the feasibility of cricket being part of the Olympics.
It was told that the final decision will be left to the members and if it comes to that, there will be some strong opposition. Many of the BCCI members feel that if cricket has to become an Olympic sport, the autonomy of the board will be compromised and they will have to come under the purview of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). "We don't know what our status will be if we lose our autonomy. In the present situation, it is absolutely undesirable," a senior board member said.

A section of the BCCI is also sore about the fact that they were handed a raw deal by the ICC in the revenue sharing model. "The BCCI has been treated very shabbily by the ICC in recent times. Now if they come to us for their own benefits, why would we comply? And we don't even know about the financial aspect of such a big step," the member added.
However, the board members understand that there is a strong sentiment in favour of cricket's readmission in the Olympics. "We are not saying it's completely ruled out, but a decision shouldn't be forced upon us. It should be an independent, well-considered decision," another official added.

The ICC, too, is hoping that a solution will emerge in the next one month and the success of the women's World Cup in England could be one of the bargaining chips. Mithali Raj's girls made the final and the BCCI has pledged for the growth of the women's game in India. It is believed that the biggest boost for the women's game will happen if the sport gets an entry into the Olympics.
"It certainly would play a big part in the growth of the women's game -so there is an added attraction there," an ICC source said.

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Missile test 'warning' against US sanctions push: North Korea

Donald Trump Warns China on North Korea: ‘We Will No Longer Allow This to Continue’

The North conducted its second intercontinental ballistic missile test late Friday
Friday's launch was significantly more powerful than the first ICBM test on July 4
The North's first ICBM test set off global alarm over the nation's weapons capabilities.

SEOUL: North Korea on Sunday said its latest ICBM test was a "warning"+ targeting the US for its efforts to slap new sanctions on Pyongyang and threatened a counter- strike if provoked militarily by Washington.

The North conducted its second intercontinental ballistic missile test late Friday, with leader Kim Jong-Un boasting of his country's ability to strike "all the US mainland".

Technical details of Friday's launch suggested it was significantly more powerful than the first ICBM test on July 4, with a theoretical range long enough to reach the US east coast, according to experts.
The North's first ICBM test set off global alarm over the nation's weapons capabilities and a push by the US to impose more UN and bilateral sanctions, with the US Senate passing new bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang on Friday.

But the US-led campaign only provided "further justification" for the North's resolve to maintain its weapons programmes, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA.

"The... test-fire of ICBM ... this time is meant to send a stern warning to the U.S. making senseless remarks, being lost to reason in the frantic sanctions and pressure campaign against the DPRK," it said, using an acronym for the North's official name.

The statement came hours after US President Donald Trump warned that he would not allow China -- the impoverished North's sole major ally and economic lifeline -- to "do nothing" about North Korea.
Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim's regime, has repeatedly urged China to rein in its neighbour, but China insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

The US also today had two powerful strategic bombers fly over the Korean peninsula for a joint drill with Japanese and South Korean forces, in a pointed show of force against the North.
But Pyongyang's foreign ministry urged the US to "wake up from the foolish dream of doing any harm to the DPRK."

"If the Yankees... dares brandish the nuclear stick on this land again ...the DPRK will clearly teach them manners with the nuclear strategic force," it said.

There remains doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the atmosphere.
But since Kim came to power in 2011, there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.

29 Indian Cities And Towns Highly Vulnerable To Earthquakes - Check if your city is in the list

A majority of places prone to earthquake are in the Himalayas, one of the most seismically active regions in the world.

A majority of places prone to earthquakes are in the Himalayas

Cities prone to earthquakes have a combined population of over 3 crore

The entire northeastern region is most active seismically.

Twenty-nine Indian cities and towns, including Delhi and capitals of nine states, fall under "severe" to "very severe" seismic zones - highly vulnerable to earthquakes - according to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

A majority of these places are in the Himalayas, one of the most seismically active regions in the world.

Delhi, Patna (Bihar), Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), Kohima (Nagaland), Puducherry, Guwahati (Assam), Gangtok (Sikkim), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Imphal (Manipur) and Chandigarh fall under seismic zones IV and V.

These cities have a combined population of over three crore.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified different regions in the country into zones II to V, based on their earthquake records, tectonic activities and damage caused, the director of the NCS, Vineet Gauhlat, said.

The entire northeastern region, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, parts of north Bihar and the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago falls under Zone V category - most active seismically. Zone II is considered the least seismically active, Zone IV and V fall under "severe" to "very severe" categories respectively.

Parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Sikkim, northern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and a small part of Maharashtra fall under Zone IV.

Bhuj, which was struck by a massive earthquake in 2001 in which 20,000 people were killed, Chandigarh, Ambala, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Roorkee fall under zones IV and V.

M Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said 31 new earthquake observatories will come up in the country by March next year. At present, there are 84 observatories. This is being done to detect and record earthquake parameters more accurately and identify possible precursors of tremors.

My Mother Found 'Companionship' In Pandit Nehru: Mountbatten's Daughter

Pamela Hicks is Edwina and Lord Louis Mountbatten's daughter.

She says Pandit Nehru and her mother never had sexual relationship.

While leaving India, Edwina wanted to give Nehru her emerald ring: Pamela.

"Quite apart from the fact that neither my mother nor Panditji Jawaharlal Nehru had time to indulge in a physical affair, they were rarely alone. They were always surrounded by staff, police and other people," Pamela Hicks writes in "Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten".

Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten loved and respected each other but their relationship was never physical as they were never alone, says the daughter of India's last vicereine.

Pamela Hicks nee Mountbatten was 17 when her father Lord Louis Mountbatten came to India as the last Viceroy. She saw a "profound relationship" developing between Nehru and her mother Edwina Ashley.

"She found in Panditji the companionship and equality of spirit and intellect that she craved," Pamela says. Pamela was keen to know more about the relationship.

But after reading Nehru's inner thoughts and feelings for her mother in his letters, Pamela "came to realise how deeply he and my mother loved and respected each other".

Pamela says she had been "curious as to whether or not their affair had been sexual in nature" but after having read the letters, she was utterly convinced it hadn't been.

"Quite apart from the fact that neither my mother nor Panditji had time to indulge in a physical affair, they were rarely alone. They were always surrounded by staff, police and other people," Pamela writes in "Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten".

The book, first published in the UK in 2012, has been brought out in India as a paperback by Hachette.

Lord Mountbatten's ADC Freddie Burnaby Atkins also told Pamela later that it would have been impossible for Nehru and Edwina to have been having an affair, such was the very public nature of their lives.

Pamela also writes that while leaving India, Edwina wanted to give Nehru her emerald ring.

"But she knew he would not accept it. Instead, she handed it to his daughter, Indira, telling her that if he were ever to find himself in financial difficulties - he was well known for giving away all his money - she should sell it for him," the book says.

At a farewell party for the Mountbattens, Nehru said while addressing Edwina directly, "Wherever you have gone, you have brought solace, you have brought hope and encouragement.

Is it surprising, therefore, that the people of India should love you and look up to you as one of themselves and should grieve that you are going?"

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WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PAKISTAN - HOW GOVERNMENT DOWN - FULL DETAILS WITH CLEAR VIEW - Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Is Toppled by Corruption Case - పాక్‌ ప్రధానిపై అనర్హత వేటు పనామా గేట్‌ కేసులో పాకిస్థాన్‌ ప్రధాని నవాజ్‌ షరీఫ్‌కు గట్టి షాక్‌ తగిలింది. READ CONTENT IN BOTH TELUGU & ENGLISH LANGUAGES

Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif names brother as successor.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to serve as interim PM until Shahbaz Sharif can take over after national assembly election.

Islamabad, Pakistan - Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has named his younger brother Shahbaz to replace him as the country's leader, after having been removed from office by the Supreme Court a day earlier for lying on a wealth declaration.

Addressing a televised meeting of leaders of his PML-N party in Islamabad on Saturday, the elder Sharif said he accepted the Supreme Court's verdict, but did not agree with it. 

Shahbaz Sharif, currently the chief minister of Punjab province, which is Pakistan's most populous region and the Sharif's political heartland, will have to resign from that post and run for a by-election to join Parliament before he is elected as prime minister.

In the interim period, Nawaz Sharif said, party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would serve as the country's prime minister.

"It will take Shahbaz some time to be elected, about 50 days ... so in the interim period … I suggest Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the candidate," the former prime minister said. 

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain is due to convene a session of Parliament shortly to elect Abbasi to the post.

Sharif's PML-N party holds a comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament and the election is expected to pass without much drama.

'I don't understand grounds for dismissal'

Sharif was removed from office on Friday on grounds that he did not declare his role in a company based in the United Arab Emirates, from which he was paid a salary, in a 2013 wealth declaration made before running for Parliament.

Sharif dismissed the allegations against him as minor, adding that no corruption charges had yet been proven against him.

"I still do not understand the grounds for my dismissal," he said. "I am only content that I was not disqualified on the grounds of alleged corruption."

Sharif contends that he never withdrew that salary and was therefore not liable to declare it.

"When I never took a salary, what would I declare?" asked Sharif at the meeting on Saturday. "When you take something, there's a problem; when you don't, there's a problem."

'Panama Papers'

Friday's landmark ruling followed months of hearings sparked by the leak of the Panama Papers, which showed that three of Sharif's children were connected to three offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Those companies, the documents showed, had been involved in the mortgage of four apartments in London's posh Park Lane neighbourhood. Sharif's political opponents had been alleging for years that the properties had been obtained through ill-gotten gains made during Sharif's previous two terms in power in the 1990s.

The Sharif family has denied any wrongdoing, saying the apartments were bought using proceeds from the sale of a steel mill in the UAE.

The Supreme Court, having constituted a high-level investigative panel to probe the allegations, concluded on Friday that there was enough evidence to refer Sharif, his three children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to a corruption trial court.

No democratically elected prime minister in Pakistan's history has completed the five-year term in office.

Sharif himself has been removed twice before from power. In 1993, he was removed after a bitter struggle with the country's president, and in 1999 the military overthrew him in a bloodless coup.

Other prime ministers have been removed through votes of no-confidence in Parliament, the dissolution of the assemblies by the military or in direct military coups.

Pakistan's military has ruled the country for roughly half of its 70-year history.

Panama Papers leak sparked probe that led to Pakistan leader's resignation.

Revelations of his family's finances that emerged in the Panama Papers leak led to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation Friday after the country's Supreme Court disqualified him in a corruption probe.

The high court ruled that Sharif had been dishonest to Parliament and to the judicial system and was no longer deemed fit for office.

A five-judge panel announced its unanimous decision Friday afternoon. Silence enveloped the courtroom as Justice Ejaz Afzal read the judgment, and the opposition distributed candy in celebration following the verdict.

Scandal first ignited with the release of the Panama Papers in April 2016.

Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office.

The panel investigated Sharif's alleged links to offshore accounts and overseas properties owned by three of his adult children. The assets were not declared on his family's wealth statement, but the Panama Papers leak in April 2016 revealed them. The huge cache of documents allegedly connected to a Panama law firm revealed the financial dealings of some of the world's best-known people.

Sharif was not named in the Panama Papers, but his three children were linked in the documents to offshore companies.

The Panama Papers leak sparked mass protests in Pakistan and calls from opposition political groups for a panel to investigate Sharif and his children over their alleged offshore accounts.

Opposition: 'Victory for the people'

Reacting to the verdict, the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PML-N, said the Prime Minister would accept the court's decision.

"There has been an injustice against us. Nawaz Sharif will step down as premier of Pakistan despite reservations regarding the verdict," a party statement said.

The election commission was ordered to issue a disqualification notice to Sharif. With the ruling, his Cabinet also was dissolved.

The 68-year-old leader who has been at the helm of Pakistan's turbulent politics for more than three decades was expected to vacate the Prime Minister's residence by Friday evening.

Former cricket star Imran Khan, leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, lobbied vigorously for Sharif's investigation and described the court's decision as a "victory for the people."

"Nations are not destroyed by wars, bombs or natural disasters. They are destroyed when their institutions have been destroyed," Khan said. "This is the beginning. Now all of us have to protect our resources and not let the corrupt exploit them."

But Pakistan's minister of railways blamed the military for Sharif's downfall.

"There has been an injustice against us," said the minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, who is a member of Sharif's party. "We are very aware what the actual crime of the PM is. We want civil supremacy. 

We come into power through democratic means. We give our lives to bring back democracy to this country. We give power to these institutions. ... We are being punished for this."

No civilian prime minister in Pakistan has ever completed a full term in office. Friday's ruling marked the first time in the country's history that a leader was disqualified from office following a judicial process.

Sharif's term was to end next year, and he wouldn't have been able to run again because of term limits.

But with the disqualification, he can't hold any parliamentary position, become involved in election campaigns or lead his party.

General elections are scheduled for April, and the ruling PML-N is widely expected to win despite Friday's ruling.

A prominent Pakistani journalist said Sharif's resignation will "activate the streets."

"I think they are feeling that if a person with the experience of Nawaz Sharif can be ousted then, nobody will else will be allowed to 'deliver' until the elections," Nusrat Javed said. "There is a feeling that the judges have played someone else's game. It all depends on who the next prime minister will be."

A political heavyweight

Under Sharif, Pakistan has experienced economic growth and a marked drop in terrorism. The government also has initiated a bold foreign policy that led to strong ties with China and the formation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Known as the "Lion of Punjab," Sharif is one of Pakistan's leading industrialists and richest men as well as a fearsome political operative -- having been Prime Minister twice before.

But his long political career has been dogged with missteps and allegations of corruption. He was forced to step down during his first term as Prime Minister after a family-owned business, Ittefaq Industries, grew tremendously while he was in office.

Sharif was re-elected in 1997 and ordered Pakistan's first nuclear tests, but a showdown with the nation's powerful military saw his second term end prematurely as well.

In 1999, Sharif fired then-army head Pervez Musharraf after a failed invasion of Kargil in Indian-controlled Kashmir. But in a dramatic turnaround, Musharraf launched a coup and eventually had his former boss imprisoned on charges of hijacking for attempting to stop a plane carrying the general from landing.

Sharif was later sentenced to an additional 14 years in prison on corruption charges, but he was released after six months when Saudi Arabia brokered a deal to allow him to go into exile there.

In 2007, Sharif returned to his homeland after his PML-N party teamed up with the Pakistan Peoples Party, or PPP, to force Musharraf out of office.

After some legal and constitutional wrangling, Sharif was re-elected Prime Minister for a third time in 2013 amid accusations of vote-rigging.

Musharraf praised the court's decision and said he believed Sharif's political career was finished.

Links to offshore companies alleged

The latest and final nail in Sharif's political coffin is not of his own making but rather the alleged financial improprieties of his children.

While owning properties is not illegal, opposition parties have questioned if the money to buy them came from public funds.

Sharif was not personally named, but three adult children were linked to offshore companies that owned properties in London. One British Virgin Islands holding firm listed his daughter, Maryam, as the sole shareholder.

The Supreme Court created a task force in April after it was unable to determine the links to corruption independently. At the time Sharif pledged to step down if anything from the investigation proved corruption.

Investigators found that Sharif held a work permit for the United Arab Emirates for a previously undisclosed company, a violation of the Pakistani Constitution, according to Friday's judgment.

In November, his daughter tweeted images of a disclosure form claiming she was not the owner of a London property. However, the document, dated 2006, used a font -- Calibri -- that did not become widely available until the following year.

Maryam Sharif, who many believed was being groomed to take the reins from her father, has denied any wrongdoing.

• ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Nawaz Sharif, the tycoon and party leader who helped define a turbulent era of Pakistani politics, stepped down as prime minister on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that corruption allegations had disqualified him.

• Coming with less than a year to go in his term, his ouster adds to a grim and long list of civilian governments cut short in Pakistan — including two of his own previous terms as prime minister. And it will further roil the country’s tumultuous political balance, as his rivals vie to exploit his fall.

• When Mr. Sharif returned to office in 2013, it was as a widely popular party leader with a deep grudge against the country’s powerful military establishment. He moved quickly to try to establish civilian authority in areas that had long been dominated by generals, especially foreign policy.

• But Mr. Sharif, 67, is exiting with none of those ambitions realized.
• The Pakistani military has seldom been able to wield as potent a mix of policy control and popular acclaim as it does now. The fragile democratic system in this nuclear-armed nation of almost 200 million people again appears to be on shaky ground. And Mr. Sharif’s own political legacy stands further tarnished.

• The governing political party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, must now choose an interim prime minister to replace Mr. Sharif until the next general election, which is scheduled for mid-2018.
• The charges against Mr. Sharif and three of his children — two sons and a daughter — stemmed from disclosures last year in the Panama Papers leak. Those documents revealed that the children owned expensive residential property in London through offshore companies.

• The justices, drawing on a constitutional article that allows the courts to disqualify a member of Parliament who is found to be dishonest, said that they were acting because Mr. Sharif had tried to conceal his assets. And they ordered the opening of a criminal investigation into the Sharif family.

• Watching the courtroom drama was the country’s powerful military, which has traditionally decided the fate of civilian governments. There had been hushed speculation that the court, in coming to its decision, had the tacit, if not overt, backing of powerful generals.

• Now, Imran Khan, the opposition politician who has been spearheading the campaign against Mr. Sharif since he took power in 2013, stands to gain the most politically from the prime minister’s removal. Mr. Khan has doggedly and almost obsessively led the charge against Mr. Sharif and rallied much of the public against him through a mix of street agitation and court petitions.

• The Supreme Court had asked the members of the Sharif family to provide a paper trail of the money they used to buy their London apartments. Investigators found that they were “living beyond their means.”

• Despite repeated court exhortations, Mr. Sharif’s family and its lawyers failed to provide satisfactory documentation, the justices said. Several of the documents they produced were declared fake or insufficient.
• A representative of the governing party said that although Mr. Sharif was stepping down, the party had “strong reservations” about the verdict and was contemplating “all legal and constitutional means” to challenge it.

• Mr. Sharif has called the inquiry into his family’s finances a conspiracy and has asserted that in his three terms as prime minister he had not been tarred by a major corruption scandal.
• The ruling, while expected, leaves undecided the long-term fate of the man who has been a dominating force in Pakistani politics for the better part of three decades.

• “I did not expect Nawaz Sharif to go scot-free,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a prominent political analyst who is based in Lahore.
• “If he has a long-term vision, he will sit back and guide his political party,” Mr. Rizvi added. “He and his supporters will portray the court verdict as victimization and a grave conspiracy involving international powers.”

• Mr. Sharif’s removal from office throws his political succession plans into disarray. His daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, 43, who was being groomed as his political heir, was also implicated in the case.
• Political insiders say there are several possible contenders to replace Mr. Sharif as prime minister in the immediate interim. Names being discussed as include Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the national assembly; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the minister of petroleum; Khurram Dastgir Khan, the commerce minister; and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the defense minister.

• “Whoever they bring will be a weak prime minister, as Nawaz Sharif would want to have someone who is more or less in line with his thinking,” Mr. Rizvi said.

• For a long-term replacement, though, speculation is focusing on Mr. Sharif’s brother Shehbaz, 65, who is the chief minister of Punjab Province and a prominent and divisive political figure in his own right. He would first have to take his brother’s Parliament seat in a spot election.
• Political analysts say the verdict hands Mr. Khan an undeniable political and moral victory, because it was his pressure on the court to take up the Panama Papers case and then render a quick verdict that forced some of the action.

• “Imran Khan will be strengthened, but it remains to be seen how he capitalizes in Punjab Province, which is critical to winning the general elections,” Mr. Rizvi said. Punjab, the most populous and prosperous of the country’s four provinces, has been a stronghold of Mr. Sharif’s for decades.

• Mr. Sharif presided over a period of relative economic stability and was able to complete a few large infrastructure projects while reducing the crippling power outages that have long afflicted Pakistan.
• But the stubborn scandal over the London real estate holdings sullied the reputation of his family.

• Mr. Sharif’s political party nonetheless hopes that his achievements can bring it another electoral success next year even if Mr. Sharif cannot run for office.

• “We will make a comeback,” Khawaja Saad Rafique, a party leader, said Friday afternoon at a news conference flanked by other senior figures. He said Mr. Sharif’s “crime was that he stood for civilian supremacy.”

• He urged party workers to remain peaceful and said that the party respects the country’s institutions. “There will be no chaos,’’ he said. “We will move forward with wisdom and not emotion.”

• During his most recent tenure, Mr. Sharif had an uneven relationship with the military. His overtures of more openness toward India, Pakistan’s longtime foe, backfired as generals spurned his efforts.

• More recently, relations with the military took a darker turn after news reports detailed how civilian officials confronted the military over what they called a failure to act against Islamist groups. Mr. Sharif had to fire his information minister and two top aides to placate the army.

• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said the Panama Papers ruling was “a real test of our system.”
• Some predicted a politically volatile time ahead.

• “Until the elections, this will lead to a period of political instability,” Amber Rahim Shamsi, a prominent journalist who hosts a show on Dawn TV, said of the verdict.

• “The Sharif political dynasty has somehow managed to survive Pakistan’s rough and bloody politics for over three and a half decades through wheeling and dealing,” Ms. Shamsi said. “It is hard to imagine all the family falling like a pack of cards. Nawaz Sharif has a following and could cash in on political martyrdom to stage a comeback.”

IN AND OUT OF POWER IN PAKISTAN

• Nawaz Sharif served as prime minister an unprecedented three times. All his terms were cut short. Here’s how they played out.

• First termIn 1990, Mr. Sharif was ushered into power as head of the Pakistan Muslim League. As his business grew, suspicions of corruption surfaced. He was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1993. The Supreme Court eventually deemed his dismissal unconstitutional, but Mr. Sharif resigned under pressure from Pakistan’s powerful military.
• Second termMr. Sharif was elected again in 1997. Two years later, a military coup ended his term after he fired the army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and then, according to reports, kept the general’s return flight to Pakistan from landing. Troops loyal to Gen. Musharraf seized the Karachi airport and overthrew the prime minister. Mr. Sharif was tried and found guilty of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced to life in prison.
• Third term After spending seven years in exile in a deal brokered by the Saudi royal family, Mr. Sharif returned to Pakistan in 2007. He was cleared of criminal charges and deemed eligible to run for office. Mr. Sharif was again elected prime minister in 2013, but he was met with opposition and faced large protests in 2014. He was tried on corruption charges after the 2016 Panama Papers revealed that his children owned expensive homes in London through a string of offshore companies.