Pakistan parliament meets over political crisis

Pakistan's lawmakers held an emergency session Tuesday over the political crisis roiling the country as thousands of anti-government protesters remained camped out in front of the parliament building, demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resign. The session of both houses — the National Assembly and the Senate — is an attempt to rally support behind the prime minister, who is facing the biggest threat to his tenure since he took office a little more than a year ago. Anti-government demonstrators led by cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan and fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri converged on the capital in mid-August. The protests turned violent this weekend, when clashes between the demonstrators and police left three people dead and hundreds injured. Now, thousands of protesters, who broke through a fence surrounding the parliament, are camped out on the lawn in front of the building and have essentially taken over Constitution Avenue which runs past the country's main institutions of power, including the Supreme Court and the prime minister's office, according to AP.