lawyers for gilani say they will appeal the sentence. let's get more on this from our correspondent, aleem maqbool, who is in islamabad. there have been calls for him to step down, aleem. >> yes, there have been calls for him to step down. there's no doubt that the prime minister and his supporters will be celebrating today. it was always difficult to see how the supreme court on one side, or mr. gilani, were going to get out of this process without one of them backing down. the supreme court said they issued this judgment a couple of years ago. they told them to reopen the case against the president. on the other hand, you have prime minister yousuf raza gilani saying he can not reopen cases against the president because he enjoys immunity under the constitution. in the end, the court ceded ground. it did issue a guilty verdict. the quarter rose just 30 seconds later. in effect, mr. gilaniserved a 30-second jail term did he was free to leave the court and he was free to continue as prime minister. >> thank you very much. rupert murdoch

gilani's lawyer says the prime minister will appeal against the ruling. nhk world reports from islamabad. >> reporter: pakistanis have been left bewildered by the first ever guilty verdict against an incumbent prime minister. the supreme court had ordered prime minister gilani to move to reopen corruption cases against president asif ali zardari dating back to the 1990s. observers suspect the hand of the military behind the actions of the court. ties between the government and the military have been strained in recent months. allegations surfaced in october that zardari had sent a memo to the u.s. government asking for help out of fear of a possible military coup. the court's decision is a further blow to the credibility of the government. the united states sees pakistan as a critical front in the fight against terrorism, but as they gain more influence, ties with the united states could become even more strained. nhk world, islamabad. >>> turning to another front in the war against terrorism, the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan says he believes there are

president zardari and president prime minister gilani have both in whited prime minister manmohan singh to set pakistan and i think. dr manmohan singh is considering really she just really. like to stop so all these steps are going further the could reduce the class dificid you know which was degrading over two nations and hopefully i think we should be moving. in a positive manner. to. understand each other better well this is a very positive because you might remember that henry kissinger once said that if a third world war starts it would probably start in kashmir he called it the most dangerous place on earth so today do you think it's something case anymore well i hope mr kissinger will be publicly wrong. in this country into this. peace and stability you know would lead i mean i do not think that. neither. pakistan and india would be a good citizen of to embark upon any such. misadventure so. the indian minister of external affairs spotlight will be back soon after we take a short break so stay with us don't. one . hundred. fifty years. in forty acres and nineteen nineteen three a

. >> holman: the supreme court of pakistan has convicted prime minister yousuf raza gilani of contempt. it stemmed from his refusal to pursue a corruption case against president asif ali zardari. the ruling carried only a symbolic sentence of less than a minute in detention, allowing gilani to stay in power. in afghanistan, three u.s. troops were killed today in a bomb attack in the east. nato also announced a man wearing an afghan army uniform shot and killed a u.s. service member late wednesday, in the south. the gunman was killed when coalition forces returned fire. there've been at least 16 such attacks this year against american or other foreign forces. the u.s. secret service widened its investigation of a prostitution scandal today. the probe was extended to include previous presidential travel overseas. the latest allegations predate the scandal that exploded two weeks ago, ahead of the president's trip to colombia. the secret service now says it's pursuing a report by seattle television station-- kiro. according to that account, agents hired strippers and prostitutes in march,

pakistani prime minister yousuf raza gilani has been found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the nation's president heard the supreme court only handed him a symbolic sentence of just a few minutes detention before he was released into a sea of supporters the verdict might be seen as a victory for good and is expected to continue his role in office despite previously saying he would step down if found guilty. the news corp chairman rupert murdoch has been questioned about his dealings with the u.k. prime minister david cameron to the official probe into british media ethics its involvement with u.k. politicians is now a key issue following the phone hacking scandal which brought down the media tycoons used the world tabloid speculation grew after the sun revealed he discussed a proposed takeover of a lucrative satellite broadcaster during a christmas dinner with cameron. continues to give evidence today. israel's top general benny gantz says iran has not and will not build a nuclear bomb israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu continued to pu

prime minister gilani and singh met on the shrines in seoul just last week, so there have been a few meetings, but nothing substantial. sandppingses aren't -- expectations aren't very high, but at the moment, both sides will take anything. >> thanks very much indeed. juliette is here with all the latest business news. >> that's right, burma,y been looking at the politics, we're looking at the economic strategy. one of the first things that's happened is a harmonization by the central bank of the currency exchange rate. you've had an official rate vying for business. but it now appears the central bank has had a reference rate of 818 to the dollar, which pretty much brings the official occurrence sit rate in line with its value on the black market. about 800 gets you $1. they're trying to harmonize the system, and it's hardly surprising, because last year they invited over officials from the international monetary fund. it was probably seen as surprising given the secrecy of the old regime and the suspicion particularly toward westerners. but it was a very strong hint that they wanted

. >> holman: the supreme court of pakistan has convicted prime minister yousuf raza gilani of contempt. it stemmed from his refusal to pursue a corruption case against president asif ali zardari. the ruling carried only a symbolic sentence of less than a minute in detention, allowing gilani to stay in power. in afghanistan, three u.s. troops were killed today in a bomb attack in the east. nato also announced a man wearing an afghan army uniform shot and killed a u.s. service member late wednesday, in the south. the gunman was killed when coalition forces returned fire. there've been at least 16 such attacks this year against american or other foreign forces. the u.s. secret service widened its investigation of a prostitution scandal today. the probe was extended to include previous presidential travel overseas. the latest allegations predate the scandal that exploded two weeks ago, ahead of the president's trip to colombia. the secret service now says it's pursuing a report by seattle television station-- kiro. according to that account, agents hired strippers and prostitutes in march,