Zardari likely to be president

Assassinated Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's widower emerged yesterday as a likely candidate to become the next president as a split loomed in the ruling coalition led by his party.

Investors and allies have been hoping President Pervez Musharraf's resignation on Monday would herald an end to political wrangling and a shift of focus to pressing economic and security problems. But that appears unlikely.

The coalition's second biggest party, that of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, threatens to quit the alliance unless a decision is taken today to restore judges dismissed by Musharraf last year.