21.   Heavily armed paramilitary troops roamed the abandoned streets of Karachi Thursday as the city was brought to a standstill during an opposition-led protest strike.

22.   However, it toned down its earlier threat of protest strikes if too much is given away.

23.   Kashmiri leaders condemned the killing by the militant Kashmiri group and called for a daylong protest strike on Wednesday.

24.   Labor leaders said authorities also used the new laws to prevent them from meeting freely with workers to coordinate the three-day nationwide protest strike that began Wednesday.

25.   Many state-paid workers in the Primorsky region, where protest strikes are frequent, have not received wages for months because of a shortage of funds.

26.   Media outlets said they would take the new information law to the Constitutional Court and organize a one-day protest strike.

27.   Opposition parties have opposed the talks, and threatened protest strikes if they determine the government has given away too much.

28.   Palestinian leaders, however, ordered those shopkeepers to observe a four-hour protest strike Wednesday.

29.   Protest strikes called by the MQM have become a regular feature of life in Karachi.

30.   Protest strikes Thursday were held at stores in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Lower Saxony and Hesse.