He has a tighter grip on the key army commands (though not necessarily the middle ranks) than he had when he was briefly overthrown by a coup in April.

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But feature phone performance of Nokia is little discussed and it is clear that Wall Street does not have a grip on the key Asha model line shipment numbers right now.

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On a more serious front, New York billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been hopping around the country lending his support to Democrats and Republicans with a moderate streak, convinced they hold the key to breaking the death grip of the partisans.

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Chaudhry has issued key rulings that have weakened Musharraf's grip on power -- including lifting the exile imposed on Sharif, an outspoken critic of Musharraf, the man who ousted him from power in a 1999 military coup.

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