Islamabad - At least 14 people were killed and 10 injured as heavy rain lashed north-western Pakistan, media reports said Wednesday.

Five members of one family, including three children, died when the roof of their house collapsed in a downpour in the Mardan district of North-West Frontier Province, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Nine more people - seven children and two women - died in similar incidents in other parts of the province and neighbouring tribal areas while 10 were hurt.

Islamabad, Apr 15 : Cricket will be included in the 2010 Asian Games as a major discipline, which will be hosted by China from November 12 to 27, 2010.

As many as 45 countries will compete in 42 various sports disciplines during the 16th edition of Asian Games, which will be held Guangzhou, China.

Islamabad - Pakistan's Supreme Court Wednesday granted bail to a radical cleric who incited a standoff with security forces at Islamabad's Red Mosque and adjoining seminary nearly two years ago, his lawyer said. "The court has observed that there was no evidence against Maulana Abdul Aziz in this case that could prevent his release on bail," attorney Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui told reporters.

The court ruling followed a petition filed by Aziz challenging the earlier denial of bail by a lower court in a case regarding the illegal occupation of a state-owned library adjacent to the mosque.

Islamabad, Apr 15 : If the Taliban refuse to disarm following the implementation of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 2009, the Pakistan Government will take action after taking people into confidence, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has said.

He told reporters after attending a meeting at the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) that it was incumbent upon people of the area to come forward and play their role in ensuring peace.

He said the government’s decision to implement the Nizam-e-Adl had foiled the designs of people trying to destabilise Pakistan.

Islamabad, Apr 15 : Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi chief Sufi Mohammad has interpreted the Nizam-i-Adl regulation in an audacious manner, by asserting that the law would protect Pakistan Taliban militants accused of brutal killings and burning scores of schools for girls in the name of Islam from prosecution.

Asked on Tuesday in a television interview whether the new courts would hear complaints from Swat residents about Mullah Fazlullah or his followers, Sufi Mohammad said they could not.

Islamabad - Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive north- western Swat valley on Tuesday refused to lay down arms hours after Pakistani government approved Islamic sharia law for the troubled north-western region, to honour a truce with them. "My brother, we have only conventional weapons - and Islamic sharia gives people the right to keep them. Islamic jihad will continue until Judgement Day," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Geo television's Capital Talk show.