Karachi, Oct 31 : England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have formally invited Pakistan to play a test series in 2010 and negotiations will be held soon, a senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday.

Saleem Altaf, Director General of the board, said they had received a formal proposal from the ECB to play three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 match on the bilateral tour.

“We will be holding negotiations soon with the ECB to sort out financial arrangements but obviously we are very keen to go ahead with the series,” Altaf said.

Karachi, Oct 21 : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain has hailed President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to China, saying he deserves “great appreciation” for his efforts to bring the country out of economic crisis.

According to a MQM statement, Hussain felicitated the President in an hour-long telephone conversation (with him) on his recent successful visit to China.

Karachi - The prolonged rumours of a Pakistani default with international creditors sent the rupee heading downward Tuesday. At one point it hit a record low of 83 against the US dollar, traders said.

As the trading day closed, it stood at 81/81.50 against the dollar in the open market. That compares with its 80/80.40 close on Monday.

A reported severe shortage of dollar prompted the market gyrations.

Karachi - Pakistan's largest bourse late Monday decided to unfreeze trading by October 27, a senior official told reporters.

Adnan Afridi, managing director of the Karachi Stock Exchange, said the decision was taken tentatively during three days of marathon meetings with the state watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

Karachi- Pakistan's main Karachi bourse on Friday reluctantly decided to unfreeze itself by October 27 only if the government fixes a cap on interest rates on loans taken by top brokers, sources said.

"The decision to unfreeze is only tentative. We are watching the government to see if it will inject money into the market and put a cap on interest rates," Akeel Karim Dhedhi, chairman of local giant AKD Securities told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.