London  - The British government has hired prominent Muslims for a publicly-funded TV advertising campaign aimed at preventing young people in Pakistan from engaging in extremist activity, the Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday.

It said the three-month public relations offensive, called I Am the West, consists of television commercials and high-profile events in regions such as Peshawar and Mirpur.

It is being funded by the Foreign Office, which is paying up to 400,000 pounds (596,000 dollars) for a pilot project due to be launched on Pakistani TV next Monday.

Warsaw  - Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered a reward of 1 million zloty (291,248 dollars) on Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of the Taliban responsible for killing a kidnapped Polish engineer in Pakistan.

Pakistani militants released on Sunday video footage of the Pole's beheading. They had offered to exchange him for 61 of their colleagues held by Pakistan.

Poland's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Pakistan confirmed the engineer is dead, but that neither side knows where the body was taken.

Karachi, Feb. 10, : The Pakistani players, who were contracted with the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), have been formally allowed by the PCB to play in the domestic cricket.

PCB lawyer Shan Gul said the board had banned all ICL-contracted players from playing domestic or international cricket in Pakistan, because the rebel league is not a legal tournament in its home base.

Gul is hoping to see the banned players in cricketing action soon and said, "Chairman board Ijaz Butt is also not in favour of ban on the players featured in the Indian Cricket League."

Lahore, Feb 10 : Former cricket captain Saeed Anwar has said that he is ready to

Islamabad, Feb. 10 : Richard Halbrooke, the United States special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday here.

According to The News, several topics including the prevailing tension with India, the turbulent situation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and the US led `war on terror' were discussed at the meeting.

The increasing insurgency in the Federally Administered Tribal Region (FATA) and Taliban's growing influence in the region were also taken up during the talks.

Sevearal other top officials, including the US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson and Interior Advisor Rehman Malik were also present in the meeting.

Lahore, Feb. 10 : Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has warned that the country will face more international pressure following the release of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

A private TV channel also quoted Musharraf as saying that he had tried to bring Pakistan and Israel closer during his rule.

He said India would have to pay a heavy price if it attacked nuclear-armed Pakistan, adding that any surgical strikes by India would be responded to appropriately.