Karachi, Dec 3 : Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt will leave for Colombo tomorrow to attend a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

Butt, a former Pakistan Test opener, will take over as the ACC chief in place of former PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf during the meeting.

During his visit, Butt will meet Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar to discuss the fate of the forthcoming home series against India scheduled for January-February next year.

The series is in serious doubt following last week''s killings in Mumbai and India''s decision to raise the finger of suspicion at Pakistan.

Washington, Dec. 3 : The Bush administration has claimed that it had warned the Indian government beforehand that terrorists appeared to be plotting an assault on Mumbai.

The Daily Times quoted a senior State Department official as saying that information was passed on to New Delhi that a waterborne attack on Mumbai appeared in the works.

This official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of intelligence information, said both India and Pakistan have acted "in a wise manner" so far, noting there has been no buildup of troops along the India-Pakistan border or other overt signs that sometimes-sharp rhetorical exchanges will escalate to military confrontation.

Peshawar, Dec. 3 : The North West Frontier Province Government in Pakistan has asked the federal government to take decisive action against a Taliban build-up in Jamrud.

The Daily Times quoted a senior official as warning that there could be Iraq-like situation in the area in the coming few months, if the deteriorating law and order situation was not tackled firmly in Jamrud, and the Khyber and Mohmand agencies.

He said a high-level meeting was held in the provincial capital two days ago to discuss the situation emerging in Jamrud tehsil and on the outskirts of Peshawar.

Washington, Dec 3 : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan is not responsible for last week''s Mumbai attacks.

""The state of Pakistan is in no way responsible. Even the White House and the American CIA have said that today. We''re part of the victims. I''m a victim. The state of Pakistan is a victim. We are the victims of this war. I am sorry for the Indians," The News quoted Zardari telling US talk show host Larry King.

Washington, Dec 3 : The Samjhota Express, the train link between India and Pakistan, will run with a Pakistani rack from Monday.

Currently, the train is being run between the two countries with an Indian rack every Monday and Thursday, the Daily Times reported.

According to an agreement, the train service is run for six months with an Indian rack of bogies and engine and for the other six months with Pakistani bogies and engine.

The train service will continue to run on the existing fare.

The Samjhota Express has a seating capacity of 576 and the railway authorities introduced reservation system from March 4 last year.

The train had resumed its weekly operation after a break of two years on January 15, 2004.

Islamabad, Dec. 23 : Pakistan’s top political leaders have taken strong exception to India’s “unsubstantiated allegations made in haste”, and said that they will remain united against any threat to the security of their country.

In a seven-point statement issued after an all-parties conference (APC) at the Prime Minister’s House to discuss rising tensions between India and Pakistan after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the politicians said that they were ready to “pursue constructive engagement with India in a comprehensive manner with a view to building confidence and mutual trust for establishing friendly and good-neighbourly relations with India on the basis of settlement of all outstanding disputes”.