Islamabad, Nov 7: The PCB is set to appoint former Pakistan Test cricketer Ijaz Ahmed as the new fielding coach of the national team ahead of the home series against India.

Ijaz, who is working as the National Cricket Academy (NCA) fielding coach, would be elevated as the national fielding coach well before the important series against India starting in January 2009, The News quoted a well placed PCB source as saying.

Islamabad, Nov 7: The Pakistan Government is learnt to be facing shortage of tents for the quake-hit people in Balochistan. But, it is going to start the distribution of whatever tents are available with it from today.

“The first consignment of 200 winterised tents has arrived from the United Kingdom and its distribution will start on Friday,” the Dawn quoted National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman Farooq Ahmad Khan as saying last evening.

Islamabad, Nov 7: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has refuted media reports that his government had borne all the expenses of President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent Saudi Arabia visit.

Zardari went to Saudi Arabia on a two-day visit on Tuesday with a delegation of up to 200 people to seek financial assistance package from the kingdom.

Talking to reporters here last evening, he said that he wanted to clarify that the expenses of the “large” delegation were borne by the President, reported the Dawn.

Hangu, Nov 7: The Pakistan Government is learnt to have released at least three dreaded Taliban prisoners, including Baitullah Mehsud’s deputy Maulvi Rafiuddin, in exchange of 10 soldiers. The swap reportedly took place at Thal tehsil of Hangu district on Wednesday.

Sources said the exchange was made possible by the efforts of the Hangu Aman Jirga (peace council) in facilitating talks between the local administration and the Taliban.

Khar, Nov 7: Around 22 tribesmen were killed and 45 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Salarzai jirga in the Bajaur Agency last evening.

A man claiming to be a member of a not-s-well-known organization ‘Karwan-e-Nematullah’ accepted responsibility for the attack by calling up journalists on phone.

Islamabad- An explosion ripped through a meeting of pro-government tribesmen in Pakistan's remote region along the Afghan border on Thursday, leaving at least eight people dead and more than 45 others injured, locals said.

The blast took place when around 200 people from the Salarzai tribe were holding a meeting in Batmale village, some 50 kilometres from Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district, to plan action against Taliban militants.