This newspaper's interview today with the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, reveals a leader at bay. Mr Zardari angrily denies that it was remiss of him to have left the country in the wake of the disastrous floods which have inundated more than a fifth of Pakistan's land mass and affected some 20 million people. He also asserts that the emergency is giving succour to domestic extremists.

For cricket to prosper, it is frequently suggested that more former star players need to be involved in its running. This is worth remembering when examining the radical proposals for one-day cricket to be introduced in Australia this winter. In a revolutionary departure justified by the statement "The Public told us to act and we have", the competition is unrecognisable from anything seen before. It will be played over 45 overs, instead of the international standard of 50. But that is barely the half of it. Each side will have two innings of 20 and 25 overs but with 10 wickets spread across them. They can field 12 players but only 11 can bat and field. There will be no power plays but there will be fielding restrictions at the start of each innings. Bowlers may bowl up to 12 overs (for the first time in one-day cricket, sides can use a minimum of four bowlers, not five). A point will be awarded for a lead on first innings and four points for a win. All this and yet in Test cricket, if a bowler breaks down in the first over there is still no scope for a replacement. Of six voting members of the playing conditions panel four are former internationals – Mark Taylor, Matthew Hayden, Greg Chappell and Shane Warne. It may or may not work. Presumably it depends on whether anyone can work out what on earth is going off out there. The whole ethos of one-day cricket should lie in its simplicity.

A little over a year ago, the Pakistan army launched a much-lauded (in the West at least) assault on the Taliban in the Swat Valley and North-West Pakistan. The result was well over a million civilians displaced and some 10,000 or more killed. Now the monsoons have come to the same people in the same area, killing at least 1,300 and affecting more than three million.

David Cameron will try to assuage Pakistani fury over remarks linking the country with terrorism after its president arrives for a visit to Britain tomorrow.

Emergency teams battled heavy rain and mud today to recover bodies strewn over hills overlooking the Pakistani capital after the country's worst plane crash.

Pakistan is marking a national day of mourning after the largest plane crash in the country's history yesterday left no survivors.

A passenger jet crashed into the hills overlooking Pakistan's capital amid poor weather today, killing all 152 people on board and blazing a path of devastation strewn with body parts and twisted metal wreckage.

For decades, the high-stepping, border closing ceremony at Wagah-Attari has been an opportunity for both Indian and Pakistani soldiers to put on their most aggressive, intimidating display of martial rigour.

For too long, US aid for Pakistan has meant aid for the military. Over the decades huge amounts of money have disappeared into the pockets of corrupt officials or – worse – ended up with the intelligence services, whose ties to the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan are now notorious. Too little went on improving the lives of ordinary people. Washington, fortunately, seems to have learned that lesson, however late in the day.

Forty-six years after talks started, Afghanistan has struck a trade deal with Pakistan opening a direct route to India and calling to mind its past glories as the crossroads of Asia.

Pakistanis lashed out at the US yesterday, blaming its alliance with their government and its presence in Afghanistan for spurring two suicide bombers to kill 42 people at the country's most important Sufi shrine.