Pakistan president names aide as successor to governor Salman Taseer

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday appointed close aide Latif Khosa to succeed the murdered governor of the biggest province of Punjab.   

The outspoken governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was gunned down by his bodyguard for his opposition to the country's controversial blasphemy law last week.    

"The president has approved the name of Mr Latif Khosa as governor of Punjab a short while ago," Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.