International

Devil-stoning done with zeal See on Page 8

Iran FM to visit Pakistan next week See on Page 8

Nato moot seen as watershed in Afghan war See on Page 8

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilanitalking with President Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr. -APP

See on Page 2

Special Correspondent/Agencies

ISLAMABAD: The names offour members of Parliamentbelonging to Treasury Benchesfor the 8-memberParliamentary Committee formaking senior judicial appoint-ments under Article 175(A) ofthe Constitution were finalisedon Tuesday.

In a statement spokespersonto the President, FarhatullahBabar said names werefinalised in the light of the rec-ommendations made by thePrime Minister in a meetingwith the President.

He said four members of theParliament belonging toTreasury comprise of two sena-tors and two members of theNational Assembly.

He said two NationalAssembly members nominatedas members of the

Parliamentary Committee,including Aftab Shaban Miranifrom Sindh and Asma AlamgirArbab from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The two Senators nominatedto the ParliamentaryCommittee, including SyedNayyar Hussain Bukhari fromPunjab and Sabir Baloch fromBalochistan, he added.

The names have been chosento represent all provinces andalso to give representation towomen, he said.

The names are being commu-nicated to the secretariates ofthe National Assembly andSenate.

Meanwhile, MQM and ANPhave expressed their reserva-tions on nomination of fourmembers in respect of parlia-mentary committee constitutedfor appointment of judge say-ing that neither the governmentconsulted them nor took them

into confidence in respect ofthese nominations.

MQM central leader and fed-eral minister Babar Ghauri saidMQM would talk to PPP lead-ership with reference to parlia-mentary committee.

"We are utterly disappointedover the decision taken by thegovernment on this count", headded.

He held MQM had not beentaken on board on this matter."We will try issue is resolvedthrough dialogue".

On the other hand ANP centralleader Senator Zahid Khan saidgovernment like tax issue hadnot consulted his party and ANPhad not been taken into confi-dence on such a vital matter.

"ANP is disappointed overthis decision", he added.Government should not takesuch steps which foments dis-contentment and unrest amongother parties, he underlined.

Govt handpicksfour lawmakers

Parliamentary Committee for Judicial Appointments

MQM, ANP unhappy over being neglected by govt

Flood affectees assured offull assistance: Murad Ali

*Crude Oil (brent)$/bbl 85.49

*Crude Oil (WTI)$/bbl 83.45

*Cotton $/lb 132.25

*Gold $/ozs 1,353.10

*Silver $/ozs 25.40

Malaysian Palm $ 1,040.00

GOLD (NCEL) PKR 37,257

KHI Cotton 40Kg PKR 9,109

*Last Updated 20:00 PST

Yearly(Jul, 2010 up to 15-Nov-2010)

Monthly(Nov, 2010 up to 15-Nov-2010)

Daily (15-Nov-2010)

Total Portfolio Invest (05-Nov-2010)

145.61

40.89

3.39

2589

1.26

0.25

0.36

-0.28

-0.36

-1.14

-0.10

SCRA(U.S $ in million)

Portfolio Investment

FIPI (16-Nov-2010)

Local Companies (16-Nov-2010)

Banks / DFI (16-Nov-2010)

Mutual Funds (16-Nov-2010)

NBFC (16-Nov-2010)

Local Investors (16-Nov-2010)

Other Organization (16-Nov-2010)

(U.S $ in million)

NCCPL

GDR update

Commodities

Forex Reserves (5-Nov-10)

Inflation CPI% (Jul 10-Nov 10)

Exports (Jul 10-Nov 10)

Imports (Jul 10-Nov 10)

Trade Balance (Jul 10-Nov 10)

Current A/C (Jul 10 - Oct 10)

Remittances (Jul 10-Nov 10)

Foreign Invest (Jul 10-Sep 10)

Revenue (Jul 10-Oct 10)

Foreign Debt (Sep 10)

Domestic Debt (Aug 10)

Repatriated Profit (Jul- Sep 10)

LSM Growth (Aug 10)

GDP Growth FY10EPer Capita Income FY10Population

$16.95bn

14.17%

$7.17bn

$12.25bn

$(5.08)bn

$(533)mn

$3.50bn

$455.10mn

Rs 411bn

$58.41bn

Rs 4863bn

$124.90mn

-3.85%

4.10%

$1,051

171.07mn

Economic Indicators

Symbols

MCB (1 GDR= 2 Shares)

OGDC (1 GDR= 10 Shares)

UBL (1 GDR= 4 Shares)

LUCK (1 GDR= 4 Shares)

HUBC (1 GDR= 25 Shares)

$.Price

2.60

19.20

2.00

1.70

10.36

PKR/Shares

110.98

163.91

42.69

36.28

35.38

T-Bills (3 Mths)

T-Bills (6 Mths)

T-Bills (12 Mths)

Discount Rate

Kibor (1 Mth)

Kibor (3 Mths)

Kibor (6 Mths)

Kibor ( 9 Mths)

Kibor (1Yr)

P.I.B ( 3 Yrs)

P.I.B (5 Yrs)

P.I.B (10 Yrs)

P.I.B (15 Yrs)

P.I.B (20 Yrs)

P.I.B (30 Yrs)

03-Nov-2010

03-Nov-2010

03-Nov-2010

29-Sep-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

16-Nov-2010

12.75%

13.11%

13.24%

13.50%

12.66%

12.99%

13.26%

13.63%

13.71%

13.64%

13.73%

13.82%

14.22%

14.33%

14.50%

Money Market Update

Symbols Buy (Rs) Sell (Rs)

Australian $ 84.50 84.60

Canadian $ 84.60 84.70

Danish Krone 16.00 16.50

Euro 118.50 119.00

Hong Kong $ 10.95 11.15

Japanese Yen 1.014 1.040

Saudi Riyal 22.50 22.70

Singapore $ 65.60 65.70

Swedish Korona 12.85 13.00

Swiss Franc 87.20 88.20

U.A.E Dirham 22.90 23.10

UK Pound 136.50 137.00

US $ 85.20 85.60

Open Mkt Currency Rates

Symbols Buying Selling

TT Clean TT & OD

Australian $ 84.09 84.29

Canadian $ 84.59 84.79

Danish Krone 15.58 15.62

Euro 116.16 116.43

Hong Kong $ 11.00 11.03

Japanese Yen 1.027 1.030

Saudi Riyal 22.75 22.80

Singapore $ 65.69 65.84

Swedish Korona 12.42 12.45

Swiss Franc 86.74 86.94

U.A.E Dirham 23.22 23.28

UK Pound 137.03 137.35

US $ 85.37 85.56

Inter-Bank Currency Rates

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Global Indices

ISLAMABAD: FederalMinister of Petroleum andNatural Resources, SyedNaveed Qamar Tuesday saidthat modalities have beenpenned regarding LNG Projectin Pakistan in light of recom-mendation from Ministry ofLaw, added this model projectwould be presented in theEconomic CoordinationCommittee (ECC) soon.

Qamar said that all matterswith two foreign companiesregarding the import of LNGwould be settled down byNovember 30.

Regarding IPI gas pipe lineproject, Minister said thatIntrastate Gas Company work-ing expediently on the project.

Earlier, Federal Minister hasoffered wholehearted supportfor Punjab govt's proposal forLNG import for meeting ener-gy demands of the industrial

sector of Punjab that is present-ly going through an energycrunch.

Qamar was talking to the del-egates while chairing a meet-ing with a delegation from thePunjab Government, headed byRizwanullah Khan, ViceChairman, Punjab Board ofInvestment and Trade,Government of Punjab, thatcalled on him here on Tuesday.

In the meeting, the delega-tion discussed the ways andmeans of importing LiquefiedNatural Gas (LNG), preferablythrough the private sector, tomitigate the demand-supplygap being faced by the industri-al sector in Punjab. TheGovernment of Punjabexpressed its resolve to play itsrole as project facilitator andrequested the Federal govern-ment to share its experience inthe matter. -Agencies

LNG project,ECC OK away

Punjab assured its initiative for LNG Import

ISLAMABAD: A petitionfiled in Lahore High CourtTuesday challenged Rs72 perkilogramme rate of sugar.

The Government of Punjabhas recently fixed sugar atRs72 per kilogramme.

Meanwhile, the court calledreply from the federal govern-ment within two weeks over apetition in which government'sdecision about imposition of

Reformed General Sales Tax(RGST) and flood tax havebeen challenged.

Meanwhile, federal ministerfor industries and productionMir Hazar Khan Bijrani hassaid that there is no shortage ofsugar in the country, it is thehoarders who are to be blamedand without the help of theprovincial governments this

See # 2 Page 7

Plea againstRs72/kg sugar

No sugar shortage in country, says Bijrani

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Courtof Pakistan Tuesday directedDG Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) to arrest the high-ups of National InsuranceCompany Limited (NICL)scam, including its chairmanAyaz Khan Niazi and MohsinWarraich without any furtherdelay as the main culprits areyet not arrested.

A three-member bench,headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryheard a suo moto case regard-ing the alleged violation ofrules by the NICL chairman inprocurement of land on highlyenhanced rates and causing

huge financial loss to thenational exchequer.

During the course of hearing,DG FIA informed the court thatwe have arrested HabibullahWarraich and Interpol hasissued red warrant for the arrestof his son Mohsin Warraich,who will also be in the custodyvery soon.

He also informed the courtthat FIA has also put AyazKhan's name on Exit ControlList (ECL) and search opera-tions are continuing for hisarrest.

After hearing the arguments,CJ remarked that the main

See # 1 Page 7

FIA told to netNICL’s big fish

Land procurement scam

ISLAMABAD: PrimeMinister Syed Yousuf RazaGilani on Tuesday approvedthe proposal to discontinue theweekly holiday on Saturdayfrom November 27.

It may be recalled that thedecision for weekly holidayon Saturday was taken by theCouncil of Common Interestin the wake of electricity

shortage during the summers.Prime Minister Syed Yousuf

Raza Gilani took the decisionto end the weekly holiday onSaturday after consulting allprovincial governments andthe ministries concerned.

The formal decision hasbeen taken with consensusafter taking all stakeholders onboard. -APP

6-day workingweek restored

Younus’

ton leads

Pak to drawDUBAI: Younus Khan notchedhis 17th test hundred to guidePakistan to a draw againstSouth Africa on the final-day ofthe first test on Tuesday.

Set 451 for victory after the vis-itors declared their second inningson 318 for two, Younus stroked anunbeaten 131 as Pakistan lost justone wicket on the fifth day toreach 343 for three.

Younus got solid supportfrom skipper Misbah-ul-Haq(76) as the pair put on anunbroken fourth-wicket standof 186. Their partnership was arecord for any Pakistan wicketagainst South Africa, eclipsingthe 161-run second-wicketstand between Kamran Akmaland Younus scored in Lahoreduring the 2007/8 season. -Reuters

See details on page 5

Nation

celebrates

Eid-ul-Adha

todayISLAMABAD: Nation wouldcelebrate Eid-ul-Adha with tra-ditional zeal and religious fer-vour today (Wednesday).

The day would dawn wouldspecial Eid sermons whereUlema would stress for unity ofUmmah and prayers be held forthe prosperity and well being ofthe country. The largest Eid con-gregation in the federal capitalwould be held at Faisal Mosque.

In Rawalpindi main Eid con-gregation would be held atLiaquat Bagh while in Lahore,biggest Eid congregation wouldbe held at Badshahi Mosque.

Eid congregations would alsobe held at Data Darbar, MasjidShuhada, Masjid Wazir Khanand Bagh Jinnah.

Special prayers would beoffered for the independence ofPalestine and Kashmir and sus-tainable peace in the region.

Ulema and Khateebs from dif-ferent schools of thought woulddeliver special sermons and lec-tures to highlight the signifi-cance of the day.

To celebrate Eid-ul-Adha, See # 3 Page 7

The Financial Daily

wishes a

very happy

Eid Mubarak

Karachi, Wednesday, November 17, 2010, Zil Hajj 10, Price Rs12 Pages 8

Moody'sawards ‘ B’

rating to PakISLAMABAD: Moody'sInvestor Service published areport assessing Pakistan's B3foreign and local-currencyissuer rating.

Pakistan's modest but low-income and savings-con-strained economy is buffetedby large supply-side shocks,tax collection is inadequate andforeign investment in declin-ing, the report said.

Weakening governance andrising internal policy has result-ed in limited policy effective-ness, while volatile politicspose considerable event risk,the agency added.

"However, external financialassistance coupled with buoy-ant remittances has bolsteredthe external payments position,reducing the risk of a balanceof crisis in the near term,"Moody's said.

The outlook on the country isstable, reflecting the adequacyof Pakistan's foreign currency

See # 4 Page 7

Ahmed Siddique

KARACHI: Pakistan's currentaccount deficit squeezed by 55per cent to a provisional $533million during the first fourmonths of current fiscal yearfrom $1.177 billion in the sameperiod of last year which ishighly encouraging for eco-nomic executives, showedState Bank of Pakistan's data,released Tuesday.

Higher remittances and alower trade deficit comparedwith last year were the reasonsfor the narrowing of the currentaccount deficit, according tothe TFD analyst.

According to the latest offi-cial data, remittances fromPakistanis working overseasrose 13.3 per cent to $3.5 bil-lion in the first four months ofthe FY11.

However, on a month-on-month basis, the currentaccount surplus narrowed inOctober. In October, the cur-rent account stood at a provi-sional surplus of $35 million,compared with a surplus of$424 million in September.

The lower surplus fromSeptember to October is main-ly due to a higher import billstemming from rising interna-tional oil prices.

4M C/A deficitshrinks by 55pc

20 killed in NWA drone attacksMIRANSHAH: US drones have killed 20 people in the recentattack in which 6 missiles were fired on a building, killing fourforeigners -- their identity is still not confirmed.

As per local administration in the area of Ghulam Khan inBugi dara 10-km away from Miranshah two American dronesfired 6 missiles on a house and a car killing at least 20 peopleincluding four foreigners and injuring many.

The nationality of the foreigners is still See # 5 Page 7

2 Wednesday, November 17, 2010

TV PROGRAMMES

WEDNESDAY

Time Programmes7:00 News8:00 News9:00 News10:05 Subah Savere

Maya Kay Sath Eid Speical

11:05 Headlines12:00 News15:00 News16:00 Reports at IDPs

Camps18:00 News18:05 Chutkulay19:05 Chutkulay20:05 Newsbeat21:00 News22:03 Tonight With

Jasmeen23:00 News23:30 24

WEDNESDAY

Time Programmes11:05 Ghar Ka Kharch12:00 News12:15 Power Lunch13:00 News13:05 Islamabad Say

(Rpt)14:00 News15:02 Akhri Sauda15:30 Aap Ka Paisa

(Rpt)16:15 Karobari Dunya17:05 Ghar Ka Kharch

(Rpt)18:05 Chai Time19:00 News19:05 Aap Ka Paisa19:30 Mang Raha Hai

Pakistan 20:00 News20:05 Islamabad Say 21:00 Pakistan Aaj Raat22:00 News22:05 Doosra Pehlu23:00 News23:05 Badalta Pakistan

(Rpt)0:00 News

KARACHI: TheSiemens Pakistan hasdonated diesel generatingsets for pumping out thestagnating flood water inthe affected areas.

This was announced bythe spokesman of thecompany here onTuesday.

He said that theSiemens Pakistan hasdonated more than 30Diesel Generating sets ofvarious ratings worth Rs.30 million to the PakistanArmy.

These sets will be usedto supply power to med-ical camps and help pro-vide power to pumpingmotors to pump out waterstill stagnating in someareas.

The spokesman addedthat Brig. Sohail Safdarspeaking at the hand overceremony thankedSiemens Pakistan for thisgenerous donation whichaccording to him will go along way in providingfacilities in flood reliefcamps especially in med-ical care and other infra-structure needs.

The Siemens has alsoset up a `Tent Village' for100 families at SehwanSharif and provided allfacilities including med-ical camp and a makeshiftschool.

So far the total Siemensdonation for flood reliefin Pakistan stands at 2.5million Euro or Rs226.7million.-APP

Siemens works for

flood victims uplift

KARACHI: Advisor toChief Minister Sindh onInformation and ArchivesMs Sharmila Farooqui hasasked the leaders of politi-cal, religious and socialorganizations to stand unit-ed on one platform asMuslims so as to stamp outracial, religious and otherdifferences and to ensurelarger interfaith harmonyon the eve of Eid-ul-Adha.

It is the need of the hourto promote peace inPakistan through interfaithharmony and remove allhindrances in the way ofthe socio-economic devel-opment process, she said in

a statement on Tuesday.The advisor said Holy

Prophet HazratMuhammad (PBUH) was ablessing for the humanityso we as Muslims shouldfollow his teachings ofinterfaith harmony andpeace in true spirit.

The unity of all the reli-gious leaders is needed tobridge gaps among peoplebelonging to political, reli-gious and civil societyorganizations for the goodof the nation, she said.

Sharmila said 21st centu-ry is an innovative andright time to resolve issuesof national interest, while

the Islam is well-matchedwith the requirements ofmodern developments.

"It is proper time for us tounite under the flag ofPakistan so as to shun pettydifferences for peace in thesociety," Sharmila said.

The advisor said we areconfronted with alarmingchallenges of terrorism asthe anti-state elements areout to derail the peaceprocess, but we will not letthem to succeed in gainingtheir nefarious designs. Theinterfaith harmony is thebest way to ensure peaceand progress in the country,Sharmila concluded.-PPI

Sharmila urgesinterfaith harmony

Staff Reporter

KARACHI: The malprac-tice towards scamming anddisappearance of container'sis mounting in the countrydue to manual and semi-automated procedures ofcustoms clearances.

Reportedly, over 10,000to 11,000 containers des-tined for ISAF have notreached Afghanistan yet,causing huge revenue lossesto the national exchequer.

Recently, Chief Justice ofPakistan IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry hastaken a suo moto notice ofalleged embezzlement ofbillions of rupees under thegarb of supplies made to theInternational SecurityAssistance Force (ISAF)and Nato forces operating inAfghanistan, it is learned.

Ironically, the customsofficials have denied factsas saying that reports per-

taining to 11,000 containersfor ISAF in Afghanistan aretotally baseless.

The Pakistan AutomatedCustoms ComputerizedSystem (PaCCS) has dis-closed the disappearance ofover 10,000 containers ofexpensive goods. After thatthe case was taken up by theSupreme Court for hearing.

It has been observed thatthe container scam had beenmade possible due to thebasic critical weaknesses inthe manual Customs sys-tem, which relies on paperdocuments and its accept-ance at the discretion of col-luding Customs officials,since paper documents canbe forged the scam wasmade possible.

Such scams are not possi-ble in PaCCS because theCustoms server is directlyconnected to the shippinglines, the agents, the banks,and the terminals, so unless

duties and taxes are not paidin the bank, the computersdo not clear the consign-ments and do not send elec-tronic release. Since nopaper documents areinvolved, they cannot beforged and since noCustoms officials areinvolved in release of con-tainers, they cannot collude.

The current mega contain-er scam has shaken thecountry. These missing con-tainers caused a loss ofRs220 billion to the excheq-uer. It is clear that the nexusof PRAL and FBR is costingbillions to the governmentof Pakistan.

PRAL, a subsidiary ofFBR is also the creator of'One Customs system'which caused a mega con-tainer scam in 2007 atQICT, involving hundredsof containers, and revenuelosses running into hun-dreds of millions of rupees.

Container scamon the rise

KARACHI: Policefinalised a comprehensivesecurity plan for the Eid-ul-Adha and further beefed upsecurity at public places,worship places and otherimportant buildings tothwart any untoward inci-dent.

This was informed toSindh Home Minister DrZulfiqar Ali Mirza in areport submitted to him.

According to the planover 1600 alert police forcewould be deployed inKarachi while installation ofsecurity cameras has beenensured for monitoring ofEid congregations.

All SHOs have beeninstructed to remain in con-

tinuous contact with themanagement and office-bearers of Masjids,Imambargahs, organizers ofEidghas and shopping cen-ters, Bachat bazaars and cat-tle markets. The police arecarrying out picketing,patrolling and snap check-ing at all entry and exitpoints while arrangementshave been completed for theforce deployment in the city.

Beside, deployment ofpolice in plain clothes forgenerating intelligence atpolice station level, themobile and special squadsare asked to patrol in vari-ous parts of the city to givea sense of security to peo-ple.

During Eid-ul-Azhaprayers, vehicle parkingwould be kept at safe dis-tance from Masajids,Imambargahs, Eidgahs,shopping centers, Bachatbazars and congested publicplaces for foolproof securitywhile bomb blast squads arealso on duty.

Deployment of trafficcops at all busy roads,lights, signals, intersectionsand roundabout has beenensured to keep peopleinformed about alternatetraffic routes.Implementation of code ofconduct regarding hidesnatching as issued byHome Department is alsobeing ensured.-PPI

Fool proof securityon Eid for Karachi

Medicsordered to

stay onstations

KARACHI: Sindh HealthMinster Dr Sagheer Ahmedon Tuesday declared emer-gency at all public servicehospitals in Sindh and direct-ed the authorities to ensurethe presence of doctors, para-medical staff and availabilityof medicines in the hospitalsduring Eid days.

He directed secretaryhealth to make the emer-gency wards of the hospitalsproperly functional duringEid days so that medicaltreatment could be providedto the patients in case of anyincident. He also directed todisplay the duty charts ofdoctors in hospitals in orderto facilitate the patients,adding negligence would notbe tolerated in this regard.

Sindh Health Minsteralso directed the ExecutiveDistrict Officers Health andMedical Superintendents ofgovernment hospitals inInterior Sindh to ensure thepresence of doctors.-PPI

MOL’s newoil, gas

discoveryin KP

KARACHI: MOLPakistan Oil and GasCompany BV as anOperator of TAL Blockalong with joint venturepartners i.e. GovernmentHoldings (Private) Limited,Oil & Gas DevelopmentCompany Limited,Pakistan PetroleumLimited and PakistanOilfields Limited has madea gas/oil discovery encoun-tered in its exploratorywell, Makori East-1, locat-ed in TAL Block of KhyberPakhtunkhwa Province.

The Lockhart formationflowed around 3209 bblsper day of oil per day and10.7 MMscfd gas per dayduring Drill Stem Test(DST), a press release saidTuesday.-PPI

UBL

members

calls on IG

SindhKARACHI: A four mem-ber delegation of UnitedBank Limited (UBL) SouthRegion called on InspectorGeneral Sindh (IGP) SindhSultan Salahuddin BabarKhattak at Central PoliceOffice (CPO) on Tuesday.

The delegation informedIGP about their problemsand also presented acheque of Rs 5 million forwelfare of police employ-ees and renovation ofSindh Police Hospital.

IGP Sindh thanked the del-egation and said Sindhpolice, despite of it limitedresources and scarcity ofcontingent, was striving hardto maintain law and ordersituation in Karachi. He saidpolice officers and jawansremain alert day and nightfor performing their dutiesand they also sacrifice theirlives to secure the lives andproperties of the citizens.

He said Police depart-ment was proud of itsbrave force.-PPI

Khi Stock Exchangeto reopen on 22nd

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange Will remain

Closed from Wednesday November 17, 2010 (10th Zil

Haj) to Friday November 19, 2010 (12th Zil Haj) on

account of Eid-ul-Azha and reopen on Monday

November 22, 2010.-PPI

Murad Ali

assures

govt’s help

for victimsKARACHI: SindhFinance Minister, SyedMurad Ali Shah, hasassured flood affectees ofevery help and assistanceto them from theGovernment.

A statement here onTuesday said that thisassurance was given byhim during a visit to vari-ous flood affected villagesnear Bhan Saeedabad inDistrict Dadu.

The Provincial FinanceMinister stated that SindhGovernment is determinedto provide every relief andif any official found notcooperating or providingassistance strict action willbe taken against the saidofficial. He also assuredthat he will be visitingtheir villages regularly tomonitor their rehabilita-tion processes and ensurethat ration is supplied tothem.

Earlier, the affecteesmade a complaint toProvincial Minister of nonsupply of ration to themon which he took seriousnotice of the same anddirected the concernedofficial to immediatelyresolve the grievances offlood affectees.-APP

Turkish

Airlines

report 9-mth

profitsStaff Reporter

KARACHI: TurkishAirlines 2010 consolidat-ed financial statementswere reported to IstanbulStock Exchange, said areport issued here.

According to the report-ed financial statements,sales revenue increased by39 per cent to $5 billion.Approximately 79 per centof our scheduled servicerevenue was obtainedfrom international linesand 21 per cent was fromdomestic lines. 9M 2010net profit and operatingprofit stood at $169 mil-lion and $538 millionrespectively.

Revenue PassengerKilometer (RPK)increased by 22.7 per centand Available SeatKilometer (ASK)increased by 17 per cent.The number of passengersincreased by 18 per cent to22 million, cargo and mailcarried increased by 41per cent to 228 thousands.As a result, passenger loadfactor increased by 3.4points from the previousyear to 74.2 per cent.

2010 Financial and oper-ational results, which arehigher than our expecta-tions, are a good indicatorfor us to achieve our2011 growth target.Hence, we are eager tocontinue to apply our longterm growth strategieswithout making any cons-ession on our profits.

KARACHI: People standing in queues to buy sugar one day before Eidul Azha as the government supplyremained insufficient to fulfill the demand of sugar in the provincial capital. -Online

LAHORE: Members of delegation of Turkey standing for a groupphoto during their visit at Shahi mosque. -Online

KARACHI: CCPO Fayaz Laghari adressing the members of businesscommunity at KCCI over law and order situation.-APP

3 Wednesday, November 17, 2010

RAWALPINDI: A large number of passangers waiting for trains as they are leaving for thier home-

towns to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha festival with thier love ones, at Rawalpindi Railway Station.-Online

DERA GHAZI KHAN: A skilled man sharpens butcher’s knife

at his roadside setup ahead of Eid day.-Online

ISLAMABAD: NationalTraders Alliance supported thestandpoint of key lendingpartners at PakistanDevelopment Forum (PDF) tointroduce economic reformsand tax wealthy instead oflooking for loans.

According to handout issuedhere on Tuesday, the viewsexpressed by US SpecialEnvoy for Afghanistan andPakistan Richard Holbrookand Britain's Secretary of Statefor International DevelopmentAndrew Mitchell and othersshould be taken seriously.However, he said, theannouncements after the meetleft much to be desired.

We appreciate the statementof Richard Holbrooke inwhich he said that they areaccountable to masses anddemanded that rulers, tax col-lectors and technocrats inPakistan should also beaccountable for their actions,said Malik Sohail Hussain,

Central Vice President ofNational Traders Alliance,President Traders WelfareAssociation (TWA), BlueArea and former SVP, ICCI.

We do not need debt write-off; instead, it should berescheduled for a decadekeeping in view our sacrificesin war on terror and devasta-tion caused by floods he saidwhile speaking at a meeting ofcommittee formed to reviewRGST related developments.

He said business communitycould do without trade conces-sions provided unjustifiedtrade barriers are lifted.

He said that governmentlack means to impose and exe-cute imposition of ReformedGeneral Sales Tax (RGST).This tax will suffocate thebusiness community, whichwill result in defaults, unem-ployment, reduced tax collec-tion and unrest.

Banks will also find an addi-tional opportunity to boost

their profits on the cost ofdepositors and borrowers, hesaid.

Malik Sohail said that gov-ernment will be rememberedfor generations if it containexpenditures, trim cabinet,recover written off loans, cutloses in inefficient state enter-prises, curb rampant smug-gling, break cartels, boostremittances, introduce energyreforms, impose tax on agri-cultural income and abolishunjustified exemptions andtax immunities.

He said that Turkey intro-duced tax reforms aftermonths of negotiations withall stakeholders but our gov-ernment didn't care to take anyof the stakeholders on board.

The trade leader said thattaxpayers and business com-munity have not been provid-ed any facility by governmentand dishonest bureaucracywas main reason behind it.-Online

Traders Alliance saysyes to economic reforms

ISLAMABAD: As Eid-ul-Adha is at our door steps, women have finalised their preparations withspecial focus on cooking variety of dishes on Eid. Contrary to the spirit of Eid-ul-Fitr which is allabout bangles, henna and colourful accessories, Eid-ul-Adha is celebrated with great reverence andsimplicity following Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi. After offering Eid prayer, slaughtering sacrificial animals toseek Allah's blessing is the common practice and every individual takes part in `Qurbani' at individ-ual level or in groups as per their convenience.

A variety of dishes is cooked on "Eid-i-Qurban" and especially barbecue parties add charm to theEid moments. A colourful and festive eid cannot be imagined without women as they cook, makedresses and cheer on their family members to finalise preparations for the festival.

This time too, women are seen in huge numbers at shopping malls and markets to shop for them-selves and help their families in making their shopping decisions.

This year, exorbitant prices of sacrificial animals have forced most of the people to go for sharedQurbani.-APP

Women sharpencutlery as Eid nears

ISLAMABAD: PresidentAsif Ali Zardari has urgedthe nation to help endpoverty and exploitationand remember their lessfortunate brethren on thefestive occasion of Eid-ul-Adha.

The President in a mes-sage on Eid felicitated theMuslims throughout theworld and particularlythose in Pakistan but askedthe countrymen "not to for-get those who suffer andendure and are deprived of

true joy."The President said it sad-

dens him that so many ofthe people are living indespair and misery broughtby unemployment, lowwages or lack of justice.

"Let us therefore alsostrive and pray on this daythat the deprivations of thepeople will soon be overand they regain their civiland economic rights."

He said the commemora-tion of Hazrat Ibrahim'ssupreme sacrifice was also

an occasion for theMuslims throughout theworld to affirm unity ofaction in an imperishablebond of brotherhood.

President Zardari saidEid-ul-Adha symbolises thewillingness to sacrificeone's most prized posses-sion to Allah's will on onehand and the underlyingunity of thought and actionof the Muslims on the other.

He said "Eid-ul-Azhashould serve to remind usthat we have an obligation

to our community throughwhich we attain a higherpurpose in life. So while wecelebrate and rejoice let usalso pause and ponder."

On the festive occasion ofEid-ul-Adha I call upon mycountrymen to also remem-ber our less fortunatebrethren. We must not for-get those who suffer andendure and are deprived oftrue joy. Let us thereforeresolve to end poverty andexploitation wherever wesee it.-APP

Zardri urges nation toshow spirit of sacrifice

Securityon highalert in

BalochistanQUETTA: Security of

Balochistan including

provincial Capital Quetta

has placed on high alert on

the arrival of Eid in order to

prevent terrorist attacks.

In this regard police force

have been deployed at Eid

Gahs.

In this connection entry of

any person would be prohib-

ited before Eid Prayer and

Police force has been strictly

ordered to keep eyes on sus-

picious persons.

Sources told that more

than 12,000 police officials

and Balochistan

Constabulary personals

would be deployed for the

security of Eid Gahs where-

in patrolling has also been

increased throughout

Balochistan.-Online

Health checkordered for

animalsSUKKUR: DistrictCoordination Officer (DCO)Sukkur Inamullah Dharjo onMonday asked the health offi-cials of the district to ensurestrict medical check up ofsacrificial animals againstany possible prevalence dis-eases among them at cattlemarkets and other sellingpoints so as to providehealthy meat and mutton topeople on the occasion ofEid-ul-Adha.-APP

City Govtgears up for offals disposal

KARACHI: The City DistrictGovernment Karachi (CDGK)has decided to provide all theresources to the town adminis-trations for the disposal of theoffals of the slaughtered ani-mals on the occasion of Eid ulAdha.

This was stated by theAdministrator Karachi, Fazal urRehman, on Monday.

He was inspected the trenchesdug for the disposal of offals ofslaughtered animals.

The Administrator wasinformed on the occasion thatevery town has dug trenches inaccordance with their require-ments and that the offals would bedisposed of in a scientific manner.

Some 20,000 officers, staffand concerned officials of theCDGK and towns would bedeployed during the three daysof Eid ul Adha. As many as4,000machinery would also beutilised for the purpose.-APP

Three Eid

holidays

announcedKARACHI: The SindhGovernment has declaredNovember 17 to 19 as publicholidays on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha throughout theprovince of Sindh for all itsoffices, autonomous, semiautonomous bodies, corpora-tions and of local councilsunder the administrative controlof the provincial government.

An announcement to thiseffect was made here onMonday.-APP

KARACHI: There will beno load shedding during Eidin the city; this was decidedby Karachi Electric SupplyCorporation (KESC) onTuesday.

According a KESCspokesman, it has beendecided that continuouspower supply will be provid-ed during Eid holidays to themetropolis, reported a pri-vate TV channel.

KESC's Eid power supplyschedule will start from

6:00pm Tuesday and end onSaturday at 9:00am. Duringthis entire period, uninter-rupted supply of electricitywill continue across the city.

The spokesman added thatit is expected that during Eid,electricity demand willdecline; KESC has also madeother arrangements to get therequired power supply toovercome the differencebetween demand and supplyduring these holidays.-Online

No load-sheddingduring Eid: KESC

KARACHI: Member National Assembly Abdul RasheedGodail along with Administrator Jamshed Town SyedAqiil Tazeem Naqvi inaugurated Aga Khan Women Parkin Union Council 11, on Tuesday.

The park has been constructed on the area of 40000square feet with cost Rs9 million. On this occasion MNAAbdul Rasheed Godail said that this park is an Eid gift forthe citizens. He said they are following the vision of MQMChief Altaf Hussain to serve people. He said that HaqParast leadership is striving hard to provide healthy atmos-phere through recreational places, adding skating trackand other falsities have also been provided on the park.

TO Infra Shahid Ashraf, DTO Solid Waste Ameen-u-Rehman and other were also present.-PPI

MNA inaugurates

women park in Khi

ISLAMABAD: Dr Fehmida Mirza, Speaker NationalAssembly has extended her warm greetings to the fellowcountrymen on the auspicious occasion of Eid-ul-Adha.

In her message, the speaker NA said Eid-ul-Azha remindsus of the great sacrifice laid down by Hazrat Ibrahim. Shesaid the Sacrifice of Hazrat Ibrahim enshrines a wider mes-sage for the muslims, that is the message of sacrificing forvirtues, humanity, country fellows and also igniting the spir-it of patience, tolerance and endurance.

The Speaker said that the Eid day brings happiness for us;however the true joy relates with taking care of the needs ofour poor brothers and sisters and to include them in ourpleasures.

"Our acts should help smoothen the social irregularitiesand promote the spirit of sacrifice, mutual harmony and fra-ternity. Only then we can provide strong foundation for theestablishment of a welfare Islamic society", she said.

She said that on this day let us renew our pledge and prayfor the prosperity and development of entire MuslimUmmah. She prayed to Almighty Allah to guide all theMuslims to tread right path and help them follow the truespirit of Islam. "May Allah help and protect us all. Amen",she added.

The Speaker called upon the nation to stand united onevery issue of national importance and not to be deterredby any vested interests. She urged upon the people tostand by democracy and support democratic institutionswith determination, unity and will power.-NNI

NA Speaker

felicitates nation

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use of these reports and recommendations.

To sacrifice

for holy

causeEid-ul-Adha is the commemoration of

Hazrat Ibrahim's (AH) willingness to sacrificehis eldest son Hazrat Ismael (AH) in obedi-ence to the Allah's command --and his son'sacceptance of this command. While enjoyingthe festivities we should not turn our backs toour unfortunate brethren. It is sad that many ofthe people are still living in despair and mis-ery in the aftermath of most devastating floodsthat brought hunger and unemployment. Theday of Hazrat Ibrahim's supreme sacrifice isthe occasion for the Muslims throughout theworld to affirm unity of action in an imperish-able bond of brotherhood.

Regrettably, Muslims have become obliviousof the significance of the practice that theProphet of Islam reestablished amongst hisfollowers. They are so much taken up withostentatious behavior of displaying wealth,with outdoing the other in the size and theamount spent on the sacrificial animal. Theyhave also failed in inculcating the spirit of sac-rifice for a greater and righteous cause, ofpatience and forbearance, of subservience toAllah.

On the occasion there is also massive move-ment of people all over the country wishing tojoin their dear and near. They are likely to becaught off guard both at the public and privatelevels to cope with any untoward incident.This year special arrangements have to bemade to deal with any adverse law and ordersituation.

While we are celebrating the auspicious day,there is need for all of us to exercise caution,to be extra careful on the roads. And the gov-ernment must also provide the necessary sup-port in terms of extra transport to meet theheavy rush of travelers. It is also essential thatfull security is provided during the prayertimes to ensure public safety.

The ritual also has some worldly and philan-thropic aims. The poor must also get their dueshare in the meat and the hides of the sacri-ficed animal or proceeds from their sales mustreach the most deserving.

The underlined objective of Eid-ul-Adha isto infuse among the Muslims the spirit of self-lessness and sacrifice towards a greater cause.

Our religion emphasises on striking a finebalance between spiritual and temporal attain-ments and in keeping with ethical and reli-gious injunctions, instead of ritually and annu-ally engaging in the ceremony of animal sac-rifice. The real teachings of Islam highlightsacrificing the lust for money and upholdingthe spirit of devotion to serving the humanity.

Let this Eid be a little different and a littlemore caring for the ones who are less blessed.Let us also display the unanimity by biddingfarewell to caste and creed. If Hazrat Ibrahimwas willing to sacrifice his beloved son whycan't we put our ego at the altar?

4Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Amir A. Ashary

Editor: Shakil H. Jafri

Executive Editor: Manzar Naqvi

Honorary Advisory Board

Haseeb Khan, FCA

Asim Abbas Ashary, CPA

Akhtar M. Zaidi, FCA

Dr. A. Hadi Shahid, FCA

Muhammad Arif

S. Muneer Hussain Rizvi

Khurram Shehzad, CFA

Prof. Zakaria Sajid (KU)

Zahid Bukhari SVP HBL (retd)

Ismat Sabir

Head office

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The Financial Daily InternationalVol 4, Issue 102

Signs of expanded state-on-state spying by rising powerslike China and India may

prompt a more vigorous responsefrom the West, provided its espi-onage agencies can juggle resourcesalready strained by counter-terror-ism work.

In the decade since the Sept 11,2001, attacks, Western governmentshave devoted much energy to scour-ing remote tribal areas ofAfghanistan, Yemen and Somalia aswell as increasing surveillance oftheir own populations.

While that will continue, expertssay Western espionage agenciesmay look closer at the decision-making and military and cybermight of rival powers such as Russiaand China, with the latter in particu-lar seen as more assertive than everbefore.

Proving what is happening in sucha secret world is difficult, but someex-spies see clear shifts ahead.

"In a way, the requirement hasalways been there, but I think it willbecome more important as the newemerging powers have greater influ-ence," Nigel Inkster, a former assis-tant chief of Britain's SecretIntelligence Service (MI6), toldReuters.

"Some of these areas have beenrelatively under-populated becauseof the need to focus so much ontransnational terrorism."

While direct conflict betweenemerging powers and Western statesis likely to be rare, competition --and occasional confrontation -- isbound to heat up in areas rangingfrom currency policy to industrialespionage and cyber warfare.

Emerging powers are believed tobe increasing spying on the West ina way not seen since the Cold War,targeting commercial as well asstate secrets. But not without set-backs.

President Dmitry Medvedev toldRussia's once mighty spy agency onFriday to put its house in order aftera spymaster betrayed a network ofagents to the United States in one ofRussia's most serious intelligencefailures in decades.

Fred Burton, a former US counter-terrorism agent who is now vicepresident of political risk consultan-

cy Stratfor, says the United Stateshas already begun redeploying FBIresources back towards counter-espionage from anti-terrorism.

"HOSTILE FOREIGNACTIVITY"

"It's a huge challenge for Westernintelligence services," he said earli-er this year. "For the last 10 yearsthey've been focused on counter-ter-rorism, Iraq and Afghanistan. Willthat focus move back? I think it will.The question is how much."

Among signs of a shift in priorities

cited by experts is a Nov. 3Pentagon announcement that the USmilitary's Cyber Command, respon-sible for shielding 15,000 militarycomputer networks from intruders,had become fully operational.

Another is an announcement in anOct 19 British military spendingreview of a 650-million-poundnational cyber security programme -- a notable increasein spending in a pri-ority-setting exercisethat slashed spendingoverall.

"What theAmericans andBritish are too politeto say is that an awfullot of the drivers forthese cyber venturescome from China,whether the specificthreat be China'sgovernment or itspeople," said UKintelligence analystRichard Aldrich.

Ian Lobban, head of Britain's com-munications spy agency, theGovernment CommunicationsHeadquarters (GCHQ), said states

were already using cyber warfaretechniques to attack each other andneeded to be constantly vigilant toprotect computer systems.

The internet lowered "the bar forentry to the espionage game", hesaid in an Oct. 13 speech.

Aldrich sees India's June 2009deployment of a military spy satel-lite as a sign that New Delhi fullyintends to exploit the intelligenceand defence potential of space.

In the first public speech by aserving head of MI6 last month,

John Sawers said that while terror-ists might hit the West again "athuge human cost", nuclear prolifera-tion by states was a more far-reach-ing danger and the risks of failure intackling challenges in the area bycountries like Iran were "grim".

Former MI6 officer Inkster -- nowhead of transnational threats andpolitical risk at the International

Institute for Strategic Studies inLondon -- said Sawers was probablyalso dealing with pressing mattersdaily involving the activities ofRussia, China and other powers, and

this would likely increase."It's the difference between impor-

tance and urgency," he said."Obviously you've got a terroristplot you've got to do somethingabout it now. Maybe there are otherissues that are more important butless urgent."

"STATES WITHSHARP ELBOWS"

Keeping an eye on emerging pow-ers was not simply a matter of mon-itoring a direct threat from them toBritain, he said, it was also aboutgathering enough information toadvise policymakers on what stepsMoscow, Beijing or New Delhimight take next.

Analysing the spending ofBritain's MI6 is difficult, as theannual Intelligence and SecurityCommittee report is censored. In2008-9, it said about 37 per cent ofSecret Intelligence Service effortwas devoted to international count-er-terrorism.

But Russia is mentioned, as wellas a country whose name is cen-sored. Iran is also cited in the report,which says Tehran's nuclear pro-gramme is targeted by an effort thathad attracted increasing fundingover the last two or three years.

Some caution that any shift in pri-orities will be modest.

Western spies' top priority willremain preventing lethal militantattacks, they say. The political costof letting attacks succeed remainshigh, both to Western governmentsand to the heads of intelligenceagencies themselves, they argue.

"That's not to say the rise ofemerging Asia is not important, but Iwould be surprised to see much inthe way of resources pulled awayfrom existing national securitythreats," said Alastair Newton, a for-mer British Cabinet Office officialand now political risk analyst forJapanese bank Nomura.

Former UK intelligence coordina-tor David Omand, now a professorat King's College London, said hewould be cautious about overstatingthe degree to which the world waschanging.

"States with sharp elbows havealways been there and intelligenceagencies have responded according-ly," he said.-Reuters

Spies of the West

For the past four decades,there has been an elephant inthe room whenever expertsand government officials metto discuss nuclear weapons.The elephant is Israel's size-able nuclear arsenal, unde-clared under a US-blessedpolicy of "nuclear opacity."

It means neither confirm-ing nor denying the existenceof nuclear weapons."Deterrence by uncertainty,"as Israeli President ShimonPeres has called it. TheUnited States became a silentpartner in Israeli opacitywith a one-on-one meetingbetween President RichardNixon and Israeli PrimeMinister Golda Meir on Sept26, 1969.

That policy made strategicand political sense 40 yearsago but it has outlived itsusefulness, conflicts withIsrael's democratic values, iscounter-productive andshould be abandoned. Soargues Avner Cohen, one ofthe world's leading expertson Israel's bomb, in a newbook "The Worst-KeptSecret", which delves deeplyinto the history and strategicand political implications ofthe policy.

The book's publicationcoincided with a rising cho-rus of warnings by US andIsraeli hawks over the direconsequences of Iran obtain-ing a nuclear bomb, an aimIran firmly denies. In severalessays over the summer,American neo-conservativespounded the drums of waragainst Iran. On a visit to theUS last week, Israeli PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu said a "crediblethreat of military action"from the West was necessaryto stop Iran from making anuclear bomb.

In his book, Cohen says itis almost impossible to pre-dict the outcome of the cur-rent battle of wills betweenIran and the West. But if Iran

were willing to negotiateseriously, it might agree tosubstantial concessions onlyon a regional basis, as a steptowards establishing anuclear-free zone.

"In such a case, Israelcould be pressed to make itsown nuclear contribution,possibly even to shut downthe Dimona reactor as part ofthe price for halting Iran's( u r a n i u m )e n r i c h m e n tactivities atNatanz."

Such argu-ments are notpublicly dis-cussed inIsrael, underits code ofsilence on thenuclear bomb.But Cohencan go whereIsraeli aca-demics andj o u r n a l i s t sc a n n o tbecause hisbook is pub-lished in theUnited States,where he is anon-prolifera-tion scholar atthe MontereyInstitute for Internal Studies.In Israel, his book is unlikelyto have survived the censor.

The Israeli nuclear com-plex at Dimona in the Negevdesert and the nuclear facili-ty at Natanz in central Iranare rarely mentioned in thesame breath but they have

something in common. Bothwere secret until their exis-tence was revealed againstthe will (and to the embar-rassment) of the respectivegovernments.

ISRAEL'S NUCLEARMONOPOLY SURVIVESIn 1986, Israeli nuclear

technician Mordechai Vanunuleaked photographs ofnuclear weapons productionat Dimona to the SundayTimes of London. His subse-quent kidnapping in Italy,

after beinglured into atrap by ablonde Mossadagent, hasbecome thestuff of booksand documen-taries. Back inIsrael, he wasconvicted in ac l o s e d - d o o rtrial, spent 18years in prisonand wasbanned fromleaving Israelafter his releasein 2004.

Iran's secret facility atNatanz became publicknowledge in 2002 after anIranian dissident group dis-closed details at aWashington press confer-

ence. Until then, theIranians had pursuedtheir program in a wayreminiscent of Israel'sstrategies in the 1960s- a blend of secrecy,ambiguity, double-talkand denial.

Why did Israel'snuclear "don't ask,don't tell" policy con-tinue even after theDimona disclosure?Cohen says the revela-tions lacked the politi-cal force to affect thepolicy. "On the con-trary, except forNorway, the interna-tional communityapparently was notwilling to translateVanunu's disclosureinto the language ofinternational rela-tions."

The policy survived, and sodid Israel's monopoly onnuclear weapons in the

Middle East. It has left nodoubt that it intends to main-tain that monopoly - in 1981,US-supplied Israeli F-16fighter bombers knocked outIraq's Osirak reactor nearBaghdad. The next perceivedthreat to the monopoly fellon Sept. 6, 2007, in a bomb-ing raid on a Syrian site.

Former US PresidentGeorge W. Bush, in his mem-oir "Decision Points", pro-vides insight into the episode.Then Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Olmert telephoned him,Bush says, to ask that theUnited States bomb a sus-pected nuclear weapons sitein the eastern desert of Syria.After checking with the CIA,which had "low confidenceof a Syrian weapons pro-gram," Bush declined. TheIsraelis went ahead.

In contrast to most Israelicritics of the country'snuclear program, Cohenthinks it has benefitted Israel,as has the policy of opacity.So why change it? Internally,because it is too secretive andlacks accountability. Whoruns it? Who would pull thetrigger? Externally, in partbecause President BarackObama has made "a worldwithout nuclear weapons"one of his chief aims.

This is a utopian vision andhow seriously the Obamaadministration is taking itwill become clear in 2012, ata conference to discuss anuclear-free Middle East.The decision to hold this wastaken in May at a UnitedNations meeting to reviewthe nuclear non-proliferationtreaty, which is held everyfive years. Obama welcomedthe decision but said hisadministration would opposeany actions that jeopardisedIsrael's national security.

If that stands for sticking toIsrael's nuclear opacity, whatdoes "nuclear-free" mean?The elephant staying in theroom?-Reuters

Nukes & Israeli Elephant

Emerging powers are

believed to be increasing

spying on the West in a

way not seen since the

Cold War, targeting

commercial as well as

state secrets. But not

without setbacks.

Why did Israel's nuclear

"don't ask, don't tell" policy

continue even after the

Dimona disclosure? Cohen

says the revelations lacked

the political force to affect

the policy. "On the contrary,

except for Norway, the

international community

apparently was not willing

to translate Vanunu's disclo-

sure into the language of

international relations."

In the decade since the Sept 11,

2001, attacks, Western govern-

ments have devoted much energy to

scouring remote tribal areas of

Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia as

well as increasing surveillance of their

own populations.

“

It means neither confirming nor

denying the existence of nuclear

weapons. "Deterrence by uncertainty,"

as Israeli President Shimon Peres has

called it. The United States became a

silent partner in Israeli opacity with a

one-on-one meeting between President

Richard Nixon and Israeli Prime

Minister Golda Meir on Sept 26, 1969.

“

5Wednesday, November 17, 2010

China's team celebrate gold medal after winningmen's table tennis event at 16th Asian Games

Chelsea

sidelines

Terry over

injuryMonitoring Desk

KARACHI: Chelsea'smedical team are assessinghow to treat a chronicnerve problem in JohnTerry's right leg which willkeep the Englandcentre-back out of action foran indefinite period

The extent of Terry'sinjury will concern Chelseamanager Carlo Ancelotti,who is also without centraldefender Alex with a kneeinjury. The flimsiness of hisdefensive back-up wasexposed this weekend, whenSunderland tore into aChelsea back line consistingof four full-backs.

Terry has been strugglingwith his leg injury since lastseason, but it has onlyrecently become unbearable.

He said: "I have beenstruggling with a nerve paincoming from the top of myleg down to my hamstringand to the outside of mycalf. It started towards theend of last season but withChelsea being in the mixuntil the day of the FA Cupfinal, I didn't have thechance to rest or pull out ofgames. Then I went straightto the World Cup withEngland.

SYDNEY: An Australian team sponsorhas pledged to buy a beer for everyadult in the country should the homeside beat England in the upcomingAshes series. Under the "Shout thenation" commitment, if Australia winback the Ashes from England over thenext two months, free coupons forVictoria Bitter (VB) will be printed infive newspapers at the conclusion of thefinal test on January 8.

Buying a bottle of VB for some 13million adult Australians would costnearly $20 million at retail prices,although the brewer has chosen the firstseries in Australia for many years whereEngland are thought to have a decentchance of victory.

"We're going to buy the biggest roundin Australian history," VB's CraigMaclean said at the Sydney CricketGround (SCG) on Tuesday.-Reuters

Ashes win to earn everyOz a free beer

GUANGZHOU: The onlygolf course in Afghanistan is arock-strewn nine-hole affair inthe capital Kabul, which putsAli Ahmad Fazel andHashmattulah Sarwaree at adistinct disadvantage at theAsian Games.

The two are the first playersfrom their war-ravaged countryever to compete at an Asiad orany other international golfevent.

While the sport was intro-

duced to the country more than40 years ago, it is only since2004 that the public have beenallowed to play.

"Our national golf federationonly formed two-and-a-halfyears ago," said team coachMohammad Jama Hekmati,who added that the lush greensof the Dragon Lake Golf Clubwere a real eye-opener.

His players are more used tosand and tar-covered fairwayswhere ball

finders are a necessity."The only thing we can do is

play better," he said."Compared to China,

Singapore and Korea,Afghanistan has a short golfinghistory.

"We have practiced here andalso back home, but none ofour players have participatedin an international competi-tion before so, to be honest, Idon't expect them to win amedal."-APP

Afghans experienceinternational golf

GALLE: Opener Chris Gayle tor-mented Sri Lanka with a career best333 as West Indies took control ofthe first test before declaring on 580-9 on Tuesday.

Gayle became the first WestIndian to score a triple century onforeign soil and the fourth player toscore two triple tons, joiningAustralian great Don Bradman,India's Virender Sehwag and compa-triot Brian Lara.

With the batsmen swiping awaythe Sri Lankan attack with ease onthe placid pitch, West Indies lookedset for a huge first innings total butthe dismissal of Brendan Nash (64)sparked a collapse and the hosts hitback to claim six wickets for 21

runs.Sri Lanka will resume the third

day on 54 for one.Jamaican Gayle caressed Ajantha

Mendis to the extra cover boundaryto bring up his triple century, andpromptly dropped down on hisknees in celebration while his teammates applauded him loudly fromtheir balcony.

Just when it seemed that Gaylecould surpass Lara's record mark of400, spinner Mendis brought SriLanka back into the match with agreat spell of bowling in the finalsession and claimed five wickets for13 runs off 46 balls.

He broke a 167-run fourth wicketstand between Gayle and Nash by

trapping the latter lbw. He went onto pick up the scalps of DwayneBravo (five), Gayle, Darren Sammy(naught) and Andre Russell (two) totake his second six wicket haul atthis venue finishing with figures ofsix for 169.

Gayle looked in control until hesuffered cramps on his right leg afterpassing his previous highest score of313 and had to be assisted by a run-ner. He struggled to handle the spin-ners and eventually was bowledbetween bat and pad by Mendiswhen he failed to get to the pitch ofthe ball. Gayle returned to a standingovation from the pavilion havingscored his runs off 437 balls with 34fours and nine sixes.-Reuters

Gayle frustrates Lankawith triple-ton

DUBAI: Younus Khannotched his 17th test hundredto guide Pakistan to a drawagainst South Africa on thefinal day of the first test onTuesday.

Set 451 for victory after thevisitors declared their secondinnings on 318 for two,Younus stroked an unbeaten131 as Pakistan lost just onewicket on the fifth day toreach 343 for three.

Younus got solid supportfrom skipper Misbah-ul-Haq(76) as the pair put on anunbroken fourth-wicket stand

of 186.Their partnership was a

record for any Pakistan wicketagainst South Africa, eclipsingthe 161-run second-wicketstand between Kamran Akmaland Younus scored in Lahoreduring the 2007/8 season.

South Africa began the daywith high hopes of pushing forvictory but did not help theirchances by spilling threecatches.

Younus was dropped twice,with his score on 16 and 70,while Misbah was put down atshort leg when he had scored

just eight.Pakistan began the day on

109 for two with Azad Ali andYounus at the crease.

The duo stretched theirthird-wicket stand to 82before Ali, on 63, fell when hewas bowled by left-arm spin-ner Paul Harris with a ball thatbeat the batsman's defensiveprod to peg back his offstump.

The two teams will now turntheir attention to the second,and final, match of the serieswhich starts in Abu Dhabi onSaturday.-Reuters

Younus, Misbahsecure the day

ABU DHABI: Sebastian Vettel took just 99 minutes tosweep away the talk of team orders and tainted titles andensure the 2010Formula One championship is remem-bered as a triumph for real racing.

After a season of record-equalling length, with 19races from Australia to the Americas, the 23-year-oldGerman won an unprecedented four-way last race show-down on Sunday to emerge on top for the first time thisseason and take his place as the sport's youngest cham-pion.

Starting with a 15 point deficit to Ferrari's FernandoAlonso, Vettel took the Red Bull by the horns andsecured the title with a pole to chequered flag victorythat owed nothing to pitwall meddling or veiled instruc-tions. In that moment, months of controversy meltedaway. "We did it our way," said team boss ChristianHorner, who had refused to favour one of his driversover the other and would have faced his own inquisitionhad Red Bull lost to Ferrari despite having the car of theseason.

"We chose to back both guys," he told reporters asmechanics and staff celebrated around him. "It couldhave cost us. We stuck with it, we believe in the princi-ple of backing both equally and I think that's been vindi-cated today."

TAINTED TITLEHad Alonso won and become the youngest triple

champion, there would have been endless post-mortemsabout whether or not his title was truly deserved after theshenanigans of Hockenheim in July.

Former FIA president Max Mosley was not the onlyone suggesting that the title would be tainted if theSpaniard won by less than the seven points he hadgained from Ferrari ordering Brazilian team mate FelipeMassa to let him win in Germany.

Massa's loyal race engineer Rob Smedley may stillwin 'moment of the year' awards for saying with a heavyheart over the radio 'So, Fernando is faster than you, Canyou confirm you understood that message?", but thesting has been drawn.

Had Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber won, therewas a danger it too would have been as a result of Vettel

doing 'the right thing' and moving over to give theAustralian the points needed to finish ahead of Alonso.Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone had said hehoped any switching of positions would at least be donewith subtlety.

Ultimately, however, it just came down to pure racing.Ferrari messed up Alonso's strategy, Webber wasdoomed after qualifying fifth and Vettel just went as fastas he could and left the rest to fate.

Alonso also won five races but one of them was thanksto Massa moving aside and three others came after theItalian team had laid down the pecking order.

Webber pushed Vettel all the way, even if he com-plained of feeling like a number two and being an 'incon-venient' challenger, and twice led the championship. TheAustralian won four races and took five poles to Vettel's10 in a record-equalling season for Red Bull. Massa didnot win a race or start on pole.

TOTAL FAITH"Ultimately it has come down to what they have done

on the track," said Horner, whose team also won the con-structors' championship.

"Sebastian has had his ups and downs this year, he'shad a bit of bad luck, he's never lost belief, always hadtotal faith in the team and himself and he's come out ontop."

Had Vettel enjoyed Webber's reliability, he might havewrapped matters up earlier. An engine failure in Koreawhile leading costing him 25 points, a faulty spark plugin Bahrain denying him another win.

There was also a brake disk problem in Australia, andaccidents of his own causing that had McLaren bossMartin Whitmarsh labelling him 'crash happy'.

The lead in the championship has changed handsrepeatedly this year, with six different leaders, and evenif the end result was not the closest championship everin points terms -- only a draw could achieve that -- it wasthe most competitive and hard-fought.

Next year, with a record 20 races and a new tyre suppli-er in Pirelli, will be a fresh challenge for everyone and RedBull will have to fight hard to defend both titles but thefocus on Sunday was all about the last 12 months.-Reuters

Vettel triumphs real racing title

DUBAI: Younis Khan celebrates after scoring a century against South Africa on the last dayof the first Test match between Pakistan and South Africa.-Reuters

India set

to rebuff

Asiad

cricketGUANGZHOU: Cricketmay have got a reprieve atthe Asian Games, but pow-erhouse India's reluctanceto join the party threatensthe sport's future at multi-sport events.

A top Indian cricket offi-cial revealed to AFP that hecould not guarantee thecountry's participation atthe next Games to be heldin the South Korean city ofIncheon in 2014.

"There is still some timefor that, but we are not veryexcited about taking part inevents like the the AsianGames," the official saidfrom New Delhi.

"We have a packed sched-ule in the next Future ToursProgram and 2014 will beno exception. India cannotjust dismiss its internation-al and domestic commit-ments."

Those comments willcome as a body blow to theAsian Cricket Council(ACC), who encouraged thesport's inclusion inGuangzhou and fought hardto retain it for the next edi-tion.

The powerful Indiancricket board (BCCI) hasalready annoyed theOlympic Council of Asiaand the ACC by refusing tofield teams for cricket'sdebut at the ongoing AsianGames.

India, whose huge crick-et-mad television audiencesmake them an attractiveproposition for any organis-er, cited a busy internation-al and domestic schedulefor their absence fromChina.

"It will be a pity if Indiado not take part in the AsianGames," said ACC chiefexecutive Ashraful Huq."Their presence is neededto spread cricket across thecontinent.-APP

n Younus hits 17th test tonn Shares record stand with Misbah

6 Wednesday, November 17, 2010Analysis & Feature

The release ofMyanmar's pro-democracy leader

Aung San Suu Kyi poses ahost of thorny questions tovex Chinese policymakers,from fears about a loss ofinfluence there to awkwardquestions about freedom athome.

Will she help usher in agovernment with which theUnited States and Europe feelit can do business? Whatwould that mean for China'sconsiderable investments inthe country that have benefit-ted from the Western sanc-tions on Myanmar?

"Inevitably a lifting or eas-ing of sanctions would leadto more competition forChinese companies inMyanmar, but that will nothappen overnight justbecause Suu Kyi has been letout," said Lin Xixing, aMyanmar expert atGuangzhou's JinanUniversity.

"China will be paying closeattention to what is happen-ing in Myanmar. What thegovernment most wants isstability there," he added."There is still a lot of uncer-tainty about what her releasemeans and what she will beable to do."

To be sure, Beijing's wor-ries about their southernneighbour are not new. Theirlong shared border hidesrebel armies and drug lords,whose spats with Myanmar'scentral government have

spilled into China in the past.China has been pondering

how to deal with slowlythawing ties between the for-mer Burma and the UnitedStates since PresidentBarack Obama began tenta-tive contacts last year, culmi-nating in a rare meeting withPrime Minister Thein Sein inSingapore.

Senator Jim Webb, thechair of a Senate subcommit-tee on East Asia who is anoutspoken proponent ofdeepening ties with the iso-lated country, said last monthit risked becoming a "aprovince of China" if itremained out in the cold.

Suu Kyi said on Sunday shewas willing to enter into dia-logue with Western nations tolift sanctions on the countryif the Burmese people wantedit. She also assured Chinathat she did not consider it anenemy.

"China is a very importantneighbour of our country.Don't consider China as anenemy," she said on her firstfull day of release from housearrest.

China has been careful tomaintain links with opposi-tion groups in Myanmardespite its close relationshipwith the current militaryrulers.

"She would know that ifshe wants to be a politicalplayer in Burma then sheneeds to have ... a fairly clearpath from China," said IanHolliday, a Myanmar expert

at the University of HongKong. "It's smart geo-politicson her part. She would notwant to make an enemy ofBeijing."

CLOSE ECONOMIC TIESThe sanctions have been

good to China. China hasinvested billions of dollars inMyanmar -- $8.17 billion inthe current fiscal year,accounting for two-thirds ofits total investment over thepast two decades, accordingto Myanmar state media.

Energy projects formed thebulk of the investment, with$5 billion in hydropower and$2.15 billion in the oil andgas sector of the resource-rich nation. However, ana-lysts say official investmentdata for Myanmar is notori-ously unreliable.

Bilateral trade grew bymore than one-quarter in2008 to about $2.63 billion,according to Chinese figures.

Myanmar also gives Chinaaccess to the Indian Ocean,not only for imports of oiland gas and exports fromlandlocked southwesternChinese provinces, but alsopotentially for military basesor listening posts.

In October, China's stateenergy group CNPC startedbuilding a crude oil port inMyanmar, part of a pipelineproject aimed at cutting outthe long detour oil cargoestake through the congestedand strategically vulnerableMalacca Strait.

China could actually bene-

fit if the sanctions are liftedand Myanmar's relations withWashington improve. A rich-er Myanmar would in turnhelp development in China'spoorer western provinces.

"Myanmar would speed upits opening up and reforms,bringing with it even moreopportunities for Chinesebrands and firms," YuChangsen, a professor atGuangzhou's Sun Yat-senUniversity, told theGuangzhou Daily earlier thisyear.

"This will lead to even clos-er cooperation between thetwo countries."

The Chinese governmenthas yet to give a formalreaction to her release,though it has been reportedon by some of the country'sclosely controlled statemedia with a strange mix ofincredulity and praise forher courage.

the Global Times, a populartabloid run by CommunistParty mouthpiece thePeople's Daily, noted drylythat "the most excited peoplewere Westerners", addingthere were many white facesin the crowd when she wasreleased.

The regional ChongqingEvening Post called her theperson "who causes the mili-tary government the worst ofheadaches", but noted thatdespite her lack of money orofficial title, "she owns thehearts of Myanmar's people".

In a measure of China's

sensitivity about NobelPeace Prize winner Suu Kyi,and the that fact that China's

own laureate Liu Xiaoboremains in jail, online com-ments about her were swift-

ly removed, though notbefore a few were pub-lished. -Reuters

SUU KYI RELEASE POSESTHORNY QUESTIONS

* CHINESE FIRMS HAVE BENEFITTED FROM WESTERN SANCTIONS * AUNG SAN SUU KYI KEEN NOT TO

ALIENATE CHINA * BEIJING HAS BEEN WORRIED BY U.S. RAPPROCHEMENT WITH MYANMAR * CHINA'S

PRIORITY TO MAINTAIN STABILITY IN MYANMAR

French president NicolasSarkozy has opted forcementing his right-

wing base as his best stab atre-election in 2012, with areshuffle that ditched cen-trists and left-wing convertsand promoted old-style con-servatives.

Grappling with dismal rat-ings ahead of an election bat-tle against a resurgent left,Sarkozy is gambling onredrawing his governmentalong firmly conservativelines even if that means herisks facing a bigger chal-lenge from the centre in2012.

In long-awaited cabinetrejig, Sarkozy retained allyFrancois Fillonas prime min-ister, made former premierAlain Juppe defence minister,promoted no-nonsense con-

servative Michele Alliot-Marie to foreign ministeranddropped talent lured from theleft and civil society.

It marked an end to his oldstrategy of poaching peopleand ideas from oppositionparties as a way of overpow-ering them.

"This is a governmentwhich is here to prepare forthe next presidential elec-tions," said Frederic Daby, ananalyst with the IFOPpolling institute. "This is agovernment that will pleaseUMP supporters," he said,referring to the ruling party.

Sarkozy may be betting thatby shoring up his core sup-port base he can secureenough votes to come secondin a first-round presidentialelection, and then scrape asecond-round win as far-right

and centrist voters come overto him.

The risk is that centrists,now fragmented into severalparties that are traditionalallies of the centre-right, maymanage to unite behind onecandidate in 2012.

Centrists Jean-LouisBorloo and Herve Morin,piqued after being ditchedasenergy and defence minis-ters in the reshuffle, arepotential presidential con-tenders, as is FrancoisBayrou, who polled 18.6 per-cent on the first ballot in2007.

After appealing to far-rightvoters with his tough stanceon crime and illegal immigra-tion, Sarkozy surprised manyon taking office by bringingleft-wingers and centristsinto his cabinet.

He has now dumped left-wing humanitarian cam-paigner Bernard Kouchner asforeign minister and passedover the charismatic Borloofor prime minister, promptinghim to quit in a huff.

Eric Besson, a formerSocialist put in charge ofimmigration and nationalidentity by Sarkozy, wasdemoted to the less presti-gious post of industry minis-ter.

The reshuffle also gaveBudget Minister FrancoisBaroin, a protege of former-president Jacques Chirac, theadditional role of govern-ment spokesman.

SARKOZYISM IS BACK"The opening to the left is

over, the social opening too.We are going back to the fun-damentals of Sarkozyism,"

said Jerome Sainte-Marie,head of the ISANA pollinginstitute.

"The obsession today is notto maintain a good coherencebetween the right and thecentre-right ... It's to allow areduced but united right tocontain the far-right, or divertit for his benefit," the pollstersaid.

Sarkozy will answer ques-tions on television onTuesday about the reshuffle,which he timed to follow theentry into force of his flag-ship pension reform.

The decision to retainFillon, who is much morepopular than the president inpolls, is a sign of growingreliance on a man who willbe largely running domesticpolitics while Sarkozy isbusy pushing his goals for

France's G20presidency.The man behind the cam-

paign that swept Sarkozy topower, Fillon is regarded as aone-day presidential hopefulhimself, but for now he is atrusted right-hand man forthe president.

There are signs thatSarozy's hand may havebeen forced by lawmakers inhis UMP party who rebelledwhen presidential aidesfloated Borloo's name lastmonth as a potential premierwith a mandate to reach outto trade unions and pushsocial equality. "Fillonkeeps Sarkozy on," quippedthe daily Liberation on itsfront page, while La Tribunecalled Fillon the "hyper"prime minister, giving him amoniker normally used forSarkozy.

Opinion polls showed thatmost voters wanted Fillon tostay on. Support for Borlooas prime minister was muchlower.

"The reappointment ofFrancois Fillon was the leastrisky scenario on a politicallevel, but there's a big draw-back: it's not going to shakeup public opinion," said ana-lyst Jean-Francois Doridot atthe Ipsos polling institute.

"This will not be enough toreverse the trend," he said,referring to Sarkozy's lowpopularity.

Borloo flounced out of thegovernment on Sunday, say-ing he wanted his freedom ofspeech back, and Morinscathingly remarked that thenew cabinet was a campaignteam of the UMP's old guard.-Reuters

Sarkozy back to right-wing roots with reshuffle

Iran is likely to stick to astalling strategy towardsworld powers, seeking to

blunt their pressure to curb itsuranium enrichment drivewithout making any majorconcessions over work theWest fears has military aims.

The Islamic state has agreedto meet with a representativeof the six big powers for thefirst time in more than a year,but diplomats and analysts seelittle chance of a breakthroughin the long-running disputeover Tehran's nuclear pro-gramme.

At most, they say, the talksthat could take place early nextmonth between Iran's nuclearnegotiator Saeed Jalili andEuropean Union foreign policychief Catherine Ashton may befollowed by more meetings tohalt a downward spiral in ties.

Both sides have expressedreadiness to resume discus-sions on Dec. 5 but they haveyet to agree on a venue.[ID:nLDE6AB19X]

A senior Western diplomat inTehran voiced pessimismabout the latest bid to find adiplomatic solution to the row,which has the potential to kin-dle a regional arms race andspark a military conflict in theMiddle East.

"I don't believe it will leadanywhere," the diplomat toldReuters. "The fundamental dif-ferences are so large and theroom for compromise is sosmall."

Iranian officials have a trackrecord of using similar ses-sions in the past to insist on thecountry's "inalienable right" todevelop nuclear energy whilerefusing to address Westernsuspicions that the main aim isto build bombs.

"Time is on our side ... everypassing hour we advance fur-ther," a former Iranian nuclearofficial said.

The six powers leadingefforts to resolve the disputediplomatically -- the UnitedStates, China, Russia, Britain,

France and Germany -- hopetougher sanctions implement-ed against the Islamic Republicsince June will make it moreflexible.

They want Iran ultimately toagree to suspend uraniumenrichment, which can haveboth civilian and military uses,in return for a package of eco-nomic and political incentives.

But while Iran's internationalisolation is hurting the oil-dependent economy,Tehran issignalling no willingness tocompromise over a nuclearprogramme it says is solelydesigned for peaceful purposessuch as producing electricity.

For President MahmoudAhmadinejad, who has cham-pioned a steady expansion ofIran's nuclear work since hecame to power in 2005, defi-ance towards the West is a wayto rally nationalist support anddistract attention from thecountry's economic woes.

"They are economicallyunder pressure, but they defi-

nitely don't see that as a reasonto change their policy on thenuclear issue," the Tehran-based diplomat said. "The anti-Western rhetoric has beenstepped up in recent months."

Since Jalili last met with rep-resentatives of the big powers,in October 2009 in Geneva,Iran has continued to increaseits stockpile of low-enricheduranium (LEU) and now hasenough for at least two bombs,if it was refined much further.

Underlining Western suspi-cions that Iran will try onceagain to avoid any talks on itssensitive atomic work,Ahmadinejad and other Iranianofficials have in recent weekssuggested that Tehran's rightsto nuclear capabilities werenon-negotiable.

"We believe the issue hasbeen resolved. We will contin-ue our peaceful nuclear activi-ties," Ahmadinejad said lastweek.

Such comments may bedirected mainly at a domestic

audience and EU diplomats inBrussels say they do notbelieve Iran is closing the doorto talking about the nuclearissue. But a Western envoy inVIENNA, home to the U.N.nuclear watchdog, said hebelieved power rivalries withinIran's ruling establishmentwould block any attempt toreach a deal.

"I'm optimistic there will bea meeting and I'm realistic thatthere won't be any significantforward progress at all."

An Iranian analyst whodeclined to be named said theleadership could not accept anenrichment suspension as it"would harm its prestigeamong its core supporters".

NUCLEAR FUEL SWAPThe West may in the end

have to accept Iran continuingsome enrichment activity, saidproliferation expert MarkFitzpatrick at the InternationalInstitute for Strategic Studies.

"Iran has made very clearthat that is an absolute bottom

line," he said. "A negotiationwould explore ways that Irancan satisfy concerns whilst stillmaintaining some enrich-ment."

But he added: "I'm very pes-simistic on the chances thatIran would negotiate a satisfac-tory outcome."

Even the possibility of reviv-ing a plan to swap nuclear fuel,seen by the West as a possibleway to build confidence forbroader negotiations on Iran'snuclear programme, seemsremote.

While both Iran and theUnited States say they areready to resume talks on a pro-posal to exchange Iranian LEUfor higher-grade material for aTehran research reactor, theyare far apart on how it wouldtake place.

A tentative agreement lastyear under which Iran wouldsend out 1,200 kg of LEU inreturn for the reactor fuel fellapart after Tehran backed awayfrom its terms and later started

producing higher-enrichedmaterial itself.

Western diplomats say Iranmust now send out much moreLEU under any revised deal toreflect the growing size of itsstockpile, a demand Iranrejects.

Baqer Moin, an Iran expertin London, suggested the mostlikely scenario for the meetingbetween Jalili and Ashton was"more talks about talks" ratherthan substantive discussions.

U.S.-based Iran experts TritaParsi and Reza Marashi said afew meetings could not resolvethree decades of enmitybetween Tehran andWashington since Iran's 1979Islamic revolution.

"Success will only come ifdiplomats are willing to playthe long game, placing a pre-mium on patience and long-term progress rather than quickfixes aimed at appeasing skep-tical and impatient domesticpolitical constituencies," theywrote. -Reuters

Are Iran nuclear talks doomed to fail again?

7Wednesday, November 17, 2010

International & Continuation

CONTINUATION

LONDON: Chinese andIndian crude oil buyers willdrive activity on largertankers in the comingmonths and rates are expect-ed to hover slightly belowhistorical averages, leadingbrokerage Poten & Partnerssaid on Tuesday.

Earlier this month firmcrude buying by Chinahelped earnings for verylarge crude carriers(VLCCs) on the benchmarkMiddle East Gulf to Japanroute rise to their highest infour months.

"The projections are thatUS demand will stay rela-tively flat or grow a smallamount and Chinese demandwill increase at a significant-ly more rapid pace than USdemand," Jeffrey Goetz,managing director with theNew York headquarteredbrokerage and consultingfirm, told Reuters in aninterview.

"So we would expect morespot market activity fromChinese and Indian charter-ers," he said on a visit toLondon.

Goetz said major tankercharterers included Unipecwhich is the trading arm oftop Chinese refiner Sinopec,Petrochina, state-controlledIndian refiner IOC andIndian conglomerateReliance Industries.

In contrast, top tankercharterers in 2000 includedUS energy firm ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shelland state oil company SaudiAramco's shipping sub-sidiary Vela.

Firmer demand in recentweeks has helped to soak uptanker availability. VLCCrates plunged in October asthe end of a speculative trad-ing play, which at one pointlast year involved an esti-mated 100 million barrels ofcrude oil held on tankers atsea, meant the market wasawash with tankers.

The unwinding of a struc-ture, known as a contango,relied on the price of oil forimmediate use being at adeep discount to oil futures.

Broker ICAP Shippingestimated on Friday threeVLCCs were storing crudeat sea. A VLCC can store upto 2 million barrels of oil.

Goetz said there was "noeconomic incentive to keepbarrels in storage".

"We are starting to see thisunwinding of the storage andI don't see it coming back. Itwill be the same on the prod-ucts side," he said.

Average VLCC earningsreached $19,786 a day onMonday, Baltic Exchangedata showed. That was stillabove the operating costlevel of $10,000 a day.

Average VLCC earnings slidto a one-year low last monthof $1,661 a day.

"The rates will probably beslightly below long-termhistorical averages but muchbetter than the recent lowsthat we had," Goetz said."The 15-year average isprobably around $45,000 aday for a VLCC."

Earlier this year Potenannounced its move intoproviding broking servicesin the over-the-counterderivatives market whichincludes crude oil optionsand ethanol as well as wetfreight derivatives, known asFFAs.

"We decided to open afinancial brokerage desk tocomplement our historicallystrong physical shipping andenergy coverage," chiefoperating officer StevenGarten told Reuters.

"We are getting ready tolaunch a natural gas desk inthe first quarter of nextyear."

Poten, which is employee-owned, has eight brokersincluding two coveringFFAs.

"We are looking to expandit to London and Singaporeas soon as we find peoplewho share our vision. Wewill grow as fast as we canor as slowly as we have to,"Garten said.-Reuters

Asia crude buying

to drive tanker

trade in 2011

BRUSSELS: Finland isagainst putting pressure onIreland to quickly apply for aEuropean Union bailout, say-ing EU financial aid must be alast resort.

Euro zone finance ministerswill discuss Ireland's debt situ-ation at a meeting on Tuesdayamid reports some EU coun-tries are keen for Dublin toquickly tap EU emergencyfunds to calm markets and stopdebt concerns from spreadingto other countries, likePortugal.

"Finland strongly opposesthe German position that themechanism should be used justto make the markets calmdown," said one euro zonesource familiar with Finland'sposition. "The mechanism was-n't created for that purpose."

Since decisions amongfinance ministers over activat-ing the European FinancialStability Facility (EFSF),which Ireland may need toaccess, have to be taken unani-mously, Finland's view countsas much as the other 15 mem-bers of the euro zone.

Finland's staunch oppositionto pushing Dublin into askingfor help is partly based on itsbelief that the rules must bestrictly adhered to but also outof domestic political concerns

-- there is an election inFinland next year and there ispopular opposition to morebailouts.

"Finland is already support-ing Iceland, Latvia, Greeceand, who knows, possiblyIreland and others," said aFinnish EU source who spokeon condition of anonymity.

"The government will bepolitically dead if we acceptsomething that is unacceptableto the average Finn. There isno way of explaining it to theaverage Finn that we are pay-ing all this money but don'tknow when it's coming back."

As well as opposing Irelandgetting quick access to theEFSF -- the Irish governmentis fully funded until mid-2011and does not immediately needfinancing help -- Finlandopposes Ireland tapping theEFSF or other EU mechanismsto help its banks.

One euro zone source saidthat if Ireland asked for help inorder to bail out its banks, thenit should be forced to put upcollateral against any loans.

The source said Ireland'sgovernment had assets worthover 100 billion euros whichcould be securitised and usedas collateral against an EFSFloan if one was requested.-Reuters

Finland seen

strongly opposing

Ireland EU bailout

LONDON: Inflation unexpect-edly rose further above its targetin October but the Bank ofEngland said it was ready tochange policy in either directionas the risks to the outlook weresubstantial on both sides.

The Office for NationalStatistics said on Tuesday thatannual consumer price inflationrose to 3.2 per cent last month,more than a per centage pointabove the Bank's 2 per cent tar-get. It has now exceeded 3 percent every month since March.

Analysts had expected it tostay at 3.1 per cent and sterlingshot up around half a centagainst the dollar as traders betthe stubbornly high inflation fig-ures meant the BoE's MonetaryPolicy Committee will not pumpmore stimulus into the economy.

But Governor Mervyn King,forced by his remit to write afourth letter of explanation thisyear as to why inflation is sohigh, said the rise was likelytemporary and that spare capaci-ty in the economy would bring

the CPI rate down in the medi-um-term.

He said that while inflationwould likely stay above targetfor the next year because of aplanned VAT rise and highercommodity prices, monetarypolicy operated with lags andhad to balance competing upsideand downside risks to inflation.

"The committee is ready toadjust policy -- in either direc-tion -- in order to ensure that therisks to the outlook in the medi-um-term remain evenly balancearound the 2 per cent target," theletter said.

Finance minister GeorgeOsborne replied that he notedKing's points.

The BoE left interest rates at arecord low of 0.5 per cent thismonth and kept its 200 billionpounds quantitative easing pro-gramme on ice but the juryremains out on what the nextmove in policy will be.

The MPC was split 3 ways inOctober, with one member call-ing for a rate hike, another for a

cut and the remaining seven forunchanged policy.

Minutes showing November'svoting record will be publishedon Wednesday. King and otherBoE official are also due to testi-fy to a parliamentary committeelater on Tuesday.

Policymakers have been grap-pling with above-target inflationon one side, and on the other, theprospect of recovery from theworst recession since World War2 being thrown off track by theglobal economy and planned fis-cal tightening.

Analysts are also dividedabout whether rates will risefrom their record low of 0.5 percent or if the BoE will follow theUS Federal Reserve and expandits quantitative easing.

"There is a non-negligiblechance that inflation expecta-tions get dislodged. Under thesecircumstances, it's difficult to seethe MPC embark on anotherround of quantitative easing,"said Amit Kara, economist atUBS.-Reuters

CPI rises, Bankready to act in

either direction

NEW DELHI: India's AdaniEnterprises expects its coalimports to rise about 40 percent this year, the head of itscoal trading unit said, preserv-ing its dominance of the coaltrade in Asia's third-largesteconomy.

The energy-to-real-estategroup, headquartered in west-ern Gujarat state, is likely toimport 32-35 million tonnes ofcoal in the 2010/11 year endingin March, up from 25 millionthe previous year, VinayPrakash, chief executive officer

of the coal trading division, saidin emailed replies to questions.

India is expected to importnearly 84 million tonnes of theresource in the current financialyear, on top of local productionof 572.37 million tonnes, CoalMinister S. P. Jaiswal saidrecently.

Adani, which controls Indianpower utility Adani Power andits own cape port, Mundra, isable to offer coal at competitiverates owing to its integratedoperations.

"Coal demand in India is

growing fast, and customers aremoving towards index-basedpricing methodology," Prakashsaid.

Import requirements areexpected to reach around 135million tonnes by 2012, accord-ing to analysts' estimates, asdifficulties in mining keepstate-run monopoly Coal Indiafrom expanding and new minesfrom coming up.

Strong demand from bothIndia and China, which typical-ly buy from Indonesia, SouthAfrica and Australia, has led

analysts to expect prices to stayfirm above $100 a tonne.

India's coal pricing is set tomove to index-based pricing,while freight rates are likely tomove higher, Prakash said.

"India in future will be amore structured market havingestablished themselves as a pri-ority customer."

A falling trend in iron oreexports will make coal freightrates more expensive as shipsbringing in coal cannot find ironore shipments for the returnjourney, he added.-Reuters

Adani's coal imports

seen rising 40pc this year

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall ofthe People in Beijing

Prince

William

to marry

long-term

girlfriendLONDON: Britain's PrinceWilliam is to marry his long-term girlfriend Kate Middletonnext year, Buckingham Palacesaid on Tuesday.

William, 28, the elder son ofheir-to-the-throne PrinceCharles and the late PrincessDiana, and Middleton, 28,became engaged while on holi-day in Kenya.

"The Prince of Wales isdelighted to announce theengagement of Prince Williamto Miss Catherine Middleton,"Charles's office said in a state-ment.

"The wedding will take placein the spring or summer of2011, in London. Furtherdetails about the wedding daywill be announced in duecourse."

The statement said William,who met Middleton, daughterof self-made entrepreneurs,while at university, hadinformed Queen Elizabeth andalso sought the permission ofMiddleton's father.-Reuters

US drops

case against

UBS, ends

harmful

tax rowZURICH: US tax authori-ties have withdrawn a sum-mons against UBS aimed atgetting data on the bank'sUS clients, the Swiss gov-ernment said, putting an endto a tax row that had threat-ened to bring the bankdown.

The US governmentagreed last August to dropcharges against UBS afterSwitzerland promised itwould transfer the details ofaround 4,450 clients thatUBS had helped dodgetaxes, despite strict Swissbank secrecy.

The Swiss governmentsaid in a statement onTuesday that some 4,000cases had been supplied tothe United States so far.

Subject to the outcome ofpending appeals before theSwiss Administrative Court,information on a number ofadditional accounts wouldbe delivered to US authori-ties in coming months, itsaid.

UBS said last month itexpected the summons to bedropped on Nov. 15.-Reuters

culprit in NICL scam has yet not arrested and SC would not tol-erate corruption in the country in this regard as public money waslooted in the scam.

Later, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the case forthree weeks. -Agencies

Continued from page 1No #1

problem can not be solved. Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani in a state-ment said that the hoarders are creating this shortfall of sugar inthe country. The provincial governments should take action andorganise its machinery to deal with the hoarders and without thehelp of all provincial governments this problem can not be solved.

He informed that an ICC meeting was held on Nov 11 and inthat meeting it was informed that during January-October sevenand a half million tonnes of sugar was bought by the traders fromthe sugar-mills which never reached the local market.

Since January 2010 till Oct 2010, 2 million 75 thousand tonnesper month has been produced whereas the limit set by the govern-ment was 3 million 50 thousand tonnes per month. He furtherinformed that he presided over a meeting of the Pakistan sugarassociation meeting in which the representative of the associationJawad Kiyani has categorically said all the sugar has been soldfrom the sugar mills and not even a single bag is left. -Agencies

Continued from page 1No #2

Muslims sacrifice animals according on any of the three daysof Eid. Different slaughtering points have been set up in differ-ent places of federal capital for the convenience of the people.-Agencies

Continued from page 1No #3

reserves and its manageable domestic borrowing program,Aninda Mitra, a Moody's Vice President and senior analyst,said. -Agencies

Continued from page 1No #4

not confirmed yet and the number of casualties can increase. Asper political analysts North and South Waziristan are two suchtribal areas where foreigner fighters and local Talibans have safehavens. -Online

Continued from page 1No #5

one-time tax for six months and the Government would get arevenue of about Rs31 billion through this levy. Similarly, itwould earn Rs11 billion from increase in the rate of FederalExcise Duty on luxury goods, cosmetics, and cigarettes and thattoo up to June next year.-NNI

Continued from page 8No #6

Pakistanis are still in need of urgent humanitarian aid monthsafter devastating floods hit the country, killing over 1,700.

More than seven million people are without shelter in Pakistanas water-borne diseases and nutrition are still a grave concern forthe victims of the country's July-August flooding. -Online

Continued from page 8No #7

burning matters came under discussion.During the meeting different affairs were deliberated to improve

law and order situation in the province while Rehman Malikassured protection of people on part of federation. -Online

Continued from page 8No #8

ENGLAND:Britain's Prince William smiles as he walks with his girlfriend Kate Middletonat RAF Cranwell, central England.-Reuters

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ISLAMABAD: President Asif AliZardari and Prime Minister SyedYousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday urgedthe nation that on Eid-ul-Adha thebrothers and sisters affected byfloods/terrorism should be a part oftheir celebrations.

In his separate message to thepeople of Pakistan President AsifAli Zardari said, "On the festiveoccasion of Eid-ul-Adha I call uponmy countrymen to remember theirless fortunate brethren. Even as wecelebrate Eid-ul-Adha it saddens methat so many of our people are liv-ing in misery brought by unemploy-ment, low wages, or lack of justice."

President added that Eid-ul-Adhasymbolises the willingness to sacri-fice one's most prized possession toAllah's will on one hand and theunderlying unity of thought andaction of the Muslims on the other.

PM Yousuf Raza Gilani in hismessage to the people said, "Todaywe should thank Allah Almighty forbestowing his countless blessingson us and to let us celebrate Eid andremember the great sacrifices madeby Hazrat Ibrahim."

He further said that today we arefacing tremendous problems in theform of terrorism and floods, mil-lions of people are living underopen skies and millions are unem-ployed and in order to provide assis-tance in our own capacity we shouldall donate generously especiallythose who are more fortunate thanthe others must match their fortunewhile affording financial assistance.

In addition to that, during themeeting, Prime Minister andPresident also discussed theprogress made with respect toimplementation of 18th Amendment

and steps taken by the governmentfor ending artificial shortage ofsugar.

President directed the concernedthat implementation of 18thAmendment should be ensured onstipulated time so that provincescould be made autonomous. He saidthat the country is passing through acritical phase and the democraticgovt is taking serious measures forimproving the situation. He categor-ically maintained that under the cur-rent circumstances the country can-not afford any confrontation.

He said that government wouldhave to make difficult decisions forthe sake of survival. He said that heis sure things would work out forthe country soon.

During the meeting President alsobriefed the PM on his meetings dur-ing his China tour.-Online

Gilani, Zardari preach‘the spirit of sacrifice’

President, PM call for ensuring implementation of 18th Amendment

ISLAMABAD: The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)Tuesday declared the degrees of 607Parliamentarians as authentic.

The ECP spokesperson said thatHigher Education Commission (HEC)had declared the degrees of 60Parliamentarians as fake or bogus,however, during the verificationprocess ECP found four more degreesgenuine out of 60. In this way 56 MPsdegrees were found bogus including 5

from Senate, 16 National Assembly,20 Punjab Assembly, 3 SindhAssembly, 7 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,and 5 from Balochistan Assembly.

The spokesperson said that thedegrees of MNAs including LiaqatAbbas, Abdul Hameed, TasleemNeelam Chaudhry, and Farooq YousafChaudhry are unavailable, however,the verification process of rest ofParliamentarians' is underway.-Online

607 MPs degreesdeclared genuine

56 Parliamentarians' credentials bogus

65 dead as

building in

Delhi comes

down crashingNEW DELHI: At least 65 peo-ple were killed when a buildingthat housed scores of migrantfamilies collapsed on Tuesday inNew Delhi, as rescuers madeslow progress through the rub-ble.

Investigators believe the five-storey building in a workingclass area of eastern Delhi,which caved in late Monday, hadbeen weakened by recent flood-ing brought on by some of thestrongest monsoon rains indecades.

"There are many victims stilltrapped below the concrete rub-ble and iron rods. Our challengeis to evacuate them alive," citypolice spokesman Rajan Bhagattold media.

"We can confirm that 65 peo-ple are dead," he added, saying105 were being treated in hospi-tal. He said the number of peoplemissing was unknown.

Throughout the night and earlymorning, rescuers and localspulled out severely injured peo-ple and corpses, with victimsincluding several children whowere carried away on stretchersto nearby ambulances. -APP

MINA: A human tide of pilgrims car-rying bags of pebbles descended on theMina valley on Tuesday to symbolical-ly stone Satan on the third day of theHajj, as majority of Muslims world-wide marked the Eid al-Adha with ani-mal sacrifices.

Small pebbles whizzed above headsas hundreds of thousands of pilgrimsrushed to stone a 30-metre (100 feet)long structure, the longest of threewalls said to symbolise the devil, alsoreferred to as Ibleess.

Some two million pilgrims takingpart in this year's Hajj, the world'slargest annual pilgrimage, hadovernight arrived at Mina, a tent townin western Saudi Arabia that comes tolife five days a year, after returningfrom rituals marking the peak of theHajj at nearby Mount Arafat onMonday.

Stoning has in the past been markedby deadly stampedes but the Saudiauthorities have now revamped thearea, expanding the stoning path into amulti-storey bridge.

The structure, which resembles aparking lot sits in the middle of a bar-ren valley surrounded by arid rockyhills, aims to prevent the type of tram-pling that caused the deaths of 364 peo-ple in 2006, 251 in 2004 and 1,426 in1990.

The endless flood of white-robed pil-grims were directed Tuesday onto var-

ious levels by police, who made sureall moved in one direction only andthat no one stayed too long at the site.Those taking a seat were hastilymoved on.

After the stoning, each pilgrim sacri-fices an animal, usually a lamb, as thethird day of Hajj also marks theMuslim major feast, Eid al-Adha.

The animal sacrifice is carried outacross the Muslim world with devoteesin Bangladesh expected to slaughter arecord 15 million animals this Eid.

The sacrificial rite honours Ibrahim'swillingness to sacrifice his son onGod's order before he was forestalledwith a lamb.

Pilgrims after the stoning rituals,which can last two days, head toMakkah, some five kilometres (threemiles) west of Mina, to perform Tawaf,or circumambulation of the Kaabaseven times.

In recognition of the importance ofthe event, US President Barack Obamaand his wife Michelle on Mondayextended good wishes to the world's1.57 billion Muslims.

"On behalf of the American people,we extend our best wishes during thisHajj season -- Eid Mubarak and HajjMabrour," he added, using the tradi-tional holiday greetings in Arabic.

No major incidents have been regis-tered so far. The Hajj ends on Friday.-Agencies

Devil-stoningdone in Mina

Eid celebrated in parts of world

IranianFM due

next weekTEHRAN: Iranian ForeignMinister Manouchehr Mottaki isset to travel to Pakistan nextweek to attend a summit aimedat fighting illegal drug traffick-ing, Press TV reported.

Deputy Foreign MinisterMehdi Mohammadifard saidIran's Interior Minister MostafaMohammad-Najjar wouldaccompany the foreign ministeron his trip.

The interior minister will bevisiting the headquarters ofIranian relief mission in theflood-stricken regions ofPakistan.

Iran was among the first coun-tries to dispatch relief supplies toPakistan and has announced itsreadiness to help reconstruct thecountry's flood-ravaged regions.

More than 150 Iranian rescueworkers have helped Pakistan'sflood victims and nearly 100,000flood-stricken Pakistanis havebeen sheltered in 14,000 tents.

Iran's last relief convoy toPakistan consisted of 2,700tonnes of goods carried by 150trucks. Nearly 14 million

See # 7 Page 7

Malik,Taseerdiscuss

sugar crisisISLAMABAD: InteriorMinister, Rehman Malikinformed the Governor PunjabSalman Taseer about the stepstaken to eliminate artificialsugar crisis.

As per details, Malik metTaseer on Tuesday to share hisinitiatives on the same.

During the meeting issuesrelated to the ongoing artificialsugar crisis, law and order situa-tion in the province and other

See # 8 Page 7

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar

chairing a meeting on gas import with a delegation from the Punjab Government. -Online

ISLAMABAD: Minister forInformation and BroadcastingQamar Zaman Kaira Tuesday clar-ified that the Reformed GeneralSales Tax (RGST) would not beimposed on food items, lifesavingdrugs, and education sector.

Talking to newsmen at NationalBroadcasting House here, he saidfood items like wheat, rice, pulses,vegetables, fruit, and edible oilwould remain exempt of this tax.

The minister explained that theexport industry would also beexempt from levy of the RGST tothe extent of products meant for

exports but the items being con-sumed in the local market wouldcome under the net of the RGST.

He said that as the farming sectornow enjoys better facilities, it hasbeen decided that the RGST wouldbe applicable to agricultural inputslike fertilisers, pesticides and agri-cultural machinery.

He also pointed out that the com-mon man would benefit from thereduction of GST rate, whichranges from 17 to 25 per cent atthe moment. Kaira added that cur-rently there is 17 per cent GST onPOL products/electricity and with

the introduction of RGST the rateof tax on them would come downby 2 per cent to benefit the con-sumer.

Similarly, he said, tax rate is alsodifferent on imports and introduc-tion of uniform rate of 15 per centwould result in reduction of theirprices for the consumers.

The information minister alsoclarified that the 10 per cent floodtax would be on the amount ofincome tax and not the taxableincome of an employee.

He said flood tax would be a See # 6 Page 7

No RGST on edibles, edu,lifesaving drugs: Kaira

ISLAMABAD: The Nato summit inLisbon this weekend will mark a turn-ing point in the prosecution of the warin Afghanistan as it lays out a roadmapto end combat operations by 2014, thetop US envoy to the region said onMonday.

But that won't spell the end of theinternational presence in Afghanistan,said US special representative toAfghanistan and Pakistan RichardHolbrooke.

"From Lisbon on, we will be on atransition strategy with a target date ofthe end of 2014 for Afghanistan takingover responsibility for leading thesecurity," he told reporters in thePakistani capital.

"We have a transition strategy. We donot have an exit strategy."

He stressed that 2014 would not be arepeat of 1989, when the Soviet Unionleft Afghanistan in defeat and the Westturned its back on its former proxy bat-tleground, leaving it a cauldron ofIslamic militancy and civil war. TheTaliban emerged from this stew as did

Osama bin Laden."This does not mean international

force will leave completely, and it def-initely doesn't mean we're going torepeat 1989 when the US turned itsback on Afghanistan as soon as theSoviets left."

Many in Pakistan and Afghanistanstill point to the abandonment as theUnited States' original sin and thecause of many of the region's problems.

"What happened in 1989 was astraight line to 9/11, and from 9/11 towhere we are today," the US envoysaid. "It is the most extraordinary storyof unintended consequences I think inAmerican foreign policy history."

July 2011 would mark the beginningof the withdrawal as planned, he said.US President Barack Obama set nextsummer as his starting point for thedrawdown of US combat personnel fol-lowing a surge of 30,000 troops heordered last year.

"One thing you can be sure of is thatthere will be some drawdown by Julyof next year," Holbrooke said.

Lisbon Nato moot seen aswatershed in Afghan war