International

Rabi-us-Sani moon not sighted

Rain washes out Australia-Sri Lanka match

CoD gurantees progress, says Sharif See on Page 8

Crude Oil (brent)$/bbl 115.97

Crude Oil (WTI)$/bbl 104.42

Cotton $/lb 212.70

Gold $/ozs 1,428.60

Silver $/ozs 35.33

Malaysian Palm $ 1,207

GOLD (NCEL) PKR 39,022

KHI Cotton 40Kg PKR 12,860

Yearly(Jul, 2010 up to 04-Mar-2011)

Monthly(Mar, 2011 up to 04-Mar-2011)

Daily (04-Mar-2011)

Total Portfolio Invest (19-Feb-2011)

195.18

-0.77

-4.35

2987

4.84

-0.32

-5.71

-1.65

0.18

3.10

-0.44

SCRA(U.S $ in million)

Portfolio Investment

FIPI (04-Mar-2011)

Local Companies (04-Mar-2011)

Banks / DFI (04-Mar-2011)

Mutual Funds (04-Mar-2011)

NBFC (04-Mar-2011)

Local Investors (04-Mar-2011)

Other Organization (04-Mar-2011)

(U.S $ in million)

NCCPL

GDR update

Commodities

Forex Reserves (26-Feb-11)

Inflation CPI% (Jul 10-Jan 11)

Exports (Jul 10-Jan 11)

Imports (Jul 10-Jan 11)

Trade Balance (Jul 10-Jan 11)

Current A/C (Jul 10- Jan 11)

Remittances (Jul 10 - Jan 11)

Foreign Invest (Jul 10-Jan 11)

Revenue (Jul 10 Jan 11)

Foreign Debt (Dec 10)

Domestic Debt (Dec 10)

Repatriated Profit (Jul- Dec 10)

LSM Growth (Dec 10)

GDP Growth FY10EPer Capita Income FY10Population

$17.50bn

14.55%

$13.23bn

$22.55bn

$(9.32)bn

$(81)mn

$6.12bn

$1.18bn

Rs 765bn

$58.39bn

Rs 5497.4bn

$338.2mn

-1.57%

4.10%

$1,051

175.36mn

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

15.86

2.00

1.70

11.63

PKR/Shares

111.09

135.53

42.73

36.32

39.75

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)

23-Feb-2011

23-Feb-2011

23-Feb-2011

29-Nov-2010

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

05-Mar-2011

13.49%

13.69%

13.86%

14.00%

13.30%

13.59%

13.76%

14.14%

14.26%

14.18%

14.20%

14.19%

14.56%

14.77%

14.97%

Money Market Update

Symbols Buy (Rs) Sell (Rs)

Australian $ 85.90 86.90

Canadian $ 87.10 88.10

Danish Krone 15.60 15.80

Euro 118.80 120.30

Hong Kong $ 10.50 11.00

Japanese Yen 1.022 1.048

Saudi Riyal 22.70 22.90

Singapore $ 66.80 67.80

Swedish Korona 13.10 13.30

Swiss Franc 91.70 92.90

U.A.E Dirham 23.20 23.40

UK Pound 138.50 139.80

US $ 85.35 85.65

Open Mkt Currency Rates

Symbols Buying Selling

TT Clean TT & OD

Australian $ 86.43 86.64

Canadian $ 87.62 87.83

Danish Krone 15.98 16.02

Euro 119.21 119.48

Hong Kong $ 10.95 10.97

Japanese Yen 1.035 1.038

Saudi Riyal 22.73 22.79

Singapore $ 67.28 67.44

Swedish Korona 13.42 13.45

Swiss Franc 92.11 92.32

U.A.E Dirham 23.21 23.26

UK Pound 138.74 139.07

US $ 85.35 85.53

Inter-Bank Currency Rates

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RAS JDIR, Libya: A migrant worker gestures as he crosses the Libyan and Tunisianborder crossing of Ras Jdir after fleeing unrest in Libya. -Reuters

Coaction urged towin war on terror

See on Page 8

Karachi, Sunday, March 6, 2011, Rabi-ul-Awwal 30, Price Rs12 Pages 8

Nawaz Ahmed

KARACHI: Federal Ministerfor Finance Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh Saturday launched theleveraged market products atKarachi Stock Exchange(KSE).

Speaking on the occasion, hesaid that introduction of margintrading, margin financing andsecurities lending and borrow-ing was long over due.

"This will enhance tradingvolume and bring in transparen-cy in the stock market", headded. The Minister said thatthe government will considerevery proposal of fiscal or taxmeasures to encourage listing ofnew issue on stock market.

The government would alsolike to enlist more public sectororganisations on stock marketfor their revival, promoting effi-ciency in these entities andbring in more investment.

Referring to the forthcomingbudget, he invited proposalsfrom the apex body and sug-gested them to form a group fordevising tax proposals.

Finance Minister advised the

premier exchange to work ondebt market development sothat the government can gener-ate capital for the developmentof infrastructure projects.

Talking about the economy hesaid that despite big challenges,the economy was showingencouraging signs. "Exports, forthe first time, will cross $22 bil-lion while remittances will cross$11 billion mark", he noted.

He said the government is tar-geting its subsidies towards thepoorest of the poor while therural economy was better offwith higher prices of agricultur-

al produce this year.He said the government was

trying to maintain a balance in acoalition government. However,he made it clear that the govern-ment will not allow politics todegenerate the economy."Similarly, we do not allow part-ners to overcome national econ-omy", he observed.

Finmin said Government willaim to keep its budget deficit at5 per cent of gross domesticproduct (GDP) in the 2010/11fiscal year, finance minister saidon Saturday.

See # 8 Page 7

Khi bourse getsleverage tools

Shaikh launches Margin trading, MarginFinancing, Securities lending & borrowing

ISLAMABAD: The Britishgovernment has refused to handover former president PervezMusharraf to Pakistani authori-ties in the Benazir Bhutto mur-der case, media reported.

Musharraf, who was presidentwhen Benazir was killed inDecember 2007 in a gun andsuicide bomb attack, is in self-imposed exile in London andhis spokesman has repeatedlysaid he will not be going back toPakistan for any court hearing.

The former president andmilitary ruler is alleged to havebeen part of a "broad conspira-cy" to have his political rivalkilled before elections, thoughthe exact nature of the chargesagainst him is not clear.

Furthermore, the non-bail-able arrest warrants of formerPresident Pervez Musharrafhave been issued third timehere on Saturday in BenazirBhutto assassination case.

According to media reports,the court has given deadline of15 days to FIA for complianceof arrest warrants of formerPresident Pervez Musharrafand adjourned the hearing till19 March as the Prosecutorsboycotted the hearing as protestagainst jail administration.

Hearing into Benazir assassi-nation case was to be conduct-ed in Adiala jail on Saturdaybut FIA prosecutors includingChaudhry Zulfiqar and

See # 11 Page 7

Britain refuses toexpel Musharraf

BB case: warrants issued for third time

ISLAMABAD: The USadministration has shown itswillingness to consider unilat-eral trade preferences pro-gram to help Pakistan over-come economic difficulties.

This was revealed in theTrade Policy Agenda for 2011to the US Congress, whichprovides a roadmap for UStrade policy initiatives for2011.

The policy document pro-vides resolve of the USGovernment to continue tosupport economic opportuni-ties through trade for coun-tries that have been particu-larly ravaged by disaster orviolence. Two countries werespecified in the report forsuch efforts i.e. Haiti andPakistan.

The relevant paragraph forPakistan reads as follows:-

"This year, we will alsohelp our Pakistani partners

recover from last year's dev-astating floods by seeking tobuild economic prosperitythrough trade. To this end,we will work with Congressto ensure renewal of GSPand to identify other mecha-nisms, including appropriatepreference policies that canprovide Pakistan the oppor-tunities necessary to over-come challenges like the2010 floods".

In this backdrop,Makhdoom M Amin Fahim,Minister of Commerce wrotea letter to Ambassador RonKirk, the United States TradeRepresentative (USTR) onSeptember 02, 2010 request-ing US support for Pakistan.During the recent visit of Mr.David Lipton to Pakistan, theMinistry of Commerce againrequested the US administra-tion for trade concessionshighlighting the earlier

request made by theCommerce Minister to theUSTR.

In August 2010, Pakistanwitnessed worst floods in hishistory. Pakistan requestedthe international communityfor immediate relief and assis-tance. We have been request-ing our friends and allies fortrade concessions to rehabili-tate our economy which wasalready under strain due todeteriorating security situa-tion.

The Pakistan specific tradeagenda for 2011 announcedby US Government is theresult of comprehensiveefforts of our leadership inwhich Ministry of Commerceis playing an active role. TheMinistry of Commerce wouldcontinue to be engaged withthe USTR to develop appro-priate measures to realize thispolicy objective. -Agencies

USA mulls tradegrants for Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The USambassador to Pakistan pressedthe country's president Mondayto release an American officialwho Washington says was ille-gally detained after he shot andkilled two men in Lahore.

Ambassador CameronMunter's meeting withPresident Asif Ali Zardari inIslamabad followed repeatedpublic demands for theAmerican's freedom.

The US has said theAmerican, who has been identi-

fied by Pakistanis as RaymondAllen Davis, acted in self-defense when he shot the twomen on Jan 27 and must bereleased because he has diplo-matic immunity.

Munter told Zardari that"Pakistan must comply with itsobligations under internationallaw and immediately releasethe American diplomat illegallydetained in Lahore," accordingto US Embassy spokeswomanCourtney Beale.

See # 12 Page 7

US presses Pakto release Davis

US law experts reach Pak for Davis help

ISLAMABAD: Federal gov-ernment Saturday excuseditself from immediately sackingDirector General FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA)Waseem Ahmed, media report-ed.

The Establishment Divisionsubmitted a reply with theSupreme Court in this regard.

The reply stated that althoughDG FIA had been dissociatedfrom the Pakistan Steel,National Insurance CompanyLimited (NICL) and Hajj cor-ruption cases, he was monitor-ing matters of national signifi-cance and therefore could notbe immediately removed.

On March 1, the SupremeCourt had directed the govern-

ment to immediately removeWaseem Ahmed from the posi-tion of DG FIA for allegedlycontinuing interference in theHajj scam despite restrictionsimposed by the apex court twomonths ago.

Speaking to media represen-tatives later on Saturday,Waseem Ahmed said he wascaught in a conflict betweentwo institutions of the state andthat he was considering theoption of resigning from hisposition.

He said one institution want-ed him removed while the otherwanted to keep him.

Ahmed said he had not yetmade a decision but was con-sidering resigning. -Agencies

Govt drags feet onDG FIA sacking

SC takes notice of DG FIA’s non-removal

ISLAMABAD: A new scamworth Rs640 million wasunearthed in the NationalInsurance Company Limited(NICL) on Saturday.

The Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) has registeredcriminal cases against thoseaccused of being involved inthe Rs4.45 billion NICL landscandal.

The FIA now says it hasgathered evidence concerninganother fraud and that it isplanning to lodge a caseagainst the accused in Karachi.

Former company chairman,Ayaz Khan Niazi is alleged tohave paid claim amounts tocontractors in a violation ofthe rules in the Rs640 million

rupees scam.Sources in the FIA said that

Ayaz Niazi illegally paid hugeclaim amounts in connivancewith his colleagues.

They said that Ayaz and hiscolleagues paid the money tocontractors after gettingclaims through fake surveyors.

The money was supposed tobe paid to the departments con-cerned, and not the contractors.

According to recentreports, FIA investigatorshave also decided to initiateaction against NICL's actingchairman, Tariq Iqbal Puri,who is also the chief execu-tive of the TradeDevelopment Authority ofPakistan (TDAP).-Agencies

FIA raisesred flags overNICL contractSECP

fines 6defaultingcompanies

ISLAMABAD: As part of itsenforcement and regulatoryfunction, the Securities andExchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) has passed sixorders, fining defaulting listedand unlisted companies.

In order to safeguard the inter-ests of investors and stakehold-ers and to develop corporategovernance culture in the coun-try, the SECP took action againstnon-compliant companies.

A statement issued by theCommission here Monday saidthat SECP has issued 40 show-cause notices for non-compli-ance with various provisions ofthe 1984 Companies Ordinance.

See # 13 Page 7

Ministers getadditionalportfolios

ISLAMABAD: PrimeMinister Syed Yousuf RazaGilani on Saturday allocatedadditional portfolios for theexisting ministers.

According to a hand outissued here at PM House, theministers who got additionalportfolios include MianManzoor Ahmad Wattoo -Minister of DefenceProduction, MakhdoomShahabuddin - Housing andWorks, Mian Raza Rabbani -Human Rights, SyedKhursheed Shah - Labour and

See # 14 Page 7

NCELbecomesPakistan

MercantileExchange LtdLAHORE: The NationalCommodity Exchange Limited(NCEL) has changed its nameand henceforth would be calledthe Pakistan MercantileExchange (PME) Limited.

According to a press releaseissued here on Saturday, theannouncement was made todayby Samir Ahmed, ManagingDirector after its approval by theSecurities ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP)recently.

"This name change has beendecided with a view to commu-nicating more accurately ourmandate as a nation wide com-modities and futures exchange.

The new name also reflectsmore accurately the wide varietyof our current and planned busi-ness lines and products,"

See # 9 Page 7

MTS to help raise muchvolume, says Arif Habib

Staff Reporter

KARACHI: Senior Member Karachi Stock Exchange andChairman Arif Habib Group Arif Habib said that the launch ofleverage products would substantially increase in the turnover ofthe exchange.

Arif Habib while talking to TFD said that market would get itsdesired depth and would find price discovery through the leverageproducts. It should be noted that three products i.e. margin trading;margin financing and securities lending and borrowing werelaunched at the Karachi Stock Exchange See # 15 Page 7

1 killedin JummaGoth blast

KARACHI: One person waskilled and two injured when anexplosion occurred in a housenear Gulzar mosque in theJumma Goth area of IbrahimHydri, in Karachi on Saturday.

IG Sindh confirmed in hisaddress to the media that thehouse belonged to SindhuLiberation Army and six toseven people were preparingexplosive material inside thehouse when the blast tookplace.

He added that certain pieces ofevidence had been discoveredfrom the blast site which includea telephone directory and avideo cassette showing footageof an Ashura rally but had asticker on it that said 'valimareception'.

See # 10 Page 7

Rs640mn scam surfaces

Finmin upbeat on keeping fiscal deficit at 5pc of GDP

2 Sunday, March 6, 2011

Staff Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: "TheNADRA will launch acountrywide 'women reg-istration drive' from March8 which will enablewomen to get their basicrights."

This was stated byMuhammad Tariq Malik,Deputy Chairman ofNational Data RegistartionAuthority (NADRA),in astatement issued here onSaturday .

Highlighting the effortsof NADRA to increasewomen registration, TariqMalik said that theNADRA had dedicated itsmobile registration unitsacross the country toencourage women regis-tration.

The NADRA has alreadyestablished centers toenhance women registra-tion throughout the coun-

try."The 100th Anniversary

of International Women'sDay (IWD) on March 8shall be marked byNADRA with the com-mencement of free regis-tration for the unregisteredwomen in the countrythrough various pro-grammes and incentivesbased schemes," said TariqMalik.

"With around 51 per centmajority, women are avital segment of our socie-ty and we can not progresswithout their participationin all spheres of nationallife to earn a respectableplace in the internationalarena," he added.

"NADRA wants toempower women for theirbasic rights and thewomen registration driveis aimed at increasingwomen registration tohave more accurate data to

facilitate national planningcommission in decisionmaking," added TariqMalik.

He said that NADRA ismaking all out efforts toget the adult population inPakistan, specially womenregistered in a minimumpossible time to facilitatethem in getting education,health, employment andother facilities.

CNIC is the essentialidentity document whichprotects women's rights. Itis evident through the factthat first time in historytheir rights were safe-guarded when in flood hitareas women as familyhead were given "WatanCards" and NADRAissued as many as 121,640"Watan Cards" to disburseRs.2.43 billion amongwoman family headswhich never occurred inthe world ever, he said.

NADRA’s womenregistration drivefrom March 8th

By Staff Reporter

KARACHI: GovernorSindh, Dr Ishrat-ul-EbadKhan said that all partiesshould have to sit togetherand find ways and means toface challenges being facedby the country.

Addressing the AnnualDinner 2010 of KorangiAssociation of Trade andIndustry (KATI), the DrIshrat said that the countryand nation is facing variouschallenges particularly lawand order and decliningeconomy and all the stake-holders should sit togetheras the government couldnot face the challengesalone and without the helpof all parties and the peo-ple. He said that MQM hasalready rejected the recentincrease in POL pricesannounced by government.He said that MQM hadrejected the POL priceincrease in the past as itwas a big burden on the

general masses.Governor said that

though condition of econo-my is not good but stillsome indicators such asbuilding up foreignexchange reserves andincrease in exports areshowing that the situationis not that bad either.

He said that industry inKarachi has been exemptedfrom load-shedding and thegas shortage has also beenresolved with the consulta-tion of KESC and SSGC'smanagements and thestakeholders.

He mentioned that KATIhas become a distinctivetrade and industrial bodythrough its efforts for thebetterment of trade andindustry. While paying trib-utes to Patron In-chiefKATI, S M Muneer and histeam he advised other tradebodies to follow his foot-steps.

S M Muneer whileexpressing his dismay over

10 per cent increase in POLprices, said that the econo-my is already reaching onthe verge of collapse thegovernment has once againincreased the prices ofpetroleum which would beextremely detrimental to thenational economy and thebreak the backbone of gen-eral masses. He said thatdue to anti-people decisionswould result in unrestamong the people. Hepointed out that one daystrike in Pakistan causesRs5 billion revenue loss tothe national exchequer andgovernment should alsorealise this factor andinstead of increasing POLand utilities prices shouldtry to avoid greater losses inthe shape of strikes, indus-try's shut down and exportshipments' failures. He onceagain demanded of the gov-ernment to hand over themanagement of loss makingpublic organisations such asPIA, Railways, Pakistan

Steel, PEPCO, etc. to thesome honest and profes-sional stakeholders in pri-vate sector in order to bringthem out of red and saveRs500 billion subsidiesgiven to these organisationsannually.

The Chairman, KATI,Syed Johar Ali Qandhari inhis welcome address point-ed out the grim situation ofthe economy and asked thegovernor to give priority tothe ongoing crisis of utili-ties shortage such as powerload-shedding, water andgas shortage in the coun-try's industrial and com-mercial hub - Karachi.

"Government shouldhave to address the econo-my on first priority as theindustries are closingdown, exports declining,raw materials are gettingexpensive frequently andthe Pak rupee has beendevalued by 40 per cent inthe last three years",Qandhari said.

Governor tells KATI dinner meeting

Parties should join handsto face serious challenges

TFD Report

KARACHI: The 7th International Plasticand Packaging Exhibition and FoodTechnology Exhibition will be held onMarch 12-14, at Lahore Expo Centre underthe auspices of CEMS Pakistan Pvt.Limited. During the Exhibition a Conferenceon Food and Plastic Printing / PackagingIndustry will also be held in which scientists,technologists and experts in the light of theirexperience in the industrial development

would highlight the issues. According to theCEO of CEMS Pakistan Pvt. Limited SaleemKhan Tanoli, the exhibition would invite thedirection of International Standards Setterhow to expand their industries so that the par-ticipants would introduce their products.

More than 220 companies from 17 dif-ferent countries around the globe wouldparticipate in the Exhibitions which is wit-nessed that the Pakistan has a good busi-ness affiliation with other countries, says aPress release.

I'ntl plastic fair from March 12

ISLAMABAD: The Boardof Investment (BoI) hasappointed former KoreanAmbassador Un Shin asHonorary InvestmentCounselor (HIC) forPakistan in South Korea.

Un Shin has a trackrecord of being a success-ful professional and hisappointment as HonoraryCounselor will help pro-mote relations between thetwo countries, BoIChairman Saleem H.Mandviwalla said. He saidthat Un Shin has a vastwork experience and had

served as Minister at theKorean Mission to theUnited Nations, Minister atthe Korean Embassy inWashington, D.C and hislast portfolio wasAmbassador to Pakistan.

As HIC for Pakistan inSouth Korea, he will beresponsible for imagebuilding of Pakistan inSouth Korea, building ofeffective relationship withPakistani business commu-nity residing in SouthKorea, working as activeliaison between BOI andforeign investors. -APP

Ex-Korean envoy madeInvestment Counselor

ISLAMABAD: InformationMinister Dr. Firdous AshiqAwan launched the first cam-paign of the year to eradicatepolio by administering anti-polio drops to children atNational Institute of Healthhere on Saturday.

During the three day cam-paign thirty-three millionchildren up to five years ofage will be administeredanti-polio drops to save themfrom the crippling disease.

Speaking on the occasion,she said this campaign is ofvital importance soon afterthe launch of NationalEmergency Action Plan onPolio Eradication. The planwas approved by the PrimeMinister in January this year.It was launched by thePresident which shows thecommitment of the govern-ment at a very high level.She said the Prime Ministerhas approved National TaskForce to review the progress

and has directed to establisha special cell on Polio eradi-cation at PM Secretariat.

The Information Ministersaid the need to launch thecampaign arose due toreports of polio re-appearingin some areas of the countryespecially in the FATA. Shesaid as our forces clear moreareas; more children will beaccessed who were missed inthe previous campaigns dueto militancy and other fac-tors.

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awansaid role of media is veryimportant in disseminationof information. She urgedthe media to dedicate timefor the public service mes-sages as it is their nationalduty. She assured full coop-eration of her ministry andits constituent institutionslike APP, PBC and PTV tomake the campaign success-ful for making Pakistan ahealthy country. - NNI

Firdous launchesanti-polio campaign

Intel

launches

new SSDsKARACHI: IntelCorporation has announcedthe next in a line of newsolid-state drives (SSD), theIntel® Solid-State Drive 510Series. The new Intel SSD510 features fast SATA 6Gigabits per second (Gbps)performance to take fulladvantage of Intel's transi-tion to higher speed SATAbus interfaces on the recent-ly introduced 2ndGeneration Intel Coreprocessor-based platforms.Supporting data transfers ofup to 500 megabytes persecond (MB/s), the IntelSSD 510 doubles thesequential read speeds, andat up to 315MB/s more thantriples the sequential writespeeds of Intel's current3Gbps SSDs, to transfermore data in less time. Thismakes it ideal for demand-ing gamers, media creators,p e r f o r m a n c e - i n t e n s i v eworkstation users and anytechnology enthusiast.

The Intel SSD 510 offersthe fastest sequential readand write speeds of any con-sumer SATA SSD availabletoday. -PR"

"Dekho

Pakistan"

festival from

March 8TFD Report

KARACHI: The CitizensArchive of Pakistan[CAP], in collaborationwith the Hamara KarachiFoundation, presents'Dekho Pakistan'- an inter-active exhibition to be partof this year's HamaraKarachi celebrations. Thisfree exhibition will be opento the public from March 8to April 5 in order to com-memorate the reopening ofFrere Hall, which has beenan integral part ofKarachi's heritage and cul-ture.

The Hamara KarachiFestival is an annual festi-val organized under theguidance of the HamaraKarachi Foundation. Theobjective of these celebra-tions is to promote peaceand harmony among citi-zens by emphasizing theircommon nationality andcultural heritage, irrespec-tive of religious, sectarianand linguistic differences.

'Dekho Pakistan' featuresexciting installations andinteractive games aboutKarachi and Pakistan toengage children andencourage their interest inhistory.

PWA's fund

raising for

poor patientsKARACHI: Patients'Welfare Association(PWA) hosted its annualfundraising carnival "TheBake Sale 2011" at CivilHospital Karachi to gener-ate funds which will beused for provision of freemedical facilities to under-privileged patients at CHK.

The event was inaugurat-ed by the chief guest, AftabDewan, Central OperatingOfficer, Central DepositoryCompany of Pakistan.Many other renowned dig-nitaries including Ateeq urRehman, chairman bank-ing & insurance committeeKCCI, Siddique Sheikh,chairman CSR committeeFPCCI, Saeeda Laghari,Chairman Pakistan Pipesan LABELS and distin-guished personalitiesincluding Shehzad Roy,Behroz Sabzwari, ShabbirJan, Kiran Fulton and M.Zaheer Khan who laudedthe efforts of students toserve the poor patients ofCHK.-PR

Safeguarddonation

KARACHI: Safeguard,Procter & Gamble's leadinganti-bacterial soap is collab-orating with UNICEF inPakistan to curb the spreadof preventable diseasesamongst those affected bythe flood by donating overtwo million bars ofSafeguard soap. This dona-tion will impact over 2 mil-lion Pakistanis affected bythe monsoon floods. -PR

ISLAMABAD: Students supporting their teams during the annual sports day ofWestminister School, at Sports Complex. -Online

HYDERABAD: Senior Sindh Minister for Education Pir Mazhar ul Haq speaksduring a ceremony at a local hotel. -Online

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry charing a meeting of thebuilding Committee at Supreme Court Registry. -APP

WE’s electric, kite powered car This is the Wind Explorer, and it is a car that can drive by

kite. The Wind Explorer can take credit for breaking threeworld records: the first continental crossing by a wind-pow-ered vehicle, the longest distance covered by a wind-poweredvehicle, and the longest distance covered by a wind-poweredvehicle in 36 hours. You can catch a video of it after the jumpif you want to see it in motion. The Wind Explorer traveled3,107 miles across Australia in about 18 days, and it uses only$15 worth of electricity. Talk about your fuel efficiency!

Solar PowerediPhone

That wont ever happen to any of us again ifApple has it’s way. According to US patentreports, Apple wants to be able to incorporatesolar cells into some of their touch screen prod-ucts. Can anyone say iPhone 5? Okay, can any-one say iPhone 6 then? Anyway, let’s imagineif you will, the premise of throwing your phoneup on the dashboard and having it be ready togo anytime you need it. Awesome.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Latest Gadgets Panasonic’s new

faster, better,stronger playerAll Kanye West allusions aside, the lineup of

2011 Blu-ray players from Panasonic lookspromising. Gone are the days when the simpleability to play Blu-ray discs was enough to sellthese devices. Companies have had to get smart,connected, and go social in order to get cus-tomers to spend their hard earned cash andPanasonic may be leading the pack.

Shadow Ebikehas Cool Nameand USB PortsThe Shadow Ebike’s motor and drive

controller are inside the front wheelinstead of merely strapped onto the fram-ing. That means it looks more like a regu-lar bike but also that there aren’t any straycables or wires to trip up on or get tangledin. The motor is powered by a recharge-able lithium ion battery which can be pow-ered by the motion of the bike or by plug-ging it into a standard outlet.

Fly like eaglewith this

headset’s setupYou should know that now you can

fly by using the power of the mind.Before you get any Peter Pan fan-

tasies going on, you should know thatthis is in the experimental stage fromthe Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.Their virtual reality device allows usersto hang by a harness, but this year, themind as well as the body is involved.

The flying car has beenprophesied fordecades. It's one of the

holy grails of the futuristic,utopian society, where every-one gets to zip aroundthrough the air and landeasily, quietly and safelywherever he or she wants.

You've probably seenvideos of flying-car proto-types, taking off from theground, hovering and pos-sibly crashing. But the first"autoplane" was actuallyunveiled in 1917, andmany similar efforts havefollowed. Henry Ford pre-dicted the flying car wascoming -- in 1940 -- and therehave been numerous falsealarms ever since.

A decade into the 21st centu-ry, we don't seem to be anycloser, despite what you mightread on gadget blogs. Becausefunding dried up, NASA aban-

doned its contest for inventorsto create a "Personal AirVehicle," and there doesn't

seem to be another governmentagency, except perhaps thesecretive DARPA, ready totake on the project.

There are simply too manychallenges in the way of aflying car becoming wide-ly adopted. Cost, flightpaths and regulations,safety, potential use in ter-rorism, fuel efficiency,training pilots/drivers,landing, noise, oppositionfrom the automobile andtransportation industries --all stand in the way of alegitimate flying car. Also,these vehicles will likelyhave to be able to operate

as cars on regular roads, pos-ing another logistical chal-lenge.

Soon We'll All Be Driving Flying Cars

If you’ve not heard aboutHTC’s newest Androidhandset the Merge,

you’ve probably not beenskulking about the Internetlistening to all the unoffi-cial “official” chatter aboutthe phone. It’s basically a3.8 inch touchscreen with aslide out QWERTY key-board and Android 2.2.

Of course, being an HTCphone, you’ll have toeither love or hate theSense UI because you’restuck with it one way oranother. However, youwill also get a 5 megapixelcamera with built-in auto-focus and flash. While themegapixels might not beall that impressive, the pic-ture quality is. And you’llhave integrated access to Flickr

so you can post those photos

near-instantly. In addition, the

lens shoots 720p video.It comes with the now-

obligatory Wifi and a fewextra features that may havebeen thrown in to allow thecompany to bump the pricetag a little higher: GPS, andHTC FriendStream—whichallows Facebook andTwitter notifications to beshown in one simple inter-face. The phone will beofficially launching in thespring (no exact date given)and will be available onseveral different carries (noworries about exclusivityhere).

While the Merge proba-bly won’t be the cheapestHTC handset on the mar-ket, it should be fairlyaffordable given its middle

of the road specs.

HTC MergeLaunch Announced N

intendo Co Ltd said ithas set ambitious goalsfor its newest handheld

gaming system despite grow-ing competition from smart-phones like Apple's iPhone.

Nintendo, whose growth hasb e e nflagging,is mak-ing a bigmarke t -ing pushas itlaunchest h eNintendo3DS, thef i r s tdevice tooffer 3D gaming without spe-cial glasses.

Nintendo of AmericaPresident Reggie Fils-Aimecalled the 3DS a key revenuedriver and argued that its adop-tion should be even faster thanthe original DS device, which

launched in 2004 and has sold150 million units to date.

"From our perspective, we'veset the high water bar for ahandheld device and our goal isto try to beat that," he said in aninterview on Thursday.

T h e3 D Slaunchedin Japanl a s tm o n t hand willgo onsale int h eU n i t e dStates onM a r c h

27. The Japanese company istrying to stay a step ahead ofrivals in the mobile market,which is in a state of flux as theiPhone and smartphones basedon Google's Android havebecome more robust gamingplatforms.

Nintendo has highhopes for 3DS

Twitter has no plan to gopublic in the near futureand does not need addi-

tional funds because it is mak-ing money, the co-founder ofthe popular microblogging sitesaid.

Biz Stone also dismissedreports JPMorgan Chase & Co.was in talks to buy 10 percentof Twitter for $450 million,which would have valued thecompany at $4.5 billion.

"We have so many otherthings before we even thinkabout that," Stone told Reuterswhen asked about the prospectsof an IPO as fans crushedaround trying to take his photoat a business forum in Seoul onThursday.

"We are not even discussingit internally. It's too far off," the36-year-old said, adding thatTwitter had no plans to raisefunds over the next 12 months.The company, created in 2006,employs about 350 people.

Valuations for social network-ing companies have soared,with Facebook's recent $1.5 bil-lion round of financing led byGoldman Sachs giving the firma projected value of $50 billion.

Asked about a FinancialTimes report last week that saida technology fund fromJPMorgan was in talks to buy10 percent of Twitter, Stonesaid: "(The report is) made up."

Twitter, which allows usersto send short, 140-charactertext messages, or Tweets, togroups of followers, is one ofthe Web's most popular socialnetworking services along with

Facebook and LinkedIn andhad 175 million users as ofSeptember.

Social networking servicesare a growing challenge to Webplayers such as Google Inc,Microsoft Corp and Yahoo!Inc, competing for users onlineand advertising dollars, raisingspeculation Twitter maybecome the target of a takeoverbid.

Last month, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen'sventure capital outfit invested$80 million in Twitter.

In December, Twitter said itraised $200 million a deal thatvalued the company at $3.7 bil-lion, less than a year after itbegan its first serious efforts tomake money. Silicon Valleyventure capital firm KleinerPerkins Caufield & Byers wasthe lead investor which includ-ed existing Twitter investors.

Stone, who reportedly pro-nounced his given nameChristopher as "Bizober" when hewas learning to talk and decided toabbreviate it later to Biz, createdTwitter with Evan Williams andJack Dorsey in 2006.

He left Google at around the

same time with Williams tostart a new podcasting projectand later worked to improvethe then-popular text messageto create Twitter.

It has since become a popularcommunication tool forcelebrities, politicians andbusinesses, and played a role inseveral geopolitical eventsincluding the recent uprising inEgypt.

Twitter's Stonesays no IPO orfunding talksApple is ahead of

the competitionagain with the iPad2, say analysts, butcompetitors whowant to catch upare wrong to focuson hardware.

Steve Jobs,l a u n c h i n gApple’s iPad 2

last night, found time fora few digs at the compe-tition. He said: “Whileothers have been scram-bling to copy the firstgeneration iPad, we’relaunching iPad 2, whichmoves the bar far aheadof the competition andwill likely cause them togo back to the drawingboards yet again.”

Analysts seem tobroadly agree with Jobs’assessment, though per-haps not in suchemphatic terms. AdamLeach, of Ovum, said:“In such a fast moving marketApple is forced to release new

versions of its hardware to stayahead. Apple clearly had firstmover advantage, however, itscompetitors have been hot onits heels with a slew of tabletdevices from big brand ven-dors such as Samsung,Motorola, HP, HTC and RIM,all of which have announcedtablet devices which aim toreplicate the Apple experience,

which is notoriously difficultto match.”

Sarah Rotman Epps, ofForrester Research, said: Thecompeting products we’veseen announced so far fromMotorola, RIM, HP, and oth-ers, while impressive, havefatally flawed price and distri-bution strategies. For now,Apple still defines the tabletmarket, with a product con-sumers will desire at a price

that’s hard to beat.”Carolina Milanesi, of

Gartner, quoted in theGuardian, said: "Competitorsare making the same mistakethat mobile vendors made withtheir response to iPhone: theyare making the battle abouthardware, and with tablets thisis even less the case than it wasfor smartphones. What you areempowered to do with yourtablet makes the difference.”

Not every ana-lyst was positiveabout the iPad 2,h o w e v e r .Computerwor ldrounded up a fewof the sceptics,including JackGold, who said: "Idon't see this asheads above thecompetition, espe-cially the Xoom,right now. Applefans who want thelatest will buy thisor upgrade, but Idon't see anyoverwhelminglycompelling capa-bilities that wouldmake people sit-

ting on the tablet fence go outand buy one."

“Apple's competitorsmaking a mistake”1202 2,100

1203 2,050

1208 2,300

1209 2,250

1280 2,075

1616 2,450

1800 2,700

2220 Slide 4,500

2330 Classic 4,400

2600 Classic 4,950

2690 5,200

2700 Classic 6,900

2730 Classic 7,500

3600 slide 12,900

3610 Fold 9,600

5030 3,100

5130 8,300

5220 10,400

5230 13,600

5250 13,600

5233 11,500

5310 12,400

5320 14,900

5530 17,200

5630 17,200

5730 23,000

5800 22,000

6120 12,000

6220 Classic 17,900

6300 10,800

6303 11,300

6303i 11,000

6600 Slide 18,900

6600 Fold 17,800

6700 Classic 20,300

6720 Classic 19,800

6730 Classic 15,200

6760 Slide 18,800

7210 8,550

7230 10,750

7310 11,000

7510 14,000

7610 13,200

C1-00 3,000

C3 11,500

C5 14,200

E5 21,300

E52 21,200

E55 23,000

E63 16,800

E66 20,000

E71 21,300

E72 27,500

E75 24,000

N78 19,800

N79 26,300

N8 40,000

N82 26,000

N85 8GB 22,800

N86 31,500

N97 39,000

N97 mini 33,000

N900 37,000

X2 9,400

X3 12,000

X3 02 Touch and Type 15,900

X6 16GB 28,000

X6 48,000

T303 8,700

T707 16,800

W302 9,600

W380i 8,800

W350i 7,700

W395 9,700

W595 13,200

W705 19,000

W980 18,200

W902 43,500

W995 25,600

F305 9,400

S302 8,200

C510 12,700

C901 14,800

C902i 15,600

C903 16,100

C905 21,400

G502 14,500

G700 12,800

Aino 30,800

Jalou 17,300

U100 Yari 18,700

Satio Idou 38,700

Xperia X1 33,000

Xperia X10 47,000

B130 2,050

B220 Guru 3,900

B300 3,600

B3210 CorbyTXT 8,700

B3410 9,500

B3410W Chat WIFI 13,400

B5722 15,400

B7300 OMNIALite 24,000

B7320 Omnia PRO 19,200

Guru B100 2,450

E1080 2,200

E1100 2,450

E1125 3,200

E2125 6,050

E250 5,200

D980 (Dual Sim) 20,300

J150 6,550

J700 7,550

M150 5,100

M200 6,200

M620 6,250

M3510 Beat b 9,200

M3710 Corby Beat 12,700

M7500 Armani 30,300

M7603 Beat DJ 32,000

M8910 Pixon 12 40,600

C3010S 5,700

C3053 6,000

C3200 Monte Bar 6,900

C3212 7,300

C3303k Champ 7,600

C3510 Genoa 8,800

C5212 DUOS 9,800

S3310 7,900

S3653 Corby 10,600

S3653 WIFI 10,800

Star S5230 11,000

S5230W Star WIFI 12,300

S5350 Shark 12,000

S5550 Shark 2 14,500

S5560 Marvel 15,600

S5620 Monte 15,500

S7220 Ultra b 21,000

S7350 Ultra s 22,100

S8003 Jet 24,000

S8300 Tocco Ultar Edition 28,200

S8500 Wave 29,900

I900 Omnia 42,500

i5700 Galaxy Spica 25,000

i8000 Omnia II 49,500

i8510 INNOV8 37,000

i8910 Omnia HD 43,700

i9000 Galaxy S 16GB 49,000

Q3i 5,999

E900 6,999

Bold 9000 33,000

Curve 8900 30,900

Peral Flip 8220 30,000

Pearl 8120 27,000

Curve 8310 29,000

ALI ZHORAIZ JAFFRI

Nokia

Mobile Prices

Updated on 6 March, 2011

Sony Ericsson

Samsung

BlackBerry

QMobile

NOTE: Always visit your local shop for the exact

Mobile phone prices.

3

DreamWorks

options

movie rights

to WikiLeaks

books

The DreamWorks studiohas optioned movierights to a pair of books

about WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange and his contro-versial Website that is bent onrevealing government secrets,company officials said onThursday.

One of the books is"WikiLeaks: Inside JulianAssange's War on Secrecy" byjournalists David Leigh andLuke Harding of TheGuardian, the British newspa-per said in an article.

The other is "InsideWikiLeaks: My Time withJulian Assange at the World'sMost Dangerous Website" byDaniel Domscheit-Berg, adefector from the organization.

The books were optioned byHolly Bario and Mark Sourian,co-presidents of production atDreamWorks Studios, said aspokesman for the company.

Director Steven Spielberg, aprincipal partner atDreamWorks along with co-chairman and CEO StaceySnider, is not personally work-ing on the project.

No director or producer hasyet been attached to make amovie, and filming may notstart for years, if at all.

likely in the future.Assange, a 39 year-old

Australian who infuriated U.S.government officials in late2010 by publishing classifieddiplomatic cables, faces extra-dition from Britain to Swedenover alleged sex crimes.

Disclaimer:All reports and recommendations have been prepared for your information

only. Summary and Analysis are not recommendation to buy or sell. This

information should only be used by investors who are aware of the risk inher-

ent in securities trading. The facts, information, data, indicators and charts

presented have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but their

accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The Financial Daily

International and its employees are not responsible for any loss arising from

use of these reports and recommendations.

Improvingcrop yieldsLately experts have been highlighting the need

to achieve food security. However, there is grow-

ing consensus that radical changes have to be

brought in the ways agriculture is practiced in

Pakistan. These experts have been saying that

production of various crops can be doubled, at

least without increasing area under cultivation.

Attaining this objective has become all the more

necessary because of rising cost of inputs and

growing shortage of irrigation water. Experts sat

the proposed strategy must address the most

pressing issues that include 1) using certified

high yielding seeds, 2) applying right balance of

nutrients, 3) optimizing use of irrigation water

and 4) improving crop management.

Despite the best efforts delivery of certified

seeds has not been ensured. While it may be said

that farmers prefer to use seeds which they have

been using for generations, it is also true that sale

of seeds coming from abroad are often more sus-

ceptible to various diseases. First this became

evident in case of cotton and now in case of

wheat.

Some critics say that whenever it becomes

obvious that the country is reaching surplus pro-

duction in cotton and wheat, the standing crops

are damaged and the country remains a net

importer. The worst has been the case of cotton.

Experts say that Pakistan can get 20 million cot-

ton bales without increasing area under cultiva-

tion but average production has be around 12

million bales. This year government set wheat

production target of 25 million tons, but reports

say that standing crop in certain areas has been

attacked.

The cultivable areas in Pakistan are deficient in

nutrients and appropriate dosage of various types

of fertilizers has to be applied. However, due to

hike in price, particularly of DAP right balance is

not achieved. This year price of urea has been on

the rise due to curtailment of gas supply to fertil-

izer plants.

But the real point of concern is growing short-

age of irrigation water. The worst threat has

emerged due to construction of dams by India but

more because of failure in constructing new

dams. Since completion of Tarbela in 1976 no

mega dam has been has been added. Experts say

inadequate availability of water is a problem but

highly depleted canals and water courses lead to

wastage of water, adding to the menace of water

logging.

The least focus area is crop management. Since

landholding has fragmented deployment of tech-

nology for preparing land and mechanized har-

vesting is not possible. Some experts have sug-

gested corporate farming but the idea is being

opposed by absentee landlords. Despite various

land reforms certain clans holds hundreds of

acres, particularly in the katcha areas of Sindh.

Not much can be expected unless the 'wadera

shahi' system is weeded out from Pakistan. The

change can be brought about by legislative but

unfortunately feudal lords continue to enjoy

majority in national and provincial assemblies.

4Sunday, March 6, 2011

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 SabirHead office

111-C, Jami Commercial Street 11, Phase VII, DHA KarachiTelephone: 92-21-35311893-6 Fax: 92-21-35388428

URL: www.thefinancialdaily.comEmail Address: editor@thefinancialdaily.com

Lahore office

24- Peshawar Block, Fortress Stadium, Lahore

Telephone: 92-42-6675595 Fax: 92-42-6664349

Email Address: editor@thefinancialdaily.com

The Financial Daily InternationalVol 4, Issue 199

When Lockheed Martinwanted to sell C-130military transport

planes to the government of Chad inearly 2007, the U.S. embassy inN'Djamena was ready to lend ahand.

Nevermind that, by the embassy'sown reckoning, the Chadian gov-ernment probably could not affordthe planes, was dishonest abouttheir purpose and planned to use theaircraft to crush a pro-democracyrebellion.

"Our conclusion is that, like it ornot, our interests line up in favor ofallowing the sale in some form to goforward," the then-ambassadorwrote to the State Department.

In ensuing years, the Chadiangovernment and people connectedto Lockheed worked relentlessly toget the deal done. Chad's presidentIdriss Deby personally wrote toPresident George W. Bush askingthat the sale be permitted.

Ultimately, in November 2009,the embassy again recommended amodified C-130 sale go ahead,arguing that it would reinforce U.S.interests in the region. NeitherLockheed nor the State Departmentwould confirm if the transactiontook place or is still pending.

The embassy in Chad is hardly anoutlier. A review of thousands ofpages of diplomatic cables from thelast decade, obtained by WikiLeaksand provided to Reuters by a thirdparty, paints a picture of foreignservice officers and politicalappointees willing to go to greatlengths to sell American productsand services, and to prevent similarsales by other countries.

To be sure, that has been a big partof their job since the end of the ColdWar. Nor do the cables point to anywrongdoing. But in some cases, theefforts were so strenuous they raisethe question of where if anywherethe line is being drawn betweendiplomacy and salesmanship.

"The U.S. Government has broad,though not unlimited, discretion topromote and assist U.S. commercialinterests abroad. We, of course, can-not do so in contravention of locallaws," a State Departmentspokesman said in response toqueries on a series of cables.

FORCE OF PERSUASION

Seasoned diplomats point to ashift in the early 1990s, after theintroduction of what was sometimesreferred to as a "Bill of Rights forU.S. Business" by former Secretaryof State Lawrence Eagleburger. Acareer foreign service officer,Eagleburger wanted corporateAmerica to have a say in matters ofinterest internationally -- a bigchange from how things had beendone.

"Until (then), U.S. diplomats werenot particularly encouraged to helpU.S. business. They were busyfighting the Cold War," said oneformer U.S. diplomat in Asia. "Allof a sudden, we were given newdirection: if a single U.S. companyis looking for business, we shouldadvocate for them by name; if morethan one U.S. company was in themix, stress buying the Americanproduct."

The effect was relatively quick,this diplomat said, and obvious: "Itwas great to see how influential theright word from the U.S. ambassa-dor was. If the competition wasusing dodgy tactics, an ambassadormight sidle up to the prime ministerand quietly say, 'We know what'sgoing on,' and that would be enoughto derail the shenanigans."

A January 2009 cable from Spainshows the muscle the diplomaticcorps developed in commercialmatters. Departing U.S.Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre, inhis farewell note, mentioned theinability of U.S. companies to winprocurement contracts in the coun-try. Some companies, he said, hadthreatened to leave Spain entirely ifthey didn't start winning deals.

Aguirre said he passed on thecomplaints to Prime Minister JoseLuis Zapatero -- who, according to

the cable, had previously toldAguirre "to let him know if therewas something important to the(U.S. government) and he wouldtake care of it."

When General Electric decided tobid against Rolls Royce in a tenderto provide helicopter motors to theMinistry of Defense (MOD), theU.S. government moved to back thebid. GE told the embassy that partof its business would close in Spainif it did not win the contract, and theembassy passed that information toZapatero's economic adviser.

"Although there was considerableall-source evidence to suggest thatthe MOD decided to award the con-tract to Rolls Royce, Monclova --the office of the President -- over-turned the decision and it wasannounced that GE had won the bid.The Ambassador is convinced thatZapatero personally intervened inthe case in favor of GE," the cablesaid. (Zapatero's Spanish title trans-lates as "president of the govern-ment" though he is generallyreferred to as prime minister inEnglish.)

Zapatero's spokesman denied lastDecember that any interventiontook place. GE has declined to com-

ment.Then there was Halliburton, the

oilfield services company whosename became a byword for whatcritics viewed as the Bush adminis-tration's overly cozy relationshipswith corporate America. Then-VicePresident Dick Cheney was previ-ously CEO of Halliburton and stillhad financial entanglements withthe company after he took office.

According to a 2003 cable, thedeputy CEO of the Abu DhabiNational Oil Co. asked the econom-ic affairs staff of the local embassyto suggest "companies to participatein a joint venture" for oilfield serv-ices in the country. The embassyresponded with just one name --Halliburton, with which a contractwas eventually signed.

"While the value of the business isrelatively small, it is indicative ofthe informal way in which the FrontOffices frequently facilitate andpromote business for U.S. compa-nies," the cable's author said as partof a broader report to the StateDepartment on the embassy's suc-cesses.

Asked about the transaction, acompany spokeswoman said:"Halliburton is not aware of anycommunications between US gov-ernment representatives working inthe UAE and any UAE entitiesregarding contract awards in 2002."

Marcelle Wahba, the career diplo-mat who was ambassador to theUnited Arab Emirates at the time,said such interactions were whatwas expected of American diplo-mats by the turn of the 21st Century.

"For the ambassador, I can't thinkof a time when a month went bywhen a commercial issue wasn't onmy plate," she said in an interviewwith Reuters. "Some administra-tions put more of an emphasis on itthan others, but now I think, regard-less of who's in power you reallyfind it's become an integral part ofthe State Department mandate."

One cable that underlines the per-sistence of U.S. diplomats trying toclose a deal involves weapons andlots and lots of frozen chickens.

In 2005, the Thai governmentstarted shopping for new militaryfighter jets among LockheedMartin, Russia's Sukhoi andSweden's Saab. It made clear upfront that any deal it signed had toinclude "countertrade" worth atleast 50 percent of the deal's value -- we buy X and you help us sell Y.

For the embassy in Bangkok, win-ning achieved two goals: helpingLockheed and keeping the Russiansfrom selling planes. There was,however, a small complication withthe terms -- the Thai governmentdidn't want to pay cash. Instead, itproposed trading 80,000 stockpiledtons of frozen chicken.

"Embassy contacts said that untilLockheed Martin offered a proposalto sell F-16s that included counter-trade, the (Thai government) couldnot seriously consider its offer.Contacts also suggested that anoffer that included an agreement tobuy Thai chicken would be espe-cially welcome," the embassy saidin a March 2005 cable setting thescene for the competition.

A May 2005 cable indicates ThaiPrime Minister Thaksin Shinawatrapersonally raised the bird barterissue with Admiral William Fallon,

then-head of the U.S. PacificCommand. Days later, word got toThaksin that Lockheed was willingto play ball.

"It was a negotiating tactic byThaksin. But until relatively late inthe game, Lockheed was reticent toengage. They finally agreed to talk... but it was too late," the formerU.S. diplomat in Asia said, termingthe whole episode "comical" in away.

Things didn't quite work out,though. After a military coup thenew Thai government ended upbuying Swedish jets, fearing itwouldn't be allowed to buy theLockheed planes because of post-coup sanctions. (The embassy con-tacted the government to disabusethem of the notion, to no avail).

Lockheed declined to comment onboth the fighter competition inThailand and the proposed sale ofplanes in Chad.

ARMS SALES PARAMOUNT

In certain instances, weaponssales do appear to conflict with stat-ed U.S. policy.

When the U.S. sells arms or sensi-tive defense technology to othergovernments, it requires them toaffirm they will not pass on thegoods to unauthorized third parties.Cables from Washington describeU.S. officials' alarm upon findingsensitive military technologies andweapons were passed into danger-ous hands.

But none of those cables describeany concrete punishments for theoffending countries. They also don'tsuggest any specific changes to theway the violators should be treatedin the future.

In 2009, Secretary of StateHillary Clinton wrote to U.S.embassy officials in Cairodescribing the State Department'ssuspicions that Egypt had violatedits "end-user agreements" with theU.S. six different times over theprior three years. In one instance,Egyptian defense officialsallegedly let a Chinese militarydelegation examine U.S.-made F-16s and related technical facilities.

Yet Clinton's only suggestion wasto call for a meeting with theEgyptians to discuss ways theycould better adhere to sales terms.She also conveyed the government'seagerness to keep selling weaponsto Egypt.

"It is our intent to move aheadwith the M1A1 tank co-productiononce the (Egyptian government)agrees to these (End-UseMonitoring Working Group) talks,"she said in the cable. "Pending asuccessful meeting of the (group),we would be prepared to move for-ward with the F-16 acquisition asquickly as possible."

Clinton's predecessorCondoleezza Rice took a similarlyvague tack in response to the dis-covery that light antitank weaponsand grenades sold to Honduras hadturned up in Mexico and Colombia.

In a 2008 cable, Rice asked U.S.officials in Honduras to remind theHonduran government of its end-user agreements with the UnitedStates and to warn the Honduransthat "failure to fulfill their obliga-tions may jeopardize certain aspectsof future bilateral security coopera-tion."

ALL HAVE LIMITS

That is not to say that diplomacynever trumps commerce.

In a series of 2005 cables, theembassy in Vilnius reported back ondiscussions with oil majorConocoPhillips about the compa-ny's interest in bidding onLithuania's only oil refinery,Mazeikiu Nafta. Yukos was forcedto sell the refinery as Russianauthorities hounded the companyover back taxes.

Conoco's bid was a 50/50 effortwith Russian oil firm Lukoil, whichaccording to the embassy had longbeen accused of illegally meddlingin and corrupting Lithuanian poli-tics.

In a November 4, 2005 cable, theembassy said Conoco CEO JimMulva told embassy staffers heassumed all of the rumours aboutLukoil's inappropriate behaviorwere actually true. His surprisingacknowledgment that his partnerwas probably corrupt gave the staffpause.

"Mulva's acknowledgment ofLukoil's likely involvement in dirtydeeds in Lithuania inspires littleconfidence in transparency under aLukoil-CP operation. Given ourbroader interests here, we recom-mend not assuming a direct role inthe competition for Mazeikiu Nafta,even if CP-Lukoil is the only'American' contestant," the embassystaff said.

ConocoPhillips spokesman JohnRoper said the company declined tocomment.

Ambassadors have no illusionsabout what their job is.

"By the time I was retired fromthe Foreign Service, which was1998, things had changed funda-mentally and being an active partic-ipant in the commercial programand promoting trade using the pres-tige of the ambassador and recep-tions held at the embassy or at theambassador's residence was animportant part of what I did," saidTom Niles, the former U.S. ambas-sador to Canada, the EuropeanUnion and Greece.

Niles, a former president of thepro-trade group U.S. Council forInternational Business, said in mostcases the U.S. ambassador is now asmuch a "chief commercial officer"for American business interests asthey are a diplomat.

"We might have been a little bitlate to the game. The Europeansunderstood the crucial role of for-eign trade in the growth and devel-opment of their economies beforewe did," Niles said.

Wahba, the former UAE ambassa-dor, concurred.

"Oftentimes European ambassa-dors, that's all they're there for," shesaid, adding it would be hard to seethe reason otherwise for some coun-tries to have embassies in the firstplace. -Reuters

Weapons Sale &Art of Diplomacy

When the U.S. sells arms or

sensitive defense technology to other

governments, it requires them to

affirm they will not pass on the goods

to unauthorized third parties. Cables

from Washington describe U.S.

officials' alarm upon finding sensitive

military technologies and weapons

were passed into dangerous hands.

5Sunday, March 6, 2010

Anew study has suggested thatpregnant mothers who usemobile phones regularly are

likely to give birth to kids withbehavioural problems, especially ifthose children start using mobilephones early themselves.

The study enrolled nearly 100,000pregnant women between 1996 and2002, with the intention of trackingtheir kids' long-term health.

T h em o t h e r ssuppliedd e t a i l e dinforma-tion ont h e i rlifestyle,d i e t a r yand envi-ronmen-tal factorsd u r i n gand afterpregnan-cy.

W h e ntheir chil-d r e nr e a c h e dthe age of7, themums were quizzed again abouttheir and their kids' health, includingbehaviour, which were scored usingvalidated assessments. They werealso asked to provide details of theirmobile phone use during pregnancyand their kids' mobile phone use.

In the new group, more than a third(35 per cent) of the 7-year-olds wereusing a mobile phone compared with30 per cent of the previous group.And whereas around one in 10 chil-dren of the previous group werejointly exposed to mobile phones

before and after birth, this applied to17 per cent of the new group.

In both groups, around 3 per centof children were considered to haveborderline behavioural problems,and similar proportions were cate-gorised as exhibiting abnormalbehaviour.

Children in both groups exposed tomobile phones before and after birthwere 50 per cent more likely to have

b e h a v -i o u r a lp r o b -l e m s ,after tak-i n gaccountof a widerange ofinfluen-tial fac-tors.

T h o s eexposedt om o b i l ep h o n e sb e f o r eb i r t ho n l ywere 40per cent

more likely to have behaviouralproblems, while those with no prena-tal exposure but with access to themby the age of 7 were 20 per centmore likely to exhibit abnormalbehaviours.

"Although it is premature to inter-pret these results as causal, we areconcerned that early exposure to cellphones could carry a risk, which, ifreal, would be of public health con-cern given the widespread use of thistechnology," the researchers con-cluded.

Cell phone bad

for pregnancyA

new study has revealed thatPycnogenol, an antioxidantplant extract from the bark of

the French maritime pine tree,improves kidney function in patientswith metabolic syndrome.

In patients with metabolic syn-drome, high blood pressure and bloodglucose gradually impair kidney func-tion, which in turn affects the organ'sability to filter waste from the body.

"The results of this study demon-strate Pycnogenol's ability not only tocontrol hypertension, but also torestore kidney function in thoseimpacted by metabolic syndrome.Surprisingly, people takingPycnogenol not only demonstratedlower bloodglucose lev-els, but alsosignificantweight lossduring thesix months,y i e l d i n gopt imist icresults form a n a g i n gthis condi-tion," saidDr. PeterRohdewald,a leadresearcher of the study.

The controlled study carried out atthe Nephrology Unit at the L'AquilaHospital in Italy investigated 58hypertensive patients who presentedall of the criteria for diagnosis ofmetabolic syndrome, as defined by theWorld Health Organization: hyperten-sion, high blood lipids, high fastingblood glucose and obesity.Furthermore, all patients showed earlysigns of kidney problems as judged byelevated amounts of proteins (albu-

min) present in their urine. Patients were divided into two

groups and instructed to follow ahealthier lifestyle with dietaryimprovements, moderate exercise andeffective management of health riskfactors. Both groups were treated withanti-hypertensive medicationRamipril, taking a standard dosage of5 mg twice a day, with one group of31 patients taking Pycnogenol in addi-tion to the medication.

In the group taking Pycnogenol, 50mg Pycnogenol tablets were takenthree times a day, a total dosage of 150mg of Pycnogenol per day. Urine wascollected during a 24-hour period forquantification of the protein albumin

in theurine atb a s e l i n eand againafter sixmonths oftreatment.F a s t i n gblood wasdrawn fors t anda rdb l o o danalysis .S y s t o l i cand dias-tolic blood

pressure and heart rate were moni-tored in the morning.

"The number of people affected bymetabolic syndrome is ever increasingand kidney disease is a growing con-cern. Pycnogenol cannot compensatefor an unhealthy lifestyle, but certain-ly offers some urgently needed help.Our study suggests that essentially allmajor characteristics of metabolicsyndrome are improved withPycnogenol as part of a healthierlifestyle," said Rohdewald.

Pine bark extract

improves kidney

Millions of women in devel-oping countries risk dis-ease and early death in the

coming decades as their rising eco-nomic and political status leadsthem to smoke more, researcherssaid on Tuesday.

An analysis in 74 countries foundthat men are five times more likelyto smoke than women in countrieswith lower rates of female empow-erment, such as China, Indonesia,Pakistan, Saudi Arabia andUganda.

In countries with relatively highfemale empowerment, such asAustralia, Canada, Norway,Sweden and the United States, thisgap is small and women smokealmost as much as men do.

Douglas Bettcher, director of theWorld Health Organization (WHO)tobacco free initiative, said thefindings showed the need forauthorities to act quickly to curb

smoking rates among women, par-ticularly in poorer countries.

"The tobacco epidemicis still in its early stagesin many countries but isexpected to worsen," hesaid in a statement withthe study, which waspublished in the WHOBulletin.

"Strong tobacco con-trol measures such asbans on tobacco advertis-ing are needed to preventthe tobacco industryfrom targeting women."

Tobacco kills up to halfits users and is describedby the WHO as "one ofthe biggest public healththreats the world hasever faced." The annualdeath toll linked totobacco is more than fivemillion, experts say, and could rise

beyond eight million by 2030unless action is taken to control

smoking.

The study estimated that mensmoke nearly five times as much as

women worldwide, but the ratios of

female-to-male smoking preva-lence rates vary dramatically.

In China, for example,61 percent of men arereported to be currentsmokers, compared with4.2 percent of women,while in many richnations roughly equalnumbers of men andwomen smoke.

Women's empower-ment is measured by theUnited NationsDevelopment Programusing data such as repre-sentation in parliament,voting rights and com-parisons of male andfemale income.

"Our study makes astrong case for imple-menting gender-specifictobacco control activities

... such as more higher tobacco

taxes, more prominent graphichealth warnings, smoke-free laws,and advertising and promotionbans," said Geoffrey Fong from theUniversity of Waterloo in Ontario,Canada, who led Tuesday's study.

His coauthor Sara Hitchman saidauthorities should look closely at"the ways in which the tobaccoindustry is capitalizing on societalchanges to target women, such asmarketing cigarettes to women as asymbol of emancipation."

The two authors also said a usefulstep could be to monitor how priceand tax measures affect uptake ofsmoking among women in coun-tries where tobacco is not yet wide-ly used by them.

"Further research into patterns ofuptake could help governmentstake more effective action andreduce adoption rates for smokingamong women in the future," saidHitchman.-Reuters

Rising status of women linked to more smoking

Athorough look at the medical evidence suggests people who'vehad a stroke or a heart attack might benefit from taking bloodpressure medications, even if they don't have high blood pres-

sure.Researchers found that for every 1,000 people taking the drugs in clin-

ical trials, on average 15 fewer died from heart disease than when thepatients got dummy treatment.

But the new study, published in the Journal of the American MedicalAssociation, can't tease out why that is, and experts say it's too soon tochange treatment recommendations.

"We are not advocating putting everybody on these drugs," said Dr.Lydia Bazzano of Tulane University in New Orleans, who led the work.

"There are plenty of well-known side effects," she added. "That's whyit's important to go to your doctor and talk about whether the benefitswould outweigh the risks for you."

About a third of adult Americans have high blood pressure, which is arisk factor for heart disease. Heart disease, in turn, is the leading killerworldwide and causes about a third of all deaths in the U.S.

Guidelines currently advise lifestyle changes such as losing weight andcutting back on salt for people with high blood pressure. If that doesn'twork, doctors may try drugs such as diuretics ("water pills"), beta block-ers or ACE inhibitors.

What is still a matter of debate, however, is whether these drugs alsobenefit people whose blood pressure hasn't reached the cut-off point of140 over 90. Bazzano's team pooled 25 earlier studies which includedmore than 64,000 patients with a history of stroke, heart attack or heartfailure, but without high blood pressure.

Study participants were in their 50s or 60s and were followed for aboutfive years at the most. They received either a blood pressure medication-- for instance, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, or calcium channel block-ers -- or a dummy pill.

Across the board, the drugs were linked to drops in heart disease anddeath. For every 1,000 people who took them, for example, there wereeight fewer strokes, 13 fewer heart attacks 44 fewer heart failures and 14fewer deaths overall.

Angela Thompson of Tulane, who also worked on the study, said thenew findings show people with heart disease might benefit from bloodpressure medications regardless of their blood pressure. But she stoppedshort of recommending the drugs before more studies have been done.

"It's a launching point for further discussion," she told Reuters Health."It's possible that if we are missing a study or two it could change theresults." The Tulane researchers said blood pressure treatment could costanywhere between $50 and thousands of dollars annually, depending onthe drugs used. Dr. Franz Messerli, who heads the high blood pressureprogram at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, was critical ofthe new study.

He said beta blockers and ACE inhibitors are already recommended forpeople who've survived a heart attack or have heart failure -- not becausethey lower blood pressure, but because they protect the heart.

An example of a beta blocker is AstraZeneca's Tenormin; Pfizer'sAccupril is an ACE inhibitor.

"It seems to me that the authors missed the boat to some extent,"Messerli said. "We don't need to get the blood pressure involved at all."

Because the new analysis pools earlier studies of different drugs, it'sunclear what role specific drugs play. Assuming they all work is not war-ranted, according to Messerli.

"That is speculation that is not substantiated by the data," he said,adding that the drugs might also cause side effects -- a problem the newwork did not address.

"Beta blockers are not well tolerated, they cause nightmares, depres-sion, fatigue and sexual dysfunction," said Messerli. "If you lower bloodpressure too much, you risk a substantial increase in heart attacks."

An editorial in the journal also strikes a cautious note."Because many patients could potentially begin taking medications

at young ages and for many years to prevent cardiovascular events,even modest costs and adverse effects need to be considered," writeresearchers from the Ochsner Institute in New Orleans and theUniversity of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane,Australia.-Reuters

BP meds

may help some

people without

high BP

Drug-resistant malaria could spread fromsoutheast Asia to Africa within months, puttingmillions of children's lives at risk, a leadingexpert warned on Wednesday.

Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicineat Mahidol University in Bangkok,called for a war before it is too lateon the malaria strain resistant tothe drug artemisinin that firstemerged along the Thai-Cambodian border in 2007.

This longer-to-treat form ofmalaria is suspected of breakingout along the Thai-Myanmar fron-tier and in a province of Vietnam,where tests are under way to con-firm it, but the great fear is of itreaching Africa.

"It is a time bomb, it is ticking. Ithas the potential of killing millionsof African children," White toldReuters.

A migrant worker who doesn'teven show symptoms could spreadthe resistant parasite beyond Asia,he said. "It could be a Chineseworker acting as an adviser inCambodian forests who then hopson a plane to Africa. It could go offat any minute."

Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO)launched a $175 million annual plan to containand prevent the global spread of the artemisinin-resistant parasite beyond the Mekong region.

The WHO, which said last month the worldcould stop malaria deaths by 2015 with massiveinvestment, called for faster research and devel-opment of new anti-malarial drugs.

FIGHTING THE WARBut White, widely credited with helping to

first identify the resistant form, called the WHO

plan "somewhat anodyne.""I think we should fight this as a war. We are

too fractured as a community," he told an expertsmeeting at WHO headquarters.

"What seems to be lacking is a sense of

urgency. People talk in terms of years. I think weshould be thinking in terms of months. Time iscrucial," he said.

Artemisinin, derived from sweet wormwood,or the Artemisia annua plant, is the most potentdrug available against malaria, especially whenused in artemisinin combination therapy (ACT),which links it with other drugs.

"ACTs are the gold standard. They are the mosteffective treatment for falciparum malaria, themost deadly form of malaria," WHO director-general Margaret Chan said in a speech. "The

consequences of widespread resistance toartemisinins would be catastrophic."

Resistance to previous generations of anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine spread fromthe same Mekong region to India and then

Africa, killing millions,experts say.

"This part of the world isthe historical epicenter forthe emergence of drug-resistant malaria parasites.History tells us what toexpect," Chan said.

White agreed, tellingReuters: "There is a horrible,chilling parallel. It is not asif we haven't been warned."

Malaria infects about 243million people worldwide ayear, causing an estimated863,000 deaths, making it amajor killer especiallyamong African children.

Yet few promising alterna-tives are available in theimmediate research anddevelopment pipeline, aWHO report said.

Some 5 million com-pounds are being screened as potential anti-malarials, 20,000 of which show promise,according to Dr. David Reddy, the new CEO ofthe Medicines for Malaria Venture, a public-pri-vate drugs partnership.

"That is how wide we have to cast the net inorder to get a handful of drugs that will betomorrow's medicines," he said.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis and Sanofi-Aventisof France make the most widely-used ACTs,which treat 80 million and 45 million patientsrespectively a year, it said.-Reuters

Drug-resistant malariacould spread fast: experts

6Sunday, March 6, 2011

International

Unnerving as it is, the tideof political changesweeping the Arab world

may also end up drawing in afresh wave of foreign capital forthe region.

As entrenched monopolies andpatronage give way in theMiddle East and North Africa,governments in the region couldopen their markets further anddivest some state assets.

Wealthy Gulf states suchKuwait and Qatar have littlecause to sell, but post-revolu-tionary states in the region suchas Tunisia will likely lower pro-tectionist barriers as they seek toaccelerate income redistributionfor their restive citizenry.

The triumph of free market-oriented democracy is far fromcertain however. After decadesof autocratic rule, political par-ties are only just reforming inEgypt and Tunisia while anuprising inLibya is provingbloody and protracted.

But greater access to marketsin an oil-rich region with ayouthful population is a tantalis-ing prospect for investors.

"It's too early to work out howthese revolutions will pan out.But this crisis is going to revealsome opportunities as structureslinked to old regimes will beunwound," said Julian Mayo,investment director atCharlemagne Capital.

Large-scale privatisation willbe off the agenda, with the oiland gas sector especially taboo.Instead, sectors such as finan-cial services, telecoms andtourism could be liberalised.

"Foreign investment has beenhigh in the region but what waslacking was conviction thatchange was happening fastenough. Market liquidity waslow as stocks were tightly held,"said Luca de Conte, DirectorCapital Markets at GMP Europe.

Cashing in on state-held equityin publicly traded companies isan obvious way to boost foreigninvestment.

Thomson Reuters Ownershipdata show regional governmentsholding stakes worth $320 bil-lion in publicly traded firms,either directly or through rulersand sovereign funds.

The figures exclude Tunisia,where many companies wereprivately held by the extendedfamily of former President Zineal-Abidine Ben Ali.

UNTANGLING TIESTunisia's interim government

have said these assets, whichinclude firms in key sectors suchasmining and tourism, will berecovered.

Many are likely by disposedthrough direct sales or stockmarket listings, said Tunis-basedbrokerIssam Ayari.

"The government isn't keen onnationalisation. Transparencywill be important as well asgaining technical expertise."

To tackle unemployment, thenext government will also wantto redouble efforts to attract for-eign investment, which con-tributed to a mere 6 percent ofTunisia's gross domestic productin 2008 before the onset of thefinancial crisis.

Foreign investors in the region

have had a mixed reception.High profile successes include

Toronto-based PotashCorp's2003 purchase of a 28-percentstake inArab Potash Co, whichis still majority owned by theJordanian ruler.

On the other extreme end isAlgeria, where the economyremains dominated by the state.A local mobile phone unit isbeing nationalised after a taxdispute between its Egyptianowner Orascom Telecom and thegovernment.

Egypt has been one of NorthAfrica's more open economies.

But even there, it remains to beseen if the army -- the only pil-lar of the establishment to sur-vive the popular revolt againstPresident Hosni Mubarak -- willwillingly relinquish control of aswathe of businesses that rangefrom olive-oil production tovehicle manufacturing.

"Prospects of these firms beingprivatised are very low as theyare huge money-makers for themilitary," notes ByranPlamondon, senior MENA econ-omist at IHS Global Insight.

LIBYAN PROMISEFor incoming leaders, main-

taining social cohesion whileattracting foreign investmentwill be a careful balancing act.

State-owned Tunisie Telecomlast month cancelled plans for ajoint listing on the Paris andTunisstock exchanges amid thethreat of industrial action by thecompany's workers.

"State-owned companies arean important source of employ-ment. Privatisations and other

economic reforms often involvelaying off people," said OkanAkin, an RBS strategist.

Ironically, Libya -- scene ofthe most violent of the regionalupheavals so far -- is also seenas the most promising.

Until recent disruptions, it wasthe world's 12th largest oilexporter. Analysts say its econo-my could take off if stabilityreturns without substantial dam-age to the oil and gas infrastruc-ture that generates the bulk of

national revenues."The economy is not as

advanced as the rest of NorthAfrica, so from an investmentstandpoint, it could be the mostattractive due to the low-baseeffect," said David Damiba, whoheads Renaissance AssetManagement's Africa invest-ment team.

Libya attracted strong investorinterest when decades ofWestern sanctions were lifted in2004.

France's BNP Paribas took aminority stake in a local bankwhen banking rules were easedand investors still see potentialin the banking and insurancesector.

"When you have an economymoving from socialist dictator-ship to full-fledged free market,the spider in the web of thattransformation will be thebanks," said Bjorn Englund,who runs an investment fundfocused on Iraq. -Reuters

ARAB REVOLUTIONCOULD TRIGGER FOREIGN INVESTMENT BOOM* MIDEAST POLITICAL CHANGE COULD DRAW IN MORE FOREIGN CAPITAL * STATES COULD DIVEST EQUITY SALES,

OPEN UP MARKETS * INVESTORS EYE FINANCIAL SERVICES, TOURISM SECTORS

Russia is basking in theglow of high oilprices, tempting

politicians to spend moreahead of elections, but onlythe unpopular move of keep-ing a tight grip on the budg-et can cure voters' biggestworry -- high inflation.

This poses a tough chal-lenge for Alexei Kudrin, a10-year veteran at the helmof the Finance Ministrywhose prudent policieshelped see Russia throughthe last economic crisis butwon him many enemiesamongst politicians whowould rather lure voterswith low taxes and highspending.

Already, powerful PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin hasdelayed the decision onRussia's long-term econom-ic strategy until after theelection, putting off tough

decisions on whether to curbthe budget deficit or stimu-late domestic industry.

Since the start of the year,Russia's Urals oil exportblend has averaged $98 abarrel, 30 percent higherthan planned in the budget.If that continues for the restof the year, the state couldearn an extra 1.5 trillionroubles ($53 billion).

On the surface, thatsounds like good news forthe world's biggest produc-er, where the EconomyMinistry estimates that each$10 increase in the price ofoil translates into 0.5 per-centage points of additionaleconomic growth.

But, in a turnaround fromrecession-hit 2009, inflationhas once again overtakenunemployment as Russians'top concern, worrying near-ly two-thirds of the popula-

tion according to independ-ent pollsters Levada. Andfor fighting inflation, themix of high oil prices andupcoming elections, is badnews.

Although inflation is aglobal problem, prices inRussia are rising faster thanin any of its BRIC emergingmarket peers, and almosttwice as fast as in China.

As an oil producer, Russiais less exposed than crudeconsumers to the directshocks from energy prices.For it, the inflationary riskfrom oil comes instead fromthe extra cash that floodsinto the economy as it earnsmore from exports.

"Coordination of fiscaland monetary policy will becritical. To the extent thatboth policies are pushing inthe same direction, they maybe able to keep a lid on

inflation and stop it fromescalating into double dig-its," said Zeljko Bogetic,lead economist for Russia atthe World Bank.

"It will be wrong to relaxthe fiscal stance and go on aspending spree, but ... thereis clearly a risk of this withhigh oil prices and the elec-tions coming up."

HARD REALITY VSPROMISES

The central bank admitsthat it would be very toughto keep inflation on target, atno more than 7 percent thisyear after a severe droughtpushed up the 2010 readingto 8.8 percent.

It has turned its full arse-nal against inflation, raisinginterest rates and reserverequirements and looseningits control on the rouble toallow faster currency appre-ciation. The full-scale

onslaught from the centralbank -- even as seasonaltrends allow a fall in month-ly inflation in February --could signal that it is awareof the price pressures thatmay soon emerge from pre-election pledges, said JuliaTsepliaeva, chief economistfor Russia and CIS at BNPParibas.

Kudrin wants to cut bor-rowing by 500 billion rou-bles and stash away 700 bil-lion roubles in the sovereignReserve Fund.

Putin has given his agree-ment, but at the same timehe has already started dolingout promises of cash, likethe pledge of 4 billion rou-bles of farm equipment sub-sidies.

"The contradiction is ...between the nationalleader's wish to reach all thegoals at the same time and

the hard reality," economistsat the Development Centrethink-tank in Moscow'sinfluentialHigher School ofEconomics said in a report.

The reality, argues Kudrin,is that by spending the extraoil cash Russia onlystrengthens its dependenceon 'black gold' -- the very tieit has pledged to break toavoid becoming a hostage ofcommodity prices duringthe next global crisis.

"We talk a lot about howwe need to get rid of our oiland gas dependency. Fornow, we are not succeed-ing," Kudrin told an eco-nomic forum in the Siberiancity of Krasnoyarsk, lament-ing his failure to persuadestate monopolies to payhigher taxes or to pushthrough a proposed increasein the pension age.

Oil and gas accounted for

48 percent of 2010 budgetrevenues of 7.9 trillion rou-bles -- up from 37 percent 5years earlier.

Weaning Russia off thisdependency by not spendingthe oil cash would be apainful process and onePutin is unlikely to riskgiven his popularity ratingshave already started to edgelower from near-80 percentto the still respectable low-70s.

"In the past, Kudrin neversucceeded in containing thebudget and preventing thegovernment from increasingspending at such a time,"said Tsepliaeva at BNPParibas.

"Some waves of populismbefore elections areunavoidable and extra budg-et spending ahead of thevote is always inflationary."-Reuters

Russia Must Resist Oil Lure To Control Inflation

The dollar could benefitin coming months ifpolitical turmoil in

Libyaspreads to other keyoil exporters and acceleratesthe rise in crude prices tolevels that could derail glob-al economic recovery.

Analysts say sustainedhigh oil prices could promptpolicymakers to focus on thenegative impact of an oilshock on domestic consump-tion and demand, shiftingfrom their fixation on theneed to raise interest rates toease inflationary pressures.This could support the dollar,often a safe haven duringtimes of heightened econom-ic and financial stress.

Some analysts say oilprices may rise towardsrecord highs seen in 2008 ifthe rebellion in Libyaspreadsto Saudi Arabia, the world'slargest oil producer.

Citi currency strategistValentin Marinov said theseworries may promptinvestors to pick up dollar-denominated assets, slowingthe diversification flowsaway from the U.S. currencyseen in past months.

"If push comes to shoveand we see full-blown riskaversion on geopolitical con-cerns, the diversificationaway from dollars couldcome to a stop and we couldsee an uptick in demand forTreasuries. We could seetemporary dollar strength,"he said.

Brent crude has jumpedmore than 20 percent thisyear to nearly $120 per bar-rel as a rebellion againstLibyan leader MuammarGaddafi has disrupted oilsupplies.

The dollar's failure to gainfrom higher oil prices sup-

ports the traditional, negativelink between the two assets.

But their 66-day rollingcorrelation could tighten ifhigher oil prices trigger wor-ries about global growth andspurs demand for U.S. assets.The link strengthened in late2008, after theLehmancollapse spurred riskaversion, which boosted thedollar.

"If we have an oil spikebetween here and $150, itwould be largely inflation-ary, but at some point above$150 it would be deflation-ary because it would stallglobal demand," saidStephen Gallo,strategist atSchneider FX, adding the lat-ter scenario would triggersome safe-haven demand forthe dollar.

Marinov at Citi said dollardemand could pick up evenbefore oil hits an all-time

high of $147, as the globaleconomy is much weakerthan it was when prices werelast at that level, making thedollar more vulnerable toinflation-related economicshocks.

IMPACT ON COMMODI-TY FX

The dollar has fallen to afour-month low versus a cur-rency basket on expectationsthe Federal Reserve will lagother central banks in raisinginterest rates. This wouldextend the dollar's yield dis-advantage to the euro, ster-ling and others.

Some in the market sayconcern the U.S. centralbank is not doing enough todeal with inflation risks haslargely excluded the world'smost liquid currency fromthe buying stampede thatoften results when geopoliti-cal concerns escalate.

"In the past six months theU.S. has expanded monetarypolicy and fiscal policy intoan inflation shock. Thatdoesn't really tick manyboxes of a safe-haven cur-rency," said Jonathan Webb,currencystrategist at BacheCommodities.

Another black markagainst the dollar is the bal-looning U.S. deficit, whichcould limit any possibleupside.

To some, the recent oilrally has underlined the needfor tighter Fed policy, butFed Chairman Ben Bernankehas said his focus is ongrowth and that higher oilprices are unlikely to hurt theeconomy unless sustained.

With the dollar's safe-haven status dented,investors seeking to scaleback exposure to risk havepicked up the Swiss franc

and the yen.But even as the franc -- a

traditional safe-haven cur-rency -- has soared to an all-time high versus the dollar,equities have climbed sincethe start of the year, suggest-ing the MENA issue has yetto chill overall risk demand.

At the same time, curren-cies of oil exporters, includ-ing the Canadian dollar andNorwegian crown, have ral-lied, despite their tendencyto suffer during periods ofgeneral risk aversion.

Some analysts argue com-modity-linked currencies,which also include theAustralian and New Zealanddollars, are not a guaranteedhedge against higher oilprices, given their perform-ance following the past threemajor oil shocks.

JPMorgan research showsthe Australian and New

Zealand currencies fell ver-sus the U.S. dollar in the yearafter the 1973 Yom Kippurwar, the 1979 Iranian revolu-tion and Iraq's invasion ofKuwait in 1990, after globalgrowth deteriorated in allthree cases.

The Canadian dollar ralliedafter 1973 and 1979,although the U.S. recessionwhich followed the 1990shock ultimately weakenedthe currency. The Norwegiancrown only outperformed theGerman mark after the YomKippur war.

An eventual slide in com-modity currencies is expect-ed to support the dollar, ascould euro zone sovereigndebt problems, which couldsting the euro, and economicweakness in the UK due togovernment spending cuts.-Reuters

Dollar May Rise If Oil Threatens Global Growth

Sunday, March 6, 2011 7

ISLAMABAD: The Ministryof Health has issued noticesand imposed penalty to 37pharmaceutical companies onillegal raise in prices of medi-cines during the last fewyears.

Parliamentary Secretary forHealth Dr Mehreen RazzaqueBhutto said this while reply-ing to a calling attentionnotice on Tuesday in theNational Assembly regardingincrease in the prices of med-icines by the pharmaceuticalcompanies.

She said that action hadbeen taken against such com-panies on the recommenda-tion of price monitoring com-mittee, constituted at federal

level. She said that since 2010the government had not raisedthe priceof any medicine.However, in 2008 the govern-ment had to increase theprices of some medicines inorder to protect weak pharma-ceutical units.

She said under Drugs Actthere was a committee, consi-tuted at the federal level, hav-ing representation of all stake-holders, including the offi-cials of Ministry of Healthand representatives of phar-maceutical companies andPakistan Medical Association,to regularly review the pricehike. The committee wasresponsible to examine anyrequest by the respective

pharmaceutical companyregarding increase in the priceof medicines . She said,"thecommittee takes decisions ina fair andtransparent manneron purely merit. There is aproper mechanism of registra-tion of drugs in the countryunder 1976 Drugs Act".

She added that the ministryhad appointed drugs inspec-tors and established drug lab-oratories to check whetherregistered medicines werebeing sold in the markets ornot besides check on theirprices.

She dispelled the impres-sion that medicines being soldin the local markets werecostlier than those in the

neighbouring country. She,however, said that there was alittle difference in the pricesof medicines of multi-nation-al companies.

She said that not a singleregistered drug was spuriousand Illegal channels werebeing used to sell spuriousmedicines. However, the gov-ernment was making alloutefforts to stop any such illegalbusiness, she added.

She said that quality medi-cines were being manufac-tured in the country whichwere also being exported. Sheadded that thegovernmentwas providing free medicinesto the deserving patients inhospitals. -APP

37 pharma cosfined for price hike

SHOHAM: Teva former CEO Eli Hurvitz is seen during a tour at the company's new distribution centre in Shoham. Reuters

LEIDEN: Dutch-based biotech firm Prosensa's researchers work on developing, possibly the world's firsttreatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy disease (DMD), at their new laboratory in Leiden.-Reuters

TOKYO: Japanese drugmaker

Daiichi Sankyo will buy pri-

vately held Plexxikon Inc of

the United States for $805 mil-

lion dollars, gaining a late-

stage melanoma treatment as it

looks to bolster its fledgling-

cancer pipeline.

Daiichi Sankyo will also pay

up to an additional $130 mil-

lion in launch milestones for

the skin cancer drug PLX4032,

currently in Phase III trials,

which Plexxikon is jointly

developing with Roche, and it

will gain access toPlexxikon's

promising technology plat-

form.

It will have co-promotion

rights with Roche in the United

States for PLX4032and plans

to use its existing sales net-

work, but Roche will have sole

rights to market the drug in

Europe.

Some saw the purchase as

expensive and worried that

Daiichi Sankyo may be

overextending itself.

"Plexxikon has good tech-

nology and a quality pipeline

so it is a decent target but given

the co-promotion rights that

Daiichi Sankyo got and the

potential revenue PLX4032 is

likely to generate, it does seem

that they are paying a bit too

much," said Masayuki

Onozuka, pharmaceuticals

analyst at J.P. Morgan.

"And while it's fine to do

M&A and strengthen their can-

cer pipeline -- everyone else is

doing it -- it's debatable as to

whether they are going to be

that competitive, and given all

their other areas they need to

reinforce, it does seem strategi-

cally that they are overdoing

it."

Daiichi Sankyo is currently

grappling with slow sales for

its blood thinner Effient, once

touted as a potential block-

buster drug that it has devel-

oped with Eli Lilly, and its

majority controlled Indian

generic drugmaker Ranbaxy

Laboratories swung to a

fourth-quarter loss as operating

expenses rose.

Even among Japanese drug-

makers which were slow to

develop theircancer pipelines,

Daiichi Sankyo has been a lag-

gard, with rivals having spent

far more on bigger U.S.

biotechs.

In recent years, Japan's

biggest drugmaker Takeda

Pharmaceutical bought

Millennium Pharmaceuticals

for about $9 billion, Astellas

Pharma purchased OSI

Pharmaceuticals for $4 billion

while Eisai Co Ltd

acquiredMGI Pharma for $3.9

billion.

Aside from PLX4032,

Daiichi also has ARQ 197, a

lung cancer treatment in Phase

III trials, which it is developing

with Arqule Inc, and it bought

Germancancer firm U3

Pharma AG in 2008 for 150

million euros, giving it a vari-

ety of early-stage antibody pro-

grammes with the potential to

treat breast, lung and colorec-

tal cancers.

Plexxikon is also conducting

Phase I studies of treatments

for rheumatoid arthritis and

metastatic cancer.

The acquisition is subject to

anti-trust approval in the

United States. The names of

financial advisers were not dis-

closed.

Shares of Daiichi ended up

0.4 percent at 1,759 yen after

the announcement, in line with

a 0.6 percent rise in Japan's

pharmaceuticalssubindex. -

Reuters

Daiichi buysPlexxikon

for $805mn* Plexxikon developing PLX 4032 melanoma treatment with Roche

* Daiichi may pay up to extra $130 mln in launch milestones

* Daiichi may be overextending itself with purchase -analyst

then it should be built, he underlined. Pace of revenue genera-tion would have to be geared up to resolve the problems facing thepeople, he stressed.

Agriculture sector would have to play its role in this respect, hemaintained.

It was to be decided by the party leadership who would gowhere, however what decision was taken by party leadership wasaccepted by him, he held. -Agencies

Continued from page 8No #1

centuries to do. "The majority of these rulers are not dictators.These are countries with their own history and cultures. Who arewe to lecture? We must treat these countries with respect." Thepeople who want all unelected leaders to go should rememberIran, Duncan said. -Agencies

Continued from page 8No #2

The programs / activities being launched / conducted to improvetheir health status, strengthening of monitoring & evaluation sys-tems, including District Health Information system, LHW man-agement information system and surveillance systems, evidencebased planning and appropriate / efficient use of resources basedon internationally recognized models to reach the MDGHs withequity.

He further informed that strengthening of disaster managementcapacity of the all stakeholders including government depart-ments are also part of the plan.

He further said that although some of the activities will be atprovincial level and some will be conducted in all districts butmost of the activities will be done in the most neglected southerndistricts of Punjab, including Rajanpur, DG Khan, Mianwali, andBhakkar. -Agencies

Continued from page 8No #3

Nawaz Sharif said that Sindh is becoming strong den of PML-N because many Sindhis have started to join PML-N. -Agencies

Continued from page 8No #4

But at the gates of the coastal city, 50 km (30 miles) west of thecapital Tripoli, Gaddafi's forces appeared to be in control andpreparing to launch a new offensive. Reinforcements were sent inby Gaddafi, al-Jazeera reported, citing rebels in Zawiyah.

Reporters' access to central Zawiyah was completely blocked.But residents said government tanks had fired at residential build-ings and cars and that many civilians were killed, although theycould not give a total.

"More than 30 people have been killed today. The majoritieswere civilians," the doctor, who runs a field medical clinic in thecenter of Zawiyah, told Reuters by phone.

The noise of speakerphones inciting rebels to keep on fightingcould be heard through the phone. Residents said they were brac-ing for another attack.

The doctor said that early on Saturday Gaddafi's tanks fired atresidential buildings and civilian cars trying to flee.

Another resident said the bodies of eight people had been takento the mosque for burial. Rebels said that early on Saturday theyhad managed to push Gaddafi's forces back and capture two tanksfrom the army. -Reuters

Continued from page 8No #5

included onions, tomatoes, sugar, gur, LPG(11 kg cylinder), gar-lic, wheat flour (average quality), gram pulse (washed), mustardoil and vegetable ghee (loose). -APP

Continued from page 8No #6

which is matter of great concern for India"."We want the moderate forces in Pakistan, political forces in

Pakistan to reassert themselves so that it will be easier for India tomove closer to closer to Pakistan", he said.

The UPA government is "very particular" about India's relation-

Continued from page 8No #7

ship with Pakistan, Krishna said."We would like to have friendly relations with them (Pakistan),

cordial relationship with them and I think a firm foundation isbeing set for that". -Agencies

"For this fiscal year, we will try to not let the fiscal deficit gobeyond 5 per cent," Finance Minister said, added "this might notbe possible but we will try our best."

The budget deficit for the six months ending December 31 was2.9 per cent of GDP.

Analysts say Pakistan's 2010/11 budget deficit could widen to asmuch as 8 per cent, higher than the central bank's forecast ofbetween 6.0 and 6.5 per cent if fiscal reforms are not implement-ed.

The IMF team is in Pakistan conducting a review of the econo-my for the possible release of the sixth tranche of an $11 billionloan programme agreed in November 2008. Policy level talks areexpected to start on Monday.

The IMF has said Pakistan must end subsidies and raise taxes,including implementing changes such as a reformed general salestax (RGST).

"If the approval of RGST takes a lot of time, then yes other stepswould have to be taken," said Shaikh.

The government introduced a bill in the National Assembly lastNovember on RGST, but the Pakistan Peoples Party-led govern-ment faces fierce opposition. Critics say it will fuel inflation andfurther deepen public frustrations.

Earlier, Chairman SECP Mohammad Ali in his speech called forencouraging new listing, development of debt market and com-modity market.

He urged the government to borrow from debt market and calledfor early passage of Demutualisation Act from the Parliament.

Chairman KSE Board Muneer Kamal urged the Minister to lookinto the possibility of reducing mark up rates to lower financialcost in the country.

Acting Managing Director KSE Haroon Askari said that lack ofleverage products was the major cause behind low volumes in themarket for the past year.

He pointed out that default rules have been changed to makeplayers more responsible.

Continued from page 1No #8

said Mr. Samir Ahmed in the press communiquéNCEL, as the country's first and only commodities and futures

exchange, offers a platform where growers, producers, proces-sors, traders, exporters, importers and investors can trade withease.

By providing a transparent and regulated market, it enablesproper price discovery and enables participants to invest andhedge themselves against the price volatility of agriculture andnon-agriculture commodities.

NCEL is the Pakistan's first and only de-mutualised commodityfutures exchange with a 100percent institutional shareholding.The current share holders are: National bank of Pakistan, PakKuwait Investment Co, Zarai Taraqiati Bank and the three nation-al stock exchanges. -NNI

Continued from page 1No #9

Pamphlets were also discovered that had been addressed to theUnited Nations, US Secretary General, the US President, IndianPrime Minister and the European Union and accused them of 'sab-otaging' the recent floods across Sindh.

Two people were arrested while they were running away fromthe house.

The blast was low in intensity and resembled the blasts that tookplace on railway tracks in across Sindh. -Agencies

Continued from page 1No #10

Chaudhry Azhar who had come there in connection with hear-ing were stopped by jail administration from entering into jail.

Continued from page 1No #11

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed the meeting took place but refused to com-ment on details of the discussion.

Meanwhile, two US law experts reached Lahore on Saturday to provide legal assistance to doublemurder-accused CIA contractor Raymond Davis.

According to US embassy sources, the American experts will meet Davis at Kot Lakhpat jail.The law experts will also hold a meeting with the families of the victims- Faizan and Faheem-

whom Davis had shot dead in Lahore on January 27.The experts will also review the legal issues concerned with Davis trial. On March 14, a Lahore

court will decide whether the US official enjoys diplomatic immunity.-Agencies

Continued from page 1No #12

In addition, the proceedings against four companies were closed with warnings, it added.It further said that about 42 investors' complaints were also resolved during the month. -APP

Continued from page 1No #13

Manpower, Syed Naveed Qamar - Water and Power, Eng. Shaukatullah - Sports and SaminaKhalid Ghurki - Women Development, and Hina Rabbani Khar - Minister of State for Finance andEconomic Affairs Division.

It pertinent to mention here that the Prime Minister had kept a number of portfolios to himself afterthe restructuring of the federal cabinet.

The portfolios that he continues to retain are those of Foreign Ministry, Information Technology,Health and Ports and Shipping.-Agencies

Continued from page 1No #14

Therefore both the lawyers boycotted the hearing under protest and returned.On the other hand Superintendent Jail Mohsin Rafiq was of the view that the Prosecutors wanted

to enter into jail with security, therefore, they were not allowed to do so. -Online

on Saturday in a ceremony where Minister for Finance & Economic Affairs Dr. Abdul HafeezSheikh was the Chief Guest.

Arif Habib also said that increased volumes would help the government in its privatizationprocess. While commenting on the questions that are raised on the rules of the said products he saidthat these are the security measures in order to avoid any bubbles to be created.

"In fact these rules are beneficial for the market", he added.Chairman Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Mohammad Ali also attended

the ceremony. During his speech he called for encouraging new listing, development of debt marketand commodity market.

He urged the government to borrow from debt market and called for early passage ofDemutualisation Act from the Parliament.

Chairman KSE Board Muneer Kamal urged the Minister to look into the possibility of reducingmark up rates to lower financial cost in the country.

Acting Managing Director KSE Haroon Askari said that lack of leverage products was the majorcause behind low volumes in the market for the past year.

He pointed out that default rules have been changed to make players more responsible.

Continued from page 1No #15

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan

speaking during a meeting with foreign media representatives. -APP

WASHINGTON: PresidentAsif Ali Zardari has said that ifPakistan and the United Stateswanted to win the war againstterrorism, they would have tooverlook the minor politicalissues.

In an article for a US newspa-per, Washington Post, the pres-ident wrote that sentiments ofPakistani people should not behurt because it breeds anti-USfeeling in the country.

Stopping the aid, pledgedunder the Kerry-Lugar Bill, dueto Raymond trial in Pakistanwould be unwise and willundermine US strategic inter-ests in South and Central Asia.In an incendiary environment,hot rhetoric and dysfunctionalwarnings can start fires thatwill be difficult to extinguish.

He said that extremists inPakistan went after democraticsystem, whenever they got thechance of politicising issues,

similar to the case of Raymond.The president urged the inter-

national powers to be patientand trust in Pakistani govern-ment strategy of uprooting mil-itancy.

It is finding a solution to thisinternal debate within Islam -about democracy, about humanrights, about the role of womenin society, about respect forother religions and cultures,about technology and moderni-ty - that shall shape future rela-tions between Islam and theWest", he wrote.

President wrote "Our nationis pressed by overlappingthreats. We have lost more sol-diers in the war against terror-ism than all of NATO com-bined. We have lost 10 timesthe number of civilians whodied on Sept. 11, 2001.

Two thousand police officershave been killed. Our economicgrowth was stifled by the prior-

ities of past dictatorial regimesthat unfortunately were sup-ported by the West. The worstfloods in our history put mil-lions out of their homes.

The religious fanaticismbehind our assassinations is atinderbox poised to explodeacross Pakistan. The embers arefanned by the opportunism ofthose who seek advantages indomestic politics by violentlypolarizing society.

We in Pakistan know ourchallenges and seek the trustand confidence of our interna-tional allies, who sometimeslose patience and pile pressureon those of us who are alreadyon the front lines of what isundeniably a long war.

Instead of understanding theperilous situation in which wefind ourselves, some well-meaning critics tend to forgetthe distinction between courageand foolhardiness.

We are fighting terrorists forthe soul of Pakistan and havepaid a heavy price. Our desireto confront and deal with themenace in a manner that iseffective in our context shouldnot become the basis for ques-tioning our commitment orignoring our sacrifices, thePresident wrote.

If Pakistan and the UnitedStates are to work togetheragainst terrorism, we mustavoid political incidents thatcould further inflame tensionsand provide extremists oropportunists with a pretext fordestabilizing our fledglingdemocracy.

Raymond Davis incident inLahore, which directly resultedin the deaths of three Pakistanimen and the suicide of aPakistani woman, is a primeexample of the unanticipatedconsequences of problematicbehavior. -Online

United action urgedto win war on terror

Minor political issues should be overlooked, says President

KOT GHULAM MUHAMMAD:Quaid PML-N Nawaz Sharif said that ifCharter of Democracy had been imple-mented then the country would havebeen placed on way of prosperity.

Talking to delegation of PML-NOrganizing Committee's members hereat Model Town Lahore on Saturday,leader Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) Nawaz Sharif said that ifCharter of Democracy (CoD) had beenimplemented then the country wouldhave been on way of prosperity.

He further said that PML-N alwaystried to be sincere with PPP but

President Asif Ali Zardari did not recip-rocate our gesture and finally we havedecided to sack PPP Ministers fromPunjab government and the masses arealso in favor of the decision.

He further reiterated that inflation,poverty, unemployment, exploitationand economic crunch have turned toworsening situation and the present gov-ernment is looting the miserable nationwith both hands.

He said that PML-N is raising voicefor rights of the poor and would redeemthem from all sorts of problems.

See # 4 Page 7

CoD guaranteesprogress: Sharif

LONDON: The price of a bar-rel of crude could double if theunrest in the Arab world deteri-orates, oil trader turned Britishinternational development min-ister Alan Duncan warnedSaturday.

Duncan, who has 30 years'business experience in theGulf, told that the price of abarrel of crude could top $200(140 euros), well above therecord high of $147 reached inJuly 2008.

If extremists used the insta-bility in the Arab world tobomb oil tankers, pipelines orSaudi reserves, prices couldeven hit $250 a barrel, Duncansaid.

Analysts fear such highscould trigger another recessionin Britain.

"I've been saying in govern-ment for two months... $200 ison the cards if this goes wrong,

if anyone is reckless andfoments unrest. All I'm predict-ing is danger," said Duncan. "Itcould be very serious. If crudeoil doubles, you're going tohave a very serious spike (inpetrol prices). Try living with-out it for a week."

The British government isunder pressure over the price atthe pumps, with 63 percent ofthe cost going to the exchequer.

If the worst happened, currentprices of #1.30 ($2.10, 1.50euros) a litre at the pump "couldlook like a luxury", Duncansaid, warning of #4 a litre.

"A Twittered-up generationnow has massive power. AllArab countries are moving on.But they are all different," hesaid. "The powers are shiftingbut you can't do it overnight.We are asking them to do at theflick of a switch what we took

See # 2 Page 7

Arab unrest maydouble oil price

LAHORE: Health Department,Government of the Punjab and UNICEFsigned a two years work plan (2011-12with a planned budget of $17.72 mil-lion, here on Saturday, this work plan isbased on the agreement of cooperationbetween Government of Pakistan andUnicef.

According to handout issued hereSaturday, major focus of this work planis to address the key issues related totimely achievement of MDGs particu-larly goals of child and maternal health& nutrition.

In this connection, Secretary Health

Punjab Fawad Hassan Fawad informedthat main interventions of the work planwill include strengthening of immuniza-tion programme including polio eradica-tion, provision of basic and comprehen-sive maternal & child health care,including essential & emergency newborn care, 24/7 emergency obstetriccare, integrated management of neonataland childhood illnesses, prevention ofparent to child transmission of HIV etc,prevention and treatment of maternal &child malnutrition, including communitymanagement of acute malnutrition.

See # 3 Page 7

Punjab, Unicef ink$17mn work plan

TRIPOLI: At least 30 people, mostlycivilians, were killed during fightingbetween forces loyal to Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi and rebels in thewestern town of Zawiyah on Saturday, adoctor in the town told Reuters.

"More than 30 people have beenkilled. The majority were civilians," saidthe doctor, who runs a field medicalclinic in the centre of Zawiyah.

"This is the figure we are sure of butthe death toll is higher," he added.

Meanwhile, Forces loyal to LibyanMuammar Gaddafi retreated from thecenter of the western town of Zawiyahon Saturday after a fierce battle withrebels, a rebel spokesman said.

A doctor in Zawiyah told Reuters atleast 30 people, mostly civilians, hadbeen killed during the fighting, bringingto 60 the death toll from two days of bat-tles for control of the coastal town.

A Reuters' reporter on Zawiyah's out-skirts said government forces had encir-cled the town and were manning check-points 3 km from the center.

"They entered Zawiyah at six in themorning with heavy forces, hundreds ofsoldiers with tanks. Our people foughtback.

We have won for now and civilians aregathering in the square," rebelspokesman Youssef Shagantold Reuters.

See # 5 Page 7

Thirty killed inZawiyah, Libya

India wantsmoderate

forces in PakBANGALORE: India todayexpressed concern that "sanervoices are being silenced" inPakistan and said New Delhiwants moderate and politicalforces to reassert themselves inthat country so that it becomeseasier for both the countries tomove closer, media reported.

Asked if India is concernedby increasing fundamentalismin Pakistan in the context ofassassination of Minister forMinority Affairs ShahbazBhatti, Indian External AffairsMinister S M Krishna said,"We feel that saner voices arebeing silenced in Pakistan,

See # 7 Page 7

Inflation up0.16pc WoW

ISLAMABAD: The SensitivePrice Indicator (SPI), for theweek ended on 3 March, for thelowest income group up toRs3000, has registered increaseof 0.16 percent over the previ-ous week.

The SPI for the week underreview in the above mentionedgroup was recorded at 297.61points as against 297.14 points reg-istered in the previous week,according provisional figures ofFederal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

SPI for the combined groupregistered increase of 0.80 percent as it went up from 282.62points in the previous week to284.88 points in the weekunder review.

As compared to the correspon-ding week of last year, the SPIfor the combined group in theweek under review witnessedincrease of 16.73 per cent.

As compared to the lastweek, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs3001-5000,Rs5001-12000 and aboveRs.12000 increased by 0.19 percent, 0.34 per cent and 1.28 percent respectively.

During the week underreview average prices of 10items registered decrease,while that of 20 items increasewith the remaining 23 items'prices unchanged.

The items which recordeddecrease in their average pricesduring the week under review

See # 6 Page 7

Pakistanneeds dams,says QureshiLAHORE: Former foreignminister Shah MehmoodQureshi has said if there aredifferences on Kalabagh damthen other dams could be built.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi saidthis while talking to media menhere Saturday.

"Pakistan urgently needsdams. Pakistan lacks severaldams under River IndusSystem and Kalabagh dam isone among them. Dams can bebuilt at many locations otherthan this where electricity canalso be generated besides stor-age of water.

Focus should be placed onother dams rather than debatingover Kalabagh dam. It is notsanity to debate over Kalabaghdam only. We have spent 30years on this debate", heremarked.

If political consensus wasdeveloped on Kalabagh dam

See # 1 Page 7

ECP gives final touches to EMBsISLAMABAD: Ishtiak Ahmed Khan, Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) presided here Saturday meeting to finalise

arrangements for holding Conference of heads of election management bodies (EMBs) of SAARC members states in Islamabad.The meeting was attended by Muhammad Afzal khan, Joint Secretary (Budget), Imtiaz Alam, Joint Secretary (Admn), Shaikh Jalil

Ahmed, Deputy Secretary (Elections), Qazi Khurshid Ahmed, Deputy Secretary (Budget), and Shabbir Ahmed, Deputy Country Director,Qazi Saleem Akhtar, Senior Electoral and Legal Officer, Col (Retd) Ejaz Ahmed, Senior Electoral Reforms Officer of InternationalFoundation for Electoral System (IFES) besides senior officers of the ECP.Finishing touches were given to the programme and agenda ofthe Conference to be held in Islamabad on 17th & 18th May 2011.The Conference will discuss Strategic Planning for EMBs, Consultationof EMBs with the Electoral Stake Holders, Independence and Financial Autonomy of EMBs, Importance of accurate Electoral Rolls forcredible elections, Challenges for fair Delimitation and their solutions would be discussed by the Chief Election Commissioners of mem-ber states. The Chief Election Commissioners of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh have so far, confirmed their participation in theConference while response from India, Bhutan and Afghanistan is expected soon. -NNI

President Zardari writes for Washington Post