Irish voters deal a fail mark to party that presided over bust and bailout

DUBLIN: Ireland's next government is headed for confrontation with Brussels after the country's ruling party was wiped out by voters in a backlash against a European-IMF austerity program.

Exit polls and early tallies from the general election on Saturday heralded political annihilation for Fianna Fail, the party that has ruled for more than 60 years of the Irish Republic's eight decades of independence.

The historic defeat, Fianna Fail's worst result in 85 years, makes the Irish government the first euro-zone administration to be punished by voters in the aftermath of the European Union's debt crisis.
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Turnout was exceptionally high at more than 70 per cent, indicating public anger at the government and the EU.

Late last year Ireland was forced to accept a £72 billion ($114 billion) EU-IMF bailout to cover huge public debts run up to save Irish banks.

Brian Cowen, the Prime Minister and leader of Fianna Fail, who stood down last month rather than face voters, was also pressured into implementing a £13 billion austerity program of tax rises and spending cuts drawn up by the EU. The cost of the extra taxes for an average Irish family has been estimated at more than £ 3900 a year.

Other measures included reductions to the minimum wage, unprecedented cuts to public services and 90,000 job losses in a country where unemployment is running at almost 14 per cent.

In Dublin, Fianna Fail won just 8 per cent of the vote, a collapse that called into question the future of previously unassailable politicians, such as Brian Lenihan, the finance minister.

According to exit polling carried out for the broadcaster RTE, Fine Gael, the main centre-right opposition, won 36.1 per cent of the vote. Labour, its traditional coalition partner, took 20.5 per cent, its best result. Fianna Fail attracted just 15.1 per cent of the vote. Sinn Fein recorded its best result, 10.1 per cent.

Enda Kenny, Fine Gael's leader, has begun efforts to form a government, almost certainly with Labour.

Mr Kenny and Eamon Gilmore, Labour's leader, have promised voters they will renegotiate the EU-IMF program to reduce the burden for taxpayers and to force investors to shoulder some of the bank debts now paid out of the public purse.

At a summit of centre-right EU leaders in Helsinki on Friday, Mr Kenny will beg the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, for concessions before an emergency summit on March 11 to restructure the euro zone.

In the face of the EU's almost certain refusal to substantially renegotiate the austerity program, Mr Kenny's government will face a grassroots campaign for a referendum.

Analysis: Ireland's new govt has little time to prove itself

Enda Kenny has a month to show he can be a success as Ireland's prime minister.

The former primary school teacher's center-right Fine Gael party cruised to victory in a weekend parliamentary election dominated by anger at the country's economic meltdown and the harsh cure prescribed by European partners.

A Fine Gael-led government, probably in coalition with the center-left Labour Party, has no time to savor its triumph or settle into power after nearly two decades in opposition.

Starting next week, the parties' pledges to renegotiate the terms of an 85-billion-euro bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund will be put to the test when Kenny goes to Helsinki on Friday for a summit of EU leaders who belong to the European People's Party, the European Parliament's center-right bloc.

He has only four weeks to persuade Europe's paymaster Germany to ease the tough terms attached to the EU's 40-billion-euros-plus in loans before a comprehensive package to resolve Europe's debt crisis is agreed at a summit on March 24 and 25.

"Both Labour and Fine Gael are adamant that they're not going to counter any talk of default, so they'll have to try and convince Europe that they need to get something out of these talks," said Eoin O'Malley, lecturer at Dublin City University.

Ireland's new leaders believe the bailout will bankrupt an economy still in the doldrums, a view shared by many investors who continue to steer clear of Irish debt.

Kenny expects Germany to agree to reduce the average rate of 5.8 percent charged on the EU loans but, while that could be sold as a victory to people back home, it will not make much difference to a debt mountain of about 155 billion euros.

Goodbody Stockbrokers estimated a hefty one percentage point cut would save 675 million euros a year, representing just 5 percent of the annual social welfare bill.

In return for relaxing terms, Europe will want something from Dublin, setting the stage for a battle royal over its low rate of corporation tax, viewed as anti-competitive in higher-tax European countries.

"We are in a moment of maximum danger on that," said Hugo Brady, senior research fellow at the Center for European Reform.

"We are hamstrung in the language of Brussels because we are askers and in the logic of Brussels askers have to give something."

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

It is not in Europe's interests to let Ireland hang out to dry.

An Irish sovereign default would destabilize the entire currency zone and send a signal to other peripheral countries that the sort of harsh austerity measures implemented by Dublin are pointless, undermining the message the fiscally conservative Germans have been hammering home.

S Korea Won Down Late On Mideast Turmoil; Bonds Rally

The South Korean won was lower against the dollar late Tuesday in Seoul, weighed by growing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, while a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand also roiled markets.

Political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa--where key oil-producing nations are located--hit the won hard as South Korea is a major importer of crude oil, traders said.

Steep losses in the local stock market and falls in the other regional currencies-- such as the New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar--following the quake in New Zealand, put further pressure on the won, they added.

U.S. markets were unable to provide leads after being shut Monday.

"All sorts of negative news for the won pushed the dollar to higher-than-expected levels today," said a local bank trader.

Active export settlements provided some support for the won in the afternoon, but offshore players continued to dump the won, keeping the dollar well-supported above KRW1,124.

"The Middle East situation, followed by a rise in oil prices, will likely continue to spur strong-dollar sentiment in the near term," though, robust exports are expected to cushion any slide in the won, said Samsung Futures analyst Jeon Seung-ji.

Treasury bonds and bond futures rallied as Mideast and North Africa tensions spurred safe-haven demand, participants said.

March bond futures rose 31 ticks to end at 102.85 on active buying from foreign investors and banks.

Foreign investors were net buyers of bond futures for three straight sessions, buying more than 9,000 contracts in net on Tuesday alone. Banks switched to become net buyers, from being net sellers Monday.

"There seems to be some change in the market's preference from riskier assets to safe-haven assets," said another local bank bond trader.

But he noted that the changing risk sentiment was unlikely to lead to a sustained rally in bonds as the Bank of Korea is widely expected to raise the base rate at its March policy meeting. "The market is likely to stay volatile until then," he added.

4 dead in Tunisia after renewed violence

Four people have died in new unrest in the Tunisian capital between stone-throwing protesters and police on the sidelines of demonstrations against the interim government, officials said Saturday.

By Borni Hichem, AFP/Getty Images

People demonstrate to demand the resignation of the country's interim prime minister Saturday in Tunis, Tunisia.
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By Borni Hichem, AFP/Getty Images

People demonstrate to demand the resignation of the country's interim prime minister Saturday in Tunis, Tunisia.
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The Interior Ministry, in a statement, blamed "provocateurs" for fomenting violence in otherwise peaceful rallies and for allegedly using young people as human shields in renewed demonstrations.

The ministry said three people died Saturday, without elaborating. State TV showed a funeral of a 19-year-old man who was killed Friday after being shot through the neck during protests on a central avenue.

Demonstrators fear the interim government has hijacked the revolution that drove Tunisia's longtime autocrat from power on Jan. 14, sending shock waves through the Arab world.

Officials said nearly 200 people were arrested in the last two days.

On Saturday, police and troops backed by tanks used tear gas to disperse hundreds of youths protesting against the caretaker government. Officers were seen chasing some youths through town after the rally ended.

Authorities then ordered a temporarily ban on vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the capital's central Bourguiba Avenue until midnight Sunday — the first of its kind since Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

On Friday, police fired tear gas and warning shots as violence erupted alongside a sit-in that drew tens of thousands of protesters near the seat of the interim government.

Many Tunisians remain angry at the interim government led by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, a longtime Ben Ali lieutenant who has pledged to guide the country until elections can be held this summer.

Tunisian prime minister resigns amid renewed protests

The prime minister of Tunisia has stepped down from the interim government, according to the country's official news agency.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's resignation Sunday came a day after three people were killed during protests in the capital, Tunis.

"I am resigning today because I am not willing to be a person that takes decisions that could cause casualties," he told reporters Sunday.

He also questioned "why a lot of people considered their main target to keep attacking the government, although a lot of its members agreed to join in this critical time."

Three people were killed Saturday and nine others injured during mayhem in Tunis, according to a Interior Ministry statement cited by the state-run news agency, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP).

More than 100 people were arrested in the area around Habib Bourguiba Avenue, in the city's center, and accused of "acts of destruction and burning," the ministry said.

Protesters had gathered in the area to demand that the interim government step down and the current parliament be disbanded. Demonstrators were also asking for suspension of the current constitution and the election of an assembly that can write a new one, as well as organize the transition to democracy.

Protests in Tunisia erupted late last year. Fed up with corruption, unemployment and escalating prices of food, people began demonstrating en masse after the self-immolation suicide of a fruit cart vendor in December. By January 13, Ben Ali -- who had ruled Tunisia since 1987 -- turned executive power over to his prime minister and fled the country.

Libyan Rebels Gear Up for Fight in City Near Capital

ZAWIYA, Libya -- Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by rebel troops who control the city closest to the capital Tripoli prepared Sunday to repel an expected offensive by forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi surrounding Zawiya.

An Associated Press reporter who reached Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the center of the city of 200,000. They have army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks deployed. But on the outskirts, they are surrounded by pro-Qaddafi forces, also backed by tanks and anti-aircraft guns.

There were at least six checkpoints controlled by troops loyal to Qaddafi on the road from Tripoli to Zawiya. Each checkpoint was reinforced by at least one tank, and the troops concealed their faces with scarves.

Qaddafi has launched by far the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of anti-regime uprising sweeping the Arab world. The United States, Britain and the U.N. Security Council all imposed sanctions on Libya over the weekend. And President Barack Obama said it is time for Qaddafi to go.

Zawiya, a key city close to an oil port and refineries, is the nearest population center to Tripoli to fall into the opposition hands. Police stations and government offices inside the city have been torched and anti-Qaddafi graffiti was everywhere. Many buildings are pockmarked by bullets.


"Qaddafi Out," chanted hundreds in the city center. The charred skeletons of many cars littered the city and most streets were blocked by palm tree trunks or metal barricades. "Free, Free Libya," chanted members of the anti-government forces at the city center.

"Down with Qaddafi, the mass murderer," read graffiti scrawled in the city. An effigy of Qaddafi hung from a light pole in the city's main square. On its chest the words "Execute Qaddafi" were emblazoned.

The square has now become the burial place of six of 11 rebels killed by pro-Qaddafi forces Thursday when they attacked the area to try and dislodge them. Residents reported several skirmishes between the two sides since Thursday.

"We are all wanted," said one rebel at the square who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals. "Zawiya in our hands is a direct threat to Tripoli."

Rebels from the town and army forces who defected from the regime to join them largely consolidated control of the town on Feb. 24, after an army unit that remained loyal to Qaddafi opened fire on a mosque where residents -- some armed with hunting rifles for protection -- had been holding a sit-in.

Before Zawiya fell to rebel forces, Qaddafi scolded the city residents on Thursday.

"Shame on you, people of Zawiya. Control your children," he said. "They are loyal to bin Laden," he said of those involved in the uprising. "What do you have to do with bin Laden, people of Zawiya? They are exploiting young people ... I insist it is bin Laden."

On Feb. 24, local forces repelled an attempt by militiamen and pro-Qaddafi troops to take back the town.

Later, Qaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, acknowledged to foreign journalists in Tripoli that there were "two minor problems" in Misrata and Zawiya. There, he said, "we are dealing with terrorist people," but he hoped to reach a peaceful settlement with them.

Qaddafi loyalists remain in control of nearby Tripoli, which was reported to be quiet Sunday, with most stores closed and long lines outside the few banks open for business.

City residents thronged the banks after state TV and SMS messages announced in the past few days that each family would receive 500 Libyan dinars (about $400), plus the equivalent of about $100 credit for phone service. State TV said families also will be entitled to 60,000 Libyan dinars (about $49,000) in interest-free loans to buy apartments.

Salman, Aamir file appeals against bans

LAHORE: Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamir have filed appeals against their bans from the game with the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Salman and Aamir, along with Mohammad Asif, were found guilty of orchestrating three pre-planned, deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England last August. The trio, who were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council in September, were given sanctions ranging from 5 to 10 years by an independent tribunal headed by Michael Beloff QC after a full hearing in Doha, Qatar in early January, with the verdicts being handed down on February 5. Asif has so far not said whether he will file an appeal.

“Today my legal team served a statement of appeal upon the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) to appeal against the Tribunal’s findings in relation to the Lords Test and the sanctions imposed at the recent Hearing in Doha. Full Grounds for the Appeal will be lodged in due course,” a statement from Salman’s lawyer, Yasin Patel, said on Saturday. As captain at the time, Salman received the stiffest sentence, though the ban comes with a suspended sentence of five years. On the day the verdict was announced, Patel had indicated that the tribunal’s recommendation to the ICC to revisit sanctions in their code was encouraging. “The tribunal’s hands were tied by the ICC’s code to a five-year minimum,” he said. “Mr Salman is encouraged that the tribunal advised the ICC to change the code or revise the minimum term.”

Salman also confirmed that he would appear at a London court on March 17th for a hearing into the criminal charges he faces – along with Asif and Aamir – into the same incident. Aamir was given a straight five-year ban with no suspended sentence and had indicated his intention to appeal on the day the judgments came. “We have filed an appeal against the ban (on Friday),” Shahid Karim, Aamir’s lawyer, said. “The process is now set into motion. We have challenged the judgment on various grounds.”

Bangladesh fan killed in accident in victory celebration

A cricket fan was killed and 30 others were injured in different road accidents in Dhaka as frenzied jubilation continued after Bangladesh beat Ireland in a World Cup Group B match, police said on Saturday.

The fans celebrated as if Bangladesh had won the World Cup late on Friday following the 27-run victory against Ireland, who beat the South Asian team in the second round of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

"A young fan was killed and 30 others were injured in three different road accidents during the jubilation in the city," an official of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police told Reuters.

"A truck ploughed through a jubilant march at Banani, killing the young man and injuring 10 others."

In two other similar incidents, involving cars crashing into road dividers, 15 others were injured near Dhaka University.

Wearing Bangladesh team jerseys, ecstatic fans took to the streets blowing vuvuzelas and beating drums to celebrate the win.

Some of them also showered coloured liquid in jubilation and exchanged sweets in the streets, stranding vehicles until the early hours of Saturday.

The celebrations stretched across the Bangladesh capital and also the main port city of Chittagong, the other Bangladesh match venue of the World Cup, with boys and girls dancing and running in the streets.

Four years ago in the Caribbean, Ireland sensationally defeated Pakistan in the group stages and followed it up by beating Bangladesh in the following round.

Shape of new Irish govt yet to emerge

DUBLIN — Ireland's opposition parties have made big gains in a general election focussed on the country's economic woes, but the shape of the next government is hanging in the balance as counting continues for a second day on Sunday.

by Peter Morrison, AP

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny reacts after addressing party members at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. Ireland's ruling Fianna Fail party faced its worst defeat in nearly 80 years as a tidal wave of voter anger about the country being nearly pushed to bankruptcy swept the opposition Fine Gael to the brink of power Saturday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
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by Peter Morrison, AP

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny reacts after addressing party members at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. Ireland's ruling Fianna Fail party faced its worst defeat in nearly 80 years as a tidal wave of voter anger about the country being nearly pushed to bankruptcy swept the opposition Fine Gael to the brink of power Saturday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
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The Fine Gael party was leading the pack as voters angry about Ireland's battered economy ended the 80-year dominance of Fianna Fail.

"This was a democratic revolution at the ballot box," Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told supporters Saturday night.

By Sunday noon, 60 seats had been won by Fine Gael, 32 by Labour, 14 by Fianna Fail, 13 by Sinn Fein and 14 by smaller parties and independents. It takes 83 seats for a majority in the Dail, the lower house of the parliament.

Ireland's complicated proportional representation system produced extended suspense in the remaining races. Eamon O Cuiv of Fianna Fail, for instance, clinched his re-election on the eighth round of counting in the Galway West constituency, and Labour's Gerald Nash secured his seat in the 12th count in Louth.

Fine Gael was widely expected to form a coalition government with Labour. But with Fine Gael sensing that it might win nearly 80 seats, party leaders also talked about forming alliances with independent candidates. Kenny, destined to become prime minister, pledged to move quickly to form a government.

"We stand on the brink of fundamental change in how we regard ourselves, in how we regard our economy, and in how we regard our society," Kenny said.

Fine Gael polled 36.1 percent support with the first round of counting completed in all 43 constituencies. Labour, Fine Gael's possible coalition partner, was running second at 19 percent while Fianna Fail polled a historic low of 17 percent.

The Green Party, which had six seats in the Dail and was Fianna Fail's junior partner in government, lost all its seats.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, who resigned his seat in the British parliament to run for the Dail, was among the winners.

Irish voters punished Fianna Fail for 13 percent unemployment, tax hikes, wage cuts and a humiliating bailout that Ireland had to accept from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. In elections going back to 1932, Fianna Fail had never won less than 39 percent of the vote and had always been the largest party in the Dail.

Fine Gael ("tribe of the Irish") and Fianna Fail ("soldiers of destiny") were born from opposing sides in Ireland's civil war of the 1920s, and many see little difference between them on the issues. Fianna Fail, however, was leading the government when the property boom collapsed in 2007, and it put taxpayers on the hook to bail out Ireland's failing banks.

Brian Cowen, the outgoing prime minister, had fallen to record low popularity and resigned as Fianna Fail party leader even before the campaign. He had wanted to hold the election in March, but agreed to hold it early in a deal to win confirmation of the hated EU-IMF bailout.

"Fianna Fail will come back," said new party leader Micheal Martin, who bucked the tide to hold his seat.

The new government, like the last, will be constrained by the terms negotiated for the euro67.5 billion ($92 billion) credit line from the European Central Bank and the IMF. The loan is contingent on Ireland cutting euro15 billion ($20.6 billion) from its deficit spending over the coming four years and imposing the harshest cuts this year.

Kenny has pledged to try to negotiate easier terms for repaying the loan. He has also promised to create 100,000 new jobs in five years and to make holders of senior bonds in Ireland's nationalized banks shoulder some of the losses.

Fine Gael said it would seek to balance public finances mainly through cuts, not tax hikes; it would also reform the health service and abolish 150 public bodies.

Enda Kenny hails 'democratic revolution' in Ireland

The leader of Ireland's center-right Fine Gael party, Enda Kenny, claimed victory Sunday after angry voters rejected the ruling centrist Fianna Fáil party and its Green Party partners.
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Mr. Kenny says his party has won a “massive endorsement” to govern and called the result of Friday's vote “a democratic revolution.”

With counting almost complete and final official results due Monday, Fine Gael is headed for 75 seats in the Dáil, Ireland’s parliament, eight short of a majority. Labour is headed for 37, while Fianna Fáil has gone into meltdown, dropping from 77 to 20. The party, which has governed for most of Ireland’s history, suffered the largest drop in support of any party since independence. The Green party lost all of its six seats.

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Fine Gael will now govern in coalition with Labour to tackle the enormous challenge of recovering from the economic meltdown that led to the voter rage seen Friday. In the meantime, Ireland's "natural party of government," Fianna Fáíl, will have to rebuild after a stinging defeat that will linger in the minds of voters for years to come.

“A whole new generation see Fianna Fáíl as toxic and it has lost a generation of leaders,” says David Farrell, political science professor at University College Dublin, adding that the longtime ruling party will have to rebuild from scratch. “It was arguably the most successful ‘broad church’ party in western Europe and now it’s struggling to pick up a twentieth seat.”
Voters unleash anger at the polls

After an economic meltdown that spurred thousands of Irish to flee the country in search of a better life, voters sent a stern message.

“I am absolutely satisfied that Fianna Fáil has been mauled,” says conservative voter, Robert Cassidy. “It’s long overdue given the damage they’ve done to the country.”

The result of Friday's vote, however, is not a straightforward swing to the right. Along with Labour, left-wing Sinn Féin has seen a dramatic surge, more than tripling its seats to 15.

Independent candidates of both left and right polled well, indicating the beginnings of an ideological debate in previously uniformly center-right Ireland.
Who is Enda Kenny?

The man who will be Taoiseach (prime minister) is the longest-serving lawmaker in Ireland, having first been elected in 1975. Kenny was a minister in the last Fine Gael-led government between 1994 and 1997, and became leader of the party in 2002 after it suffered its own dramatic meltdown in the polls.

Seen as a safe pair of hands, the former school teacher from rural County Mayo in the west of Ireland successfully rebuilt the party but is considered by some to be a dry and uninspiring figure. Despite this, he successfully saw off a challenge to his leadership last year and has a made a virtue of being a team player rather than an iconoclastic leader.

Kenny's new government must now lay the foundations for recovery. What will it take?

“We need dull, technocratic measures," says Brian Lucey, professor of finance at Trinity College in Dublin.

"We have to encourage as many people as possible [back] into the workforce as quickly as we can,” he says, suggesting tapering of welfare payments instead of the cut-off currently in place and tax refunds for businesses that create jobs.

Tunisia’s prime minister resigns; Omani police fire on protesters

Tunisia Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced his resignation on Sunday following a wave of street protests.

Critics have accused Mr. Ghannouchi of being to close to the North African state’s former government, toppled in an uprising last month, and of failing to enact reforms.

“My resignation will provide a better atmosphere for the new era,” he said, adding he wanted to prevent more victims in the country’s political unrest.

North Korea Warns It Will Fire at South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's military threatened Sunday to fire at South Korea, as Seoul prepared to start annual joint drills with U.S. troops, maneuvers Pyongyang says are a rehearsal for an invasion.

The North's military warned that it would fire at South Korean border towns if Seoul continued to allow activists to launch propaganda leaflets toward the communist country, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. The warning was conveyed to South Korea's military earlier Sunday, it said.

"South Korea's traitor puppet regime must recognize the seriousness of the situation and immediately stop anti-(North Korea) psychological warfare," the KCNA said.

It accused South Korean activists and lawmakers of flying balloons carrying hundreds of thousands of leaflets critical of North Korea's government on the North's most important national holiday, an apparent reference to leader Kim Jong Il's 69th birthday, which fell on Feb. 16.

It was unclear whether more balloons had been launched since then.


The warning came one day before the start of annual military drills between South Korea and the United States.

Pyongyang has called the drills a preparation to invade North Korea, though South Korean and U.S. officials have repeatedly said they are purely defensive and that they have no intention of attacking.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to help deter potential aggression by the North.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula spiked last year over two deadly incidents -- the sinking of a South Korean naval ship blamed on the North and a North Korean artillery barrage in November that killed four people on a front-line South Korean island. North Korea denies it was involved in the sinking of the ship, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The countries' military officers met earlier this month but failed to reach a breakthrough, with both sides accusing the other of rupturing their first dialogue since the November bombardment. North Korea later threatened not to hold any more military talks with Seoul.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Pakistan wins a thrilling match

Living up to its description of ‘dark horses' for winning the tournament, Pakistan, overwhelmed Sri Lanka in its Group A match in the ICC World Cup here.

The team, which was supposed to be reeling under the loss of its four main players to an ICC ban, and which has not figured in many lists of teams billed to make the semifinals, served notice of its intentions on Saturday, with a fine display of batting and bowling.

Of course, not one fielder hit the stumps from anywhere on the field – and this might as well be a record in modern day ODI cricket — but then, that's the way the Pakistani team is.

Chasing 278 for a win under the notorious Premadasa lights, the opening Sri Lankan pair of Upul Tharanga and Thillakaratne Dilshan put on 76 for the first wicket before a diving Afridi held on to a catch offered by Tharanga. Offie Hafeez had tossed one up and Tharanga drove him on the up.

Afridi steps up

Then, Captain Afridi reminded everyone once again that he can deliver with the ball too, bowling a tidy line and length: Dilshan tried to cut one on the stumps, but the ball was too close. Dilshan missed, and glanced back to see the bails of his off stump missing. Afridi came back much later and had Sangakkara taking chances against him because the asking run rate had climbed to eight-plus. It was only a matter of time before Sangakkara holed out to Ahmed Shehzad at long on, becoming Afridi's 300th ODI wicket.

In another clever move, Afridi brought back Shoaib Akhtar in the 19th over. Shoaib crashed one through the defences of Jayawardena in the next over. Jayawardena was driving outside the line prompting Shoaib to spread his arms and do a slow run, his trade-mark aeroplane celebration.

This is around the time when Sri Lanka lost the plot. It seemed like a procession had begun when Thilan Samaraweera walked in and out in quick time, but Chamara Silva provided the support that Sangakkara demanded. Kamran Akmal had a horrid day behind the wicket and missed at least two stumping chances – and the beneficiary both times was Sangakkara, first when he was on 22 and then, 33. The bowler was Abdur Rehman. Then Rehman joined the League of Extraordinarily Bad Fielders, a club that has many members from Pakistan, when he dropped a sitter offered by Chamara Silva at mid wicket.

The Sri Lankan 50 runs came in 67 balls and the 100 came in 135 balls. But it kept losing wickets at regular intervals and at the end of 40 overs, ended up at a hopeless 178 for 5 from where an assault on the target looked difficult.

Earlier, a patient 72 from the much derided Younus Khan and his century partnership with Misbah-ul-Haq (83), propelled Pakistan to a fighting total against Sri Lanka. In two matches, the pair has saved Pakistan the blushes a second time.

Before the start of the game Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi said that 270 would be a good total. The team got him a little over that.

Openers Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad looked better than they did in the first match, though Shehzad exhibited some nerves, slashing and missing a few times. Shehzad's (13) first scoring stroke was a slash outside off-stump, to a ball that was pitched up, in the second over of the match. The ball sailed through where second slip would have been. Sri Lanka, strangely defensive, started with just one slip and soon after the slash, moved Mahela Jayawardena to second slip. The miss did not prove costly as Shehzad nicked attempting to drive Perara, who pitched one a shade short of good length. Sangakkara took a regulation catch.

After Shehzad's departure, it was left to Hafeez (32) to take the attack to the opposition camp. Gone was the sluggishness of the opening match. At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan raced to 65.

The HafeezKamran Akmal (39) pair, which first came together in last September's series against England and was successful till Kamran was dropped from the side, were on cruise mode, putting on 48 off 38 balls. But then, a misunderstanding cut short the best phase of the Pakistani innings — Kamran thought there was a single when Hafeez turned Muralidaran's first ball of his first spell to short-fine leg. But Hafeez, strangely, did not agree and both batsmen ended up at the same end. The throw to Muralidaran's end was long, but then it hardly mattered. Hafeez, like Team Pakistan of late, had already given up. After Hafeez fell, the next 35 runs required to bring up the 100 of the Pakistani innings took 8.5 overs.

Sangakkara gets record

Then suddenly Kamran woke up and wanted to hoist Herath. Well, the first part of his idea worked: he stepped out and heaved. The ball dipped and turned away from him, giving Sangakkara the chance to become the wicket keeper with the most stumpings in world cup cricket.

The exit of Kamran brought Misbah-ul-Haq and Younus together. They took time to settle down and, then began a phase of consolidation in singles and twos. This meant that the next fifty took another 10 overs, but, importantly, no wickets were lost. The 200 came up at roughly the same pace, in 38.3 overs.

The duo brought up the 50 runs partnership in 59 balls; 100 runs in 113 balls. Younus (72) compiled the first 50 of the match in 56 balls and Misbah followed him. Younus perished trying to accelerate; his intended sweep off Herath ending up as a top edge and went in slow motion even as short fine leg closed in. Afridi added some late flourish.

Sri Lanka was without the services of Lasith Malinga, who was clearly not comfortable bowling at the nets on Friday. “We are not going to take any risk with Malinga right now,” Captain Sangakkara said. The team chose Chamara Silva over Charama Kapugedera. There was some discussion on the need to take Ajantha Mendis in the eleven, since Pakistan had not played him much, but Rangana Herath got the nod ahead of Mendis. Pakistan went in with the same 11 that played Kenya.

Pakistan: M. Hafeez (run out) 32 (31b, 4x4, 1x6), A. Shehzad c Sangakkara b Perera 13 (23b, 2x4), K. Akmal st Sangakkara b Herath 39 (48b, 5x4), Younis c Jayawardene b Herath 72 (76b, 4x4), Misbah-ul-Haq (not out) 83 (91b, 6x4), U. Akmal c Dilshan b Muralitharan 10 (15b, 1x4), S. Afridi c Dilshan b Mathews 16 (12b, 3x4), A. Razzaq c (sub) Kapugedera b Perera 3 (4b); Extras (lb-4, w-5): 9; Total (for 7 in 50 overs): 277.

Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-76, 3-105, 4-213, 5-238, 6-267, 7-277.

Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 10-1-64-0, Perera 9-0-62-2, Mathews 10-0-56-1, Muralitharan 10-0-35-1, Herath 10-0-46-2, Dilshan 1-0-10-0.

Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga c Afridi b Hafeez 33 (43b, 6x4), T. Dilshan b Afridi 41 (55b, 5x4). K. Sangakkara c Shehzad b Afridi 49 (61b, 2x4, 1x6), M. Jayawardene b Akhtar 2 (10b), T. Samaraweera st. Kamran b Afridi 1 (4b), C. Silva st. Kamran b Rehman 57 (78b, 5x4), A. Mathews c Shehzad b Afridi 18 (20b, 2x4), T. Perara b Akhtar 8 (6b, 1x4), N. Kulasekara c Umar b Gul 24 (14b, 2x4, 1x6), R. Herath (not out) 4 (10b), M. Muralitharan (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (b-1, lb-10, w-16, nb-2): 29; Total (for 9 wickets in 50 voers) 266.

Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-88, 3-95, 4-96, 5-169, 6-209, 7-232, 8-233, 9-265.

Pakistan bowling: Akhtar 10-0-42-2, Razzaq 5-1-23-0, Gul 9-0-60-1, Hafeez 6-0-33-1, Afridi 10-0-34-4, Rehman 10-1-63-1.

Nawaz League, People’s Party part in political divorce

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most famous political marriage of convenience ended in a divorce on Friday as Mian Nawaz Sharif signalled the ouster of the PPP from the PML-N’s Punjab government and both sides contradicted each other over the implementation of a 10-point agenda, raising fears of future tensions.

Mr Sharif announced “parting of ways” with the PPP at a news conference in Islamabad because of what he called unsatisfactory performance of the PPP-led federal coalition government in implementing his party’s economic-cum-political agenda during a 45-day deadline that ended on Wednesday.

As a consequence, he said, the PML-N’s Punjab chief minister and his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, would dissolve his cabinet, which includes several PPP ministers, and form a new one, possibly with the breakaway “unification bloc” of the opposition PML-Q, which will give him the majority in the 371-seat provincial assembly. This, he said, would happen within two days, possibly on Saturday.

Federal ministers Raza Rabbani (inter-provincial coordination) and Babar Awan (law and parliamentary affairs) strongly rejected Mr Sharif’s claim about non-implementation of the agenda and one of them told a joint news conference afterwards that “significant progress” had been made in the available time.

Both vowed to pursue that programme as PPP’s own agenda and said their party would play the role of a “strong opposition” in Punjab.

The two parties, which had pledged to shun their wild rivalry of the 1990s in a Charter of Democracy signed in 2006, struggled together against former president Pervez Musharraf’s nine-year military rule that ended after February 2008 elections, in which the PPP emerged as the largest party, with PML-N coming second, but the largest in Punjab.

They formed a coalition government at the centre in March 2008, but the PML-N withdrew six months later, mainly over alleged PPP foot-dragging in restoring judges of superior courts sacked by Gen Musharraf.

While a troubled coalition continued in Punjab, the two parties maintained a measure of understanding over major issues at the national level, with the PML-N earning the calling of a “friendly opposition”, which the party seeks to shed with its latest decision.

Mr Sharif, speaking after chairing a meeting of his party’s central organising committee and lawmakers, avoided a clear answer when asked if the PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet would be sacked, saying “a decision has been taken” and “modalities will be known by tomorrow”.

But he seemed to be downplaying speculation about a possible standoff between the country’s largest political parties, saying, in a reference to the famous battlefield of centuries ago in India: “We are not fighting a battle of Panipat. We are exercising our right. We want all this to be done in an amicable way.” The PML-N move and the PPP rebuttal came a day after the failure of what appeared as a last-minute effort by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to save the Punjab coalition and the broader understanding between the two parties when he met a PML-N delegation led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday.

MID-TERM POLLS: Mr Nawaz Sharif did not say if his party would launch a campaign for mid-term polls, but said such a demand would not be unconstitutional. He said his party gave sufficient time to the government to mend its ways in the interest of democracy “but the broken promises have brought us to such a tragic turn”.

He said tangible progress on certain points could have been made and that “even 30 per cent progress at this stage” would have been acceptable for his party. He said it was not a matter of 45 days but his party had been in talks with the PPP for the last three years marked by promises that were never fulfilled and agreements trashed. “Now we are not ready to become part of this game and are forced to say good-bye to the PPP.”

He said the decision had been taken by an overwhelming vote where not more than two per cent leaders opposed the idea, adding that he had also taken input from party workers at the grass-root level.

Mr Sharif rejected the charge of political horse-trading in Punjab with the formation of a 47-member “unification bloc” of the rival PML-Q, which is likely to join the new provincial coalition, saying those lawmakers would only return to their “parent party” they were forced to leave under the Musharraf regime.

At their news conference later, which seemed to have been planned in advance but announced after the PML-N decision, Mr Rabbani gave a point-by-point progress over the 10 points.

He and Mr Awan both ruled out any mid-term election as a consequence of Friday’s development and accused the PML-N chief of violating the Constitution by calling PML-Q forward bloc as a segment of his party.

With all seven PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet seated on the stage at the Press Information Department auditorium, Mr Rabbani spoke in a comparatively mild tone, while Mr Awan seemed aggressive, calling the “unification bloc” as “a gang of Changa Manga” — a reference to a Punjab forest often cited as a place for lodging political turncoats.

President Asif Ali Zardari, currently on an official visit to Kuwait, also seemed to be keeping in touch with the country’s politics as his spokesman Farhatullah Babar issued a statement from abroad saying PPP members of the Punjab cabinet would not send their resignations and that “the politics of reconciliation will continue”. Mr Rabbani wondered how Mr Sharif could say nothing was done during the 45-day period while the head of his party’s negotiating team, Senator Ishaq Dar, had expressed his satisfaction at the progress “at the end of our marathon meetings”.

The minister cited steps taken point-by-point, including a reversal of increases in petroleum prices, reduction in the size of the federal cabinet and formation of new boards of several state-run enterprises as evidence of what he called a significant progress made on the reform agenda.

“But I feel sad on the decision taken by Nawaz Sharif because we sat with sincerity to address major problems confronting the country,” he said.

He said the nation and media could sit in judgement to decide on the seriousness and sincerity of the PPP in implementing the 10-point agenda.

“I don’t want to beat the drum of our own publicity, I leave it to you and each poor individual of this country and appoint you as judge to decide how much progress we made on these 10 points in a limited timeframe,” he said.

“The 10-point agenda is our agenda. It is our manifesto and we will continue its implementation. There should not be any ambiguity on this count,” the minister said.

“Punjab does not belong to the PML-N alone, rather all political forces are free to do politics there,” he added.

Babar Awan said now his party would act as a “senior ombudsman” in Punjab and keep a vigilant eye on the working of the provincial government. “We will also request the speaker to give us the slot of leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly.”

Pakistan may face hurdles in talks with IMF

* IMF mission, country’s economic managers to hold talks from March 1 * Government loses support on economic reforms

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economic managers may find it difficult to face the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission starting its deliberations from March 1, 2011 in Islamabad — at a time when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government has lost the political support of the three major political parties on economic reforms, official sources informed Saturday.

Country’s political scenario turned bad when the major political party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parted ways with the government just before the arrival of the IMF mission. On the other hand, coalition partners MQM and ANP are also opposing the tax reforms — already agreed with the IMF as performance benchmark.

These talks are part of the bilateral consultation between the Pakistan’s economic managers and Fund mission to judge the economic performance and agreed to hold negotiations for the completion of the fifth review needed for release of $3.6 billion under $11.3 billion Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA).

An IMF mission is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on February 28 to resume talks from where it concluded in the last meeting — when government and PML (N) had agreed to hold talks on implementation of the 10-point national reforms agenda, proposed by the PML (N). Ten-point agenda’s positive outcome was the assurance that was extended to IMF and failure of talks between the two major political forces has left a meager chance for completion of the fifth review.

Ministry of Finance is expected to place its performance during July-February period of the ongoing fiscal year 2010-11 as well as budgetary numbers till end June before IMF mission and would discuss next year budget as well.

Many economic experts have already hinted that government has nothing to present to the IMF mission as the key performance benchmarks as well as economic performance in the areas such as tax collection, expansion in tax base, approval of tax related legislation including General Sales Tax reforms, Flood Income Tax Surcharge, increase in Special Excise Duty from the parliament has became more difficult compared with recent past due to political developments.

The IMF $11.3 billion Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan is already facing suspension from May 2010 and fifth review is also facing delay in its completion owing to non-observance of the IMF performance benchmarks.

Official sources informed that passage of key legislative benchmarks agreed with the IMF will not be easy for the Parliament – especially without the support of the PML-N. Four legislations, Finance Amendment Act 2010 for imposition of flood surcharge and Special Excise Duty, State Bank of Pakistan Ordinance 2010 and controversial Reformed General Sales Tax. Failure of approval of 15 percent flood surcharge and 1.5 additional Special Excise Duty would compromise Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) ability to meet the revenue target of Rs 1630 billion and would consequently compound the problem of fiscal deficit and inflation. Oil shocks are also going to have negative impact on the foreign reserves.

PML-N support was critical not only for the approval of legislation from the Parliament to increase revenue to contain the fiscal deficit, especially when coalition partners have abandoned the government on all the benchmarks agreed with the Fund. Escalation of political temperature between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N may compromise expected budget surplus by the provincial government. The fiscal deficit in such a situation will not be containable at the level acceptable to the IMF.

The IMF is said to have made it clear upon the government during the last meeting to come up with economic reforms to qualify for the next tranche of $1.7 billion under the $11.3 billion SBA programme.

According to new fiscal framework, officials claim that a reduction of around Rs 20 billion in current expenditure as well as considerable saving from Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Internally displaced Persons (IDPs) allocation for the current fiscal year. The new fiscal framework proposes imposition of 15% flood surcharge and increase in the Special Excise Duty (SED) rate of 1.5 percent from March 2011 to generate Rs 36 billion in the remaining period of current fiscal year. The proposed measures also envisaged Rs 5 billion from broadening of tax base by taking enforcement measures and another Rs 5 billion through recovery of arrears. The proposed revenue and administrative measures are estimated to give additional revenue measures of Rs 46 billion provided these are implemented from March 1, 2011. An official on condition of anonymity said that dilemma for the economic team is that all the bilateral and multilateral have linked release of budgetary support assistance with the issuance of letter of comfort by the IMF. An official said that the economic managers have tried hard to win over the IMF team during the last meeting that it would take all the possible measures to contain the fiscal deficit below 6 percent. But the IMF wanted tangible measures and not merely assurances for revenue generation and expressed serious concerns over injection of huge amount into bleeding state owned enterprises and losses and theft in power sector. The government has asked the province to give around Rs 100 surplus budget for the current fiscal year from Rs 300 billion being transferred to them under the new National Finance Commission Award (NFC) to contain the fiscal deficit. The development expenditure has already been reduced by Rs 100 billion and may face further slash in case shortfall on revenue side

IMF team coming on March 1

ISLAMABAD:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again refused to hold talks for a fifth review of Pakistan’s economy and is instead sending a staff-level mission to gauge the government’s preparedness for implementing tough decisions, underscoring the trust deficit between the two parties.

An official of the IMF Islamabad resident mission told The Express Tribune that the mission would arrive on March 1. “The mission does not have a mandate to hold talks for a fifth review of economy,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

A finance ministry official said the IMF team would assess whether Pakistan was ready to take tough decisions.

An $11.3 billion bailout package, agreed in November 2008, has been suspended since June 2010 after the government failed to impose value added tax that is now being dubbed the reformed general sales tax. Recently, the collapse of the government and PML-N talks has also sent negative signals to the international community, observers believe.

The programme suspension has halted the release of the second last loan tranche of $1.7 billion. IMF has already extended the programme till September this year. So far, Islamabad has obtained $8 billion from the Fund.

The major thrust of the mission is to push the government to adhere to the financial discipline plan and for that it would give one-month budget deficit target while considering the trend of earlier two months, said another finance ministry official. The government would also present January-February income-spending accounts to the Fund.

Besides the controversy over RGST, the government is facing another uphill task to restrict the budget deficit to the agreed limit. For the current financial year, IMF had asked Islamabad to restrict the gap between income and spending at four per cent of the total size of economy or Rs685 billion. Later, the limit was increased to 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to create space for flood-related spending.

However, the finance ministry’s latest assessment has shown the deficit will be eight per cent of GDP by the end of June. During July-December, the deficit stood at 2.8 per cent of GDP.

Sources said the government would request IMF to at least relax the deficit limit to 5.8 per cent, adding IMF has informally indicated that it may relax the limit to 5.1 per cent.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) faces a shortfall in the tax collection target for seven months as it has bagged Rs777 billion. It has proposed new tax measures of Rs36 billion and is envisaging to collect another Rs10 billion through recovery of tax arrears and broadening of tax base.

The proposals include levying flood surcharge at the rate of 15 per cent of payable tax and increasing special excise duty to 2.5 per cent from one per cent. However, a draft bill of the proposals is pending with the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.The annual tax collection target has been revised upwards to Rs1.630 trillion. FBR Chairman Salman Siddique recently stated that without new tax measures the authorities will not be able to collect more than Rs1.586 trillion, a gap of Rs46 billion.

Sources said the looming decision on whether to increase petroleum product prices from March 1 will be a litmus test for the government. If the government does not increase the prices, it will give a message that the country cannot take tough decisions, they added.

The petroleum ministry has worked out a 10 to 20 per cent increase in oil prices under two different formulas.

Punjab: Gas supply to factories to be cut for 5 days

Lahore—The gas shortage in Punjab is worsening day by day and the government has directed to cut the gas supply to factories for five days.

According to the notification given by the Sui gas officials, shortage in the gas supply for the industries has worsened.

The decreased productivity from the major gas field along with the explosions which damaged the gas pipelines have added to the shortfall.

The industrial areas in Punjab have been divided into two zones. Gas supply to the industrial regions in Faisalabad, Multan,Gujranwala, Islamabad and Bahawalpur will be cut down and it will remain closed for 5 days. The industrialists and Faisalabad’s textile factory owners have called for a shutter down protest.
Chairman of the Pakistan Textile and spinning mills association, Ajmal Farooq, the industrialists and the workers will protest together and will sit in that the District Council Chowk.
The workers have also voiced their support for the protest by the textile workers organization.—Newswire

Govt taking steps to evacuate Pakistanis stranded in Libya: FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua has said that the government of Pakistan is taking steps to evacuate its nationals stranded in Libya.

Talking to BBC, Janjua said that a special task force has been set up in the Foreign Ministry to monitor the situation in Libya around the clock and to provide assistance to Pakistani expatriates.

She said that majority of the Pakistanis in Libya were those who had been settled there since long and it depended on their own will as to whether they wanted evacuation from there.

The Pakistan embassy in Libya is in touch with all the Pakistanis or their community leaders through telephone, email and SMS, she added.

She said that they have been told to restrict their movement while according to the information available so far all Pakistanis in Libya are safe and the Foreign Ministry is also making a contingency plan for the evacuation of these people when it is so required.

Janjua said that there are around 18,000 Pakistanis working in Libya and if the situation deteriorates, the government would act immediately to bring them back.

Ashmit Patel coming in Big Toss

Report by Santanu Ganguly ; New Delhi: For first time ever a cricket reality show “Big Toss” is been telecasted on news channel India TV. Now you we will see actor Ashmit patel in the show. Yeah Ashmit you got right Pakistani actress Veena Malik’s……and actress Amisha patel’s brother.

The reason of Ashmit entering the show is very clear, the beautiful Veena Malik. 26th February is Veena birthday for which Ashmit is coming on the show as a guest to celebrate the bash. However both of them are not ready to accept about their relation.

Once again gorgeous Veena and Ashmit are together so viewers you be ready to watch some more entertainment in the reality show “Big Toss”.

Ruckus at Veena's B’day party

And him being here must've turned out to be a boon for Veena as the party went on, and from it being a birthday bash, turned into a tough QnA session for Veena. Both Ashmit and Veena were happily answering the posse of questions posed to them by the journos until one of them referred to Veena as " Pakistan ki Rakhi Sawant". And the journalist then went on to ask Veena about her relationship with Pak cricketer Mohammad Asif, and whether she was also involved in the match-fixing controversy. The lovey-dovey duo did what was rather predictable: They decided to cut short that particular interview. Ashmit was also heard saying, "What kind of questions are we being asked?"

And no, they didn't walk out after that, instead both of them continued to give interviews to other mediapersons present there. Sab theek hi chal raha tha, the duo went upstairs to cut the cake, and just then, a verbal (and physical) spat ensued between a bouncer and journalist, whom the bouncer was barring from entering Nyx, the club in Hotel Ramada Plaza, which was the venue for Veena's birthday party. Seeing this, the electronic media decided to boycott the coverage of the event. And suddenly, a second bouncer came in to help his buddy... it was then that the media called the cops. The bouncer was asked to apologise to the journalist, but he refused to do so because the cameras were rolling!

STATBOX-Cricket-Sri Lanka v Kenya

* Sri Lanka lost out to Pakistan in the closest match of the tournament so far but given the strengths of their squad and the advantage of playing at home, they would be expected to continue piling on misery over Kenya. On the other hand, the African side have been one of the most out-of-sorts sides in this World Cup and they are a far cry from the team that made it to the semi-finals in 2003, having beaten Sri Lanka en route.

* Sri Lanka (LWWWL) will want to put the performance against Pakistan out of their minds quickly and focus on what is a relatively long format in the qualifying stages. Having pace bowler Lasith Malinga back in the squad will help as without him their opening bowling attack is lacking venom. However, their spin bowling options and a combination of aggressive batsmen and experienced accumulators makes them the side to beat.

* Kenya (LLWLW) have had a forgettable tournament so far, and regardless of result, will want to put in an inspired performance against the hosts. With a 10 wicket and another 200+ run loss, they have not had many individual performances to cling on to.

* The Premadasa played well in the big-ticket match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It had a good batting track but provided bounce and pace to bowlers who were willing to bend their backs, as well as assisting the spinners with turn and bounce. The ground tends to favour the team batting first and one would not be surprised if the team winning the toss opts to bat first

Cricket World Cup: Pakistan thumps Sri Lanka

Some almost comical fielding not to mention hilarious batting mix-ups could not disguise the very serious threat Pakistan are starting to pose at the World Cup after silencing a Sri Lankan crowd on Saturday.

In their skipper Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan attack has a potent weapon which proved just as deadly to Sri Lanka’s classy batting line-up as it did to the less gifted Kenyans.
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This time the leg spinner grabbed four valuable wickets (4-34) to stop Sri Lanka in their tracks and set the scene for a fairly comfortable 11-run victory, Pakistan having made 277-7 batting first with Misbah-ul-Haq unbeaten on 83 and Younus Khan 72.

The result leaves Afridi’s men in the driving seat in Group A and sitting pretty already for a quarter-final berth in late March.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will not be able to afford too many more slip-ups following this disappointing performance after making the costly decision to give their main strike bowler Lasith Malinga more time to recover from a sore back.

Yet there was plenty to criticise in this Pakistan performance, as man-of-the-match Afridi himself conceded later.

CRICKETING TRAGICOMEDY

The batting run-out in which Mohammad Hafeez (32) lost his wicket was a cricketing tragicomedy as both he and his partner Kamran Akmal (39) found themselves miserably stranded at the wrong end before briefly looking dumbfounded as to which of them had to go.

Equally, Pakistan’s fielders dropped a couple of sitters in the field as the pressure began to build late in the Sri Lanka innings and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal managed to blow at least one clear stumping chance.

But any opponent at this World Cup thinking that Pakistan are not deadly earnest in adding to their sole World Cup title of 1992 would be making a big error.

The team under the intensely focused Afridi have plenty of talent with bat and ball and a nice balance with both.

Afridi believes that it was a laid-back attitude rather than a big occasion in front of a deeply partisan, capacity Colombo crowd willing them to lose which made their cricket a little ragged on occasion.

“It was a big game and the boys all knew how big the game was. The boys were a little too relaxed and we need to tell them on this kind of stage they should not relax,” he said.

“It’s beautiful conditions, especially for bowlers. The wicket gives you turn and bounce as well, so it also helps the fast bowlers if they keep their line.”

BRIGHT SIDE

His opposite number, Kumar Sangakkara, tried to look on the bright side.

“Any defeat is tough but quite a few positives to take. I thought we bowled pretty well on a pretty flat track. Unfortunately, we lost three wickets at the wrong time,” he said.

“We made it a bit difficult for ourselves by losing wickets. We got a good start, we needed a couple of blokes to kick on from there and keep batting for a longer time. Unfortunately Pakistan played very well.”

They certainly did despite the blemishes and this victory should not be under-estimated against a team which has its own very strong credentials to repeat its triumph in the tournament 15 years ago.

Pakistan won the toss and made steady progress to reach 105-3 whereupon Younus and Misbah took control of a fairly toothless Sri Lankan attack which badly missed Malinga.

They put on 108 for the fourth wicket and their eventual total of 277 at 5.54 runs an over represented about par for the course on a wicket which was getting slower and slower as the day/night match wore on.

In response, Upul Tharanga (33) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (41) progressed through the early overs with no real problems before Tharanga failed to get over a full delivery from Hafeez and was well caught at extra cover by the ubiquitous Afridi.

There then followed a mini implosion with the next three wickets falling for a total of just 20 more runs leaving Sri Lanka in serious trouble at 96-4.

Chamara Silva (57) and Angelo Mathews (18) steadied the ship but in adding 73 runs for the fifth wicket in 16.2 overs, they left their team well behind the run rate.

A late flourish from Nuwan Kulasekara (24 off 14 balls) coupled with some frankly sloppy bowling from Shoaib Akhtar (2-42) and Umur Gul (1-60) gave the home side a sliver of a chance but when Kulasekara was out caught in the deep the game was up.

Pakistan already deserve a lot of credit at this World Cup.

They have played some terrific cricket in gaining two impressive wins and are making good Afridi’s promise that they will put behind them all their pre-World Cup woes including the ongoing corruption case against three of their former team mates, Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.

Whatever the merits of their case, their former team mates are clearly focusing very much on the field and when this Pakistan side does that, they can be very hard to beat

Pakistan gunmen torch two NATO trucks

UETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan attacked two trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan and set them on fire on Sunday, officials said.

The incident took place near the town of Mangocher, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of the restive oil and gas-rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

"Unknown gunmen on motorcycles intercepted two trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan and set them on fire," tribal police official Munir Ahmed told AFP.

"Before setting ablaze the trucks, the attackers asked the drivers and helpers to abandon their vehicles," Ahmed said.

Muhammad Ashraf, another security official in the area, confirmed the attack.

NATO trucks and oil tankers are regularly targets of arson attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt two key supply lines that cross western Pakistan bound for foreign troops fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Most supplies and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.

Baluchistan is torn by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, and a separatist insurgency by rebels seeking political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.

4 killed in an attack on NATO convoy in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—Militants in Pakistan attacked tankers bringing fuel to NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Friday, killing four people in the latest strike on an important supply line to the Western-led warAround 15 militants armed with rockets and guns stormed a roadside terminal on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar. At least 12 tankers were set ablaze in the attack, said police officer Liaquat Ali Khan.

The dead men were drivers or their assistants, he said.

Much of the non-lethal supplies for the U.S.-led operation in Afghanistan are trucked through Pakistan after arriving by sea in the port city of Karachi. Islamist militants and criminals often attack the slow-moving convoys, but the vast majority get through unscathed.

The United States is opening other routes into Afghanistan through the north, allowing it to scale back its reliance on the Pakistan routes, which also give Islamabad powerful leverage in its dealings with Washington.

Pakistan also allows the United States to fire missiles from unmanned drones at militants on its side of the Afghan border.

The latest such attacks Thursday killed at least six people in the North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media.

They said two attacks on a house and a car occurred within minutes of each other.

The identities of the victims were not released.

American officials do not publicly acknowledge the program or say who they are targeting.

Pakistani intelligence is believed to cooperate with the CIA in at least some of the attacks.

There were on average two attacks a week last year, the most intense period of strikes since the program began in earnest in 2008. Most of the strikes hit North Waziristan, one of seven tribal regions in the border area and the only one where the Pakistani army has not launched any operations.

No plans yet to bring back Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: As foreigners continue to leave Libya in large numbers, the federal government has made no immediate plans to bring back the Pakistanis there, citing fears that efforts to evacuate them may further endanger their lives.

Officials are not sure what to do, because options for moving around groups of people in the conflict-hit country are limited.

“We have received reports that a large number of Pakistanis are opting to stay indoors at safe places in Libya rather than to move around in the streets,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told Dawn.

“In comparison to Egypt, the situation in Libya is alarming and can be quite serious for families if they get stranded at the port, airport or airbase,” she said. The authorities were looking for a suitable place, preferably an airbase, from where to airlift the Pakistanis if required.

“With airports and ports in Libya becoming chocked with foreigners fleeing the country, it is important to look into other modes of evacuation as well,” the minister added.

Pakistani rice exporters invited to Dubai moot

KARACHI: Rice exporters from Pakistan have been invited to participate in the first ever international rice exhibition “Rice International Conference and Exhibition (RICE) Dubai 2011” to be held from May 9-11, 2011at Madinatul Jumeirah UAE.

Chairman FAM Holding, Dr Faisal Ali Mousa, a conglomerate in United Arab Emirates, while addressing a press conference along with his representative in Pakistan Asad Sajjad Thursday said that the event would provide opportunity to Pakistani rice exporters to explore new markets and buyers to increase exports of this commodity.

Besides rice, FAM Holding of UAE is keen to purchase building materials including cement, marbles and granite, tiles and sanitary-ware in large quantity from Pakistan. He informed that he had fruitful meetings with the stakeholders in his first visit and he likely to sign some Joint Venture with some Pakistani conglomerate in his next visit.

About the event, he said that the RICE - Dubai 2011 is the first and unique international event in the region to gather all stakeholders of international rice market under one roof. “It is therefore a global stage, where different associated industry players can demonstrate their capabilities, services, products, and scientific outputs, and make these available for businesses,” Dr Faisal said. He further said the participants can also establish new deals and business relations.

“This is one of the biggest opportunities to bring your brand to the international market or introduce new products into the international market”, he said adding this will boost up sales, profitability and increase client base across Middle East, Africa and European region.

The exhibition is a showcase for manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers around the world, representing all key sectors within rice trade to expand their client base and venture into emerging markets. He said that RICE would serve as an ideal platform for attracting 10,000 trade visitors and bulk buyers.

“The event will be organised by Ideal Idea Events Management, one of the leading event organisers in the region,” he added.

He pointed out that more than 60 countries participation would help to identify new market opportunities, gain market intelligence and find new channels to market products. “We are getting trade enquiries from buying nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Senegal, Malaysia, Yemen, Syria, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Russia, Cambodia, Sudan, Libya, Bahrain and other countries,” he said adding “these enquiries will be canalized to our exhibitors for their business prosperity.”

Dubai’s proximity to major rice producers, excellent shipping infrastructure, storage facilities, trade promoting environment and financing options provides competitive advantages to rice traders intending to expand in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

He said that a recent study conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates has revealed that UAE has been the top global re-exporter of rice over the past five years (2005- 2009). The study revealed that the UAL’s share of global rice exports stood at 93 percent, underlining the country’s strategic importance in the global rice trade - due to it being situated in a pivotal point between international production, export, and consumption areas in South East Asia and the rest of the world - and further underscoring the competitiveness of the UAL’s logistical services and the ease of customs procedures as factors that have helped the UAE attain this significant position in the rice trade.

He was optimistic that the first ever-international rice exhibition would attract a large number of rice exporters, importers, millers, traders, growers and other stakeholders of the rice trade. He pointed out that they have held meetings with the officials of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the members of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Pakistan Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and other exporters.

“We feel our visit to Pakistan was very successful,” he said and hoped a large number of Pakistanis would participate in this mega event. He pointed out that a ‘National Pavilion’ would be set up for Pakistani participants to showcase their brands, products and services in the Rice Dubai 2011. ppi

KSE plummets 7% on political uncertainty

KARACHI:
The stock market started the week under pressure and continued its downward spiral owing to continuous panic selling, in line with regional markets, following domestic and international political uncertainty.

Panic selling did not only come from local investors but also from foreigners who sold $5.4 million worth of shares during the week ended on February 25.

The stock market’s benchmark 100-share index closed down seven per cent to 11,224 points. The intensity of the pressure was so high that the KSE-100 index fell by 300 points in intraday trade on more than one occasion.

Ongoing tensions in the Middle East triggered a rally in international commodity prices, raising concerns of its impact on the country’s macros, said analysts.

The week saw Libya’s exports of its valued 1.6 million barrels a day of light sweet crude mostly shut down, with the ongoing insurrection against Moammer Qaddhafi showing little sign of early resolution and oilfield personnel being evacuated.

Worries about the impact of Libyan revolt on oil prices took the froth off US and other world stock markets during the week.

Tech-heavy US Nasdaq index lost as much as 4.2 per cent while the UK benchmark FTSE-100 index slipped 1.34 per cent during the week.

On the local front, PML-N expelled PPP from the coalition government in Punjab as a first step in an anti-government campaign. This came on the back of failure of the government to implement a 10-point reforms agenda, including the accountability bill and NRO-related issues.

While the fiasco in domestic politics may continue for some time, the real market sentiments will be determined by the outcome of the Raymond Davis case and fears of hiccups in Pak-US diplomatic relationship. Raymond Davis, a US official, was arrested on January 27 on the charge of killing two men in Lahore.

Average volume of the market went up by 21 per cent at 98 million shares, whereas average traded value stood at $47 million, up by a respectable 24 per cent.

Outlook

Foreign portfolio investment is likely to be the centre of attention for investors. On the political front, with PML-N deciding to remove PPP from the Punjab government, political noise could play a role in shaping sentiments. However, the market will also keep an eye on Pakistan’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. An IMF team is expected to visit on March 1.

Monday,February 21

The stock market recorded another lacklustre session as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines before the launch of margin trading system and clearance of prevailing political uncertainty. The KSE benchmark 100-share index ended 1.26 per cent or 76 points lower at 12,041.42.



Tuesday,February 22

The stock market plummeted to its lowest level in 10 weeks following massive battering of world markets in the wake of unrest in the Middle East. The KSE benchmark 100-share index was 2.64 per cent or 315.3 points lower at 11,711.29.



Wednesday,February 23

The bourse continued to tumble on foreign selling as stock markets around the world remained under pressure from the Middle East crisis. The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 1.08 per cent or 125.96 points lower at 11,523.4, its lowest since December 7, 2010.



ThursdayFebruary 24

The stock market ended up after a five-day bearish spell as investors accumulated energy stocks following a rise in international oil prices. The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 0.14 per cent or 15.84 points higher at 11,539.26.



Friday,February 25

The stock market tumbled more than 300 points, the biggest daily fall in nearly six months, on a decline in regional markets and local uncertainty. The Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100-share index ended 2.74 per cent, or 315.74 points, lower at 11,123.52, its lowest close since December 1.

South Korea trying to get almost 1,400 workers out of Libya

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held a special meeting Thursday morning to discuss an urgent plan to evacuate South Korean construction workers in Libya. There are 1,398 South Koreans in the country working on almost 300 building sites.

The presidential office tells CNN it's sending an Egypt Air plane to Tripoli on Thursday. The first flight will evacuate 260 workers and their families. Officials are looking into chartering more planes to speed up the process. Plans were also discussed to move personnel out of the country by land and sea routes.

Lee told ministers to "use all possible measures for Koreans and Korean construction workers' security." An emergency response team is already on the ground helping workers of 24 construction firms operating in Libya.

A spate of attacks and violent break-ins have been reported at some construction sites in Libya amid growing anti-government protests and violence. An attack Monday left 17 workers injured. Two workers from Bangladesh suffered serious wounds after being stabbed, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

The Middle East is a substantial and important market for South Korean construction companies. Firms have been working in the region for around three decades. Projects in the Middle East are worth $257 billion, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea.

The association says ongoing projects in Libya are worth $36.4 billion. Companies are asking the South Korean government not only to ensure the safety of their workers but also to give support if the violence is prolonged and work is stalled indefinitely.

Exports from South Korea to Libya are also expected to be hit hard. Almost 600 companies rely on business in Libya, exporting goods such as ships, cars and heavy industries, a lucrative market worth $1.4 billion last year.

A poll taken by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency estimates exports will take an $18.7 million hit this year.

The South Korean government has advised its citizens to cancel all nonurgent travel to Libya.

Lee also asked his government to "closely monitor the oil price and the impact to the economy." Lee stressed the importance of domestic energy conservation.

Tunisian PM announces resignation

Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has announced his resignation, as security forces clash with protesters demanding the removal of some ministers of the interim government.

"I have decided to quit as prime minister," Ghannouchi told a news conference on Sunday, saying he thought carefully before taking the decision which was supported by his family.

"I am not running away from responsibility. This is to open the way for a new prime minister," he said.
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"I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties," Ghannouchi said, as security forces clashed on Sunday with anti-government protesters who were heading to the interior ministry.

"This resignation will serve Tunisia, and the revolution and the future of Tunisia," he added.

Protesters are demanding the removal from the interim government of members of the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose toppling on January 14 after weeks of protests sparked similar uprisings across the Arab world.

Three people were killed when an anti-government protest in Tunis on Saturday turned violent as riot police and masked police in civilian clothes fired warning shots and tear gas at hundreds of protesters.

Blasts at Afghan dogfight kill 8

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan — A pair of explosions tore through a group of spectators at an illegal dogfight in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen in the latest of a string of deadly insurgent attacks carried out in crowded public places.

In the past five weeks, more than 100 people, most of them Afghan civilians, have been killed in bloody assaults that have leapfrogged the length and breadth of the country. The targets -- a supermarket, shopping mall, bank, wedding hall, government records office and sporting event -- have one thing in common: people congregated there.

Officials from the NATO force and the Afghan government see a pattern: The Taliban and other militant groups, they say, are feeling squeezed militarily and are retaliating with a wave of urban terror. The violence appears meant to pre-empt the start of the "fighting season," when conventional military confrontations are likely to intensify with the advent of warmer weather.

The sense of fear and insecurity inspired by carefully calculated attacks in populated areas undermines the Western goal of building confidence in the Afghan government and security forces, officials say. NATO's International Security Assistance Force, the U.S. Embassy and the government of President Hamid Karzai have condemned the strikes, with Karzai denouncing the latest bombings as "wicked" and un-Islamic.

The village targeted Sunday was a relatively small one, in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province. But it lies not far from Kandahar city, the main hub of the country's south, where at least 16 people were killed this month in a coordinated assault by gunmen and suicide bombers in the heart of the city.

Dogfights are banned, and police had already arrived to break this one up when the blasts occurred -- apparently triggered by remote control, officials and witnesses said. Several police officers were reported to be among the dead.

In a series of assaults that began in late January with the bombing of a Western-style supermarket in Kabul, the Taliban movement has sometimes suggested that Afghan security forces, government workers or private security contractors were the primary target. But it is civilians, including women and children, who are dying in the greatest numbers; all have occurred in venues where they too were likely to be present.

Afghans this month were sickened by grainy but graphic security-camera footage from an insurgent attack on a branch of Kabul Bank, the country's largest private financial institution, in the eastern city of Jalalabad. The video, obtained by a popular Afghan TV network, captured gunmen coldly shooting terrified bank patrons at close range in the attack, which left dozens dead.

Karzai and his government subsequently called for the death penalty for that attack's masterminds. One of the assailants was captured alive.

PSF makers refuse to withdraw dumping charge

LAHORE: Local polyester staple fibre (PSF) producers have declined a request from the textile ministry to withdraw dumping charges against Chinese and other Far East exporters of the man-made fibre so that textile industry may import it to meet its shortage for domestic production.

Textile ministry officials told Dawn on Friday that the PSF producers’ refusal to withdraw the complaint filed with the National Tariff Commission (NTC) a couple of years ago would spawn demand from the spinning industry for suspension of the existing 6.5 per cent duty on imported synthetic fibre to meet their requirements.

“It is really very difficult for any one to justify the duty on PSF imports in view of substantial shortfall in domestic cotton crop this year and decrease in local production of the synthetic fibre,” an official conceded.The NTC had imposed punitive duties up to 12.5 per cent on all foreign suppliers of PSF, who did not contest the case because of the small size of Pakistani market in response to a complaint of “injury” launched by local manufacturers of synthetic fibre.

Only one Chinese supplier, who responded to the notice, was spared of the punitive duty.

The decision was overturned by the court when the Aptma challenged it on the grounds that the committee that had decided the case was incomplete. The matter was again referred to the NTC for a review.

However, the Aptma has again gone to the court, pleading that the NTC should issue fresh notices to all suppliers who had been punished by its earlier decision. The spinners argue that the anti-dumping action against foreign suppliers had resulted in increase of price of imported fibre because now they were dependent on only one Chinese supplier.

The situation worsened when a major local manufacturer, Dewan Salman Fibres, closed down it operation, increasing the gap between demand and supply of the fibre by an additional 12,000 tons a month. Since then, the local PSF production has come down to 18,000-20,000 tons a month against a demand of 30,000 tons.

Taking advantage of the situation and tariff protection of 6.5 per cent the local producers were also selling their product to the industry at 15 to 20 per cent higher price than its offered f.o.b. prices anywhere in the regional market, spinners claimed.

In a meeting with the textile minister last month, the spinners demanded that the government withdrew anti-dumping as well as import duties on PSF in view of the current domestic shortage of four million bales of cotton and reduced local supply of the synthetic fibre.

Agreeing to the spinners’ demand, Textile Minister Rana Farooq Saeed called a meeting of representatives of Aptma and PSF manufacturers on Jan 14, and asked the latter to withdraw the complaint to ease difficulties of the spinners.

The Aptma is expected to raise the issue again with the ministry and demand suspension of import duty on PSF. The Aptma spokesman said if the government wanted to increase textile exports it must take action to allow duty-free import of PSF.

It is interesting to note that while import of PSF is subject to duty polyester yarn can be imported duty-free. “It is like supporting jobs in our rival economies at the cost of our own people and industry,” the spokesman argued.