YouTube in Pakistan…coming back soon!

Google Finally Bows Down: The Derogatory Video Innocence of Muslims Removed from YouTube

In 2012, a derogatory video ridiculing Islam sparked anger and rage in Muslims all over the world. Instead of completing removing it from YouTube, Google went on to take it down in some countries but persisted in making it available in other countries. The Pakistani Government responded to this by blocking YouTube.

Google then went on to fight the case in the court and the ruling is finally here: Google has been asked to remove the content which greatly upset millions of Muslims across the globe. A YouTube search shows that the controversial content, Innocence of Muslims is no longer available on YouTube.

“The film differs so radically from anything Garcia could have imagined when she was cast that it can’t possibly be authorized by any implied license she granted, Garcia was duped into providing an artistic performance that was used in a way she never could have foreseen.“ - Judge Alex Kozinski said in his ruling.

Furthermore, the court ruling instructs to take down all copies of the video and take appropriate measures to ensure such uploads do not make it to the website. It is worth noting that Google was adamant about not removing the video. In fact, in September 2012, when Obama Administration asked Google to review the content and requested them to take the video down, Google refused.

We are hopeful that now youtube in Pakistan will be back in a few days

OGDC earns over Rs90b profit

OGDC earns over Rs90b profit

 

 

ISLAMABAD - A wide range of performance and profitability was witnessed across many industrial and economic sectors, during the recent round of financial results, ranging from some highly profitable companies like United Bank Ltd. and OGDCL on the top end of the profitability spectrum, while others like Pakistan Tobacco, HUBCO and KAPCO lagging far below.
Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC) has reported an astounding profit of more than Rs 90 billion, almost 10pc higher than that of the previous year. The high profitability of OGDC is attributed to increase in exploration area and in production and shift in exchange rates. Similarly United Bank Limited reported a whopping after-tax profit of more than Rs. 18 Billion in 2013, on the back of a substantial 22% quarter-on-quarter growth in profit demonstrated by the bank in the last leg of the year. According to analysts, the bank’s high earnings are attributed to its prudent improvement of its deposit mix, strong revenues from its fee and commission sector and exceptional performance of UBL Omni and commission from home remittances. It must be noted that in the recent rankings released by Federal Board of Revenue, OGDC stood out as the top corporate tax payer in the country on the back of these high profits, while UBL claimed 6th position on the same list. In contrast to these highly profitable companies, other corporate giants like Pakistan Tobacco Company, HUBCO and KAPCO posted modest profits. PTC, for instance, while contributing more than 60 billion rupees to the national exchequer, declared a meek profit of Rs. 3 billion. Tobacco sector is considered a major revenue contributor to the government and according to sources, the revenue from cigarette manufacturing has been steadily growing over the last few years, on account of excise duty, sales tax and income tax.  PTC’s tax contribution grew by 20 percent in 2013 over last year, even exceeding company’s net turnover growth.
Besides high taxation imposed on the tobacco industry, the sector currently is also suffering from high levels of illegal trade, taking a severe toll on tobacco industry’s profitability and costing government more than Rs. 90 billion over the last five years. Similarly HUBCO and KAPCO demonstrated disappointing results in the first half of 2013-14 primarily owing to shutdown of plants for repair and overhaul work. HUBCO’s income for the first six months dropped by 38% to Rs2.936 billion as repair work on the plant affected sales. KAPCO, which has to carry out major overhauls of two of its gas turbines and one steam turbine during 2013, witnessed its earnings going down by 23% to Rs2.84 billion compared in the first half of 2013-14.
The year 2013 has been a harsh year for industry in general due to challenging economic conditions including high inflation, security concerns, power crisis and rupee devaluation. Besides these challenges, sectors like power and tobacco have had their fair share of industry-specific challenges. While the economy seems to be slightly improving, analysts believe that it will take more than that to making the sectors like tobacco and power truly profitable.

Champions League reform needed to avoid more Madrid-like maulings

The Blancos' 6-1 away win at sorry Schalke was the latest example of the huge chasm between the top few clubs and those who are just happy to be in the knockout stage

COMMENT
By Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent

We've all been there. You wait all week for the chance to play a big game for your local team, only to be completely outclassed and humiliated in an uncompetitive fixture.

But that feeling should be consigned largely to the public fields of the inner cities rather than being replicated at the very highest level as it was for Schalke players on Wednesday night. Their 6-1 home defeat to Real Madrid helped only to emphasise how far the top clubs are out of reach of those hoping to create an impression in the Champions League knockout stages.

The Gelsenkirchen outfit's crushing inadequacy was clear for all to see, with Carlo Ancelotti's charges finding it far too easy to pass their way through and around their hosts during the course of the 90 minutes. Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo all struck twice, and each could have netted more.

And while this was the most one-sided scoreline of the eight first-leg encounters, it provided further  evidence that the Champions League round of 16 is not all it is cracked up to be. Schalke were the sixth of eight group runners-up to be beaten at home, with only Olympiakos overcoming their supposedly superior opponents – and even that could be debated given Manchester United's form this season under David Moyes.

LAST 16 1ST LEG RESULTS
Man City	0-2	Barcelona
Leverkusen	0-4	PSG
Milan	0-1	Atletico
Arsenal	0-2	Bayern
Zenit	2-4	Dortmund
Olympiakos	2-0	Man Utd
Schalke	1-6	Real Madrid
Galatasaray	1-1	Chelsea

The truth is that we spend much of the group stage watching the giants of the game toying with their opposition but telling ourselves that it is in the knockout stage that the real football starts. Then we are catered with non-contests like the one in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday, or Bayer Leverkusen's 4-0 submission to Paris Saint-Germain. Even Zenit St Petersburg were second-class citizens against Borussia Dortmund, with last season's finalists twice upping their game as soon as the Russians had threatened to keep the tie alive.

Football has done a good job of adapting to circumstances in modern times. The Champions League replaced the European Cup format to cater for an audience craving football like never before, then Uefa toyed with its structure to attempt to find a more fan-friendly product. The number of clubs was increased, an extra group stage introduced and then ditched, as rounds were extended to give viewing access to more fixtures.

Now there must be a further change. The round of 16 needs to be abolished in order to make the competition more like the top-class product it is supposed to be and less like the walkover we so often see on local parks on a Sunday morning. The quarter-finals in April promise to be a magnificent showcase of the modern game at its very best, but why are we made to wait so long for the competition to come alive?

Uefa should look at results like Real Madrid's, PSG's and Dortmund's, plus others – remember Barcelona's 10-2 aggregate win over Leverkusen only two years ago? – and act accordingly. A longer qualification period and shortened group format should be seriously considered. If the group stage were to come in at a later point, not only would there be consistently more high-pressure, top-quality pool fixtures, there would also be fewer blow-outs when the knockout stage comes into view.

The ugly truth is that football does not have the depth of quality to serve the current Champions League set-up. When giants like Madrid face smaller sides like Schalke, there is no contest. At a stage when audiences should be at their most captivated, ties are instead being decided inside the first 20 minutes of the first leg.

Outside of Bayern Munich, Madrid and Barcelona, only perhaps PSG have a right to call themselves a contender, and beyond the English contingent and Atletico Madrid there is very little in the way of competition for even top-eight status, let alone the title itself.

“It was a s**t game,” admitted Schalke boss Jens Keller after the battering by the Blancos. “We started well until we conceded the first goal. Then we made error after error and a team like Real Madrid exploit that without any mercy." 

Keller better get ready for more of the same at the Santiago Bernabeu in three weeks' time.

Because, lest we forget, we have more of this to come. Over two midweeks in March, we will all sit back and absorb more of what is supposed to be Europe's greatest sporting product, but in only two of the eight ties is there even the slightest hope of a contest. It is the ever-increasing way of Champions League knockout football and the trend needs to be bucked before we all start turning off.

Beckenbauer: Bayern won't pay over the odds to keep Kroos

Bayern will not pay over the odds to keep the Germany international, insists the European champions' honorary president

Franz Beckenbauer has told Bayern Munich contract rebel Toni Kroos not to “overplay his hand” and warned the club will not be held to ransom by the 24-year-old midfielder.

Kroos’ current deal expires in June 2015 and the Germany international has yet to agree terms on extending his stay with the European champions.

The club's youth product displayed his immense talent with a wonderful display in Bayern’s 2-0 Champions League win at Arsenal last week but that has not altered the club’s stance, according to honorary president Beckenbauer.

He told Sky: “You have to make a decision as a club when someone's demands are going through the roof. There is not a single player who's worth changing your entire wage structure for.

"Nobody's indispensable. If the player wants to stay at Bayern, I can only advise him not to overplay his hand."

Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer was less forthright when asked about Kroos, who has been linked with Manchester United.

"Toni has a contract until the summer of 2015 and he will not be going anywhere before then," he said toBild.

"And we are determined to make sure he will stay at Bayern beyond the expiry date of his current deal.

"We really value Toni and have shown so more than once."

Kroos has made 35 appearances in all competitions for Bayern so far this term, scoring twice in the process.

Gundogan a perfect fit for Moyes' Manchester United overhaul

The Red Devils are thinking along the right lines with the Borussia Dortmund man as they look to finally solve their midfield problem

COMMENT
By Greg Stobart

GUNDOGAN A RISK WORTH TAKING TO FINALLY FIX UNITED'S MIDFIELD

It may feel like an oil tanker turning in a puddle, but Manchester United are thinking along the right lines as they try to finally solve their dreadful central midfield problem.

Borussia Dortmund star Ilkay Gundogan and Bayern Munich playmaker Toni Kroos are widely considered the club’s two top targets for the summer transfer window. When you see Kroos playing as he did against Arsenal last week, it is hard to imagine him swapping the best team in the world for a side that may not even make the Europa League next season.

Even if United dangle a €302,000-a-week contract in front of Kroos, it is the kind of move that will end in disappointment, just like last summer’s failed pursuit of Cesc Fabregas.  Kroos, who is out of contract in 2015, will probably sign a new deal in the coming months and put that dream to bed.

But it is a different story for Gundogan, who also has less than 18 months remaining on his contract and has made just one Bundesliga appearance this season due - and that was way back in August - to a back injury.
A fully fit Gundogan would represent the perfect signing for United, a far more important coup than the deal agreed last week to extend Wayne Rooney’s contract until 2019.

The 23-year-old is a world-class player, the kind of man who can dominate a game in central midfield and the perfect type of player to fill a gaping hole in the United squad. With Gundogan in a team alongside the likes of Rooney and Juan Mata, United can once again dominate games rather than find themselves embarrassingly overrun even against the most mediocre of opposition.

United are sixth in the league and have lost eight matches this season, so signing Gundogan would be just the start of an extensive rebuild. Moyes also wants to sign a central defender, left-back, winger and striker in the summer, backed by the best part of €120 million from the Glazers.

But Gundogan, who played such a key role in Dortmund winning the Bundesliga in 2012 and reaching the Champions League final last season, would be the most important of the lot. He would, however, represent a huge risk given his lack of action this season and the notoriously unpredictable nature of back problems.

Real Madrid are among the clubs that would compete for the Germany international’s signature if he could prove his fitness.

United have been burned before by signing a player with a poor injury history, with Sir Alex Ferguson describing Owen Hargreaves as “a disaster” in his autobiography. Yet Gundogan would be a risk worth taking for a side that has spent years trying to replace Roy Keane and Paul Scholes with no luck.

There is plenty of repair work to be done at Old Trafford in the summer - but Gundogan could prove the catalyst to put United back in contention.

BERKGAMP PROVIDES A LESSON FOR OZIL

Arsenal honoured club legend Dennis Bergkamp with a statue outside the Emirates before Saturday’s thumping win over Sunderland. A fitting tribute for the Dutchman after 11 years and 120 goals in north London, a man who took Arsenal to the top and helped keep them there, who made people fall in love with the club.

Few now remember his shaky start to life in England when it took him seven matches to register his first goal for Arsenal and by his own admission Bergkamp found his first season difficult.

Mesut Ozil can take heart from Bergkamp’s story that he, too, can become an Arsenal legend. The German has had his own teething problems this season, culminating in the missed penalty against Bayern Munich last week.

But his talent is beyond doubt, and Berkgamp’s story is a reminder that even the best take time to settle. For that reason, it is also too early to judge perceived flops on the other side of north London.

Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela are Tottenham’s two most expensive signings ever yet one has barely played and the other looks like a Sunday League striker at the moment. Yet sometimes it only takes one goal, a change of manager or a full pre-season to turn everything on its head.

It is simply too early to make definitive conclusions on players after less than a year at their new club, however big their reputation when they arrived.

TIME FOR ENGLAND TO SWITCH GAMES FROM WEMBLEY

England were handed the group of boredom in the Euro 2016 qualifying draw on Sunday - and now it is time for the national team to hit the road again.

There is no way that Wembley will even be half-full for games against teams like San Marino and Lithuania, so the Football Association have the perfect opportunity to take the Three Lions to the likes of Villa Park, Anfield and St James’ Park.

Switzerland, Estonia and Slovenia are the other opponents for Roy Hodgson’s side in Group E in a simple draw, especially given the expansion of the tournament from 16 to 24 teams for Euro 2016.

The FA are committed to staging their home matches at Wembley but it must be more important to make sure that people across the country can stay interested in the Three Lions over the next few years.

And that means it is time to go back on tour.

Rami: I want to stay at AC Milan

The defender is eager to make a permanent move to the Rossoneri and has thanked his team-mates for their support

Valencia loanee Adil Rami is desperate to prolong his stay at AC Milan beyond his current loan spell after rediscovering his confidence at San Siro.

The 28-year-old made the temporary switch to the Serie A outfit in January after falling out of favour at los Che because of an argument with then head coach Miroslav Djukic.

Rami has since made six league appearances for Milan and has paid tribute to head coach Clarence Seedorf and his team-mates for helping him make the transition.

"I went four months without playing and that was a tough period for me," he told the club's official website. "I've worked hard to be ready and I have a strong character.

"Credit as well to my team-mates who always gave me confidence and the coach too. It's very important for a player.

"My dream is to stay here and do all I can for the team. I think it's a dream for any player to be here."

The France international was among the scorers as Milan triumphed 2-0 at Sampdoria on Sunday, but he insists his main focus is keeping the opposition at bay.

"The priority for me is to defend at the back rather than score," he continued.

"Of course, I'm also big and strong which helps to get the ball in the back of the net as well. I want and I have to continue to do well for this club. I want to give 100 per cent."

Hulk wants Dortmund move, says Kehl

The veteran BVB skipper joked his side would not be able to afford to pay the Brazilian and is delighted with his side's win over Zenit

Sebastian Kehl has claimed that Hulk asked if he could join Borussia Dortmund in the summer during his side's Champions League meeting with Zenit St Petersburg.

The German outfit will be in the market for a new star forward when Robert Lewandowski leaves the club for Bayern Munich at the season's end.

However, the veteran midfielder has joked that his club could scarcely afford the Brazilian's wages were he to move to Signal Iduna Park.

"Hulk asked me if could play in Dortmund from the summer, but I don't know if we could afford him!" he told reporters.

Reflecting on the match, Kehl said that his side cannot afford to start thinking about the last eight, despite their 4-2 win in Russia, adding that the victory was entirely different to Saturday's 3-0 loss to Hamburg.

"It would be silly to say that the quarter-final place has been booked, because we still have a game to play yet," he said.

"Anything can happen in football, but we have taken a giant step forward. We've done a lot and scored four away goals. If we aren't stupid and work well, we should be able to get through after the home game.

"It was a completely different game [to Hamburg]. We were compact and used Zenit's errors to take our chances. In Hamburg, it was the other way around."