Ranieri: No problem with Falcao

The Italian has dismissed suggestions that the Colombia international wants to leave the Stade Louis II during the January transfer window

Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri has insisted that he does not have a problem with Radamel Falcao amidst rumours of a falling-out between the pair.

The 27-year-old striker has not featured for Les Rouge et Blanc since being substituted in the Ligue 1 win over Nantes on November 24, leading to speculation that the Colombia international is trying to force through a winter transfer only six months after arriving at the Stade Louis II from Atletico Madrid.

However, Ranieri has insisted that Falcao has missed the Ligue 1 side's last three games through injury before adding that the attacker could return to action at Guingamp on Saturday.

"There is absolutely no problem with Radamel," the former Chelsea boss said at a press conference.

"But even if I say that there's no problem, some people will still write the exact opposite, so everybody should write whatever they want.

"He should resume regular training on Wednesday and might play again at the weekend. We'll see."

Falcao has netted nine goals in 14 Ligue 1 appearances so far this season.

British cricketer of Pakistani origin becomes Member of Order of British Empire

LONDON: British-born Pakistani Wasim Gulzar Khan, who played county cricket in England in the 90s and later went on to achieve an MBA and become the CEO of the £50 million and 10-year long charitable campaign Chance to Shine, was formally appointed as a Member of Order of the British Empire (MBE) on Tuesday.

The 42 year-old was formally appointed by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in central London.

According to the website of Chance to Shine, Khan received the award ‘in recognition of his service to cricket and the community’.

Wasim said  that he was “genuinely shocked” yet “proud” at the appointment. ”I was genuinely shocked when I received the news, but I immediately felt hugely proud to be recognised in this way. It’s a great honour and recognises the effort you’ve put in over a number of years.

“I feel a debt of gratitude to the many people who have helped me over the years and who believed in me. This award reflects the success of the Chance to Shine programme which is benefiting a great number of children.”

Wasim’s family, originally from Kashmir, migrated to England in the 1960s.

With a first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1995, Khan became the first British-born Pakistani to play cricket in England. His county stint ended in the early 2000s, with a batting average of a little over 30.

In 2005, Wasim was recruited by Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, to plan and implement Chance to Shine as Operations Director, before becoming Chief Executive in 2009.

Earlier this year, the charity celebrated the two millionth child to receive cricket opportunities through the Chance to Shine programme.

Wasim has an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School.

Hagel to PM: Lift NATO blockade or risk billions in aid

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (L) and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif shake hands during a meeting in Islamabad December 9, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: 

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Pakistani leaders on Monday that if they did not resolve protests stalling some military shipments across the border into Afghanistan, it could be difficult to maintain political support in Washington for an aid programme that has sent billions of dollars to Islamabad, defence officials said.

In response, Hagel received assurances from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that his administration would take ‘immediate action’ to resolve the shipment problem, sources toldThe Express Tribune. He assured the visiting Pentagon chief that the situation would improve soon and Pakistan would ensure smooth exit of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

An official statement issued from the prime minister’s office didn’t say the issue was discussed in Hagel’s meeting with Nawaz. However, the US Embassy in Islamabad confirmed that the Pentagon  chief conveyed Washington’s concerns. “Secretary Hagel raised the importance of keeping the ground supply routes out of Afghanistan open,” the embassy said in a statement.

Since 2002, Pakistan has received more than $16 billion of security assistance and reimbursements, according to the US Embassy. Pakistan’s determined effort to root out terrorism and militancy on its own territory is essential for creating a stable environment for promoting economic growth and prosperity, it said.

The key supply line at Torkham border has been blocked by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the ruling party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, since November 24 in protest against the CIA-led drone campaign in the tribal areas. Just last week, the US stopped the shipments from Torkham due to worries about the safety of the truckers.

The Associated Press quoted the defence officials as saying that Hagel described a political reality on Capitol Hill that could complicate support for the billions of dollars of aid Pakistan now receives. It was Hagel’s intent to try and pre-empt any problems with the aid, said the officials who spoke to reporters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the private meetings publicly on the record.

The US defence secretary had a whirlwind tour of Pakistan in a move to further repair what has been a strained and sputtering relationship between Washington and Islamabad. Interestingly, he refused to commit an end to the controversial drone campaign in the tribal regions, sources said.

The Pakistani leader conveyed his country’s concerns over US drone strikes, stressing that “drone strikes were counter-productive to our efforts to combat terrorism and extremism on an enduring basis”, says the statement from the PM office.

However, Hagel was noncommittal. He said the Obama administration was confident that the CIA, which operates remotely-piloted aircraft, has yet to take out some high-value targets in the tribal regions, sources told The Express Tribune.

Unsurprisingly, the US Embassy didn’t say the drone issue was discussed in the Hagel-Nawaz meeting. It only said that the Pentagon chief’s trip was an opportunity to advance a broad, robust, and continuous Pak-US dialogue on topics of shared concern, including security and stability in the region.

Secretary Hagel and the Premier Nawaz agreed to work together to strengthen Pak-US relations and advance the shared interest of a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan and the region. They reaffirmed the importance of Pak-US strategic partnership for peace and stability in the region.

They noted the substantial progress made in the bilateral relationship in recent months and acknowledged that the recent high-level exchanges, including the prime minister’s visit to Washington, meetings of the Working Groups on Energy, Defence and Security, Non-proliferation and Disarmament, have greatly helped in building trust and strengthening the relationship.

The two leaders also reviewed the current state of bilateral defence and security cooperation and explored ways for further expanding cooperation in this important area of the relationship. In this regard, the prime minister stressed the importance of establishing long-term and broad-based defence cooperation with the US on the basis of mutual interest.

Secretary Hagel acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts for an inclusive reconciliation process in Afghanistan. The premier assured the visiting American leader that his country would extend every possible support for stability in the region. “Pakistan would continue to play its role for peace and stability in Afghanistan.”

Hagel said US assistance to Pakistan continues to help build the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism capabilities of Pakistan’s security forces, which are critical to countering violence in the western border regions.

The US defence secretary also met with the new army chief General Raheel Sharif at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Hagel is the first high-ranking US official to meet with the army chief, who took over following the retirement of his predecessor Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani late last month.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, issues concerning defence relationship, Pak-US bilateral ties and regional stability came under discussion. Secretary Hagel was accompanied by US Ambassador in Islamabad Richord G Olson and US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence Dr Peter Lavoy.

Thiago: Leaving Barcelona for Bayern the best decision of my life

The gifted midfielder has no regrets over his decision to move to the Bavarian giants and is delighted to have made his comeback after injury

Thiago Alcantara has insisted that leaving Barcelona for Bayern Munich during the summer transfer window was the best decision of his life and added that the presence of Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena played a crucial role in his transfer.

The Spain international left his boyhood club for the Bundesliga champions ahead of the 2013-14 campaign, after initially appearing to be on his way to Manchester United, and he has no regrets over his move to Bavaria.

"It was the best decision of my life to come here to Munich. I am very happy here. Everybody knows the big history of the club," the midfielder said at a press conference.

"I know the coach and the team is really strong – that is why I decided to come here. I have known Guardiola since I was 18 years old. I learned so much from him. 

"And if we mix the powerful German style of play football with the Pep-style, perhaps this mixture makes us even stronger."

The 22-year-old recently made his comeback after a spell on the sidelines due to injury and he's desperate to get as much playing time as possible in the weeks to come.

"I am glad to be back. I am looking forward to the game. I am trying to improve still, but I am close to 100 per cent," he enthused. 

"I want to play; I do not care which position. The most important thing to me is to play in the starting XI."

Thiago has made eight appearances for Bayern so far this season.

1971 war crimes: Bangladesh court stays JI leader's exectution

JI leader Abdul Quader Molla had been sentenced to death for committing atrocities during the 1971 war. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s highest court on Tuesday halted the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami’s leader just 90 minutes before he was set to become the first person executed for war crimes during the country’s bloody war in 1971.

“The chamber judge of the Supreme Court has stayed the hanging until 10.30am tomorrow (Wednesday),” Abdul Quader Molla’s defence lawyer Shishir Munir told AFP.

Earlier, Bangladesh ordered to hang Jamaat-e-Islami’s senior leader Abdul Quader Molla after midnight on Tuesday having already been convicted of mass murder and rape during the country’s 1971 war, officials said.

Bangladesh’s secular government is going ahead with the execution despite a global outcry with two UN experts and a rights group saying the 65-year-old leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party should have been allowed to appeal to the country’s highest court.

Security has been tightened outside the jail in Old Dhaka where Molla is set to become the first person executed for war crimes dating back to Bangladesh’s bloody birth, amid worries the hanging could trigger massive protests in the unrest-plagued country already reeling from political violence.

At least 224 people have died in battles between opposition protesters, police and government supporters since January this year.

“He will be executed after 12.01pm (1801 GMT) tonight as all legal process has been exhausted,” Bangladesh’s deputy law minister Quamrul Islam told AFP.

“In the presence of two magistrates he was asked whether he would seek pardon from the president, he said no.”

Prisons chief Main Uddin Khandaker confirmed that all preparations have been made to carry out the execution and Molla’s family has been asked to meet Jamaat’s leader one last time.

Twenty-three members of his extended family entered the jail to meet him, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

On Sunday, a tribunal signed an execution order for Molla, and sent it to the main jail in the capital Dhaka, raising speculation that the former journalist could be hanged any moment.

New York-based activist group Human Rights Watch and two UN Special Rapporteurs have warned that by executing Molla without giving him the opportunity to appeal for a review, the country could be breaking international law.

“What logic do they have to stop the execution?” minister Islam told AFP when asked about the criticism from rights experts.

“Did they stop the execution of Saddam Hussein?” he said referring to the former Iraqi dictator who was hanged in December 2006.

Molla was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder including the killing of over 350 unarmed Bengali civilians. Prosecutors described him as the “Butcher of Mirpur”, a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.

A domestic war crime court had originally sentenced him to life imprisonment in February, but the sentence prompted protests by tens of thousands of secular demonstrators who viewed it as too lenient.

Under pressure, the government amended the war crime law retroactively to allow it to appeal the sentence and seek the death penalty, which the Supreme Court then handed down in September.

UN expert Gabriela Knaul argued that any death sentence had to be “reviewed by a higher tribunal, as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bangladesh is a party.”

Defence lawyers and Knaul said the Supreme Court should have reviewed its own verdict, as enshrined in the country’s constitution, which the government rejects.

Bangladeshi laws allow review of any death sentences in the Supreme Court, but prosecutors said there is no such provision in the special war crime laws, which were enacted to prosecute suspected war criminals.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the execution order was “particularly reprehensible” because the laws to hang Molla “were retroactively passed” in order to enable the death penalty, and where the right to appeal is not allowed.

Bangladesh regularly carries out the death sentence but it would be the most high profile execution since January 2010 when five ex-army officers were put to death over the assassination of the country’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Gold prices expected to bounce back by March

Gold prices are directly affected by ‘games’ that a certain international lobby plays in order to deceive investors in developing economies like India and Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: 

Gold prices are going to start surging by March next year, All Sindh Saraf and Jewellers Association (ASSJA) President Rasheed Chand said on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Chand said the ongoing downturn in gold prices is a ‘temporary phenomenon’, which will be over before the end of the current fiscal year in June 2014.

The price of 10 grams of gold was Rs43,714 on December 9 as opposed to Rs45,428 on November 15. In the international market, the gold price has decreased from roughly $1,290 per ounce to $1,240 per ounce over the same period.

“As long as US economic data shows improvement, the probability of sooner-than-later tapering becomes more real, which should keep downward pressure on gold prices,” analysts at Next Capital, a Karachi-based commodities broker, said in a research note.

Theoretically, the price of gold is inversely proportional to the dollar’s worth, which means its value declines if the dollar gains strength.

Gold prices started surging internationally as soon as the US Federal Reserve resorted to quantitative easing in the aftermath of the 2008 global recession. Injecting liquidity into the market by purchasing $85 billion worth of government bonds and financial assets every month has kept interest rates at a low level.

As a consequence of low interest rates in the US economy, investments in gold have soared globally. The price of gold has increased over 60% since 2008 when it stood at $840 an ounce.

The fact that gold prices dropped to a three-year low in June as soon as the US Federal Reserve hinted that quantitative easing could be scaled back as early as September proves that the likelihood of increasing interest rates quickly leads to divestments from the precious metal.

“Gold prices edged higher in range-bound trade on Monday, as traders looked ahead to speeches from a number of Federal Reserve officials later in the day for further indications of the future course of US monetary policy,” said the research note.

However, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Tuesday, financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs doesn’t expect the US Fed to start raising interest rates until 2016.

Analysts believe this is likely to put an end to the short-term volatility in gold prices.

According to the ASSJA president, gold prices in the country are directly affected by ‘games’ that a certain international lobby plays in order to deceive innocent investors in developing economies like India and Pakistan.

“Although the role of Pakistanis’ diminishing purchasing power cannot be ignored, the fact remains that this international lobby targets gold, currency and stock markets one after another to rip off unsuspecting investors,” Chand added.

However, he said gold prices in Pakistan are expected to undergo a swift increase in the first half of calendar year 2014.

Shariah-based system: Government takes steps to spread Islamic banking

Islamic banking in Pakistan has recorded a reasonable growth and its asset base has grown to Rs1 trillion. CREATIVE COMMONS

ISLAMABAD: 

The federal government on Tuesday issued a notification announcing the constitution of a steering committee that would come up with recommendations in light of the work done so far by various stakeholders for promotion of Islamic banking in the country and implementing a real Shariah-based financial system.

The committee will comprise 10 members, headed by Saeed Ahmad, an actuary and a banker. Other members include Maulana Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, a noted religious scholar, Muhammad Imran Usmani, religious scholar, Dr Waqar Masood Khan, Finance Secretary, Munir Kamal, Afaq Khan, Irfan Siddiqui, Atif Bajwa, Mian Muhammad Idrees, industrialist and Director Islamic Banking Department of State Bank of Pakistan.

The committee, which will have authority to co-opt other members, will submit its recommendations before the end of 2014. The State Bank will provide secretarial support to the committee.

Islamic banking in Pakistan has recorded a reasonable growth and its asset base has grown to Rs1 trillion. However, consumers are still sceptical whether the products of Islamic banks are Riba-based like that of conventional banks or are Riba-free.

The government has also notified terms of reference of the committee. The body will review previous official reports on Islamic banking including the reports prepared by the Council of Islamic Ideology, the Commission for Islamisation of Economy, the Self-Reliance Commission under the Ministry of Planning and a commission of the State Bank in pursuance of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The committee will also formulate a comprehensive policy framework for Islamic financial system and will suggest practical steps needed to be taken to implement the system. It will try to find out practical ways and means to maximise equity-based financing instead of the widespread debt-based system.

It will suggest solutions for the Islamic secondary market/money market for liquidity management and will chalk out a roadmap and propose a time plan for progress of different phases of Islamic banking.

The committee will also study international implications of converting conventional banking into Shariah-compliant banking. It has been asked to conduct an analysis of the possible legal obstacles to converting conventional banking into Shariah-compliant banking and the changes required to remove these obstacles.

The committee will review the existing research and training facilities in the country for Islamic finance and suggest measures for their reinforcement and new initiatives.

Lastly, under the terms of reference, the committee will chalk out a procedure and process for effective monitoring, overview and supervision of its terms of reference.