Aamir Khan thriller breaks Bollywood records

Dhoom 3 poster. PHOTO: PUBLICITY

MUMBAI: Bollywood action thriller Dhoom 3, starring Aamir Khan, has smashed box office records to become the highest grossing Indian film of all time, industry experts said on Tuesday.

The third film in the Dhoom franchise, which has been likened to Hollywood’s Fast and Furious, is the first Indian film to cross the $80 million mark in gross revenues around the world, according to its production house Yash Raj Films.

The group said late Monday that the cop caper had grossed 5.01 billion rupees, and trade experts confirmed it had surpassed the previous highest-grossing Bollywood film, a title recently clinched by Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express.

“Dhoom 3 is the number one Bollywood film worldwide,” said Vajir Singh, editor of Box Office India.

Singh attributed the success of the Dhoom 3 partly to the “star appeal” of Aamir Khan, whose earlier 2010 film 3 Idiots held the highest-grossing record for more than three years.

Dhoom 3, directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif, is set largely in Chicago and tells the story of an Indian cop, his sidekick and their latest adversary, an illusionist played by Aamir.

“It’s huge and this record won’t be easy to break anytime soon,” said trade analyst Komal Nahta.

The film released on December 20 and has been shown at more than 4,400 screens in India and 750 screens abroad.

Shahbaz-Raghwan meeting: Punjab govt, India to explore bilateral trade

Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghavan meets CM Shahbaz Sharif. PHOTO: ONLINE

LAHORE: 

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghwan have decided to devise a roadmap to explore opportunities of bilateral trade between Pakistan and India, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The two officials, who met on Monday, agreed that facilitating investors from both sides was a priority and that two high-level delegations of the Punjab government will visit India to explore trade opportunities this week.

Although the brief official handout did not give details of the meeting, sources said the modalities of expediting efforts of the business community were on top of the agenda.

Punjab Agriculture Minister Dr Farrukh Javed, Planning and Development Chairman Irfan Elahi and Punjab Investment Board Vice Chairman Syed Maratib Ali were also present at the meeting.

Dr Farrukah Javed, while talking with The Express Tribune, said that he will lead the delegation to seek India’s technological expertise in biomass projects, visit sites in order to introduce the technology in Punjab and sign contracts in India.

He said that his government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a biomass project that will generate 15 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

A second delegation will also accompany Javed and interact with their Indian counterparts in hydroelectric projects.

People privy to the meeting said that the Punjab chief minister and the Indian high commissioner agreed to extend their relations from collaborative expertise to trade and investment sectors.

Planning and Development Chairman Irfan Elahi and PIB VC Syed Maratib Ali will interact with the commerce ministry to devise mechanism on trade relations, sources said, adding that the meeting was a follow-up of Punjab chief minister’s earlier meeting with the Indian prime minister.

Three quarters of Britons want less immigration - survey

Immigration is a subject being fiercely debated between the country's main political parties. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON: Over three quarters of Britons want a reduction in immigration, according to a survey published on Tuesday, highlighting public concern about a subject being fiercely debated between the country’s main political parties.

Immigration has become a key topic heading into a 2015 election, at which increased support for the anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) could hamper Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party.

Seventy seven percent of people wanted to see a reduction in immigration, the survey on Britain’s social attitudes showed, matching the previous high in the 30-year data series from 2008.

The survey also showed a hardening of sentiment against immigration, with 56 percent, the highest proportion in the history of the survey, wanting a big fall in the number of people coming to Britain rather than just a small reduction.

The issue has been brought into sharp relief by the lifting of restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens’ right to work in Britain on January 1 – something previous polls showed the public was worried about, and which members of Cameron’s own party tried to prevent.

Polls show Conservative voters are increasingly turning to UKIP because they welcome the party’s plan to end Britain’s European Union membership and drastically cut immigration. UKIP does not have any elected representatives in parliament, but polls show it has around 17 percent of voters’ support.

Last month, in an effort to stem the loss of voters and shore up support from his party, Cameron rushed in regulations to restrict EU migrants’ access to Britain’s welfare system.

He has also risked a falling out with the European Union by proposing tougher restrictions on migrants from poorer EU states into wealthy ones.

Labour, the main opposition party which currently leads in opinion polls, has criticised the government’s immigration policies as “chaotic”, and wants to clamp down on businesses using cheap, unskilled foreign workers.

The Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in Britain’s coalition government, have opposed curbing immigration within the EU, saying it would damage the economy.

Australia turns asylum boat back to Indonesia: Police

File photo of Australian navy personnel transferring asylum-seekers to an Indonesian rescue boat. PHOTO: AFP

KUPANG: The Australian navy has turned an asylum-seeker boat back to Indonesia without first informing authorities there, Indonesian police said Tuesday, as part of Canberra’s hardline border policies that have angered Jakarta.

It is the first reported instance in which the new Australian government has turned a boat back without Indonesian cooperation, and could add to recent tensions between Jakarta and Canberra sparked by a spying row.

The boat was carrying 45 immigrants, mostly from Somalia and Sudan, and arrived on Rote Island in eastern Indonesia in the early hours of Monday, Rote Ndao district police chief Hidayat told AFP.

“Based on interviews with the asylum seekers, they had entered Australian waters near (the Australian territory of) Ashmore Reef on January 4 and were intercepted by an Australian naval boat,” said Hidayat, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“The Australian boat accompanied the vessel and pushed it back to Indonesian waters towards Rote island,” Hidayat said, adding the asylum seekers were given life vests and a water pump.

He said he did not know how far the Australian vessel had accompanied the boat and whether it had entered Indonesia’s search and rescue zone or its territorial waters.

“Australian authorities didn’t alert us that the boat would be pushed back to the island,” he added.

However, he denied reports that the boat had run out of fuel and run aground. Earlier reports also said the boat was forced back to Indonesian waters in mid-December, not this week.

In November, Indonesia refused to accept a group of some 60 asylum seekers who were picked up by an Australian vessel south of the main island of Java.

Canberra eventually agreed to take them to the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

Jakarta has been irked by Canberra’s hardline Operation Sovereign Borders, which helped propel conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott to power in September, warning it could breach Indonesian territorial sovereignty.

The policy involves sending asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia, and buying and destroying boats from fisherman to prevent them being used to ferry asylum seekers to Australia.

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday refused to discuss the boat turn-back, in line with his conservative government’s policy of not commenting on “on water” operations.

But he insisted: “It is not the policy or practice of the Australian government to violate Indonesian territorial sovereignty. Any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

Hundreds of people have died in fatal sinkings in recent years, often after boarding rickety, wooden boats in Indonesia to try and make the treacherous sea crossing to Australia.

Australia has been trying to repair ties with Indonesia since allegations emerged in November that Canberra attempted to tap the phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and inner circle.

Jakarta has frozen cooperation with Canberra in a number of areas due to the row, including on people-smuggling.

Lawyer for Indian diplomat seeks delay in US visa fraud case

India's Deputy Consul General in New York, Devyani Khobragade, attends a Rutgers University event at India's Consulate General in New York, June 19, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW YORK: A lawyer for Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade is seeking to postpone proceedings in a visa fraud case that has created tensions between the United States and India, citing the need to continue “meaningful discussions” with the prosecution.

In a letter to a federal magistrate judge in New York, Khobragade’s lawyer requested an extension of the time by which the US government must file an indictment or commence a preliminary hearing.

The lawyer, Daniel Arshack, confirmed he filed the letter in court but would not comment about a possible resolution of the case.

Khobragade, who was deputy consul-general in New York, was arrested on December 12 and charged with one count of visa fraud and one count of making false statements about how much she paid her housekeeper.

The case was adjourned until January 13 by which time the government must commence a preliminary hearing or file an indictment.

Arshack asked US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn to extend the deadline by 30 days to February 12.

“Significant communications have been had between the prosecution and the defence and amongst other government officials and it is our strong view that the pressure of the impending deadline is counterproductive to continued communications,” Arshack wrote.

Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan whose office is handling the case, however responded saying the plea discussions can continue following the indictment in the case.

“The government is not seeking an extension of the deadline for indictment and therefore there is no motion for the court to decide. At any rate, as the court knows, the timing under which the government seeks an indictment is in the discretion of the government, and the defendant cannot alter that,” Bharara wrote in a letter to a federal magistrate judge in New York.

Bharara added that as recently as January 5, the government outlined “reasonable parameters” for a plea that could resolve the case, to which the defendant has not responded.

Khobragade’s arrest enraged India, which is demanding that all charges be dropped against her. On the day of her arrest, she was strip-searched. The arresting authority, the US Marshals Service, said the strip search was a routine procedure imposed on any new arrestee at the federal courthouse.

Khobragade was released on $250,000 bail.

In the aftermath of her arrest, India asked to transfer Khobragade to the United Nations.

US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday that India’s application to transfer Khobragade’s accreditation to the Indian mission at the United Nations, which was made before Christmas, was still under review.

“We’ve received the request for change in accreditation, but the process is ongoing and no official decision has been made yet to do that. So there’s no change in her status as of this point,” she told a regular news briefing.

Indian media have said the request to transfer Khobragade to the United Nations was aimed at ending the stand-off with the United States in the hopes that her new diplomatic status could allow New Delhi to bring her home without the prosecution proceeding.

According to UN guidelines on diplomatic privileges and immunities, documents certifying diplomatic immunity, if approved, are usually issued by the US Mission to the United Nations within two weeks of the initial request.

A State Department official said there was no set time period for the process, and noted that the request had been filed just ahead of a period of government holidays.

Harf said the United States hoped to see the case resolved as soon as possible in the interest of the bilateral relationship between India and the United States, which has been strained by the case.

“We don’t want this to define our relationship going forward and don’t think that it will,” Harf said. “If you look throughout the region, if you look at Afghanistan, if you look at energy issues, economic issues, we have a whole host of things we work together on, and those are very important and shouldn’t be derailed by this incident. … (T)he relationship with India is incredibly important, it’s vital, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

UN confirms removal of first batch of chemical weapons from Syria

Danish frigate involved in Danish-Norwegian plan to oversee shipping of chemical agents from Syria. 155 tonnes of chemicals is to be shipped out of Syria in January. PHOTO: REUTERS

United Nations on Tuesday confirmed that the joint teams of UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had removed the first batch of chemical weapons from Syria on Tuesday.

A statement issued by the UN added that:

“A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Lattakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today. The vessel has been accompanied by naval escorts provided by Denmark and Norway, as well as the Syrian Arab Republic.”

The statement further read that the vessel had left for international waters and “will remain at sea awaiting the arrival of additional priority chemical materials at the port.”

“Maritime security is being provided by naval escorts from the People’s Republic of China, Denmark, Norway and the Russian Federation.”

The UN had missed their initial deadline of removing chemical weapons by December 31, 2013.

The UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said “important progress” has been made on eliminating Syria’s banned weapons, but called on President Bashar al-Assad’s government to “intensify efforts” to meet internationally-set deadlines.

Real estate sector: SBP clarifies restrictions on real estate financing

Few banks have higher than 10% exposure to the real estate sector, so the SBP’s move is unlikely to hurt housing finance in Pakistan. CREATIVE COMMONS

KARACHI: 

Following its January 2 circular limiting the exposure of banks/development finance institutions (DFIs) to the real estate sector to 10% of their aggregate advances and investments, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday said the directive will not apply to the financing carried out under government housing schemes and initiatives.

The SBP insisted that banks/DFIs still have a ‘substantial cushion’ available for promoting housing finance in Pakistan even after linking their exposure with the level of aggregate advances and investments, excluding investments in government securities.

According to the earlier circular, the real estate sector’s exposure limit equalled 10% of advances and investments minus investments in government securities. As per the SBP’s definition of the real estate sector, it includes individual/family-owned houses for the purpose of self-occupation or renting out (non-commercial usage) as well as builders, developers, contractors, corporations, property dealers and any other person dealing in residential, commercial and industrial real estate.

Additionally, debt instruments and shares/units issued by the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) also fall into the category of the real estate sector.

Applicable with immediate effect, the central bank requires banks/DFIs to put in place appropriate internal limits and standards for exposures secured by real estate.

Provisional data available on the SBP website shows the outstanding position of credit/loans to the real estate sector amounted to Rs108.9 billion at the end of November last year. Similarly, the amount of loans/credit extended to borrowers from the construction sector was Rs54.6 billion at the end of November.

According to banking sector analysts, few banks have higher than 10% exposure to the real estate sector in terms of their aggregate advances and investments. Therefore, the SBP’s move is unlikely to hurt housing finance in Pakistan.

However, the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has criticised the central bank’s decision, calling it counterproductive to the revival of the country’s housing and construction industry.

Quoting from an SBP report, ABAD Senior Vice Chairman Saleem Kassim Patel said the country is already facing a shortage of 7.5 million housing units. “The housing demand in the large cities is 30% of the total housing demand in the country,” he said, noting that the imposition of the upper limit on investments into the real estate sector will hurt the industry.

Patel also suggested that the SBP should direct financial institutions to set aside a minimum of 5% of their total advances for the housing sector.