Petition against interest payments poses risk: Report

Govt plans to float $500m Eurobond in global market this month. CREATIVE COMMONS

ISLAMABAD: 

A draft report prepared by four international banks that have been hired to raise debt from the international market has said that a petition against interest payments poses the biggest risk to the country’s ability to service the debt.

The National Response Framework (NRF) report will be presented to prospective international bidders to allow them to study minute details of the country, from its geography to socio-political and economic conditions before investing in its papers.

Pakistan has decided to enter the international debt market this month, for the first time in seven years, and wants to issue at least $500 million worth of Eurobond of five-year maturity. The debt is being raised to support the dwindling foreign currency reserves, which could not be built despite entering an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

The bond will be floated in the US market and will be registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The NRF has been jointly prepared by Barclays Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank and a consortium of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and KASB Bank. These banks have been hired as transaction managers. Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank and Silkbank could not qualify.

The government will pay slightly above 1% of the total money to be raised from the bond auction in fee to these banks.

The NRF informs prospective bidders that a petition is pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking an order to stop the federal government from making interest payments on loans, under any name.

This comes at a time when the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has decided to resume hearing of an interest payment case from March 24. The apex court had sent the case back to the FSC. The FSC has asked the Attorney General of Pakistan to argue in the case.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Ministry of Finance spokesman Rana Assad Amin said it was premature to comment on the content of the report, which was subject to many changes.

The report also highlights the risks that could destabilise the political system and also the implications of the war on terror for the economy and foreign investment.

Data credibility

The NRF appears embarrassing for the government on account of credibility of official economic data. It notes that the data reported in the draft may not be reliable as statistics produced by one ministry vary from the data reported by another ministry.

It observes that the data is authentic only to the extent of the ministry mentioned in the report as a source. However, the report notes that Pakistan is following the data standards prescribed by the IMF.

Statisticians and independent economists have long been questioning the credibility of the data related to unemployment, growth, poverty and fiscal deficit.

Unreliability of the data will give an excuse to investors to demand higher risk premium, which will make borrowing through bond float very expensive, according to an expert in the international market.

Government officials are anticipating a risk premium in the range of 5-6%, which is over and above the US Treasury bond rate currently at 1.44% for five-year papers. Pakistan may have to pay around 8% interest rate. In 2007, it had floated a 10-year bond at 6.75%.

The government is going to bid for an expensive loan at a time when cheap World Bank financing is available. But it depends on rationalising gas prices, according to sources

Fabregas: Messi carrying Barcelona

BARCELONA-

The Spain international believes that the prolific attacker is already giving his all for the team and is keen to bounce back from last week’s loss

Cesc Fabregas has insisted that there’s no truth in the rumours suggesting a number of Barcelona players are unhappy with Lionel Messi’s contribution to the team.

The Blaugrana have come in for criticism in the wake of their 3-1 La Liga defeat against Real Sociedad last weekend and Messi has not escaped some harsh words either.

Nevertheless, Fabregas has stressed that everybody at Barca is happy with the Argentine’s hard work for the team and says the entire squad are hoping to make amends for losing their last match.

“If there’s any player that carries the weight of the team on his shoulders, it’s Leo Messi. If more has to be asked of him, then three times as much has to be asked of us,” Fabregas was quoted as saying by AS.

“It’s totally false that anything has been said against Leo. He looks very good to me. Leo has been the most consistent player in world football. I have no doubt that he’ll be there whenever he’s needed. His state of mind is very good, he’s happy.

“He isn’t happy about Saturday, because we’re all disappointed about it. But on Sunday we have another match and that’s where we have to seek a fresh new start. We have two and a half months left and we have to be at 100 per cent.”

Messi has netted 14 goals in 18 La Liga appearances so far this term

Federer wins 6th Dubai Championships final

DUBAI-

Roger Federer roared back from a set and a break down to subdue Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-4 6-3 in the Dubai Championships final on Saturday as the Swiss maestro sealed a 78th singles title.

Federer had recovered from a similar position to stun world number two Novak Djokovic in Friday’s semi-final and the 32-year-old again struggled early on before he dug deep to claim a sixth Dubai crown.

“It was a tough match,” fourth seed Federer said in a courtside interview. “Tomas had the advantage and could have, should have, brought it home, but maybe I got a little lucky.”

Federer nursed a back injury for much of last season and has slumped to eighth in the rankings, his lowest position since 2002, but ahead of Dubai he claimed his best tennis was still to come.

With wins against top 10 opponents in successive days, the Swiss proved there may be some basis to his confidence.

“I have a lot of tennis in my body over the years.

“I’m just happy I’m healthy again and that I can focus on tactics and not on ‘Am I feeling alright when I wake up tomorrow?,” said Federer, whose latest title puts him one clear of John McEnroe and third on the all-time list behind Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

EARLY MISTAKES

After beating Djokovic, Federer spoke of his need to be aggressive on Dubai’s quick courts, but against Berdych the 17-times grand slam champion seemed too eager to adopt that strategy, over-hitting a series of shots from the baseline in the opening stages.

The third-seeded Berdych, 28, suffered from a similar problem, which made for an error-strewn first set.

Federer broke for a 2-1 lead, but he then surrendered his serve immediately.

Serving at 3-2 down, the Swiss again blundered, a scuffed backhand dribbling into the net to give Berdych a 4-2 lead.

World number six Berdych’s first ace of the match earned a set point, which he took when Federer – who later said his serving was poor in the first set – netted a backhand return.

“That’s something I maybe have to clean up a little bit,” said Federer. “I was struggling with half volleys, I was struggling with my forehand.”

Berdych broke for a 3-2 second set lead to leave Federer facing a third straight defeat against the Czech.

SUBLIME DROP

The Swiss immediately broke back and then held to love following a superbly disguised half-volley drop shot at the net that had the 5,000 capacity crowd roaring his name.

“You just stand on the baseline, try to hit a few good shots and hope he doesn’t keep hitting the big serves,” said Federer, when asked what he was thinking after being broken in the second set.

“I was able to break back right away, which was key. I stayed calm and once I got even I started to play better.”

Having built some momentum, Federer twice held to love and then levelled the match after another Berdych forehand error.

Receiving serve at 1-0 up in the decider, Federer raced to a 40-0 lead but squandered three break points as Berdych, who was on an 11-match winning streak, refused to wilt.

Federer was not to be denied, however, and a long Berdych forehand gave him a 3-1 lead.

There was still time for more jitters, Federer failing to covert two match points against serve at 5-2 up but the Swiss sealed the title soon after as Berdych clubbed another forehand long.

“He is the greatest player of all time – he will never give up and just give you anything for free,” Berdych told reporters.

“Of course I knew that. I was ready for it, but my execution was not good enough to hold it until the end

Man Utd team with Google

LONDON-

Manchester United have joined forces with technology giant Google to allow a handful of soccer fans around the world to follow next month’s clash with Liverpool as if they were pitchside at Old Trafford.

To heighten the sense of being at the game, images of the fans will appear live on the digital advertising hoardings at the stadium during the Premier League game on March 16.

Their pictures will be streamed using the Google+Hangout system — a video chat function.

Google described the move as an “experiment into what the future of supporting your team could be”, although the initiative will be limited to only around 10-20 fans this time.

United fans are being asked to share a picture on Google+ with the tag “#MUFrontRow” to show their support and the participants will be chosen from this group.

English champions United claim to have more than 650 million global followers.

Man Utd team with Google

LONDON-

Manchester United have joined forces with technology giant Google to allow a handful of soccer fans around the world to follow next month’s clash with Liverpool as if they were pitchside at Old Trafford.

To heighten the sense of being at the game, images of the fans will appear live on the digital advertising hoardings at the stadium during the Premier League game on March 16.

Their pictures will be streamed using the Google+Hangout system — a video chat function.

Google described the move as an “experiment into what the future of supporting your team could be”, although the initiative will be limited to only around 10-20 fans this time.

United fans are being asked to share a picture on Google+ with the tag “#MUFrontRow” to show their support and the participants will be chosen from this group.

English champions United claim to have more than 650 million global followers.

Robocops take over a capital city in Africa – to control traffic

KINSHASHA-

How do you solve the problem of choking road traffic in one of the world’s bustling megacities? You bring in the robot cops.

In Kinshasa, the sprawling capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, two humanoid robots have been installed in high-traffic areas to regulate the flow of vehicles and help drivers and pedestrians traverse the roads safely.

The goal is to ease the traffic woes of commuters and cut the number of road accidents in the center of Kinshasa, a city of some 10 million people.

“It is an innovation about road safety,” tells Vale Manga Wilma, president of the DRC’s National Commission for Road Safety.

“The traffic is a big problem in the rush hours,” he explained. “With the robots’ policemen intelligence, the road safety in Kinshasa becomes very easy.”

Standing eight feet tall, the robot traffic wardens are on duty 24 hours a day, their towering — even scarecrow-like — mass visible from afar. They are powered by solar panels and are equipped with rotating chests and surveillance cameras that record the flow of vehicles.

The humanoids, which are installed on Kinshasa’s busy Triomphal and Lumumba intersections, are built of aluminum and stainless steel to endure the city’s year-round hot climate.

Featuring green and red lights, Kinshasa’s robot cops are designed to merge some of the functions of human officers and traffic lights. The anthropomorphic robots can raise or bend their arms to stop passing vehicles or let others pass, and are also programmed to speak, indicating to pedestrians when they can cross the road

715 new planets discovered by NASA

NASA’s Kepler mission has announced the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system.

Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

“The Kepler team continues to amaze and excite us with their planet hunting results,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “That these new planets and solar systems look somewhat like our own, portends a great future when we have the James Webb Space Telescope in space to characterize the new worlds.”

Since the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system roughly two decades ago, verification has been a laborious planet-by-planet process. Now, scientists have a statistical technique that can be applied to many planets at once when they are found in systems that harbor more than one planet around the same star.

To verify this bounty of planets, a research team co-led by Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., analyzed stars with more than one potential planet, all of which were detected in the first two years of Kepler’s observations — May 2009 to March 2011.

The research team used a technique called verification by multiplicity, which relies in part on the logic of probability. Kepler observes 150,000 stars, and has found a few thousand of those to have planet candidates. If the candidates were randomly distributed among Kepler’s stars, only a handful would have more than one planet candidate. However, Kepler observed hundreds of stars that have multiple planet candidates. Through a careful study of this sample, these 715 new planets were verified.