Fish rain down on Sri Lanka village

BBC
Colombo -Villagers in west Sri Lanka have said they have been surprised and delighted by an unusual rainfall of small fish.
The edible fish fell during a storm and are believed to have been lifted out of a river during a strong wind. Villagers in the district of Chilaw said they heard something heavy falling and found scores of fish with a total weight of 50kg (110lbs).
It is not the first such incident in Sri Lanka - in 2012, a case of ‘prawn rain’ was recorded in the south. Scientists say that ‘fish rain’ usually occurs when swirling whirlwinds over relatively shallow water develops into waterspouts and sucks in almost anything in the water including fish, eels and even frogs.
The marine life can be carried long distances by buffeting clouds even when the waterspout stops spinning. Villagers say that the ‘fish rain shower’ took place on Monday with the creatures falling on the village green, roads and roofs. Some of the fish - each three to five inches (5cm-8cm) in length - were still alive and were put in a buckets of water by villagers who ate them later.
This is the third time this has happened in Sri Lanka, but not from the same area. In addition to the reported ‘prawn rain’ of 2012 in the south, there was yellow and red ‘meteor rain’ the same year - a weather development that is reportedly still being investigated by US and British scientists. Fish is a valued commodity in Sri Lanka. On Monday the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror reported that a fish trader was robbed of 450,000 rupees ($3,450/£2,030) by four men - one disguised as a policeman - who intercepted his lorry.

First of its kind: Solar Power Project will start working in December, reveals Nawaz

Express News screengrab of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing the ceremony.

BAHALWALPUR: The Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park will start working in December, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif revealed on Friday during the groundbreaking ceremony in Bahawalpur of the 100MW solar park project.

He said that the power project will increase its electricity production to 1000MW in two to two and a half years.

“Pakistan comes to a complete halt if there is no electricity,” stated the premier.

Nawaz also questioned the work that was being done by previous governments with regards to the energy sector, stating “what was going on in the past 10 to 15 years”.

‘Gwadar, state like Dubai’

Speaking about the development of the city of Gwadar during the ceremony, Nawaz stated that it “will be a state like Dubai, a state like Singapore, a state like Hong Kong.”

He further said that it will be turned into a modern city with a state-of-the-art airport and a free port.

Projects in Pakistan: ICBC committed to playing effective role, says Zheng

Zheng elaborated the strategic vision of the ICBC for its Pakistan operations and thanked the SBP for its continued support for the first and the only Chinese bank in Pakistan. CREATIVE COMMONS

KARACHI: Industrial Commercial Bank of China Group (ICBC) Senior Executive Vice President Zheng Wanchun has said ICBC is committed to playing an effective role in the successful implementation of mega infrastructure projects in Pakistan, according to a statement released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

Zheng met SBP Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmad, who acknowledged consistent support of China in diverse areas like energy, infrastructure development, trade and commerce. The deputy governor said cooperation in the banking sector speaks volumes about the extent of close friendship the two countries enjoy. ”We value ICBC’s presence and operations in Pakistan,” Ahmad said.

The ICBC Group currently operates through 17,245 branches in China and 329 overseas institutions in 40 countries. The group is conducting its business in Pakistan through its branches since the commencement of its operations in August 2011 in Karachi and Islamabad and its sales and service centre in Lahore.

Zheng elaborated the strategic vision of the ICBC for its Pakistan operations and thanked the SBP for its continued support for the first and the only Chinese bank in Pakistan.

The statement said the two officials also discussed mega projects, like the nuclear power plant in Karachi with Chinese assistance and the award of 4G licence to a China-based cellular company. “The Pakistan-China economic corridor ending at Gwadar is expected to have a substantial impact with industrial estates being established alongside,” said Ahmad added.

Zheng told the deputy governor that 19 major Chinese groups will be involved in the project. “All of these group companies are clients of the ICBC in China,” Zheng said, adding that it will be natural for these companies to have business relationship with ICBC Pakistan.

Pakistan less ‘miserable’ than India

The most miserable nation, according to the index, is Venezuela, which is followed by Iran. DESIGN: ESSA MALIK

KARACHI: 

A leading think tank of the United States has ranked Pakistan the 29th miserable economy of the world.

Released recently by Washington DC-based Cato Institute, a conservative public policy research body, Pakistan fares relatively well on the World Misery Index 2013, compared to neighbouring India that ranked 22nd in terms of economic misery.

Originally developed by American economist Arthur Okun, and later improved upon by Harvard University professor Robert Barro, the scores for the World Misery Index for each of the 89 economies is calculated by adding the unemployment rate, the lending rate and the inflation rate, and then subtracting the percentage change in the real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for a given year.

Pakistan appears among the top one-third nations that are most miserable mainly because of the high interest rate which, according to Cato Institute, is the major contributing factor behind its overall high score on the index.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) reverse repo rate, also known as policy rate or discount rate, stood at 9.5% at the beginning of 2013. The central bank decreased it to 9% in June, but increased it to 9.5% in September and 10% in November.

Pakistan’s unemployment rate for 2013 was 5.2%, as per the International Labour Organization. Its average inflation during the last calendar year remained 7.7%. Pakistan’s GDP per head was $1,297 during the same year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The most miserable nation, according to the index, is Venezuela, which is followed by Iran. Unlike Pakistan and India whose high scores on the index are based primarily on high interest rates, both Venezuela and Iran owe their status of the two most miserable economies of the world due to extremely high inflation rates.

Although Venezuela’s official inflation rate for 2013 was 56. 2% (which is exceptionally high in itself), Cato Institute estimates the Latin American nation’s annual implied inflation rate at the end of 2013 was as high as 278%.

Similarly, Iran’s inflation rate for 2013 was 39.3%, according to the World Bank.

Egypt (ranked sixth) and Turkey (13th) performed worse than Pakistan on the index. Indonesia (30), Bangladesh (31), Sri Lanka (51), United States (71) and Malaysia (83) were better off.

US requests Pakistan to lift ban on import of live animals

The ministry of national food security has already moved a summary to the ECC, seeking permission to lift ban on import of live animals from the US. PHOTO: EXPRESS

Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State William J Burns requested Pakistan on Friday to lift a ban on import of live animals from the US.

Islamabad had imposed a ban owing to risks from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.

Burns made the request during a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

“The Deputy Secretary of State expressed the hope that import of live animals from the US will be allowed by the government”, according to an official handout issued by the finance ministry after the meeting. Dar assured Burns that the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) will take and appropriate decision in this regard, it added.

The ministry of national food security has already moved a summary to the ECC, seeking permission to lift ban on import of live animals from the US.

According to officials, the permission would be granted on the condition that animals from only herds with no incidence of BSE in the last 11 years would be imported, and this fact should be certified by US authorities.

It is difficult to detect the disease in live animals because no test for it is currently available in Pakistan. The post-slaughter diagnosis is made through medical examination of brain tissues and other vulnerable body parts like the spinal cord.

CSF funds

Burns assured Dar that the US will release the next tranche of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) during this month. Pakistan is expecting a $380 million tranche out of the outstanding dues of $1.6 billion.

Since 9/11, the US has disbursed over $12 billion on account of CSF. The expenses incurred on war on terrorism are billed to the US.

Dar drew the attention of Burns towards US Exim Bank’s policy of lending to regional countries for a period of 20 years without sovereign guarantee, whereas in the case of Pakistan the lending is being made for only seven years and that too with sovereign guarantee.

The finance minister also urged deputy secretary of state for provision of level playing field by the US banks for global investors to invest in Pakistan

EU, Japan to speed up talks on free trade accord

'We confirmed the importance of an early conclusion, and 2015 is the target date for a basic agreement,' Shinzo Abe told a joint press conference with European Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The EU-Japan trade agreement, potentially one of the world's biggest, could boost the bloc's overall growth rate by up to 0.8 percent. It could create 420,000 jobs in the EU, according to the bloc's figures.

Exports to Japan could rise by a third, while Japan's exports to the EU could see a near 24-percent boost, according to the European Union data.

Europe's carmakers, however, are skeptical about Tokyo's commitment to reducing trade barriers. At present, their access to the Japanese market is hampered by what companies like PSA Peugeot Citroen and Fiat call 'unfair requirements.'

Europe's smaller cars are excluded from 40 percent of Japan's passenger car market, according to EU car industry association ACEA.

But European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says talks are unlikely to be suspended. 'If, as I hope and expect, there will be no objections, there will be conditions to accelerate the course of negotiations,' said on Wednesday. 'We need to inject a high level of ambition across the board.'

One year into the negotiations, EU member states are reviewing Japanese efforts to lift trade barriers such as differing industry standards. They have the option of ending the talks if there is too little progress.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht is expected Thursday to brief ministers on the review, which is to be finalized in the coming weeks.

Progress also depends on promises made by Tokyo in a similar deal being negotiated with the United States.

The negotiations follow a decade of decline in trade between Japan and the EU. Japan's imports to the bloc more than halved between 2002 and 2013, according to EU data. As a result, Japan slipped from being the EU's fourth most important trading partner in 2002 down to seventh place in 2013, the figures show.

Vietnam protests China drilling for oil in disputed waters near Paracel Islands

Vietnam's foreign ministry expressed outrage at China's plans to commence drilling for oil this week in waters claimed by both countries. The area in question lies near the Paracel Islands, or roughly 120 nautical miles east of Vietnam's South China Sea coast.

'All foreign activities in Vietnam's seas without Vietnam's permission are illegal and invalid,' the foreign ministry said in a statement. 'Vietnam resolutely protests them.'

According to Hanoi, the disputed waters belong to Vietnam's exclusive economic zone as defined by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. However, Beijing seized the islands - known as Hoang Sa in Vietnam and Xisha in China - in 1974 and has controlled them ever since.

The statement by Vietnam's foreign ministry followed a warning from China's Maritime Safety Administration over the weekend that prohibited all ships from entering the 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) radius surrounding the drilling area until operations end on August 15.

Beijing's increased activities in contested waters this year, as well as its increased investment in its military, have worried China's neighbors. It is currently involved in territorial disputes with not only Vietnam, but also Japan, Malaysia and Philippines.

US, Philippines begin military drill

Meanwhile, US and Philippines troops launched a 10-day military drill on Monday. Over 5,000 soldiers from both sides took part in the largest of their annual war games.

At the commencement ceremony released on Monday, Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario described the exercise as a necessary step toward dealing with 'aggressive' neighbors.

'In recent years, tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have increased due to extensive and expansive maritime and territorial claims understanding the rule of law,' del Rosario said. 'Aggressive patterns of behavior changing the status quo threaten peace and stability in the region.'

Last week, US President Barack Obama and Philippines President Benigno Aquino III signed a defense pact, which will see an increase of US troops deployed to the Pacific island nation. Although the two countries already have a mutual defense treaty, the move was seen as a pledge of US support against military aggression in the region.