Pakistani company receives WHO recognition

ISLAMABAD: 

A Pakistani pharmaceutical company, Getz Pharma, has received recognition by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its Quality Control Laboratory, becoming one in 33 countries worldwide and the first in Pakistan to have received the `WHO Pre-Qualification’.

The WHO Qualification is a three-year process beginning with a series of reviews and audit by their inspectors; after which the lab receives a Pre-Qualification if it complies with WHO Standards.

These standards and practices have to be maintained for three years after which the laboratory can receive a qualification, said a statement on Thursday. A WHO Pre-Qualified Laboratory holds the authority to test and verify the quality of any drug, medication or formulation.

Such a lab’s verdict is recognised worldwide by all related international agencies and organisations. Speaking at the ceremony held to celebrate the event, Getz Pharma Director Quality Management and Regulatory Affairs Syed Sultan Ghani said, “The recognition is a testament to the strict quality standards maintained by us in the laboratory as well as in other functions.”

Getz Pharma has also received the Export Award for eight consecutive years, ranking first among all pharmaceutical exporters and contributing approximately 40% towards total pharmaceutical exports. Its anti-ulcerant has secured second position among all pharma brands in the country.

Being the third largest tax-payer, the company has reached third position amongst national and multinational companies by investing and reinvesting in technology, systems and facilities.

“The company has put the country on the world map and other pharma companies should also strive for this success,” said Dr Murtaza Mughal, president of the Pakistan Economy Watch

Forbes 2000 list: PSO enters elite club of biggest publicly traded firms

ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan’s oil market leader and dominant state-owned company – Pakistan State Oil (PSO) – has joined the prestigious club of world’s biggest publicly traded companies on the Forbes 2000 list in the wake of initiatives undertaken by the present management.

Forbes has screened the company in four categories – sales, profits, assets and market value with a minimum cut-off value – paving the way for it to qualify for inclusion in the list.

In financial year 2013-14, according to a PSO official, the company improved its refining base with an increase in equity stake in Pakistan Refinery Limited from 18% to 22.5%. It also completed groundwork for diversifying into liquefied natural gas (LNG) import business by developing the structure of the LNG project in consultation with all stakeholders.

The company notched up all-time high sales revenue and crossed the Rs100-billion mark in market capitalisation, becoming one of the few Rs100 billion-plus large-cap companies on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (Pacra) upgraded PSO’s outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ with AA+ and A1+ long-term and short-term ratings respectively.

The official said PSO, being one of the largest taxpayers in the country, made the highest-ever contribution of Rs289 billion to national coffers in duties and taxes in the year 2013-14, higher by 10% than the previous year.

In comparison with the US Fortune 500 companies, PSO being the largest Pakistani company in terms of turnover would rank around 211.

The official pointed out that the high performance benchmarks were achieved without any rise in margins during the year and despite an escalating financing cost because of higher receivables from power plants.

“The company optimised sales of its products to strike an effective balance between growth and profitability while realising substantial cost efficiency,” Managing Director Amjad Parvez Janjua commented.

A member of PSO board linked the company entering Forbes 2000 to efficiency in administration, distribution and marketing, restricted increase in expenses to 3% compared to average rise of 14% over the last three years and inflation rate of 8.5% in 2013-14.

“The board unanimously resolved on Wednesday to place on record its commendation for the management, particularly Amjad Parvez Janjua, the MD, for achieving outstanding yearly results,” he added.

During the period under review, the company met the challenge of timely and continuous supply of fuel oil for electricity production despite the damaging impact of circular debt as receivables grew sharply from the power sector. It achieved this by efficiently managing the supply chain, inventory and finances.

It introduced various system-based controls and automated a number of business functions during the year.

An online order management system was implemented, enabling PSO’s customers to login to the e-portals and place orders for products, make payments and view the accounts status. It helped reduce operational cost, enhance controls, eliminate potential irregularities due to human intervention and improve payment collection by establishing online connectivity with the banking network across the country.

During the year, a human resource development initiative for building capacity and developing leadership was also launched and an internship programme for students of universities across Balochistan was started.

Being aware of its corporate social responsibility and to support relief activities, PSO contributed Rs40 million to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Internally Displaced Persons from North Waziristan in addition to donating part of its employees’ salaries for the IDPs

James: I have a great relationship with Ronaldo

The Colombia international, who joined Los Blancos from Monaco this summer, says that he has formed an instant friendship with the Portuguese

James Rodriguez has revealed that he has already struck up a rapport with Real Madrid team-mateCristiano Ronaldo and says that he hopes the pair get to play alongside one another for years to come.

The Colombia international only arrived in the Spanish capital this summer, having joined the reigning European champions from Monaco for a reported €80 million.

However, James says that he has little trouble settling into his new surroundings at the Santiago Bernabeu, thanks in no small part to the Ballon d'Or winner.

“I’ve formed a good relationship with him and I hope that we can be together for a long time,” declared the 23-year-old.

"But all of the players are very humble, which is why they are there and why they are great players."

James, of course, was signed on the back of his sensational exploits at this summer's World Cup, with the 23-year-old bagging the Golden Boot after netting six times in just five games.

He thrived in an attacking midfield role for Jose Pekerman's side but it remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to occupy his preferred position for Madrid.

James, though, insists that he does not mind where he is deployed by Carlo Ancelotti, insisting that he is willing to be fielded in a more withdrawn role if needs be.

"I'll play where the coach wants and I'll be happy there," the former Porto man stated.

James has scored one goal in his five competitive outings for Madrid so far this season.

Ronaldo: I want to return to Man Utd one day

The Portugal international has reiterated his desire to return to Old Trafford and is confident the Red Devils will overcome their current difficulties

Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo has stressed his desire to return to Manchester United at some point in the future.

The Portugal international enjoyed a hugely successful time at the Old Trafford side between 2003 and 2009 before leaving United for Madrid in a deal worth €94 million.

Nevertheless, the 29-year-old has nothing but fond memories of his time at the Premier League giants and is eager to return to the club where he made his name once his time at the Santiago Bernabeu ends.

"I love Manchester United. Everyone knows that - I have said it many times. Manchester United are in my heart. I left many good friends there, the supporters are amazing and I wish I can come back one day," Ronaldo told Daily Mail.

"I am happy here at Real Madrid and have four more years, but in the future you never know because they treated me unbelievably at United.

"I really did love being at Manchester United."

The prolific attacker then went on to discuss Louis van Gaal's side's difficult start to the 2014-15 campaign and stressed that he's confident they will improve following the arrival of Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao.

"Believe me, they will be a good team again, I’m sure of it. They are a great club. This sort of blip can happen. Bad moments and good moments. Manchester are passing through a bad moment.

"Last year it was a horrible season and this year they haven’t started well, either. But I do think they did well to buy Di Maria and Falcao.

"I think the team will be much better. I want to see them better because it is such a fantastic club and they deserve to be better. 

"Manchester United have not started well, two points in three games, so they need quality players and Falcao is a quality player. And Di Maria, too."

United currently sit 14th in the Premier League table with two points from three games.

Unconvincing transfer window leaves Arsenal one injury away from crisis

The Gunners spent a significant amount early on in the summer, while Danny Welbeck was a surprise late addition to the squad - but has Arsene Wenger done enough?

By Julian Bennetts

This summer Arsene Wenger spent more in one transfer window than ever before, did the majority of his business early and signed the world-class attacker for which his squad were crying out.

But as the dust settles on Arsenal's business there is still a nagging doubt that it isn't quite enough and that a good window could have been spectacular with just one or two more signings.

Wenger would argue that is unfair, but the fact that he was interested in three different defenders and a defensive midfielder in the latter stages of the transfer window suggests that he is well aware of the glaring weaknesses in his squad.

For a start, Arsenal have just six first-team defenders for four positions. A tall, powerful defensive midfielder was also on their wishlist.

But let's start with the positives. Having surprisingly become regulars in the transfer deadline-day trolley dash of previous years, Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis resolved to sign players as soon as possible.

Alexis Sanchez, Barcelona's Chilean forward, was top of the list. While Wenger was criticised for playing football on Ipanema beach during the World Cup, it was very much a work trip rather than a holiday.

While there he met with Alexis' representatives – contact is thought to have been made as early as May - and convinced the player to move to London. By July 10 the 25-year-old was posing for pictures with the cannon emblazoned on his chest. The marquee signing was completed quickly and efficiently.

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9/2	Danny Welbeck is 9/2 with bet365 to be Arsenal's top scorer

Wenger made two other decisions in Brazil. The first was that Mathieu Debuchy was the man whom he wanted to replace the outgoing Bacary Sagna, while David Ospina would come in for Lukasz Fabianski. Again, both deals were completed with minimum fuss.

But Wenger wanted more. His scouts at the World Cup were on the lookout for defenders and defensive midfielders but it is thought that they were largely unimpressed. They felt the general level of the tournament was far lower than in previous years, particularly when it came to the defensive side of the game.

That 171 goals were scored in the tournament – the joint-highest in history – seems to back that up, while the three most expensive defenders of this summer (David Luiz, Eliaquim Mangala and Luke Shaw) did not shine in Brazil.

Indeed, when you look around Europe at the paucity of top-class central defensive and midfield cover, Wenger's stance is unsurprising. Manchester United and Barcelona, in particular, have been desperate for cover in those positions but have been criticised for underwhelming signings.

Calum Chambers, a fine young prospect, was brought in from Southampton at a cost of €20m with Wenger conscious of the need to maintain the 'English core' at the club, albeit one that also includes Aaron Ramsey and Wojciech Szczesny.

All this was done by the end of July and it is thought that Wenger was content to go into the season with that squad.

The one exception was the captain, Thomas Vermaelen, whom he knew was likely to leave, on the condition that it was not to another Premier League club. In a far stronger position than when Robin van Persie was sold two years ago, Wenger refused to deal with Manchester United and the Belgian ended up in Barcelona (again perhaps highlighting that world-class defenders were thin on the ground this summer).

It was here that mistakes began to be made. A replacement was sought for Vermaelen, yet none was found. Enquiries and bids were made for Kostas Manolas, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Matija Nastasic but none were pushed through despite the former, in particular, being very much available and keen on the move.

Rumours from within Arsenal suggest that Wenger took too long before making a decision, particularly over Manolas.

It is also worth pointing out that Arsenal's structure is different to a number of other clubs, with Wenger in charge of transfers. At Manchester United, for example, chief executive Ed Woodward has taken the brunt of fans' anger in the past but Wenger is undoubtedly 'the boss' in every sense at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger also has a huge amount of faith in Yaya Sanogo and believed that he did not need another striker as a result.

That all changed when Olivier Giroud was injured against Everton. Enquiries were made for Radamel Falcao but he was a long way out of Arsenal's price range.


'Here's what you could've won' | Arsenal couldn't match Falcao's wage demands, unlike Man Utd

A phone call was made to QPR regarding Loic Remy. It was never followed up, particularly when it was leaked almost immediately.

Then, on deadline day, came the deal for Danny Welbeck. It came as a surprise to many and was only possible due to Manchester United's move for Falcao, with all signs on Monday morning being that nothing significant would happen. The logic behind the deal – signing a young, hungry player who can improve and has something to prove – is unarguable, and Ivan Gazidis and Dick Law - one of the Gunners' chief transfer negotiators - did well to get it over the line.

Yet they are still short in key areas, as shown by consistent attempts to sign Sporting's William Carvalho. Arsenal conceded 17 goals at Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool last season and there is a fear that the underlying cause of those problems has yet to be addressed.

The loss of Giroud highlighted that Arsenal were one injury away from a crisis up front and those same fears exist at the back. Once Laurent Koscielny went off injured against Leicester City, Wenger was down to his last four fit first-team defenders. It would take no more than three injuries for Wenger to be playing Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin at centre-back.

Yet Chambers has impressed Wenger so much that he has decided that he can be second-choice right-back, third-choice centre-back and also cover defensive midfield. That ensured that Wenger was only looking for a fourth-choice centre-back and there aren't many top-quality players around who would move to the club with little to no chance of regular football.

Still, though, to enter the season with six defenders seems a risky decision.

"It has been a good window but it could and should have been even better," is the view of Tim Payton, of the Arsenal Supporters Trust.

"With €62.5m not spent Arsenal had the capability to keep going. Now we must keep our fingers crossed whenever any of our defenders go in for a tackle."

And that is the crucial point. With Manchester City and – in particular – Chelsea improving significantly over the summer, Arsenal needed to make a big leap forward themselves just to keep up.

They have spent €96m on five players but the worry is that it may not be enough.

Did you know?: George Clooney to have X-rated bachelor party

LOS ANGELES: Actor George Clooney is set to marry Amal Alamuddin next month in Italy and his friends are said to be keen to throw him a stag do at a strip club near his house in Santa Barbara, California, to celebrate. The Hollywood heartthrob will be getting a grand bash at his last party as a bachelor, as announced by his closest friends who are said to be simply finalising the details of the event.

“This isn’t a surprise we’re springing. We floated the idea of one final night of red-blooded male fun and he jumped at it,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying.

The VIP bash, which will be attended by fellow actors Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, will reportedly cost around 1,200 pounds and will include a private room, complimentary alcoholic beverages and lots of buffet snacks.

However, Alamuddin reportedly isn’t keen on the idea of a strip party for her husband-to-be.

The source said: “George hopes she’ll turn a blind eye but he looked sheepish when we asked how she’d react. He likes to let off steam once in a while, although it seems she thinks it’s time for him to let go of the all-boys’ nights out.” 

Dark clouds over Apple as privacy turns into a public affair

Images of more than 100 celebrities were exposed by an unidentified hacker in a major breach of privacy. Nude images of A-List Hollywood stars, such as Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, model Kate Upton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, were posted on various internet forums by hackers.

There have been reports that the hacker gained access to the files through the iCloud accounts of the celebrities.

This scandal has placed Apple in the unusual position of having to mend its image only a few days before its highly anticipated product launch.

In the wake of the breach, cyber-security experts and mobile developers have criticised Apple and have pointed towards the inadequacies in its cloud-services security in general. A host of people have taken to Twitter to express their frustrations with the company.

According to The Guardian, a number of photos of numerous celebrities have since then been circulating on different file-sharing websites. Imageboard website 4chan was quick to ensure that they removed these posts from their website.

The release of these images has drawn varying responses from the celebrities, with publicists of some, such as Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, conceding that they are in fact real images whilst other celebrities have either denied their veracity or have chosen to stay tight lipped on the issue.

Kate Upton’s lawyers have acknowledged the authenticity of the photos of the model-turned-actress referring to it as “an outrageous violation” of her privacy. “We intend to pursue anyone disseminating or duplicating these illegally obtained images to the fullest extent possible,” Kate Upton’s attorney Lawrence Shire added.

Apple on Tuesday said that these hacks were the result of targeted attacks on accounts and not a direct breach of their systems and has stated that such attempts are “all too common on the Internet.”

But the current public affair has been deemed as one of Apple’s worst public crisis in years. Speculation continues to spread on social networking websites and internet forums about the flaws in Apple’s iCloud service, which lets computer and mobile users store photos, documents and other data so they can be accessed from a plethora of devices they own.

Brandwatch, a company that analyses sentiment on social media, blogs and other sites, found that prior to the hacking scandal; Apple had very few negative mentions on Twitter, a testament to its strong brand image.

But over the past three days, 17,000 mentions on Twitter were related to the security breach as of Tuesday afternoon. Almost half of these tweets specifically mention Apple. Some of the negative words associated with mentions of Apple’s iCloud service include “violation,” “disgusting violation,” “criminality,” “failure,” “glitch” and “disappointment.”

At its upcoming event, Apple was expected to announce the launch of a mobile payments service alongside its iPhone 6 but the current leaks have left both app developers and customers uncertain.