Pakistan-Iran: Duo agrees to hold Joint Economic Commission

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to hold a Joint Economic Commission in Islamabad to consolidate bilateral cooperation between the leaderships of the two countries.

The focus of this cooperation will be on development of gas pipeline and electricity.

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar met the Iranian Finance Minister Ali Tayyebnia while attending World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Washington. Both ministers discussed matters of mutual interest.

Senator Dar informed his Iranian counterpart that the government had approved the 700-kilometre section of the pipeline from Gwadar to Nawabshah and that Pakistan was considering various alternatives to meet the financial requirements.

According to a press statement issued by the finance ministry, the Iranian finance minister appreciated Pakistan’s resolve in completing 700km portion of Iran-Pakistan Gas pipeline and expressed hope that in future more pipeline projects between the two countries will materialise.

Di Maria one of the four best players in the world, says former Manchester United defender Heinze

The former Argentina international left-back believes the 26-year-old has reached an "amazing level" and insists it is easier to settle in quickly at Old Trafford

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze believes Angel Di Maria is one of the four best players in world football.

The 26-year-old moved to Old Trafford in a €75 million deal in August and has made an impressive start to his Premier League career with three goals and three assists in five games.

Heinze, who played in the same Argentina side as Di Maria at the 2010 World Cup, also claims the midfielder will have an easy time settling at United.

“Anything I say about Angel Di Maria is not enough. For me, he’s one of the four best players in the world,” Heinze told reporters.

“He’s already reached an amazing level and arrived at an amazing club where they will look after him and he’ll perform really well for them.

“I think everyone needs time to adapt, especially in the English league.

“You need to adapt but the club can help you and Manchester United will make things easier for you.”

Rejection: US energy firms refuse to endorse shale gas estimates

ISLAMABAD: 

Reputed energy companies of the United States have dismissed the estimates of shale gas deposits given by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which put the reserves at 51 trillion cubic feet (tcf), close to the conventional gas reserves of 58 tcf.

“US companies did not agree with the estimates of EIA, arguing that a study to assess the deposits was conducted by a group of economists,” said an official of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources who was part of a ministry team that visited the US in August.

During the trip, the delegation members met officials of some well-known companies including Halliburton to discuss the study on shale gas reserves and get their endorsement. Company executives insisted that samples of shale gas would actually determine the size of the reserves.

The ministry team also held meetings with representatives of equipment manufacturing companies as their tools could be used for extracting shale gas.

“Already some samples have been sent to US laboratories and more will be shipped for examination,” the official said. “After the process is completed and results are known, we will draft a policy and share it with all stakeholders.”

According to the officials, shale gas extrusion needs a huge quantity of water, which will be difficult for Pakistan to provide. A similar plan for shale gas drilling was shelved in the UK because of challenges related to water supply.

Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped in shale formations and since it has low permeability compared to conventional reserves, it does not come out easily and a significant amount of investment and specific pricing are required for its exploitation.

The government is conducting a study in association with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to assess the shale gas reserves in the country. USAID has provided a technical assistance of $1.8 million for the study, which will be completed in a year.

Besides the samples sent to the US, Pakistan is also seeking US technology. However, the officials said this could not be useful in Pakistan as the difference in geographical conditions required different kinds of technology.

The petroleum ministry has sent a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), seeking approval for initiating a pilot project to tap the country’s shale gas deposits in an effort to gradually bridge the yawning gap between demand and supply of energy.

At present, shale gas is not produced in the country and significant initial work is required to be undertaken to consume this potential energy resource.

With the discovery of massive shale gas reserves, the US has become a gas-exporting country. According to reports, Washington will also experience a boom in shale oil production in the future and will become the largest oil producer.

According to the officials, Pakistan will offer $12 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) to gas exploration and production companies under the pilot programme, a price that is close to the cost of gas to be imported from Iran under the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project.

“A policy framework has been prepared and its approval will be sought from the ECC,” the petroleum ministry official said.

Exploration companies have already found some traces of shale gas during the search for conventional gas as 10% to 12% shale gas appears on upper faces of conventional gas.

Flood impact: After brief stability, inflation starts rising again

ISLAMABAD: 

The slowdown in the pace of increase in prices of goods stopped last month as inflation rose 7.7% year-on-year, primarily due to disruption to the food supply chain following heavy rains and floods.

Inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – which tracks movements in prices of 481 commodities – increased 7.7% in September, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics – the national data collecting agency – on Wednesday.

It was for the first time since April this year that inflation rate was higher than the previous month. In April, the headline inflation was 9.2%, which gradually came down to 7% in August – a trend that has stopped, at least for the time being.

The rise in inflation is in line with the expectations of the Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as both have already warned of an increase in prices of edible and other commodities in the wake of damage caused by floods to crops planted over 2.4 million acres of land.

According to the Rapid Need Assessment Report, in five districts of Punjab hit the hardest by the floods, people have lost 43% of stored food stock.

Data suggests that the increase in headline inflation was solely the result of higher food prices. On a year-on-year basis, food inflation rose 7.2%, an increase of 1.6% in just one month.

The increase was in both perishable and non-perishable food items. The pace of increase in perishable items was recorded at 16% in September over a year ago while it was only 4.8% in case of non-perishable commodities, according to the PBS.

Potato prices doubled compared to September last year. Moong pulse rates increased about one-fifth while cigarette prices went up 22.6% due to higher taxes from July this year.

Fuel and food-adjusted inflation, known as core inflation, rose 8.1% year-on-year, an increase of 0.2% in a single month.

Anticipating the pressure on inflation due to the floods, the SBP has kept the key discount rate unchanged at 10%. In the past, the central bank used to target core inflation, but now it appears that the central bank has shifted from the core to headline inflation while arriving at a decision on the discount rate, according to independent analysts.

Monetary aggregates suggest that despite the rise in headline inflation, there is still room for the SBP to either keep interest rate unchanged or reduce it in the next policy announcement, they added.

According to the latest SBP data for the period July to September 19, money supply contracted by about 2% or Rs196 billion. The retirement of credit was more than the disbursement by the banking sector.

However, during this period, net government borrowings for budget financing increased by Rs59.4 billion. Gross borrowings remained at Rs76.6 billion.

Average inflation in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year stood at 7.52% compared to the same period of previous year, according to the PBS. For the current year, the government has set the inflation target at 8%.

Scottish referendum: Scotland votes 'No' to independence

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With the results in from all 32 council areas, the "No" side won with 2,001,926 votes over 1,617,989 for "Yes".

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond called for unity and urged the unionist parties to deliver on more powers.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he was delighted the UK would remain together and that commitments on extra powers would be honoured "in full".

Mr Cameron said the three main unionist parties at Westminster would now follow through with their pledge of more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

He announced that Lord Smith of Kelvin, who led Glasgow's staging of the Commonwealth Games, would oversee the process to take forward the commitments, with new powers over tax, spending and welfare to be agreed by November, and draft legislation published by January.

Scottish referendum results in detail

The prime minister also acknowledged that the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland must have a bigger say over their affairs.

And he promised a solution to the West Lothian question - the fact that Scottish MPs can vote on English issues at Westminster, and not the other way round.

In other developments:

• US President Barack Obama welcomed Scots' decision to stay in the UK. "Through debate, discussion, and passionate yet peaceful deliberations, they reminded the world of Scotland's enormous contributions to the UK and the world," he said.
• Police Scotland said Thursday's vote "passed off smoothly" with just six arrests across the country mainly for alleged breaches of the peace and assaults.
• Share prices rose as Scotland voted against independence.
• Polling officials said they were investigating 10 cases of suspected electoral fraud at polling stations in Glasgow.
• Royal Bank of Scotland said it would keep its headquarters in Scotland following the "No" vote.
• Wales's First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for more funding for his country after Scotland voted to stay in the Union.
• Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson said a vote on the future of Northern Ireland's border was not necessary following Scotland's 'No' vote.
• Scotland rejected independence by 55% to 45%. For latest results and full coverage, go to bbc.co.uk/scotland-decides.

The result became a mathematical certainty at 06:08, as the returning officer in Fife announced a comfortable No vote.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Salmond said he accepted the defeat and called for national unity.

He told supporters: "The unionist parties made vows late in the campaign to devolve more powers to Scotland.

"Scotland will expect these to be honoured in rapid course - as a reminder, we have been promised a second reading of a Scotland Bill by March 27 next year.

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Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continueThe moment the No side won an unassailable lead over the Yes camp

And the first minister said: "Whatever else we can say about this referendum campaign, we have touched sections of the community who have never before been touched by politics, these sections of the community have touched us and touched the political process."

In a rallying call to his supporters, Mr Salmond urged the Yes voters to reflect on how far they had come."I don't think any of us, whenever we entered politics, would have thought such a thing to be either credible or possible," he said.

He also claimed the campaign had put "a scare and a fear of enormous proportions" at the heart of the Westminster establishment.

"Today of all days as we bring Scotland together, let us not dwell on the distance we have fallen short, let us dwell on the distance we have travelled and have confidence the movement is abroad in Scotland that will take this nation forward," he added.

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Android One Coming to Pakistan by the Year’s End with $100 Smartphones

Google announced its ambitious Android One project to bring the smartphones to the hands of the maximum number of people around the world back in June at I/O 2014. Google’s SVP for Android Sundar Pichai was confident enough to remark that Android’s achievement of gaining a user-base of 1 billion customers has paved the way for next 5 billion in the years to come, and Google has envisioned to get there by offering affordable, entry-level Android smartphones in developing South Asian countries, beginning with India.

Android One was officially kick-started this Monday at an event in India where the founding partners of the program, Micromax, Karbonn, and Spice introduced to the world their $100 offerings: the Canvas A1, Sparkle V, and Dream Uno, respectively. The devices bear close resemblance as they have been developed following Google’s development guidelines, and offer a near-identical spec-sheet that runs like thus:

• 4.5-inch IPS FWVGA display
• 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor
• 1 GB of RAM
• 4 GB of in-built memory with microSD expansion slot
• 2 MP front, and 5 MP rear-facing camera with LED flash
• 1,700 mAh battery capacity
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, GPRS, EDGE and 3G connectivity

Other South Asian countries where the Android One will be expanding by the year’s end, as announced by Google, are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Although the details are scarce at this point, it has been announced that Google will be expanding with bringing more manufacturing partners into the fold. These partners include Asus, Lenovo, Acer, Alcatel, HTC and Panasonic alongside the chip-maker Qualcomm. This means we’ll soon be seeing a lot more options, not only in the terms of device manufacturers but the internal components such as processors as well.

Which firms will partner with Google to release Android One brand in Pakistan remains to be ascertained yet. Lenovo recently started selling their smartphones officially in Pakistan, hence they are a strong candidate. QMobile is another contender but some might argue its position because of their business strategy and approach to the market (QMobile is not exactly a manufacturer, but only a distributor).

The prospect of releasing a $100 smartphone doesn’t look too far-fetched now that we have seen sub-10,000 offerings from QMobile and Ufone locally. Not only the experience that the devices built in close partnership with Google itself will most likely be superior, at the same time, these devices will introduce a number of new customers to the smartphone category generally and the Android platform specifically. The advantages of this strategy will be two-fold: a whole new crop of customers will reap the benefits of 3G and smart telephony in general, and Google will benefit in the long-run by creating a loyal user-base when they are ready to upgrade to more expensive options.

Dukhtar, Mary Kom emerge as harbingers of change for women

According to Priyanka Chopra, Mary Kom resonates in part because of recent high-profile cases of sexual violence in India. PHOTO: FILE

TORONTO: 

A trio of films stepped beyond song-and-dance to show South Asian women grappling with male-dominated sport, child marriage and sexual desire of people with disability in their premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. Upcoming Pakistani film Dukhtar and Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom are among the films breaking barriers with their women-centric themes.

While the stories tell vastly different tales, all seek to challenge their home audiences and provoke change. First-time feature film director, Afia Nathaniel struggled to find local financing for Dukhtar (Daughter), a film that revolves around a mother (Samiya Mumtaz) and her 10-year-old daughter (Saleha Arif) who flee their home on the eve of the child’s marriage to a tribal leader. Following which, a deadly hunt for them begins.

After years in the funding wilderness, Norway’s Sorfund came on board, helping the film garner additional backers. “Our local film industry is in shambles and financiers want to see masala films with women wearing almost nothing dancing and gyrating on the screen,” said Nathaniel.

Filming in a remote part of the disputed Kashmiri region had to be halted at one point under threat of a fatwa issued by a local religious authority. In Mary Kom, former Miss World Priyanka Chopra plays the real-life title role of a five-time world champion boxer, taking on bullying boys and corrupt officials, while also juggling marriage and motherhood.

Chopra did not use a stunt double for the fight scenes and took on a punishing training regime to give her petite frame an athletic form. She said the film resonates in part because of recent high-profile cases of sexual violence that caught world attention.

“It’s a time where the country is coming together to say ‘We protect our women and we give them rights’ and the women are coming together and saying ‘We’re tough, we’re strong, we’re not going to take this sitting down’,” she said in an interview. The biopic was bankrolled in part by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and has faced criticism in India for overly dramatising the life of a national icon.

For director Shonali Bose, an outburst from her cousin and the death of her teenage son inspired Margarita, With A Straw, a story about a young woman with cerebral palsy who explores her budding sexuality. What Bose expects will shock Indian viewers the film will have a wide domestic release but must first make it past censors.

The character in the film is disabled, which adds another layer to it, said actor Kalki Koechlin. “It’s pushing borders, not just about disability but about the way we think in terms of community and caste in India and how we conveniently place people in different boxes.”