Karachi

The former Chairman Department of International Relations, University of Karachi (KU) and renowned analyst on European Diplomacy, Prof.

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KARACHI: Gold hit record highs near $1,250 an ounce in Europe on Friday as investors bought the metal to protect against sovereign risk in the euro zone and instability in the foreign exchange markets.

Gold priced in euros, sterling and Swiss francs extended the record highs they have already set this month as investors concerned about the outlook for the European currencies chose gold as an alternative asset.

Spot gold hit a record $1,248.95 and was bid at $1,246.75 an ounce at 1046 GMT (6:46 a.m. EDT), against $1,231.83 late in New York on Thursday.

U.S. gold futures for June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $17.70 to $1,246.90 an ounce.

“The gold price has benefited from strong safe-haven demand linked to fiscal issues in the euro zone, and a pull-back from the euro as a reserve currency,” said BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay.

“We expect incremental safe-haven demand to ebb as the Greek crisis subsides,” she added. “However, gold will remain a much sought-after hedge should fiscal concerns over Greece or other EMU countries mount again.”

Concerns over the outlook for Greece and other debt-laden euro zone economies has prompted demand for assets seen as a safe store of value this year.

A $1 trillion rescue deal aimed at stabilizing financial markets announced last weekend helped the euro and European equities recover some losses, but the boost it gave the markets has proved short-lived.

The cost of insuring peripheral euro zone government debt against default rose on Friday, having fallen sharply this week after the deal was unveiled, while the euro fell below $1.25 to an 18-month low and European shares slid.

A weaker euro and consequently stronger dollar would usually weigh on gold, but this link has been weakened as sovereign risk concerns fueled buying both of bullion and the U.S. currency.

While investors have traditionally bought gold as an alternative to the dollar at times when the U.S. currency is weak, analysts say they are increasingly seeing it as an alternative to paper currencies in general.

“Bullion is performing rather well against any fiat (paper) currency at the moment,” said VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchonkov.

Investment interest in physical bullion was strong as buyers sought safety, with holdings of the world’’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York’’s SPDR Gold Trust, at a record high 1,209.5 tonnes on Thursday.

The fund’’s reserves have risen 68.5 tonnes or 6 percent in the last four weeks. The SPDR ETF is the world’’s sixth largest holder of gold, ahead of Switzerland, China and Japan.

However, high prices are set to curb gold demand from the jewelry sector after a soft year in 2009 in key gold buying centers such as India, Turkey and the Middle East.

Gold imports by India, the world’’s biggest market for the precious metal, could drop for a third straight year in 2010 as record high prices scare off traditional buyers.

Among other commodities, oil prices fell more than 2 percent to below $73 a barrel on Friday on concerns the European debt crisis may curb global growth, and therefore energy demand. Industrial metal prices also slid.

Silver tracked gold higher to at $19.63 an ounce against $19.41. Platinum was at $1,721.50 an ounce against $1,731.50 and palladium at $529 against $537.

“Selling pressure has again been seen overnight but again we expect tightening fundamentals to offer background support,” said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.

“Volatility may increase in the coming days ahead of next week’’s Platinum Week activities in London.”

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira stressed the need for making collective efforts for an effective implementation of the 18th amendment, resolution of all national issues and facing national challenges.

The minister was making a speech in the national assembly here today while winding up the debate on the 5th April, 2010 presidential address to the joint sitting of parliament.

Referring the independence of media, Kaira said, “Our government has abolished the draconian PEMRA laws framed during Musharraf’’s era because we believe in freedom of information.” He urged the media-houses to resolve problems of their employees and pay taxes.

He pointed out that Pakistani media was following a certain agenda and targeting President Asif Ali Zardari. Kaira hailed the President for accepting harsh criticism by some media outlets.

“We will have to continue working, as challenges are not yet over and we want your input in implementation of 18th amendment so as to help the government in achieving national progress and harmony”, said the minister. He said the presidential address gives guideline and sets priorities to be followed by the government.

Terming the criticism by Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as baseless, information minister said that he should have gone through the two years performance report of the government by which the government presented itself for accountability.

Giving details of the implementation of the CoD, Kaira said that 17th Amendment and PEMRA ordinances have been abolished in light of the Charter of Democracy (CoD). “Under the CoD, out of eight constitutional amendments six have been carried out so far; out of eleven, seven legislation have already been made,” he said.

The minister maintained that it does not mean that everything has become perfect. There is no doubt that when the present government came into power inflation in the country was 25 per cent while today it has come down to ten or eleven percent, he added.

The minister said, “We do not self-aggrandize ourselves but we have accepted the gaps in our performance and we are open towards positive and constructive criticism that might even be against the government.”

“There are around 212 foot-notes in the book, not made by the government but by neutral analysts who gave suggestions for the improvement in good governance,” he added and asked the house to analyze the two years report.

Shifting the focus towards the agriculture situation in the country, the minister stated that due to effective and practical measures, three million tons of wheat procured last year is still available in storage, which enabled the government to inject huge amounts into the rural economy by strategic procurement.

The minister was of the view that criticism on BISP is also baseless as this scheme was targeting poor people of all parts of the country and hence all members of the parliament treasury or opposition were equally able to benefit the poor of their areas through this scheme without any discrimination and hence the scheme covers the whole country.

Regarding power shortage Kaira said that government is well aware of the sensitive nature of the issue and thus it organized a three-day Energy Conference, which discussed the issue in detail and gave its recommendations. He said the steps taken by the government in the light of these recommendations are bearing results.

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CHUNIYAN: Federal Minister for Law Babar Awan has said the incumbent Parliament has proved that the political parties can converge and that the PPP-led government is ready to tackle all sorts of challenges.

Addressing Chuniyan Bar Association, Babar Awan said being a Minister of Law is nothing compared to the profession of law, which, he said, enjoys a superior status.

?I will appear before the Supreme Court not as Babar Awan but as (representative of) Government of Pakistan,? he said, adding, a lawyer and democratic party are never afraid of anyon. ?I can keep on appearing before the court for the next 25 years,? he said.

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NOWSHERA: A close aide to the Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah was arrested by law-enforcement agencies and the security forces in a joint action

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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday assured the National Assembly that he would form a committee to look into the alleged victimization of politicians from Sindh and take up the matter with the provincial government. “I will constitute a committee today to address the grievances.

Had it been a federal subject, I would have ordered immediately,” said the Prime Minister responding to a point of order raised by Pakistan Muslim League Chief Whip Mian Riaz Hussian Pirzada.

Pirzda alleged that PML politicians from Sindh including Shafqat Sherazi and others were being victimized in Sindh, contrary to the Prime Minister’’s policy of political reconciliation.

He also warned to boycott the proceedings of the current as well as the budget session if the alleged victimization is not stopped. To this, the prime minister said the government believes in political reconciliation and not in victimization, substantiating that at present, there is no political prisoner in the country.

“We want to take coalition partners and opposition members along. We want accountability without political victimization,” assured the premier, adding that he would direct the Singh government to look into the issue raised by the PML member.

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Islamabad

For its debut presentation on its new premises, Kuch Khaas ? the centre for arts, culture and dialogue ? featured a theatre group cal

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KARACHI: Following were the bullion prices in Karachi on Friday.

Gold Tezabi 24 CT 33085.00 (per 10 gram)
Silver Tezabi 488.57 (per 10 gram)

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Pakistan News

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said his government is pursuing policies consistently even in the most trying circumstances. During an informal meeting with a group of journalists after the postponement of scheduled visit to Hunza due to the inclement weather, the prime minister said his optimism about the materialization of the Charter of Democracy and passage of the 18th Amendment was even contested by some senior political leaders.

However, he assured them that it would be implemented and now it had happened in practical terms, he added.

PM Gilani said the top priority of his government is good governance.

In this context, he said the anomalies of the constitution have been removed and now a clear-cut roadmap determining role of all institutions has been enacted.

He said good governance is a shared responsibility of the federal and provincial governments. Therefore, he added, he looked forward to provinces” wholehearted participation to achieve this goal.

On a question regarding public apprehension about clash between executive and judiciary, the Prime Minister assured that it would not happen since the role of all the institutions has been determined in the constitution.

He mentioned that on a number of occasions when everybody was expecting a showdown, he resolved the issue.

He also mentioned the signing of the National Finance Commission Award and the unanimous adoption of the 18th Amendment as an outcome of reconciliation.

Gilani said whenever there was a contentious issue, he immediately approached the parliament to benefit from the collective wisdom of the public representatives.

Responding to another question, he said his address to the public gathering at Muzaffargarh had been in accordance with the decision of party’’s parliamentary board.

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GROS ISLET, Saint Luci: Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to field against Pakistan in the World Twenty20 semi-final at the Beausejour Stadium here on Friday.
Australia were unchanged from the side that knocked hosts the West Indies out of the tournament with a six-wicket win here on Tuesday.
Defending champions Pakistan were also unchanged from the team that defeated South Africa by 11 runs, at Beausejour on Monday.
Rain delayed the scheduled 11am local time (1500GMT) toss by 40 minutes.
However, organisers have given themselves an additional two hours in which to complete this match, which means that not until approximately 1.30pm (1730GMT) will the fixture start being reduced from a 20 overs per side contest if the semi-final has not already started by then.
Should no result at all be possible because of bad weather, Australia will be in the final as they have won more matches at the tournament than Pakistan.
The teams have already met once in this competition, with Australia beating Pakistan by 34 runs in a first round group clash here on May 2.
Whoever wins this match will face England in Sunday’’s final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, after Paul Collingwood’’s side convincingly defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first semi-final at Beausejour here on Thursday.
Teams
Australia: David Warner, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke (captain), David Hussey, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes
Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (captain), Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Khalid Latif Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman,
Mohammad Aamer, Saeed Ajmal
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) and Ian Gould (ENG), TV umpire: Billy Bowden (NZ)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)

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