The prime minister heads the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet which fixes the support and issue price of wheat.

Wheat sowing would start from October in arid areas of the country and the food ministry believes that only a justified wheat support price, that should not be less than the market price, could attract farmers to wheat sowing and enable Pakistan to achieve, or at least reach close to, the 24 million tons wheat production target for the next crop.

The ministry has also made it clear that last year’s support price of Rs625 per 40 kg may not be acceptable to farmers, and they may not be tempted or forced to sell their crop to the government at half of the market rate by imposing Section 144 or resorting to other legal and administrative measures.

The food ministry also informed the prime minister about reasons behind smuggling of wheat to Afghanistan, Iran, India and some central Asian states and how smuggling of food items from Pakistan has turned out to be a most lucrative business over the last one year.

The food ministry has also informed the prime minister about the growing trend of smuggling of Pakistan’s urea to neighbouring countries and even beyond that over the last few months.

The official said that paramilitary forces have miserably failed to prevent smuggling of wheat to Afghanistan and some other neighbouring countries due to around 43 per cent difference in the price of the commodity.

Urea price in Pakistan hovers around $180, while in the neighbouring countries the rate of the fertiliser has touched the figure of $800 per ton.

Pakistan produces 4.8 million tons of urea, while the country’s requirement is around 5.6 million, leaving a gap of 0.8 million tons in supply and demand which is met through imports.

The landed cost of imported wheat is between Rs1200 to Rs1400 per 40 kg, and if local farmers are not given support price according to market rates, they may switch over to rice and sun-flower sowing.

The ministry has also recommended that prices of agriculture inputs, including fertiliser and pesticides, should not be increased from the existing level.
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Riyadh meanwhile has kept its cards close to chest tactically avoiding any public position on the issue. The global energy fraternity thus remains on tenterhooks.

There is a growing feeling now that at Opec’s September 9 meeting in Vienna, Saudi Arabia may increasingly come under some pressure from within the Opec ranks to curtail its output so as to prevent any steep fall in crude prices.

Saudi Arabia has been underlining at the highest level its commitment, will and the ability to meet the growing needs of the market. At the Jeddah energy summit on June 22, the kingdom announced increasing output to 9.7 million barrels per day. The Saudi output was indeed considerably higher than its Opec quota.

As per Platts, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ 13 members boosted their collective crude oil production by 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) in July to average 32.77 million b/d over the month.

And as was anticipated, in the meantime, the global crude markets started to respond to the rising output, softening the markets considerably. Tropical Storm Gustav notwithstanding, and despite blips here and there, the markets have been comparatively softer.

The extra Saudi and the Opec oil and the visible demand contraction in some of the major global economies in the West have helped prices go down. As per recent reports, the demand in the US, the world’s largest consumer, fell 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) on the year in the first half of 2008, the steepest fall in 26 years.

Similarly, in the world’s third largest consuming country Japan, the domestic oil product demand fell to its lowest in 19 years for the month of July. Oil product sales fell 3.5 per cent from a year earlier to 16.17 million kilolitres (kl), or about 3.28 million barrels per day (bpd), the second month of year-on-year decline, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said late last week.

The drop has prompted Opec price hawks Iran and Venezuela to suggest a cut in supplies. However, not every one seems to be toeing the line. Although there are some within the cartel, who may be eager to maximise their return from black gold, there are others too within the cartel looking at things in a broader perspective.

However, there is an interesting twist to this argument. Even if no formal output cut is announced, there is some possibility that some of the leading Opec members, currently producing beyond their quotas, could stifle some of the increased output. That in itself would have some sobering impact on the current market trends, one cannot deny.

Opec’s current production remains much higher than its target, industry estimates say, leaving plenty of surpluses that could be quietly removed should prices or demand fall sharply.

In August, Opec was pumping almost 1 million bpd more than its target of 29.67 million bpd, according to Petrologistics, a consultant which tracks Opec supply.

However, this very debate about the optimal Opec output is closely tied to the issue of the price level that Opec would like to defend. Opec has officially never indicated what price level it would like to defend. There are some indications though that oil has yet to approach a level that would worry Opec.

There are indications that the cartel may not react to lower prices until they fell below $80. In an interview in July, the Saudi King Abdullah was quoted as saying he wanted to see lower prices, though at that stage he did not specify the desired level.

Yet he emphasised that the kingdom was “already unhappy” with the rising price when it was around $100.

And for sure, the price right now is still above $100. Hence there should be no warning bells in Opec capitals at the current levels. And if the above line of argument is to be believed, then the Opec may well refrain from making any formal cut in output. Let’s keep guessing. Opec too enjoys the scenario!
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Senator Zardari secured 479 electoral votes, followed by PML-N candidate retired Justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui getting 153 votes. Mushahid Hussain Syed of Pakistan Muslim League got 43 electoral votes. President Elect Asif Ali Zardari thanked the parliamentarians of PPP and allied parties for supporting him in the Presidential election.
PML-N candidate Justice Saeed Uz Zaman Siddiqui conceded defeat and congratulated Asif Zardari on his victory. PML-Q candidate senator Mushahid Hussain Syed also congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election and hoped that being a symbol of federation, he would work for the unity of federation.
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Suurce

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The result is an autonomous helicopter than can perform a complete airshow of complex tricks on its own, its inventors say.

The stunts are “by far the most difficult aerobatic maneuvers flown by any computer-controlled helicopter,” said Andrew Ng, a Stanford University professor directing the research of graduate students Pieter Abbeel, Adam Coates, Timothy Hunter and Morgan Quigley.

A new video demonstrates the robot’s capabilities.

Rather than using software to control flight, the robot learns by observing an expert in what the Stanford team calls “apprenticeship learning.” Radio-control pilot Garett Oku operates the 4-foot model helicopter that serves as the expert.

“Garett can pick up any helicopter, even ones he’s never seen, and go fly amazing aerobatics. So the question for us is always, why can’t computers do things like this?” Coates said.

Well, they can.

The artificial-intelligence helicopter, an off-the-shelf model other than its new brains, can do traveling flips, rolls, loops, stall-turns with pirouettes and more. It can even do the “tic toc,” in which the helicopter, while pointed straight up, hovers with a side-to-side motion as if it were the pendulum of an upside down clock.

“I think the range of maneuvers they can do is by far the largest” in the autonomous helicopter field, said Eric Feron, a Georgia Tech aeronautics and astronautics professor who worked on autonomous helicopters while at MIT. “But what’s more impressive is the technology that underlies this work. In a way, the machine teaches itself how to do this by watching an expert pilot fly. This is amazing.”
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And that’s what she’s had to do.

It turns out her record as an independent-minded government reformer is not free of blemishes, and every one that’s found is being magnified for public view. Just since Friday, it’s come to light that:

_A private attorney is authorized to spend $95,000 of state money to defend her against accusations of abuse of power.

_Palin sought pork-barrel projects for her city and state, contrary to her reformist image.

_Her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in Alaska, with some members supporting secession from the United States.

_She has acknowledged smoking marijuana in the past.

And of course, her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy. Bristol Palin’s boyfriend, Levi Johnston, 18, plans to join Palin’s family at the GOP convention, the boy’s mother said. The young couple’s presence could set off a media frenzy.

After four days of taking it, Palin dishes it out Wednesday with a televised speech at the Republican National Convention. In addition to accepting the nomination, the first woman to do so for the GOP, Palin will tell her story: small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers; the wife of a blue-collar North Slope oil worker; and the mother of five, including one born this spring with Down syndrome.

Defending his choice and the team that helped pick her, McCain said Tuesday that “the vetting process was completely thorough.” Campaign advisers at the convention said Palin filled out a survey with 70 tough questions, including: Have you ever paid for sex? Have you been faithful in your marriage? Have you ever used or purchased drugs? Have you ever downloaded pornography?

McCain’s aides rejected suggestions from Democrats that her selection was a hurried, last-minute attempt to shake up the campaign and wrest female voters from Barack Obama. They insisted Palin was a finalist from the start.

But one senior Republican familiar with the search, who requested anonymity because McCain did not authorize the conversation, said Palin had virtually fallen from the radar. Only late in the summer, when McCain asked for more alternatives, was she made a finalist.

As conservatives closed ranks behind their like-minded foe of abortion, former presidential candidate Fred Thompson used his prime-time address to defend Palin on Tuesday.

“Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit,” Thompson said.

When she was introduced as McCain’s running mate last week, Palin portrayed herself as a political maverick in McCain’s mold: “I’ve stood up to the old politics as usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies and the good old boy network,” she said.

But Alaska’s first female governor has at times benefited from Alaska’s entrenched political system.

For one thing, Palin accepted at least $4,500 in campaign contributions in the same fundraising scheme at the center of a public corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens.

The contributions, made during Palin’s failed 2002 bid to become Alaska’s lieutenant governor, were not illegal for her to accept. But they show how Palin, who has bucked Stevens and his allies, is nonetheless beholden to Alaska’s old guard.

The $4,500 came from executives at VECO Corp., a powerful Alaska oil field services company. Company founder Bill Allen has admitted the company steered its donations through a “special bonus program” in which executives received money and the company instructed them to donate it to favored politicians.

Allen pleaded guilty to bribery and corruption charges. He admitted the program violated federal tax laws and said it was used to keep his political allies flush with cash.

Steve Schmidt, senior adviser to the McCain campaign, dismissed the idea that a few campaign contributions years ago diminished Palin’s record as a reformer. “Gov. Palin’s record fighting corruption and taking on these issues in Alaska speaks for itself,” he said Tuesday.

Indeed, Palin has had her share of run-ins with Stevens, including a dustup earlier this year in which Stevens accused Palin of not being enthusiastic enough about his efforts to bring federal earmark money to Alaska. She has also called on Stevens’ son, Ben, to resign as national committeeman for the state party.

She was among the first Alaska Republicans to urge Stevens to answer questions about the FBI investigation.

S ource

“It’s my humble opinion that the city is still in a very, very vulnerable state,” Nagin said Tuesday evening.

Millions fled the Gulf Coast in fear of Hurricane Gustav, and many were ready to get back home after spending several days in hot, overcrowded shelters. But as of late Tuesday, there were still nearly 800,000 homes in Louisiana without power, including about 77,000 in the city of New Orleans. Officials said the main transmission lines into southern Louisiana were crippled and they had no timetable of when much of the power might be restored.

The mayor said he had no choice but to begin allowing residents back because neighboring parishes were reopening Wednesday morning. But they, too, face the dangers of downed power lines and trees.

Still, residents who evacuated coastal areas want to return, realizing this was no Katrina, which killed 1,600 people in 2005. Nine deaths have been attributed to Gustav.

Early insurance industry estimates put the expected damage to covered properties at anywhere from $2 billion to $10 billion. That’s high, but well short of Katrina’s $41 billion.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he won two promises from the federal government that will ease Louisiana’s recovery: the White House approved his “major disaster” declaration request, allowing residents of 34 parishes to receive federal funding for housing and recovery, and a strategic oil reserve will be opened to help reverse a severe shortage of fuel, particularly in south Louisiana.

Initial inspections showed little damage to the Gulf Coast’s extensive oil and gas installations, though resumption of production and refining could still take a few days. Reflecting confidence the industry suffered little damage, oil prices fell $5.75 a barrel.

Some were ready to celebrate, Big Easy style.

In the fishing village of Jean Lafitte, about 25 miles south of New Orleans, the mayor finally relaxed with a seafood boil of shrimp, corn and potatoes after three days of working on a temporary levee of two miles.

“Like the storm, I’m done,” said Mayor Tim Kerner, trying to hold open his heavy, sleep-deprived eyes. “We kept the town dry.”

There was no major partying on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, though.

Few businesses were open, including grocers or gas stations. But there were signs of recovery. Utility workers, contractors and government employees were allowed to return Tuesday. Banks and other firms were to return Wednesday.

The city expected to begin this weekend bringing back the estimated 18,000 residents who didn’t have the means to evacuate on their own and were sent to shelters in Louisiana and other states on buses, trains or aircraft.

Power outages caused by Gustav forced officials to transport scores of patients from hospitals and other medical facilities for fear they couldn’t survive long without air conditioning.

The state’s secretary of Health and Hospitals, Alan Levine, told The Associated Press these patients were critically ill, and a few were from hospital burn units. As of Tuesday evening, none of the patients had died during the recent evacuation. Officials said early Tuesday evening that about 140 had been transferred, and the number grew during the evening.

Residents were just ready to get back home.

Curtis Helms, 47, left New Orleans on Saturday with only $20 in his pocket and the stripped T-shirt and denim shorts he was wearing. He was still wearing the same clothes Tuesday at a shelter in Alabama and said he only left because Nagin threatened to toss those caught on the street behind bars.

“Right now, I’d rather be home, even with no electricity,” Helms said.

Others questioned the need to evacuate. “Next time, it’s going to be bad because people who evacuated like us aren’t going to evacuate,” Catherine Jones, 53, of Silsbee, Texas, who spent three days on a cot at a church shelter with her disabled son. “They jumped the gun.”

Emergency officials strongly defended the decision to evacuate, saying that with something as unpredictable as a hurricane, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Officials noted that, yes, New Orleans’ levees held, and Gustav struck only a glancing blow. But when trees fell on homes, power lines went down and roads were washed out in parts of south Louisiana, there was no one around to get hurt.

“The reasons you’re not seeing dramatic stories of rescue is because we had a successful evacuation,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. “The only reason we don’t have more tales of people in grave danger is because everyone heeded the instructions to get out of town.”
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The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, involved 170 participants aged 50 and over who reported some memory trouble but who did not have dementia.

Half engaged in moderate exercise, such as walking, for 50 minutes three times a week, while the others did no exercise.

After six months, the participants were given memory and other tests, including recalling lists of words. Those who exercised fared markedly better than those who did not.

“The trial is the first to demonstrate that exercise improves cognitive function in older adults with subjective and objective mild cognitive impairment,” according to the report.

“The benefits of physical activity were apparent after 6 months and persisted for at least another 12 months after the intervention had been discontinued.”

With the ageing of populations everywhere, an estimated 37 million people worldwide now live with dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease making up the majority of cases, according to the World Health Organization.

That figure is expected to increase rapidly over the next 20 years and researchers are looking for ways to help delay the onset of dementia.

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper said, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state.

Staff from the Sultanah Aminah hospital had to drain some blood from the penis and cut away a top layer of skin before the object could be removed, the newspaper said.

It said the fire and rescue department were also involved in trying to remove the nut from the unnamed welder, who is in his 20s and hoped the nut would weigh down his penis to make it longer.

“The patient is now recovering and we hope to discharge him today (Sunday),” hospital director Daud Abdul Rahim told the Star.

On August 25, another young man in Kuala Lumpur had tried to increase his sexual prowess by slipping a steel ring around his penis, forcing the fire department to cut off the ring after doctors were unable to remove it, the newspaper said.

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Those who heeded the days of warnings to get out watched from shelters and hotel rooms hundreds of miles away, praying the powerful Category 3 storm and its 115-mph winds would pass without the same deadly toll.

“We’re nervous, but we just have to keep trusting in God that we don’t get the water again,” said Lyndon Guidry, who hit the road for Florida just a few months after he was able to return to his home in New Orleans. “We just have to put our faith in God.”

The brutal memories of Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed more than 1,600 along the Gulf Coast, led officials to aggressively insist that everyone in Gustav’s path flee from shore. As the storm grew near, the streets of the city were empty - save for National Guardsmen and just about every officer on the city’s police force standing watch for looters.

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The streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans clear out as residents evacuate in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav.

1 of 3 more photos » While forecasters said it could intensify a bit before moving inland, it will not likely be the Category 4 storm that had been predicted — a possibility that added urgency to mass evacuation orders in recent days.

Nearly all of the roughly 2 million people in coastal Louisiana and the New Orleans area had cleared out ahead of Hurricane Gustav on Sunday night.

Road, rail and air links out of New Orleans began to close as the first storm bands began to strike the city. But more than 1.9 million people had fled New Orleans and its surrounding parishes by Sunday night, and fewer than 10,000 people were thought to remain in New Orleans, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, citing the city’s police chief.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had demanded an evacuation of the city, which still is recovering from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Forecasters warned Gustav — a Category 3 storm similar to Katrina — could hit Louisiana with devastating effect by early Monday afternoon.

Jindal said New Orleans’ levees should “barely hold or barely be overtopped” if the storm, as predicted Sunday evening, hit southwest of the city.

But even a slight shift to the east could bring “very significant flooding in these areas,” he said. iReport.com: Did you stay? Share your story

A leading researcher said the hurricane probably would test New Orleans’ western levees, which, unlike levees in other parts of the city, didn’t receive the brunt of Katrina’s force in 2005. The western levees are low in some sections, he said.

“From the west bank of New Orleans all the way across to Morgan City … we’re going to see communities potentially go under water from levee overtopping and potential breaching,” said Louisiana State University Professor Ivor van Heerden, who warned long before Katrina that a major hurricane would be catastrophic for New Orleans.

At 2 a.m. ET, forecasters said Gustav was a Category 3 storm and was centered about 170 miles (275 km) south-southeast of New Orleans and it was moving northwest across the central Gulf of Mexico at 16 mph — the same speed and track reported late Sunday.

The storm had sustained winds of 115 mph (184 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said. Category 3 hurricanes have sustained winds from 111 mph to 130 mph (178 kph to 209 kph).

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Hurricane-force winds could hit Louisiana’s southern coast by sunrise Monday, and the storm’s center could hit southwest of New Orleans by early Monday afternoon, CNN meteorologists said. Watch residents leaving »

Storm surges of 10 to 14 feet above normal tides are expected near and to the east of Gustav’s center, forecasters said. Rain accumulations between 6 to 12 inches are possible over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches, through Wednesday morning, according to forecasters.

Gustav killed at least 51 people in southwestern Haiti and eight in the neighboring Dominican Republic last week before moving to Cuba, which said it evacuated 250,000 people from the storm’s path. No storm-related deaths in Cuba were immediately reported; a Cuban official said many people were injured on Cuba’s Isle of Youth. Watch residents talk about damage in Cuba »

In New Orleans, Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed, the city’s emergency operations chief, said government agencies had evacuated 18,000 residents who were without transportation.

Jindal said the New Orleans area had finished evacuating homebound and nursing home patients by 7 p.m. ET Sunday, and 73 critical-care patients deemed OK to move still were in the process of being moved out of the area. Watch why one New Orleans man refuses to leave »

Some critical-care patients had to stay at medical facilities. Eighty patients remained Sunday evening at New Orleans Children’s Hospital, more than half of them in a critical care unit. Nurse Crystal Mayeaux said she will not leave them.

“We are attached to all the babies here,” Mayeaux said. “They know us.”

Highways out of town were packed all day with evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi.

“It was bumper-to-bumper for about 10 hours trying to get out,” said Roberto Ascencio of the New Orleans suburb of Gretna.

Charter flights, paid for with federal funds, carried thousands of evacuees to other Southern cities. The air evacuation was part of a detailed plan developed in response to criticism after Katrina, a Category 3 storm, flooded most of New Orleans, flattened beach towns in Mississippi and killed more than 1,800 people.

Nagin said New Orleans would impose a “dusk-to-dawn” curfew for anyone left. Watch Nagin voice concern about storm’s potential effect on the city »

The city-wide curfew will continue until the threat of the storm passes, Nagin said, warning looters would be dealt with harshly. Watch Nagin warn would-be looters »

“Anybody who’s caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population,” he said.

The storm altered plans for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to run from Monday through Thursday in Minnesota.

Rick Davis, campaign manager for presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, said Monday’s session would run only from 3 to 5:30 p.m. CT, and will include only activities necessary to launch the event. Watch report on Republicans’ altered plans »

Convention plans for the rest of the week will be made as the storm is assessed, he said.

Earlier Sunday, President Bush said he would forgo an appearance at the convention to meet with emergency workers and evacuees in Texas.

Also Sunday, a federally supported computer projection says Gustav could cause up to $32.8 billion in property damage when it hits the Gulf Coast.

The software, developed by FEMA and the National Institute of Building Sciences, also projected Sunday that about 75,000 structures will be destroyed. The path also ensnares about 180 hospitals and more than 1,100 police and fire stations.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said government agencies were “10 times better prepared” than before — but “that doesn’t mean everything is going to go right,” he said.

“Anybody who thinks everything is going to go perfect just doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” Barbour said.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was churning in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday night and was expected to be near or over the southeastern Bahamas during the next day or two, the hurricane center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the center said

Dwayne Nickles, center, loads sandbags into the trunk of his car with Harsha Dissanayake, left.

“Sandbagging — gotta do it,” said Dwayne Nickles, his T-shirt soaked through, grunting as he dug into a massive pile of sand left for those who needed to guard their homes against potential Hurricane Gustav flooding.

Squatting next to Nickles, Louisiana State University student Harsha Dissanayake had too much energy for someone who had spent much of the day at the school medical school helping officials take care of patients.

The 20-year-old moved 10 days ago from Sri Lanka to Baton Rouge, the state capital about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans. When he heard of the impending hurricane, he thought about the miserable experience his country endured during the 2004 tsunami.

“Southern hospitality is real,” he said. “People are so, so nice to me, and they ask me, ‘Did you lose your relatives? What was it like during the tsunami?’ and I feel like they really care. iReport.com: How did you prepare for Gustav?

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“I knew I had to volunteer and do my part to help,” he said.

Dissanayake was, in part, also helping his friend Kenneth De Abrew, also an LSU student. De Abrew had a remarkably cheerful disposition considering he lives on a first floor apartment complex that often floods. See and hear De Abrew talk about his hurricane plans »

“You just have to be ready for it,” he said, laughing. “It’s nature. Actually, it’s kind of exciting!”

He heaved a few bags toward their pile and paused, surveying the dozen sweating people working hard to dig, stuff and seal bags.

“Sandbags actually remind me of bad stuff,” De Abrew said. “They use them in wars to make bunkers.”
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Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited says it has bought the club from Thaksin Shinawatra.

“The investment services and development in Abu Dhabi has successfully completed the huge takeover,” its statement read.

City have said discussions are ongoing and BBC Sport understands Thaksin is eager to retain an interest in City.

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A BBC correspondent reports chaotic scenes as soldiers try to reach those cut off and people attempt to scramble from rooftops into rescue boats.

With 1.2 million people homeless, India is struggling to cope with the crisis.

The flood waters are spreading to new areas, and conditions in relief camps are overcrowded and unsanitary.

The floods are known to have killed at least 75 people in Bihar - but the death toll could climb once the situation in remote areas emerges.

Large areas remain totally submerged, with reports suggesting that some villages have simply been washed away by strong currents.

Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced in neighbouring Nepal, where some of those who have lost their homes are camping under plastic sheets.

Disorganisation

Fights have been breaking out among people desperate to board 800 overcrowded army boats - each of which can carry between one and two dozen people - that have been deployed to help the evacuation process.

Uncertainty in India flood camp
How we rescued survivors
See how the river changed course

The temporary relief camps are being supported by volunteers and community groups, and a lack of central co-ordination is hampering the relief process.

Visiting the Bageecha relief camp in Purnea, the BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder could find no camp co-ordinator or government official in charge of distributing aid.

Trucks and vans carrying relief material stood parked on the highway as volunteers waited to be organised.

Several tonnes of aid had arrived but the volunteers were not quite sure how to distribute it.

The situation was symptomatic of what was happening across Bihar’s flood-affected areas, our correspondent says.

Massive costs

The disaster began on 18 August when a dam burst on the Saptakoshi river in Nepal.

The Saptakoshi, which becomes the Kosi when it enters India, subsequently broke its banks in Bihar.

Officials in Nepal say hundreds of people there have been hit by illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, and an estimated 50,000 are homeless.

They say nearly 1,000 houses have been completely destroyed. Power supplies and transport have been severely affected.

The costs to the economy are now estimated at one billion Nepalese rupees ($14.25m).

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The Category Three storm is expected to make landfall at midday local time.

The storm has prompted the Republicans to scale back their national convention where John McCain is due to accept the party’s nomination for president.

President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have scrapped plans to address the event in St Paul, Minnesota on Monday.

Dangerous surges

The first storm force winds are already being felt across Louisiana, and forecasters warn heavy rain bands are approaching New Orleans.
At 1000 GMT on Monday, the eye of Gustav was about 40 miles (70km) south-east of the Louisiana coast.

Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center say that at the current speed, the centre of the storm would hit the coast by midday local time.

They warned that Gustav’s winds were at speeds of 115 mph (185km/h) and could bring “extremely dangerous” storm surges 14ft (4.2m) above normal. Isolated tornadoes are also possible in the area.

The storm has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean, causing widespread damage in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week. At least 300,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as the storm brought extensive flooding and some severe damage, but no reports of deaths. Some got a little bit panicky earlier on, a bit like the opening a door on an aeroplane syndrome, but we’re not paying it too much attention

Cian Heasley
In a bar in New Orleans
Tracking Gustav on the web

In New Orleans, a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force across the city, which is described as being like a ghost town. The 7,000-strong Louisiana National Guard has been mobilised and support requested from other states. The New Orleans mayor has warned looters will be sent to jail.

Crime was a major problem in the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city three years ago, causing disastrous floods.

The exodus of an estimated 1.9 million people from the Louisiana coast is said to be the largest evacuation in state history. Tens of thousands are also reported to have left coastal Mississippi, Alabama and south-eastern Texas.

Few remain

Roads out of New Orleans - much of which lies below sea level - were crammed with traffic throughout Sunday.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal appealed to residents: “If you’re hearing this, seeing this, if you’ve not evacuated, please do so. There’s still a few hours left.” FLASHBACK TO KATRINA
Katrina struck US Gulf Coast in August 2005 as a category three storm, killing more than 1,800 people
New Orleans was 80% flooded after storm surge breached protective levees
US Government was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced
Flashback: Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told local TV that only about 10,000 residents remained in the city, where rain began falling at sunset on Sunday.

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly, in New Orleans, says the mood among the city’s remaining residents is of hope and fear.

Sandra Taylor, from Lafayette, Indiana, is visiting her daughter, who had a baby nine days ago.

“Where we live it’s not in a flood zone, and we’re quite sheltered,” she said. “There’s a few that have battened down, and sealed all the windows and stuff and disappeared. But there’s a lot of other neighbours around, so I think we’re just going to play the three little pigs - if one house blows away, we’ll shift to the next one.”

Cian Heasley, has joined a few other friends at a bar in New Orleans “waiting out the storm with two generators, a lot of liquor and food”.

“We feel quite safe at the moment. There aren’t any windows but there are two sturdy doors so we feel secure. We’re just drinking and watching TV and staying calm really.

“I think the whole speech about it being the ‘mother of all storms’ is trying to scare everyone, and force people to leave the city.”

Restaurant worker Dustin Goza agreed.

“In some ways it’s good that people are being given a chance to prepare but I think it’s also an overreaction,” he said.

“The rain has been stopping and starting and you can feel the pressure so you know a storm’s on its way. It’s feeling quite gusty. I’ve put some tape up in preparation around windows but that’s it.”

Oil watch

In 2005, three-quarters of New Orleans was flooded by a storm surge that claimed more than 1,800 lives in coastal areas.

All eyes will be on the city’s levees, which Category Three storm Katrina swept away under a wall of mud and water.

Out in the Gulf of Mexico, most oil production has been shut down. Three years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the region’s oil infrastructure and sent oil prices soaring.
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The KSE-100 index clinging to four figures of 9,994 points just four months down the road from its record high at 15,750 on April 18, looked especially gory.

Many stock brokers shook their heads when asked if they were on the sell side. But foreign investors were clearly the panic prone herd.

“Net foreign selling since January stands at $350 million with sell orders flying across trading rooms of brokerages aggregating to a huge $20 million in the past two days”, says Mohammad Sohail at JS Capital.

The sinking value of the rupee which hit the pit at Rs77.15 to a dollar on Friday, weak economic numbers including depletion in foreign exchange reserves and the political wrangling among coalition partners were believed to have prompted Moody’s to issue a note of caution on Wednesday, which foreign funds took as a signal to take to a flight.

Foreigners who had entered the equity market in droves to grab advantage of the previous seven years of the country’s outperformance as one of the best markets in the world, still hold $3 billion worth of stocks and 25 per cent of the free float.

But over the past four months, value of Pakistani equity market has sunk to $41 billion, from $75 billion, reflecting a loss of $34 billion. Converted at the current currency value that worked out to a drain of staggering Rs2.6 trillion! Market capitalisation at close of trading on Friday stood at Rs3.1 trillion.

Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman and MD of NIT, the country’s largest mutual fund and the manager of the recently constituted “Equity Market Opportunity Fund” of the size of Rs20 billion says, he never sells in a falling market.

He reiterated that the Opportunity Fund had been created to capture value buying for its contributors, which in turn could stabilise the market. He said that the ‘concept paper’ of the Opportunity Fund clearly laid down that approvals had to be sought from the federal government and the SECP and that the Fund could sell “only if it is satisfied that such sale would not in any manner destabilise the market and that it is not detrimental to the basic objective of never acting against public interest”.

Nadeem Naqvi, who recently stepped down as the CEO of AKD Securities to venture into more challenging tasks, asks for a look at the global picture. “Stock markets”, he says “are taking the blow everywhere because both the US and Europe are experiencing sharp economic slowdown; Japan posted negative GDP growth in the last quarter and Indian economy growth has slid from 9 to 7 per cent”.

China is expected to face a meltdown after the glowing economics of Olympics are over. “Due to the global slowdown, inflation is rising and interest rates are likely to edge higher in the future, pushing down asset values including that of stocks all across the world”, says Nadeem.

But for the KSE, he has something cheerful to say. “Historically over the 10 to 15 years, the Pakistani stocks have traded at the forward price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of 8.5 to 9 times and the equities are now down to a multiple of 6.7 times, which means the downside is limited”.

He, however, adds that the upside too is capped at the index level of 11,000 points, given the political uncertainty, high interest rates, economic worries and the erosion in the value of rupee”.

Several market pundits agreed that the KSE might continue to trade in the range of 9,000 to 11,000 points until the winter this year.

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The interesting feature was that spinners major buying thrust was again on the central Sindh lint owing to its better quality, while its Punjab counterpart was available at slightly lower rates, floor brokers said.
Some of the Punjab types were traded as lower as Rs4,075 but Sindh variety was not available below Rs4,125, sustaining a premium over its Punjab counterpart, they said.

They said price differential of Rs75 per maund between the two reflects very badly on the central Punjab lint, which in normal seasons is sold at a premium over the former.

Cotton analysts failed to pinpoint the reasons behind this phenomenon but some others said late rain and the current pest attack in the entire cotton belt may have damaged its fibre content.

Meanwhile, reports trickling in from the cotton belt indicate that second picking of phutti in the early growing areas is well in progress and should have pushed prices lower but strong mill support keep them on the higher side.

News from the export front were a bit bearish as local prices are higher than the foreign ones and that is perhaps why exporters are out of the market for the last couple of sessions.

Official spot rates were remained firm at the previous level of Rs4,125 per maund and bulk of the ready business was done around them.

New York cotton futures, on the other hand, failed to sustain the overnight run-up as both the contracts fell by 1.29 and 1.27 cents per lb at 67.16 and 69.36 for the ruling October and the distant December.

Mill intake was on the higher side as another 20,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH TYPE: 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs4,125 to 4,150, 2,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs4,125 to 4,135, 1,000 bales, each Khipro, Hyderabad and Sanghar, 600 bales, Shahpur Chakkar,400 bales, each Jhoke and Nawabshah at Rs4,125,and 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,100 to 4,125.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales each, Chichawatni and Burewala at Rs4,100 to 4,125, 1,000 bales, Mian Channu, 400 bales, Gojra and 200 bales, Muridwala at Rs4,100, 600 bales, Pak Pattan, at Rs4,075 to 4,100, 600 bales and 400 bales, Bahawalnagar and Arifwala at 4,075.
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“One of the most serious issues is our depleting foreign exchange reserves, which have come down to about $10 billion because of exchange rate pressure, and, therefore, urgently needed to be enhanced through more privatisation and by attracting new foreign inflows,” he said at a press conference in his parliament chambers here on Friday.

The government, he said, had decided to take a number of steps to contain the fiscal deficit target during 2007-08 and for this purpose “we will have to slow down the economic activity.”

He, however, said that oil prices, which had gone down to $112 a barrel after peaking $148 barrel in the international market and then again rose to nearly $120 a barrel, would not be brought down “unless the government achieves an equalization.”"We will pass on the benefit of reduced oil prices when the government starts buying and selling oil at the same price.”

He said all supplementary grants to the ministries and divisions had been stopped along with a directive to cut back on foreign tours and stop buying physical assets.

He said that funds would be withdrawn from development projects which do not have any economic impact.

Terming it unfortunate, he said that the government would have to slash its development budget from Rs550 billion to Rs450 billion to avoid piling up problems.

He said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was insisting on keeping fiscal deficit pegged at 4.3 per cent target, had been told that it was not possible, but it had been assured that the deficit would not exceed 4.7 per cent target which had been fixed in the budget.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is believed to have recommended a 61 per cent increase in electricity tariff, which the government was anxious to pass on to consumers.

Without hinting about the exact amount of the power tariff increase, the finance minister said: “It will be a fairly hefty increase to help remove Wapda’s growing financial difficulties.”

He said that Wapda needed to make payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which had threatened to shut down their plants because of non-payment.

He said the government could not offer sovereign guarantees to the IPPs but that they would be made their due payments by allowing Wapda to go for substantial power increases.

“Pakistan has to survive as a normal country. It also favours the IPPs.”

He said that all government subsidies, including on oil and electricity, would be eliminated by June 2009, and consumers would have to share the burden of increase in prices of all commodities.

“Wapda’s circular debt is increasing, which will have to be cut by allowing the increase in electricity charges.”

The finance minister said that Wapda and Pepco had been ordered to eliminate line losses.

The minister said that the government had decided to control expenditure by reducing unnecessary borrowing from the State Bank, which had earlier tightened its monetary policy.

Instead, he said, the government would borrow from the National Savings Directorate and a target of Rs150 billion had been set which would be achieved by launching new schemes.

Mr Qamar also said that the government would impose more taxes on import of luxury goods and non-essential items, adding that the rate of duty on such items would be increased from 35 per cent shortly after the federal cabinet’s approval.

He said the government would launch a new commercial instrument to mop up Rs300 billion deposits of ministries and other public sector corporations, adding that they had been ordered to withdraw their funds from various savings accounts which would be used for launching the instrument.

Initially, he said, that Rs40 billion would be used for launching the instrument next month.

He said the cabinet was considering approving a five-day work week.

Referring to petroleum export, he said, the export of oil to Afghanistan would be controlled by imposing a regulatory duty on subsidised petroleum products.

“Oil is being bought at a subsidised rate and then exported to Afghanistan and in the process, people are earning considerable profits. This practice will be discouraged by imposing a regulatory duty,” he added.

He, however, clarified that the regulatory duty would only be applied on the subsidy for oil export.

The finance minister also said that the government had worked out a plan for privatisation which would be unveiled on Tuesday next and is aimed at achieving over $2 billion.

“The government will raise Rs52 billion from the privatisation other than big ticketing items.”

He said there would be more foreign inflows, including $26 million coming from privatisation of the PTCL and $750-800 million through the launching of a new bond scheme.

“These new bonds will be securitised against workers’ remittances,” the finance minister said.

He said that the CNG prices are expected to be fixed at Rs49 a kilogramme for which OGRA is finalising details.

In reply to a question, he said that the government was in touch with the government of Saudi Arabia to import 120,000 barrels of oil on deferred payment.

He, however, said that unless the issue was finalised, he could not reveal the cost in dollar terms.

He also disclosed that the US and Canada had offered to give wheat on deferred payment.

“All subsequent wheat imports will be made on deferred payment and this will be in addition to the wheat to be received from the US under the PL-480 programme.”

He said that the IMF had issued a ‘letter of comfort’ on the basis of which the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank would soon start disbursing funds to Pakistan.

But he made it clear that the government did not seek any new IMF programme.
Source

The KSE-100 index clinging to four figures of 9,994 points just four months down the road from its record high at 15,750 on April 18, looked especially gory.

Many stock brokers shook their heads when asked if they were on the sell side. But foreign investors were clearly the panic prone herd.

“Net foreign selling since January stands at $350 million with sell orders flying across trading rooms of brokerages aggregating to a huge $20 million in the past two days”, says Mohammad Sohail at JS Capital.

The sinking value of the rupee which hit the pit at Rs77.15 to a dollar on Friday, weak economic numbers including depletion in foreign exchange reserves and the political wrangling among coalition partners were believed to have prompted Moody’s to issue a note of caution on Wednesday, which foreign funds took as a signal to take to a flight.

Foreigners who had entered the equity market in droves to grab advantage of the previous seven years of the country’s outperformance as one of the best markets in the world, still hold $3 billion worth of stocks and 25 per cent of the free float.

But over the past four months, value of Pakistani equity market has sunk to $41 billion, from $75 billion, reflecting a loss of $34 billion. Converted at the current currency value that worked out to a drain of staggering Rs2.6 trillion! Market capitalisation at close of trading on Friday stood at Rs3.1 trillion.

Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman and MD of NIT, the country’s largest mutual fund and the manager of the recently constituted “Equity Market Opportunity Fund” of the size of Rs20 billion says, he never sells in a falling market.

He reiterated that the Opportunity Fund had been created to capture value buying for its contributors, which in turn could stabilise the market. He said that the ‘concept paper’ of the Opportunity Fund clearly laid down that approvals had to be sought from the federal government and the SECP and that the Fund could sell “only if it is satisfied that such sale would not in any manner destabilise the market and that it is not detrimental to the basic objective of never acting against public interest”.

Nadeem Naqvi, who recently stepped down as the CEO of AKD Securities to venture into more challenging tasks, asks for a look at the global picture. “Stock markets”, he says “are taking the blow everywhere because both the US and Europe are experiencing sharp economic slowdown; Japan posted negative GDP growth in the last quarter and Indian economy growth has slid from 9 to 7 per cent”.

China is expected to face a meltdown after the glowing economics of Olympics are over. “Due to the global slowdown, inflation is rising and interest rates are likely to edge higher in the future, pushing down asset values including that of stocks all across the world”, says Nadeem.

But for the KSE, he has something cheerful to say. “Historically over the 10 to 15 years, the Pakistani stocks have traded at the forward price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of 8.5 to 9 times and the equities are now down to a multiple of 6.7 times, which means the downside is limited”.

He, however, adds that the upside too is capped at the index level of 11,000 points, given the political uncertainty, high interest rates, economic worries and the erosion in the value of rupee”.

Several market pundits agreed that the KSE might continue to trade in the range of 9,000 to 11,000 points until the winter this year.

Source

In physical trading bulk of the business was done higher by Rs25 to Rs50 per maund depending on the quality of lint, but the Sindh type was again sold at a premium as compared to its central Punjab counterpart, floor brokers said.

Both ginners and spinners appear to be a bit happy as mounting ready buying offers from the latter in line with their asking prices have saved them from high incident of backlog.

“All the partners in cotton trade are in haste as no one among them is inclined to awaiting further decline or rise in prices and is more than satisfied at the day’s tally,” market sources said.

According to them current prices suit to every one as was reflected by heavy ready mill intake amounting to about 30,000 bales daily.

They said the current rebound staged by the New York cotton futures was another aiding factor behind the accelerated mill buying on the perception that imports were getting expensive each day.

After several lean sessions, New York cotton futures on Thursday rebounded by 1.18 and 1.17 cents per lb at 68.45 and 70.63 cents for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts respectively.

Official spot rates were also quoted further higher by Rs50 per maund at Rs4,125, but some of the deals in the ready section were done above them.

The following notable deals were finalised in the ready section on Thursday.

SINDH TYPE: 3,000 bales, each Shahdadpur and Tando Adam at Rs4,125 to Rs4,175, 2,000 bales, Sanghar 600 bales, Jhole, 800 bales, Hala and 400 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at Rs4,150, 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 600 bales, 400 bales, Hyderabad and 200 bales, Nawabshah at Rs4,125.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Burewala, at Rs4,075 to Rs4,125, 1,000 bales, Chichawatni at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 1,000 bales, Pak Pattan, at Rs4,090 to Rs4,100, 1,000 bales, Mian Channu at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 600 bales, 200 each Murid Wala and Gojra at Rs4,100, 200 bales, each Mungi Bungalow and Khanpur at Rs4,050 and Rs4,075.