PPP won’t be part of campaign to derail democracy: Sharjeel Memon

KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon Thursday said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will not be a part of the forces bent upon derailing democratic process in the country.

Addressing a program at Karachi Press Club (KPC) in connection with distribution of plot allotments to the journalists, he said Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan have one objective but their approach is different.

To a question, he termed Tahirul Qadri’s movement for ‘revolution’ as untimely and unjustified, adding the mandate of democratically elected government of Pakistan Muslim League-N must be respected.

“Tahirul Qadri should first bring about a revolution in the country of his nationality–Canada,” he said, adding the government should be allowed to serve its full tenure.

He also took a dig at Tahirul Qadri over his unwillingness to disembark Emirates plane at Lahore airport, saying such moves can bring a bad name to the country.

Commenting on the Model Town issue, he slammed the incumbent government, describing its conduct as dictatorial.

To another question in connection with allowing entry to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Sindh province, he said the Chief Minister has already announced a relief of Rs500 million. He said relief camps for collection of succour have been set up in various districts of Sindh from where truckloads of relief supplies will be transported to the IDPs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Replying to a query in connection with PTI’s warning to resign from assemblies, Sharjeel Memon said rigging is no justification to roll back the ongoing democratic process in the country.

He said PPP will never allow closure of any media group and that any move to muzzle the freedom of expression will be thwarted. “Those who believe they can gag the voice of truth and render the journalists unemployed live in fools’ paradise,” he added.

The Information Minister announced construction of auditorium and press conference hall for Karachi Press Club this year. He said the KPC should identify the place, the requisite funds will be arranged by the Sindh Governemnt.

He also announced establishment of Endowment Fund for the journalists in the current year.

Later, he distributed plot challans among the members of KPC.

Price hike won’t be allowed, says Dar

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar here on Wednesday took pains to dispel the impression that the new budget was for the rich and ignored the poor. He insisted that the government had taken steps to make the poor self-reliant and stand on their own feet, and that no one will be allowed to increase the prices of commodities in the name of budget.
Yet, in his post-budget press conference, the finance minister was evasive, did not allow stinging questions and took up most of the time repeating the text of his budget speech, so much so that a senior journalist lost temper and walked out of the briefing.

Ishaq Dar said the federal budget’s main thrust was on increasing exports and that was why the government had taken the revolutionary step of establishing the EXIM Bank of Pakistan, which will act as a catalyst in improving exports.

However, he dispelled the impression that the budget was for the rich only and not for the poor, saying the government had imposed taxes on the rich and taken many relief steps to cater to the vulnerable segments of the society.

He said if the benchmark of $2 a day income was kept in view, then 90 million people were living below the poverty line in Pakistan and the government was very concerned about them as this was the class which needed the utmost attention of the government.

“To this effect, the government has increased the allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme to Rs118 billion from Rs75 billion under which the monthly stipend for the poorest of the poor has been increased to Rs1,500 from Rs1,200. We have decided to make them stand (self-reliant) on their feet and to this effect the government will take many initiatives.”

However, the minister did not mention at what speed the middle class was getting squeezed and why poverty was on the increase.The minister also did not say why he did not increase the CGT (Capital Gains Tax) on securities and also avoided to reply to questions about the impact of the mammoth reduction in subsidy for electricity consumers by Rs80 billion from Rs245 billion to Rs156 billion.

The press briefing was regulated in a way that no concerned journalist could raise pertinent and precise questions and when some of them tried to highlight some critical issues, the minister adopted an evasive attitude and kept on repeating what he wanted to highlight.

The minister consumed most of the time in repeating the budget speech and left insufficient time for the question-answer session. During his speech, one senior journalist lost temper and left the press briefing. It seems all was done in a deliberate attempt to avoid the stinging questions.

The minister also skipped the question on money laundering that was raised in the context of MQM leader Altaf Hussain, but the questioner took up the issue, pinpointing that some ‘influential’ people who were also involved in money laundering in the past were still in the government.

However, the minister only said that the government would facilitate him (Altaf Hussain) as he was of the Pakistani origin and added that the government was in the process of updating the money laundering law in Pakistan in the light of recommendations of financial action task force.

When pointed out that in the budget there was no mention of PTCL proceeds of $800 million that Etisalat owes to Pakistan, the minister said that this was a seven-year-old dispute under which 131 properties of PTCL were to be handed over to the said company and out of 131, only 32 properties were left which are to be handed over as they all could not be transferred. “I have exerted pressure on the company through diplomatic quarters so that the company should pay $600 million out of $800 million to Pakistan and I hope that I will be able to resolve this issue soon.”

Mentioning the major steps for growth in exports, the minister said that the setting up of the EXIM Bank of Pakistan will enhance the export credit and reduce the cost of borrowing for the export sector on a long-term basis and will help reduce their risks through export credit guarantees and insurance facilities. The bank will provide liquidity to exporters.

Under the Exports Refinance Facility (ERF), he said the government, through the State Bank of Pakistan, had arranged to reduce its mark-up rate on exports finance from 9.4% to 7.5%, which will bring it in line with the rate prevailing in the countries competing with Pakistan, which will reduce the financial cost of exporters by 2%.

He also said the State Bank of Pakistan had arranged long-term finance facility to reduce its mark-up rate on long-term financing facility for 3-10 years duration from around 11.4% to 9% from July1, 2014, which will reduce the financial cost of exporters by 2.4%.

Dar said that drawback for local taxes and levies will be given to exporters of textile products on the FOB values of their enhanced exports if increased beyond 10% (over the last year’s exports) at the following rates: the duty drawback to be given to exporters on garments by 4 percent, made-ups 2 percent and processed fabric 1 percent. “Mark-up rate for export refinance scheme of the State Bank of Pakistan is being reduced from 9.4% to 7.5% from 1st of July 2014.”

To a question, the minister said that in the first phase many SROs valuing Rs130 billion had been withdrawn. He also repeated many proposals that were given in his budget speech on Tuesday.

Jang and Geo largest media group, won’t be banned, says Sana

 

TOKYO: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Thursday said the issue of restrictions on Jang and Geo should end after Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s final and clear statement on it.
In a special talk with Jang ere, he said the Jang-Geo Group is the largest media group in Pakistan and it won’t be closed, adding, the government had no intention to ban any media group. He said the circumstances originating from the murder attempt on Hamid Mir were troublesome but the government stuck to its stand on the freedom of expression, as press was an important pillar of democracy.

He further said everyone was satisfied with the recovery of Hamid Mir and the Centre was assisting the provincial government in investigating the attack and arresting those responsible for it.

Rana Sanaullah remarked that the army and the media both were national institutions which had to resolve matters through mutual understanding, avoiding blame-game.He said Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had formed an exemplary system for resolving the problems of overseas Pakistanis and its fruits would become visible in the near future.

Russia assures US it won’t invade Ukraine

KOSTYANTYNIVKA: Moscow has assured Washington it will not invade Ukraine, the US Defense Department said after the United States and Europe imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its role in the former Soviet republic.

As Western powers stepped up the pressure on Moscow over the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, the White House on Monday slapped sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 firms close to President Vladimir Putin.

The European Union said it was adding 15 names to its own list while Canada added nine names and two banks.

Tensions on the ground in Ukraine spiked when a pro-Moscow mayor was shot and badly wounded and rebels seized another town.

The Pentagon said that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and that "Shoigu reiterated his assurance that Russian forces would not invade Ukraine".

Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, in a statement, said the two men discussed a range of issues related to the situation in Ukraine, with Hagel requesting clarification of Russia´s intentions in eastern Ukraine.

Hagel urged an end to Russia´s "destabilising influence inside Ukraine and warned that continued aggression would further isolate Russia and result in more diplomatic and economic pressure," Kirby said.

The Pentagon chief also asked for Moscow´s help in securing the release of seven inspectors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe being held in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow said that, during the phone call with Hagel, Shoigu called on the United States to tone down its rhetoric on the Ukraine crisis.

The Kremlin vowed there would be a "painful" response for Washington to the sanctions imposed.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency that Moscow was "disgusted" by the US action, which he said showed Washington had "completely lost touch with reality".

 

Non-payers of bills, thieves won’t get electricity: Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that electricity supply to those who do not pay bills and those involved in electricity theft would be cut this summer.

He said that the electricity thieves would be deprived of their transformers and non-payers would also not get the supply.

“We will supply electricity to those who are paying bills,” he said and that Minister of State Abdi Sher Ali was on a mission to stop electricity theft.

Wickedleak Wammy Passion X quick-read review: Just waterproofing won’t do

 

Wammy Passion X with Octa core costs Rs 17,990+

The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is waterproof, but you don’t have to spend over Rs 50,000 if you want that feature. Indian mobile maker Wickedleak has a new smartphone that survives water damage and costs just Rs 18,000. But that price comes at the cost of many sacrifices…

Quick Tech Specs: 5-inch IPS touchscreen with DragonTrail scratch-resistant glass (1920×1080 px) | 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6592 processor | 2GB RAM | 16GB internal memory, microSD up to 64GB | 13MP rear camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 5MP front camera, 720p HD video recording | Dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) | 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4 | GPS with A-GPS | 2500mAH battery | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Price: Rs 17,990 excluding taxes

Design & Build: The Wammy Passion X looks exactly like its predecessor, the Wammy Passion Z or Z+. I’m a fan of the design, which is rectangular with slight curves at the top and bottom—reminiscent of how the Sony Xperia Ray. Plus, the Passion X is extremely light for the hardware it packs, including that big battery.

However, for all its looks, it feels cheap. And a closer inspection of the design betrays why it is priced low. The back panel, for instance, does not seal tightly and you can see gaps. The plastic material is of a low quality and recesses when you press on any of the sides. It uses capacitive touch buttons, making full use of its bezel, which is always good—but in this case, there is no backlight for those buttons. So if you are using the phone after switching off the lights, you can’t see the buttons and will often press the wrong one. It’s a frustrating experience.

Finally, the AquaProtect waterproof nanocoating does not do it any favours as it looks like some sticky goo fell on the back of your phone. With usage, the protection starts peeling so the edges don’t feel refined either.

  

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Of course, this water protection is what the Passion X is all about. And Wickedleak has treated every aspect, including the motherboard, so that it doesn’t need to seal the ports shut, like Samsung and Sony phones. This is more like the Moto G, which features a similar nanocoating. We mimicked real-world scenarios to test the waterproofing, like using it in a shower to simulate rain, spilling cold water and hot coffee on it, and even dunking it in a shallow pool of water for some time. The Wammy Passion X will hold up under the usual water-based mishaps that are bound to hit your phone. However, don’t expect it to be a functional device for snorkelling—the idea here is to protect from water damage, it’s not a rugged phone for adventure sports and the like.

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Screen: The Wammy Passion X has a stunning screen that is bound to draw favour from anyone who looks at it. It has wide viewing angles, accurate colour reproduction, and it displays sharp images. The addition of scratch-resistant Dragontrail glass is welcome because you don’t have to put on a screen guard, although that’s packaged in the box.

Performance: For most purposes, the Wammy Passion X runs as good as any other Android we have seen. Even high-end games played well for the most part, but switching them to high quality did cause frames to drop when we were multi-tasking. Still, at this price, the Wammy Passion X is as good as or better than any of its competitors.

Memory: The 16GB of built-in memory is a nice touch, since Android forces you to download apps and games to your internal storage now. Plus, you can always expand it via microSD.

Connectivity: While you will get network in most places, the Passion X has weak audio. In a crowded or noisy environment, it’s difficult to hear the person on the other line unless they start yelling—and even that’s not enough sometimes.

Software: This, for me, is the biggest problem with the Passion X. The colloquialism of “Chinese maal” was never more true. Out of the box, the phone looks like stock Android and has no issues. But reset it once and it defaults to a new interface with the Chinese language enabled. Even if you change the language, other parts like the icons and the theme no longer look like Android. This isn’t friendly for those who like to tinker around with their phone, which is something I liked about the Passion Z+. If you think you’ll ever need to reset your phone—and chances are, you might have to—you will need to get help from Wickedleak service, it’s not as simple as any other Android phone.

Camera: The camera of the Wammy Passion X is not worth the price it demands. Competitors like Micromax and Xolo offer much better snappers at this price. The Passion X is fine when you are clicking photos outdoors in the day, but as light gets dimmer, the noise levels go up disproportionately. Taking photographs at night, even with the LED flash on, is not a good experience. And during both day and night, the images appear dull and the colours look faded. Finally, video clips are not the Passion X’s stronghold, and there is more camera shake than we have experienced with other smartphones. It’s a disappointing rear camera. And while the 5MP sensor on the front cam is welcome, the photos you click are still grainy and dark.

 

Battery: The Wammy Passion X lasts for around 15 hours of average usage and 6 hours of video playback—that’s good enough for most people.

Special Mentions: The Passion X is the phone to avoid if you like your music. First, there are no headphones in the box. And we tried three different headphones, as well as a Bluetooth one. The

Passion X has poor audio quality, with the bass sounding flat and there not even being adequate volume to pump it up. If you care about your music, don’t even consider this phone. The Atom Supremus is still the phone to beat in that aspect.

  

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Verdict: I have been trying to figure out why I dislike the Passion X and it comes down to this: it feels like an incomplete phone. While you get waterproofing, the build quality isn’t great. Over usage, the edges become rougher and Aquaprotect isn’t pretty to look at on the back panel. The fact that it resets to a different UI is annoying. The lack of backlight on the capacitive touch buttons is frustrating. And there are no earphones packed in the box.

The phone has some good points, like that fantastic screen, the good performance and the water protection. But it doesn’t come together to feel like a great device. Maybe if it was priced closer to Rs. 12,000, this would be a decent purchase, but as it currently stands, the Passion X is not worth your money. Even if waterproofing is something you really want, the Moto G is a better bet at a lower price, and it even survived a 30-minute underwater test.

Yahoo won’t let users Google, Facebook authentication for Flickr

"Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience, the company said in a statement.

Yahoo Inc will stop letting consumers access its various online services, including Fantasy Sports and photo-sharing site Flickr, by signing-in with their Facebook Inc or Google Inc credentials.
The change, which will be rolled out gradually according to a Yahoo spokeswoman, will require users to register for a Yahoo ID in order to use any of the Internet portal’s services.
The move marks the latest change to Yahoo by Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who is striving to spark fresh interest in the company’s Web products and to revive its stagnant revenue.
“Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience,” the company said in a statement, noting that the new process “will allow us to offer the best personalized experience to everyone”.
The first Yahoo service to require the new sign-in process is Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’Em, a service focused on the NCAA college basketball tournament which begins later this month. News of the change to Yahoo’s Tourney Pick’Em sign-in process was first reported by the technology blog Betanews.
Since Mayer took the reins in 2012, the company has rolled out new versions of many of its key products, including Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Finance. Last year, Yahoo announced a program to recycle inactive Yahoo user IDs, letting new users claim email addresses that have not been used for more than 12 months.
In eliminating the Facebook and Google sign-in features, Mayer, a former Google executive, is effectively reversing a strategy that Yahoo adopted in 2010 and 2011 under then CEO Carol Bartz.
The change to the Tourney Pick’Em sign-in process began on Monday, the Yahoo spokeswoman said, noting that users could still access other services with Google or Facebook IDs.
The sign-in buttons for Facebook and Google will eventually be removed from all Yahoo properties, the Yahoo spokeswoman, though she declined to provide a timeframe.

Russia won’t switch off gas supply to Europe-Oettinger in magazine

BERLIN: European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger does not expect Russia to switch off gas supplies to Europe over the Ukraine crisis, he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche in an interview published on Saturday.
"I don't believe it would be in Russia's interests," Oettinger was quoted as saying.
Russian gas export giant Gazprom issued a thinly veiled warning on Friday that it could stop shipping gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills.
Ukraine is a major gas transit nation for supplies from Russia to the European Union, which relies on Russia for about a quarter of its gas.
But Oettinger said a cut-off would not be beneficial for the company: "Gazprom has an interest in its daily sales revenues so that investment is worthwhile and turnover is generated."
Oettinger said if no more gas flowed through Ukraine, it would affect 14 percent of European gas consumption.
In early 2009 Gazprom cut off gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills, leading to reductions in European supplies during a cold winter.
But Oettinger said Europe was better placed to deal with such a scenario given that the winter had been mild, gas storage sites were fuller than a year ago and European Union countries were now obliged to ensure they had 30 days' worth of supplies.
"We're in a better position than we were five years ago," he said.