Pakistan Forex Reserves Edge Up To $16.51 Bln

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $16.51 billion in the week ended March 30, from $16.44 billion in the previous week, the central bank said on Thursday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $11.84 billion from $11.77 billion a week earlier, while those held by commercial banks remained unchanged at $4.67 billion.

Foreign exchange reserves hit a record $18.31 billion in July last year, boosted by inflows of $411 million, including a $191.9 million loan from the World Bank and a $196.8 million loan from the Asian Development Bank.

Higher exports and record remittances have also supported Pakistan’s reserves.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis rose 23 percent to $8.59 billion in the first eight months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $6.96 billion a year earlier.

In February, overseas Pakistanis sent back $1.16 billion. Reserves have since been drained by debt repayments, including $399 million in the week ending Feb. 24 due on an $8 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

The next repayment is due in April.

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Pakistan Fuel Oil Imports Rise 18 Per Cent

Pakistan bought more than 450,000 tonnes of fuel oil in March, its highest level this year, led by higher imports of high-sulphur grade fuel, official data showed on Thursday.

Total fuel oil imports, used for power generation, climbed 70,328 tonnes to 460,688 tonnes, up around 18 per cent, figures from the Oil Companies Advisory Committee showed.

High-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) volumes rose by 132,492 tonnes at 392,499 tonnes, while low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) fell 62,164 tonnes to 68,189 tonnes.

The rise was in line with expectations, as Pakistan imported only about 390,000 tonnes last month, out of the term volume of 890,000 tonnes state-owned company Pakistan State Oil (PSO) purchased for delivery between February and March.

PSO has also sought similar second quarter volumes, but has refrained from buying expensive low-sulphur fuel oil.

The country is looking to increase its hydropower capacity through a recently approved $1 billion World Bank loan in an effort to reduce its reliance on fuel oil imports.

The bank said $840 million of the loan will be used to boost capacity at the Tarbela hydro power project, northwest of Islamabad, by 1,410 megawatts.

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Taliban Kill Eight Afghan Police

Taliban gunmen killed eight local policemen in an attack on a remote post in westernAfghanistan, a provincial official said Thursday.

The attack happened late on Wednesday, said Naqibullah Farahi, spokesman for the provincial administration of Farah, which bordersIran. Earlier a suicide bomb attack had claimed 12 lives in northern Afganistan the same day.

“The Taliban attacked an Afghan local police post” in Khaki Safed district, he told AFP. “There were eight people in the post and all were killed.” Investigators have gone to the area, he added.

Contacted by AFP, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack and said 12 local policemen had been killed. The Taliban regularly exaggerate their claims.

Afghan police are regularly targeted by the militants who have been fighting a decade-long insurgency against President Hamid Karzai’s Western-backed government.

Earlier this week six people including four policemen were poisoned and shot dead at a police post inHelmandprovince, which neighbours Farah, days after a policeman in Paktika province poisoned and then shot dead nine of his colleagues while they slept.

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Oil Recovers In Asian Trade

Oil recovered in Asian trade Thursday after sharp overnight losses triggered by a larger-than-expected jump in US crude stocks, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in May, gained 49 cents to $101.96 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May settlement was up 33 cents at $122.67.

Investor sentiment had taken a hit after the US Department of Energy said Wednesday in its weekly report that national crude reserves soared by nine million barrels in the week ending March 30.

That was a far bigger increase than the average estimate of 1.9 million barrels, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Jonathan Barratt of Barratt’s Bulletin commodity research firm said Thursday’s recovery in crude prices reflected an improvement in investor sentiment towards the US economy which is the world’s number one oil user.

“The important thing to note is regardless what the numbers say is that the Fed has withdrawn any chance of a QE3,” Barratt told AFP from Sydney.

“What this tells us is the Fed is comfortable with the US economy. The market is coming to a little bit more common sense.”Minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s March 13 policy meeting published Tuesday eased the likelihood of a third round of quantitative easing (QE) to boost growth in the world’s largest economy.

The Federal Reserve has previously introduced two rounds of massive stimulus spending in an effort to kick-start the US economy.

At the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the US central bank injected more than $1.5 trillion into the markets.

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Kevin Pietersen Warned Over Switch Hit

Umpires warned England batsman Kevin Pietersen twice for changing his stance to attempt a switch-hit during the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

The flamboyant Pietersen was spoken to by Bruce Oxenford and Asad Rauf after bowler Tillakaratne Dilshan had to stop twice in his run-up as the batsman turned around in his stance.

The laws of the game say that the eye-catching switch-hit — a right-hander playing a shot with a left-hander’s grip — is legal but a batsman cannot change stance before the bowler has delivered the ball.

The 31-year-old Pietersen, who smashed an explosive 151 off 165 balls studded with 16 fours and six sixes, played down the incident, which ended with him walking up to the umpires to clarify the warning.

“There was no altercation at all,” he said.

“I was just finding out what it was and they were telling me what it was.

“It was just timing. No drama, no issue.”

Match referee Javagal Srinath of India confirmed that Pietersen had been warned twice for time-wasting under Law 42.10.

A third offence by any of the England batsmen would have resulted in five penalty runs being awarded to Sri Lanka.

Oxenford explained the ruling and emphasised the International Cricket Council (ICC) was not trying to discourage switch-hitting.

“The ICC think switch-hitting is an excellent innovation,” the Australian official said.

“But when the bowler sees intent on the part of the batsman prior to delivering the ball and stops, we can get a stalemate situation.

“The bowler won’t deliver because he wants to change his field if he thinks the batsman is going to switch-hit.

“When we get to that situation the way to move forward is to give the batsman an informal warning, then a formal one for time-wasting.

“If it happens again, it’s a team warning under time-wasting by the batting side and it’s an automatic five-run penalty.”

England, who lost the first Test in Galle, need a win to draw the two-match series and retain their number one Test ranking.

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Real Stroll Chelsea Squeeze Through To CL Semis

Nine-time champions Real Madrid and Chelsea both booked their places in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday but in vastly different fashions.

Real beat the surprise packages of the competition APOEL Nicosia 5-2 at the Bernabeu – Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a double to take him to 49 goals for the season – and an 8-2 aggregate win to seal a semi-final meeting with four-time winners Bayern Munich.

Chelsea, though, look far from being able to cope with holders Barcelona in their last four meeting if they repeat their performance in the wobbly 2-1 home win – 3-1 on aggregate – over a Benfica side that was down to 10 men after 40 minutes.

The visitors played the more fluent football and deservedly equalised six minutes from time before Chelsea’s Portuguese substitute Raul Meireles sealed the Blues place in the last four for the sixth time in nine years.

It will be their fifth semi-final meeting with Barcelona, with the Catalans holding a 3-1 advantage.

Lampard, though, refused to accept that the match would be too big a challenge for them.

“You have to respect Barcelona because they are the best side in the world,” said Lampard.

“They will obviously start as favourites but we have a lot of self belief and we believe we can beat them.” Chelsea had looked to be cruising when Javi Garcia bundled over Ashley Cole in the penalty area and Frank Lampard squeezed home the resulting penalty in the 21st minute despite keeper Artur getting a hand to it.

It was the England veteran’s 22nd Champions League goal and 184th for the club.

The odds were stacked further against Benfica in the 40th minute when their skipper for the game Uruguayan Maxi Pereira went in studs showing on Jon Obi Mikel and was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The hosts should have made it 2-0 in the 50th minute and only Brazilian midfielder Ramires will know how he failed to tap into an empty net from a yard out after being set up by Salomon Kalou.

Despite the one man disadvantage it was Benfica who produced the best football and it was little surprise when Javi Garcia levelled with six minutes remaining.

However, Meireles broke free in stoppage time as Benfica pressed all their players forward and the Portuguese international made no mistake with a rising effort from the edge of the area.

“It was a tough game and having won 1-0 away it presented us with a bit of a conundrum,” said Lampard.

“It is a relief to get through as they’re a good side and deserve respect.”

“We didn’t want to be too gung ho.” Benfica boss Jorge Jesus was left disappointed and feeling that the wrong team was going to play Barcelona.

“We’ve been the better team in both legs and I’m very proud of my players,”he said.

“We played with 10 men for the best part of an hour and made Chelsea look ordinary. We were penalised by the referee, unjustly I feel.” Ronaldo’s double may have taken him to one shy of the half century mark, but it is still nine behind great rival Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

His second-half free kick was almost as sublime as Brazilian star Kaka’s first-half effort a curling shot from out on the left.

However, the Cypriot side – who confusingly had their own Kaka playing in the game as well – bowed out far from humiliated and delighted to have come to the Bernabeu and scored twice, something many La Liga teams would kill for.

Real coach Jose Mourinho was happy with his team’s performance but reserved most of the praise for his opponents.

“I can’t criticise my team, we are here on merit (the semi-finals),” he said.

“For APOEL to get to the quarter-finals is the biggest achievement of this season’s Champions League, bigger than if ourselves, Bayern or Barca win the competion, so I am happy for them.”

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Mohommad Amir Appears In Anti Corruption Video

Disgraced Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir has appeared in an official video from the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the International Cricket Council warning players of the dangers of corruption.

The five minute video has been posted on the official ICC website.

Highly-rated 19-year-old left-arm paceman Amir was released from a UK jail in February after serving half of a six-month sentence for his part in the spot-fixing scandal during the Lord’s Test between England and Pakistan in 2010.

His former teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are serving sentences of 30 and 12 months respectively, handed down by a British court in November, after the trio were found guilty of corruption and receiving illegal money.

The ICC also banned all three players, with Amir receiving the minimum five-year punishment after he was found guilty of deliberately bowling no-balls as part of a plan orchestrated by Butt and agent Mazhar Majeed, also now serving a jail sentence.

Last month Amir gave a broadcast interview in Urdu to ex-England captain Michael Atherton where he said former Pakistan skipper Butt had betrayed their friendship by luring him into the scandal.

However, in the ACSU video Amir, speaking in clear English, made no specific references to other cricketers but instead issued a general warning.

“Prison is a bad place for everyone,” he said.

“Don’t make the mistakes which I did. I was stupid I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t have courage…If someone comes to you go straight to team management and ICC team.”

Amir said his “life had been ruined “ in a couple of hours as a result of being put under pressure by senior players to deliberately bowl no-balls at Lord’s although he accepted his mistake.

“I always knew this was cheating at cricket but I was under pressure but I accept my mistake,” he added.

“When I was in ICC hearing, I knew I was totally embarrassed. I wanted to tell the truth but I didn’t have courage…When the police put me in handcuffs I was literally crying.” There is no suggestion Amir’s participation in the ACSU video will lead to a reduction of his ban, which was imposed by an independent disciplinary tribunal.

But it can be seen as part of the “rehabilitation” that outgoing ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said the bowler should undertake while banned.

“I would prefer that the starting point should not be about whether we (ICC) could reduce the sentence,” Lorgat said last month.

“If Mohammad Amir stands up and delivers a message of caution about this murky world, people are going to sit up and listen,” the South African added.

“That is one example of rehabilitation.”

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