US stocks rise after upbeat jobless claim data

 

US stocks opened modestly higher Thursday after initial jobless claims showed more signs of improvement in the labor market.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.49 points (0.19 percent) to 12,740.95 in the first five minutes of trade.

 

The broad S&P 500 added 2.75 points (0.21 percent) to 1,326.84, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq points gained 6.88 points (0.24 percent) to 2,855.15.

 

On Wednesday, the major indices scored moderate gains on data showing global growth in manufacturing and expectations that social-networking giant Facebook would soon announce its long-awaited initial public offering.

 

After the markets closed, Facebook filed to raise $5 billion in the IPO, which would be the largest flotation in history by an Internet company on Wall Street.

Iraqi parliament bans smoking in public

 

The Iraqi parliament on Thursday approved an anti-smoking law that stipulates a roughly $8.50 fine for smoking in public, in a country where such smoking is a fixture.

 

“The law aims to protect citizens from the danger of tobacco and reduce the number of smokers by taking measures to combat this plague,” the law reads.

 

Smoking in government offices, schools, universities, hospitals, airports, offices, theatres, gathering places, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, markets and petrol stations will now be banned.

 

The law is to take effect 90 days after it is published in the official gazette.

 

One of its sponsors, health committee member Haidar al-Shamari, said in his remarks the law is based on Article 33 of the constitution, which says that “every individual has the right to live in safe environmental conditions.”

 

But one MP thought the law was not a priority, saying “it would be better to provide improved public services instead of punishing smokers.”

 

According to study carried out in 2000 by the Union for International Cancer Cancer Control, a Geneva-based non-governmental organisation founded in 2000, 40 percent of Iraqi males over age 16 were smokers.

Altaf urges people to arrange their security

 

He urged the citizens to take their own security steps because  the government had nothing to do with the security of their lives and property .

 

According to an MQM statement, addressing the party s Rabitta Committee Hussain said he had been making the nation aware of threats during the past years that Karachi was being handed over to armed terrorists under a planned strategy.

 

He appealed the citizens to come out for protecting their streets, markets and shops from the armed assailants and terrorists.

 

“Form area-wise vigilance committees; put in place a  chowkidari  system; have alarms installed in every street and market so that the criminals could be held and handed over to local police and administration,” he asserted.
 

N. Korea restricts Chinese currency in markets: Report

 

North Korea has banned the use of China s yuan and other foreign currency in its markets, saying this was part of the last instructions of late leader Kim Jong-Il, according to a Seoul-based aid group.

 

People have repeatedly been instructed to go to banks and exchange foreign currency for the won, Good Friends said its English-language newsletter seen Tuesday.

 

Those using yuan in markets or circulating it would be severely punished and have their money confiscated, it said.

 

“We are just carrying out the policy that had been adopted last October,” an unidentified party official was quoted as saying.

 

Kim died on December 17, to be succeeded by his son Jong-Un.

 

The measure was part of the new regime s policy to slow down the North s economic dependence on China since the use of yuan in markets has been rising, Good Friends said.

 

The aid group said the yuan has been widely used in the North since the regime s currency reform in late 2009 backfired disastrously, fuelling food shortages and sparking rare unrest.

 

It said merchants do not sell goods unless paid with yuan or dollars, aggravating the hardships of ordinary citizens who cannot obtain foreign currency.

 

Daily NK, a Seoul-based online news outlet run by defectors, also reported in early January that the use of yuan and dollars had been banned. It said the measure could cause chaos because most market transactions are in yuan.

 

“They said it is part of General Kim Jong-Il s last instructions and didn t say what the reason is, so it is being strictly enforced,” a source in the North s Hamkyong province was quoted as saying.

 

The North s official food distribution system, part of its state-directed economy, largely collapsed during the famine years of the mid to-late 1990s. Private markets sprang up as people struggled to survive.

 

Pyongyang has made several attempts in the past to restrict their business. But analysts say members of the regime or the military are now involved with some market operations.

Asia stocks plummet on slower world growth

 

Asian stock markets fell Monday, with slower-than-expected growth in the US and uncertainty about a tentative deal to resolve Greece s debt crisis weighing on investor sentiment.

 

Japan s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,785.22. South Korea s Kospi was 1.2 percent lower at 1,940.82 and Hong Kong s Hang Seng dropped 0.5 percent to 20,401.32. Australia s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,272.40.

 

Benchmarks in Singapore and the Philippines also fell. Shares in mainland China were mixed after being closed for a week for Chinese New Year holidays. Taiwan and New Zealand rose.

 

European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity and belt-tightening measures as well as a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors that could avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.

 

If the deal holds and works, it will help prevent a potential shock to the world banking system. But it doesn t resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

 

Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said that “the Greece debt issues will remain a source of uncertainty and might dampen the risk mood ahead of the EU summit today.”

 

Under the agreement, investors holding 206 billion euros ($272 billion) in Greek bonds would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate.

 

The deal would reduce Greece s annual interest expense from about 10 billion euros to about 4 billion euros. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only 103 billion euro.

 

It is unclear how investors who buy and sell the bonds of other debt-burdened countries, such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, will react. If they drive up borrowing costs for those countries, the debt crisis could get worse.

 

Private investors hold two-thirds of Greece s debt, which is equal to an unsustainable 160 percent of its annual economic output. By restructuring the debt, Greece hopes to make it a more manageable 120 percent by decade s end.

 

On Wall Street, stocks mostly fell Friday after the government said the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011.

 

Economic growth for October through December came in at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. That was the fastest of 2011 but lower than the 3 percent that economists were looking for.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent to 12,660.46. The Standard & Poor s 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,316.33. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,816.55.

 

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 36 cents to $99.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to end at $99.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

 

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3180 from $1.3208 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 76.74 yen from 76.72 yen.
 

Oil prices higher in Asian trading

 

Oil rose in Asian trade Friday on expectations the US economy saw robust growth in the final quarter of 2011, analysts said, while tensions between the West and Iran also supported prices.

 

New York s main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in March, gained eight cents to $99.78 a barrel in the afternoon.

 

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was up 31 cents at $111.10.

 

“Crude markets are holding steady, with prices supported by an anticipation of strong US growth data in Q4 (fourth quarter) of 2011,” said Nick Trevethan, senior commodities strategist at ANZ Research.

 

The US Commerce Department will release its figures later Friday, with analysts expecting the world s biggest economy to have grown 3.20 percent in the quarter, the fastest pace in 18 months.

 

European Union foreign ministers agreed a ban on Iranian oil imports and a phase-out of existing contracts up to July 1 to pressure Tehran to end its controversial nuclear programme.

 

They also froze the assets of the country s central bank while ensuring legitimate trade under strict conditions.

 

In a retaliatory move, Iran s parliament is expected to consider next week a bill to ban oil exports to Europe immediately before the embargo comes into force, according to media reports.

 

The Islamic republic, which is already under four rounds of United Nations sanctions, vehemently denies its nuclear programme masks an atomic weapons drive as the West alleges, and insists it is for civilian purposes only.

 

“The threat from Iran to cut off its crude exports to the European Union earlier than July … also helped lift prices as it added to the geopolitical risk premium,” said Phillip Futures in a commentary.

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad eased tensions slightly late Thursday by declaring that Tehran was ready to sit down with world powers for talks on its nuclear drive, according to state media.
 

Islamabad: Traffic plan evolved for Eid-ul-Fitr

On advent of Eid-ul-Fitr SSP Traffic Doctor Moeen Masood has evolved special traffic plan to ensure smooth traffic flow on roads. The leaves of traffic policemen have been cancelled in this connection.

According to the plan heavy police contingent would be deployed outside shopping centers, markets, public places and mosques to tackle any untoward situation.

SSP Traffic Doctor Moeen further said that strict action would be taken against the traffic violators while the security has been high alerted. Special squads have been formed which would continue patrolling to stop street crimes and one wheeling on the eve.

The SSP Traffic appealed to the people to cooperate with the Traffic police.

Foreign exchange seeping out of Pak markets

Following the drop of MSCI world index by 13% since May, all markets are facing recession. According to reports, in the last 13 sessions $300 million have been withdrawn from the markets. However, signs of improvement are present in the financial output of different companies and there are also reports that 27% raise is expected in the profits of listed companies.

Strike over blasphemy law change bid

KARACHI/LAHORE: A complete shutter down strike is being observed all over the country today in connection with Tahafuz-e-Namose-e-Risalat.

Routine life was suspended as shops and markets throughout the metropolis and in major cities remained closed and traffic remained thin, with public transport largely absent.

As per details, in wake of possible amendments in blasphemy law, the religious parties would stage protest rallies all over the country while PML-N has announced to favor the strike call given by campaign for Tahafuz-e-Namose-e-Risalat.

It is noticeable to mention here that the government has ensured the parliament that amendments would not be made in blasphemy law.

In Karachi Leaders of the Tehreek-i-Namoos-i-Risalat (TNR) undertook a mass contact campaign on Thursday so as to make today”s strike against the proposed amendments to the blasphemy law successful.

They called for a peaceful strike across the country against the introduction of a bill in the National Assembly by PPP MNA Sherry Rehman seeking changes in the country”s contentious blasphemy law.

The TNR leaders appealed to all segments of society, including the business community, to make the strike a success by keeping their businesses shut. They also asked for calm and avoidance of any confrontation and violent activity.

Shabbir Abu Talib, Allama Qazi Ahmed Noorani, JUI”s Qari Usman, Aslam Ghori, Mohammad Hussain Mehenti of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Zafar Abbas Taqvi distributed pamphlets and banners among people on roads as well as among shopkeepers across the city.

They also met industrialists and transporters, who had already announced support for the strike.

They announced they would not stop protesting until the government came clean on the issue, removed Salman Taseer as governor Punjab and Sherry Rehman as MNA.

After Friday”s shutter-down strike, a public meeting would be held on January 9 as those who had great love and respect for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would never allow anybody to indulge in any act of blasphemy, they added.

In Lahore all trader bodies are united on the religious parties” strike call for “preservation of the blasphemy law” and they have decided to observe a complete shutdown across the country today.

Earlier, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (APAT) had supported the strike call given by the religious parties, however, the parties also attached price hike and imposition of the RGST with their strike call at which the Qaumi Tajir Ittehad (QTI) and other traders bodies announced separation with the strike call. Later, the traders” bodies got united and announced a complete strike across the country.

The All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (APAT), Qaumi Tajir Ittehad (QTI), Gulberg Traders Board Association (GTBA), Mall Road Traders Association (MRTA), Lahore Sugar Dealers Association and Lahore Karyana Merchants Association confirmed their participation in Friday”s strike.

All the markets and commercial areas in the country were closed, and traders would hold a rally on The Mall after Friday prayers.

Abdul Razzaq Babbar said that from Balochistan, APAT President Abdul Rahim Kakar and Secretary Qayyum Syed Agha, from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Haji Haleem Jan, from Islamabad Ajmal Baloch, from Karachi Sarafa Association President Haroon Chand and from Hyderabad Haji Fazalur Rehmanhad had assured their full support for the strike.

In a joint statement issue on Thursday, religious leaders, including Syed Munawwar Hassan, Maulana Sami ul Haq, Ameer Hamza, Syed Ata ul Muheman and Professor Sajid Mir, said the strike would be a tremendous success. They said that all the efforts to repeal Article 295-C was unacceptable and the government must avoid bowing before the foreign pressure. The entire nation was united to protect Namoos e Risalat, said the religious leaders.

Assange says signed 1.1 Million Pounds in Book Deals

LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).

Assange told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.

“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he said. “I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”

The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars).

Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.

The latest project of Assange’s whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.

Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them “instruments of US foreign policy.”

The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks.

Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the huge leak.

Assange has been staying at a friend’s country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.

A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.

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