Worried Pakistan board insures home series

Source: Reuters

KARACHI - The Pakistan cricket board has insured all its future tour program (FTP) series amidst the prospect of touring teams, particularly Australia, backing out due to security concerns and political unrest.

A senior board official told Reuters on Monday the insured series included the Australian tour in March-April.

“We have got all our FTP series insured because we don’t know what situation we might face from touring teams,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer of the board, said on Monday.

“So all this talk of us putting the Australian players at risk by insisting on their tour because of financial gains is baseless,” he said.

“It is not meant to send out negative signal to any team but to safeguard our finances.”

According to sources, the Australia series has been insured for around $7.4 million.

The PCB had made arrangements to cover its financial losses regardless of whether Australia toured Pakistan or not, he said.

The Australia tour has been in doubt since the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December and following a wave of suicide bomb attacks in the country.

Some Australia players have also expressed concerns over touring Pakistan but Cricket Australia has said it had yet to take any decision.

Naghmi was confident the tour would go ahead as scheduled.

“We know that the Australian high commission has given a positive report to their government and the statement of (incoming) International Cricket Council president David Morgan is also very positive for us,” he said.

Morgan, who will take over as ICC chief from South Africa’s Ray Mali in June, recently urged Australia to tour Pakistan.

Naghmi said the board was very keen on Australia coming because they had not toured Pakistan since 1998.

“Our people want to see good cricket and the Australians can bring in the crowds,” he said. “Their tour will have a good impact on Pakistan cricket.”

Naghmi was hopeful Australia will come if the current tour by Zimbabwe went off smoothly.

Debutant Jamshed leads Pakistan run spree vs. Zimbabwe

Source: Reuters

KARACHI - Debutant opener Nasir Jamshed scored 61 as five batsmen struck half centuries to help Pakistan amass 347 for five in the first one-day international against Zimbabwe on Monday.

Younis Khan (79), Mohammad Yousuf (72), captain Shoaib Malik (63) and Misbah-ul Haq (55 not out) also scored fifties after Zimbabwe surprisingly elected to bowl first on a flat National Stadium pitch in the day-nighter.

Left-handed opener Jamshed gave the innings a flying start, scoring his runs from 48 balls with six fours and three sixes.Timing the ball effortlessly, he hit pacer Elton Chigumbura for a six to mid-wicket to reach his fifty from 40 balls after opener Salman Butt (4) was run out by Chamu Chibhabha from deep mid-wicket.

Pakistan also included uncapped left-arm paceman Samiullah Niazi.

Jamshed went at the total of 85 in the 15th over but the experienced Younis and Yousuf came together to add 113 runs from only 99 balls.

Younis made his 30th one-day fifty and Yousuf reeled out his 61st career half century as both dominated the listless bowling attack until experienced left arm spinner Ray Price had them both caught in the deep playing extravagant shots.

However, Malik and Misbah kept up the relentless attack, producing a fourth-wicket stand of 99 from 70 balls.

Zimbabwe captain and off-spinner Prosper Utseya went for 46 runs in five overs. (Editing by N.Ananthanarayanan)

Pakistan president begins Europe tour amid chaos at home

Source: AFP

BRUSSELS - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Brussels at the start of a European tour, with his international credibility badly tarnished by months of political chaos.

Musharraf held talks with members of the Pakistani community shortly after touching down Sunday, with his official programme set to begin Monday, an embassy official here said.

The Pakistani head of state is scheduled to meet EU foreign policy Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as well as address the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Musharraf, in his most important trip abroad since the crisis began, also has trade and defence cooperation talks planned with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

His eight-day tour will also take him to Britain, France and Switzerland.

He is expected to face thorny questions over his commitment to fighting extremism after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and on Pakistan’s slow progress to democratic elections set for February 18.

In the city centre, a small but noisy group of Bhutto supporters waving Pakistani flags gathered to denounce his visit, Belgian media reported.

In an interview with RTBF public television, Pakistan’s ambassador in Brussels, Saeed Khalid, said Musharraf would want to discuss developments on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

“It’s entirely normal that the president would want to use this occassion to discuss important questions, like the situation in our region near Afghanisan, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the fight against extremists,” he said.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a key ally in the US “war on terror”. NATO-led troops in Afghanistan complain regularly that Musharraf is not doing enough to stop Taliban-led fighters from hiding in his country.

As Musharraf flew out to clear up “misperceptions” about Pakistan, officials there uncovered bomb and poison plots aimed at causing massive loss of life during the Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura.

They also questioned a teenager allegedly linked to Bhutto’s killing.

“We want to clear certain misperceptions of all the happenings in Pakistan and the region,” Musharraf told reporters at Chaklala military base, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

In Europe, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on its website that Spain’s authorities had warned France, Portugal and Britain of the possibility of attacks during Musharraf’s eight-day trip.

Small groups composed principally of Pakistanis were preparing to carry out attacks “imminently,” the report cited Spanish intelligence agency sources as saying.

On Saturday, the interior ministry said that Spanish police had smashed a suspected Islamist terror cell, arresting at least 14 people — 12 of them Pakistanis — and finding bomb-making equipment in raids in Barcelona.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero praised the intelligence services for the swoop but warned against leaping to conclusions about those arrested.

Belgian authorities said they do not plan to boost security beyond that which would be in place for a visit by any other head of state or government.

The Pakistani president is due to fly out to France Monday evening.

During his two days there, he will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, before heading to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meeting Wednesday through Friday. He will be in Britain on Saturday.

As he arrived in Europe, rights group Amnesty International urged political and business leaders to press him to bring an end to human rights abuses.

“The international community must give a clear and unequivocal message to President Musharraf that restoring respect for human rights and the rule of law is key to establishing confidence in the forthcoming elections and arresting the spate of political violence in Pakistan,” Amnesty chief Irene Khan said.

Black gold and Yellow gold hit highs

He said it would happen - that the price of oil would hit $100 a barrel - and it has! Back in 2000 Michael Economides, author of "The Color of Oil", had predicted that oil would hit $100 a barrel - probably to great deal of good natured ribbing. The price of oil at the time was hovering around $30 and had not really gone too much above that mark in the previous decade, and even $50 was looking a bit far fetched.

It would have been a good time to buy into oil stocks as prices have risen higher year by year since 2002, to finally reach the $100 level in the first trading day of 2008.

Following a similar trend, gold has hit a record $900 per oz as of January 11th, 2008.

So what do you think the price of oil will be in 6 months? Is demand going to continue to outpace supply?