KSE 100-index sheds 184 points, ends at 12,179

KSE 100-index sheds 184 points, ends at 12,179
KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange's (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.69 percent, or 184.25 points, lower at 12,179.81on turnover of 87.31 million shares.

Stocks ended lower on Thursday ahead of the announcement of the budget for the next fiscal year, but dealers said an expected removal of a capital gains tax on individual investors should boost to the market.

The 2011/12 (July-June) budget is due to be unveiled on Friday.

According to media reports, the government may decide to remove the capital gains tax. A 10 percent capital gains tax is imposed on stocks held for six months or less and 7.5 percent on stocks held between 6 months to a year.

In the currency market, the rupee edged lower to close at 85.93/98 to the dollar from 85.92 a day earlier, amid steady dollar demand.

"The demand for the dollars is pretty steady, but inflows were good as well today, so the rupee id not fall much," said a dealer at a foreign bank.

The rupee hit a record low of 86.50 last week and dealers said the local unit may face some pressure in days ahead amid increased demand for dollar for import payments and a bleak outlook.

Pirates 4’ still top pick at box office

Pirates 4’ still top pick at box office
LOS ANGELES: The fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie ruled the foreign box office for a second weekend, fending off strong debuts by the "Hangover" and "Kung Fu Panda" sequels.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," playing everywhere overseas, captured $123 million during the weekend, raising its total to $471 million -- more than three times its domestic gross ($153 million).

"The Hangover, Part II" pulled in $59 million from 40 markets. Warner Bros. said the opening is three times higher than the comparable opening gross of the original 2009 hit in the same markets.

The comedy drew huge numbers from its No. 1 U.K. bow ($16.4 million), while Australia chipped in $11.6 million and France $5.8 million. Germany and Russia will open this week.

"Kung Fu Panda 2" in 3D followed closely with $57 million from just 11 markets, mostly in Asia.

The sequel to 2008's "Kung Fu Panda" finished in the top spot in nine markets, with China ($18.5 million), Russia ($15 million) and South Korea ($13 million) leading the list.

This week will see "Kung Fu Panda 2" adding 11 markets as it rolls out gradually over the summer months to capitalize on school holidays.

No. 4 on the weekend was "Fast Five," which grossed $13.3 million in 61 territories, pushing the foreign total for the turbo-charged street-racing sequel to $346 million.

"Rio" came in at No. 5 with $3.8 million from 37 markets for an overseas total of $321.9 million.

Google reveals Gmail hacking, says likely from China

Google reveals Gmail hacking, says likely from China
SAN FRANCISCO: Suspected Chinese hackers tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including those of senior U.S. government officials, Chinese activists and journalists, the Internet company said.

The perpetrators appeared to originate from Jinan, the capital of China's eastern Shandong province, Google said. Jinan is home to one of six technical reconnaissance bureaus belonging to the People's Liberation Army and a technical college that U.S. investigators last year linked to a previous attack on Google.

Washington said it was investigating Google's claims while the FBI said it was working with Google following the attacks -- the latest computer-based invasions directed at multinational companies that have raised global alarm about Internet security.

The hackers recently tried to crack and monitor email accounts by stealing passwords, but Google detected and "disrupted" their campaign, the world's largest Web search company said on its official blog.

The revelation comes more than a year after Google disclosed a cyberattack on its systems that it said it traced to China, and could further strain an already tense relationship between the Web giant and Beijing.

Google partially pulled out of China, the world's largest Internet market by users, last year after a tussle with the government over censorship and a serious hacking episode.

"We recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing," Google said, referring to the practice where computer users are tricked into giving up sensitive information.

"The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails."

It "affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users, including among others, senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists."

Google did not say the Chinese government was behind the attacks or say what might have motivated them.

But cyberattacks originating in China have become common in recent years, said Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at telecommunications company BT.

"It's not just the Chinese government. It's independent actors within China who are working with the tacit approval of the government," he said.

The United States has warned that a cyberattack -- presumably if it is devastating enough -- could result in real-world military retaliation, although analysts say it could be difficult to detect its origin with full accuracy.

Lockheed Martin Corp, the U.S. government's top information technology provider, said last week it had thwarted "a significant and tenacious attack" on its information systems network, though the company and government officials have not yet said where they think the attack originated.

"We have no reason to believe that any official U.S. government email accounts were accessed," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

A spokesman at South Korea's presidential office said the Blue House had not been affected, but added they did not use Gmail. South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it had warned all staff "not to use, send or receive any official information through private emails such as Gmail.

200 migrants missing off Tunisia coast: official

200 migrants missing off Tunisia coast: official
TUNIS: Around 200 migrants are missing off the Tunisian coast after an operation to rescue some 800 people aboard a small ship that ran aground on a sandbank, the official news agency TAP reported Thursday.

A rescue operation that began Wednesday has lifted 570 people off the overcrowded vessel after it ran aground and capsized near Tunisia's Kerkennah islands, the agency said.

But around 200 were still missing after they tried to scramble aboard a flotilla of rescue boats, it said.

17 die in clashes in Mogadishu main market: official

17 die in clashes in Mogadishu main market: official
MOGADISHU: Clashes pitting Somali government forces and their African Union allies against Islamist rebels for control of Mogadishu's main market left at least 17 civilians dead on Thursday, officials said.

Many of the victims died when stray artillery fire hit a bus station where people were waiting.

"At least seventeen civilian dead have been counted so far and nine of them were killed after artillery fire struck a bus station near Arafat hospital," Ali Muse, head of the Mogadishu ambulance service, told media

100 killed in Abyei conflict: ex-administrator

100 killed in Abyei conflict: ex-administrator
JUBA: Around 100 people were killed when northern Sudanese troops overran the contested Abyei area last month, the former administrator of the flashpoint border district said on Thursday.

"We are fearing that the number of those who died is around 100," Deng Arop Kuol told AFP, adding that the toll was a "preliminary estimate."

"The situation there is very bad, and our people are suffering," he said.

Kuol, a southern appointee, was controversially sacked as Abyei's administrator by President Omar al-Bashir after Khartoum's troops and tanks occupied the disputed region on May 21, in what the south's government branded an "invasion."

Khartoum has since appointed Brigadier Izzedine Osman, who led the army's seizure of Abyei town, as the region's caretaker administrator.

The UN Mission in Sudan said they could not confirm the numbers killed.

"Our patrols following the fighting saw dead bodies," UNMIS spokeswoman Hua Jiang told AFP.

"At present, however, we cannot confirm a final casualty toll."

The United Nations says at least 60,000 people from the Abyei region have fled the violence, while the south claims many more have been displaced.

Abbottabad commission runs into trouble

Abbottabad commission runs into trouble
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's new commission into how Osama bin Laden lived in the country undetected for so long ran into trouble Thursday as one appointee refused to take part and the political opposition criticised it.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced Tuesday that an independent commission would investigate the circumstances of the Al-Qaeda chief's presence in Abbottabad, where he was shot dead by US Navy SEALs in a covert operation.

The revelation that the world's most-wanted man lived in a garrison city just a stone's throw from a top military academy raised questions about complicity or incompetence within the Pakistani security services.

Gilani's office said the five-member commission would be headed by senior supreme court judge Javed Iqbal and was mandated "to ascertain the full facts regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan".

However, former supreme court judge Fakhruddin Ebrahim told AFP on Thursday that he had written to the prime minister refusing to sit on the panel.

"I was not consulted before my name was included in the commission and the government did not follow the procedure prescribed in the parliament's resolution," he said.

"They will have to reconstitute it," he added.

Parliament on May 14 adopted a resolution saying the composition of the commission would be settled after consultations between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition, he said.

Talking to AFP, Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari said Ebrahim's decision was a "surprise" and reserved further comment pending consultation with the law ministry.

The main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif also criticised the government on Thursday over the commission, saying he had not been consulted.

"The commission set up without consultations was meaningless. It collapsed before it could be formed. What was the use of a commission set up unilaterally?" he told reporters.

The naming of the much-awaited panel came amid demands from lawmakers in Washington and Islamabad for disclosure on the bin Laden affair after the episode threw already tense ties between the allies into turmoil.

Pakistan has suffered a wave of fresh attacks this month, with the country's main Taliban faction claiming hits on domestic and American targets to avenge bin Laden's killing

Moon not sighted; 1st Rajab on June 4

Moon not sighted; 1st Rajab on June 4
ISLAMABAD: The moon of Rajab Al Murajjab was not sighted in any part of the country, therefore, the first Rajab 1432 A.H. will fall on June 4, Saturday.

The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee made the announcement on Thursday.