Pakistan expected to chair IAEA board

VIENNA: Pakistan is expected to become the next head of the UN nuclear watchdog's governing body despite being outside a global anti-nuclear arms pact and home to a nuclear smuggler who supplied Iran and North Korea, diplomats say.

One Western diplomat said the choice was “not ideal” because, like India, North Korea and Israel, Pakistan has shunned the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that is at the heart of the International Atomic Energy Agency's work.

But Western powers are not expected to oppose the nominee of a group of Middle East and South Asia member states because Pakistan was a longstanding member of the Vienna-based IAEA Board of Governors and the choice would be within its rules.

“People are talking about it but I don't think there will be any uproar,” a European diplomat said. “There is no rule saying that an informal nuclear weapons state cannot be chair.”

The one-year position rotates between regions, who put forward their own nominee, and entails chairing debates of the IAEA's 35-nation decision-making body and helping them reach consensus decisions. It would not give Pakistan individual powers to decide UN nuclear policy.

In theory, other IAEA member states could reject Pakistan's chairmanship at a board meeting to decide on the issue scheduled for late September but this is very unlikely, diplomats said.

Malaysia currently chairs the board. “They are not the ideal board chairman but at the same time it is not really possible to make an issue of it,” the Western diplomat said, suggesting opposition would undermine the traditional selection process.

The diplomat said Pakistan may have been chosen because it was easier to agree on within the regional group than a state from the Middle East.

Iran and Syria, under IAEA investigation over nuclear proliferation suspicions, are also in this group. “There is consensus on Pakistan in our group,” an Asian diplomat said, without giving further details.

Wahab Riaz to be questioned by police: PCB chief

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board said Thursday fast bowler Wahab Riaz will appear before Scotland Yard police next week in relation to match-fixing allegations.

Ijaz Butt said the left-arm paceman will be interrogated by police on Tuesday.

“They want to question Wahab Riaz and we have set the date for it,” Butt told reporters in Lahore.

Riaz will be the fourth Pakistani player to be questioned by police. Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir had earlier been questioned by Scotland Yard for nine hours before they were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council last week.

A British tabloid last month accused Salman Butt, Asif and Amir of accepting money in return for bowling deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s test against England.

Butt said that police were yet to share any “incriminating material with the PCB” regarding their investigation against the Pakistan players.

“They have not charged any of our players and I would like the suspended players to travel back to Pakistan within the next few days,” Butt said.

Scotland Yard and the ICC’s anti-corruption unit are carrying out parallel investigations into the allegations of match-fixing against the Pakistani cricketers.

However, Butt claimed that Scotland Yard had told the ICC to wait until the police investigation was completed before beginning its own inquiry.

“Scotland Yard had written to the ICC to say that there can’t be a parallel investigation and you should not do this,” Butt said.

The PCB chairman admitted that during the police search of players’ rooms in the aftermath of the newspaper allegations, 2,500 pounds sterling ($3,850) were found in Salman Butt’s room and 1,500 pounds ($2,300) in Amir’s room.

But he said Salman Butt was paid the money by his agent as an advance for making an appearance at the opening of an ice cream parlour in England.

“The deal was of 5,000 pounds and Salman got half of the amount as an advance,” Butt said.

Similarly Butt said that Amir had already declared that he had 1,500 pounds in his possession. Butt did not elaborate on the details of money which was found from Amir’s room. —AP

Accused in Sialkot lynching sent on judicial remand

GUJRANWALA: A special anti-terrorism court sent 21 accused in the Sialkot lynching case to jail on seven-day-long judicial remand here on Thursday.

The 21 accused in the lynching case including ex-inspector Rana Illyas, ASI Waris, constables Mubarak,Tariq and 17 civilians were presented in the Anti-terrorism court II of Judge Nisar Ahmed on Thursday.

Prosecutor Rana Bakhtiar submitted before the court that a special team had completed its investigation and that as the police recovered batons, weapons, tractor trolley etc from the custody of the accused, they might be sent on judicial remand.

The court directed that the accused be presented in the court on Sept 16. – APP

Obama warns Quran burning is boosting Qaeda

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to ''listen to those better angels'' and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.

Obama told ABC's ''Good Morning America'' in an interview aired Thursday that he hopes the Rev. Terry Jones of Florida listens to the pleas of people who have asked him to call off the plan. The president called it a ''stunt.''

''If he's listening, I hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,'' Obama said. ''That this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.''

''And as a very practical matter, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,'' the president added.

Said Obama: ''Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.'' The president also said Jones' plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals ''to blow themselves up'' to kill others.

''I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in,'' the president said of Jones. – AP

Japan, India to sign free trade agreement

TOKYO: Japan said Thursday it plans to sign a free trade pact with India that will scrap tariffs on 94 per cent of traded goods over 10 years.

Foreign ministry official Norifumi Kondo said the two countries reached an agreement at sub-Cabinet level talks in Tokyo. Kondo said both sides still need to finalize details and declined to elaborate.

Kyodo News agency said the two countries aim to sign the agreement in October when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Japan.

Tokyo has asked New Delhi to cut tariffs on Japanese vehicles, one of key Japanese exports to India, while India asked Japan to import more generic drugs and expand job opportunities in Japan for Indian workers, Kyodo said.

Japan’s exports to India mainly vehicles and electronic goods totaled $7.8 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2010. Japan's imports from India, which include oil, steel and jewelry, were worth $4.7 billion, according to the ministry.

Japan has sealed bilateral free trade agreements with Brunei, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Switzerland and the regional group of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

It is negotiating with Australia and Peru for free trade pacts. Free trade talks with South Korea were last held in November 2004. – AP

Planned Quran burning 'despicable': Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Thursday condemned as “despicable” a US church's plan to burn the Koran on September 11, saying it could inflame Muslim sentiment across the world, a statement from the president's office said.

President Asif Ali Zardari said “anyone who even thought of such a despicable act must be suffering from a diseased mind and a sickly soul,” the statement said.

“It will inflame sentiments among Muslims throughout the world and cause irreparable damage to interfaith harmony and also to world peace,” the statement quoted Zardari as saying.

“The President called for doing all that it takes to stop such a senseless and outrageous act,” the statement added. – AFP

Snooker champ Higgins cleared of match-fixing

LONDON: World number one John Higgins was banned for six months and fined 75,000 pounds ($115,900) on Wednesday although the Briton was cleared of accepting a bribe to fix snooker matches.

At an independent disciplinary hearing Higgins’ claim that he felt intimidated during a meeting in Kiev with an undercover journalist from the News of the World Sunday newspaper offering him large sums of money to throw a match was accepted.

The two most serious match-fixing charges levelled at Higgins were withdrawn although he admitted giving the impression that he would go along with the scam and of failing to report the meeting to governing body World Snooker.

Three-times world champion Higgins, who strenuously denied match-fixing, was provisionally banned by World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn in May pending the hearing.

The Scot’s six-month suspension has been back-dated meaning he can continue his career in November.

“I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention to fix a match and no intention to do anything corrupt,” Higgins said, reading from a statement, after the hearing.

“I have never been involved in any form of snooker match-fixing. In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match.

“If I am guilty of anything it is of naivety and trusting those who, I believed, were working in the best interests of snooker and myself.”

Hearn, who has ambitious plans to revamp snooker, said he was satisfied with the outcome.

GREAT REGRET

“John made a mistake in failing to report the meeting in Kiev,” Hearn said in a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) statement on Wednesday.

“He has admitted this mistake and expressed great regret at what happened. The evidence, which has been exhaustively studied by David Douglas and Sport Resolutions, suggests that he was led into this situation and did not instigate any discussions of corrupt activity.

“It seems certain, in view of his previous record and the ambassadorial work he has done for snooker, that this was a mistake he will never repeat.”

Snooker was rocked in May when the News of the World published a story describing a meeting between Higgins, his agent Pat Mooney and reporters purporting to be businessmen in Kiev looking to fix snooker matches.

During the News of the World sting Higgins was alleged to have agreed to take money in return for influencing the outcome of matches. The newspaper also had video footage of the meeting in which Higgins was heard discussing large sums of money.

Ian Mill QC, who headed the disciplinary hearing under the auspices of Sport Resolutions UK, described Higgins as “foolish” for the way he handled the situation but blamed Mooney for instigating the meeting out of “financial self-interest”.

“Without any opportunity for mature reflection Mr Higgins, who is by nature someone who seeks to avoid confrontation or unpleasantness, decided to play along with the discussion when the topic did indeed arise,” Mill said.

“He also found the atmosphere in the meeting somewhat intimidating. His focus was entirely on bringing the meeting to an end as soon as possible and getting on a plane home.

“On the basis that they intended what they said, it was obviously a matter of the greatest importance to the integrity of the sport of snooker that those intentions were immediately reported. Mr Higgins’ failure in this respect was extremely foolish.”

Mill said Mooney should be banned from snooker for life, stating that he betrayed the trust of the governing body of which he had been a director at the time and of Higgins.

“His entire career and professional future he inexplicably put at serious and wholly unjustifiable risk,” Mill said.

Mooney denied being involved in match-fixing and added in a statement issued by his solicitor that he “bitterly regrets being caught up in the News of the World’s entrapment”. -Reuters