Former Pakistan PM Sharif accused of 'sedition'

Pakistan’s top security official has warned the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that his recent anti-government speeches could amount to treason, ratcheting up tensions in the country ahead of planned protest rallies this week.
Rehman Malik said the government had “no intention" of arresting the opposition leader, but suggested that it had grounds to do so.
Political tensions in Pakistan have risen dramatically following a Supreme Court ruling last month that barred Mr Sharif and his brother from elected office. Any arrest, of Mr Sharif or other high-profile members of his party, would be a major escalation of the crisis and would be likely to trigger violent protests.

Mr Sharif and his brother say President Asif Ali Zardari was behind the decision and have vowed to join a protest by lawyers in the capital of Islamabad seeking the restoration of fired judges who many expect to take up cases that could weaken Mr Zardari's already shaky grip on power.
The crisis comes Pakistan battles rising violence by al-Qaeda and Taleban militants and a crushing economic situation. Last week, Britain appealed for political unity, saying the bickering was distracting the country from the fight against militants.
In a televised media conference, Mr Malik read out extracts from several speeches he said were made by Mr Sharif at the fiery rallies he has been addressing since the court ruling.
“Inciting people for disobedience is sedition ... It could get life imprisonment and a fine,” he said. He also appealed for Mr Sharif to negotiate with the government for a solution, as other government leaders have pleaded.

Some analysts say both sides in the dispute are taking a tough line to get favorable terms in the event any deal is made to defuse the crisis.
Mr Malik said the government would not outlaw the lawyers' march but said the protesters would not be allowed to rally in front of the parliament building or other downtown areas, as they are planning. He suggested they protest in a park on the outskirts of Islamabad.
The protesters have said the march will be peaceful, but that they will not leave streets close to the parliament until the judges are restored.

Meanwhile, judges in the eastern province of Punjab extended by 60 days the detention of four people being questioned in connection with last year’s terrorist attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai. Among them was Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamist group widely believed to be a front for the militant network that carried out the attacks.

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Former Guantanamo Detainee Bombed Iraqi Base

U.S. officials sent Abdallah Saleh Al-Ajmi from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Kuwait, where he was released. He later drove a truckload of explosives into an Iraqi army base.
The case further complicates the issue of what to do with detainees once Guantanamo closes.

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White House budget director says economy is 'weak'

Calling the economy 'weak,' Obama's budget director says stimulus plan needs time to work

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House's top budget official declared on Sunday that "fundamentally, the economy is weak" while saying the administration's own financial predictions could need a revision by midyear.
Peter Orszag, President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget director, said in television interviews that the economic downturn has been years in the making but cautioned that the new administration wasn't yet looking at a second economic stimulus package. Orszag said the already-in-place $787 billion stimulus should have a chance to work before officials ask Congress to consider a sequel.

"I don't think we should be chasing our tail, constantly revising assumptions," Orszag said. "Let's see what happens, let it work. We'll have a mid-session review later in the year. We'll have an opportunity to revise the assumptions at that point."

That revision, though, seemed unavoidable.

Obama's budget assumes the economy will grow at about 3.2 percent. Given climbing unemployment, shrinking credit and a general frustration over a crumbling economy, that now seems unrealistic.
Orszag acknowledged the federal budget is "uglier than we would like," but he blamed most of the spending on last year's budget process and defended Obama's decision to go forward with it without seeking more changes.
"This is like your relief pitcher coming in into the ninth inning and wanting to redo the whole game," he said. "Next year, we will be the starting pitcher and the game is going to be completely different."
The $410 billion spending bill includes the kinds of lawmakers' pet projects that Obama pledged as a candidate to eliminate. His top aides say Obama would overlook for now the time-tested tradition that allows lawmakers to divert millions at a time to pet projects, called "earmarks," in the hopes of moving on.
The measure expected to be voted on by the Senate this week keeps the government open for business through Sept. 30, when the federal budget year ends. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion; Democrats say the number is $3.8 billion and that just under half of the projects come from GOP lawmakers.
Republicans weren't swayed by Orszag's argument, saying the Democratic spending bill doesn't address the problems or keep Obama's campaign pledges.
"First of all, if you make a promise, people expect that you live up to it. And that's why this administration's refusal to go in and change this bill, I think, is a false position," said Rep. Eric Cantor, the GOP's No. 2 official.
"There is no way anyone could take what Mr. Orszag has said with any credibility," Cantor said. "Of course they're negotiating on this bill in the Senate right now. To say that 'we would have drawn it differently' but leave $430 billion-plus dollars on the table like this? No way."

Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio tried to remain civil in his opposition.
"Listen, I want to work with the president on behalf of the American people," Boehner said. "That's what they sent us to Washington to do. And while I like the president as much as the American people do -- I think he's a great guy -- there are serious differences in terms of the approach that he would like to take and the approach that I think many Republicans would like to take."
Boehner said it's unacceptable that taxpayers would subsidize mortgages under Obama's plan, which aims to slow foreclosure rates and stem plummeting home values as neighborhoods spout "for sale" signs.
Orszag defended the administration's stark assessment of the economy, arguing that honesty would matter more than spin.

"People have been critical that we've either been too optimistic or too pessimistic. What the president is trying to do is tell the truth," said Orszag, who linked the nation's economy to its health care costs.
Orszag, one of the president's top advisers on health policy, said the administration remains committed to having broad changes in the current model within the first year. He said, however, that the policy was not inflexible, given its importance in managing the nation's budget.
"I'm going to again say we think this is the best way of proceeding, but of course other people have ideas, and they should put them on the table," he said.
Orszag also pleaded for patience as the 6-week-old administration looks for solutions: "Well, I think fundamentally, the economy is weak. Job losses began in January of 2008. The stock market started declining October 2007. This has been, you know, eight years in the making, and again, it's going to take some time to work our way out of it."
Orszag appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS's "Face the Nation." Cantor appeared on CNN while Boehner appeared on CBS.

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Taxpayer bailouts

In an unprecedented move, the Treasury has agreed to extend the guarantee in place for existing customer savings to all new deposits. Any individual will now be able to place millions of pounds with the bank, safe in the knowledge that the money has a 100pc Government guarantee.
The news saw Northern Rock shares jump more than 10pc to 193p in morning trading.
No other UK high street bank can offer protection for anything above the first £35,000 of a customer's deposit under the current financial services compensation scheme arrangement.

Northern Rock has agreed to "pay an appropriate fee for the extension of the guarantee to ensure that it does not receive a commercial advantage".

The fee will be calculated as a percentage of all new customer deposits made at the bank. On top of the "commercial advantage" fee, Northern Rock is paying "£40m-£50m in the period to December 31" to cover the Government's advisory costs as well as its own. The measures are expected to help see off suggestions that the bail out equates to state aid, prohibited by the EU.
In addition, the bank has also been given new terms for its Bank of England facility that will make it easier to borrow. These will "enable the company to borrow through the Bank of England on a secured basis against all of its assets... [and] allow Northern Rock to continue to pursue the full range of its strategic options".

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SigmaForex will not be held responsible for charges or fees assessed by going through an intermediary bank.

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