Headlines:
• Barclays Bank Fined £26m for Gold Price Failings
• White House: US Will Have 9,800 troops in Afghanistan After 2014
• Modi Tells Pakistan’s PM to Prevent Terrorism against India
Barclays Bank Fined £26m for Gold Price Failings
Barclays Bank has been fined £26m by UK regulators after one of its traders was discovered attempting to fix the price of gold. The trader, who has been sacked, exploited weaknesses in the system to profit at a customer’s expense, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. The incident occurred in June 2012, the day after the bank was fined a record £290m for attempting to rig Libor. Barclays said it “very much regrets the situation” that led to the fine. The FCA found the bank failed to “adequately manage conflicts of interest between itself and its customers”, in relation to fixing the price of gold. “Barclays has undertaken a significant amount of work to enhance our systems and controls and is committed to the highest standards across all of our operations,” said Antony Jenkins, group chief executive. The FCA also fined the trader, Daniel James Plunkett, £96,500. “A firm’s lack of controls and a trader’s disregard for a customer’s interests have allowed the financial services industry’s reputation to be sullied again,” said Tracey McDermott, the FCA’s director of enforcement and financial crime. “Barclays’ failure to identify and manage the risks in its business was extremely disappointing.”
Imposing meagre financial penalties on banks will not prevent the rigging of financial markets. Fixing markets is a permanent feature of Western Capitalism and allows banks, financiers and wealthy capitalist to make money at the expense of everyone else. In Islam, it is forbidden for money to circulate exclusively amongst the wealthy people of society. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Quran,
مَّا أَفَاء اللَّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى فَلِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ كَيْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةً بَيْنَ الْأَغْنِيَاء مِنكُمْ وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
“What Allah has bestowed on His Messenger (and taken away) from the people of the townships,- belongs to Allah,- to His Messenger and to kindred and orphans, the needy and the wayfarer; In order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you. So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear Allah; for Allah is strict in Punishment.”
(Al-Hashr: 59:7)
White House: US Will Have 9,800 troops in Afghanistan After 2014
President Obama announced Tuesday that the US plans to remove all troops from Afghanistan by 2016, starting with reducing the troop presence in the country to just 9,800 and an end to the US combat mission at the close of 2014. “We have now been in Afghanistan longer than many Americans expected but make no mistake: thanks to the skill and sacrifice of our troops, diplomats and intelligence professionals we have struck significant blows against al Qaeda’s leadership, we have eliminated Osama bin Laden and we’ve prevented Afghanistan from being used to launch attacks against our homeland,” the president said. The US will leave 9,800 troops in the country in 2015 with two narrow missions, according to the White House: continue supporting Afghan forces, who took the lead ins securing the country last year, and continuing to support counter terrorism operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. The number of forces will be reduced by about half by the end of 2015, the administration says, and by the end of 2016 will eventually consist of a normal embassy presence with a security assistance office in Kabul, as is the case in Iraq. At the peak of the war, there were 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. Today, there are about 32,000. Mr. Obama noted in his remarks that when he took office, there were 180,000 trooped deployed abroad. [Source: CBS News]
So after changing its strategy and exit date several times, the Obama administration has announced a new withdrawal date of 2016. It is more than likely that this date will not be met. The reason for America changing exit dates repeatedly is that she is preoccupied with a ferocious Afghan resistance movement and is unable to extricate herself from Afghanistan after 13 years of fighting.
Modi Tells Pakistan’s PM to Prevent Terrorism against India
India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on his Pakistani counterpart to prevent militants from using its soil to attack India, following bilateral talks in New Delhi. Mr Modi held bilateral meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other regional leaders who attended his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, including Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse. India’s new premier made clear New Delhi’s concerns over terrorism and stressed the need for Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.” (The) PM underlined our concerns relating to terrorism,” Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh told reporters after the meeting. “We want peaceful and friendly relations with Pakistan. However, for such relations to proceed, it is important that terror and violence is brought to an end. “It was conveyed that Pakistan must abide by its commitment to prevent its territory and territory under its control from being used to stage terror attacks on India.” [Source: Australia News Network]
Whilst Modi called on Nawaz Sharif to prevent Jihadis from helping to liberate Kashmiris and other Muslims from the despot rule of Hindus, Sharif remained quiet about Modi’s blood stained past. Worse still, Sharif saw nothing wrong in shaking the hand of the butcher of Gujrat at his inauguration ceremony. With incompetent leaders like Sharif and General Raheel who repeatedly fail to recognise the enemies of Islam, what hope is there for the people of Pakistan?
Only under the Khilafah can the Muslims of Pakistan not only liberate themselves from the yoke of the Kaffir colonialist powers, but also liberate Muslims from the Hindu rule in India.