ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday announced to have “shortened budget release process” to speed up execution of development projects and schemes. Under the revised mechanism, the government has decided to make available 50 per cent of total annual allocations to development projects in the first half of this fiscal year. As per the existing scheme, 40pc funds were being provided …

ISLAMABAD: Concluding the first quarterly review on a successful note, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the government to definitely achieve the revenue target, keep a cap on issuing new guarantees and put into effective implementation the circular debt reduction strategy. “The talks with the visiting mission have been highly successful,” a senior government official told Dawn adding the “government did …

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to launch a Hong Kong share offering to raise $10 billion to $15 billion in the final week of November, in a deal that could boost the Asian financial hub as it struggles with anti-government protests. The US-listed Chinese e-commerce giant is due to seek approval from Hong Kong’s listing committee on Thursday, two people …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan may remain on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) beyond February 2020, mainly because of its risk profile and in view of two simultaneous evaluations. Senior officials provided this information to a parliamentary panel on Thursday. They also revealed that the government recovered only Rs5.6 billion in taxes on foreign assets worth about $7.4bn …

NICOSIA: Cyprus announced Thursday it had signed its first natural gas exploitation deal worth $9.3 billion with a consortium comprised of industry giant Shell, US-based Noble and Israel´s Delek. “Noble Energy, Shell and Delek now have in their hands the first exploitation license granted by the Republic of Cyprus so they can commercialise the deposit,” said Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, …

KARACHI: Ghulam Mustafa Bashir has set his sights on the Tokoyo Olympics 2020 when  he moved into the finals of the 25 meter Rapid Fire Pistol event at the 14th Asian Championship in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday. Bashir  became the second Pakistan shooter after Khalil Akhtar to win a quota place for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Bashir scored 293 points …

NAPIER: England’s Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan posted an imposing 241 for three against New Zealand with a record-breaking  182 run stand while batting first in the fourth Twenty20 international in Napier on Friday. Malan was 103 not out at the close with Morgan falling in the final over for 91 as he tried to plunder the boundary to join …

Australia defeated Pakistan by 10 wickets in the third and final T20I at Perth Stadium, and clinched the three-match series 2-0. Australian captain Aaron Finch, after winning the toss, had said that he wanted to exploit the moisture in the pitch, and his bowlers couldn’t have done it better. The extra bounce in the wicket, deemed “rock hard” by Waqar …

MILAN: Italian teenager Jannik Sinner became the first player to reach the semi-finals of the Next Gen Finals in Milan as he eased to a dominant victory over Mikael Ymer on Wednesday. The 18-year-old Sinner, who is the youngest player inside the Top 100, won 4-0, 4-2, 4-1 in his second match at the round-robin event, which features a unique …

NEW DELHI: Two former Indian Premier League (IPL) players have been arrested for spot-fixing in a scandal-ridden regional tournament, police said on Thursday. Wicket-keeper/batsman C.M. Gautam and Abrar Kazi were arrested in Bangalore by a special unit investigating corruption and fixing in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL). Gautam, the 33-year-old former captain of Bellary Tuskers, and team-mate Kazi allegedly accepted …