Pakistan Today

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted private airline, Serene Air, permission to operating international flights to and from UAE and Saudi Arabia. In this regard, CAA director air transport on Thursday issued a notification permitting Serene Air to launch international flight operations besides ordering the private airline to submit a flight schedule. The airline will begin flights to the two...

ISLAMABAD: The sale of motorbikes and three wheelers increased 18.07 per cent during the first five months (July-Nov) of the current financial year (FY2020-21), as compared to the corresponding period of last year. As many as 792,228 motorbikes and three wheelers were sold in July-Nov FY21 period against the sale of 670,954 units in July-Nov FY20, data shared by the...

The United States (US) Embassy in Islamabad tweeted on Thursday that the country provided $128 million in debt relief to Pakistan in 2020 under the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. “Through efforts like this, the U.S. and Pakistan are working together to redirect critical resources to the #COVID19 pandemic response,” it said. Under the #G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, the U.S. provided $128...

Pakistan has returned second instalment of $1 billion of the $3 billion loan given by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia much ahead of schedule, mainly due to pressure from Riyadh, albeit no side officially confirms it. This came possible after China agreed to provide another $1 billion financing line to Pakistan for the second time in this year. Earlier this...

SYDNEY: The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along...

PTCL and Ufone CEO and president Rashid Khan passed away on Thursday due to Covid-19. According to the PTCL spokesperson, Khan had been admitted to a hospital in Islamabad for the last few days. Rashid Khan took charge of Ufone in August 2017 and was later appointed as the CEO of PTCL Group in March 2019. Khan was considered a veteran...

SINGAPORE: Stocks scaled record heights, the dollar plumbed two-year lows and oil prices hit their strongest since March on Thursday, as monetary support and the hope of fiscal stimulus in the United States put traders in a festive mood. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4% to an all-time high. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.3% to sit just...

WASHINGTON: Texas and nine other states sued Google on Wednesday, accusing it of working with Facebook Inc in an unlawful manner that violated antitrust law to boost its already-dominant online advertising business. The states asked that the Alphabet Inc-owned company, which controls a third of the global online advertising industry, compensate them for damages and sought “structural relief,” which is...

DUBAI: Oil giant Aramco, whose dividend remains vital to helping Saudi Arabia contain a huge deficit, may have to sell assets and borrow more to fulfil its fiscal role amid uncertainty in oil prices, market specialists said. While Saudi Arabia has increased non-oil revenues this year, Aramco still accounted for more than half its total income, and will be key...

Premier stresses promotion of tourism in KP; promises loans for youth

NEW YORK: Oil prices slipped on Wednesday, as more European lockdowns and slower US consumer spending tapped the brakes on a rally that has lifted futures by more than 30pc in six weeks. Brent crude futures fell 25 cents to $50.51 a barrel by 11:02 a.m. EST (1602 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 34 cents to $47.28...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched an online module to facilitate investors in acquiring greenfield industry status, an FBR spokesman said on Wednesday. "To promote investment in the greenfield industry and to facilitate such investors, FBR has launched an online module in Iris, which would make the process for grant of greenfield industry status easy. To this...

China fully agrees to the positive assessment made by President Dr Arif Alvi on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) cooperation, said Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Wednesday during his regular briefing in response to a question about President Alvi's recent interview to a Chinese media outlet. Wang Wenbin said the Chinese side would continue to work with Pakistan...

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the 'Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy' as well as the 'Electric Vehicles Policy' . The ECC meeting was chaired by Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, according to press statement issued by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. "After due deliberation, the forum approved removal of withholding tax of 4pc on...

ISLAMABAD: In line with the directions of the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication (MoIT&T), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has completed the evaluation process for the selection of an international consultant for spectrum auction of 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands. According to a statement issued by PTA on Wednesday, the advertisement for hiring of a consultant/consultancy firm was published...