With ‘my wife,’ Justin Bieber confirms marriage to Hailey Baldwin

LOS ANGELES: Pop singer Justin Bieber has confirmed his marriage to model Hailey Baldwin, posting the ultimate status update on social media two months after it was reported the couple had obtained a marriage license.

“My wife is awesome,” Bieber wrote on his Instagram account, next to a picture of himself and Baldwin walking and holding hands.

The Canadian singer is one of the world’s biggest-selling musical acts. Since releasing his last studio album in 2015, he has been featured on hits by other artists, including Major Lazer’s “Cold Water” and a remix of Luis Fonsi’s global sensation “Despacito,” in which Bieber sang in Spanish.

This summer, it was reported that Bieber was engaged to Baldwin, 21, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, and in September media outlets reported they had obtained a marriage license in the United States.

The Arizona-born model has changed her name on Instagram to Hailey Bieber.

Justin Bieber, 24, was the second person after singer Katy Perry to reach 100 million followers on Twitter, and his millions of fans have taken a keen interest in his romantic life. He dated pop singer and actress Selena Gomez off and on for years.

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Babar, Shafiq takes Pakistan into the lead

New Zealand grabbed the key wickets of Azhar Ali and Haris Sohail to push Pakistan back on the second day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

At lunch, Pakistan was 144-4 with Asad Shafiq (25) and Babar Azam (24) at the crease, trailing New Zealand’s first innings total of 153 by just nine runs.

The two have added 53 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand to bolster Pakistan’s bid for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Resuming at 59-2 Pakistan lost overnight batsmen Sohail for 38 and Azhar for 22 in the space of just six balls at the same score of 91.

Sohail was the more confident of the two, having hit four boundaries but was caught at short mid-wicket by Tom Latham to a loose shot off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi’s low full toss.

Azhar, who added 64 for the third wicket with Sohail, was dropped by Jeet Raval off Trent Boult when on 19 and was again lucky two runs later when given not out as the same bowler reviewed for a leg-before decision.

But Boult had the last laugh, forcing an edge off Azhar’s bat for wicketkeeper BJ Watling’s one-handed diving catch. Azhar hit just one boundary.

Left-armer Boult is the pick of bowlers with 2-29.

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PCB announces Pakistan A squad against England Lion

The National selection committee headed by Inzamam ul Haq has announced 13-member Pakistan ‘A’ squad for a 4-Day match against England Lions, scheduled on November 18 to 21 in Abu Dhabi.

Mohammad Rizwan led Pakistan ‘A’ squad includes Khuram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Usman Salahuddin, Mohammad Saad, Saud Shakil, Mohammad Irfan, Ehsan Adil, Taj Wali, Sameen Gul, Ali Shafiq and Mohammad Asghar.

Inzamam praised Rizwan to lead the team brilliantly against New Zealand A where they outclassed them 3-0 in ODI series.

“Rizwan is leading the side from the front and under his captaincy team achieved several achievements,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan ‘A’ will face England Lion in a 4-day match, 5 One Day matches and 2 T20s in the UAE.

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Boult leads New Zealand fightback against Pakistan

ABU DHABI: Left-arm pacer Trent Boult helped New Zealand foil Pakistan’s advantage with four wickets as the first Test was evenly poised after day two in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Boult’s 4-54 derailed the Pakistani batsmen who were bowled out for 227 in response New Zealand’s first innings total of 153.

He was well supported by debutant spinner Ajaz Patel (2-64) and Colin de Grandhomme (2-30) as Pakistan managed a first innings lead of just 74.

New Zealand then battled to 56-1 when bad light forced umpires to end the day with 4.2 overs still remaining.

The Black Caps still trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining.

Skipper Kane Williamson will hold the key for his team as he walked off with 27 not out and with him opener Jeet Raval on 26 not out.

The pair has added 56 for the second wicket after Tom Latham was bowled by Hasan Ali for nought in the second over, negotiating the spin bowling well under cloudy conditions.

New Zealand can take heart from the fact that Pakistan lost a Test at this venue last year against Sri Lanka by 21 runs, falling short of a target of just 136.

Pakistan squandered a good chance of taking a big lead through some inept batting, with only Babar Azam (62), Asad Shafiq (43) and Haris Sohail (38) making significant contributions.

Azam hit five boundaries in his 109-ball knock and was the last man out when he edged Boult for wicketkeeper BJ Watling to take a low diving catch.

Pakistan had resumed at 59-2 but lost overnight batsmen Sohail and Azhar Ali (22) in the space of just six balls at the same score of 91.

Sohail was the more confident of the pair who added 64 for the third wicket. He hit four boundaries but was caught at short mid-wicket by Latham after a loose shot off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi’s low full toss.

Azhar was dropped by Jeet Raval off Boult on 19 and was again lucky two runs later when given not out as the fast bowler reviewed for a leg-before decision.

But Boult had the last laugh, forcing an edge off Azhar’s bat for Watling’s one-handed diving catch.

In spite of losing those two wickets during the morning session, Pakistan were well-placed at 144-4 at lunch, seeking a big lead to get a 1-0 advantage in the three-match series.

But Boult checked their progress by dismissing Asad Shafiq for 43, bowled off an inside edge. That was 174-5, the start of a passage that saw Pakistan’s last six wickets fall for 63 runs.

Patel had Sarfraz Ahmed caught off a miscued sweep for two and Bilal Asif stumped by Watling for 11 while Boult, de Grandhomme and Neil Wagner also chipped in.

Wagner, playing in his 37th Test, achieved a personal milestone by becoming the eighth New Zealand bowler to take 150 wickets when he dismissed Yasir Shah for nine.

Richard Hadlee leads the chart of New Zealand bowlers with 431 wickets in 86 Tests.

Others who have 150 or more wickets are Daniel Vettori (361 in 112 Tests), Chris Martin (233 in 71), Tim Southee (220 in 60), Boult (219 in 55), Chris Cairns (218 in 62) and Danny Morrison (160 in 48).

The second Test will be played in Dubai (November 24-28) and the third in Abu Dhabi (December 3-7).

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Oil prices slip on concerns of looming oversupply, economic downturn

SINGAPORE: Oil prices slipped on Thursday, weighed down by rising supply going into a market in which consumption is expected to slow down amid a glum economic outlook.

Front-month Brent crude oil futures were trading at $65.88 per barrel at 0441 GMT, down 24 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $55.96 a barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.5 percent.

Since early October, oil prices have lost around a quarter of their value as supply soars just as demand is expected to slow down along with an economic downturn.

“Asian refiners and consumers we speak with are mentioning initial concerns of slowing demand,” said Mike Corley, president of Mercatus Energy Advisors.

U.S. bank Morgan Stanley said in a note on Wednesday that China’s economic “conditions deteriorated materially” in the third quarter of 2018, while analysts at Capital Economics said China’s “near-term economic outlook still remains downbeat.”

China is the world’s biggest oil importer and the second-largest crude consumer.

Meanwhile, data released this week showed economic contraction in industrial powerhouses Japan and Germany in the third quarter.

At the same time, supply has been surging, especially due to a 22 percent rise in U.S. crude oil production this year to a record 11.6 million barrels per day (bpd).

“Producers…have more barrels than they can sell at the moment,” said Mercatus Energy Advisors’ Corley.

As a result, oil inventories are rising. The American Petroleum Institute said late on Wednesday that crude inventories rose by 8.8 million barrels in the week to Nov. 9 to 440.7 million, compared with analyst expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels.

Fearing a renewed glut like in 2014, when prices crashed under the weight of oversupply, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is discussing supply cuts.

To do so successfully, OPEC – under the de-facto leadership of Saudi Arabia – will need Russia on its side, which is not an OPEC member.

A joint effort between OPEC and Russia to withhold supply from 2017 was a major contributor to crude price rises last year and in the first half of 2018.

“Russia and OPEC and Saudi Arabia – they are observing the market. If they see that there is dis-balance between supply and demand, (they) will of course take a joint action to reduce supply,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth investment body.

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Successful talks for IMF package to reduce Pakistan’s external financing risks: Moody’s

KARACHI: Successful negotiations for a new International Monetary Fund programme would reduce external financing risks for Pakistan, credit rating agency Moody’s said in its “Global Emerging Markets: Outlook” report issued on Thursday.

The government of Pakistan has recently secured $6 billion package from Saudi Arabia including $3bn in deferred payments on oil and $3bn to be deposited in Central Bank, the report said.

The government is seeking all sources to avert the imminent balance of payment crisis, the report observed.

The central bank foreign exchange reserves have fallen to their lowest levels in four years reaching $7.5bn, which could not meet the bill of two months’ imports, the report said.

The rating agency report has kept the outlook for global emerging markets (EM) “broadly stable” but warns of risks from “higher rates, politics and trade tensions”.

The report highlights that “although the share of [Pakistan’s] foreign currency debt is relatively low at around 35pc of total government debt, declining foreign reserves because of a current account deficit of around four to five percent of GDP, raise repayment risks.”

The agency expects the country’s external vulnerability indicator (EVI) ratio to rise to 153 per cent in 2019.

The EVI ratio indicates country’s immediately available foreign exchange resources sufficiency to allow it to make all external debt payments, even if there is a complete refusal of creditors to roll over debt due within a given year.

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