Finance minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that China had rolled over a $2 billion loan that matured last week, providing relief during the nation’s acute balance of payment crisis. Locking in a rollover had been critical for Pakistan, where reserves have dipped to just four weeks’ worth of imports and talks over an IMF bailout tranche of $1.1 billion …

Two US Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers on board, a general said on Thursday. The helicopters — variants of the Black Hawk designed for medical evacuation — were taking part in a routine training mission the night before when the crash occurred, Brigadier General John Lubas told a news conference. It …

AMRITSAR: A firebrand fugitive Sikh separatist has posted a video taunting Indian authorities after a fruitless almost two-week manhunt involving thousands of police and internet shutdowns. Amritpal Singh has risen to fame in recent months demanding the creation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland, the struggle for which sparked deadly violence in the 1980s and 1990s. Punjab police have been hunting Singh …

THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday rejected Iran’s bid to unblock nearly $2 billion in central bank assets frozen by the United States, but ruled Washington had illegally seized some other funds. Judges at the UN’s top court said Washington had “violated” the rights of several Iranian individuals and companies and must compensate them, yet ruled …

KARACHI: PTI Chair­man Imran Khan said it would make no difference if a five-member bench or a larger bench of the Supreme Court takes up his party’s petition against delay in polls in Punjab as his only concern was whether or not elections will be held in 90 days. “Whether it’s a 5 [member] SC bench or Full Bench, it …

AUSTIN — Texans could be on a “suspense list” if they fail to vote in two consecutive federal elections under a controversial bill a Senate panel approved Thursday. Voter registrars would have to check whether Texans had moved if they skipped casting ballots in that time, according to the proposal. Currently, registrars don’t place someone on such a list, which …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The fourth and final community meeting regarding the Texas Education Agency’s decision to take over Houston ISD was held at Kashmere High School on Friday. This meeting was expected to reach capacity and be marked with anger like the previous three, where protestors took over with bullhorns. A TEA spokesperson confirms Commissioner Mike Morath would not be …

Amazon has inducted one of Marvel’s former bigwigs as the streamer plans a greater focus on comic book films and TV series. Joe Quesada, the former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief and ex-Marvel Entertainment chief creative officer, has signed an exclusive first-look film and television deal with the retail giant. Under the deal, Quesada will focus on adapting existing and new comic …

ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking registration of a criminal case against former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, ex-director general Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Faiz Hameed and two journalists for making certain revelations in an interview of the ex-army chief. The registrar office of the IHC, however, raised objections on the petition and asked …

SYDNEY: Rapidly melting Antarctic ice threatens to dramatically slow deep-water currents in the wor­ld’s oceans, scientists say, impacting the spread of fresh water, oxygen and life-sustaining nutrients for centuries. New modelling points to faster Antarctic ice melts driving a “substantial slowdown” of water circulation in the ocean depths if global carbon emissions remain high, researchers said in a study published in …