LONDON: Triple Olympic breaststroke champion Adam Peaty said he will miss next week’s British swimming championships as he focuses on his mental health ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. The 28-year-old spoke in an Instagram post of his personal battles and the pressures that came with success. He said he was tired and not enjoying the sport as much as before. “Everyone …

KARACHI: The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves dropped for the first time in six weeks, shrinking by some $354 million during the week that ended on March 24, it said on Thursday. Meanwhile, China is working on a request from cash-strapped Pakistan to roll over a $2 billion loan that matured last week, a top finance ministry official told Reuters, …

PESHAWAR: Pakistan caused a major upset by beating a strong Austra­lian team 2-1 in their quarter-final tie of the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition Asia/Oceania final qualifying in Kuch­ing, Malaysia to qualify for the World Group event. The World Group event will be held later this year in the Czech Republic. According to the information made available here, Pakistan’s …

LONDON: Jonny Bairs­tow hopes to be fit for England’s opening Test of the summer against Ireland in June, according to Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson. Bairstow’s form last year came to an abrupt end when a freak accident on the golf course in Septe­mber left him with three separate fractures in his left fibula, as well as a dislocated ankle …

ISLAMABAD: The 969-megawatt Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project would get back to power generation by July after a year-long closure due to tunnel collapse and K-Electric (KE) is entering into a 10-year agreement with the federal government for enhancing its intake from national grid to 2,600MW. These were the upshot of the two separate public hearings on increase in fuel charges …

KARACHI: The method that banks use for calculating their expected credit cost will change under the revised set of accounting standards that may lead to a higher exp­ense for commercial lenders in the medium term. Speaking to Dawn on Thursday, JS Global Capital Ltd Head of Research Amreen Soorani said banks will start reporting their loss expectations on investments and loans under …

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 …