Drone users who fail to register  their devices in Thailand by today could face up to five years  in jail or a $3,000 fine, officials said, tough new rules that  may hit tourists and media alike.
The regulations, which were announced in October but take  effect this week, cover nearly all forms of drone use from  commercial and recreational to scientific.
Anyone using an unregistered drone after Tuesday risks a  100,000 baht ($3,100) fine or a maximum of five years'  imprisonment, according to the National Broadcasting and  Telecommunication Office.
"All type of drones except toy drones must be  registered," an NBTC official told AFP, exempting unmanned  aerial vehicles under 250 grams (eight ounces) -- which  tallies with new US rules.
Thailand says it has registered almost 8,000 unmanned  aerial vehicles so far, a process that requires users to  obtain a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The rule comes as Thailand enters its peak tourism  season, with the number of visitors 

Thailand says drone users must register or face jail, fines

PTI Automatic

England coach Trevor Bayliss will  step down after the next Ashes series in 2019, he announced  today as the media slammed him over the 4-0 Test thrashing in  Australia.
Bayliss, who was appointed in 2015 to succeed the sacked  Peter Moores, said it would be time for a fresh approach when  his four-year contract comes to an end.
"I'm contracted to September 2019 and that will see me  out," the 55-year-old Australian told the BBC.
"I've always felt that it's time for a change around that  four-year mark. A new voice and a different approach  reinvigorates things."
The broadcaster said Bayliss told England director of  cricket Andrew Strauss of his plans a year ago, but had only  now made it public.
His contract takes him up to the end of the 2019 Ashes  series, when Australia coach Darren Lehmann also plans to call  it quits.
Since former Sri Lanka coach Bayliss took over from  Moores, England's Test results have been mixed, losing 18 and  winning 15.
His announcement follows England's 

England's under-fire Bayliss to step down after 2019 Ashes

Sri Lanka today announced Angelo  Mathews would return as skipper for limited-overs cricket  ahead of the 2019 World Cup, just six months after the  allrounder stepped down from the post.
The move comes as a surprise after Mathews, 30, quit last  July as captain in all three formats of the game following  repeated bouts of injury.
Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala said the  board asked Mathews to reconsider following close  consultations with new coach Chandika Hathurusingha and team  selectors.
Mathews said he took a few days to decide before  accepting the captaincy of Sri Lanka's one-day and Twenty20  teams.
"It is a national duty, and we need stability moving into  a World Cup in 18 months," said Mathews.
Dinesh Chandimal remains Sri Lanka's Test captain.
Sumathipala said Mathews was expected to prepare the  squad ahead of the World Cup in England and Wales in 2019.
The returning captain will face his first test this month  when Sri Lanka travel to Bangladesh for a .

Mathews returns as Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain

Singaporean authorities have  arrested 17 men for allegedly stealing fuel from a major Shell  refinery, and seized an oil tanker and millions of dollars in  cash, police said.
The suspects, aged between 30 and 63, were detained in  raids across Singapore on Sunday after the Anglo-Dutch energy  giant first alerted police in August. Several of the suspects  were Shell employees.
A total of Sg$3.05 million ($2.3 million) in cash was  recovered along with a 12,000-tonne tanker, which police  believe was where the stolen oil was being transferred.
The suspects' bank accounts have also been frozen, police  added.
Authorities charged 11 of the men in court today,  including eight Singaporean employees of Shell and two  Vietnamese men -- a crew member and the captain from the oil  tanker Prime South.
The 11th suspect was a Singaporean who did not work for  Shell. The other six are still under investigation.
The oil was allegedly stolen from the Pulau Bukom  industrial site in western ...

Singapore holds 17 men, seizes tanker over alleged Shell oil

The Israeli army overnight carried  out air strikes and fired rockets at targets in Syria, causing  damage near a "military position", the Syrian army said in a  statement today.
The Israeli air force carried out strikes on the Qutayfeh  area northeast of Damascus, hitting near the military position  and causing the Syrian army to retaliate and "hit one of its  planes", the army said.
Israel also launched land-to-land missiles into Syria  from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but the Syrian army  intercepted them, it said.
Israel's army has carried out several attacks on the  Syrian army and its ally Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah  since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011.
Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles)  of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and  later annexed it in a move never recognised by the  international community.
Syria and Israel remain technically at war, and the  Jewish state fought a devastating war against ...

Israeli air strikes, rockets hit Syria: Syrian army

Martin Guptill was at  his belligerent best as New Zealand thrashed Pakistan by eight  wickets in Nelson today, although captain Kane Williamson  admitted a rain delay had done the hosts a favour.
The second one-day international was evenly poised when  rain forced the players from the field for more than two hours  with New Zealand 64 for two after 14 overs in reply to  Pakistan's 246 for nine.
When play resumed under the Duckworth-Lewis system New  Zealand's target was revised to 151 in 25 overs meaning they  had 11 overs left to make 87.
"Pakistan showed some real resistance at the end and put  some partnerships together which would have been a tricky  total on that surface," Williamson said, adding the rain break  "worked in our favour a little bit".
But the New Zealand skipper also hailed the "brilliant"  partnership involving Guptill and Ross Taylor to get New  Zealand home with seven balls to spare.
Guptill, 31 off 40 at the break, was 86 not out off 71  deliveries at the end. .

Guptill bludgeons New Zealand to rain-affected win

Completed scoreboard  from the rain-shortened second one-day international between  New Zealand and Pakistan at Saxton Oval in Nelson today:
Pakistan
Azhar Ali
lbw Southee
6
Imam-ul-Haq
c Munro b Boult
2
Babar Azam
c Taylor b Ferguson
10
Mohammad Hafeez
c Guptill b Santner 60
Shoaib Malik
c Southee b Astle
27
Sarfraz Ahmed
st Latham b Astle
3
Shadab Khan
c Latham b Ferguson
52
Faheem Ashraf
c Southee b Ferguson
7
Hasan Ali
c Astle b Southee
51
Mohammad Amir
not out
8
Rumman Raees
not out
6
Extras: (B-1, W-12, NB-1)
14
Total: (for 9 wickets; 50 overs)
246
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-14, 3-39, 4-84, 5-108, 6-127,  7-141, 8-211, 9-239.
Bowling: Southee 10-1-57-2, Boult 10-0-54-1, Santner  10-1-34-1, Ferguson 10-0-39-3, Astle 7-0-50-2, Munro 3-0-11-0
New Zealand (revised target 151 in 25 overs)
M Guptill not out
86
C Munro c Faheem b Amir
0
K Williamson c Shadab Khan b Faheem 19
R Taylor not out
45
Extras: (NB-1)
1
Total: (for 2 wickets; 23.5 overs)  151
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-47.
Bowling: ..

Nelson (New Zealand), Jan 9 (AFP) Completed scoreboard

Men's tennis boss Chris Kermode  Tuesday pledged a shake-up in ATP rules as four players pulled  out of the Auckland Classic before their opening matches,  citing injury or illness.
Four lucky losers from the qualifying tournament found  themselves on centre court as Ryan Harrison, Andrey Rublev,  Guido Pella and Kyle Edmund all withdrew.
By turning up in Auckland, the players became eligible  for first-round prize money and avoided an ATP fine.
Kermode, executive chairman of the Association of Tennis  Professionals (ATP), warned that rules around withdrawals were  under review. But he also said he believed the players'  reasons for pulling out.
"The bigger concern would be players pulling out before  they got here, that would be an issue," Kermode told Fairfax  Media in Auckland.
"They make the effort to come to the event and that's  demonstrated the desire to play here.
"Tennis is such a physical sport that these things are  going to happen. We are currently doing a whole review ...

ATP pledges shake-up as four quit Auckland

World number one Rafael Nadal lost  his first match of the year 6-4, 7-5 to Richard Gasquet at the  Kooyong Classic today, but said he was happy after his  troublesome knee held up "fine".
Nadal's knee injury hampered the end of his 2017 season  and forced him to skip last week's Brisbane International, but  he was able to give it a workout at the non-tour event in  Melbourne.
Though he lost in straight sets, the Spaniard said he  would keep working hard until the start of the Australian Open  at Melbourne Park on Monday.
"I"m very happy to be back in Australia," he said. "I had  a heavy year in 2017 and I started my preparation later than  usual.
"But I've arrived in plenty of time. It's great to get  the feeling once again of playing a match.
"This was a good test for me after some good training,  that's the most important thing."
The 16-time Grand Slam winner was far from his best in  the exhibition encounter against a player he has beaten 15-0  on the ATP Tour in a rivalry dating .

Nadal beaten in Melbourne but injured knee 'fine'

Former winner Stan Wawrinka today  said he's hungry to return to action at next week's Australian  Open after six months on the sidelines.
The three-time Grand Slam champion hasn't played since  Wimbledon, but said he has recovered sufficiently from a knee  injury to feature in the year's opening Grand Slam, starting  in Melbourne on Monday.
"I'm really, really happy to be back on the tour and  seeing the sun," the 32-year-old Swiss told reporters in  Melbourne.
"Still a lot to do but I'm feeling really positive, so  looking forward to starting."
Wawrinka, who defeated Rafael Nadal to win the 2014  Australian title, has slipped to nine in the world rankings,  having not played since his first-round Wimbledon loss to  Russian Daniil Medvedev in July.
He pulled out of an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi late  last month before travelling to Australia to prepare for the  Open.
"For me, the first thing is to play a match, to play a  tennis match again. It's been many months out of the tour," 

Wawrinka says he's ready for Australian Open

The prospects of an unprecedented  20th Grand Slam victory have strengthened for ageless wonder  Roger Federer as his main rivals flounder ahead of the  Australian Open.
The 36-year-old is coming off an extraordinary 2017, when  he won a fifth Australian Open title and a record eighth at  Wimbledon, and there could be yet more glory with a depleted  field of top contenders in Melbourne.
Andy Murray and Japan's Kei Nishikori are already out of  the year's opening Grand Slam with injuries, while 12-time  major champion Novak Djokovic is troubled by an elbow  complaint and hasn't played for six months.
World number one Rafael Nadal withdrew from his first  tour event of 2018, in Brisbane, with continuing knee  problems, and is seeking match practice in a Melbourne  exhibition event ahead of the January 15 start.
The 2014 winner Stan Wawrinka, who hasn't played since  last year's Wimbledon and subsequent knee surgery, has had  little warm-up work and is no longer with his four-year coach  

Federer eyes fresh 'fairytale' as Slam rivals struggle

Ricky Ponting will be an assistant  coach during Australia's Twenty20 international series against  England and New Zealand next month, Cricket Australia said  today.
The former Australia captain will work under head coach  Darren Lehmann, while Troy Cooley and Matthew Mott will help  out during the series.
They have been brought on board while  regular support  staff Graeme Hick, David Saker and Brad Haddin are in South  Africa to assist in preparations for Australia's four-Test  tour from March.
Lehmann has previously said he will not seek to renew his  contract when his current deal expires at the end of 2019,  with Ponting seen as a potential successor.
Ponting undertook the T20 role last year when he worked  with the Australia squad for the three-match series against  Sri Lanka.
He has extensive experience of the shortest form of the  game, captaining his country in the first ever T20  international against New Zealand in 2005, and then leading  the side in the first two editions 

Ponting named Australia assistant coach for T20s

Twelve-time Grand Slam winner  Novak Djokovic headlines a list of walking wounded at the  Australian Open, with the Serb desperate to get back to  winning ways after six months out injured.
The former world number one is making a tilt at a record  seventh Melbourne Park crown, but has some serious rust to  shake off if he is to make an impression.
Djokovic has been sidelined since Wimbledon in July, with  a Tie Break Tens exhibition event on Wednesday and the Kooyong  Classic, where he is drawn to play world number five Dominic  Thiem, his only chance to test his right elbow injury.
"Finally back in the land down under. I feel ready.  Idemo! (let's go)," he tweeted on Sunday, posting a video of  himself hitting on Rod Laver Arena.
But after pulling out of an Abu Dhabi tournament late  last month and admitting "I still feel the pain", a big  question mark hangs over how competitive Djokovic can be.
Having added mercurial former tour player Radek Stepanek  to a coaching team spearheaded 

Djokovic leads walking wounded at Australian Open

North Korea offered to send athletes  and a high-level delegation to the forthcoming Winter Olympics  in the South as the rivals held their first official talks  today in more than two years after months of tensions over  Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
Seoul urged that reunions of families divided by the  1950-53 Korean War -- one of the most emotive legacies of the  conflict -- be held at the same time as the Games.
The talks were held in Panmunjom, the truce village in  the Demilitarized Zone that splits the peninsula, with the  North's group walking over the Military Demarcation Line to  the Peace House venue on the southern side -- just yards from  where a defector ran across in a hail of bullets two months  ago.
Looking businesslike, the South's Unification minister  Cho  Myoung-Gyon and the North's chief delegate Ri Son-Gwon  shook hands at the entrance to the building, and again across  the table.
In accordance with standard practice in the North, Ri  wore a badge on ...

N Korea offers to attend Olympics in talks with South

Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal  flops that new recruits are on the way as the furious Gunners  boss prepares for tomorrow's League Cup semi-final against  Chelsea.
Wenger's side suffered one of the most chastening defeats  of his increasingly tarnished reign on Sunday as second tier  Nottingham Forest won 4-2 in the FA Cup third round.
It was the first time Wenger had crashed out at that  stage of the competition since arriving at the north London  club in 1996.
Wenger's decision to make nine changes backfired, with  the understudies delivering a listless display at the City  Ground.
The Frenchman prioritised the League Cup showdown with  Chelsea by keeping his main men fresh for the first leg clash  at Stamford Bridge means he can ill-afford a damaging defeat  against Antonio Conte's men.
But regardless of Arsenal's League Cup fortunes, Wenger  has clearly had enough of another underachieving season which  sees his team in danger of failing to qualify for the  Champions League .

Wenger eyes new recruits as troubled Arsenal face Chelsea test

Three half-centuries including a late  charge by Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan carried Pakistan to 246  for nine batting first against New Zealand in the second one-  day international in Nelson today.
Mohammad Hafeez hit a solid 60, the 33rd ODI half-century  for the veteran right-hander as he held the first half of the  innings together.
Hasan then blasted his first 50 and Khan his second when  they mounted a rescue mission with Pakistan 141 for seven in  the 37th over.
The pair featured in a 70-run stand off 49 deliveries for  the eighth wicket.
It was Sarfraz Ahmed's call to bat when he won the toss,  saying it looked like a wicket that would favour the side  having first use of it.
But just as in the first ODI in Wellington on Saturday,  the Pakistan top order were not allowed to settle.
Imam-ul-Haq, in for the injured Fakhar Zaman, was out for  two in the fourth over and Azhar Ali followed five balls later  for six.
Lochie Ferguson reduced Pakistan to 39 for three when he  entered ..

Late 50s by Hasan and Shadab boost Pakistan

North and South Korea began their  first official talks in more than two years today, focussing  on the forthcoming Winter Olympics after months of tensions  over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
The talks in Panmunjom, the truce village in the  Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, came after the  North's leader Kim Jong-Un indicated in his New Year's speech  that he could send a delegation to next month's Games in  Pyeongchang in the South.
Seoul responded with an offer of a high-level dialogue,  and last week the hotline between the neighbours was restored  after being suspended for almost two years.
Seoul's five-member delegation, led by unification  minister Cho Myoung-Gyon, travelled to Panmunjom in a convoy  of vehicles, passing a group of well-wishers holding a banner  at a checkpoint leading towards the DMZ.
The North's group, of similar size and led by senior  official Ri Son-Gwon, walked over the Military Demarcation  Line at Panmunjom for the talks, pictures 

Koreas start first official talks in two years

Intel chief Brian Krzanich said  today the impact of a recently discovered vulnerability in  computer chips has been limited due to "remarkable"  collaboration by the tech industry.
Krzanich took the unusual step of addressing the security  issue as he delivered a keynote ahead of the opening of the  huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, an industry event  expected to draw some 180,000 people from the sector.
As yet, Krzanich said, there is no information to suggest  any loss of data from the so-called Meltdown and Spectre flaws  and he added, "We are working tirelessly to make sure it stays  that way."
The Intel chief executive made his most high-profile  public comments since the release of research highlighting  vulnerabilities affecting the chips powering most modern PCs  and many mobile devices.
"The collaboration of so many companies (to mitigate the  threat) is truly remarkable," Krzanich said.
"Security is job number one for Intel and our industry.  The primary focus of 

Intel chief says chip flaw damage contained by industry

The EU has called Iranian Foreign  Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to talks in Brussels on Thursday  with his French, British and German counterparts in efforts to  preserve the hard-fought deal to curb Tehran's nuclear  ambitions.
The meeting between Zarif and the three European parties  to the landmark 2015 agreement comes after Iran warned the  world today to prepare for the withdrawal of the United  States.
Thursday's meeting comes against a backdrop of high  political tension in Iran following recent protests which  claimed 21 lives, though Zarif has dismissed the idea the  unrest would be on the agenda.
Iran signed the accord with six world powers, agreeing to  curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of many  international sanctions, but US President Donald Trump has  condemned the deal and threatened to pull out.
"The EU High Representative Federica Mogherini will  convene a meeting with ministers of foreign affairs of E3  countries -- France, Jean-Yves Le Drian, ..

Europe, Iran to discuss nuclear deal Thursday: EU

Donald Trump's scheduled medical  exam this week won't include a psychiatric evaluation, the  White House said today as questions mount over the US  president's mental fitness.
Responding to queries on the subject, spokesman Hogan  Gidley said simply: "No."
"He's sharp as a tack," Gidley told reporters on board  Air Force One.
Trump, 71, will be examined at the Walter Reed military  hospital in a Washington suburb Friday and the results are set  to be made public.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump published a  letter by his long term doctor Harold Bornstein that stated he  was in "excellent physical health."
Bornstein had previously written about Trump's health in  glowing terms, stating in 2015 he would be "the healthiest  individual ever elected to the presidency."
Angered by the publication of a bombshell book that  raised doubts over his mental faculties, Trump took to Twitter  this weekend to describe himself as "a very stable genius" and  "like, really smart.

AFP

AFP

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