The Qatar Open second and third seeds  -- Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and Tomas Berdych of the Czech  Republic -- crashed out of the tournament in the first round  on a night of shocks in Doha.
Both seeds lost in third set tie-breaks.
Carreno Busta was beaten by Croatia's Borna Coric, 7-5,  2-6, 6-7 (8/10) in an enthralling match lasting 2 hours 41  minutes.
And Berdych went down 4-6, 6-1, 6-7 (4/7) in the match on  centre court which followed against his fellow 6ft 5ins  opponent, Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.
It means the tournament has lost two of its top-ranked  players after having already being shorn of three major stars  -- Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga --  before it began, as they try to recover from injuries.
To complete a bad night for the seeds, number six seed  Filip Krajinovic of Serbia also lost, in straight sets to  Germany's Peter Gojowczyk.
Busta's match with Coric was the game of the tournament  so far.
The 21-year-old Croat, who beat Andy ...

Big seeds tumble out of Qatar Open

PTI Automatic

Regulars Glenn Maxwell and Matthew  Wade were axed from Australia's squad today for this month's  one-day international series against England.
Chief selector Trevor Hohns said ODI specialist Maxwell  was omitted over consistency concerns, while Tim Paine takes  the wicketkeeping gloves from Wade following his outstanding  form in the Ashes Test series.
Selectors also named Australia's Test pace trio --  Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins -- and  prodigious Twenty20 batsman Chris Lynn for the five-match  series, starting in Melbourne on January 14.
Hohns said the selection panel wanted to have another  look at Lynn, while seeking more consistency from Maxwell.
"No one is in any doubt about Glenn's ability or his  potential to produce match-winning contributions with the  bat," Hohns said.
"What we have wanted from him is more consistency but in  his past 20 matches in this format he has averaged 22 and we  need more than that from a player in the side's batting engine  ...

Maxwell, Wade axed from Australia's ODI squad to play England

Seamer Chris Woakes has been ruled  out with a side strain opening the way for young leg-spinner  Mason Crane to make his debut for England in tomorrow's final  Ashes Test against Australia.
England skipper Joe Root confirmed 20-year-old Crane will  play following the injury set-back to Woakes.
Woakes had scans on his injured left side today and was  ruled out of the Sydney Test as the tourists seek to win their  first Test win of the series.
The Warwickshire paceman missed a significant part of  England's home season after straining his side during last  year's Champions Trophy and pulled up sore after last week's  fourth Melbourne Test.
Woakes has taken 10 wickets at 49.5 in the four Tests and  scored just 114 runs through seven innings batting number  eight at an average of 16.28.
But he is a key member of England's limited overs sides  -- and with both a one-day international series and a Twenty20  tri-series to follow over the next month, England are not  prepared to risk ...

Woakes out for England, Crane to make Test debut: Root

A Canadian man who was held captive  by a faction of the Afghan Taliban for five years has been  arrested on 15 charges including sexual assault, illegal  confinement and issuing death threats, according to reports.
Joshua Boyle was freed last October along with his  American wife Caitlan Coleman and their three children born in  captivity.
The identity of the alleged victim was being withheld by  a court, according to Boyle's lawyer Eric Granger.
Granger added his client was "presumed innocent" and had  never been in any form of legal trouble before.
"We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending  him against these charges," he said, adding Boyle would appear  before a court in Ottawa on Wednesday.
According to news channel CTV, Boyle is facing eight  counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault and two counts  of unlawful confinement, as well as one each of misleading  police to "divert suspicion from himself," uttering a death  threat, and administering a noxious ...

Former Taliban hostage Boyle arrested for 15 charges including

A bus plunged over a seaside cliff in  Peru, killing at least 48 people after a collision with a  truck on a precarious stretch known as the "devil's curve,"  officials said.
The bus was travelling from Huacho, 130 kilometers north  of the capital, to Lima with 55 passengers and two crew on  board when it went off the road about midday.
It plunged 100 meters and landed upside down on rocks at  the edge of the sea.
The incident "left at least 48 victims" dead, the  statement posted on the Interior Ministry's website said,  revising an earlier toll of 36.
Efforts to recover bodies from the overturned vehicle  were suspended at nightfall because the tide had risen and  reached the bus, the police said.
A police helicopter had winched some rescue workers to  the wreck of the blue bus while others made the precarious  journey down on foot with the assistance of ropes.
The navy sent a patrol boat to assist the rescuers trying  to get everyone out before the tide came in.
There were several .

Peru bus plunge kills 48: police

At least 36 people were killed in Peru  today after the bus they were riding collided with a truck  along a precarious stretch known as the "devil's curve" and  was thrown off a seaside cliff, officials said.
The bus was travelling from Huacho, 130 kilometers north  of the capital, to Lima with 53 passengers on board when it  went off the road about midday.
It plunged 100 meters and landed upside down on rocks at  the edge of the sea.
"Thirty bodies have been recovered and six are trapped,"  said Colonel Dino Escudero, head of the police highway patrol  division.
He earlier gave a toll of at least 25 dead but said the  number of victims could increase.
A police helicopter winched some rescue workers down to  the wreck of the blue bus while others made the precarious  journey down on foot with the assistance of ropes.
The Navy sent a patrol boat to assist the rescuers trying  to get everyone out before the tide rose.
At least six people were confirmed to have survived.
Maria Elena ...

Peru bus plunge kills 36: police

French President Emmanuel Macron today  expressed his concern over unrest in Iran during a telephone  conversation with counterpart Hassan Rouhani and called for  "restraint and appeasement," his office said.
Macron brought up "the number of victims from the  demonstrations", and the two leaders also decided to postpone  French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit to Teheran  this week to a later date, the Elysee said.
Twenty-one people have died and hundreds have been  arrested in nearly a week of protests in Iran.
Macron's office said the French leader underscored that  "fundamental rights including freedom of expression and  freedom to demonstrate must be respected."
Rouhani in turn asked Macron to take action against a  Paris-based Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedeen-e-  Khalq, who he accused of fomenting the recent protests.
"We criticise the fact that a terrorist group has a base  in France and acts against the Iranian people... and we await  action from the ...

Macron 'worried' about Iran, asks Rouhani for 'restraint'

At least 25 people were killed in Peru  today when their bus plunged around 100 meters over a cliff  after colliding with a truck, police said.
The accident took place on a coastal highway around 45  kilometers north of the capital Lima, said Colonel Dino  Escudero, head of the police's highway patrol division.
"At least 25 people are dead and around five are injured  among those found so far," Escudero said.
"The police and firefighters are working to rescue the  victims of the crash, but we believe the death toll could  rise," he said.
The bus was travelling from Huacho, 130 kilometers north  of the capital, to Lima with 53 passengers on board. Local  television showed images of the overturned bus lying just a  few meters from the sea after plunging over the cliff.
The spot where the accident occurred is known as the  "devil's curve."
A helicopter was winching some of the rescue workers down  to the wreck of the bus while others were walking down to the  spot with the assistance of .

At least 25 dead in Peru as bus plunges over cliff

Nikki Haley, the US  Ambassador to the United Nations, called on the international  community to speak out on the unfolding protests in Iran,  saying the US would seek emergency UN talks on the situation.
"The people of Iran are crying out for freedom," Haley  said at a news conference. "All freedom-loving people must  stand with their cause."
She said the United States would be seeking emergency  sessions of the UN Security Council and the Geneva-based UN  Human Rights Commission in the coming days.
Haley rejected as "complete nonsense" charges by Iran's  supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the five-day-old  protests were being fomented by the country's "enemies."
"The freedoms that are enshrined in the United Nations  charter are under attack in Iran. Dozens have already been  killed. Hundreds have been arrested," she said.
"If the Iranian dictatorship's history is any guide, we  can expect more outrageous abuses in the days to come," she  said.

US envoy calls for emergency UN session on Iran

Nearly a hundred escaped  inmates remained at large from a state penitentiary in Brazil  after a deadly riot between rival gangs left nine prisoners  dead, all of them burned and two decapitated, officials said.
The riot occurred yesterday in the Complejo de Aparecida  prison in the center-west state of Goias. Another 14 inmates  were wounded, one of them critically, the head of the state's  prison service, Lieutenant Colonel Newton Castilho, told a  news conference.
The violence broke out in a semi-open part of the  penitentiary when "C-Block invaded the other wings and started  brutal acts against their rivals," he said.
"There were wounded, bodies burned, and two  decapitations," he said, adding that inmates set fire to a  cell block.
DNA testing and dental records were to be used to  identify those killed and charred.
The cause of the confrontation appeared to be "splits in  the drug-trafficking crime world," Castilho said.
He added that five prison guards had been on duty for the 

A hundred inmates on the loose after deadly Brazil prison riot

Prosecutors in Egypt have detained a  female singer for four days for "incitement to debauchery"  after an online video clip sparked controversy, a judicial  source said today.
Leila Amer appeared at the end of December in a music  video called "Boss Oumek" ("Look at your mother") which  includes sensual oriental dance and suggestive gestures.
Musicians' union president Hany Shaker, a male singer  known for his conservative stance, last week announced on the  private channel Dream TV that Amer had been expelled from the  union.
Her case comes less than a month after another female pop  singer was sentenced to two years in prison for "inciting  debauchery" over a racy video.
Shyma appeared in a mock classroom licking an apple and  appearing to mimic fellatio on a banana in front of a  chalkboard scrawled with "Class #69".
Yesterday her sentence was reduced on appeal to a year in  jail.

Egypt singer detained over racy music video: judiciary

The United States today urged  Iran to stop blocking online social media and advised its  citizens to set up virtual private networks, or VPNs, to  circumvent censorship.
Steve Goldstein, the State Department's under-secretary  for public diplomacy, denounced Iran's attempts to restrict  net access and urged Iranians to find a way to log in.
"People in Iran should be able to access these sites  through VPN," he said, adding that the State Department's own  Farsi language Facebook page has around 700,000 subscribers.
"The more available these sites are the better it is," he  said, as street protests continued against what US President  Donald Trump has branded Iran's "brutal and corrupt" regime.
Since the protests erupted, Iran has restricted some  social media services like Instagram and Telegram that  authorities fear will be used to spread news about the unrest.
Some other online services provided by US tech giants are  unavailable in Iran because their parent firms are wary of  ...

US demands Iran end social media blocks

At least seven civilians, including  five children, were killed today by air strikes in Syria's  northwestern Idlib province, the last outside government  control, a monitor said.
Government and allied forces backed by Russian warplanes  have been battling jihadist fighters and rebels for over a  week in an area straddling the border between Idlib and Hama  provinces.
The air strikes targeted the town of Khan Subul in the  centre of Idlib province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory  for Human Rights said.
"There were at least seven dead, five children and two  women," the Observatory said.
"We do not know if these were air strikes by the Syrian  regime or the Russians," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman  told AFP.
The government push on the edge of Idlib province follows  two months of sporadic fighting that the United Nations says  has displaced more than 60,000 people.
"Displacement sites are reportedly overwhelmed. Some  services are 400 per cent above their planned capacity to 

7 civilians killed in air strikes in Syria's Idlib: monitor

UN Secretary-General Antonio  Guterres today expressed his "regret" at the rising death toll  in anti-government protests in Iran, and called on the Islamic  Republic to respect the rights of peaceful protesters.
Tehran said 21 people had died in clashes across the  country as thousands of people took to the streets. Police  have arrested hundreds of demonstrators.
"We regret the reported loss of life and hope further  violence will be avoided. We expect that the rights to  peaceful assembly and expression of the Iranian people will be  respected," Guterres spokesman Farhan Aziz Haq said on behalf  of the secretary-general.
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had blamed  the country's "enemies" earlier today for almost six days of  deadly unrest that have shaken the conservative country.
"The enemies have united and are using all their means,  money, weapons, policies and security services to create  problems for the Islamic regime," Khamenei said.
A fifth night of unrest ...

UN 'regrets' deaths in Iran, calls for respect for protesters'

Equatorial Guinea, Ivory  Coast, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and the Netherlands formally  joined the ranks of the non-permanent members of the United  Nations Security Council today "to make a difference," the  body's president said.
"Peace and security are difficult to achieve," Kazakh  envoy Kairat Umarov, who took the rotating presidency in  January, told council members at a special ceremony. "You are  going to have a real chance to make a difference."
One after the other, ambassadors representing the  council's six new member countries -- five men and a woman,  Polish envoy Joanna Wronecka -- placed their flag among those  of the body's nine other members.
The UN Security Council has 15 members, including five  with permanent seats who have the power to veto resolutions --  Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Three women and 12 men are among the 15 ambassadors who  will soon be seated at the U-shaped table in the center of the  Security Council's chamber.
In addition .

Six countries enter the UN Security Council

An Egyptian court has ruled to release  on bail two people arrested over the raising of an LGBT  rainbow flag at a Cairo concert, their lawyer said today.
The appearance of the symbolic banner of the lesbian,  gay, bisexual and transgender community among the crowd at a  gig by Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila in September sparked a  broad crackdown by the authorities.
Security and judicial sources said in the days following  the concert that at least six people were arrested over the  incident on charges including "inciting immorality".
After an online campaign, a court ruled to release two of  the concert-goers, Sarah Hegazy and Ahmed Alaa, on bail of  1,000 Egyptian pounds (USD 56, 47 euros) for the duration of  an ongoing investigation, lawyer Hoda Nasr told AFP.
The pair, who still face charges of "belonging to an  illegal organisation and inciting debauchery", should be  released from detention on either Wednesday or Thursday, she  said.
Since the rainbow flag was raised at the ...

Egypt to free on bail two held for raising rainbow flag

A member of the US military was  killed and four others wounded during a New Year's Day combat  operation in Afghanistan, officials said today.
According to the NATO mission in Kabul, the "combat  engagement" occurred in Achin, in the restive Nangarhar  province in eastern Afghanistan.
"Two wounded service members are being treated at a  nearby medical treatment facility and are in stable condition.  The other service members have returned to duty," NATO said in  a statement.
Officials did not disclose which branch of the military  the troops were from, and no other information was immediately  available.
While Afghan security forces are conducting most of the  fighting against the Taliban and other insurgent groups, US  troops operate alongside them in a training capacity and are  frequently on the front lines.
The United States hopes 2018 will see the Afghans finally  seize the momentum against the Taliban after years of  stalemate.
2017 was a particularly deadly year for Afghans, ..

US military member killed in Afghanistan

A fire destroyed a building and  injured 16 people in the Bronx today, just days after the  worst fire in New York City in 25 years killed 12 people.
"Our units arrived and were immediately faced with heavy  fire. Numerous people were brought out of the building by the  firefighters on scene. We have 16 people; seven adults and  nine children, all with non life-threatening injuries," said  New York City fire chief Daniel Nigro.
"They've all been transported, and they will all be ok,  thankfully," he said.
Barely four minutes after the emergency call, around 200  firefighters arrived in three dozen vehicles at 5:30 AM at a  three-floor, red-brick building close to the Bronx Zoo.
Five hours later, the fire crews were still fighting to  control the blaze on the Bronx's Commonwealth Avenue. Local  media said the fire broke out in a furniture factory on the  ground floor of the building.
One resident told NBC news he fled the building, barefoot  and barechested, with his three children ...

AFP

AFP

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