Australian Test leg-spinner Bob "Dutchy" Holland has died following a battle with brain cancer, aged 70, his family said today.
     Holland died after suffering a brain bleed while in hospital being treated for broken ribs suffered in a fall last week, his son Craig said.
     Holland was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer in late March and had surgery a week later to remove part of the tumour, followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
     Holland made his Test debut in 1984 at the age of 38 and spun Australia to victory with 10 wickets against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early 1985.
     He played in that year's Ashes series in England taking five wickets at Lord's and took another 10-wicket haul against New Zealand in Sydney.
     He appeared in 11 Tests, taking 34 wickets, and in 95 first-class matches, most of them for New South Wales, and was still playing state cricket into his forties.
     He is survived by his wife, Carolyn, two sons and a 

Australia Test leg-spinner Holland dies at 70: family

PTI Automatic

Three-belt champ Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez look set to rule the resurgent middleweight division for years to come after their 12-round slugfest which fittingly ended in a stalemate.
     "It was a great fight," said boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya. "This is one of the best fights we have seen in recent years."
     Golovkin, who was making his Las Vegas debut, and Mexico's biggest star Alvarez delivered on all levels as two of boxing's pound-for-pound best met at the T-Mobile Arena Saturday in a highly-anticipated fight that was two years in the making.
     The evenly-matched fight ended in a draw which meant Kazakhstan's Golovkin would keep his World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation belts.
     "We knew going into this it would be a war," said Golovkin's trainer Abel Sanchez.
     Golovkin will earn a $3 million purse and Alvarez will make $5 million.
     Golovkin is considered one of the fittest athletes in boxing and he ...

Golovkin and Alvarez deliver a classic middleweight fight

Hamas said today it had agreed to steps toward resolving a decade-long split with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, announcing it would dissolve a body seen as a rival government and was ready to hold elections.
	The statement comes after Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian officials last week, and with the Gaza Strip run by the Palestinian Islamist movement facing a mounting humanitarian crisis.
	Hamas said it had agreed to key demands made by Fatah: dissolving the so-called "administrative committee" created in March, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations toward a unity government.
	It called on the Palestinian Authority government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "to come to Gaza to exercise its functions and carry out its duties immediately".
	Hamas chief Ismail Haniya agreed to take such steps in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last week, a Hamas official has told AFP.
	It was unclear, however, whether the steps would result in ...

Hamas agrees to steps toward Palestinian unity

A young soldier participating in operations against Al-Qaeda in Yemen has murdered three jihadist detainees who confessed to killing his colonel father, a security source said today.
	The soldier -- a member of Yemen's government intelligence services -- carried out the killings "suddenly and without the consent of his colleagues" during an interrogation on Saturday, the source said.
	According to the source, the soldier's colleagues were "angered" by the killings, but he did not face repercussions.
	Tribal leaders confirmed the revenge killings to AFP.
	The jihadist detainees were captured during a military operation last week in the district of Wadea in Abyan province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen.
	The soldier's colonel father, whose name was not disclosed for security reasons, was assassinated in Wadea early last month.
	Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition on Thursday managed to drive Al-Qaeda militants from Wadea, which is symbolic as the birthplace of ...

Yemen soldier murders 3 Qaeda detainees in revenge attack

US ally Kuwait has given North Korea's ambassador a month to leave the Gulf state and will downgrade its diplomatic representation with Pyongyang, a senior Kuwaiti diplomat said today.
	North Korea's diplomatic presence in the emirate will also be reduced to a charge d'affaires and three diplomats, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.
	The measures follow a visit less than two weeks ago by Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to Washington.
	The source said Kuwait will not renew permits given to North Korean workers to re-enter the country after projects they are currently working on are completed "within one or two years".
	There are between 2,000 and 2,500 North Korean workers in Kuwait, and thousands more are believed to be working in other Gulf states.
	Kuwait has also decided to stop issuing visas to North Koreans and suspend all trade relations and flight links with Pyongyang.
	Asian diplomatic sources have told AFP that South Korea and Japan have been putting ...

Kuwait gives N Korea envoy a month to leave: diplomat

Eight members of an Iraqi paramilitary unit died today in a booby-trap explosion in a school near the city of Mosul that was retaken from jihadists, a security official said.
	In the latest example of the dangers left behind by retreating Islamic State group members, Jabbar al-Maamuri, a commander of the unit of tribal fighters, told AFP that 13 others were wounded in the blast at the school that was being used as a training centre.
	He said the school in Majarine village 20 kilometres west of Mosul had been mined by the jihadists, who were ousted from the city at the end of August by a coalition of pro-government forces.
	The village itself was seized in early July as Iraqi forces advanced on Mosul.
	In another such incident in newly recaptured areas, six members of the Hashem al-Shaabi paramilitary unit were killed in an explosion Saturday in Akashat in the western province of Anbar, security sources said.

Booby-trap blast kills 8 in Iraq village seized from IS

Four people were killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion at a mobile phone market in southeastern Afghanistan today, officials said.
	"The blast happened at around noon in a market where people go to download music and videos to their mobile phones," Khost provincial police chief Faizullah Khairat told AFP.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the volatile province bordering Pakistan is contested by the Taliban.
	Music was one of the many forms of entertainment banned during the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule and the militants have previously attacked such markets.
	Khairat said the explosion was caused by a "remote controlled bomb".
	Khost health department director Habib Shah Ansari confirmed four people had been killed and said "over a dozen wounded" had been taken to hospitals in the provincial capital of the same name.
	Afghan security forces have been struggling to beat back a resurgent Taliban since US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in ..

Four killed in market explosion in Afghanistan: officials

Afghanistan is considering training and arming 20,000 civilians to defend territories where Islamic militants have been driven out, officials say, sparking fears the local forces could become another thuggish militia.
	The proposal for a government-backed armed group that would protect its own communities from the Taliban and the Islamic State group comes as Afghanistan's security forces, demoralised by killings and desertions, struggle to beat back a rampant insurgency.
	But the proposal has raised concerns that the local forces could become unruly and turn into another abusive militia terrorising the people it is supposed to defend.
	"The Afghan government's expansion of irregular forces could have enormously dangerous consequences for civilians," said Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
	The New York-based group said Western diplomats in Kabul familiar with the plan -- modelled on the Indian Territorial Army that supports the country's regular forces -- ...

Afghanistan mulls plan to arm 20,000 civilians to fight

A young French journalist held on terror charges in Turkey for more than seven weeks was headed to Paris today after being freed, according to Reporters Without Borders.
	"Loup Bureau is on board flight AF1391, which took off from Istanbul at 6:13 am (0313 GMT) and arrives in Paris at 8:40 am according to Air France," Christophe Deloire, secretary general of the media freedom group, wrote on Twitter.
	Bureau, 27, a journalism student who has worked with the television channels TV5 and Arte as well as the website Slate, was detained in late July at the Habur border post in southeastern Sirnak province on the Iraqi-Turkish border.
	He was charged with membership of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a group which Turkey says is a terrorist organisation.
	Washington, however, sees the group as the main force leading the fight against Islamic State jihadists on the ground in Syria.
	Bureau -- who had been held for 51 days -- was taken directly to the departing plane in Turkey to 

French journalist freed by Turkey to arrive in Paris Sunday

A powerful typhoon ripped into southern Japan today, dumping torrential rain, grounding hundreds of domestic flights and halting train services.
	Typhoon Talim made a landfall in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, packing winds of up to 162 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
	At least 644 domestic flights have been cancelled because of strong winds, according to public broadcaster NHK, while all major regional train services have been suspended, operator JR Kyushu Railway said.
	Authorities have issued warnings of rainstorms, high seas, possible landslides and flooding across the southern half of the Japanese archipelago.
	The meteorological agency said the typhoon was expected to head northwards, dumping heavy rain across a large area, including on Tokyo.
	The typhoon had earlier battered the southern Okinawan island chain, dumping the most rain seen over a 24-hour period in 50 years on the city of Miyako, before it hit Kyushu.
	Big storms .

Hundreds of flights grounded as typhoon slams Japan

Antoine Griezmann ensured Malaga didn't spoil Atletico Madrid's moving in party at their new 68,000 Wanda Metropolitano stadium with the only goal in a 1-0 win.
     The French international, restored to the side after a two-game La Liga ban, swept home Angel Correa's cross on the hour mark to move Atletico up to third in the table.
     Atletico remain four points adrift of Barcelona, though, as Paulinho scored his first Barca goal six minutes from time to continue their 100 percent record in a 2-1 win at Getafe.
     "I'm delighted to score the first goal in this magnificent stadium and hopefully it is the first of many," Griezmann told Bein Sports Spain.
     "For me it is the best stadium I have played in, and I don't just say that because it is my club."
     Atletico boss Diego Simeone had called on fans to recreate the intimidating atmosphere of the Vicente Calderon by turning their new home into a "pressure cooker."
     The noise matched the pre-match pomp as Spain's royal ...

Griezmann saves Atletico blushes, Barca 7 clear of Madrid

West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said his side were so concerned about the prospect of "career-threatening injuries" on a sodden outfield they considered  abandoning before beating England in a Twenty20 international.
     None of the West Indies team at Chester-le-Street on Saturday had been involved in their side's recent 2-1 three- Test series defeat in England.
     Instead Brathwaite and his men had arrived directly from the Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament.
     Conditions at the Riverside, the home of northeast county Durham, were always likely to prove challenging for a team used to the rather warmer climate back home in the West Indies.
     But jokes about the weather gave way to major concern when Windies wicket-keeper Chadwick Walton, changing direction to field a deflected ball, slipped and jarred his knee on an already wet outfield that had been exposed to yet more rain during the game.
     Walton recovered, however, and he was behind the stumps as West 

Windies considered walk-off in rainswept win

The Philippine military said today it had captured the command centre of Islamic State group supporters who have besieged a southern city for nearly four months.
	Security forces have engaged in ferocious street to street combat and launched airstrikes in their efforts to expel the fighters from the city of Marawi, in a conflict that has raised fears that IS is looking to establish a Southeast Asian base in the Philippines.
	The military said it had captured the militants' control centre in a deadly battle that began Saturday in a mosque and another building.
	"This enormous (military) gain further weakened the terrorist group by denying them their erstwhile command and control hub," military chief General Eduardo Ano said in a statement.
	"As follow up and clearing operations continue, we expect the enemy to yield more previously occupied positions, but not without a fight," he said. "We are ready for that."
	Hundreds of armed extremists flying the black flag of the Islamic State ...

Philippine army captures key pro-IS base in besieged city

The US special envoy to Ukraine has called the Russian proposal for a UN peacekeeping force there "a step forward" but warned the terms of the mandate must not "deepen the division" of the conflict-torn country.
	Kurt Volker was reacting to Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent comments in favour of a UN force to protect international observers monitoring the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.
	"It's very interesting that Russia proposed a UN protection mission... This is a step forward in a way bringing it up for discussion and bringing it to the (UN) Security Council," Volker said on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy conference.
	But he added he was concerned that the terms of the Russian proposal "would only deepen the division of Ukraine," where a pro-Moscow insurgency has been raging in the industrial east near the border with Russia since April 2014.
	Ukraine -- which has long called for UN peacekeepers to be deployed -- fears Moscow would use any force to lock in .

Russia-proposed UN Ukraine force must not deepen division: US

The White House has insisted the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms even though European diplomats sense a softening in the US position.
	"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.
	"As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said.

US says withdrawing from Paris accord, unless terms change

West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite was rewarded for making an 8,000-mile round trip to Chester-le-Street as the tourists beat England by 21 runs in a lone Twenty20 international on Saturday.
     England, set 177 for victory, were bowled out for 155 at a chilly and rainswept Riverside.
     Barbados-born Brathwaite, 29, had been West Indies' hero with the bat when they beat England in last year's World Twenty20 final, hitting four successive sixes off rival all- rounder Ben Stokes in a dramatic last over.
     There was no re-match for Stokes, with England controversially resting the all-rounder for a fixture on his Durham home ground.
     Instead paceman Brathwaite, in his only match of the tour -- he was not selected for the Test or one-day international legs --  took three wickets for 20 runs in 3.3 overs with the ball.
     The first ball of England's reply saw Jason Roy caught at backward point by a diving Evin Lewis after he sliced a drive off Jerome Taylor.
     Alex Hales .

Brathwaite's 8,000-mile trip pays off as Windies beat England

Completed scoreboard
in the lone Twenty20 international between England and West Indies at Chester-le-Street on Saturday:
     West Indies
     C. Gayle run out (Roy/Plunkett)           40
     E. Lewis c Root b Plunkett                51
     M. Samuels c Root b Plunkett              10
     C. Walton c Willey b Rashid               13
     K. Pollard c Curran b Plunkett             6
     R. Powell c Jordan b Curran               28
     C. Brathwaite b Rashid                     2
     S. Narine lbw b Rashid                     2
     A. Nurse not out                          13
     J. Taylor lbw b Jordan                     1
     K. Williams not out                        2
     Extras (lb1, w7)                           8
     Total (9 wkts, 20 overs)                 176
     Fall of wickets: 1-77 (Gayle), 2-106 (Lewis), 3-115 (Samuels), 4-123 (Pollard), 5-127 (Walton), 6-138 (Brathwaite), 7-142 (Narine), 8-165 (Powell), 9-167 (Taylor)
     Bowling: Willey 2-0-20-0 (1w); Root ..

Chester-le-Street (UK), Sep 17 (AFP) Completed scoreboard

Turkey has summoned the German ambassador to Ankara to condemn what it called a rally organised by supporters of Kurdish militants in Cologne, the foreign ministry said.
	"We condemn the permission given for the organisation of an activity by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) terror group's extensions in Germany and their spreading terror propaganda there today in Cologne," the ministry said in the statement.
	"We have expressed our reaction in a strong way to Germany's ambassador to Ankara who was summoned to the ministry," it added.
	The statement criticised German authorities for allowing the PKK's imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan's posters to be unfurled and group leaders' messages to be read out during the rally.
	German-Turkish ties have plunged to an all-time low since last year's failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the subsequent crackdown in Turkey which has seen more than 50,000 people arrested.
	Relations further deteriorated after the detention of ...

Turkey summons German envoy over 'terror' rally in Cologne

A US envoy has signalled that President Donald Trump may be ready to soften his stance on the Paris climate pact, a European official said at a summit in Canada today.
	Any shift in the US position on the historic deal could be hugely significant, after Trump announced in June that he was abandoning the 2015 agreement.
	The United States "stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," said the European Union's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete.
	He said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly with American representatives "to assess what is the real US position," but noted "it's a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past."
	Environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal today to push forward on implementing the Paris climate deal without the US.
	The United States was represented only 

US signals softer stance on Paris climate pact: EU official

The US-led coalition said today Russian forces bombed American-backed fighters battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria wounding several, despite denials from Syrian regime ally Moscow.
	The unprecedented strike was initially reported by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters supported by Washington.
	The SDF accused Russian warplanes of bombing its fighters for the first time in the complex war, but Russia's military spokesman denied targeting the group.
	"This is not possible. Why would we bomb them?" military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP at Hmeimim, Moscow's main base for its air operations in Syria.
	A statement later by the coalition dismissed the Russian denial.
	"Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike," the coalition statement said.
	No coalition troops were wounded .

Russia strike wounds US-backed Syria forces, says coalition

A car bomb explosion targeting shops selling alcohol in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk today killed three civilians and wounded nine, a security official said.
	He said the blast damaged the shops and sparked a fire in three vehicles.
	Kirkuk is the capital of the oil-rich province of the same name which is disputed by the federal government in Baghdad and the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
	The blast comes as Kurdish leaders prepare to hold an independence referendum on September 25 in the face of fierce opposition from Baghdad and the Kurds' international backers.
	The Kurdish Regional Government is embroiled in long- standing disputes with the federal government over oil exports, budget payments and control of ethnically divided areas.
	On Thursday, the Baghdad parliament fired the governor of Kirkuk province, Najm Eddine Karim, over his provincial council's decision to take part in the non-binding referendum.
	Kirkuk, which is home to diverse communities including Arabs and ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1087 - Afp