Moscow today justified its decision to purge US diplomatic personnel in the country, as the Kremlin appeared to give up on hopes of improving ties anytime soon under Donald Trump.
	President Vladimir Putin announced Sunday that the US will have to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 after Moscow struck back against new sanctions passed by the US Congress.
	The move represents one of the biggest single reductions of US personnel by Moscow, with Putin warning he could retaliate further even if he plans to hold off for now.
	"We have waited long enough, hoping that the situation would perhaps change for the better," the Kremlin strongman said.
	"But it seems that even if the situation is changing, it's not for any time soon."
	Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov today insisted that any hopes of mending Russia-US ties rest on "curing the worsening political schizophrenia" in Washington, but admitted the two sides appeared "far away" from any improvement.
	But he did insist Russia ...

Russia defends slashing US diplomats as hope fades of better

PTI Automatic

Venezuela's opposition called for new protests today and Wednesday against the inauguration of a powerful new assembly that embattled President Nicolas Maduro has tasked with writing a new constitution.
	"We do not recognise this fraudulent process," senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles said yesterday at the close of a widely criticised election to choose the assembly's members, a vote marred by violence that left at least nine people dead.

Venezuela opposition calls new protests for Monday

Moeen Ali became the first bowler in The Oval's 100 Test-history to take a hat-trick as England wrapped up a crushing 239-run win in the third Test against South Africa today.
     Off-spinner Ali ended the south London ground's landmark match when, after having Dean Elgar (136) and Kagiso Rabada caught at first slip by Ben Stokes with the last two balls of his 16th over, he had Morne Morkel lbw with the first ball of his next -- although England had to first review umpire Joel Wilson's not out decision.
     It meant Ali had become the 13th England bowler to take a Test hat-trick.
     Victory put England 2-1 up in this four-match series, with just the fourth Test at Old Trafford starting Friday to come.
     South Africa, set a mammoth 492 for victory, were all out for 252 after lunch, with Worcestershire all-rounder Ali taking four for 45.
     But the way this series has see-sawed -- England won the first Test at Lord's by 211 runs and South Africa took the second at Trent Bridge .

Ali hat-trick sees England thrash South Africa

Uganda's military said today it had lost 12 soldiers in an attack claimed by Shabaab militants in southern Somalia.
	The Al-Qaeda linked insurgents ambushed Ugandan troops that are part of an African Union force as they patrolled a supply route in the hotly-contested Lower Shebelle region, the military said in a statement.
	"From the battlefield, it is now confirmed that UPDF lost 12 gallant soldiers with seven sustaining injuries," the statement from the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces said.
	Witnesses told AFP the attack occurred in the village of Golweyn, some 120 kilometres from the capital Mogadishu.
	The AU mission AMISOM said an improvised explosive device (IED) was used in an ambush of a convoy composed of its troops and Somali forces.
	"A lot of damage was inflicted on the enemy while our troops took fatalities whose number is yet to be ascertained," the mission said on Twitter.
	A Shabaab spokesman yesterday told a radio station linked to the group that the insurgents had ...

Uganda says 12 killed in Somalia Shabaab attack

Toby Roland-Jones's dream debut continued as he took two wickets in two balls to leave England on the brink of defeating South Africa in the third Test at The Oval today.
     South Africa had just three wickets standing at 205 for seven at lunch on the final day, with the Proteas needing a further 287 runs to reach a mammoth victory target of 492 in the 100th Test at The Oval.
     A win would put England 2-1 up in this four-match series, with just the fourth Test at Old Trafford starting on Friday to come.
     Dean Elgar was 113 not out but all of South Africa's other specialist batsmen had been dismissed.
     Chris Morris, who survived Roland-Jones's hat-trick ball after the Middlesex paceman had dismissed Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander, fell for 24 to the last ball before lunch when he edged off-spinner Moeen Ali to Ben Stokes at slip.
     South Africa resumed on 117 for four, with left-handed opener Elgar (72 not out) and Bavuma (16 not out) having already helped the ...

Roland-Jones at the double as England close on third Test win

With Michael Phelps back in retirement, Caeleb Dressel stepped out of his idol's shadow to match the US legend's tally of seven golds at the world championships in Budapest.
     Dressel became the first swimmer to win three world gold medals in one session on Saturday, then claimed his seventh of the week in the men's 4x100m medley relay on Sunday to match Phelps' record tally from the 2007 world championships.
     Dressel's tally includes three individual titles in the 50m, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly, plus four relays golds in the 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m mixed freestyle, 4x100m mixed medley and Sunday's 4x100m medley.
     It put him level with US legends like Phelps, Ryan Lochte, who won five worlds golds in 2011, and Mark Spitz, who win seven golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
     "This is probably one of the top-five best swim meets ever by an American male -- the other four going to Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte," said the USA's Olympic backstroke champion Ryan ...

A star is born -- Dressel emerges from Phelps' shadow

An official charged with overseeing IT in Kenya's election commission was found dead just over a week before the country goes to the polls, the commission's chairman said today.
	The body of Chris Msando, a top information technology manager at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has been identified at the city morgue, according to IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati.
	"There was no doubt he was tortured and murdered. The only question in our mind is who (killed him) and why he was killed a few days to elections," Chebukati told reporters.
	In an earlier statement, Chebukati said Msando was last seen Friday night and sent a text message to a colleague early Saturday morning suggesting "that he was conscious and fully aware of his itinerary for that day".
	A mortuary employee said Msando's body was brought in by police on Saturday, but the reason for the 48-hour delay between his body's arrival and its identification by family members on Monday remains ...

Top Kenya election official found dead ahead of vote

Completed scoreboard on the fifth
day of the third Test between England and South Africa at The Oval today:
     England 1st Innings 353 (B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)
     South Africa 1st Innings 175 (T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
     England 2nd Innings 313-8 dec (J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
     South Africa 2nd Innings (overnight 117-4, target 492)
     H Kuhn b Broad                              11
     D Elgar c Stokes b Ali                     136
     H Amla c Root b Roland-Jones                 5
     Q de Kock b Stokes                           5
     F du Plessis lbw b Stokes                    0
     T Bavuma lbw b Roland-Jones                 32
     V Philander lbw b Roland-Jones               0
     C Morris c Stokes b Ali                     24
     K Maharaj not out                           24
     K Rabada c Stokes b Ali                      0
     M Morkel lbw b Ali                          

London, July 31 (AFP) Completed scoreboard on the fifth

After months of devastating shortages, deadly protests and mounting chaos, many a Venezuelan has wished President Nicolas Maduro never existed.
	The computer system handling yesterday's controversial elections to his powerful new constitution re-writing body appears to feel the same way.
	When Maduro scanned his ID card as he cast his ballot -- the first Venezuelan to do so -- the screen spit out the words, "This person does not exist or the ID was cancelled."
	The message, displayed on the screen of a poll worker's cell phone, was captured by TV cameras and soon went viral online.
	The ID card in question is the "fatherland card" introduced by Maduro's socialist government to buy subsidised food and access other social programs.
	As Maduro delivered a speech at the polling station, he paused to theatrically whip out his card.
	"Let's check my fatherland card so it will be permanently registered that I came to vote, and so my fatherland card will be engraved with it for life: that I ..

Maduro snubbed at Venezuela vote: 'person does not exist'

A controversial vote in Venezuela championed by beleaguered President Nicolas Maduro sparked an escalation of deadly violence, with at least nine people reported killed and troops and protesters attacking each other in Caracas and elsewhere.
	"This is war!" Caracas resident Conchita Ramirez exclaimed on television as she described troops firing at people and buildings in the capital.
	The unrest confirmed fears over the vote for a new "Constituent Assembly" called by Maduro in defiance of months of demonstrations and fierce international criticism.
	He is gambling his four-year rule on the 545-member citizens' body that will be empowered to dissolve the opposition-controlled congress and rewrite the nation's constitution.
	At least nine people were killed overnight and into yesterday, according to prosecutors, bringing the death toll in four months of violence to some 120 people.
	Among those killed was a 39-year-old lawyer in the southeastern town of Ciudad Bolivar who was a ...

Venezuela vote triggers deadly 'war' in the streets

French Defence Minister Florence Parly has arrived in Chad, at the start of a tour of three Sahel countries, assuring that French troops in the region will have the means to carry out their mission against jihadist insurgents.
	"You can count on my determination that you will have the necessary means to carry out your mission," she yesterday told the head of Operation Barkhane -- a 4,000-man French mission to shore up fragile Sahel countries against jihadist bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
	"It's my fight, it's less risky than yours, of course," she added.
	Parly was beginning a two-day swing of the region, during which she will be joined by German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen in a joint show of support for the initiative.
	Parly "will reaffirm France's support for the emergence of a joint G5 Sahel force (...) tasked with playing a key role in fighting terrorism and trafficking which are contributing to instability in the region," the French defence ministry said in a ...

French minister promises troops the means to tackle jihadists

China's manufacturing activity faltered in June, official data showed today, as experts warn of a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.
	China registered steady growth during the first half of the year with stronger-than-expected GDP and exports growth, but the positive momentum will be hard to maintain as the country looks to adopt stricter financial regulations aimed at controlling the country's debt-fuelled investments.
	The latest purchasing managers' index (PMI), a gauge of factory conditions, came in at 51.4 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, down from the 51.7 reading in June.
	Anything above 50 is considered growth while a figure below points to contraction. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected a reading of 51.5.
	Expansion in supply and demand has slowed down due to extreme weather across the country, where intense heat and flooding in some areas have hindered manufacturing activity, NBS analyst Zhao Qinghe said in a ...

China manufacturing expansion slows in July

Scoreboard at lunch on the fifth
day of the third Test between England and South Africa at The Oval today:
     England 1st Innings 353 (B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)
     South Africa 1st Innings 175 (T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
     England 2nd Innings 313-8 dec (J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
     South Africa 2nd Innings (overnight 117-4, target 492)
     H Kuhn b Broad                              11
     D Elgar batting                            113
     H Amla c Root b Roland-Jones                 5
     Q de Kock b Stokes                           5
     F du Plessis lbw b Stokes                    0
     T Bavuma lbw b Roland-Jones                 32
     V Philander lbw b Roland-Jones               0
     C Morris c Stokes b Ali                     24
     Extras (b4, lb7, nb4)                       15
     Total (7 wkts, 66 overs, 294 mins)         205
     Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-47, 3-52, 4-52, ...

London, July 31 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the fifth

Novak Djokovic dropped one place to fifth with Stanislas Wawrinka moving up to fourth in the ATP rankings published today.
     Former world number one Djokovic will likely fall further by the end of the year as he has already announced he will not play again this season due to an elbow injury.
     The main move saw German Alexander Zverev climb three places to a career high eighth.
     Argentina's Leonardo Mayer was the biggest mover, up 89 places to 49th following his victory in the Hamburg Open.
     And there was consolation for German beaten finalist Florian Mayer, who still moved up 45 spots to 56th.
     Briton Andy Murray remains on top ahead of Rafael Nadal with Roger Federer third.
     ATP rankings as of July 31: 1. Andy Murray (GBR) 7,750pts; 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7,465; 3. Roger Federer (SUI) 6,545; 4. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 5,780 (+1); 5. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 5,325 (-1); 6. Marin Cilic (CRO) 5,155; 7. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4,065; 8. Alexander Zverev (GER) 3,150 (+3); 9. Kei 

Djokovic drops a place to fifth in ATP rankings

A sleepy Berlin suburb experienced an action movie-style car chase as a driver fleeing police leapt from his vehicle before it plunged into an underground metro station.
	No one was hurt as the black Ford Fiesta raced through the western Spandau district just after 8 pm yesterday, a police report said, although startled pedestrians had to quickly leap out of its path as the car careened onto pavements and grass verges.
	The 25-year-old at the wheel jumped out of the car before it raced down the steps of the station, but officers arrested him close to the scene.
	Two passengers in the vehicle, who were still on board during its dive below ground, escaped the pursuing police.
	Television images from the scene showed the car had smashed into a pillar on the platform before being hauled back up to street level by firefighters, its front bumper crushed out of shape.
	Police officers had attempted to pull the car over for a traffic stop, but instead of obeying the driver sped away. He was ..

Movie-style car chase ends on Berlin metro platform

Jamaican legend Usain Bolt is determined to bid a golden farewell to his lustrous track career at the World Athletics Championships in London but Canada's Andre de Grasse is eager to gatecrash the party.
     The 22-year-old -- who signed the most lucrative contract offered to a track and field athlete in 2015 for a reported 7.5million (8.3m euros, $9.8m) with an extra 20m in potential bonuses -- is looking to improve on his Olympic bronze in the 100m and silver in the 200m last year.
     De Grasse, whose mother took on two jobs to help him pursue his sporting dreams, admits the contract offer put pressure on him, especially as it was with Bolt's kit provider Puma.
     "To replace the greatest in Usain Bolt, I knew what I was getting into," De Grasse told Monday's edition of the Daily Mail.
     "I did have a bit of hesitation. Everyone can be nervous.
     "I was thinking: 'Can I handle this and take on the pressure?'
     "I knew it would provide for myself and my family.
     "I .

De Grasse says time come to leave Bolt's shadow

More than 600 blood samples will be collected prior to the IAAF World Championships, which get under way on Friday, to tackle doping.
     Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and UK Athletics said those samples would be used for Athlete Biological Passport profiling and to detect prohibited substances, such as human growth hormone.
     A further 600 urine tests for detection purposes will also be conducted in competition "in order to detect a wide range of substances including EPO and steroids".
     "The Athletics Integrity Unit is pleased to announce a very comprehensive intelligence-based anti-doping programme for the IAAF World Championships," said AIU chairman David Howman.
     "What is key to this programme is the significant work that has been done by the Unit and its partners in the 10 months leading up to the championships to ensure that athletes competing in London have been part of a robust testing programme."
     That 10-month out-of-competition testing strategy, which ...

More than 600 pre-worlds blood tests

The US has said the time for talk over North Korea was "over," spurning a UN response to Pyongyang's latest ICBM launch in favour of bomber flights and missile defence system tests.
	Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United Nations, said there was "no point" in holding a fruitless emergency Security Council session, warning that a weak additional council resolution would be "worse than nothing" in light of the North's repeated violations.
	North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted of his country's ability to strike any target in the US after an intercontinental ballistic missile test Friday that weapons experts said could even bring New York into range -- in a major challenge to Trump.
	US strategic bombers on Saturday flew over the Korean peninsula in a direct response to the launch, and on Sunday American forces successfully tested a missile interception system the US hopes will be installed on the Korean peninsula.
	Under Kim's leadership, North Korea has accelerated its drive towards 

US says time for talk on NKorea 'is over'

Football megastar Cristiano Ronaldo appears in court near Madrid today accused of evading millions of euros in taxes, the latest player to fall foul of Spain's taxman.
     The 32-year-old will be questioned by a court in Pozuelo de Alarcon, a wealthy suburb of Madrid where he lives, after returning from a summer break with his girlfriend and relatives and a promotion trip to China.
     The Portuguese star -- the world's highest paid athlete according to Forbes magazine -- follows in the steps of his arch-rival, Barcelona forward and Argentina star Lionel Messi, who was found guilty of the same offence last year.
     Other footballers have also recently run into trouble with Spain's taxman, some of them already convicted and others under investigation.
     Prosecutors accuse Ronaldo of having evaded 14.7 million euros ($17.3 million) in tax.
     They allege he took "advantage of a company structure created in 2010 to hide income generated in Spain from his image rights from tax ...

Ronaldo due in court over tax evasion claims

China has ordered Anbang Insurance Group, the conglomerate which owns New York's historic Waldorf Astoria hotel, to sell its overseas assets, Bloomberg News reported today.
	The financial news agency, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter, said Chinese authorities have told Anbang to bring the proceeds back to China after disposing of holdings abroad.
	The company denied the claims, telling Bloomberg in a statement: "Anbang at present has no plans to sell its overseas assets."
	"Currently, Anbang's various businesses and operations are all normal, and the company has ample cash and sufficient solvency capabilities."
	The news comes less than two months after the departure in June of the firm's president Wu Xiaohui, who was also reported to have been detained.
	Chinese magazine Caijing said at the time that regulators may be investigating Anbang's compliance with insurance products or insurance fund investments.
	In May the Insurance Regulatory Commission accused ...

China orders Anbang to sell Waldorf Astoria, other foreign

The Qatari authorities have accused Saudi Arabia of jeopardising the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by refusing to guarantee the safety of those taking part.
	Saudi Arabia and its allies have been boycotting Qatar since June 5, accusing it of backing extremist groups and of ties to Shiite Iran, in the region's worst diplomatic crisis in years.
	On July 20, Riyadh said that Qataris wanting to perform this year's hajj would be allowed to enter the kingdom for the pilgrimage, but imposed certain restrictions.
	The Saudi hajj ministry said Qatari pilgrims arriving by plane must use airlines in agreement with Riyadh.
	They would also need to get visas on arrival in Jeddah or Medina, their sole points of entry in the kingdom.
	The Qatari Islamic affairs ministry, in a statement published by the official QNA news agency on Sunday, said the Saudi side had "refused to communicate regarding securing the pilgrims safety and facilitating their Hajj".
	The ministry accused Riyadh of "intertwining 

AFP

AFP

Page 1103 - Afp