England captain Joe Root led from the front with an unbeaten fifty after wickets tumbled on Saturday's second morning of the second Test at Trent Bridge.
     England were 85 for two at lunch in reply to South Africa's first innings 335, a deficit of 250 runs.
     They had collapsed to three for two on an overcast morning ideal for swing bowling before Gary Ballance (26 not out) and Yorkshire team-mate Root counter-attacked in a stand so far worth 82 at better than a run-a-ball.
     South Africa lost their last four wickets for just 26 runs after resuming on 309 for six.
     James Anderson did all the damage in a burst of four wickets for four runs in 16 balls.
     Trent Bridge is renowned for aiding swing bowlers such as the 34-year-old Anderson, England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker.
     It was a point underlined by his overall return of five for 72 in 23.2 overs -- the 22nd time Anderson had taken five or more wickets in a Test innings and his seventh such haul at the ..

Root hits back against South Africa in 2nd Test

PTI Automatic

Five years after his last Wimbledon triumph, Roger Federer can capture a record eighth All England Club title tomorow and become the tournament's oldest men's champion of the modern era.
     With his 36th birthday fast approaching, the evergreen Swiss will comfortably succeed Arthur Ashe, who was almost 32 when he won in 1975, as Wimbledon's most senior champion.
     Victory over Croatian giant Marin Cilic will also give him a 19th career Grand Slam title and second in three majors this year after sweeping to a fifth Australian Open in January following a six-month absence.
     "I was hoping to be in good shape when the grass court season came around," said Federer who, for good measure, also pocketed back-to-back Masters at Indian Wells and Miami as well as a ninth Halle grass court crown.
     "The first three, four months were just like a dream really. So this is something I was working towards, you know, Wimbledon, to be in good shape. I'm happy it's paying off here now."
     .

Federer on verge of Wimbledon immortality

Three people were injured after 18 wooden fishing boats caught fire in Indonesia today, a disaster official said.
	Fire services were struggling to put out the billowing blaze at a riverside port in Pati on the northern coast of Java island.
	"We are still trying to put out the fire so that it doesn't burn more boats," spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said.
	Three people were seriously injured in the incident, Nugroho added.
	It is not clear what caused the fire. Boat accidents are common in Indonesia, a vast network of islands that relies heavily on water transport.
	At least five people were killed when a boat carrying nearly 200 people caught fire in east Java in May.

Fire rips through wooden boats in Indonesia

Three soldiers died after shooting erupted overnight at a base in the West African state of Ivory Coast, which has been gripped by tensions within the military, security sources said today.
	Gunfire was heard coming from the barracks at Korhogo, a city in the north of the country, at around 1:00 am (0100 GMT), Adama Coulibaly, a local carpenter reached by phone said.
	"There are three dead soldiers," an officer told AFP separately, without giving further details.
	A source at the local morgue said three bodies in military fatigues and with gunshot wounds had been taken to the facility.
	In a separate incident, shooting was heard from a former UN base near Abidjan, lasting from about 1.30 am to after 3:00 am, a local resident in the nearby district of Abobo said.
	"We were all very scared. We don't know what's going on," another resident said. Calm returned on Saturday morning.
	The incident takes place against a backdrop of months- long tensions within the country's armed forces.
	The 

Three soldiers killed in Ivory Coast barrack shooting

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe returned home today after medical treatment in Singapore, the state broadcaster said, putting to rest speculation over the 93-year-old's whereabouts.
	The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said Mugabe, who left for Singapore last Saturday, "had eye surgery in the Asian country a few years ago" and had returned for a "routine medical check-up".
	This week's trip there is Mugabe's third there this year.
	Public hospitals in Zimbabwe often suffer from chronic shortages of drugs and staff as the economy has struggled to rebound following years of mismanagement.
	Mugabe's ZANU-PF party was forced to postpone a rally yesterday at which he was due to address supporters, triggering speculation about his whereabouts.
	Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's independence from British colonial rule in 1980, is his party's presidential candidate for next year's elections despite concerns over his age and fitness to rule.
	Early in 2015, he tripped and fell as he left .

Zimbabwe's Mugabe returns from Singapore medical care

Scoreboard at stumps on the second
day of the one-off Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe here today.
     Zimbabwe 1st innings (overnight 344 for 8)
     H Masakadza c Mendis B Herath           19
     R Chakabva b Herath                     12
     T Musakanda c Dickwella b Kumara         6
     C Ervine c Perera b Kumara             160
     S Williams c Gunaratne b Perera         22
     S Raza lbw b Herath                     36
     P Moor c Kumara b Gunaratne             19
     M Waller b Herath                       36
     G Cremer b Gunaratne                    13
     D Tiripano c Karunaratne b Herath       27
     C Mpofu not out                          0
     Extras: (W-1, NB-5)                      6
     Total: (all out; 94.4 overs)           356
     Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-38, 3-38, 4-70, 5-154, 6-195, 7 -260, 8-282, 9-356.
     Bowling: Lakmal 14-1-58-0, Kumara 17.4-2-68-2, Herath 32 -4-116-5, Perera 24-0-86-1, Gunaratne 7-0-28-2.
     Sri Lanka 1st innings:
     .

Colombo, Jul 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the second

Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer claimed three wickets to dent Sri Lanka's first innings reply on the second day of the one-off Test here today.
     Cremer's leg-spin and two crucial run outs left Sri Lanka reeling at 293-7 at stumps. Asela Gunaratne (24) and Rangana Herath (5) were at the crease with the hosts still trailing Zimbabwe by 63 runs.
     Gunaratne, who came in to bat at number eight after sustaining a hamstring injury while fielding, put up sturdy resistance in the final few overs of the day.
     Top Sri Lankan batsmen faltered against Cremer's wily wrist spinners including captain Dinesh Chandimal falling to his opposite number after a well-made 55.
     Chandimal's wicket ended a 96-run stand for the fourth wicket with Angelo Mathews (41), who quit the captaincy this week after Sri Lanka's loss in the one-day series against Zimbabwe.
     Cremer, who had got Kusal Mendis caught behind for 11 before tea, struck twice in the final session of play to put the hosts in ...

Cremer's strikes rattle Sri Lanka on Day 2

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Doha today that Paris wants to assist Kuwait-led mediation on the crisis between Qatar and four other Arab states.
	"France should be a facilitator in the mediation" led by Kuwait, Le Drian told reporters following talks with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
	Le Drian arrived in Qatar for a Gulf tour aimed at helping defuse the crisis pitting Qatar against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt.
	"France is very concerned by the sudden deterioration in relations between Qatar and many of its neighbours," he said.
	"France is talking to all these countries to help in the search for a solution," he said, calling for "dialogue and calm" between the Arab states concerned.
	Le Drian is to travel on to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, following a four-day mediation mission by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that made little progress in defusing mounting tensions in the ...

France aims to be 'facilitator' in Gulf crisis talks

Security forces locked down parts of Jerusalem's Old City today and an ultra-sensitive holy site remained closed after an attack that killed two police officers and heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
	Three Arab Israeli assailants opened fire on Israeli police yesterday in the Old City before fleeing to the nearby Haram al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, where they were shot dead by police.
	Israeli authorities said they had come from the flashpoint holy site, which includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, to commit the attack.
	Israeli authorities took the highly unusual decision to close the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for Friday prayers, leading to anger from Muslims and Jordan, the holy site's custodian.
	Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled it is to remain closed until at least Sunday while security was assessed.
	He also spoke of increasing security at entrances to the holy site when it reopens -- likely to be a controversial ...

Security tight, holy site shut after Jerusalem attack

Saudi police have killed a wanted "terrorist" in the Shiite-majority eastern district of Qatif, where there has been a string of attacks on security forces, newspapers said today.
	Jaafar al-Mobireek was killed late Friday in an operation in the city of Saihat, in Eastern Province, al-Jazirah newspaper reported, adding that he was a member of a "Qatif cell."
	The suspect was one of nine people wanted by the interior ministry and had been involved in targeting people and security forces and "vandalising public, security and economic installations," the paper said.
	The district has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when Shiite protests erupted to demand equality in the Gulf kingdom. Authorities have blamed the violence on "terrorists" and drug traffickers.
	On Thursday, a border guard was shot dead and another wounded when their patrol came under fire on Al-Ramis coast in Qatif, Arab News daily reported citing an interior ministry statement.
	Home to a significant number of the ...

'Terrorist' suspect killed in eastern Saudi: media

Thousands of people celebrated gay rights with song, dance and a march in Seoul today, amid rain and boisterous protests by conservative Christians.
	Religious South Koreans have been a loud fixture at the annual parade for years, holding a rival anti-homosexuality rally while trying to physically block the march.
	Some 2,000 police troops lined up around a square outside the City Hall, where revellers gyrated and waved flags as scantily-clothed performers sang and danced on the stage.
	Across the street hundreds of Christians chanted slogans, calling homosexuality a "sin" and urging homosexuals to "return to Jesus Christ".
	Their presence is the most visible display of intolerance towards sexual minorities in the tradition-bound society, where religious belief is widespread and many homosexuals stay in the closet due to fear of discrimination and social isolation.
	Homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea. But gay, lesbian or transgender rights remain politically unpopular
	But ...

Gay rights supporters parade amid rain, protests in Seoul

Indonesia has blocked web-based access to a popular messaging service and threatened a full ban on the app due to its "terrorism" content, the government said.
	The communications ministry said in a statement that "so many channels in the (Telegram) service contain radicalism and terrorism... Encouragement and tips to assemble bombs or launch attacks" that it needed to block it.
	The partial ban came as the country suffered from a string of attacks, including one carried out by a man police said was radicalised after reading radical material on Telegram.
	The government has so far bocked only access to the app via computer, but is preparing to impose a full ban.
	"We are now preparing a process to close down Telegram app in full throughout Indonesia if Telegram does not come up with a standard operating procedure to handle law-violating contents," the communications ministry said in a statement issued late yesterday.
	In June, a lone wolf attacker stabbed two police officers in a ...

Indonesia restricts app over "terrorism" content

New skipper Dinesh Chandimal and the man he replaced Angelo Mathews steered Sri Lanka to safety after they lost three quick wickets on the second day of their one-off Test against Zimbabwe on Saturday.
     Chandimal was unbeaten on 44 and Mathews on 16 as Sri Lanka reached 184-3 at tea, chasing Zimbabwe's 356.
     Chandimal and Mathews, who quit the captaincy this week after Sri Lanka's loss in the one-day series against Zimbabwe, put on 68 for the fourth wicket.
     Opener Upul Tharanga gave Sri Lanka a quick start before being run out at the non-strikers end as the hosts slipped from 84-0 to 116-3 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
     Tharanga fell short of his crease while backing up to a straight drive by Chandimal as the ball grazed past the fingers of paceman Donald Tiripano.
     Tiripano's lucky fielding effort came after he got Zimbabwe's first breakthrough in Dimuth Karunaratne (25) in his first over after lunch. Karunaratne's wicket ended an 84- run opening ...

Chandimal guides Sri Lanka to 184-3 at tea

Scoreboard at tea on the second day
of the one-off Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Colombo on Saturday:
     Zimbabwe 1st innings (overnight: 344-8; C. Ervine 151 not out, D. Tiripano 24 not out)
     H. Masakadza c Mendis B Herath           19
     R. Chakabva b Herath                     12
     T. Musakanda c Dickwella b Kumara         6
     C. Ervine c Perera b Kumara             160
     S. Williams c Gunaratne b Perera         22
     S. Raza lbw b Herath                     36
     P. Moor c Kumara b Gunaratne             19
     M. Waller b Herath                       36
     G. Cremer b Gunaratne                    13
     D. Tiripano c Karunaratne b Herath       27
     C. Mpofu not out                          0
     Extras (w1, nb5)                          6
     Total (all out, 94.4 overs)             356
     Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Chakabva), 2-38 (Masakadza), 3-38 (Musakanda), 4-70 (Williams), 5-154 (Raza), 6-195 (Moor), 7- 260 (Waller), 8-282 (Cremer), 9-356 .

Colombo, Jul 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at tea on the second day

Visitors will not be allowed to set foot on a men-only UNESCO World Heritage island in Japan from next year, an official said today.
	The tiny landmass of Okinoshima, where women are banned and male visitors must bathe naked in the sea before visiting its shrine, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site last week.
	Limited numbers are currently permitted to land on the island in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) -- this year it was 200 -- for a yearly festival that lasts just two hours, but they must adhere to strict rules.
	But Munakata Taisha, the shrine which owns Okinoshima, has decided to ban travel for anyone apart from priests from next year to protect the island from being damaged, a spokesman told AFP.
	"A strict preservation is required now that the island has got the UNESCO listing," he said.
	"It will be risky if 200 visitors continue to come to the island," he said, adding that Okinoshima is "the island protected by Shinto priests".
	The island is permanently manned by a ...

No visitors allowed on Japan's men-only UNESCO island

Scoreboard at lunch on the second
day of the one-off Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Colombo on Saturday:
     Zimbabwe 1st innings (overnight: 344-8; C. Ervine 151 not out, D. Tiripano 24 not out)
     H. Masakadza c Mendis B Herath           19
     R. Chakabva b Herath                     12
     T. Musakanda c Dickwella b Kumara         6
     C. Ervine c Perera b Kumara             160
     S. Williams c Gunaratne b Perera         22
     S. Raza lbw b Herath                     36
     P. Moor c Kumara b Gunaratne             19
     M. Waller b Herath                       36
     G. Cremer b Gunaratne                    13
     D. Tiripano c Karunaratne b Herath       27
     C. Mpofu not out                          0
     Extras (w1, nb5)                          6
     Total (all out, 94.4 overs)             356
     Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Chakabva), 2-38 (Masakadza), 3-38 (Musakanda), 4-70 (Williams), 5-154 (Raza), 6-195 (Moor), 7- 260 (Waller), 8-282 (Cremer), ...

Colombo, Jul 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at lunch on the second

Upul Tharanga hit a brisk half- century to lead a strong Sri Lankan reply to Zimbabwe's first innings 356 on the second day of the one-off Test on Saturday.
     Sri Lanka were 77-0 at lunch with Tharanga on 53 and Dimuth Karunaratne on 23. The hosts still trail Zimbabwe by 279 runs.
     Tharanga, who registered his seventh Test fifty, smashed seven fours and a six.
     Earlier Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath claimed his fifth wicket as the visitors lasted just 4.4 overs of the morning session. Overnight centurion Craig Ervine was the last man out for 160.
     Zimbabwe resumed on 344-8 with the Ervine and Donald Tiripano battling on.
     Herath ended a stubborn 74-run stand for the ninth wicket with Tiripano (27) mistiming a reverse sweep to get caught at slip. It was Herath's 30th five-wicket haul in his 81st Test.
     Paceman Lahiru Kumara took the prized scalp of Ervine, whose second Test century lifted Zimbabwe from a precarious 70-4 on the opening day.
     Ervine's ...

Tharanga gives Sri Lanka strong start against Zimbabwe

Berlin today said two women who were killed after being stabbed in an Egyptian beach resort were German nationals, confirming earlier reports.
	"We can now sadly confirm that two German tourists died in the attack at Hurghada," a foreign ministry statement said.
	Yesterday's attack in the Red Sea resort left four others wounded.
	The attacker, who had swum ashore, was arrested and questioned.
	"We don't know his motives yet, he could be crazy or perturbed -- it's too early to tell," a senior interior ministry official told AFP.
	In January 2016, three tourists in Hurghada were wounded in a stabbing assault by two assailants with apparent Islamic State group (IS) sympathies.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's stabbing.
	Hurghada is one of Egypt's most popular beach resorts, especially with Ukrainians and European tourists.

Germany confirms two nationals killed in Egypt attack

New images of North Korea's main nuclear facility show that the isolated regime has apparently produced more plutonium for its weapons programme than previously thought, a US monitor said, as tensions soar over Pyongyang's ambitions.
	The respected 38 North website, a monitoring project linked to Johns Hopkins university, said Friday that thermal imagery of the Yongbyon nuclear complex appeared to show that Pyongyang had reprocessed spent fuel rods at least twice between last September and June this year.
	"The Radiochemical Laboratory operated intermittently and there have apparently been at least two unreported reprocessing campaigns to produce an undetermined amount of plutonium that can further increase North Korea's nuclear weapons stockpile," it said.
	North Korea deactivated the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after Pyongyang's third nuclear test in 2013.
	Increased thermal activity was also noted at Yongbyon's uranium ...

'NKorea likely has more plutonium than previously thought'

Ecuador informed Peru that it has decided to halt construction of a border wall, an issue that had inflamed tensions between the two nations.
	Quito's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa yesterday announced her government's decision to halt the controversial construction project during a visit to Peru.
	"The foreign ministry of Ecuador confirms the suspension of the construction of the wall," Espinosa said in a statement.
	Earlier this week, Peru recalled its ambassador from Quito to express outrage over the decision by Ecuador to press ahead with the wall despite Lima's objections.
	Ecuador had planned a four-meter (13-foot) high barrier along the western side of its southern city of Huaquillas to separate it from the Peruvian town of Aguas Verdes, lying just across a river.
	The issue of border walls has become especially sensitive in Latin America after US President Donald Trump promised to build a barrier along the entire southern edge of his country, to prevent undocumented .

Ecuador to suspend construction of border wall with Peru: FM

A Russian-American lobbyist revealed to have attended a meeting by Donald Trump Jr seeking damaging information on Hillary Clinton has strongly denied working for Russian intelligence.
	It emerged yesterday that Rinat Akhmetshin, a Washington lobbyist with dual citizenship, accompanied Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya to the June 2016 meeting, at which Trump Jr expected to receive secret information that would hurt Clinton in the 2016 election.
	Several US media described Akhmetshin as former Soviet counterintelligence officer who is suspected by some US officials of having ongoing ties to Russian intelligence.
	But the lobbyist rejected that allegation as "maliciously false," telling AFP he "never worked for any intelligence service."
	The June 9 meeting has become the focus of allegations that the Trump election campaign collaborated last year with a covert effort by Moscow to turn voters away from Clinton.
	Those allegations are currently under investigation by a high-powered ..

AFP

AFP

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