Pakistan were in a backs-to-the-wall struggle to save the day-night first Test as Australia took a strangle-hold on the third day at the Gabba on Saturday.
     At the close, the tourists were hanging in at 70 for two with Azhar Ali not out 41 and 112-Test veteran Younis Khan not off the mark after facing 19 balls. Pakistan trailed by 419 runs.
     Pakistan made a much better fist of playing in the tricky twilight session with the pink ball losing just two wickets after their catastrophic seven for 24 in the first innings on the previous evening.
     The openers lasted into the 12th over before Starc got Sami Aslam to edge to Matt Renshaw at first slip for 15.
     Babar Azam fell to spinner Nathan Lyon in the final half-hour when he edged to Steve Smith at slip for 14.
     It was slow going but at least the tourists were not shedding wickets in clumps to keep the Australians at bay and still with two long days to play.
     "We have had some very good partnerships and we are ...

Pakistan knuckle down in fight to save pink-ball Test

PTI Automatic

US President-elect Donald Trump got plenty of attention -- but not the kind he was looking for -- after a tweet today calling out China for its seizure of an unmanned US naval probe.
	"China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters -- rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (sic) act," the real estate magnate wrote on his favorite platform.
	"Unpresidented" quickly became a top trending topic on Twitter in the United States, as online wags savaged the incoming president for the unfortunate misspelling.
	"TrumpSpellCheck -- Unpresidentedly effective," tweeted "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling.
	"Dear world, most Americans really wish we could be #unpresidented," another Twitter user wrote.
	Trump deleted the tweet after about an hour, replacing it with one correctly using the word "unprecedented."
	While many mocked the deeply divisive political novice, famous for his verbal tics and gaffes, supporters jumped to his defense and said critics ...

'Unpresidented' Trump tweet sets off deluge of mockery

Ten passengers were killed and another 21 wounded today when a van and a bus collided on a highway in Sri Lanka's former war zone of Jaffna, police said.
	All those killed in the head-on collision along the A-9 highway were passengers travelling in the smaller vehicle, police said adding that three of the wounded were in critical condition.
	The crash involved a van heading to Jaffna town and a bigger bus travelling in the opposite direction, police said, adding that an investigation was underway.
	A police officer told AFP it was the worst crash in the area that he could remember.
	Last month, the government proposed significantly raising the average traffic fine of 500 rupees to 25,000 rupees ( USD 166) in a bid to reduce the number of accidents on Sri Lankan roads.
	About 3,000 people are killed in traffic accidents in the south Asian country annually.

Sri Lanka road accident kills 10

Dozens of nationalist protestors today stormed the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the central Turkish city of Kayseri after an attack that left 13 soldiers dead, images showed.
	The protesters broke into the building where the office is located, scattering papers and furniture on the street and removing the HDP sign from the entrance, images taken by the Dogan news agency showed.
	A group then ascended to the top of the building, setting off a fire and draping from the top a giant red flag with three crescent moons, the insignia of right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
	The government has said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting a bitter insurgency against the Turkish security forces in the southeast, was likely behind the attack earlier that left 13 Turkish soldiers dead.
	The HDP denies any links to the PKK but the government accuses the party of being the political front of the militants. Several HDP MPs including 

Protesters storm pro-Kurdish party local HQ after attack

Ethiopia today inaugurated a hydroelectric dam that aims to double the country's electricity output, but which critics say is a threat to locals and a UNESCO-listed lake in Kenya.
	The Gibe III dam, which reaches 243 metres in height, is the third-largest dam in Africa and the biggest in a series built along the Omo River.
	When it comes fully online, the Gibe III is expected to produce 1,870 megawatts of power, enough to sell energy abroad including to neighbouring Kenya.
	But environmentalists and rights groups warn the project will dramatically decrease water levels downstream all the way to Kenya's Lake Turkana, which derives 80 per cent of its resources from the river.
	The lives of hundreds of thousands of people who make their living in the Omo River valley and on Turkana, both UNESCO World Heritage sites, would be affected, they say.
	UNESCO has previously condemned the project and Human Rights Watch has accused the Ethiopian government of pushing people from the Omo Valley to 

Ethiopia inaugurates dam to double energy output

The festive season in Paris kicked off today without any tourist trips to the iconic Eiffel Tower, where a labour strike ground on for a fifth day.
	Unions leading the work stoppage by the 300-strong staff are not demanding wage increases but are protesting against what they describe as "unproductive dialogue with management, and its deliberate lack of transparency on strategic decisions".
	In mid-December the iron tower gets about 6,000 visitors per day, but the Christmas rush starts on Saturday when as many as 20,000 are expected daily.
	The 1889 structure gets about six million visitors each year.
	The strike, which is also not about working conditions or job cuts, is rooted in a more general French tradition of protest in which workers take issue with strategic management decisions.
	Among the projects under consideration at the monument are a major paint-stripping and re-painting job to repair flaking areas of the tower.
	France has by far the most strike days among major ...

Eiffel Tower strike extends into holiday season

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party's congress endorsed today President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the 2018 election, which could extend his 36 years in office.
	The leader was endorsed by all party structures at the meeting held in Masvingo, 300 kilometres southeast of the capital Harare.
	The congress voiced "its support to the president and first secretary comrade Robert Mugabe as the sole candidate for the forthcoming 2018 elections," said deputy secretary Eunice Sandi Moyo.
	The endorsement was met with resounding applause from thousands of supporters attending the annual conference, chanting in Shona language "tongai, tongai baba" meaning "rule, rule father".
	Mugabe, 92, has been in power since independence from British colonial rule in 1980 has avoided naming a successor or laying out plans to retire.
	He once joked that he would rule until he turned 100.
	The absence of a clear successor has sparked infighting including verbal exchanges on social media in recent weeks ...

Zimbabwe's ruling party endorses Mugabe for 2018 election

Turkish authorities have detained a woman on suspicion of shooting dead in Istanbul one of the country's most prominent writers of self-help popular psychology books, reports said today.
	Beki Ikala Erikli, 48, was murdered late on Thursday at her apartment building by an attacker who fired three bullets into her at close range.
	A woman named Sinem Koc, 31, was late detained late yesterday on suspicion of the murder, the Hurriyet and Sabah dailies said. The suspected weapon was also found.
	Istanbul's Jewish weekly newspaper Salom said Erikli was a member of the city's small Jewish community. But there is currently no suggestion of any ethnic or religious motive to the killing.
	The reports said the suspect had trailed Ikala Erikli to the apartment she used as an office and and then killed her as she came out.
	Erikli was especially known for a hugely popular self-help book named "Living with the Angels".
	On social media, she described herself as an "author and spiritual teacher ...

Prominent Turkish self-help writer shot dead in Istanbul

British oil giant BP secured a 10-per cent share in an onshore oil concession in Abu Dhabi today in a deal worth USD 2.2 billion, the companies said.
	BP signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to take a stake in the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (ADCO) which operates the 40-year concession.
	"This agreement will provide BP with long-term access to significant and competitive resources that we already understand very well," BP chief executive Bob Dudley said in a statement.
	BP said it would pay Abu Dhabi with new shares worth USD 2.2 billion, leaving the emirate with a two-per cent stake in the British company.
	BP will second up to 50 technical staff to ADCO, whose oilfields produce 1.4 million barrels per day.
	"This agreement marks a milestone in our efforts to forge new partnership models that bring technology, expertise and financing aimed at maximising the value of our resources and supporting the transfer of knowledge," ADNOC chief .

BP signs $2.2 bn Abu Dhabi oil deal

Thirteen Turkish soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded today in a suicide car bombing targeting off-duty conscripts blamed on Kurdish militants, the latest in a string of attacks to rock Turkey in recent months.
	The government said all signs so far suggested the the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)  was behind the bombing in the city of Kayseri, a usually calm industrial hub in Anatolia.
	Forty-eight soldiers were wounded in the attack which struck when the soldiers were being taken from their barracks by bus on a weekend shopping trip, the army said in a statement.
	Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said a total of 55 people were wounded, six seriously.
	Television pictures showed the bus reduced to a smouldering wreck by the blast, which comes a week after 44 people were killed in a double bombing in Istanbul after a football match. That attack was claimed by Kurdish militants.
	Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said in televised comments that Kayseri attack was ...

Suicide car bombing in central Turkey kills 13 soldiers

The battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group is leaving a legacy of environmental damage and health risks that will pose dangers to people for years to come.
	   Iraqis have already paid the initial price from burning oil wells and a sulphur factory that IS set alight south of Mosul, Iraq's last jihadist-held city which is the target of a major military operation launched two months ago.
	   The fires, combined with water pollution and the potentially toxic remains of destroyed buildings, military equipment and munitions, will also present longer-term threats to people in areas around and inside Mosul.
	   "We are concerned about how the pollution will affect the health of local populations and negatively impact their capacity to rebuild quality, sustainable livelihoods within those affected areas," said Jenny Sparks of the International Organization for Migration.
	   A United Nations report on environmental and health risks in the Mosul area said that "hundreds of people .

Mosul battle leaving legacy of environmental damage

Iran formally requested a meeting of the commission that oversees its nuclear deal with world powers to complain about the renewing of sanctions by the United States, state television reported today.
	The request was made in a letter by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, calling for "a meeting of the joint commission outlined in the nuclear deal... Regarding the recent actions of the United States."
	On Thursday, Washington extended the Iran Sanctions Act -- which mostly seeks to limit Iran's oil and gas trade -- for another decade.
	Although it received overwhelming support from the US Congress, the act will have no effect since its measures are suspended as long as the nuclear deal remains in place.
	President Barack Obama has said that renewing the act was pointless, and symbolically allowed it to become law without signing it, although he denied it was a breach of the nuclear deal which came into effect last ...

Iran seeks meeting of nuke deal powers to protest US sanctions

Tsunami warnings were issued for several nations today after a major 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the US Geological Survey said.
	The PTWC said hazardous tsunami waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nauru, and the Solomon Islands, while New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence issued a warning for all of the country's coast.
	The earthquake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time (1051 GMT) at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.
	The quake was originally recorded at 8.0 before being revised down to 7.9.
	"Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking...Some casualties and damage are possible," the USGS said on its website as it issued a yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and losses.
	Quakes are common near Papua New Guinea, which lies on the 4,000-kilometre-long Pacific Australia plate, which forms ...

Tsunami alert after 7.9-magnitude Papua New Guinea quake

Pope Francis voiced hope for a "fruitful and joyous" old age at a mass for his 80th birthday today, as he received messages of congratulations from around the world.
	"Old age sounds ugly, and causes fear. But old age yearns for wisdom," he told dozens of cardinals at the mass in a papal chapel in Rome.
	"Old age is quiet and religious, but also fruitful. Pray that mine will be that way, quiet and religious, fruitful and also joyous."
	The Argentine pope received messages of congratulations from around the world for his 80th birthday, including at email addresses in eight languages specially set up by the Vatican.
	"Italy is grateful to you for your constant closeness," said one from Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
	"The pope's office is covered in drawings by children from the whole world celebrating his birthday," tweeted Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit theologian close to the pontiff.
	Spadaro released photographs of drawings showing a smiling pope with the world on his head or ...

Pope, at 80, looks to 'joyous' old age

Thousands of trapped civilians and rebels waited desperately today for evacuations to resume from the last opposition-held areas of Aleppo after the operation was suspended by the Syrian regime.
	A rebel representative told AFP that an agreement had been reached to allow more evacuations from the city, which has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people.
	But there was no confirmation from President Bashar al-Assad's regime or its staunch allies Russia and Iran, which are under mounting international pressure to end what US President Barack Obama denounced as the "horror" in Aleppo.
	Obama called yesterday for impartial observers to monitor efforts to evacuate civilians from the devastated city and warned Assad that he would not be able to "slaughter his way to legitimacy".
	Families spent the night in freezing temperatures in bombed out apartment blocks in Al-Amiriyah district, which was the departure point for ...

Thousands in desperate wait for evacuation from Aleppo

Malian lawmakers have decided a treason case should be dropped against former Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2012.
	Toure, known by the acronym ATT, came to power in 2002, and fled to Senegal after being overthrown by a military junta in 2012 just as he was preparing to end his final term in office.
	"The elected representatives of the people have voted by secret ballot on the fate of former president ATT, and have decided not to pursue him after leading Mali for 10 years," an opposition lawmaker told AFP after yesterday's vote.
	Under Malian law, it is lawmakers who sit in judgement on current or former presidents.
	Toure was accused by the current government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of treason related to the failure of soldiers to tackle an Islamist insurgency in the north of Mali.
	The coup led by army captain Amadou Sanogo toppled what had been heralded as one of the region's most stable democracies and precipitated the ..

Treason case dropped against ousted Mali president

A great 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea today, the US Geological Survey said, prompting the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to issue an alert in several coastal areas.
	Hazardous tsunami waves could hit coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Nauru and other islands in the three hours following the quake, the PTWC said.
	The quake struck 60 km to the east of Taron, New Ireland, at 8.51 pm local time and was originally recorded at 8.0-magnitude and then slightly revised down to 7.9. It struck at a depth of some 75 km, the USGS said.

Tsunami alert after 7.9-magnitude PNG quake: USGS/PTWC

Tsunami alert issued after 8.0-magnitude PNG quake: PTWC.

8.0 magnitude quake hits near Papua New Guinea: USGS.

A French anti-terrorist judge has charged three more men suspected of helping to arm the Islamist radical who crushed 86 people to death with a truck in Nice, a judicial source said today.
	The three, who were among 11 arrested on Monday in Nice and the western city of Nantes, were remanded into custody yesterday, said the source. The other eight have been released.
	The three, aged 24, 31 and 36, were charged in relation to a terrorist plot.
	The arrests come five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, further traumatising a country reeling from a series of jihadist attacks.
	The victims from 19 different countries were watching a fireworks display on July 14, the Bastille Day public holiday. Over 400 people were injured.
	Six people have already been charged so far over alleged links to the 31-year-old killer but investigators have yet to prove that any of them knew what he was planning.
	They include an 

Three more charged over Nice truck attack

Police in Montreal raided six cannabis shops one day after they opened, following a warning by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that recreational marijuana is not yet legal in Canada.
	Ten people were arrested in the raids, police said, including veteran pro-cannabis activist Marc Emery.
	Trudeau, who campaigned last year on a promise to end nearly a century of pot prohibition, warned that the government is still at least one year away from legalizing pot use.
	"We haven't changed the legislation yet," Trudeau told reporters earlier in Montreal. "It is coming, but we're going to take the time to do it right."
	Until that happens, the current ban on the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use remains in effect, he said.
	Emery on Thursday however went ahead and opened in Montreal six boutiques of the Cannabis Culture franchise chain, which already exist in other cities.
	Police raided the stores at the end of the day as buyers braved frosty conditions to crowd into the ...

AFP

AFP

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