Bangladesh will host their first One-day International series against Afghanistan in late September in preparation for the arrival of the England team, according to the president of their cricket board.
     Nazmul Hassan said that the Afghan team, who are based in India, had agreed to play three ODIs at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on September 25, 28 and 30.
     "Our senior players recommended the series. So we invited Afghanistan to play against us," Hassan told reporters late Sunday.
     The matches will be the first ODIs hosted by Bangladesh since last year when they won series against Pakistan, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
     Bangladesh and Afghanistan have never played a bilateral series in any format but they have played each other in tournaments, including last year's World Cup when Bangladesh cruised to a 105-run victory in Canberra.
     England are due to arrive in Bangladesh on September 30 for three ODIs and two Test matches despite concerns over ...

Bangladesh to host first Afghan ODI series

PTI Automatic

Uzbek President Islam Karimov is in intensive care after suffering a brain haemorrhage, his younger daughter wrote on social media today.
	"My father was hospitalised after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage on Saturday morning, and is now receiving treatment in an intensive care unit," Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, Uzbekistan's ambassador to UNESCO, wrote on Instagram of the 78-year-old leader, adding that "his condition is considered stable.

Uzbek prez in intensive care after brain haemorrhage: daughter

A gunman who shot dead a construction worker and wounded three others at their office in Japan was on the run today, in a country where firearms violence is extremely rare.
	The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported the suspect was the son of the construction firm owner, and was still armed when he fled in the western city of Wakayama.
	The attack took place inside a company office during a meeting, the paper reported.
	All four victims were taken to hospital, where 45-year-old Junsuke Ishiyama died from a bullet wound to the stomach.
	Local officials warned residents to stay indoors as a massive police manhunt got under way across the city.
	Gun violence is exceedingly unusual in Japan, with very strict controls on firearms ownership.
	In 2015, there were just eight reported gun crimes nationwide, the National Police Agency said, with one person killed and three wounded.
	The few weapons in circulation are often linked to organised crime.

Japan gunman kills one, wounds three in rare shooting

An unknown attacker has thrown an explosive device at the home of Kosovo's public broadcast chief in the second such attack in a week, police said today.
	"An explosive device was thrown into the backyard" of Mentor Shala, general director of Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), late Sunday, police said in a press release.
	Police said the device, which caused no casualties, was likely a hand grenade.
	"The explosion was so powerful," Shala told reporters.
	"The entire family was inside and luckily no one was hurt by this explosion."
	Police have launched an investigation in the incident, which happened in the capital Pristina.
	On August 22 a grenade was thrown in the courtyard of the RTK's headquarters in Pristina, causing material damage.
	The motives and possible perpetrators of both attacks are not yet known, but a government press release described Sunday's incident as a "criminal act directed against media freedom in Kosovo".
	International press freedom watchdogs warn that ...

Explosive attack on home of Kosovo broadcast chief: police

In Nepal's isolated, high-altitude desert of Upper Mustang, a new road to China is bringing economic transformation to the former Buddhist kingdom, once a centre for trans-Himalayan commerce.
	The remote region is ringed with vast canyons and red mountains that, legends say, are stained with the blood of a demon killed by the founder of Tibetan Buddhism.
	Yet the recently completed unpaved highway that connects Upper Mustang with China is also bringing unprecedented cultural change to a region that was closed off to foreign visitors until 1992.
	In the medieval walled capital of Lo Manthang, young men have swapped Tibetan robes for blue jeans and local cafes broadcast live coverage of Euro 2016 matches to rapt viewers.
	Nevertheless, while modern life holds considerable allure for many, the push to preserve traditional culture is no less important to the local Loba community. Buddhists who speak a variant of the Tibetan language, they have lived in Upper Mustang for ...

Inside Nepal's forgotten medieval kingdom

An Indonesian teenager who stabbed a priest in a church and tried to set off a homemade bomb was obsessed with the Islamic State (IS) group leader, a minister said today.
	The 17-year-old attempted Sunday to set off the crude, low-grade explosive as the Catholic priest held mass in the packed church in Medan on Sumatra island, and then stabbed him with a knife.
	The explosive, which authorities compared to a firecracker, did not detonate properly and only gave off smoke while the priest sustained minor injuries to his arm.
	The congregation tackled the attacker after he ran at Father Albert Pandiangan and knifed him, stopping the teenager before he could do more harm.
	Security Minister Wiranto said that the attacker was fixated on the leader of IS. The group's influence has been blamed for a string of recent attacks and attempted attacks in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
	"From the mobile phone confiscated by authorities, this kid is obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from ISIS," the ...

Indonesian church attacker 'obsessed with IS leader'

Belgian police have arrested five suspects after a blast today at the country's national crime lab just north of Brussels caused major damage but no casualties, prosecutors said.
	"Five people were arrested in the immediate neighbourhood... They are currently being questioned to see if they had any role in the incident," Ine Van Wymersch, a spokeswoman for the Brussels' prosecutor's office, told a press briefing.

Belgium arrests five suspects after crime lab blast:prosecutor

A suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 60 people today at an army recruitment centre in Aden, in the latest jihadist attack to hit the Yemeni city.
	Aden is the temporary base of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which has been battling Iran-backed rebels as well as jihadists across the country for more than a year.
	Security officials told AFP that the attacker drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a gathering of army recruits at a school in northern Aden early Monday.
	Although the school was locked as recruits registered inside, the attacker drove in when the gate was opened for a delivery vehicle, officials said.
	Witnesses said some recruits were buried when a roof collapsed over them following the blast, which also damaged buildings close to the centre.
	The assault killed at least 60 people and wounded 29 others, medical sources from the three hospitals where the victims were taken told AFP.
	They could not immediately verify if ..

IS-claimed bombing against Yemen recruits kills 60

Qatar's international airport said Monday it is to charge passengers an exit tax as the energy-reliant emirate adjusts to falling oil prices.
	The 35-riyal (USD 10) levy is to be introduced this week, Hamad International Airport (HIA) said in a statement.
	The fee, to be added to airline ticket prices, will apply to tickets issued on or after August 30, as well as for travel starting on or after December 1.
	"The charge is in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation principles to support the development of world leading airports such as HIA," it said.
	Almost nine million passengers passed through Doha airport in the first quarter of this year.
	Gas-rich Qatar, which is to host football's World Cup 2022, has warned it will run a budget deficit of more than $12 billion in 2016, its first in 15 years.
	In June, officials warned that more deficits would follow in 2017 and 2018, as an era of lower oil prices forces Arab states of the traditionally taxes-free Gulf region to ...

Doha airport brings in passenger tax

An unsupervised Taiwanese naval officer who decided to experiment with a missile launcher and accidentally fired towards China was one of three people charged today over the fatal incident.
	The misfiring of the supersonic "aircraft carrier killer" last month struck a damaging blow to the military's image, embarrassing new president Tsai Ing-wen and angering Beijing.
	The Hsiung-feng III (Brave wind) missile hit a Taiwanese trawler, killing the skipper on board and injuring three other crew members.
	The misfire -- the biggest military slip-up since Beijing-sceptic Tsai came to power in May -- sparked an uproar in Taiwan and drew a stern rebuke from China.
	Prosecutors in the southern port city of Kaoshiung revealed today that naval officer Kao Chia-chun had been left alone in the master control room for as long as seven minutes.
	Kao decided to practice without a supervisor, despite the system being in "combat mode", prosecutors said in a statement marking the end of their ...

'Missile practice' caused deadly Taiwan misfire: prosecutors

A explosion "of criminal origin" at Belgium's national criminology institute in Brussels today caused a fire and major damage but no casualties, officials said.
	Belgian media said the blast was caused by a car which rammed the building.
	It comes as Belgium remains on high alert following the devastating Islamic State-claimed suicide attacks on the city's airport and metro in March.
	"There was no one at the site" in the northern Brussels suburb of Neder-Over-Heembeek, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office told AFP, refusing to comment on the cause except to say the explosion had a "criminal origin".
	The prosecutor has set up a "crisis centre", the spokesman said.
	Fire service spokesman Pierre Meys said "it was probably not accidental."
	"The explosion was extremely powerful," said Meys. "Windows of the lab were blown out dozens of metres away."
	He said about 30 firefighters were at the scene at around 3:00am fighting the blaze.
	RTBF television said two suspects rammed a car ...

Blast at Brussels crime lab, no casualties: officials

A suicide car bomb attack on an army training camp in Yemen's second city of Aden killed at least 60 people today, medical sources said.
	A security official said the attacker drove his vehicle into a gathering of new recruits at the camp in northern Aden.
	The assault killed 60 people and wounded 29 others, medical sources from the three hospitals where the victims were taken told AFP.
	Security officials had provided an earlier toll of 11 dead.
	The port city, the temporary base of Yemen's Gulf-backed government, has seen a wave of bombings and shootings targeting officials and security forces.
	Attacks in Aden are often claimed by jihadists from either Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, which have both taken advantage of the chaos in Yemen to make gains in southern and southeastern regions. But no group claimed immediate responsibility for today's attack.
	Yemeni authorities have trained hundreds of soldiers in Aden over the past two months to as part of operations to retake ...

Suicide bombing kills 60 at Yemen army camp

Singapore officials armed with protective suits and insecticide spray cans went door-to-door today to wipe out mosquitoes after the discovery of 41 locally transmitted cases of Zika virus alarmed the city-state.
	Inspectors from the National Environment Agency visited homes in the suburban district where all the cases -- mostly foreign construction workers -- were reported, to check for potential breeding sites.
	As neighbouring countries took steps to prevent the spread of the disease from Singapore, officers also carried out insecticide fogging operations in the district.
	Zika causes only mild symptoms for most people, such as fever and a rash, and has been detected in 58 countries particularly Brazil.
	But in pregnant women, it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.
	Singapore, a densely-populated tropical island with frequent rain, has a chronic problem with dengue, which is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that ...

Singapore wages war on Zika-bearing mosquitoes

Five attackers armed with suicide vests, rifles and grenades killed 18 people in the Iraqi oasis town of Ain al-Tamer, southwest of Baghdad, local officials said today.
	"They were carrying Kalashnikovs, hand grenades. One of them blew himself up and the others were killed by the security forces," the head of the central Euphrates operations command, Qais Khalaf, said.
	A member of the local council and a source at the provincial health directorate confirmed the death toll in the attack that took place late on Sunday and said at least 26 people were also wounded.

Suicide attack kills 18 in Iraq oasis town: officials

Suicide attack kills 18 in Iraq oasis town: officials.

At least 40 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on an army training camp in Yemen's second city of Aden today, security officials said in a new toll.
	Medics from Al-Wali hospital in Aden said that dozens of those wounded in the morning attack who were hospitalised had succumbed to their wounds.
	A security official gave an initial figure of 11 dead in the car bombing, which struck a gathering of Yemeni army recruits at the camp.

At least 40 dead in Yemen army camp suicide attack

Toll from Yemen army camp bombing rises to at least 60

At least 40 dead in Yemen army camp suicide attack:

China officially launched a new multi-billion dollar jet engine conglomerate with almost 100,000 employees at the weekend, as Beijing seeks to become an aerospace power and compete with the likes of Rolls Royce and General Electric.
	The Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) has registered capital of 50 billion yuan (USD 7.5 billion), and previous reports said it would incorporate subsidiaries of a series of state-owned firms, including the Aviation Industrial Corp. Of China (AVIC).
	President Xi Jinping said founding the company was a "strategic move" to make China an aviation power and modernise the military, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
	China does not make large commercial jet engines of its own and the country's narrow-body airliner, the C919, is powered by engines from CFM International, a venture between GE of the United States and France's Safran.
	The best aircraft in China's air force use engines built in Russia, Xinhua said.
	Beijing is looking to change that ...

Wheels up for China's new aero-engine group

A strong 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck north of Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic today, the US Geological Survey said, though there were no immediate reports of damage.
	The shallow quake struck at the equator north of the remote islands at 0429 GMT, with no people likely to have been affected by shaking, USGS said.
	The National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Center said a damaging tsunami was not expected.

Strong 6.9 quake strikes in mid-Atlantic: USGS

An explosion at a criminology institute in Brussels today has caused major damage but no casualties, prosecutors and the fire service said.
	It was not immediately known what caused the blast, but a fire service spokesman, Pierre Meys, said "it was probably not accidental."
	The prosecutors' office declined to speculate on the cause of the explosion at the Institute of Criminology in a Brussels suburb.
	Belgian media said the blast was caused by a car which rammed the building.
	"The explosion was extremely powerful," said Meys. "Windows of the lab were blown out dozens of metres away."
	He said about 30 firefighters were at the scene at around 3:00am fighting the blaze.
	The institute is part of Belgium's federal justice system.
	Among its tasks is to carry out scientific analyses linked to criminal cases and to study the functioning of the penal system.
	The explosion occurred with Belgium on high alert after suicide bombers struck Brussels airport and a metro station near the ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1474 - Afp