Jason Roy overcame a dizzy spell to lead England's charge to a 44-run win under the Duckworth/Lewis method in a rain-marred first one-day international against Pakistan in Southampton.
	Surrey opener Roy's quickfire 65 fired England towards an initial victory target of 261 yesterday.
	But after a third and final rain interruption of this day/night fixture at 9:37 pm local time (2037 GMT), the umpires eventually called the game off with England 194 for three.
	Eoin Morgan, the England captain, was 33 not out and Ben Stokes 15 not out.
	Earlier, Pakistan were held to a modest 260 for six, captain Azhar Ali top-scoring with 82 after he won the toss.
	Sarfraz Ahmed made 55 and Babar Azam 40 before he was unluckily out lbw.
	Pakistan were going well at 173 for three after 35 overs but then lost Azhar before a rain stoppage put a further break on their run-scoring.
	Roy and Joe Root (61) took England to the brink of victory with a second-wicket stand of 89 in 14 overs.
	Roy sparked ...

Dizzy Roy sets up England win over Pakistan

PTI Automatic

Completed scoreboard in the
first day/night one-day international between England and Pakistan at Southampton:
	   Pakistan
	   Azhar Ali c Ali b Rashid                82
	   Sharjeel Khan c Buttler b Wood          16
	   Mohammad Hafeez c Hales b Root          11
	   Babar Azam lbw b Rashid                 40
	   Sarfraz Ahmed c Wood b Woakes           55
	   Shoaib Malik c Rashid b Plunkett        17
	   Mohammad Nawaz not out                  17
	   Imad Wasim not out                      17
	   Extras (lb1, w4)                         5
	   Total (6 wkts, 50 overs)               260
	   Did not bat: Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul
	   Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Sharjeel), 2-52 (Hafeez), 3-113 (Babar), 4-178 (Azhar), 5-224 (Malik), 6-226 (Ahmed)
	   Bowling: Woakes 10-2-43-1; Wood 10-0-57-1 (3w); Plunkett 10-0-52-1; Root 4-0-26-1 (1w); Ali 7-0-30-0; Rashid 9-0-51-2
	   England
	   J. Roy c Babar Azam b Mohammd Nawaz     65
	   A. Hales c Mohammad Hafeez b Umar Gul    7
	   J. Root .

Southampton, Aug 25 (AFP) Completed scoreboard in the

A man who took four people hostage at a bank in central Moscow late today has surrendered to police, local authorities said.
	Russian special forces were deployed to the Citibank branch, located just one kilometre (mile) away from the Kremlin, after reports that a man had seized four hostages -- three bank employees and one customer.
	Moscow police said they were able to negotiate the release of two of the bank staff shortly after 1700 GMT.
	The two remaining hostages were released later, the police told RIA Novosti state-run news agency.
	An unnamed source in law enforcement told Russian news agencies that the hostage taker was apparently drunk and had threatened to blow up the bank.
	Police told RIA Novosti state news agency that the hostage taker had an "unidentified object" attached to his neck.
	The alleged hostage taker apparently posted a video online in which he claimed that the siege was intended to draw attention to corporate and personal bankruptcy in Russia, Interfax news .

Hostage taker at Moscow bank turns himself in

The US State Department warned travelers to France that they should obey local laws today after several beach towns imposed a ban on swimwear incorporating Muslim veils.
	Dozens of French resorts have banned beachwear that "conspicuously" shows a person's religion such as a "burkini" -- a full-body swimsuit for Muslim women.
	In response to a query from AFP as to whether the United States would update its travel advice to warn Muslim Americans, a US official advised them to obey the rules.
	"In the country specific information for France that we provide on our website... We inform US citizen travelers that they are subject to local laws," he said.
	"And if they violate local laws, even unknowingly, they may be expelled, arrested, or imprisoned," he warned.
	The United States has expressed concern about French attitudes to Muslim dress in the past, in particular its ban on full-face veils in public spaces.

Burkini ban: US warns tourists to obey French law

Russian special forces were dispatched to a bank in downtown Moscow late today where a man had taken four people hostage, local police said.
	Moscow police said they were able to negotiate the release of two of the hostages, both employees of the bank, shortly after 1700 GMT, but did not reveal how they were freed.
	According to police the drama began when a man entered a Citibank branch, located just one kilometre away from the Kremlin, shortly before 1600 GMT and was understood to have taken four people hostage -- three bank employees and one customer.
	An unnamed sourced in law enforcement told Russian news agencies that the hostage taker, whose identity has not been disclosed, was apparently inebriated and had threatened to blow up the bank.
	Police told RIA Novosti state news agency that the hostage taker had an "unidentified object" attached to his neck.
	Investigators said they had opened a criminal probe into the incident and that the two freed hostages were being questioned.

Russian forces dispatched to Moscow bank hostage-taking

Drone strikes killed five Al-Qaeda suspects travelling in cars in provinces of southern and eastern Yemen today, security sources said.
	Three people died when a rocket fired from a drone struck their vehicle in a desert area of Marib province, east of Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa, a security source said.
	Another security official said a separate drone attack in the southern province of Shabwa killed two suspects in a car on a road leading from provincial capital Ataq to nearby Nisab.
	The United States has carried out numerous drone strikes against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operatives in Yemen.
	American officials said this month that the US military had killed three AQAP fighters in a strike, also in Shabwa.
	AQAP has exploited a power vacuum created by a conflict between the government and Shiite rebels to expand its presence in south and southeast Yemen.
	But the US has vowed to continue its war against the group, which it considers to be the Al-Qaeda network's 

Drone strikes kill 5 Qaeda suspects in Yemen: security

A powerful earthquake rattled a remote area of central Italy today, leaving at least 120 people dead and scenes of carnage in mountain villages.
	With 368 people injured and an unknown number trapped under rubble, the figure of dead and wounded was expected to rise in the wake of the pre-dawn quake, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi warned.
	"This is not a final toll," he said.
	Hundreds of people were to spend a chilly night in hastily-assembled tents with the risk of aftershocks making it far too risky for them to return home.
	Scores of buildings were reduced to dusty piles of masonry in communities close to the epicentre of the quake, which had a magnitude of between 6.0 and 6.2.
	It hit a remote area straddling Umbria, Marche and Lazio at a time of year when second home owners and other visitors swell the numbers staying there. Many of the victims were from Rome.
	The devastated area is just north of L'Aquila, the city where some 300 people died in another quake in 2009.
	More than ...

At least 120 killed in Italy quake

A Russian court today sentenced ultranationalist politician Alexander Belov, a former leader of a banned anti-immigration movement, to seven and a half years in prison for extremism and money laundering.
	Belov was formerly coordinator of the populist Movement Against Illegal Immigrants, or DPNI, which had the slogan "Russia for (ethnic) Russians" and was banned as extremist in 2011.
	Its leaders then formed a new nationalist movement called "Russians" that was banned last year.
	Moscow's Meshchansky district court found Belov, whose real surname is Potkin, guilty of forming an "extremist" group and inciting ethnic hatred as well as perpetrating financial crimes, Russia's prosecutor general's office said.
	The financial crime accusations relate to Belov's alleged ties with exiled Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is currently awaiting extradition from France on embezzlement charges.
	Belov was found guilty of seeking to whip up ethnic tensions in Kazakhstan, a key Russia ally, on .

Russia jails leader of banned nationalist group

Scientists today announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star nearest our Sun, opening up the glittering prospect of a habitable world that may one day be explored by robots.
	Named Proxima b, the planet is in a "temperate" zone compatible with the presence of liquid water -- a key ingredient for life.
	The findings, based on data collected over 16 years, were reported in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.
	"We have finally succeeded in showing that a small-mass planet, most likely rocky, is orbiting the star closest to our solar system," said co-author Julien Morin, an astrophysicist at the University of Montpellier in southern France.
	"Proxima b would probably be the first exoplanet visited by a probe made by humans," he told AFP.
	An exoplanet is any planet outside our Solar System.
	Lead author Guillem Anglada-Escude, an astronomer at Queen Mary University London, described the find as the "experience of a lifetime".
	Working with European Southern ...

Habitable planet found in solar system next door

Final scoreboard of the second
one-day international between Sri Lanka and Australia at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium today:
     Sri Lanka
     K. Gunathilaka b Starc                2
     T. Dilshan b Lyon                    10
     K. Mendis lbw Zampa                  69
     D. Chandimal lbw Zampa               48
     A. Mathews c Henriques b Faulkner    57
     D. De Silva c Smith b Zampa          7
     K. Perera lbw b Faulkner             54
     T. Perera b Faulkner                 12
     S. Prasanna not out                   2
     D. Perera b Starc                     5
     A. Aponso b Starc                     2
     Extras (b 4, lb 7, w 9)              20
     Total (all out; 48.5 overs)         288
     Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-137, 4-146, 5-158, 6-261, 7-279, 8-279, 9-286, 10-288
     Bowling: Starc 9.5-0-53-3, Lyon 9-0-49-1, Faulkner 9-0-45-3, Head 4-0-41-0, Zampa 10-0-42-3, Finch 2-0-7-0, Henriques 5-0-40-0
     Australia
     D. Warner c Chandimal b T. Perera 

Colombo, Aug 24 (AFP) Final scoreboard of the second

First innings scoreboard in the first one-day international between England and Pakistan at Southampton today:
     Pakistan
     Azhar Ali c Ali b Rashid               82
     Sharjeel Khan c Buttler b Wood         16
     Mohammad Hafeez c Hales b Root         11
     Babar Azam lbw b Rashid                40
     Sarfraz Ahmed c Wood b Woakes          55
     Shoaib Malik c Rashid b Plunkett       17
     Mohammad Nawaz not out                 17
     Imad Wasim not out                     18
     Extras (w4)                             4
     Total (6 wkts, 50 overs)              260
     Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-52, 3-113, 4-178, 5-224, 6-226
     Bowling: Woakes 10-2-43-1; Wood 10-0-57-1; Plunkett 10-0-53-1; Root 4-0-26-1; Ali 7-0-30-0; Rashid 9-0-51-2.

Southampton, Aug 24 (AFP) First innings scoreboard in the first one-day international between England and Pakistan at Southampton today:

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali led from the front with 82 before England fought back to hold the tourists to 260 for six in the first one-day international at Southampton today.
     In a rain-interrupted innings, Sarfraz Ahmed (55) was the only other batsman to make a fifty and Pakistan's plight in this day/night clash would have been worse had Azhar not twice been dropped on nine.
     Azhar won the toss in the first of this five-match series and elected to bat in what was then bright sunshine.
     Sharjeel Khan, carrying on from his blistering 152 in last week's 255-run win over Ireland, struck three fours in 15 balls.
     But the left-handed opener fell for 16 when he top-edged a pull off fast bowler Mark Wood and was caught behind by Jos Buttler.
     England, whose fielding had proved fallible during a recent 2-2 drawn Test series against Pakistan, then twice dropped Azhar.
     He was put down in the gully by Alex Hales off Wood, playing his first match for England since a Test ..

Azhar leads from front as England restrict Pakistan

Skipper Angelo Mathews today led from the front with his allround showing to help Sri Lanka register a comprehensive 82-run win against Australia in the second one-day international to level the series at 1-1 in Colombo.
     Australia, who were chasing a record 289 for victory at R Premadasa Stadium, were bowled out for 206 in 47.2 overs with Matthew Wade top-scoring with 76 runs.
     Left-arm spinner Amila Aponso claimed four wickets while medium-pacer Thisara Perera took three wickets to choke the Australian run chase.
     But it was man of the match Mathews' two wickets and a 57 with the bat that made Sri Lanka register their biggest win against Australia in terms of runs.
     Sri Lanka's previous best was a 79-run triumph at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 2003.
     Australia's James Faulkner recorded his first ODI hat-trick but Sri Lanka, who chose to bat first, still managed to post 288 in 48.5 overs.
     In reply Australia, who won the first of the five ODIs by three ..

Allround Mathews helps Sri Lanka level ODI series

Italy quake toll rises to at least 120: PM Renzi. (AFP)

North Sea oil revenues for Scotland have plunged, according to official data out today that unionists said undermined the case for independence following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
	Revenues fell to USD 60 million (71 million euros, USD 79 million) in the 2015-2016 financial year from 1.8 billion pounds in the previous 12 months -- a 97-percent drop due to the dip in oil prices, the data showed.
	Scotland's public deficit also rose to 14.8 billion pounds, up from 14.3 billion pounds in the 2014-2015 financial year.
	"The lower oil price has, of course, reduced offshore revenues, with a corresponding impact on our fiscal position," Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.
	"However, Scotland's long-term economic success is now being directly threatened by the likely impact of Brexit," she added.
	The Scottish government yesterday warned of the heavy financial burden from Britain exiting the European Union, claiming an annual cost to the economy of up to 11.2 ...

Scotland reports 97 per cent plunge in oil revenues

Turkish tanks and hundreds of opposition fighters thrust deep inside Syrian territory today in a lightning operation that within hours ousted Islamic State jihadists from a key Syrian border town.
	The air and ground offensive -- the most ambitious launched by Ankara in the Syria conflict -- made rapid progress towards Jarabulus with rebel fighters already proclaiming victory by the late afternoon just 14 hours after it started.
	"Jarabulus is completely liberated," Ahmad Othman, commander of the Sultan Mourad rebel group, told AFP from the scene, while another rebel spokesman said IS fighters had fled towards Al-Bab to the southwest.
	Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasised the operation was also targeting Kurdish militia fighters strongly opposed by Ankara -- but backed by the US as a key ally against IS -- who had also been closing in on Jarabulus.
	But visiting US Vice President Joe Biden reassured Turkey that Washington had told the Kurdish fighters under no ...

Syria rebels backed by Turkey tanks 'seize' IS-held town

Schoolgirls in Pakistan will be given poultry to care for in an initiative partly aimed at teaching them about the kitchen, officials said, raising the eyebrows of women's activists in the deeply patriarchal country.
	Punjab officials said the government in Pakistan's wealthiest province will initially be providing girls in 1,000 primary schools with four hens, one cock, and a cage.
	Naseem Sadiq, head of the Punjab government's livestock department, told AFP the aim was to promote poultry and educate about nutrition, citing World Bank figures showing Pakistan ranks among the top countries in the world for protein deficiency.
	He also said the programme would "train these small girls about kitchen waste" as they feed their charges leftover food from lunch.
	"We preferred girls' schools for this project to boys because girls, mostly,  have to deal with the kitchen and they are more responsible and caring than boys," Sadiq said.
	Women in conservative Pakistan have fought for their ...

Pakistani school officials label kitchen a chicks-only zone

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned today against stigmatising Muslims, as a furore over the banning of burkinis grew with the emergence of pictures showing police surrounding a veiled woman on a beach.
	Speaking after a meeting with the head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Cazeneuve said: "The implementation of secularism, and the option of adopting such decrees must not lead to stigmatisation or the creation of hostility between French people."
	Dozens of French towns and villages, mostly on the Cote d'Azur, have banned beachwear that "conspicuously" shows a person's religion -- a measure aimed at the full-body Islamic swimsuit but which has also been used against women wearing long clothes and a headscarf.
	CFCM president Anouar Kbibech requested an urgent meeting with Cazeneuve after pictures emerged of a veiled woman sitting on a beach in Nice removing her tunic, watched by four policemen.
	The images, which went viral on social media, were ...

France warning as burkini furore heats up

The Beijing wildlife park whose tigers killed one woman and injured another this summer was not to blame for their deaths, an official investigation concluded today.
	The tourists ignored park rules and clear warning signs when one of them alighted from their car in an area that contained ten free-roaming Siberian tigers, the investigation by Beijing's Yanqing district government found.
	The attack took place at Badaling Wildlife World on July 23, when a woman in her thirties surnamed Zhao opened the car's passenger door, calmly walked around the vehicle and stood outside the door on the driver's side. A tiger crept up, swatted her and dragged her off.
	The husband of the 32-year-old woman surnamed Zhao leapt out of the car in pursuit, as did the woman's 57-year-old mother. She tried to hit the tiger but was attacked by two other tigers and mauled to death.
	The tourists should not have left the car, the report found.
	The park allows visitors to drive their own cars safari-style ...

Victims to blame in fatal tiger attack in China: report

Explosions and gunfire rocked the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul today, an official and students trapped inside classrooms said, in the latest militant attack in the Afghan capital.
	"I heard explosions and gunfire is going on close by... our class is filled with smoke and dust," a desperate student told AFP by telephone.
	"We are stuck inside and very afraid."
	Many other trapped students were tweeting desperate messages for help. Among them was Associated Press photojournalist Massoud Hossaini.
	No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their summer fighting season against the Western-backed Kabul government.
	"#AUAF under attack. I along with my friends escaped and several other of my friends and professors trapped inside," Kabul-based journalist Ahmad Mukhtar tweeted.
	The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul tweeted that at least five wounded people had been brought to the facility for treatment.
	The ...

Militants attack American University of Afghanistan in Kabul

Russia's foreign ministry expressed deep concern today at Turkey's military operation in Syria, warning of rising tension over Ankara's targeting of Kurdish militia fighters at the border.
	"We are deeply concerned at what is happening in the Syrian-Turkish border area," the ministry said in a statement.
	Turkey's air and ground operation risks "further degeneration of the situation in the conflict zone," Moscow warned.
	The Turkish offensive targeting both Islamic State extremists and Syrian Kurdish militias could lead to deaths among peaceful civilians and "flare-ups of inter-ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs," it added.
	Russia, a major ally of the Syrian regime, has strengthened its relationship with Syria's Kurds and a Kurdish representative office recently opened in Moscow.
	Moscow, which began a bombing campaign in support of Assad in September last year, said it was "convinced that the Syrian conflict can be resolved exclusively on the firm basis of international ...

AFP

AFP

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