Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has returned to his prison cell in South Africa's capital after being treated at hospital for injuries sustained in a fall, prison officials said today.
	"He had to be detained Saturday afternoon at the hospital after falling off his bed," prison services spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo told AFP.
	"He's back in our care now," Nxumalo said.
	He added that the double-amputee Paralympian was again in the medical wing of the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria where he has been serving out his six-year sentence due to his handicap.
	According to the South African weekly City Press, citing another inmate at the prison, Pistorius had to go to hospital after intentionally slitting his wrists.
	When asked about the report, Nxumalo said: "We can't confirm that, it's only speculation."
	Pistorius was convicted of shooting to death Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he .

Pistorius hospitalised after fall in prison: official

PTI Automatic

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped another Indonesian sailor in the Sulu Sea where numerous seafarers have been abducted by Islamist extremists in recent months, officials said today.
	The kidnapping took place on Wednesday off the northeast of Sabah state on the Malaysian side of Borneo island, Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia said.
	"(The vessel) was intercepted by a boat carrying four armed men," ambassador Herman Prayitno told AFP.
	The kidnappers took the Indonesian captain after failing to get the 10,000 ringgit (USD 2,500) they demanded, Prayitno added. They released the two other crew members, an Indonesian and a Malaysian.
	Indonesia's foreign ministry said it was still trying to find out which group was responsible.
	Malaysia's marine police chief Abdul Rahim Abdullah told AFP authorities were questioning the two crew members from the boat about the case.
	The kidnapping is the latest in a string of incidents in the Sulu Sea, where groups of armed men have ambushed fishing 

Indonesian kidnapped in Sulu sea off Borneo

Israel's energy minister today criticised a landmark nuclear accord between the Jewish state's arch-foe Iran and world powers but said Tehran had so far respected the deal.
	The agreement, which was signed in July 2015 and came into force in January, saw Tehran accept curbs to its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions by world powers.
	"It's a bad deal but it's an accomplished fact and during the first year we spotted no significant breach from the Iranians," said Youval Steinitz, who is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
	"But it's still too early to conclude that this 12-year deal is a success," he told public radio.
	Steinitz's comments came after US President Barack Obama on Thursday defended the accord.
	Israel's defence ministry, led by hardliner Avigdor Lieberman, on Friday compared the deal with Iran to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of then Czechoslovakia.
	Netanyahu the same day repeated his country's 

Israel minister says Iran has respected nuclear deal

A Jetstar flight from Tokyo to Australia's Gold Coast was diverted to Guam and an engine was shut down today after a warning light came on.
	The twin-engine JQ12 Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from Narita international airport to the Gold Coast landed on the US island territory of Guam in the Pacific today morning after an oil pressure warning light came on, Jetstar said.
	"A flight from Narita to the Gold Coast was diverted this morning after the aircraft displayed an indicator message regarding oil pressure," the carrier said in a statement.
	"After receiving the indicator message the captain elected to shut down one engine as a precaution. Boeing 787s can fly safely on one engine."
	The passengers, which the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said numbered some 320, would be taken to Australia on a flight arriving tomorrow.
	Jetstar said the jet landed safely on Guam and was being inspected by engineers.

Japan-Australia flight diverted to Guam after engine shut down

An Australian man with reported links to far-right extremist groups was charged today with planning a terrorist attack after his Melbourne home was raided following police fears of a "specific threat".
	The 31-year-old, named in local media as Phillip Galea, appeared in court after he was charged with planning or preparing for a terrorist act and collecting or making documents to facilitate an attack.
	Galea told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court he would fight the charges, adding that they were "a conspiracy against the patriot movement".
	Police would not confirm if he was a member of the anti-Islam Reclaim Australia group but said he had a "number of affiliations to different organisations".
	There were violent clashes between left and right-wing groups over immigration in Australia's second-largest city in May and June, sparking a push by the Victoria state government to boost police powers.
	Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews said today there was "no imminent threat" after the .

Australian 'patriot' charged with terror offences

That didn't take long: Olympic boxing threw up its first contentious decision on the opening day of competition in Rio when judges awarded a bout to a Brazilian boxer.
     Light heavyweight Michel Borges had most in the 9,000-seat arena firmly on his side from the moment he stepped in to the ring and the judges made him the winner on unanimous points, to roars of approval and dancing in the stands.
     But Cameroon's Hassan Ndam Njikam -- one of three professional boxers competing in the Olympics for the first time in its long history -- wagged his finger in the air and shook his head in disbelief and was later seen remonstrating with boxing officials.
     As part of moves to boost its popularity, especially in the United States, Olympic boxing has allowed in the pros, dropped headguards for men and ditched the punch-counting method to decide fights.
     But if the AIBA, the governing body, hoped it would result in fewer controversies it may have to think again -- Njikam, 32, said 

Mixed fortunes as boxing pros make Games debut

Mack Horton won his grudge match against China's Sun Yang and Australia's 4x100m free relay women added another gold as records tumbled on day one at the Rio Olympics pool on Saturday.
	   While it was a triumphant night for Australia, the mighty US team were shut out of the gold -- coming up with three silvers from the four finals.
	   Horton clocked 3min 41.55sec to hold off a feverish challenge from 2012 gold medallist Sun, who briefly looked to have the Australian beaten on the last lap but had to settle for second in 3:41.68.
	   Italy's Gabriele Detti roared home in the final 50 meters to capture bronze in 3:43.49.
	   Sun, stung after the heats by Horton's attack on his doping record, was left weeping after the race.
	   Horton, whose mild manner and Harry Potter-style spectacles belie his toughness, said he knew that by calling Sun out he'd put himself on the spot.
	   "Well that last 50 I was kinda thinking about what I said and was like, if he gets me here it's not going to .

Aussies hot, US cool in Rio pool

Four-time gold medallist Venus Williams, suffering with a virus, slumped to her first ever opening round loss at an Olympic Games, joining jet-lagged Agnieszka Radwanska at the exit door.
     American fifth seed Williams, the singles champion in 2000 and, at 36, the oldest woman in the draw, lost to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a three-hour centre court marathon.
     Williams, who has also captured three doubles golds with sister Serena, had her opportunities, leading 3-1 in the second set and 4-1 in the decider.
     But despite the encouragement of watching US Secretary of State John Kerry, she ran out of steam at the crucial moments, noisily coughing throughout the closing exchanges.
     "She had been ill for a few days with a bad virus. She had an upset stomach and she was coughing up a lot, you could see she was really struggling," said US captain Mary Jo Fernandez, who faced the media in Williams' place.
     Williams now faces a battle to be fit for ...

Sick Venus, world-weary Radwanska crash in Rio

A bullet which tore through the media centre of the Olympic equestrian venue was not targeting the Games, Rio 2016 organisers said, describing the security scare as an "unfortunate incident."
     No one was injured, but a TVNZ report said the bullet narrowly missed a New Zealand team official who was badly shaken by the incident yesterday.
     Rio 2016 chief spokesman Mario Andrada said authorities were carrying out ballistics tests to determine what kind of round was used and where it was fired from.
     "The bullet came from outside and technical experts from the local police are investigating all relevant traces like distance and direction and the type of the bullet," Andrada said.
     "All authorities assured that the bullet was a stray bullet that has nothing to do with the Games or the Olympic family or the press. The area was not a target.
     "Security around the area is in place. It was an unfortunate incident. As soon as more information is available it will be ...

Bullet hits Rio Games media tent

Beslan Mudranov won scandal-depleted Russia's first gold medal of the Rio Olympics in the judo on Saturday after their team was slashed over a massive doping conspiracy.
     Mudranov won the men's 60kg final with a golden score victory over Kazakhstan's Yeldos Smetov, putting Russia's reduced team on the medals table on day one.
     "Our country has been subject to a lot of psychological pressure, so to win a gold medal on the very first day means a lot for my country," said Mudranov.
     The IOC cut the Russian delegation by more than 100 athletes after an anti-doping investigation uncovered widespread state-sponsored doping. But it resisted ordered an all-out Russian ban over the investigation.
     Russia have their smallest team in more than a century at the Olympics over the chaos which has thrown many Russian athletes preparations into chaos.
     But Mudranov insisted he was always confident of being allowed to compete despite just landing in Brazil three days before ...

Judo gold gets doping-hit Russia off the mark

A landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Earl has left six dead in eastern Mexico as heavy rains began to ease up, but officials warned residents to remain prepared for more floods or mudslides.
	A couple and their toddler died in Veracruz state when their house was buried, the state's secretary of civil protection Yolanda Gutierrez Carlin said yesterday. The couple's eight-year-old child was rescued and hospitalised.
	Another young couple and their three-year-old child were killed when their home was completely swamped by mud.
	Two other people were injured in the state capital when their homes collapsed and at least 40 families in the area have been evacuated as a precaution, Carlin said, also warning of increased water levels in the Jamapa river.
	Heavy rains and fierce wind gusts hit Mexico on Thursday after Earl weakened from hurricane status over Central America.
	The storm has lost strength but rainfall in the country's southeastern states could still cause life-threatening ...

Tropical Storm Earl leaves six dead in Mexico

More than 2,000 firefighters were battling scores of forest fires throughout northern Portugal.
	One of most devastating of the 79 blazes consumed an area of forest yesterday around the town of Melres e Medas, less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the northern city of Porto.
	Two firefighters were injured, one through inhaling fumes and the other from a fall, the Lusa news agency reported.
	Television images showed locals joining forces with the fire brigade to tackle the flames.
	"We are trying to avoid the fire spreading. The biggest problem is the wind," said town mayor Marco Martins.
	Two planes and a helicopter were brought in to help tackle the blaze, the civil protection service said.
	There was no word as to what started the fire, three of which were described as "substantial", but Portugal is prone to forest fires during the hot summer months.
	In 2013, more than 150,000 hectares of forest went up in smoke.

Forest fires rage in northern Portugal

Nobel-winning US economist Joseph Stiglitz and Swiss anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth has said that a dispute over transparency had prompted them to quit a panel on reforming Panama's finance sector.
	The pair resigned on Friday from the committee, which the Panamanian government set up in a declared bid to reform the country's tarnished financial services after the "Panama Papers" scandal erupted in April.
	Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York who won the Nobel Prize in 2001, told AFP yesterday that he was "shocked" and "very disappointed." The pair had been "very reluctant to resign," he said.
	"In our first meeting we made it clear that we couldn't proceed unless there was a commitment from the government to make our report public and it refused to make that commitment," he said.
	"We were just shocked. How could you have a committee on transparency that itself was not going to be transparent?"
	In a statement, Stiglitz and Pieth said they believed restrictions 

Stiglitz quits Panama Papers committee over transparency row

Eleven Nigerian troops have been killed in clashes with gunrunners and bandits in the violence-wracked north central region, the army has said.
	Military spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said in a statement yesterday that the troops, comprising soldiers and airmen, came under attack from gunmen during operations to confiscate illegal weapons from the villages of Kopa, Dagma and Gagaw in Niger State.
	"While approaching and deploying to carry out their lawful duty, the troops came under simultaneous and sporadic shootings in all the three locations. They however responded as necessary in line with the rules of engagement," the army spokesman said.
	"Sadly, an officer and eight soldiers of the Nigerian Army and two airmen of the Nigeria Air Force lost their lives in the line of national duty," he added.
	Usman said another soldier remained missing while two more were wounded.
	The gunrunners also torched four military vehicles and vandalised two others.
	He said eight gunmen were killed and 

Nigerian army says 11 troops killed in clashes with bandits

At least 18 people were killed in a collision between a minibus a lorry in western Gabon, the government said in a statement.
	Pictures said to be from the crash scene yesterday, shared on social media, showed bloody and dismembered bodies.
	The accident happened near the town of Kango, 100 kilometres from Libreville, along a stretch of the country's main highway.
	"The tragic provisional toll is 18 dead," Transport Minister Ernest Mpouho Epigat said, adding that bodies of the victims had been taken to the capital.
	The cause of the collision was unknown and an inquiry has been opened, the government statement said.
	Road accidents are frequent in Gabon, a Central African nation of 1.8 million inhabitants.
	The government urged road users "to observe the elementary tules of road safety," especially during the current busy holiday season.
	The National 1 highway, where yesterday's accident happened, links Libreville with the interior of the country and is often heavily congested.

18 killed as minibus collides with lorry in Gabon

Scoreboard at the close of play on
the first day of the second Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand today.
     New Zealand first innings:
     M Guptill lbw b Tiripano            87
     T Latham c and b Williams          136
     K Williamson not out                95
     Extras: (B-4, NB-7)                 11
     Total: (For 2 wkts; 89.5 overs)    329
     Fall of wickets: 1-169, 2-329.
     Bowling: Tiripano 14-3-58-1, Chinouya 15-5-43-0, Chibhabha 9-2-30-0, Cremer 25-1-108-0, Nyumbu 22-1-63-0, Williams 2.5-0-15-1, Sikandar Raza 2-0-8-0.

Bulawayo, Aug 6 (AFP) Scoreboard at the close of play on

The Rio Olympics got off to a troubled start today as a loud blast erupted near the cycling race's finish line and a bullet ripped through the media tent at the equestrian venue.
	Long queues also formed outside venues -- as competition went on inside -- as volunteers and security staff struggled to cope with a sudden influx of fans.
	Brazilian military carried out a controlled explosion near the Copacabana finish line of Rio Olympics men's road cycling race today, witnesses said.
	Military bomb disposal experts were at the scene of the explosion and kept crowds away with police.
	The explosion stunned crowds gathering for the end of the race. The race leaders were about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away at the time.
	Elsewhere at the Deodoro venue, onlookers were shocked when a bullet pierced the temporary venue housing media, leaving visible holes in the fabric roof and wall.
	It made for an unsettling day one of the Rio Games, which were launched in a blaze of colour by yesterday's ...

Olympics: Blast, bullet in troubled start for Games

Opener Tom Latham scored his second consecutive century in Zimbabwe as New Zealand's batsmen dominated the opening day of the second Test at Queens Sports Club today.
     Latham's 105 set New Zealand up for a mammoth total and crushing victory in the first Test, and he bettered that score to give the Black Caps a commanding platform.
     The 24-year-old recorded his fifth Test century and went on to make 136, before succumbing to what proved to be the final ball of the day as New Zealand closed on 329 for two.
     Zimbabwe's bowlers claimed just six wickets in a horribly one-sided first Test, and endured a similarly frustrating day on another docile pitch on Saturday.
     With the seamers lacking in pace, Latham and Martin Guptill had no trouble seeing off the new ball and went on to construct an opening stand of 169.
     "We complement each other well," said Guptill. "Tommy is good square of the wickets and I am strong down the ground.
     "We were able to get our partnership ..

Latham ton helps Black Caps dominate Zimbabwe

Scoreboard at stumps on the
fourth day of the third Test between England and Pakistan at Edgbaston today.
     England 1st Innings: 297
     Pakistan 1st Innings: 400
     England 2nd Innings (overnight 120-0)
     A Cook c Yasir Shah b Sohail Khan         66
     A Hales c Younis Khan b Mohammad Amir     54
     J Root c Mohammad Hafeez b Yasir Shah     62
     J Vince c Younis Khan b Mohammad Amir     42
     G Ballance c Asad Shafiq b Yasir Shah     28
     J Bairstow not out                        82
     M Ali not out                             60
     Extras: (B-4, LB-7, W-1, NB-8)            20
     Total: (For 5 wkts; 125 overs)           414
     Fall of wickets: 1-126, 2-126, 3-221, 4-257, 5-282.
     Bowling: Amir 30-8-73-2, Sohail 27-3-102-1, Rahat 21-8-54-0, Shah 42-4-152-2, Azhar 5-0-22-0.

Birmingham, Aug 6 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the

The Rio Olympics got off to a troubled start today as a loud blast erupted near the cycling race's finish line and a bullet ripped through the media tent at the equestrian venue.
     Long queues also formed outside venues -- as competition went on inside -- as volunteers and security staff struggled to cope with a sudden influx of fans.
     Brazilian military carried out a controlled explosion near the Copacabana finish line of Rio Olympics men's road cycling race on Saturday, witnesses said.
     Military bomb disposal experts were at the scene of the explosion and kept crowds away with police.
     The explosion stunned crowds gathering for the end of the race. The race leaders were about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away at the time.
     Elsewhere at the Deodoro venue, onlookers were shocked when a bullet pierced the temporary venue housing media, leaving visible holes in the fabric roof and wall.
     It made for an unsettling day one of the Rio Games, which were launched in a ...

Blast, bullet in troubled start for Games

Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali both scored dashing fifties as England wrested the initiative from Pakistan on the fourth day of the third Test at Edgbaston today.
     At stumps, England were 414 for five in their second innings, a lead of 311 runs.
     Bairstow was 82 not out and Ali 60 not out.
     England's sixth-wicket duo had added an unbroken 132 runs inside 27 overs ahead of Monday's final day.
     Pakistan will now have to set a new record for the Birmingham ground if they are to go 2-1 up in the four-match series, as the most any side have made in the fourth innings to win a Test at Edgbaston is South Africa's 283 for five in 2008.
     England had been well-placed at 120 without loss overnight.
     But openers Alastair Cook and Alex Hales both went early on Saturday as Pakistan took two wickets for no runs in nine balls.
     Joe Root (62) and James Vince (42) stopped the rot during a third-wicket stand of 95.
     But their run-rate slowed to barely three an over, albeit .

AFP

AFP

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