Pioneer Saudi sportswoman Sarah al-Attar has already raced at the Olympics, but now her campaign will become a marathon as she uses the Rio Games to break down barriers in the conservative kingdom.
     Attar turned heads in the head-to-toe outfit she patched together with her mother to race in the 800 metres at the 2012 London Games, where she was one of the first Saudi women Olympians.
     This time Attar, now 23, will take on the gruelling 42 kilometer (26 mile) marathon race in Rio, where four Saudi women will take part.
     The women and seven Saudi men arrived in Rio on Monday, but were kept away from prying media.
     Gender divisions are so sensitive that the Saudi Olympic Committee website did not name the women who will represent the country.
     Along with Attar, they are judoka Wujud Fahmi, fencer Lubna al-Omair and 100m runner Cariman Abu al-Jadail.
     None qualified directly for their competition, but will take part with special invitations from the International ..

Saudi female runner breaks barriers in Rio marathon

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Argentina named coach Edgardo Bauza to run the national team, as the nation seeks to regain its football prowess and convince superstar Lionel Messi to return from early retirement.
     Bauza, 58, takes on the job after a strong season at Brazilian club Sao Paulo, which he coached to the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores.
     "We hope he will have the success we all need," said Armando Perez, the president of a committee named by FIFA to whip things into shape at the crisis-plagued Argentine Football Association (AFA).
     He told a press conference Bauza would be in Buenos Aires on Friday to give more details on his plans for the team. The new coach faces the stigma of being the default choice.
     A string of potential coaches including Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid, Jorge Sampaoli of Sevilla and Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspur reportedly declined the job.
     "We were in talks with a lot of people, and it seems Mr Bauza is the best," said Perez.
     Bauza has ..

Argentina name Edgardo Bauza new coach

When 206 nations march past during the Rio Olympics opening ceremony, a mere seven-athlete team will represent Pakistan -- one fewer than the contingent sent by tiny Atlantic island Bermuda.
     Despite producing world-class cricketers, hockey players and squash champions in 68 years since independence, Pakistan's Olympic medal tally is an imperfect 10 -- eight in field hockey and only two individual.
     The Olympics in Brazil mark the lowest ebb for Pakistan as they failed to qualify in field hockey for the first time since their maiden appearance in 1948 London Games.
     Three athletes -- shooters Ghulam Mustafa Bashir and Minhal Sohail, and judoka Shah Hussain, qualified by right on the "continental quota" after racking up reasonable records in various international competitions.
     There are also four wild cards which are given to all the member countries by the International Olympic Association. They have been taken up by swimmers Liana Swan and Harris Banday, and athletes 

Depleted Pakistan make up the numbers in Rio

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is desperate to see a greater return from his top-order batsmen in the third Test against England at Edgbaston starting tomorrow.
     England levelled the four-match series at 1-1 with a crushing 330-run win in the second Test at Old Trafford -- a margin of victory that was testimony to the tourists' batting woes.
     It was all a far cry from Pakistan's 75-run win in the first Test at Lord's, which featured an inspiring century from captain Misbah-ul-Haq.
     Poor starts have been a problem for Pakistan in this series.
     But Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood are not the first Pakistan opening pair to struggle in English conditions.
     Indeed you have to go back to 1996 for the last time a Pakistan first-wicket duo put on a 50 stand in a Test against England in England.
     "I was really disappointed with our performance at Old Trafford -- really disappointed," said Arthur.
     "There are credible losses, and there are losses when you lie down and .

Pakistan 'warriors' seek batting boost against England

More than 20 people were killed in three Mexican states plagued by drug violence over the weekend, with 11 found dead in a single day in Acapulco, authorities said.
	The victims in Acapulco were found in five different locations in the Pacific resort city on Sunday, amid an increase in homicides across the country this year.
	Gunmen killed three people at a bar; two men and one woman were found dead in a car near a cemetery with signs of torture and their feet and hands tied; and three bodies were exhumed from a clandestine grave on the outskirts of the city.
	Two other people were shot dead in separate incidents in Acapulco, which is among the most violent cities in the world outside war zones, with 111 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015.
	Acapulco is in the state of Guerrero, where seven people from the same family, including two children, were found shot dead on Saturday in two homes in the town of Tepecoacuilco de Trujano.
	Elsewhere in Mexico, a soldier and four suspected .

Violent weekend leaves more than 20 dead in Mexico

Texas has become the eighth US state to allow guns on campuses, a controversial decision that comes on the 50th anniversary of a deadly sniper rampage at a university.
	The law, which was passed last year, from yesterday requires public universities in Texas to permit concealed weapons in campus buildings, although schools can impose limits on where guns are allowed.
	At the University of Texas at Austin, where a mass shooting in 1966 claimed 14 lives, the institution's president Gregory Fenves said the emotionally charged issue would likely be little noticed on campus.
	"We have a very safe campus," Fenves said, "And I think that will continue."
	Texas joins seven other states which also allow concealed guns on university campuses, including Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Eighteen states specifically ban the practice.
	Critics of the law include three UT Austin professors who have sued, claiming their free speech rights would be violated, because students with guns would create a ..

Texas allows guns at universities on mass shooting anniversary

Gawker Media founder Nick Denton has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in a bid to stop Hulk Hogan from seizing his assets in a multimillion-dollar sex tape judgment.
	The office of the British internet entrepreneur, who controls a 68 percent stake in the news and entertainment website, confirmed the move to AFP. His lawyers gave no further details when asked to comment.
	In March, a US jury in Florida ordered that wrestling star Hogan be allowed to collect USD 140 million in total compensation after Gawker published a tape of him having sex with a friend's wife.
	Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, also seeking to sidestep a shutdown over the jury's verdict.
	Denton estimated his assets at USD 10-15 million, according to a copy of his Chapter 11 individual bankruptcy filing published by Politico.
	In a memo to staff, obtained by AFP, Denton appeared upbeat about the prospects of Gawker surviving.
	After the company filed for bankruptcy, the ...

Gawker founder files for bankruptcy after Hogan suit

Shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians in southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo over the last 24 hours, a monitor said.
	Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, yesterday said those killed "included six children and eight women" in two government-controlled neighbourhoods of divided Aleppo.
	He said dozens of people were also wounded.
	The city's southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the regime's own access route into the rest of the northern province.
	Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods.
	It said nine people - among them three children - were killed on Monday and 11 people died in the attacks on Sunday.
	Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between ...

Rebel shelling kills 28 civilians in Syria's Aleppo: Monitor

Sales of a pocket version of the US Constitution have soared since the father of a fallen Muslim American soldier brandished a copy to denounce Donald Trump, igniting one of the biggest backlashes against the Republican nominee.
	Khizr Khan, whose son died in a 2004 suicide bombing in Iraq, has gone head to head with the insult-dishing White House candidate in a confrontation that has dominated the US news cycle for days.
	On Monday, a pocket edition of the constitution was second only to the new "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" script on Amazon's best seller list, and number one best seller in Amazon's US history category.
	The 52-page paperback, on sale for USD 1 on Amazon, does not appear to be the same edition that Khan whipped out of his pocket in one of the most defining moments of last week's Democratic National Convention.
	The online retailer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US Constitution sales soar after Trump challenge

Florida now has 14 people who likely contracted the Zika virus from mosquitoes in the Miami area, and the state needs emergency help from the federal government, officials said today.
	Governor Rick Scott announced 10 new cases of locally transmitted Zika, in addition to four made public by the department of health on Friday.
	The cases mark the first time the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and is considered particularly dangerous for pregnant women, is known to be spreading via local mosquitoes in the United States.
	Over 1,600 cases of Zika have been previously reported in the US, but most were brought by travelers who were infected elsewhere. The virus can also spread by sexual contact.
	The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are expected to issue "a notice to women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to avoid unnecessary travel to the impacted area that is just north of downtown Miami," Scott added in a statement.
	Officials still believe .

With 14 local Zika cases, Florida asks for emergency aid

Yemen's government delegation to peace talks were leaving Kuwait today after the rebel side rejected a draft peace plan proposed by the United Nations, its representatives said.
	"We now leave Kuwait... But are not quitting the consultations and not ending them before August 7," said the head of the delegation, Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi.
	He was referring to the end date set by the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed for the talks that began April but have so far failed to end Yemen's conflict.
	"We will return any minute... If the other side agrees to sign" the UN proposal, which was accepted by the government but rejected by the rebels, Mikhlafi told reporters at Kuwait Airport.
	Government delegation spokesman Mohammed al-Emrani earlier told AFP: "We are leaving today after having completed our part in the talks."
	"The ball is now in the rebels' court," he said.
	The delegation was returning to Riyadh after informing the UN envoy that it was ready to sign the proposed .

Yemen govt delegates quit talks until rebels accept deal

US warplanes today carried out air strikes on positions of the Islamic State group in the Libyan city of Sirte for the first time, the country's unity government head announced.
	"The first American air strikes on precise positions of the Daesh (IS) organisation were carried out today, causing heavy losses... In Sirte," prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a televised speech.
	In Washington, the Pentagon said the raids were launched in response to a request from the unity government.
	"At the request of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the United States military conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya, to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL in its primary stronghold in Libya," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, using another name for IS.
	The US strikes in Sirte "will continue", Cook added without elaborating.
	President Barack Obama authorised the bombings following recommendations from top Pentagon officials, and the ...

US launches first anti-IS air raids in Libya's Sirte

Eating lean proteins, such as nuts, chicken and fish, reduces a person's risk of dying compared to a diet high in red meats, eggs and dairy, according to a large study out today.
	The findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine confirm what many health experts have said for decades, but also contained some surprises.
	For instance, diets high in red meat and fatty proteins like eggs and cheese were not linked to a higher risk of dying among people who were otherwise healthy.
	However, people with one other risk factor -- such as drinking lots of alcohol, being overweight, inactive or smoking -- were more likely to see their death risk rise if they ate more red meat.
	The study led by researchers at Harvard University spanned three decades and more than 130,000 people, but was observational in nature so it did not probe the biological reasons behind the changes in death risk according to diet, nor did it demonstrate cause and effect.
	"Our ...

Major study confirms health benefits of lean protein

Kenyan police today were interrogating a British national and two Kenyans over a USD 3 million cocaine haul found among a shipment of sugar from South America.
	The trio were being questioned by a special team of US anti-narcotics agents and their Kenyan counterparts after being arrested at the weekend in connection with the 100-kilogram (220-pound) consignment, said a senior anti-narcotics officer.
	"They are held within Nairobi and are assisting officers in the investigations. They were arrested in a sting operation," said the official, who asked not to be named as the investigation was ongoing.
	The three are linked to a drug smuggling cartel from Brazil and were followed by foreign and local anti-drugs authorities for months, according to the officer.
	The drugs, worth an estimated 300 million Kenyan shillings (USD 3 million), were discovered on a Venezuela-flagged ship in the port city of Mombasa following an Interpol tipoff, nine days after leaving Santos, Brazil.
	Each ...

Kenya police question Briton, Kenyans over USD 3m cocaine

The bodies of five Islamists behind a deadly attack on a Bangladesh cafe have still not been claimed a month later, police said today, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against extremism.
	Relatives of the men have spoken of their shock and horror at learning of their involvement in the siege in Dhaka's Gulshan neighbourhood, in which 20 hostages were killed -- many of them hacked to death.
	Today tens of thousands of university and college students across the country stood in silence and formed human chains in front of their schools.
	"No terrorism, we want peace. We want life without fear," read one banner at a women's college in Dhaka.
	Authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to shame those behind the attacks.
	Clerics at the mainly Muslim country's more than 300,000 mosques have been asked to give sermons on why Islam forbids killing.
	Police said the bodies of nine other men allegedly from the same group who were shot when police launched a raid on a ...

Bangladesh attackers' bodies still in morgue a month on

Turkey admitted today there may have been some "unfair" treatment in its post-coup crackdown as it voiced anger with Germany for barring President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing a rally in Cologne.
	Retaliating after a military attempt to unseat him, Erdogan has launched a purge that has seen tens of thousands people suspended from their jobs and almost 19,000 detained.
	Apparently responding to widening international alarm about the crackdown, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitted there may have been some unfair treatment in the state sector.
	"There must definitely be some among them who were subjected to unfair procedures," he said in comments published by state-run Anadolu news agency.
	"We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not."
	Echoing his tone, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said: "If there are any mistakes, we will correct them".
	Turkey, meanwhile, summoned a senior German diplomat, a day after a rally of tens of thousands .

Turkey admits some crackdown dismissals may be 'unfair'

A French prosecutor today dismissed a probe into allegations that Cardinal Philippe Barbarin covered up the sexual abuse of Scouts, in a case which shook the country's Catholic Church.
	Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon in central France since 2002, had been accused of failing to remove a priest from his diocese when he became aware the man had sexually abused young boys 25 years ago.
	Barbarin has said he learned in 2007 that the priest, Bernard Preynat, had been accused of sexually abusing Scouts in the past.
	Preynat was only charged in January after a victim who was allegedly abused in the 1980s realised in 2015 that the priest was still in service. Several other victims have also come forward.
	Barbarin has said that when he learned of the priest's past he immediately called a meeting with him and when he asked Preynat if he had committed further abuses since 1991 the priest swore he had not.
	"You can reproach me for having believed him... But covering up means knowing and ...

French probe into cardinal abuse cover-up dismissed:prosecutor

Five people on board a Russian military helicopter were killed today when it was shot down over Syria, in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war.
	The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime's siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city.
	Russia's defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers.
	"A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
	The Kremlin said all five people on board were assumed dead.
	"As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry ...

Five dead as Russian military helicopter downed in Syria

One of the deadliest bombings to ever hit Iraq killed 323 people, two thirds of whom needed DNA testing to identify, the health minister said, raising an earlier toll from last month's attack.
	A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus in a crowded shopping area in Baghdad's Karrada district early on July 3, sparking infernos in nearby buildings that burned many victims alive.
	"One hundred and fifteen martyrs were identified directly after the bombing by their families," health minister Adila Hamoud told a televised news conference.
	But the identity of 208 more people killed in the blast, many of whose bodies were burned beyond recognition, could not be determined, and they were sent for DNA testing, Hamoud said.
	She had previously said that the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, had killed 292 peopled, of whom 177 were unidentified.
	People have been furious over delays in determining the fate of their loved ones, and have sharply ...

Death toll from July Baghdad blast rises to 323: minister

Indonesia will sink up to 71 impounded foreign boats this month on its Independence Day, a minister said today, ramping up a campaign to deter illegal fishing in its vast waters.
	The world's biggest archipelago nation has been seeking to stop foreign vessels fishing without permission in its territory, with President Joko Widodo claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually.
	So far 176 foreign boats captured fishing illegally have been sunk -- after the crews were removed -- since Widodo took power in 2014, with some blown up in spectacular public displays.
	Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has been leading the campaign, said up to 71 foreign boats caught illegally fishing would be sunk on August 17, the 71st anniversary of Indonesian Independence.
	She said that they would be sunk at various locations across the country, without specifying which countries the boats were from.
	Boats from a number of countries, including China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines 

Indonesia to sink scores of boats in fishing fight

Turkey summoned a senior German diplomat today, a day after a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president who was not permitted to address the crowd by video conference.
	"The charge d'affaires has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry at 1:00 pm (local time)," a spokeswoman for the German embassy told AFP, adding that the ambassador was not in town.
	Tens of thousands of supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied in Cologne yesterday to show their opposition to a failed coup on July 15, which aimed to unseat the Turkish leader.
	Hours before the demonstration, Germany's constitutional court rejected an application to show live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, over fears they could work up the crowd.
	The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the move unacceptable and a "violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly".
	Germany is home to three million ethnic Turks, ...

AFP

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