A breakaway European Super League is still being discussed in football's corridors of power, according to the sports executive involved when talks took place earlier this year.
     Charlie Stillitano of the International Champions Cup (ICC) held discussions with Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool amid reports Europe's leading clubs wanted a potential competition in which they would be guaranteed to feature regardless of on-pitch results.
     The ICC oversees lucrative friendly fixtures involving many of those teams and, while Stillitano recognises his company are in no position to create a Super League, he says it is "fact" others are debating one.
     "We cannot in any way, shape or form make a Super League," Stillitano said yesterday.
     "We are not the architects of this discussion. We know for a fact that everyone's talking about it - there's the ECA (European Club Association), there's UEFA - and looking for a way to improve things.
     "If ..

Euro Super League still on agenda says sports exec

PTI Automatic

Australia is close to poaching Jason Gillespie from English cricket to be the national team's new full-time fast bowling coach, a report said today.
     Head coach Darren Lehmann has been on the look-out for a replacement since Craig McDermott stepped down at the end of the World Twenty20 in India this year.
     He said last month that the highly-regarded Gillespie, who has been head coach at Yorkshire for four years and was last year touted as a candidate for the England coaching job, was high on his list.
     At the time, the former Australian fast bowler said he was committed to the reigning English county champions.
     But the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday that discussions about bringing him home were now at an advanced level and his services could be secured next month.
     "We're speaking with a number of candidates but by no means is anything confirmed," a Cricket Australia spokesperson said in response.
     The Herald said the pending appointment would propel 

Australia close to Gillespie swoop - report

England all-rounder Ben Stokes had knee surgery, while fellow international Reece Topley learnt he will be sidelined for three months with a partial stress fracture.
     Stokes suffered a cartilage tear in his left knee during England's crushing Test victory against Sri Lanka last week at Headingley.
     He had already said that he expects to miss the remainder of Sri Lanka's tour, but the England and Wales Cricket Board have not offered any prognosis following his operation yesterday.
     Stokes is unlikely to be seen again until the start of the Pakistan series in July, though England are not yet committing to a timescale.
     The 24-year-old admitted it was a huge blow to be sidelined while England are in action, although he planned to watch his team-mates in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham this week.
     "Devastated to be missing the rest of the series, this has been a ongoing issue for 2/3 years which I've managed to play through until now," Stokes tweeted.
     .

Devastated Stokes has surgery as Topley ruled out for 3 months

Greek police transferred some two thousand migrants out of the overcrowded camp of Idomeni, launching a major operation to clear up the squalid tent city where thousands fleeing war and poverty have lived for months.
	The operation began at dawn, and by evening officials said they had put 2,031 people on buses to newly opened camps near Greece's second city Thessaloniki, about 80 kilometres to the south.
	"The operation will continue today," Greece's migrant crisis coordination office said in a statement.
	The group transferred yesterday included 662 Syrians, 1,273 Kurds and 96 Yazidis.
	A hundred of them refused to enter the new centre and headed off by foot to downtown Thessaloniki, a police source said.
	The camp on the Macedonian border has become a potent symbol of human suffering and chaos as Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis since World War II.
	The border is one of several in the Balkans closed since mid-February as countries on the migrant route have sought to ...

2,000 migrants moved from Greek border camp

Tech industry titans Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt took their battle for corporate domination to the heart of Europe today seeking to win over new startups and IT enthusiasts.
	In a rare move, Apple chief executive Cook and his bitter rival, Alphabet boss Schmidt appeared at the opening day of a seminar organised in Amsterdam for the week-long Startup Europe Fest -- although they did not take the stage together.
	And Schmidt, chief executive for Alphabet and former Google boss, triggered laughter when he revealed he had an iPhone -- made by his rival -- in his pocket as well as a Samsung.
	When an audience show of hands revealed more people had an iPhone than an Android, Schmidt said ironically: "So much for the Android monopoly in Europe."
	"The Samsung is better, has a better battery. Are we clear?" he insisted. "And to those of you who are iPhone users, I'm right!"
	At the top of the corporate world, Apple and Google are in a back-and-forth battle to be number one.
	It's not clear ...

Google ex-boss Schmidt reveals he has an iPhone

Workers on a Libyan oil tanker helped to rescue 135 people from boats in the Mediterranean on today, hours after coastguards detained 550 would-be migrants headed for Europe.
	Coastguards were alerted to people aboard makeshift vessels around 17 nautical miles (30 kilometres) from the western city of Sabratha, the journalist said.
	The migrants were transported to a safe zone nearer to the capital Tripoli.
	Libyan coastguards earlier today that they had detained 550 people trying to reach Europe illegally by boat.
	It was the second time in three days they have intercepted migrants in the same area.
	"Coastguards in the west who were patrolling off the Zawiya refinery on Tuesday intercepted four large inflatables carrying around 550 illegal migrants," navy spokesman Colonel Ayoub Qassem said.
	Those detained were from "several African countries" and included three children and 30 women, eight of whom are pregnant, he told AFP.
	"The migrants have been handed over to the relevant ...

135 people rescued by oil tanker off Libya coast

Six soldiers were killed and two others wounded when a bomb hit a military convoy in southeast Turkey today, the army said, blaming Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants for the attack.
	The armoured vehicle carrying the soldiers "was hit by a roadside bomb that was hidden" at the edge of a road in Van province, the army said in a statement.
	A military official confirmed the attack to AFP, adding that the soldiers had been on their way to the scene of a dozen vehicles set on fire by PKK members when their convoy was hit.
	After the bombing, the convoy was hit by several rockets, the official said on condition of anonymity, suggesting the soldiers may have fallen victim to a trap.
	The army launched an aerial operation after the attack, the army said.
	Turkey has been waging an offensive against the PKK in the Kurdish-majority southeast following the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in summer 2015.
	Since then, hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in ..

PKK bomb kills six soldiers in southeast Turkey: army

Kurdish-Arab forces launched a major assault against the Islamic State group in Syria's Raqa province today and Iraqi forces advanced on it in Fallujah, piling pressure on the jihadists in two strongholds.
	The twin offensives marked some of the most serious ground efforts against IS since the group declared its self-styled "caliphate" straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border in 2014.
	Territory under IS control has been steadily shrinking for months but it has carried out a wave of attacks including bombings in the Syrian regime's coastal heartland Monday that killed 177 people.
	It was the "deadliest bomb attack" on any regime-held area in Syria's five-year war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
	The Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday announced its largest offensive to date against IS territory north of the IS stronghold of Raqa city.
	The offensive was aimed at pushing IS from the province's north and securing other areas, the alliance said in ...

Twin assaults in Syria, Iraq pile pressure on IS

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today warned the European Union that the Turkish parliament would block laws related to the landmark deal to stem the flow of migrants to Europe if Ankara was not granted its key demand of visa-free travel.
	The stark and unexpected warning from Erdogan came amid spiralling tensions between the Turkish strongman and the bloc over a string of issues ranging from existing accords and human rights as he seeks to further consolidate his powers.
	"If that (the visa exemption) is not what will happen... no decision and no law in the framework of the readmission agreement will come out of the parliament of the Turkish Republic," Erdogan said at the close of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
	"Our foreign ministry, our EU affairs ministry will have discussions with the Europeans. If there is a result then great. If not, then I'm sorry."
	There have been growing indications Turks will not be given the visa-free travel by the target of the end of June and 

Erdogan says Turkey parliament will block EU migrant deal

Chinese technology titan Huawei said today it filed suit in the United States against Samsung, claiming its South Korean rival has infringed on patents on wireless connectivity for mobile devices.
	The lawsuit filed in federal court in California alleges that "Samsung and its affiliates have earned billions of dollars by selling (mobile) products that use Huawei's technology."
	Huawei said it was filing a similar lawsuit in China alleging infringement of patents which allow mobile devices to connect to high-speed networks.
	The suit opens up a legal battle over wireless patents for 4G networks between two of the largest global technology firms.
	"Our very strong preference is to resolve disputes on licensing through negotiations," William Plummer, Huawei's US-based vice president for external affairs, told AFP.
	"It is unfortunate when we have to take this route but when you are the leader in the industry in making investments to develop these technologies, protecting your investments 

China's Huawei sues Samsung over wireless patents

Disgraced television legend Bill Cosby will face trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman after plying her with drugs at his Philadelphia home 12 years ago, a judge ruled today.
	The 78-year-old pioneering black comedian looked subdued and kept his glance averted from onlookers as he left a county court house in Pennsylvania, dressed in a grey suit and floral tie, leaning on a member of his entourage.
	More than 50 women have publicly alleged sexual abuse at the hands of the former megastar, who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s sitcom "The Cosby Show."
	But the allegations dating from 2004 and made by Andrea Constand, who worked for Temple University basketball team and now lives in Canada, have amounted to the only criminal assault charge brought against him.
	Judge Elizabeth McHugh ruled after a three-hour preliminary hearing in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia that there is enough evidence to put 

Cosby will face sex assault trial, judge says

Russia's Olympic Committee (ROC) said today that 14 of its athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics had been found positive for doping in new tests of their samples given during the Games.
	"14 Russian athletes in three disciplines gave a positive result," the ROC said in a statement, a week after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that 31 athletes from 12 countries had failed doping tests after new analysis of samples taken from the Beijing Games.
	ROC said that the names of the athletes, according to the disciplinary rules, would not be made public until a second set of control samples had also been tested.
	Russia's Match TV channel reported the names of the athletes as including 10 Olympic medallists. One, Yulia Chermoshanskaya, won gold as part of the 4x100 metre relay team, while four won silver.
	Among those listed was bronze medallist high jumper Anna Chicherova, who is likely to compete in this summer Rio Olympics if Russia takes part.
	Chicherova did not answer 

Russia says 14 athletes in 2008 Games positive in drug tests

US agribusiness giant Monsanto today rejected the USD 62 billion takeover bid by Germany's Bayer AG as too low, but said it was willing to entertain further talks on a merger.
	Monsanto chairman and chief executive Hugh Grant said in a statement that the offer "significantly undervalues our company" and does not give enough assurance on how Bayer would finance the deal or overcome possible regulatory challenges.
	Monsanto's board "unanimously views the Bayer AG proposal as incomplete and financially inadequate, but is open to continued and constructive conversations to assess whether a transaction in the best interest of Monsanto shareowners can be achieved," the statement said.
	Bayer made what amounts to the largest-ever takeover offer by a German company yesterday for the world leader in seeds, farm pesticides and genetically modified crops.
	The USD 122 a share cash offer sent Monsanto shares surging but only to USD 106 amid expectations of Monsanto's rejection and questions over .

Monsanto rejects Bayer $62 bn bid as 'financially inadequate'

Egyptian forensics officials collected DNA from relatives of EgyptAir MS804 victims today to help identify body parts retrieved from the Mediterranean, as investigators hunt for clues into the mysterious crash.
	Investigators are still searching for the Airbus A320's two black boxes on the seabed as they seek answers as to why the aircraft came down early on Thursday, with 66 people on board.
	French and Egyptian aviation officials have said it is too soon to determine what caused the disaster.
	France's aviation safety agency has said the aircraft transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin and a fault in the Flight Control Unit before contact was lost.
	Finding the victims' remains and the black boxes remain the priorities as families and friends hold funeral services in Cairo to mourn their loved ones, but without the closure of being able to bury their bodies.
	"Body parts arrived at the morgue yesterday and other body parts arrived the day before yesterday," ...

DNA samples taken as searchers hunt for EgyptAir plane

Brazil's acting president Michel Temer today called for reforms to haul Latin America's biggest economy back from crippling recession and slammed what he called "psychological aggression" against his government.
	Temer, who took power May 12 after the suspension of president Dilma Rousseff pending her impeachment trial, is seeking to cement his authority in the face of multiple challenges on both the economic and political fronts.
	He faces accusations from Rousseff of having engineered a coup, and suffered a blow when secret recordings were leaked Monday in which his key ally, planning minister Romero Juca, allegedly discusses a plot to remove Rousseff as a way of halting a huge corruption probe.
	Juca, a pointman on economic reforms, was sacked today, the government announced.
	Opening a meeting with ministers and congressional allies in the capital Brasilia, Temer said that restoring economic growth will require strong medicine.
	"I want to emphasize that it won't be 12 days or two 

Brazil president urges economy reforms

Three Russian and Chinese emergency medical teams have become the first certified by the World Health Organization to respond to disasters and disease outbreaks globally, the UN health agency said today.
	The two teams from Russia and one from China "completed WHO's rigorous classification process," the agency said in a statement.
	"This means that, when a disaster strikes and an affected country requests help, we can quickly deploy medical teams that we know meet our high standards," WHO chief Margaret Chan said in the statement.
	The certification programme was launched last year in a bid to ensure that medical teams sent abroad to respond to an emergency have well-trained staff and bring along the proper medicine and equipment to respond to the situation.
	There are currently 67 medical teams from 25 countries working to receive the coveted stamp of approval, and WHO expects that number to rise to as many as 200 teams within the next couple of years, representing more than 100,000 .

'Russia,China emergency medical teams get global certificate'

Top seed Novak Djokovic launched his bid for a first French Open title with a routine victory as Andy Murray battled through to round two on Tuesday, while Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber crashed out.
     Djokovic, a three-time Roland Garros finalist, faced little resistance from Taiwan's world number 95 Lu Yen-Hsun as he eased to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 victory.
     The Serb, bidding to become just the eighth man to secure a career Grand Slam, needed just 90 minutes on Court Phillipe Chatrier to book a second-round encounter with Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis.
     However, Murray was forced to recover from a two-set deficit to overcome 37-year-old Radek Stepanek 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 in a match lasting three hours 41 minutes in total.
     The second seed had been trailing by two sets to one but up a break in the fourth when play was suspended on Monday due to darkness.
     The Scot duly returned to complete the job after making the crucial breakthrough at 5-all in the ...

Djokovic, Murray through in Paris as Kerber exits

Dutch MPs voted today to strip dual nationals of their Dutch citizenship if they join terror groups such as the so-called Islamic State group to fight as jihadists, officials said.
	The lower house of parliament approved the controversial bill to revoke the Dutch citizenship of people with dual nationality, if they are deemed to have joined foreign terror groups like IS or Al-Qaeda -- even if they have not been convicted of any crime.
	The move comes in the wake of attacks in Paris last year and in Brussels in March, carried out by European extremists thought to have returned home after joining radical organisations in Syria or Iraq as foreign fighters.
	"These jihadists can pose a threat to national security when they return to the Netherlands," the justice ministry said in a statement.
	"Therefore, even without a conviction on a terror charge, the justice minister can decide to strip a person of their nationality, if that person is deemed to have joined a terror organisation," ...

Dutch MPs vote to strip jihadists of dual nationality

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish-Arab fighters has started to clear Islamic State fighters from the area north of Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital, a US official confirmed today.
	"The SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) have begun operations to clear the northern countryside, so this is putting pressure on Raqa," Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
	The US military will conduct air strikes in support of the "several thousand" SDF forces, some of whom have been trained and equipped by the United States.
	Warren said the operation began earlier today, and SDF forces had met little IS resistance across the sparsely populated area.
	Approximately 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters are in Raqa, Warren said, noting it was not clear when an assault on the key city itself might eventually come.
	A separate US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said SDF troops were taking territory on their way to Raqa, but "they are not attacking Raqa" itself.
	According to the ..

Kurdish-Arab alliance launch operations north of Raqa, US

Adidas, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, announced today that it will start marketing its first series of sportshoes manufactured by robots in Germany from 2017.
	More than 20 years after Adidas ceased production activities in Germany and moved them to Asia instead, chief executive Herbert Hainer, unveiled to the press the group's new prototype "Speedfactory" in Ansbach in southern Germany.
	The new state-of-the-art 4,600-square-metre plant is still being built, but Adidas showed off a foretaste of it to the press, promising to automatise shoe production, currently done mostly by hand in Asia, and enable the shoes to be made more quickly and closer to its sales outlets.
	The factory will deliver a first test series of around 500 pairs of shoes to be sold from the third quarter of 2016.
	Large-scale production will then begin in 2017 and Adidas is planning a second "Speed Factory" in the United States in the same year, said Hainer.
	The group is targetting production of ...

Adidas to launch robot-made shoes in Germany from 2017

Europe's Galileo sat-nav system, a rival to America's GPS, took a step closer to becoming operational today with the launch of a fresh pair of satellites to join a dozen already in space.
	Orbiters 13 and 14 blasted off on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 0848 GMT as planned, according to space agencies.
	After a journey of nearly four hours, the 700-kilogramme (1,540-pound) satellites entered Earth orbit at an altitude of 23,522 kilometres (14,615 miles).
	"Named for the astronomer who pinpointed the Earth's true position in the Solar System, the Galileo satellite navigation system that will help Europe find its way in the 21st century now has 14 satellites in orbit," the European Space Agency (ESA) said.
	Seventeenth century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was tried for heresy and jailed by the Catholic Church for insisting the Earth orbited the Sun.
	Ultimately, the multi-billion-euro constellation named after the "father of modern ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1678 - Afp