Scores at tea on the second day
of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today:
     Australia 1st innings (345-3 overnight)
     J Burns  stp Ramdin b K. Brathwaite   128
     D Warner  c Samuels b Taylor           23
     U Khawaja  c Ramdin b Taylor          144
     S Smith     not out                   134
     A Voges     not out                   106
     Extras (lb10, w4, nb2)                 16
     Total (3 wickets declared; 135 overs) 551
     Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-287, 3-328
     Bowling: Taylor 22-2-97-2, Roach 17-1-97-0, Holder 22-7-47-0, C Brathwaite 30-3-109-0, Warrican 26-2-113-0, K Brathwaite 18-1-78-1.
     West Indies 1st innings
     K Brathwaite    batting                17
     R Chandrika     batting                14
     Extras (nb2)                             2
     Total (0 wicket; 14 overs)              33
     Bowling: Hazlewood 5-2-4-0, Pattinson 5-0-22-0, Lyon 4-1-7-0.

Melbourne, Dec 27 (AFP) Scores at tea on the second day

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Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal's future was plunged into serious doubt as his side lost at Stoke City, while title-chasing Arsenal crashed to a demoralising 4-0 defeat at Southampton.
     United have now gone seven games without victory in all competitions -- their worst run since 1989-90 -- and speculation is rife that Van Gaal will pay for their slump with his job.
     He had described the match as "must-win", but his side were deservedly beaten 2-0 at a windswept Britannia Stadium after Bojan Krkic punished a Memphis Depay error to open the scoring in the 19th minute before Marko Arnautovic slammed home a brilliant second goal seven minutes later.
     Asked if he felt he still had the support of the United board, Van Gaal said: "You will have to wait and see, but I think so. I feel the support of everybody in the club."
     He added: "It's more difficult because I'm also part of the four matches (in succession) that we have lost."
     Van Gaal's side slipped to sixth 

Stoke expose Van Gaal, Long dents Arsenal bid

Four people were killed when a tornado ripped through Garland, Texas, near the city of Dallas.
	The twister destroyed several buildings in the small city northeast of Dallas, according to ABC and CNN.
	Today's new tragedy struck just as millions of residents in the southern United States struggled to recover from fierce storms and floods that officials say have left at least 17 people dead in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
	With more severe weather expected across the central US, forecasters are warning of airport delays and flooded roads as travelers return home after the Christmas holiday.

Tornado kills four near Dallas, Texas: US media

Louis van Gaal said that he could jump before he is pushed after his position as Manchester United manager became even more precarious following a fourth successive defeat.
     The under-fire Dutchman, 64, looked like a condemned man throughout United's sorry 2-0 loss to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium yesterday and then in the inquest that took place afterwards.
     When grilled about the firestorm of speculation surrounding his likely sacking and the possible appointment of Jose Mourinho, Van Gaal intimated that he may be about to walk away from a job that has undergone a dramatic downturn in fortunes in the past month.
     While refusing to confirm or deny whether he has received assurances from the United board, he did state: "I have said already in former press conferences that it is not always that the club has to fire or sack me. Sometimes I do it by myself.
     "I am the one who wants to speak first with the board of Manchester United, with my members of staff, with my 

I could quit Man Utd, says embattled Van Gaal

Scores at lunch on the second day of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today:
     Australia 1st innings (345-3 overnight)
     J Burns  stp Ramdin b K. Brathwaite   128
     D Warner  c Samuels b Taylor           23
     U Khawaja  c Ramdin b Taylor          144
     S Smith     batting                    90
     A Voges     batting                    74
     Extras (lb8, w4, nb2)                   14
     Total (3 wickets; 120 overs)           473
     Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-287, 3-328
     Bowling: Taylor 22-2-97-2, Roach 15-1-82-0, Holder 22-7-47-0, C Brathwaite 25-3-93-0, Warrican 25-2-104-0, K Brathwaite 11-1-42-1.

Melbourne, Dec 27 (AFP) Scores at lunch on the second day of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today:

Skipper Steve Smith and in-form Adam Voges pounded the West Indies bowlers to push Australia's first innings towards 500 on the second day of the second Test in Melbourne today.
     The pair cruised along unbothered in the first session building their partnership for the fourth wicket to 145 as Australia looked to give the hapless Caribbean tourists a huge total to chase.
     At lunch, Smith was unbeaten on 90 with Voges not out on 74 in Australia's total of 473 for three after being sent into bat by Windies skipper Jason Holder.
     Smith was closing in on his 13th Test century and sixth of the year and had passed England captain Alastair Cook with the most runs score in 2015 in the final Test of the year.
     At the interval Smith had scored 1,360 runs ahead of Cook's 1,357 with England currently playing South Africa in Durban.
     Voges was also amongst the runs and at lunch had totalled 996 runs for the calendar year and was averaging an astonishing 510 in four Tests against .

Smith, Voges tighten screws on Windies

Czech President Milos Zeman has called the current wave of refugees to Europe "an organised invasion", adding young men from Syria and Iraq should instead "take up arms" against the Islamic State (IS) group.
	"I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees," said Zeman in his Christmas message to the Czech Republic released yesterday.
	He went on to say that compassion was "possible" for refugees who are old or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should be back home fighting against jihadists.
	"A large majority of the illegal migrants are young men in good health, and single. I wonder why these men are not taking up arms to go fight for the freedom of their countries against the Islamic State," said Zeman, who was elected Czech president in early 2013.
	He added that their fleeing their war-torn countries only serves to strengthen the IS group.
	The 71-year-old evoked a comparison to the situation 

Czech prez calls migrant wave in Europe 'organised invasion'

Austrian police has said they stepped up security in Vienna and other cities after receiving a warning of possible attacks during the holiday season.
	"In the lead-up to Christmas, a friendly intelligence service sent a warning to numerous European capitals saying potential bomb or gun attacks could take place in areas with large crowds between Christmas and New Year," Vienna police said in a statement yestrday.
	The warning included "several names of potential attackers" but investigations have so far yielded no concrete results, the statement said.
	In response to the alert, police officials said they would increase security at public events and tighten controls on roads in Vienna and elsewhere in Austria.
	The warning comes after jihadist gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on November 13.

Austria police step up security amid terror warning

At least 14 people were killed and several others injured by Boko Haram gunmen in a Christmas Day attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria, vigilantes have said.
	Attacking astride bicycles, the jihadists invaded Kimba village in Borno state around 10:00 pm on Friday, opening fire on residents and torching their homes.
	"The gunmen killed 14 people and burnt the whole village before they fled," Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian assisting the military in fighting Boko Haram, told AFP yesterday.

Boko Haram kills at least 14 in Christmas Day attack:

Millions of residents in the southern United States struggled today to recover from fierce storms and floods that officials say have left at least 17 people dead in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
	With more severe weather expected across the central US, forecasters are warning of airport delays and flooded roads as travellers return home after the Christmas holiday.
	Feeding on unseasonably warm air, storms left a trail of destruction in rural communities from Alabama to Illinois.
	More than a dozen tornadoes were reported yesterday in six southern states.
	In Alabama, where Governor Robert Bentley has declared a state of emergency to deal with the heavy flooding, tornadoes uprooted trees and tore off rooftops, with one touching down in Birmingham, the state's most populous city.
	"The damage was ... Confined to approximately one square mile," Birmingham Fire Department Chief Charles Gordon told CNN. "We have three houses that collapsed."
	No one died, but Gordon said victims ...

Recovery underway after storms kill 17 in southern US

The Belgian authorities are questioning staff at a Brussels school attended by one of the Paris attackers whose warnings that he had become worryingly radicalised were missed, press reports said today.
	The reports, based on Flemish language dailies De Morgen and Het Laaste Nieuws, said Bilal Hadfi had been a student at the Annessens-Funck school before going to Syria in February.
	Hadfi blew himself up outside the French national stadium in northern Paris during the November 13 attacks which left 130 people dead.
	The Belga news agency said documents cited in the reports showed that Hadfi's teachers had become concerned at his increasingly radical views, especially his comments over the January attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
	The reports said the school informed the education authorities in April that he had gone to Syria but that this information was not then passed on to the police.
	While Hadfi's name appeared on a list of suspects compiled by Belgium's ...

Belgian police quiz school over Paris attacker: reports

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the secretive leader of the Islamic State group, called for an uprising in Saudi Arabia and pledged to attack Israel, in an audio recording released today and attributed to him.
	The 24-minute recording would be Baghdadi's first in seven months, during which IS has been dealt several blows in Iraq and Syria.
	There was no way for AFP to authenticate that it was Baghdadi speaking, but the voice appeared to match previous recordings of him.
	And it was not clear when the recording was made, but it referred to a 34-nation anti-IS coalition announced by Saudi Arabia on December 15.
	"They announced lately a coalition... Falsely called 'Islamic,' and announced its goal is to fight the caliphate," said the speaker in the recording circulating among pro-IS Twitter users.
	"If this coalition were Islamic, it would have announced victory and aid to the people of Syria," he said.
	He called on Saudi citizens to "rise up against the apostate tyrants, and avenge your people .

IS leader urges uprising in Saudi, attacks in Israel:recording

An armed Kurdish group today claimed an explosion near a plane at Istanbul's second international airport which killed a female cleaner and wounded another.
	"We ... Claim the attack carried by mortar bombs at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport," on Wednesday, the Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan (TAK) said on its website.
	Airport cleaner Zehra Yamac, 30, died of head wounds hours after the blast on the tarmac at the airport on the Asian side of Turkey's largest city.
	The wounded victim was also a cleaner.
	The attack came as Turkey wages an all-out offensive against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence, then pressing for greater autonomy for the country's largest ethnic minority.
	Turkish officials say TAK is a front for PKK attacks on civilian targets and the PKK claims TAK is a splinter group over which it has no control.
	On its website, TAK lashed out at what it described .

Armed Kurdish group claims Turkey airport blast

US authorities today were investigating a suspicious fire at a mosque in Texas, weeks after a mass shooting in California by a Muslim couple that sparked fears of a backlash against members of their faith.
	No one was hurt in the blaze at the Masjid mosque in Houston that broke out yesterday afternoon and destroyed the interior of the small house of worship located in a shopping mall, local media reported.
	The fire had "multiple points of origin" and "appears suspicious," a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told local media.
	The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged authorities to probe possible foul play.
	"Because of the recent spike in hate incidents targeting mosques nationwide, we urge law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this fire," the executive director of the group's Houston chapter, Mustafaa Carroll, said in a statement.
	"Officials are checking surveillance video and say the cause of the fire is .

US authorities probe 'suspicious' fire at Texas mosque

Scores at close of play on the
first day of the first Test between South Africa and England at Kingsmead here today:
     England, first innings
	Cook c Elgar b Steyn            0
	Hales c De Villiers b Steyn    10
	Compton not out                63
	Root lbw b Piedt               24
	Taylor c De Villiers b Steyn   70
	Stokes not out                  5
	Extras: (B-1, LB-2, NB-3, W-1)  7
     Total: (for 4 wkts in 65.1 overs) 179
     Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-12, 3-49, 4-174
     Bowling: Steyn 15.1-3-29-3, Abbott 16-2-40-0, Morkel 15-1-44-0, Piedt 11-2-39-1, Van Zyl 2-1-2-0, Elgar 6-1-22-0.

Durban, Dec  26 (AFP) Scores at close of play on the

Nick Compton and James Taylor hit half-centuries and dug England out of trouble on a rain-hit first day of the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead on Saturday.
     England were 179 for four at the close of play after being sent in to bat. Fast bowler Dale Steyn spoiled a good recovery by the tourists when he struck shortly before the close, having Taylor caught behind for 70.
     Compton and Taylor came together with England struggling on 49 for three and forged a partnership of 125 off 274 balls.
     Taylor was dismissed in fading light, capping a fine comeback from injury by Steyn, who took three for 29.
     Steyn dismissed English opening batsmen Alastair Cook and Alex Hales cheaply, while off-spinner Dane Piedt took the wicket of Joe Root for 24 with his first ball of the match.
     Compton and Taylor batted solidly on a slow pitch which did not offer the bowlers as much assistance as South African captain Hashim Amla might have hoped when he won the toss and sent ...

Steyn strikes to put brakes on England fightback

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, hopes to convene talks between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition on January 25 in Geneva, his office said today.
	De Mistura has "intensified efforts" towards convening the talks on the target date, hopefully including the "broadest possible spectrum" of opposition representatives, the statement said.
	The special envoy on the nearly five-year conflict "counts on full cooperation of all the relevant Syrian parties in this process," it said, adding: "Continuing developments on the ground should not be allowed to derail it."
	Last week, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks in January. But no specific date had been given.
	The plan is the result of nearly two months of strenuous efforts among top diplomats from 17 countries, including regime backers Russia and Iran. But it does not address the toughest ..

UN sets Syria peace talks target date of January 25

Heavy rains triggered floods in parts of England today, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and the deployment of army personnel to shore up overwhelmed defences.
	Lancashire in northwest England and Yorkshire in the northeast were the worst affected, with environment officials issuing more than 300 alerts in those areas, including 20 warnings of possible deadly floods.
	In some areas water reached the lower windows of houses and shops, and in others cars had been abandoned after narrow country roads had turned into fast-flowing streams.
	Underscoring the severity of the deluge, the government's emergency COBRA committee met on Christmas day to tackle the crisis, with officials under pressure after similar flooding earlier this month in northwest England.
	The floods in Cumbria caused damage estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds and turned many towns and villages into swamps, prompting angry accusations that the government had failed to spend enough on flood defences.

Floods hit parts of England as government scrambles to respond

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels seized a key dam on the Euphrates River from Islamic State group jihadists in northern Syria today, the group said.
	The Syrian Democratic Forces captured Tishreen Dam after intense clashes with IS, as well as seven villages along the river's eastern bank, spokesman Talal Sello told AFP.
	He said dozens of IS fighters had been killed.
	The dam, held by IS since 2014, helps generate electricity for large parts of the northern Aleppo province.
	Backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, the SDF launched its assault on IS-held towns along the eastern bank of the Euphrates late Wednesday.
	It was the alliance's second major operation, after clearing IS from some 200 villages in the northeastern province of Hasakeh.
	Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for an Arab rebel group in the SDF, wrote online: "Congratulations to our peoples... The battles are ongoing, the operation is ongoing, and the victories are ongoing."
	The Syrian Observatory for Human ...

Kurds, Arabs seize key Syria dam from IS: group

Millions of residents in the southern United States struggled today to recover from the deadly storms and floods that struck the region over the past days.
	At least 15 people have been killed in the states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas since Thursday, officials said.
	With more severe weather expected across the central United States, forecasters are warning of airport delays and flooded roads as travellers return home after the Christmas holiday.
	Feeding on unseasonably warm air, storms left a trail of destruction in rural communities from Alabama to Illinois.
	More than a dozen tornadoes were reported yesterday in six southern states.
	In Alabama, where Governor Robert Bentley had declared a state of emergency to deal with the heavy flooding, tornados uprooted trees and tore off rooftops, with one touching down in Birmingham, the state's most populous city.
	"The damage was ... Confined to approximately one square mile," Birmingham Fire Department Chief Charles Gordon ...

Recovery underway after storms kill 15 in southern US

A Bosnian anti-terrorism prosecutor has said the recent arrests of 11 suspected jihadists prevented an attack that purportedly would have killed around 100 holiday revellers in Sarajevo, state television said today.
	The arrests were carried out Tuesday in several parts of the Bosnian capital.
	Yesterday, a Sarajevo court ordered eight of the suspects to be held for 30 days, Bosnian television reported.
	It quoted prosecutor Dubravko Campara as telling an investigating magistrate that the group were planning "a terrorist act during end-of-year celebrations."
	"They were threatening to carry out an explosives attack in which 100 people would be killed," RTRS television quoted Campara as saying.
	The suspects' lawyers dismissed the allegations as a "simple farce" and said their clients were merely "practising their religion".
	Prosecutors said the suspects habitually gathered at a place of worship set up in a rented house in a Sarajevo suburb.
	After the arrests, prosecutors gave ...

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