Rain came to England's aid with Australia on the brink of an innings victory on the fourth day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval today.
     England, following on, were 258 for eight in their second innings when rain led to an early lunch.
     Moeen Ali was 17 not out and Stuart Broad 10 not out, with England still 74 runs behind Australia's first innings 481, which featured captain-elect Steven Smith's 143.
     Play resumed Sunday beneath grey skies and it was not long before the floodlights were switched on.
     The question was could England, who had already won the Ashes at 3-1 up in the five-match series, hold on long enough with the bat for the forecast bad weather to help them in their quest for a draw which would deny Australia captain Michael Clarke a victory in his final match before retirement.
     England started Sunday on 203 for six, still 129 runs behind, having suffered the blow of losing captain Alastair Cook late on Saturday for 85 after his marathon .

Rain comes to England's rescue in Ashes finale

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Britain's foreign secretary reopened his country's embassy in Tehran today in a long-awaited step signalling better relations four years after a mob stormed the compound, forcing its closure.
	Philip Hammond's two-day trip comes five weeks after Britain and five other world powers struck a deal with Iran to end a 13-year dispute over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.
	He led a ceremony shortly after noon in the embassy garden with Ajay Sharma, the new charge d'affaires who will be Britain's top diplomat in Tehran.
	Iran's embassy in London also reopened today. The two nations are expected to appoint ambassadors within months.
	Hammond, the first British foreign secretary to visit Iran since Jack Straw in 2003, described the violence that shuttered the Tehran mission as "a low point" but said a new journey was beginning.
	"Over the coming months, we will work to ensure that the nuclear agreement is a success, including by making sure that it is fully implemented by all sides," .

Britain and Iran reopen embassies

Doug Bracewell made a successful return to the New Zealand team as South Africa were bowled out for 204 in the second one-day international at Senwes Park today.
     Bracewell, playing in his first one-day international in more than two years, took a career-best three for 31 with his accurate medium-pacers as the South African batsmen failed to come to terms with a slow pitch.
     Farhaan Behardien top-scored for South Africa with a career-best 70.
     Fast bowler Adam Milne struck twice in his first two overs, dismissing Hashim Amla and Morne van Wyk to put South Africa on the back foot. The hosts, who won the first match by 20 runs in Centurion, never recovered fully.
     Bracewell took the next two wickets in a spell of two for 18 in six overs, with Rilee Rossouw (39) and David Miller (5) both falling to catches when they mistimed drives on a slow pitch.
     South Africa slumped to 107 for five in the 24th over when captain AB de Villiers also fell to a mistimed shot, chipping 

Bracewell shines as South Africa struggle

A Turkish court today remanded in custody three mayors from the Kurdish-dominated southeast on charges of seeking to destroy national unity by allegedly supporting calls for regional self-rule, reports said.
	The investigation comes as Turkey carries out its biggest operation in years against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have responded by tearing up a 2013 ceasefire and staging daily attacks against the security forces.
	Those placed under arrest include the co-mayors of the central Sur district of the region's biggest city Diyarbakir, Seyid Narin and Fatma Sik Barut, the official Anatolia news agency reported.
	It is common in Kurdish regions of Turkey for posts to be shared between a man and a woman to promote gender equality.
	Also remanded in custody by the Diyarbakir court was Yuksel Bodakci, the mayor of the town of Silvan in the Diyarbakir region, as well as two other municipal officials from Sur.
	Anatolia said they had been charged with seeking "to break up the 

Turkey jails mayors in southeast over 'self-rule' claims

A deepening immigration crisis is threatening to rip the "soul" out of the European Union, Italy's foreign minister warned today.
	In a hard-hitting interview, Paolo Gentiloni said the kind of chaotic scenes witnessed this weekend at the Greece- Macedonia border represented a real threat to the free movement of people across the bloc.
	Separately, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel called for the EU's asylum policy to be overhauled, and for member-states to share the migratory influx "fairly."
	"On immigration, Europe is in danger of displaying the worst of itself: selfishness, haphazard decision-making and rows between member states," Gentiloni told Il Messaggero.
	"I am very worried. Today it is on this issue that Europe will either rediscover its soul or lose it for good."
	Gentiloni urged Italy's EU partners to stop squabbling and start working on a common solution to the crisis.
	The alternative, he warned, would be the inevitable collapse of the Schengen accords which allow ..

Migrant crisis may rip apart 'selfish' EU: Italy's Gentiloni

A British hostage has been freed in Yemen following an operation by United Arab Emirates forces, the Foreign Office in London announced today.
	"I'm pleased to confirm that a British hostage held in Yemen has been extracted by UAE forces in a military intelligence operation," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement.
	Hammond added that the freed hostage was "safe and well" and that Britain was "very grateful for the assistance of the UAE".
	The statement did not identify the person or give any further details of the operation to free them.
	Yemen has been wracked by conflict since March, when a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels.
	Yemeni loyalists are backed by countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
	The war has killed nearly 4,500 people, many of them civilians, according to the United Nations.
	Last year, British teacher Mike Harvey was released after being held for five months in Yemen following negotiations by the ...

British hostage rescued in Yemen operation: Foreign Office

Britain's foreign secretary today reopened his country's embassy in Tehran in a long-awaited step signalling better relations four years after a mob stormed the compound, forcing its closure.
	Philip Hammond's trip comes five weeks after Britain and five other world powers struck a deal with Iran to end a 13-year dispute over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme.
	He entered the embassy at noon (0730 GMT) and held a ceremony shortly afterwards in its garden with Ajay Sharma, the new charge d'affaires who will be Britain's top diplomat in Tehran.
	Iran's embassy in London will also reopen today. The two countries are expected to appoint ambassadors in the coming months.
	Hammond was to later hold a press conference with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister and lead negotiator in the nearly two years of talks that have ended Tehran's isolation from the West.
	"Arrived in #Tehran. First British Ministerial visit since 2003. Historic moment in UK-Iran relations," ...

Britain reopens embassy in Tehran

The toll from heavy government bombardment of a rebel stronghold outside the Syrian capital rose today to 34 civilians, including 12 children, a monitoring group said.
	"There are now 34 civilians that were killed in Saturday's attacks on Douma, among them 12 children and eight women," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad struck the rebel-held town of Douma with shells and aerial attacks yesterday.
	By late evening that day, the Observatory had said 20 civilians were killed, but that rescuers were still working to find more victims.
	"Overnight, they found more victims underneath the rubble, and others who were wounded died," Abdel Rahman said today.
	He said some of the strikes had killed whole families inside their homes.
	Local volunteers and civil defence teams worked Sunday morning to locate seven people who were still unaccounted for, the Britain-based Observatory said.
	The Douma Coordination ...

'Toll from Syria regime strikes near Damascus rises to 34'

Malaysian police said today they had found 24 human skeletons - all believed to be victims of trafficking - in newly discovered graves along the Thai border in the northern Malaysian state of Perlis.
	The latest gruesome discovery comes after police found 39 graves and 28 abandoned "detention" camps capable of housing hundreds of people in May, laying bare the grim extent of the region's migrant crisis.
	The new graves were found yesterday near the peak of a hill surrounded by jungle terrain and along the Thai border, not too far from the graves unearthed in May, Perlis police chief Shafie Ismail was quoted as saying by Bernama, the country's official news agency.
	"It is believed that heavy rain had eroded the graves," he said.
	After May's unearthing, the remains of 106 people were exhumed, mostly believed to be Muslim Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, as well as Bangladeshis seeking better opportunities abroad.
	Mass graves were also discovered on the Thai side of the ...

Malaysia finds more graves and human remains near Thai border

Four suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed overnight in an apparent US drone strike in Mukalla, the southern Yemeni city that the extremist group overran in April, a local official said today.
	The four were travelling in a car on the tarmac of Mukalla's Al-Rayane airport that was struck by a missile fired by an "American drone", according to the unnamed official, killing them instantly.
	The night strike follows a similar attack yesterday which killed three Al-Qaeda suspects as they travelled through the central Marib province, tribal sources said.
	The United States is the only country known to operate armed drones over Yemen, and strikes have continued on suspected militants even as the country has been battered by months of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces.
	Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the extremist network's most dangerous branch, has taken advantage of the chaos to seize Mukalla, capital of the vast desert Hadramawt ...

Four Qaeda suspects killed by 'US drone' in Yemen: official

North and South Korea resumed top-level crisis talks today on avoiding a threatened military clash, even as Seoul accused Pyongyang of undermining the process with renewed naval and land deployments.
	The South Korean defence ministry said the North had doubled its artillery units at the border and deployed 50 submarines outside their bases.
	"The North is adopting a two-faced stance with the talks going on," a ministry official said.
	The discussions at the border truce village of Panmunjom resumed in the afternoon after a marathon negotiating session the night before ended in the early hours without final agreement.
	Analysts saw the decision to keep talking as a positive sign, with the presidential Blue House in Seoul saying the two sides would "continue to narrow down differences".
	But the gaps to be bridged are daunting, with both militaries on maximum alert and flexing their weaponry across a border that has already seen one exchange of artillery fire.
	Pyongyang is threatening 

Koreas resume crisis talks, Seoul says North deploys weapons

A Saudi border guard has been killed by rocket fire from anti-government rebels in northern Yemen, Riyadh's official SPA news agency said today.
	A border post in the kingdom's Jazan region came under attack on Saturday, prompting guards to respond to the fire, the SPA said, quoting an interior ministry spokesman.
	It said one Saudi guard was killed in the exchange.
	More than 50 people have been killed along the Saudi-Yemen border since a Riyadh-led military coalition began air strikes on Iran-backed rebels across the impoverished country in March.

Saudi border guard killed by rocket fire from Yemen

Jessica Ennis-Hill was on the brink of adding world heptathlon gold to her Olympic title today, as Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez broke Chinese hearts in the men's 20km walk.
     Ennis-Hill, making her return to major competition with some panache after giving birth last year and battling a host of niggling injuries, enjoyed a 30-point overnight lead on British teammate Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
     But there was drama in the first of three events when an astonishing show of bravado by Johnson-Thompson spectatularly backfired as she fouled out with all three efforts in the long jump, her strongest discipline.
     The British team initially protested but withdrew their appeal after viewing the evidence and accepting that her final jump was indeed a foul.
     That left Ennis-Hall atop the standings on 5706 points after she leapt 6.43m in the long jump and threw a best of 42.51m in the javelin with only the 800m to be raced.
     Dutchwoman Nadine Broersen was second on 5620pts, with ...

Ennis-Hill on brink as Lopez breaks Chinese hearts

Several beaches on Australia's east coast remained closed today after a bodyboarder was seriously hurt in a shark attack, just weeks after two others were badly mauled at a nearby region.
	A 38-year-old man was bodyboarding with a friend off Lighthouse Beach, about 400 kilometres (248 miles) north of Sydney, late Saturday afternoon when he was attacked and suffered "life-threatening injuries", New South Wales state police said.
	He was treated at Port Macquarie Hospital for stomach and back wounds and was in a stable condition on Sunday morning, a hospital spokeswoman told AFP.
	Beaches in the Port Macquarie and Hastings area remained closed today.
	The latest attack came less than a month after a 52-year-old surfer sustained serious arm and leg injuries after being bitten at Evans Head, about 350 kilometres north of Lighthouse Beach.
	In the same area, a 32-year-old surfer's legs were mauled by a shark in early July and in February, a 41-year-old Japanese surfer died after his legs ..

Australian beaches closed after latest shark attack

A rare giant panda called Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington today, winning praise from delighted zoo officials for being an "excellent mother" after she picked her tiny offspring up.
	The tiny cub -- pink, hairless and only about the size of an adult mouse -- was born at 5:35 pm (2134 GMT), the zoo said in a statement, and Mei Xiang reacted by picking up the cub.
	"All of us are thrilled that Mei Xiang has given birth. The cub is vulnerable at this tiny size but we know Mei is an excellent mother," zoo director Dennis Kelly said.
	The mother panda's care team began preparing for the birth after they saw Mei Xiang's water break about an hour earlier. They hope to carry out a neonatal exam in the coming days and won't know the cub's sex until a later date.
	The new mother was artificially inseminated in April with frozen semen from a male giant panda named Hui Hui that resides at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in .

Mei Xiang the panda gives birth at Washington zoo

At least 14 inmates were killed when violence erupted between two factions of a notorious gang in an El Salvador prison, an official said.
	The killings happened yesterday in Quezaltepeque prison, north of the capital San Salvador, and were linked to an internal dispute involving the feared Barrio 18 gang, a spokesman for the presidency told AFP.
	An official report into the bloodshed will be released in the coming hours, said Eugenio Chicas, the communications secretary for the presidency.
	Prison officials were alerted when some members of the "Revolutionaries" faction of the gang failed to return to their cells, said Chicas.
	Security agents and riot police sprang into action and found the bodies among some garbage bins, added Chicas, labeling it "a purge."
	"There has been an internal confrontation," said Chicas.
	The Directorate General of Prisons, on Twitter, said it was "presumed to be an act of purification among gang members."
	The deaths underline how gang violence has made .

14 dead in El Salvador prison gang violence: official

Tiger Woods kept his bid for a first title since 2013 on track with a two-under par 68 that left him two shots behind third-round leader Jason Gore at the Wyndham Championship.
     The former world number one, also trying to play his way into the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, began yesterday tied for the lead at 11-under par.
     He arrived at Sedgefield Country Club's 18th hole in sole possession of second place on 14-under, but a bogey at the last saw him drop into a three-way tie for second behind Gore -- who carded an eight-under par 62 for 195.
     Woods was joined on 197 by Sweden's Jonas Blixt, who fired a 62 and American Scott Brown, who signed for a 66.
     "I need to go out there tomorrow and make a run and get myself up there and make some birdies," said Woods. "There's a bunch of guys ... At 13 (under).
     "There's a whole slew of guys at 12, 11, 10. Anybody can make a run and shoot the score Jason and Jonas did."
     The resurgent Woods -- coming off a missed ..

Tiger stalks Gore in search of Wyndham win

World number one Novak Djokovic will be aiming for a slice of ATP history today when he takes on six-time champion Roger Federer in the ATP Cincinnati Masters final.
     Djokovic battled back to beat Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 on Saturday to set up his 41st career meeting with Federer -- who dispatched last week's Montreal winner Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
     Djokovic, seeking a 20th ATP Masters 1000 title, will try to claim his first trophy on the hardcourts of Cincinnati after losing in the final four times.
     With a win he'd become the first player to triumph in all nine of the ATP's elite Masters 1000 events -- a feat that Federer said would be "quite unbelievable."
     "I gave myself another chance to fight for the trophy," Djokovic said. "That was the goal and that was the wish coming here in Cincinnati.
     "Obviously the last couple of years it was always in the back of my mind, the potential history making, and obviously that ...

Djokovic eyes history in Cincinnati final against Federer

New clashes erupted in east Germany between police and far-right activists protesting the opening of a new centre for refugees, German news agency DPA said, a day after similar standoffs left dozens wounded.
	Around 1,000 people had turned up in Heidenau, near Dresden, yesterday to demonstrate against the expected arrival of hundreds of refugees in a protest called by the far-right National Democratic Party.
	Police intervened with tear gas after some 30 protesters blocked the road while hundreds gathered outside the building due to house the refugees.
	"Stones, bottles and firecrackers were hurled at police," a police statement said, adding that 31 officers had been hurt, one of them seriously.
	There were no details on the number of demonstrators hurt.
	Though calm was restored by yesterday morning, clashes erupted later in the day when a group of around 150 far-right activists -- facing a similar number of people holding a counter-demonstration -- began hurling firecrackers and ...

German police clash with far-right outside refugee centre

A suspected jihadist gunman overpowered by passengers on a packed Amsterdam-Paris train had visited Syria and was known to intelligence services in several European countries, officials have said.
	The suspect, who has been named as 25-year-old Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani, was wrestled to the floor by three American passengers after opening fire with an assault rifle on Friday evening, and is now being interrogated by counter-terrorist officials near Paris.
	A Spanish counter-terrorism source said he had lived in Spain for seven years until last year and had travelled to Syria from France.
	French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that Spanish intelligence services had flagged the man to France "due to his membership of the radical Islamist movement."
	Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Luger automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, the attacker opened fire on board the high-speed train just after it crossed from Belgium into northern ...

France train attacker 'went to Syria', was known to police

Guatemalan President Otto Perez has refused to resign, after he was accused of being a leader of the corruption scandal that has rocked his country, his spokesman said.
	With just over two weeks to go to general elections, prosecutors and officials from a UN investigative commission said yesterday that they had uncovered extensive evidence implicating Perez and ex-vice president Roxana Baldetti in a massive, highly organised scheme to reduce importers' customs duties in exchange for bribes.
	She has resigned, and was arrested Friday. Business leaders issued a call for Perez to stand down immediately.
	Presidential spokesman Jorge Ortega told AFP that Perez had not resigned.
	But several of his cabinet members - on the heels of Friday's information - gave their vote of no confidence by standing down themselves yesterday.
	Economy Minister Sergio de la Torre; Education Minister Cynthia Del Aguila; and Competitiveness Commissioner Juan Carlos Paiz, all stepped down voicing disappointment 

AFP

AFP

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