Argentina are favourites to end a 22-year trophy drought when the Copa America kicks off here Thursday as a resurgent Brazil chase redemption following their ill-fated campaign at last year's World Cup

Messi targets title jinx as Copa kicks off

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Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler's 129 and a hundred from Joe Root helped England to a record 210-run win over New Zealand in the first one-day international at Edgbaston as they launched their 'new era' of limited overs cricket in style.

Buttler ton sets up record England victory

Brazil star Marta claimed a record 15th Women's World Cup goal in a 2-0 win over South Korea, as France beat old rivals England 1-0 in their opener.
     Marta's second-half penalty in the Group E clash yesterday in Montreal saw the 29-year-old overtake Germany's Birgit Prinz as the top goalscorer in the history of the tournament.
     Veteran teammate Formiga, 37, had grabbed Brazil's first-half opener to become the oldest ever Women's World Cup goalscorer.
     Brazil now lead Group E after rivals Spain and Costa Rica played out a 1-1 draw in Montreal.
     Earlier in Moncton, Eugenie Le Sommer's spectacular first-half goal got France off to a winning start over England in Group F.
     The French, among the favourites, dominated in rain and windy conditions in New Brunswick, condemning England to remain winless against their old rivals since 1974.
     "We're relieved," admitted France defender Laure Boulleau.
     "It was an extremely important match to get into the competition. ..

Record for Marta as Brazil, France get World Cup wins

Fallen FIFA executive Jack Warner has said that US authorities would be unable to give him a fair trial, while an Argentinian businessman indicted in the soccer body's sprawling corruption scandal handed himself over to Italian police.
     Warner, a former schoolteacher and Trinidadian ex-minister of national security at the heart of the criminal case engulfing football's world body, is the subject of a US request to have him extradited from Trinidad.
     The 72-year-old said the United States is not the "appropriate jurisdiction" to handle the matter "fairly" and claimed America is trying to exact revenge because it tried but failed to lobby FIFA to host the 2022 World Cup.
     "One must be extremely careful to question whether the United States can be fair in taking action against officials of an international body whom it feels has done it wrong," Warner wrote in an editorial in the weekly Sunshine newspaper, which he owns.
     Currently, US prosecutors accuse 14 people of ...

Jack Warner blasts US, FIFA suspect turns self in

Researchers in Peru have discovered a trio of statuettes they believe were created by the ancient Caral civilisation some 3,800 years ago, the culture ministry has said.
	The mud statuettes were found inside a reed basket in a building at the ancient city of Vichama in northern Peru, which is today an important archaeological site.
	The ministry said yesterday they were probably used in religious rituals performed before breaking ground on a new building.
	Two of the figures, a naked man and woman painted in white, black and red, are believed to represent political authorities. The third, a women with 28 fingers and red dots on her white face, is believed to represent a priestess.
	The research team, led by archaeologist Ruth Shady, also unearthed two mud figurines of women's faces wrapped in cloth and covered with yellow, blue and orange feathers.
	The Caral civilisation emerged some 5,000 years ago and lived in Peru's Supe Valley, leaving behind impressive architecture including ...

Statuettes 3,800 years old found in Peru

Three people were killed today, including the leader of an Islamist charity, in clashes between rival Kurdish groups in Diyarbakir, the interior ministry said, adding to tensions in Turkey's largest Kurdish-populated city days after legislative elections.
	Aytac Baran, the leader of the Ihya-Der charity group, was shot dead by unknown gunmen outside his home in Diyarbakir, prompting a gunfight that left two others dead.
	There was no information yet on the identities of the other victims. An earlier toll from the hospital sources had spoken of four people dead.
	At least three journalists who were covering the clashes were injured, the Dogan press agency reported.
	The attack triggered clashes between Baran's supporters and supporters of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), with the former accusing the HDP of being behind the attack, an AFP reporter said.
	But the HDP, which made a strong showing in Sunday's general election, strongly condemned the attack in a statement and called for 

Deadly clashes rock Turkey Kurdish city after polls

Britain is drafting a UN Security Council resolution to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre and reflect on the UN's failure to prevent genocide.
	About 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in July 1995 in the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica in Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
	"The UK is leading on the drafting of a UN Security Council resolution to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica," a spokesperson at the British mission to the United Nations said today.
	"The exact content is still under discussion with partners, but we expect that it will commemorate the victims of the genocide at Srebrenica, and those who suffered on all sides in the war, and that it will encourage further steps towards reconciliation."
	"This is also an occasion for the international community to reflect on the lessons learned from one of the darkest moments in UN history and reaffirm our determination to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity .

Britain seeks UN resolution on Srebrenica genocide

Microsoft today unveiled an Xbox One console with double the memory space that will hit the market as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game extravaganza gets under way next week.
	The new Xbox One model boasts a terabyte of space that will likely appeal to players who are increasingly installing games as digital downloads instead of opting for disks.
	Microsoft's move came amid rumors that rival Sony plans to show off a new one-terabyte PlayStation 4 at a media event slated to take place yesterday before the E3 show floor opens the following morning.
	"Since Xbox One launched, one of the most frequent requests from fans is to add more storage to their consoles," said Microsoft's Larry Hryb, who blogs for the Xbox team using the gamer name "Major Nelson."
	He announced that Xbox One 1TB will be priced at $399 when it begins shipping on June 16 to retailers in the United States and select markets.
	Current model Xbox One consoles with 500 gigabytes of storage will remain USD 

Microsoft beefs up Xbox ahead of major E3 event

Rights groups and church leaders today urged Pakistan to halt the imminent execution of a man for a murder committed in 1992, saying his conviction was flawed.
	The plea for mercy for Aftab Bahadur Masih, who is due to be hanged tomorrow, comes after another prisoner condemned to death in contentious circumstances was granted a last-minute reprieve.
	According to the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights law firm handling his case, Masih was only 15 when he was arrested over a murder in the eastern city of Lahore.
	The JPP say he was convicted on the basis of a confession extracted through torture from his co-accused Ghulam Mustafa, along with another eyewitness, and both have since retracted their statements.
	British anti-death penalty campaign group Reprieve said it was a "scandal" that Pakistan was planning to hang Masih.
	"The execution of this innocent man, arrested as a child, should immediately be halted," Reprieve's Maya Foa said in a statement.
	Church leaders also .

Rights groups plead for life of condemned Pakistani

Legislation paving the way for Britain's referendum on leaving the EU crossed its first hurdle in parliament today as splits on the issue within Prime Minister David Cameron's party were laid bare.
	The House of Commons backed the European Union Referendum Bill as expected by 544 votes to 53 but the measure must now pass through several other parliamentary debates and votes before becoming law.
	Six hours of speeches highlighted divisions within Cameron's centre-right Conservatives over Europe and the problems he faces en route to the referendum with a narrow 12-seat majority and dozens of MPs likely to back leaving.
	The vote came the day after comments by Cameron triggered a row about whether ministers in his government would have to resign if they did not campaign for Britain to remain in Europe.
	Opening proceedings, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said many Britons felt "the EU has come to feel like something that is done to them, not for them".
	"It is time to bring Europe back 

EU referendum bill over first hurdle in UK parliament

Military top brass from Nigeria and surrounding countries met today to thrash out plans to take on Boko Haram, after the militants struck again in the country's far northeast, killing 15.
	The meeting of chiefs of defence staff from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, plus a high-level military official from Benin, came before talks between heads of state and government on Thursday.
	In Paris, Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi promised Thursday's meeting would be "decisive" in the fight against the Islamists, whose six-year insurgency has claimed at least 15,000 lives.
	His Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari has made crushing the group his new administration's top priority and there has been a flurry of activity on the subject since he took power on May 29.
	But the latest attack -- the 12th in as many days since Buhari's inauguration -- underscored the ongoing threat from the rebels, despite claimed military successes in recent months.
	The military meeting was designed to ...

Military top brass meet in Nigeria on Boko Haram

Scientists today called for action to defuse a time bomb of Arctic greenhouse gas as negotiators at UN talks grappled over a climate rescue pact.
	About 1,500 billion tonnes of heat-trapping carbon gas are estimated to be locked in permafrost, which is thawing as the climate warms, according to new research.
	Releasing the carbon will create a vicious cycle in Earth's global-warming problem, said Susan Natali of the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts.
	The estimated amount of carbon in permafrost -- perennially frozen ground covering about a quarter of exposed land in the northern hemisphere -- represents about twice the volume currently in the atmosphere, she said.
	"Emissions from permafrost could lead to out-of-control global warming", according to a presentation on the sidelines of 11-day climate talks in Bonn.
	Country negotiators in the former West German capital are seeking to streamline a draft global climate pact for adoption at a UN conference in Paris in ...

Climate peril stirring in permafrost, experts tell UN

Libya's internationally recognised parliament is "very unhappy" over a proposed peace deal for the conflict-wracked country, its spokesman said today, throwing a damper on enthusiasm expressed by the UN envoy.
	Libya descended into chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with heavily armed former rebels carving out fiefdoms across the country.
	The quest for a deal seeks to prevent the oil-rich and strategic North African nation from crumbling into a failed state.
	The shaky security situation was underlined Tuesday with the Islamic State group reportedly saying it had captured Sirte, the Mediterranean hometown of the late dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
	Bernardino Leon, chief of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, said Tuesday warring factions had reacted positively to the draft, as they were said to be heading for talks in Berlin with world powers anxious for an end to the conflict.
	But Fradj Abou Hachem, spokesman for the ...

Libya parliament 'very unhappy' over draft peace proposal

Iran has told the UN Security Council that Saudi-led air strikes have twice hit close to its embassy in Yemen and warned of "serious consequences" if more such bombings occur.
	Iran's ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter released today that the embassy in Sanaa suffered severe damage during air strikes on May 25 and that this followed a similar attack on April 20.
	"I would like to warn that a repetition of similar air strikes close to my country's diplomatic representation in the future can have serious consequences, including for the safety and security of Iranian diplomats in Sanaa," Khoshroo wrote in the letter to the 15-member council.
	The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen on March 26 to push back an offensive by Iranian-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who had seized Sanaa and were advancing on the southern city of Aden.
	President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi was forced to flee into exile in Saudi Arabia during the Huthi advance on Aden.
	In 

Iran issues warning over Yemen air strikes

The White House today rejected suggestions that President Barack Obama had deliberately ignored the Iraqi prime minister at a G7 summit in Germany.
	News footage emerged from the summit showing an apparently eager-to-talk Haider al-Abadi awkwardly sitting down next to Obama, only to be shown the US president's back.
	White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested those who saw a snub were "telegraphing some insecurities that date back to junior high."
	Earnest said Obama had "all the communications he needs" with Abadi at the meeting.
	Abadi had been invited to the summit of seven industrialized nations, attending a working session and holding bilateral talks with Obama.
	Obama has welcomed Abadi's administration as a way out of the sectarian conflict that beset previous governments.
	But the failure of Iraqi forces to repel Islamic State group militants has prompted tension.
	Pentagon boss Ash Carter caused consternation in Baghdad when he suggested Islamic State won control of Ramadi .

White House denies Abadi 'snub'

The Pentagon is drawing up plans to expand the training of Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters in a step that could mean deploying more US troops, officials said today.
	The review of possible options comes in the wake of the Islamic State group's damaging defeat of Iraqi troops in the western city of Ramadi and after President Barack Obama said he was waiting for a Pentagon proposal to beef up training efforts.
	"We've determined it is better to train more Iraqi security forces. We are now working through a strategy on how to do that," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
	"Because the forces we've trained are performing better than expected, we feel it's in everyone's interest to train more," he said.
	Warren acknowledged that an expanded training effort could require additional American troops deploying to Iraq, beyond the current force of roughly 3,000 advisers and trainers.
	The effort could also include direct US training of Sunni volunteers in western ...

US weighs expanded training for Iraqi forces, Sunnis

The Ebola strain that ravaged West Africa last year is less virulent than the first one that appeared in 1976, researchers reported today.
	The results of the test on monkeys by scientists at the National Institutes of Health are considered important because they suggest the virus that caused at least 11,000 deaths is not becoming more severe.
	"In fact, the new study suggests the current virus has a decreased ability to cause disease in their animal model compared to the 1976 strain," the study said.
	That one is known as the Mayinga strain, while the one that hit Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone last year is called the Makona strain.
	In 1976, the Ebola outbreak was limited, killing 318 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. The deadliest case with this strain came in Uganda in 2000 with the death of 425 people.
	These outbreaks had a weaker impact because they happened in rural, sparsely populated areas.
	In the NIH experiment, two groups of monkeys were ...

Last year's Ebola strain weaker than that of 1976: study

First innings scoreboard in the first one-day international between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston today:
	England
	J. Roy c Guptill b Boult            0
	A. Hales c Henry b Boult           20
	J. Root c Ronchi b Boult          104
	E. Morgan lbw b McClenaghan        50
	B. Stokes b Boult                  10
	J. Buttler c Henry b McClenaghan  129
	S. Billings lbw b Santner           3
	A. Rashid c Guptill b Elliott      69
	C. Jordan c Boult b Elliott         2
	L. Plunkett not out                13
	S.

Cricket: England v New Zealand 1st ODI scoreboard

Jos Buttler's one-day international best 129 powered England to a record total of 408 for nine against New Zealand at Edgbaston today.
	England's score was their highest in all one-day internationals, surpassing the 391 four they made against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in 2005 -- the previous highest in any ODI in England.
	It owed much to a stand of 177 between Buttler and Adil Rashid (69) -- a record for the seventh wicket in all ODI cricket, topping the 130 put on by Zimbabwe's Andy Flower and Heath Streak against England in Harare in 2001.
	That partnership meant the huge score England had threatened while Joe Root, who made 104, and captain Eoin Morgan (50) were compiling a third-wicket stand of 12, was achieved despite the loss of four wickets for 31 runs in the middle of their innings.
	Trent Boult took four wickets for 55 runs in his maximum 10 overs.
	But the left-arm paceman had completed his spell when England's seventh-wicket pair launched their assault against the ...

Cricket: Buttler century helps England serve up record score

The UN Security Council today voted to keep intact a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Iran as negotiations on a nuclear deal head into the final stretch.
	The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution renewing the mandate of the panel until July 2016.
	Diplomats said no action would be taken to change sanctions monitoring at the United Nations until a final deal on curbing Iran's nuclear programme was reached.
	The permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany are hoping to finalize, by the end of this month, a landmark agreement reached in April that would address decades of suspicions about Iran's nuclear activities.
	A final deal would pave the way for action by the Security Council to scrap six resolutions adopted on Iran's nuclear program since 2006, four of which imposed sanctions targeting the government, Iranian nationals and Iranian entities.
	Led by Georgian ex-foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, ..

UN keeps Iran sanctions monitors

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reeling from shock election results, today accepted the resignation of the cabinet but asked the prime minister and his team to stay on until a new government is formed.
	The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) failure in Sunday's polls to keep its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002 has left the country facing either a coalition government or snap elections.
	Erdogan hosted Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for an hour of  closed-door talks inside the vast new presidential palace in Ankara.
	"Mr President accepted today the resignation of the cabinet that was presented by Mr Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu," Erdogan's office said in a brief statement.
	"Mr President, who thanked the cabinet for its services so far, asked the cabinet to remain in charge until a new government is formed," it added.
	A government source told AFP that the expected move was purely procedural and Erdogan would host Davutoglu again at 

AFP

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