Manchester City host struggling Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday with Pep Guardiola hoping that Bernardo Silva maintains his recent return to something approaching the peak of his powers.
Portuguese playmaker Silva was among the most feared players in the Premier League last season as City won all three domestic trophies.
The 25-year-old helped City supporters forget a long-term injury to Kevin De Bruyne, scoring 13 goals and adding 14 assists as his side re-wrote the English football record books.
The opening months of the new season have painted a very different picture for Silva and City, however, not least after he found himself embroiled in a racism controversy.
Silva has been charged with misconduct by the FA after posting a picture of team mate Benjamin Mendy next to a mascot for a Spanish snack brand which invited accusations that he was guilty of racial stereotyping.
The issue became even more complex when Guardiola and City star Raheem Sterling made impassioned .

Man City look for Bernardo to hit the heights

PTI Automatic

Australia's Perth Glory are planning an audacious bid to bring former Manchester United and Paris St. Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the A-League, reports said.
The 38-year-old Swede's form for LA Galaxy in America's MLS this season has given rise to persistent speculation that he may yet be lured away for one last career swansong.
Argentine side Boca Juniors have been linked to a move for the forward while Premier League and Serie A clubs are also reportedly circling, with Perth now joining the hunt.
The team's chief executive Tony Pignata told broadcaster ABC late Thursday the club had approached Ibrahimovic's agent, enquiring about his availability and interest in playing in Australia.
"It doesn't hurt to ask," he said.
We know he is off contract from LA Galaxy, the transfer window doesn't open in Europe until January, so there is an opportunity for possibly four, five six games" for Perth from the end of November.
ABC said the club had yet to hear back.
"We're hopeful we get ..

Perth Glory target Zlatan Ibrahimovic - reports

England restricted New Zealand to 153 for five with a disciplined bowling performance in the opening Twenty20 international in Christchurch on Friday.
Captain Eoin Morgan backed his bowlers after winning the toss and was rewarded as the Black Caps struggled for runs, with veteran Ross Taylor top scoring on 44.
Debutants Sam Curran and Pat Brown both snared a wicket for the tourists, while Chris Jordan had the best bowling figures after claiming two scalps for 28 runs.
The selectors named three new faces in the side after resting several senior players from the tour, with all-rounder Lewis Gregory hoping to make an impression when England bat.
"It's a chance for them to stake their claim," Morgan said.
New Zealand's regular captain Kane Williamson is out of the series with a hip injury and the Black Caps sorely missed his batting prowess.
The poor form that dogged Martin Guptill at the World Cup continued when Curran coaxed an inside edge that crashed into middle stump.
Fellow opener ..

New-look England hold Black Caps to 153 in first T20

Tokyo "will not obstruct" moving next year's Olympic marathon and race-walking to northern Japan over heat fears, the city's governor said Friday, adding that she remains unhappy with the decision.
"We cannot agree with the IOC but we will not obstruct the decision made by the IOC, which has the final decision-making authority," Yuriko Koike said at a meeting with Olympic officials and organisers.
"In other words, this is a decision without an agreement." The International Olympic Committee made the decision to move the events last month, citing concerns about Tokyo's notoriously hot and humid summer.
But the abrupt move sparked anger in Tokyo, where the marathon in particular was seen as a key event, giving the city a chance to showcase its attractions and build public engagement with the Olympics.
The IOC has said the decision was necessary to protect the health of athletes, especially after many required medical attention in the hot conditions of the World Championships in Doha ...

Tokyo 'will not obstruct' moving Olympic marathon: governor

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic continued their battle for the year-end world number one ranking as both players reached the Paris Masters quarter-finals with wins over Stan Wawrinka and Kyle Edmund respectively.
The 33-year-old Nadal is already guaranteed to usurp Djokovic at the rankings summit next week, but winning a maiden Bercy title would also secure the year-end top spot before next month's ATP Tour Finals in London.
He produced an impressive display on Thursday to take his career head-to-head record against three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka to 19-3 with a clinical 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Djokovic had earlier booked his last-eight place with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 win over Britain's Edmund.
Nadal has never won the Paris Masters or the ATP Finals and only two of his 84 titles have come indoors.
"That's the beautiful thing about this sport, (to) have the capacity to adapt yourself to the different conditions," said the 12-time French Open winner, who called the doctor onto the court ..

Nadal eases past Wawrinka as Djokovic sets up Tsitsipas clash

Formula One launched a radical, cut-price, slower vision of the sport when a package of new financial, sporting and technical regulations to be introduced from 2021 were unveiled.
In a dramatic overhaul revealed in Austin on Thursday, the American owners of the commercial rights, Liberty Media, introduced budget caps, a new car and rules designed to develop closer and more environmentally-friendly racing.
It was the first time all of the main parts of the sport and its business had been reviewed and reformed in a single three-part package that was approved by the World Motor Sport Council of the governing body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) earlier Thursday.
Ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix Formula One's chief executive Chase Carey hailed the successful passage and publication of the package as "a watershed moment".
And FIA president Jean Todt said it would signal a "major change in how the pinnacle of motorsports would be run".
The teams are to be ...

F1 unveils radical cut-price future in 'watershed moment'

Seven South Koreans were missing Friday after their helicopter took off from islets disputed with Japan and crashed into the sea moments later, Seoul officials said.
The aircraft had just picked an injured fisherman up from Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japan, when it went down on Thursday night.
The South's coast guard, members of the National Fire Agency and civilian boats were searching for survivors, while the defence ministry had also sent planes and divers to the area, a spokesman for the South's National Fire Agency told AFP.
The crashed chopper is a Eurocopter EC225, made by the European aerospace corporation Airbus.
The seven people on board were five rescuers, the fisherman and a civilian.  "The patient was on a fishing boat when he lost one of his fingers through an accident, and the crew took him to Dokdo and waited for the rescue helicopter there," the official said.
"The patient needed an immediate medical operation that could have only been done at facilities on 

Seven S Koreans missing after helicopter crash near disputed islets

Nineteen farmers were killed in the mountainous northern Philippines when a truck carrying them and sacks of rice seeds plunged backwards down a deep ravine, police said Friday.
The victims were on their way home from collecting government subsidised seeds late Thursday in the town of Conner when the driver lost control of the vehicle, in the latest tragedy on the country's perilous roads.
Either the engine or brakes failed as the truck made its way up an incline. The vehicle, with some 40 people in its bed, then plunged back down the hill into a 20-metre (65-foot) ravine.
"The truck fell on its rear first and the passengers were crushed," local police official Manuel Canipas told AFP.
He added another 20 more people on the truck were injured, but will survive.  Canipas said the weight of the seeds may have made the crash worse, potentially crushing some of the victims.
Deadly road accidents are common in the Philippines, where inadequately maintained buses and poorly trained drivers .

Truck plummets down Philippine ravine, kills 19

The United States on Thursday extended its sanctions on Iran by taking aim at its construction sector, which Washington linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards.
The sanctions, it said, would also target "four strategic materials as being used in connection with Iran's nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed the sanctions after the construction sector was identified as "being controlled directly or indirectly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Iranian tensions with the United States have escalated sharply since US President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and began reimposing crippling unilateral sanctions.
Tehran has hit back by suspending its compliance with parts of the nuclear deal until sanctions relief is restored.
The latest sanctions "will help preserve oversight of Iran's civil nuclear program, reduce proliferation risks, constrain ...

US targets Iran construction sector with new sanctions

North Korea has carried out a "successful" new test of its "super-large multiple rocket launcher" system, state media said Friday -- the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang.
South Korea's military said Thursday that the North had launched two short-range projectiles from South Pyongan province. They each flew approximately 370 kilometres.
It was the latest in a series of launches by the North but the first since October 2, when it fired a sea-launched missile.
If confirmed, a submarine-based missile capability would change the military balance on the Korean peninsula.
Thursday's test was conducted to "verify the security of launchers' continuous fire system," the state Korean Central News Agency reported from Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who had personally supervised previous tests of the "super-large" system, "expressed satisfaction... and sent congratulations" to the team involved, KCNA said.
Nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington are currently at .

NKorea conducts new test of 'super-large' rocket launcher: KCNA

Turkey on Thursday freed 18 Syrian regime soldiers that its forces captured in northeastern syria, the Turkish Defence Ministry said.
The release followed talks with Russia about the return of the troops.  "18 Regime elements seized... on October 29 were handed over as a result of the coordination with the authorities of the Russian Federation," the ministry said on Twitter.
Earlier Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said that two of the 18 had been treated in a Turkish hospital.
The troops in question were captured by Turkey on Tuesday in the vicinity of the key border town of Ras al-Ain during reconnaissance activities.
Turkish authorities then investigated if their claims of being regime troops were accurate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey would never allow Syrian Kurdish fighters viewed as "terrorists" by Ankara to stay on the Syria-Turkish border wearing "regime clothes."
Over the past month Turkey has struck deals with the United States and Russia to 

Turkey releases 18 Syrian troops after talks with Russia

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he did not want to make an "enemy" of neighbouring Turkey despite the stand-off between their forces in the north of the country.
Assad said however that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself was an "enemy" due to policies hostile to Syria and opposed by most of his country's political elite.
"We must ensure that we don't turn Turkey into an enemy and here comes the role of friends" such as Russia and Iran, the president said in a pre-recorded interview on state television on Thursday.
Turkey supports Syrian rebel forces who have battled Assad's government during the eight-year-long war that has killed more than 370,000 people.
This month Ankara launched an operation across Syria's northern border against Kurdish forces.
The Kurds spearheaded a US-backed military campaign against the Islamic State group that deprived the jihadists' of their final slither of Syrian territory in March this year but Ankara views the Kurdish forces as ...

Syria's Assad says he does not want Turkey as an 'enemy'

The Israeli Army said Thursday it had targeted two Hamas military posts in Gaza after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave, after almost a month of calm.
"In response to the rocket fired from Gaza at Israel earlier tonight, we targeted 2 Hamas military posts in Gaza", Israel's military said on Twitter.
In a previous tweet the army said the rocket had been fired "after nearly a month of relative quiet between Israel and Gaza." Warning sirens rang out in an area of southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip, the army said.
A statement by the regional council in Eshkol  -- where the sirens sounded -- said Israel's anti-missile "Iron Dome" system intercepted the projectile.
The last reported rocket fire from Gaza towards Israel came on September 12.
In August, a series of rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli retaliations, as well as border clashes, raised fears of an escalation between the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas and Israel, as elections approached in the Jewish ...

Rocket fired from Gaza towards Israel: army

The US Department of the Interior has grounded its fleet of Chinese-made drones as it conducts a review of the program.
Nick Goodwin, an Interior Department spokesman, did not provide a reason for the decision but it comes amid US security concerns over Chinese electronics.
Goodwin said the review had been ordered by Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt.
"Until this review is completed, the Secretary has directed that drones manufactured in China or made from Chinese components be grounded," he said.
Exceptions would be made for drones that are being used for emergency purposes such as fighting wildfires, search and rescue, and dealing with natural disasters, Goodwin said.
According to sources familiar with the program, the Interior Department has a fleet of 810 drones, almost all built by Chinese companies.
Only 24 are US-made and even those have Chinese electronic components, the sources said.
The US Department of Homeland Security issued a warning in May that Chinese-made .

US Interior Department grounds Chinese-made drones

The Islamic State jihadist group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi.
"We mourn you... commander of the faithful," said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi -- presented as the jihadist group's new spokesman -- in an audio statement.
Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world's most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday.
The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group's previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir.
The statement said the jihadist group's legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief's death.
"The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed" on a replacement, said the seven-minute message.
Little is known about Hashimi, ...

IS names Baghdadi successor, threatens US: statement

The "hero" dog wounded in the US commando raid that culminated in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is getting a White House homecoming next week, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
Trump revealed that the military dog, a Belgian Malinois, is named "Conan" -- heretofore a closely guarded secret because the information could be used to identify the special forces unit that carried out the raid in Syria over the weekend.
Trump posted a photomontage on Twitter showing him bestowing a medal of honor on the dog with the legend: "AMERICAN HERO." "Very cute recreation, but the 'live' version of Conan will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week!" he tweeted.
It was unclear what else lies in store for Conan, but it has been noted that Trump is the first US president in more than a hundred years who doesn't own a dog.
Conan was injured chasing Baghdadi into a dead end tunnel in his Syrian hideout, where the cornered IS leader detonated a ...

'Hero" dog to get a White House homecoming: Trump

Firefighters battled new wildfires on Thursday in California including a fierce blaze in the city of San Bernardino that forced some residents to flee their homes overnight.
The Hillside fire broke out after midnight in San Bernardino, a city of more than 200,000 people some 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said.
Nearly 500 homes were ordered evacuated as the fire, fueled by wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour), raced into northern neighborhoods of California's 17th-largest city.
More than 350 firefighters backed by water-dropping helicopters were attacking the inferno, which has consumed some 200 acres (80 hectares), the fire department said.
In northern California, firefighters reported making progress against the massive Kincade fire, which has ravaged the Sonoma County wine region.
And in southern California, an extreme "red flag" fire risk warning remained in place for Los Angeles and Ventura ...

Firefighters battle new blazes in California

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera said Thursday Spain has offered to host the COP25 climate summit in December after he abandoned plans to hold it in Santiago over deadly anti-government protest.
"Yesterday I spoke to Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, who made a generous offer to host the COP25 summit in Madrid" on the original scheduled dates of December 2-13, Pinera said in an address.

Chile says Spain offers to host COP climate summit

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggested Thursday listing military-owned companies on the stock exchange, along with other state-run firms and assets.
"There must be an opportunity for the armed forces' companies. They must enter the stock market and there should be a chance for Egyptians to buy their shares," Sisi said in televised remarks.
The president was attending the inauguration of two army-owned and operated chemical plants outside Cairo, flanked by the defence minister and the central bank governor.
He noted that his government has been working on floating state companies and assets for the last three years.
"It is important for Egyptians to know that the armed forces have taken on this (economic) role, not to the detriment of the private sector," he said.
He emphasised that the "private sector is welcome to participate" in army-run projects.
For decades, the military has played a key, though opaque, role in Egypt's economy, producing everything from washing machines 

Sisi suggests floating Egypt military firms on stock exchange

Iraq's president vowed on Thursday to hold early elections in response to a month of deadly protests, but demonstrators said the move fell far short of their demands for a political overhaul.
In his first televised address in weeks, President Barham Saleh said the country's embattled Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was ready to step down, but there was so far no one to take his place.
"The prime minister expressed his willingness to submit his resignation, asking the political parties to reach an agreement on an acceptable alternative," said Saleh.
He pledged to hold early elections as soon as a new voting law and overnight commission was agreed, but his speech did not appear to impress demontrators.
"Barham's speech is just an opiate for the masses," said Haydar Kazem, 49.
"Abdel Mahdi's resignation isn't a solution, it's part of the solution. The problem is with the ruling parties, not with Abdel Mahdi."
Iraq's leaders have scrambled to respond to massive protests that erupted on ...

Iraq president vows early polls as protesters demand more

Novak Djokovic saw off Britain's Kyle Edmund on Thursday to reach his eighth Paris Masters quarter-final, where he will renew his burgeoning rivalry with Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The top seed, battling Rafael Nadal for the year-end world number one spot, needed seven set points in the first set before winning 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion is chasing a record-extending fifth Bercy title, but will next face world number seven Tsitsipas, who leads their head-to-head record 2-1.
Djokovic is hoping to tie Pete Sampras' record of finishing six years as the world's best player, but Nadal can be sure of denying the Serbian that achievement with a maiden Paris title this week.
The Spaniard takes on three-time Grand Slam title-winner Stan Wawrinka in his third-round match later on Thursday.

AFP

AFP

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