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.

Djokovic sets up Paris Masters quarter-final with Tsitsipas

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Congress formally opened a new, public phase of its corruption investigation into Donald Trump on Thursday as US lawmakers voted for the first time to advance the impeachment process targeting the US president.
"Today the House takes the next step forward as we establish the procedures for open hearings... so that the public can see the facts for themselves," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
"What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy."
The top Democrat and Trump's chief nemesis in Congress addressed fellow lawmakers shortly before her chamber took a Halloween morning vote along party lines -- 232 to 196 -- to pass a resolution that lays out rules for the next stages of the impeachment process.
Trump has repeatedly branded the process as illegitimate and politically motivated and, true to form, his reaction was swift.
"The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!" he boomed on Twitter.
He called on Republicans to rally behind him even as he faced the ...

US House formalizes Trump impeachment process in landmark vote

A decade after McDonald's shut down in Iceland, thousands of online users follow the live slow decay of the last order -- a seemingly indestructible burger with a side of fries protected in a glass case like a precious gem.
The American chain closed its only three branches in Iceland during the subarctic island's financial crisis in 2009, making it one of the only Western countries without a McDonald's.
On October 31 of that year, just before the restaurant's closure, Hjortur Smarason bought a menu for conservation.
"I decided to buy a last meal for its historical value since McDonald's were closing down," Smarason, who works as a communications manager for a company specialising in space tourism, told AFP on Wednesday.
"I had heard that McDonald's never decomposed so I just wanted to see if it was true or not."
He first kept the meal in his garage but then lent it to the National Museum of Iceland, after which it was moved to a hotel in the capital Reykjavik for a while.
Now the ...

The chosen bun: Decade-old burger's decay livestreamed in Iceland

The United Auto Workers said late Wednesday it reached a tentative labour agreement with Ford, covering 52,000 union members employed by the auto giant.
The announcement came just days after General Motors workers returned to their posts following a bruising 40-day strike. The tentative agreement still must win approval from Ford union members before going into force.
"Our national negotiators, elected by their local unions, have voted unanimously to recommend to the UAW-Ford National Council the proposed tentative agreement," said Rory Gamble, UAW vice president in charge of negotiations with Ford.
Ford and the UAW have been discussing the new contract since July, but the final phase began Monday after the GM strike ended late last week.
"Out of respect for our members, we will refrain from commenting or releasing full details of the agreement until the UAW-Ford Council leaders meet and review the details," said Gamble.
The union's Ford Council, which is made up of local union ...

UAW, Ford reach tentative labour agreement

Canadian manufacturing group Bombardier announced Thursday it was selling its aerostructures business to US firm Spirit AeroSystems, involving operations in Belfast, Casablanca and Dallas, in a cash-plus-debt deal exceeding USD 1 billion.
Bombardier announced its willingness to sell these assets last May as part of a broad restructuring to focus on trains and business aircraft.
In a statement, Bombardier said the US firm would take over operations in Belfast, which assembles the wings for the Airbus A220.
Spirit AeroSystems will also acquire Bombardier's operations in Casablanca and a plant in Dallas specialising in maintenance and repairs.
The price includes USD 500 million (450 million euros) in cash and around USD 700 million in debt.
The 2019 revenues for the three operations are expected to be approximately USD 1 billion.
The British trade union Unite welcomed the deal for the Belfast plant, which employs more than 3,500 people.
"We are pleased that Bombardier has heeded our call 

Bombardier sells Belfast, Casablanca, Dallas operations to Spirit

A powerful climate phenomenon in the Indian Ocean stronger than any seen in years is unleashing destructive rains and flooding across East Africa -- and scientists say worse could be coming.
Violent downpours in October have displaced tens of thousands in Somalia, submerged whole towns in South Sudan and killed dozens in flash floods and landslides in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Rising waters have wiped out livestock and destroyed harvests in swathes of the region still reeling from severe drought. Close to a million people in South Sudan alone are affected, with growing fears of disease outbreaks and starvation.
"This is a disaster... People are left with nothing," South Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister, Hussein Mar Nyuot, said Wednesday after the government declared a state of emergency.
The extreme weather is blamed on the Indian Ocean Dipole -- a climate system defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between western and eastern areas of the ocean.
At the ...

East Africa reels from deadly floods in extreme weather

US President Donald Trump called on Republicans to rally behind him Thursday as Democrats in Congress prepared to move the impeachment investigation against him into higher gear with public hearings.
The US leader faced the increasing likelihood of becoming the third president in history to be impeached and placed on trial for removal in the Senate over an alleged extortion scheme to obtain Ukraine's help to get him reelected in 2020.
The president retweeted a rallying cry from Fox News host Laura Ingraham that called on Republicans to "stand together and defend the leader of their party against these smears."
"This farce should never be allowed to roll into a winter showtrial. Indeed, allowing a long, drawn out trial in the Senate would merely validate and perpetuate the fraud begun in the House," read the tweet.
Trump is accused of withholding military aid to compel Ukraine to mount an embarrassing corruption probe against his Democratic election rival Joe Biden -- using US foreign .

Trump rallies Republicans as impeachment probe goes public

Police in Mongolia have detained more than 800 Chinese men and seized hundreds of hard drives as part of a money laundering investigation, authorities said.
The arrests were made on Tuesday in four different offices and hotels in Ulaanbaatar where the men were living and working, said Gerel Dorjpalam, general director of the Mongolian General Intelligence Authority.
More than 1,000 personal computers and 10,000 mobile phone SIM cards were also found in the raids, Dorjpalam said Wednesday.  The police said the money laundering operation was likely linked to online gambling.
The 800 Chinese citizens, who arrived in Mongolia on tourist visas in August, will be deported back to China because Mongolia has no facility to hold all of them, police said.
Only the organisers of the money laundering operation -- four Chinese citizens and one Mongolian man -- are under investigation, Dorjpalam said.
The Chinese embassy offered to cooperate with the investigation.

Mongolia detains 800 Chinese citizens in money laundering case

The EU said Thursday it expects world leaders to use "appropriate language", after Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic was caught on camera joking about the bloc's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini kissing the Kosovo president.
As Mogherini greeted Balkan leaders before a working dinner in Brussels on Tuesday, she gave Kosovo President Hashim Thaci the customary kiss on each cheek, prompting Vucic to quip in Serbian: "Hashim, Federica likes to kiss you the most."
Mogherini has led the European Union's efforts to improve ties between Serbia and Kosovo -- a former Serbian province whose independence Belgrade refuses to recognise -- in recent years, with limited success.
Asked about Vucic's remarks, Mogherini's spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic stressed that they came during an "informal exchange" and insisted the working dinner took place in a "constructive atmosphere".
But she added: "We always expect every leader in the world to use appropriate language, as we do in return."
Serbia and ...

EU urges 'appropriate language' after Serb leader comment

Japanese tourists have for the first time visited an island chain that is disputed with Russia and has prevented the two nations from signing a WWII peace treaty, according to Russian television reports aired Thursday.
The Soviet Union seized the strategically located volcanic archipelago north of Japan's Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there ever since.  President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have met many times to try to find a way out of the impasse, most recently in September.
The pair have discussed joint economic activity in the region and Russia's tourism agency said this year it was hoping to attract Japanese tourists to the islands.
The group of 44 people arrived Wednesday for a four-day visit, including trips to a Japanese cemetery and a local history museum, Russian regional authorities said.
The group, many of them elderly, were set to see two of the four islands in the Sea of Japan, which Russia ..

First Japanese tour group visits disputed Russia islands

Beijing slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday for a speech it said had "viciously attacked" China.
In the latest hawkish take on China by President Donald Trump's administration, Pompeo Wednesday called Beijing "truly hostile" to the United States, and vowed to ramp up pressure on China on multiple fronts.
In response Beijing rounded on his comments Thursday, which it said revealed "arrogance and fear." "This deliberate distortion of the facts and slandering of China's domestic and foreign policies fully exposes the deep political bias and anti-communist mindset of a small number of US politicians," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing.
"Pompeo's speech viciously attacked the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government," added Geng.
In his talk at the conservative Hudson Institute in New York, Pompeo highlighted China's clampdown on Hong Kong protests and incarceration of Uighur Muslims, and said Beijing was seeking international ...

China blasts Pompeo for 'vicious' speech against Beijing

Gerard Pique has said Barcelona's players offered to alter their own contracts to help the club buy Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Barca attempted to re-sign Neymar, sold to PSG for a world record 222 million euros ($249 million) in 2017, but the two teams were unable to agree a deal.
Key players, including Lionel Messi, were eager for the Brazilian to return and Pique says they tried to help the club's president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, complete the transfer while satisfying UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.
"What we proposed to the president was that we could tweak our contracts because we knew there was an issue with Fair Play," Pique told Cadena Ser on Wednesday night.
"Instead of getting paid what we were owed for that year, we could transfer it to the second, third of fourth year so Ney could come.
"Ultimately we wanted to support the club and if we could help in some way, we had no problem with that." Neymar earns 38 million euros a year at PSG and the financial ...

Barcelona's players offered to change contracts to sign Neymar - Pique

World number one Ashleigh Barty clinched pole position in the Red Group after defeating Petra Kvitova in straight-sets at the WTA Finals in China on Thursday.
The French Open champion stormed into the semi-finals with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win in one hour and 28 minutes at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre.
The result knocked out the winless Czech from the round-robin tournament.
Belinda Bencic and Kiki Bertens clash in the later match with the winner joining Barty out of the Red Group.
Barty, who had already sealed the year-end No.1 ranking, rebounded after a three-set loss to late replacement Bertens on Tuesday.
"I felt like I executed really well," she said after the match.
"I knew I had to play aggressively. I'm really excited to still have another chance to play here."
Kvitova had a scare in the third game of the first set but saved two breaks points to hold her serve, which was being targeted by an aggressive Barty.
But the Australian's consistency wore down an error-strewn Kvitova ..

Ashleigh Barty clinches pole position in Shenzhen

Sri Lankan cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara, the first overseas president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, will captain the MCC against English county champions Essex in Sri Lanka next March, it was announced on Thursday.
The 42-year-old batting great -- whose 15 year international career encompassed 134 Test appearances and over 400 one day internationals -- will lead out his side in the English domestic season's traditional curtain-raiser at the Galle International Stadium from March 24-27.
The clash between the MCC and the champions dates back to 1970 and has been played abroad since 2011 -- the last edition in Dubai suffered from that most English of interruptions... rain.
Sri Lanka has been selected for several reasons: the MCC's World Cricket committee will meet there in March, and the match is timed to coincide with England's World Test Championship matches in the country.
Sangakkara, who became MCC President on October 1r, said the game would be of huge benefit to the sport in ..

Sri Lankan legend Sangakkara to lead MCC against Essex

Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought Thursday to blame the opposition Labour leader for his failure to deliver Brexit, as both men stepped up campaigning on the day Britain had been due to leave the EU.
Johnson is riding high in opinion polls ahead of the December 12 election but risks a backlash over failing to keep his "do or die" pledge to take Britain out of the European Union on October 31.
"Today should have been the day that Brexit was delivered and we finally left the EU," the Conservative leader said in a statement.
"Despite the great new deal I agreed with the EU, (Labour leader) Jeremy Corbyn refused to allow that to happen -- insisting upon more dither, more delay and more uncertainty for families and business."
Pro-EU campaigners breathed a sigh of relief that Britain had been given a stay of execution to avoid a Halloween Brexit nightmare, after stark predictions of chaos and disruption.
Johnson had vowed he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than tolerate another ...

UK election campaign hots up on Brexit day that never was

Turkey is in talks with Russia about the return of 18 people understood to be Syrian regime troops, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said Thursday.
"The delivery of 18 people found to be regime members is being discussed with the Russians at the moment," Akar said in comments carried on the defence ministry's Twitter account.
He added 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 push back Syrian Kurdish fighters from areas along its border with Syria, with a view .

Turkey says discussing return of 18 Syrian troops with Russia

The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland likely broke EU law by refusing to take in asylum-seekers at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, the top EU court's legal advisor said Thursday.
The opinion issued by the European Court of Justice's advocate general, Eleanor Sharpston, does not determine what the court will end up deciding in the ongoing case, but her advice is often influential.
"By refusing to comply with the provisional and time-limited mechanism for the mandatory relocation of applicants for international protection, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have failed to fulfil their obligations under EU law," she found, according to a statement given by the court.
Poland hit out at the assessment, with a government spokesman saying "the most important objective... is to ensure the security of citizens," according to the country's PAP news agency.
Warsaw acted "in the interest of Polish citizens and in the defence against uncontrolled migration," said the spokesman, ...

Eastern members breached EU law by refusing refugees: court advisor

Around 400 Rohingya refugees have voluntarily returned to Myanmar from Bangladesh, Myanmar's embassy there said Thursday, but with previous repatriation attempts having failed Dhaka was yet verify the claim.
Bangladesh is home to nearly a million Rohingya including 740,000 who fled a military crackdown in Rakhine state in August 2017 that the UN has called ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar's embassy posted photos on Facebook that purported to show "46 more voluntary returnees" being "warmly received" in Myanmar, taking the total number going back to 397 in an unspecified timeframe.
There was no immediate comment on the embassy statement from the Bangladeshi refugee commissioner and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said Dhaka would verify the claims.
But in a statement on Wednesday, Bangladesh's foreign ministry said the return of a "handful" of refugees did "not testify (to) any improvement of the ground reality in Rakhine".
Rohingya leaders have refused to return without guaranteed security ..

Nearly 400 Rohingya return to Myanmar from Bangladesh, embassy says

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles on Thursday, the South's military said, with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a deadlock.
The weapons were launched from South Pyongan province in an easterly direction over the sea, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
They flew 370 kilometres (230 miles) at a maximum altitude of 90 kilometres, they said, adding: "We are maintaining readiness and monitoring in case of additional launches."
It is the latest in a series of launches by the North but the first since October 2, when it fired a sea-launched missile in a provocative move -- a submarine-based missile capability would change the military balance.
The North then walked away from working-level nuclear talks with the US in Sweden, saying it was disappointed at the lack of "new and creative" solutions offered by Washington.
Pyongyang is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, which it says .

North Korea fires short-range projectiles: South's military

Italian-US automaker Fiat Chrysler, in talks to merge with French rival PSA, on Thursday posted a 179 million euro (USD 200 million) loss in its third quarter, due to write-offs in Europe related to restructuring.
In Europe, where net revenues fell 6 per cent in the three months to September 30, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) has been cutting under-performing brands and restructuring.
In North America, however, a key market whose brands include Jeep, Dodge and Ram, adjusted margins improved to 10.6 per cent, helped by better pricing, industrial efficiencies and better managed stock at dealerships.
"Changes to our product portfolio plans are central to our strategy to improve performance in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Maserati," Chief Executive Mike Manley said in a statement.
The company was on track to deliver its full-year outlook, Manley said. The company is targeting an adjusted profit of 6.7 billion euros, flat with 2018.
On an adjusted basis, FCA posted a profit of 1.9 million ..

Fiat Chrysler write-offs push it into net loss

The body of a 21-year-old British tourist was found floating in the sea more than a week after she went missing from a Cambodian island, police told AFP on Thursday.
Amelia Bambridge was discovered in waters near the Thai border, said Chuon Narin, police chief of Preah Sihanouk province.
"We found the body of the missing British woman," Narin said, adding it would be taken to nearby Sihanoukville.
He did not speculate what happened to her after she disappeared from a beach party on the island of Koh Rong on October 24, but earlier this week said she may have drowned.
Brother Harry Bambridge confirmed in a Facebook post that he had identified the body.
"It's my little sister Amelia," he wrote.
"There's nothing more I wanted (than) to bring her back alive," he said.
"I'm sorry to you Amelia Bambridge the round is on me when we meet again in heaven."
The discovery brings a tragic end to a desperate search involving more than 100 members of the police, army, navy and Bambridge's ...

AFP

AFP

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