Inter Milan reclaimed top spot in Serie A after a 1-0 win over 10-man Udinese on Saturday as Juventus lost three players to injury in a painful goalless draw at Fiorentina to complicate preparations for next week's Champions League opener.
Stefano Sensi's diving header was enough to seal a maximum nine points for Antonio Conte's Inter ahead of their European opener against Slavia Prague in the San Siro next Tuesday.
But as Maurizio Sarri made his debut on the Juventus bench after recovering from pneumonia, the Italian champions showed signs of weakness four days before their trip to Atletico Madrid.
Juventus are trailing two points behind Inter Milan after three games and could be overtaken by city rivals Torino who host promoted Lecce on Monday.
Napoli meanwhile warmed up for European holders Liverpool on Tuesday with a Dries Mertens double sealing a 2-0 win over crisis club Sampdoria, to move up to fourth in the table.
"We wouldn't have deserved to win this game," said Sarri as ...

Inter Milan top Serie A as Juventus held in Fiorentina

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Neymar shrugged off a hostile reception as he marked his return to action for Paris Saint-Germain with a stunning injury-time winner, and then insisted it was time to move on from the saga of his aborted return to Barcelona.
The world's most expensive player was booed and insulted by sections of the PSG support in the Ligue 1 match against Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes.
That seemed set to be the only story of the afternoon until the second minute of added time when, with the game still goalless, the Brazilian met Abdou Diallo's cross with an acrobatic effort that sent the ball arcing back over his own head and in off the post, sealing a 1-0 win.
It was a remarkable goal and a reminder of why PSG paid a world record 222 million euros ($264 million at the time) to sign Neymar in 2017. It also leaves them two points clear of Rennes at the top of Ligue 1.
"I made it clear that I have nothing against the fans, nothing against Paris Saint-Germain as a club. Everyone knows I wanted to ..

'Time to turn the page' - Neymar scores stunning winner on PSG return

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday he was making a "huge amount of progress" towards a Brexit deal with the EU, in an interview in which he compared Britain to the Incredible Hulk.
"It's going to take a lot of work between now and October 17" when EU leaders gather for their final summit before Britain's scheduled exit from the bloc, he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
"But I'm going to go to that summit and I'm going to get a deal, I'm very confident. And if we don't get a deal then we'll come out on October 31."
His comments came ahead of talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Luxembourg on Monday.
In an odd analogy, Johnson compared Britain to the comic book character Hulk.
"The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets and he always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be -- and that is the case for this country," he said.
"We will come out on October 31 and we will get it done, ...

UK PM claims huge progress in Brexit talks

Saudi Arabia has temporarily halted production at two Aramco oil facilities that were attacked by Yemeni rebels, interrupting about half of the company's total output, the energy minister said Saturday.
The attacks "resulted in a temporary suspension of production at Abqaiq and Khurais plants," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
It led to the interruption of about 50 per cent of total production, he added.
"These attacks resulted in production suspension of 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day," the state-owned Aramco said in a separate statement.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said work was underway to restore production and a progress update would be provided in the next two days.
The Huthi rebel drone attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais, two key Aramco facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia, are the latest in a series of raids on the kingdom's oil installations in recent months.
Nasser said "no injuries" were reported .

Saudi halts production at attacked oil plants: minister

Former Wales and British and Irish Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas has told the BBC that he is HIV positive.
In a documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday, the 45-year-old, who came out as gay in 2009, explains how in 2018 he felt like dying.
"When I first found out that I was going to have to live with HIV, the first thing I thought was straight away: I was going to die," he said.
"It's not like I blame people for not knowing this.
"This is a subject that because of the 1980s scenarios people don't talk about it because that's the only information they have."
Thomas says the condition has little impact on his day-to-day life given the advances in medicine other than taking a single pill every day and visiting the hospital for blood tests every six months.
Thomas made his Test debut for Wales in 1995 and went on to win 100 caps as well as three for the Lions in 2005.

Former Wales captain Thomas reveals he has HIV

Danes donated around 2.4 million euro (USD 2.6 million) on Saturday for the planting of trees, in a telethon event described as the world's first to focus on the climate.
For every donation of 20 Danish kroner (about USD 3 or 2.7 euros), one tree will be planted, and 20 per cent of the funds raised will go to forest conservation efforts in Denmark and abroad.
The objective of the event broadcast on public TV channel TV2 was to raise 20 million kroner in order to plant one million trees in the Scandinavian country.
At the end of the televised event the funds raised were still a little shy of the goal, but enough for the planting of 914,233 trees.
"It's a positive way to inspire people, showing how to make a difference, with a small act to tackle the climate crisis," said Kim Nielsen, founder of the Growing Trees Network Foundation, which is part of the project.
"It's the first time a charity show has  focussed on climate issues on TV, it's very exciting," he told AFP.
According to a ...

Danes raise 2.4 mn euro in first climate telethon

A Taliban delegation held talks with Russian officials in Moscow after US negotiations with the Afghan insurgents collapsed, the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday.
"The Russian president's special representative for Afghanistan... Zamir Kabulov, hosted a Taliban delegation in Moscow," a ministry spokesman said, quoted by RIA Novosti state-funded news agency.
No date for the talks was given.
"The Russian side stressed the need to relaunch negotiations between the United States and the Taliban movement," the spokesman said.
"For their part, the Taliban confirmed their willingness to pursue dialogue with Washington," he added.
Until a week ago expectation had steadily mounted of a US-Taliban deal that would see the US drawdown of troop levels in Afghanistan and the Taliban offer security guarantees to keep extremist groups out.
But last week, Trump revealed he had cancelled an unprecedented meeting between the Taliban and himself in the United States and declared the talks with the .

Moscow holds Taliban talks

Working around the clock, thousands of firefighters are struggling to contain smog-belching blazes raging across rainforests and farmland in Indonesia, one of the frontlines against fires blamed for aggravating global warming.
Those leading the response are short on equipment, with some wearing just flimsy masks and rubber boots as they blast streams of water at flames consuming the jungle -- and enveloping wide swathes of Southeast Asia in toxic haze.
"I'm supposed to wear proper protective gear but we've only got limited equipment," said Darmadi, a soldier deployed to Kampar district on hard-hit Sumatra island.
"Still, I have to be ready when duty calls." AFP images from the worst-affected areas show the dark silhouette of firefighters set against the orange glow of jungle blazes, endless stretches of scorched earth and charred trees, deserted schools and suffering residents.
The culprit is usually illegal fires set to clear land for farming on Sumatra and Borneo islands.
The most ..

Frontline fight: Indonesia locked in epic battle against jungle blazes

At least 23 militiamen were killed Saturday in fighting in Central African Republic between rival groups who signed a peace deal in February, said the UN mission in the country MINUSCA.
Fierce clashes between militias in recent months has raised concerns about whether the peace accord aimed at ending years of violence in CAR will hold.
The country's president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, this month told AFP that the agreement was "quite strong" -- but MINUSCA on Saturday said fighting had broken out in Birao, a city close to the Sudanese border.
The clashes were between the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC) and the Movement of Central African Freedom Fighters for Justice (MLCJ).
The rival militias also fought in the city earlier this month.
"The situation remains tense but there is no more fighting," MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said.
"A MINUSCA Blue Helmet was also slightly wounded," he added, without specifying the nationality.
A Zambian .

Twenty-three militiamen killed in fresh C.Africa fighting

Pollution from forest fires in Indonesia pushed Singapore's air quality to unhealthy levels for the first time in three years on Saturday, the government said, a week ahead of the Formula One night race in the city.
The toxic smoke caused by burning to clear land for plantations is an annual problem for Indonesia's neighbours, but has been worsened this year by particularly dry weather.
"There has been a deterioration in the haze conditions in Singapore this afternoon," the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement.
"This was due to a confluence of winds over the nearby region that led to more smoke haze from Sumatra being blown toward Singapore," it said, referring to one of the Indonesian islands where fires are raging.
The NEA said the pollutant standards index (PSI) worsened to 112 in parts of the island Saturday night.
An index reading between 101-200 is considered unhealthy, with residents advised against doing prolonged strenuous exercises outdoors.
Singapore may ...

Singapore air 'unhealthy' ahead of F1 race

Several hundred Estonians gathered in the capital Tallinn on Saturday to demand the resignation of the three-party coalition government, which for the first time features a far-right party.
Demonstrators held up signs in Estonian, English and Russian with slogans such as "Fighting fascism is my cardio" and "No racism, no islamophobia, no hate, no violence".
The protest was organised by the "Yes to Freedom, No to Lies" movement formed when the prime minister's Centre Party began coalition talks with the conservative Isamaa party and the far-right EKRE in March.
The eurosceptic EKRE is known for its populist rhetoric and anti-migrant stance.
"It was a protest against a party in government which wants to rip apart everything done in the last 30 years, change the constitution and turn Estonia into a far-right country," Siim Tuisk, one of the organisers, told AFP.
Ahead of the protest organisers issued a statement condemning members of the government for not hesitating to "insult and bully 

Estonians protest govt featuring far-right

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possibility of moving forward on a "mutual defense" treaty between the allies, just three days before Israeli voters go to the polls.
"I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving forward with a Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Israel," Trump tweeted.
He said such an agreement would "further anchor the tremendous alliance" between the two countries.
"I look forward to continuing those discussions after the Israeli Elections when we meet at the United Nations later this month!" Trump added, giving a tacit last-minute endorsement to Netanyahu's re-election bid.
Taking to the same medium, Netanyahu thanked "his dear friend" Trump.
"The Jewish State has never had a greater friend in the White House," the Israeli premier tweeted.
"I look forward to our meeting at the UN to advance a historic Defense Treaty between the United ...

Trump says he discussed 'mutual defense' treaty with Netanyahu

England seized control on the third day of the fifth Ashes Test on Saturday, building a likely match-winning lead of 382 as they look to square the series.
With two full days of play to come and the weather in London set fair, the home side, on 313-8 in their second innings, appear certain to pull level at 2-2 barring a miraculous fightback from Australia.
Nathan Lyon slowed England's progress in the morning session, taking the wickets of Rory Burns and captain Joe Root but those were rare early bright spots for the tourists on a pitch that offered little help.
Opener Joe Denly and Ben Stokes, playing as a specialist batsman, put on 127 for the third wicket as a tiring Australia attack ran out of steam in the September sunshine.
Off-spinner Lyon bowled Stokes after tea for 67 with a beautiful delivery that spun past the left-hander's forward defensive shot while seamer Peter Siddle had Denly caught at slip for a Test-best 94 shortly afterwards.
But the in-form Jos Buttler, who ...

England in control as Australia wilt in fifth Ashes Test

A witness in the trial of Omar al-Bashir said Saturday that his army-owned firm had supplied military equipment to neighbouring countries using funds allegedly received illegally by the ousted Sudanese leader.
Bashir was deposed by the army in April following months of protests against his iron-fisted rule of three decades.
In August, he was charged with the illegal acquisition and use of foreign funds -- offences that could land him behind bars for more than a decade.
Authorities had seized 6.9 million euros, USD 351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds (around USD 128,000) from Bashir's home "which he acquired and used illegally", a judge told the court on August 31.
But Bashir said the seized funds were the remainder of the equivalent of USD 25 million received from Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The funds, he said, were part of Sudan's strategic relations with Saudi Arabia and were "not used for private interests but as donations".
On Saturday, a ..

AFP

AFP

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