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 ..

Suspect funds used to send military gear to Sudan neighbours: Bashir trial witness

PTI Automatic

Najibullah Zadran hit a blistering half-century as Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by 28 runs in their first match of the tri-nation Twenty20 International tournament in Dhaka on Saturday.
Zadran smashed an unbeaten 69 off 30 balls, with five fours and six sixes guiding Afghanistan to 197-5 before their bowlers restricted Zimbabwe to 169-7 to equal their own record of 11 consecutive wins in Twenty20 internationals.
Regis Chakabva hit 42 off 22 balls not out for Zimbabwe but they came late as Afghanistan bowlers made some early breakthroughs to take the target beyond their reach.
Skipper Rashid Khan and left-arm seamer Fareed Malik claimed 2-29 and 2-35 respectively, while Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib chipped in with one wicket.
"Being a captain for the first time in T20Is and winning, thanks to Allah. Everyone contributed, in batting, bowling and fielding," Rashid said after the match.
"I think that's the beauty of Afghanistan cricketers that they can adjust very quickly as per the ...

Zadran fifty sets up record win for Afghanistan

Liverpool recovered from a shock Newcastle opener to open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win at Anfield, as Tottenham and Chelsea bounced back to form with big wins on Saturday.
Tammy Abraham's sensational form continued as the English forward scored a hat-trick as Chelsea romped to a 5-2 win at Wolves.
Spurs were 4-0 up by half-time against Crystal Palace to record just their second win of the season as Son Heung-min scored twice, while Erik Lamela and an own goal from Patrick van Aanholt rounded off the scoring on a miserable day for the Eagles.
An injury-hit Manchester United coped without Paul Pogba to inflict Leicester's first defeat of the season as Marcus Rashford scored the only goal from the penalty spot in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
United join Tottenham and Chelsea on eight points from five games, but Liverpool protected the only 100 percent record in the league by reacting to a slow start in style.
Manchester City can close the gap at the .

Liverpool stretch Premier League lead, Chelsea, Tottenham hit form

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday flatly denied allegations of corruption made by an Egyptian businessman, assuring he was "honest and faithful" to his people and army.
Videos posted online from outside the country since early September accusing Sisi and Egypt's military of graft have gone viral, sparking rare debate about the army's growing economic empire.
The man behind them, 45-year-old construction contractor Mohamed Aly, claims that authorities have misappropriated millions of Egyptian pounds in public funds.
He also alleges the military owes him hundreds of millions of pounds for projects his company was commissioned to build, including palatial residences for Sisi.
Sisi told a youth conference in Cairo on Saturday the accusations were "lies and slander" designed to "break the will (of Egyptians) and make them lose all hope and confidence".
Quoted by local TV, Sisi said he decided to speak out despite "calls from all state bodies" for him not to respond.
"Your .

Egypt's Sisi denies graft accusations

Former DR Congo health minister Oly Ilunga has been arrested over allegations he embezzled public funds to tackle the Ebola epidemic, police said on Saturday.
Ilunga, who resigned as health minister in July after being removed as head of the country's Ebola response team, was detained while hiding in an apartment in the capital Kinshasa ahead of a bid to flee the country, officers said.
He is in custody due to "misdemeanors of the mismanagement of funds allocated to the Ebola response," police spokesman Colonel Pierrot-Rombaut Mwanamputu told AFP.
Ilunga will be referred to prosecutors on Monday, he added.
It comes after Ilunga was questioned in August as part of an inquiry into the management of funds to fight the outbreak, which has claimed more than 2,000 lives since August 2018.
Ilunga, 59, had already been banned from leaving the country.
He stepped down after criticising plans by the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) to introduce a new, unlicensed vaccine to fight the ...

DR Congo ex-health minister arrested for 'embezzling Ebola funds': police

Iraq on Saturday signed a USD 1.3 billion deal with German industrial conglomerate Siemens and Egypt's Orascom Construction to rebuild a major power plant complex in the ravaged city of Baiji, north of Baghdad.
The new deal is part of a broader energy road map that Iraq signed with Siemens earlier this year in a bid to pump 11 gigawatts into Iraq's crippled power sector.
The country currently generates around 15 GW, far short of estimated demand of about 24 GW.
The Baiji 1 and 2 plants, as well as a massive oil refinery nearby, were destroyed in the three-year fight against the Islamic State group after it swept across a third of Iraq in 2014.
Many of Baiji's neighbourhoods remain gutted, surrounding fields are littered with unexploded ordnance and the area is controlled by a complex web of paramilitary groups.
On Saturday, Iraqi electricity minister Luay al-Khateeb signed the deal in Baghdad with Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser and Orascom chief Osama Bishai.
"This agreement worth USD 1.3 ...

Siemens, Orascom to rebuild vast Iraq power plant

Neymar was named in the Paris Saint-Germain starting lineup for the first time for four months as the French champions face Strasbourg on Saturday.
The world's most expensive player has had to come to terms with the prospect of a third season in Ligue 1 after PSG and his former club Barcelona failed to agree terms on a move before the transfer window shut on September 2.
The 27-year-old has since been away on international duty for Brazil in two friendly matches in the United States, scoring one goal and making another in a 2-2 draw with Colombia and then coming on as a substitute in a 1-0 loss to Peru.
Those were his first appearances this season after he was left out of PSG's opening four league games amid the uncertainty over his future.
It remains to be seen what reception the Brazilian will get from the Parc des Princes crowd after fans help up a banners telling him to "get lost" at a home game last month.
PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said Friday the fans' reaction was beyond his ...

Neymar in PSG team for first time in four months

Najibullah Zadran hit a blistering half-century as Afghanistan made 197-5 against Zimbabwe in their first match of the tri-nation Twenty20 international tournament in Dhaka on Saturday.
Zadran smashed 69 off 30 balls, with five fours and six sixes, and shared 107 runs in a fifth-wicket stand with Mohammad Nabi, who scored 38 off 18 balls before being dismissed on the last ball of the innings.
The duo hit sixes on seven consecutive balls between the 17th and the 18th over to give Afghanistan an imposing total after Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz earlier made 43 off 24 balls.
Tendai Chatara and Sean Williams claimed two wickets each for Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe lost their first match in the tournament by three wickets to hosts Bangladesh.

Zadran guides Afghanistan to 197-5 against Zimbabwe

Ben Stokes and Joe Denly batted England into a potentially match-winning position in the fifth and final Ashes Test at the Oval on Saturday as Australia's hopes of a series win faded.
At tea the home side -- desperate to finish their World Cup-winning season on a high by levelling the series at 2-2 -- were 193-2, leading by 262 runs.
England captain Joe Root will be wary of declaring too soon though as India last year made 345 batting fourth at the Oval chasing 464.
Denly was unbeaten on a Test-best score of 82 while Stokes, playing as a specialist batsman, was 57 not out after passing 400 runs for the series.
England enjoyed two slices of good fortune on a pitch offering little in the way of help for the bowlers as the September sun beat down from a clear London sky.
Steve Smith dropped Stokes in the slips when the batsman was on seven and Denly should have been out lbw on 54 but Australia failed to review.
Stokes started his innings slowly but accelerated, reaching his fifty off 89 .

Australia's Ashes hopes fade as England dominate fifth Test

Karim Benzema scored twice on Saturday in an outstanding performance for Real Madrid against Levante, although his side were left hanging on for a 3-2 win on the day Eden Hazard made his La Liga debut.
Benzema's goals came just six minutes apart in the first half at a wet Santiago Bernabeu, before Casemiro put Real 3-0 up.
However Levante, who had won their previous two outings, made a fight of it in the second half as they pulled goals back through Borja Mayoral and Gonzalo Melero.
"The second half was more difficult for us, but the overall feeling was positive," said coach Zinedine Zidane, whose team had drawn their previous two games.
"We have got the three points and we were incredible in the first half, the way we played, the goals, the commitment. We just need to stay focused for the full 90 minutes."
Hazard also came off the bench for the final half-hour to make his first La Liga appearance after a thigh injury had interrupted the start of his Real career following his 100 ...

Real Madrid hang on for win after Benzema brilliance

Bangladesh batting coach Neil McKenzie on Saturday defended their under-fire batsmen after yet another sub-par performance.
The South Asian side managed to beat Zimbabwe by three wickets in the opening match of the tri-nation Twenty20 series on Friday to end a six-match losing streak in all formats, but needed to be rescued by the unheralded Afif Hossain while precariously positioned at 60-6, chasing 144.
The teenager hit 52 off 26 balls after more experienced players like Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das failed on home turf against an inexperienced Zimbabwe attack.
Shakib scored just one run, after conceding 30 runs in an over earlier that allowed Zimbabwe to post a competitive score.
"I think international cricket is hard cricket. You can't always score. And you can see Shakib. He was magnificent in the World Cup," said McKenzie.
"There are lot of guys who played really well in the last six months in international cricket. As soon as they don't score in one or two ...

McKenzie defends under-fire Bangladesh batsmen

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday visited the country's flood-stricken southeastern regions as the death toll rose to six and train and air services were disrupted for a third day.
Since Wednesday, areas here suffered some of the heaviest daily rainfall on record, causing chaos on the roads, cutting public transport and prompting rivers to burst their banks.
Flash floods swept away cars and swamped homes in the regions of Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalusia.
The latest fatality was a middle-aged man whose body was found by police in a field at a hamlet near the city of Orihuela in Valencia, a spokeswoman for the central government's office in the region said, without giving details.
Five people died in separate accidents in the previous two days as they tried to cross flooded roads in cars, including a man whose vehicle got stuck in a tunnel on Friday in the centre of the coastal city of Almeria.
After observing the damage from a helicopter flying over the city of ...

Spanish PM visits flood-hit areas as death toll rises to six

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, living in Russia since leaking a trove of classified documents showing the scope of post-9/11 US government surveillance, wants to claim asylum in France, according to an interview published Saturday.
Recalling he had already applied for French asylum in 2013 under former president Francois Hollande, Snowden, whose memoirs "Permanent Record" are published next Tuesday, told France Inter radio he hoped President Emmanuel Macron would grant him that right.
"The saddest thing of this whole story is that the only place an American whistleblower has the chance to be heard is not in Europe but here (in Russia)," Snowden said in a trailer of the interview to be broadcast in its entirety Monday.
To date, more than a dozen countries have turned down requests to take in the 36-year-old, leading him to question their reasoning and "the system we live in".
"Protecting whistleblowers is not a hostile act," he said.
Snowden's memoirs are to be published in some 20 ...

Snowden says would like French asylum

Zimbabwe gave former leader Robert Mugabe a state funeral on Saturday with African leaders paying tribute to a man they lauded as a liberation hero but whose 37-year rule was defined by repression and economic turmoil.
Mugabe, who died in Singapore last week aged 95, left Zimbabwe deeply divided over his legacy with his country still struggling with high inflation and shortages of goods after decades of crisis.
He died on an overseas medical trip almost two years after former army loyalists forced him out in 2017, following a power struggle over what was widely perceived as a bid to position his wife Grace as his successor.
Former and current African leaders, including South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta, arrived to crowds chanting and drumming liberation songs at the less than half-filled 60,000-seat national stadium in Harare.
Mugabe's casket, draped in the green, black, gold and red Zimbabwe flag, was marched slowly into the stadium, accompanied by a military .

African leaders laud Mugabe at state funeral in divided Zimbabwe

Former European player of the year Michael Owen says he owes his success to his father, who insisted he was given steak for dinner as a child while his four siblings made do with baked beans on toast.
The 39-year-old former Liverpool and England striker told The Times he even climbed into the boxing ring because his father Terry said he needed to "toughen up".
Despite this Owen, who won both his bouts, tweeted on Wednesday on his father's 70th birthday he was "the kindest man I ever met".
"I was the only one allowed a steak on a Tuesday," said Owen.
"My dad said, 'You're all having beans on toast, Michael's got to have steak because we need to build him up for when he's going to be a footballer.'
"I did feel special, definitely. He was planting the seed constantly." Owen says Terry, who was also a professional footballer with lower league clubs including Chester with whom he reached the League Cup semi-finals -- struggled to adjust to life after football so devoted as much of his time 

Michael Owen says father was driving force and reveals son's blindness

England extended their lead over Australia to 157 runs by lunch on the third day of the fifth Ashes Test on Saturday as they chase a series-levelling victory at the Oval.
Joe Denly was unbeaten on 37 and Ben Stokes had yet to get off the mark as the home side seek to put themselves in a match-winning position.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon struck twice in the session, removing Rory Burns for 20 runs and captain Joe Root.
World Cup winners England are desperate to tie the series at 2-2 even though Australia have already retained the Ashes urn.
The tourists are equally hungry to wrap up their first series win in England since 2001 after edging ahead by winning last week's fourth Test at Old Trafford.
Jofra Archer put England in pole position on Friday, taking six wickets to bowl Australia out for 225, giving the home side a first-innings lead of 69.
Steve Smith top-scored with 80 to take his tally for the series to 751 runs in just six innings.
Denly drove Pat Cummins through mid-off for four 

England extend lead over Australia in fifth Ashes Test

An Iranian football fan who set herself ablaze and died after being arrested for trying to enter a stadium had "confessed her mistake" when she was questioned, the judiciary said Saturday.
Sahar Khodayari, dubbed "blue girl" because of the colours of the team she supported, Esteghlal FC, was reportedly detained when she tried to enter a stadium dressed as a man to watch them last year.
She died of her injuries in a Tehran hospital after setting herself on fire outside a court last week.
Her death sparked outrage online, with celebrities and activists using the hashtag #blue_girl to urge the sport's world governing body FIFA to ban Iran from competitions and fans to boycott matches.
Iranian women spectators have been barred from football and other stadiums in the Islamic republic since 1981, despite international pressure to let them attend.
Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar on Tuesday asked the judiciary to investigate her death.
The judiciary said, ..

Iran says 'blue girl' football fan admitted 'mistake'

Two Iranian companies signed a USD 440 million agreement Saturday to develop a gas field in the sensitive Gulf, with the oil ministry saying it showed arch-foe the United States could not stop the country with sanctions.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the deal reached between two government-owned firms, Pars Oil and Gas Company and PetroPars, to develop the Balal field would be the first of many.
Tensions have soared in the Gulf since last year when the US began reimposing sanctions on Iran after unilaterally withdrawing from a 2015 deal that put curbs on its nuclear programme.
"Signing this contract is ... the beginning of a process," Zanganeh said, quoted by the oil ministry's Shana website.
"This is a sign that we are still functioning with sanctions at their peak ... We are alive, we are active and working for Iran's oil industry," the Iranian minister said.
The sanctions, he added, "have not been able to stop the progress of Iranian oil industry and its development." "We 

Iran inks deal to develop gas field in tense Gulf

World number two Karolina Pliskova surged into her fifth final of the year as she thrashed Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday at the WTA Zhengzhou Open.
The 27-year-old Czech, the top seed, needed just 69 minutes to defeat the unseeded Croatian-born Australian and will play Petra Martic on Sunday.
"I'm first seed so I should win," said Pliskova, who has won three titles this year.
"So of course every opponent is a little bit different and tough, but I think there's a good chance for me if I keep playing like I was playing."
Croatia's Martic, the seventh seed, earned her place in the final with a 6-0, 6-3 defeat of France's unseeded Kristina Mladenovic.
Martic, 28, is enjoying the best season of her career and in April won her first title.

World No.2 Pliskova reaches fifth final this year

Russia's world first floating nuclear power station on Saturday completed a 5,000-kilometre Arctic transfer to the country's far east, the Rosatom nuclear agency said.
"The Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear plant arrived ... at Pevek, in the autonomous district of Chukotka," where it is to start operating by year end once connected to the local electricity grid, Rosatom said.
What will be the world's northernmost nuclear power plant left Murmansk in Russia's far north on August 23 after being loaded with combustible nuclear fuel.
The 21-ton, 144-metre (470 feet) long and 30-metre wide platform, which is designed to meet the energy needs of remote communities, was towed into Pevek by a clutch of vessels.
The station houses two 35-megawatt reactors, more in line with the power of nuclear-powered ice breakers than typical new generation nuclear plants boasting nearer 1,000 MW capacity.
The Akademik Lomonosov is to provide energy for around 100,000 people and also power oil platforms as 

Russia's world-first floating nuclear plant arrives in port

Fights erupted in Hong Kong on Saturday with political rivals trading blows in a mall and Beijing supporters using Chinese flags to assault opponents on a street, deepening the city's polarisation after months of pro-democracy protests.
The once-stable international hub has been convulsed by weeks of huge, sometimes violent rallies calling for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
The movement is the biggest challenge to China's rule since the city was handed back by Britain in 1997 and shows no sign of ending, with city leaders and Beijing taking a hard line.
Fights have begun breaking out with increased frequency after pro-democracy supporters began holding impromptu singalongs of a popular protest anthem -- and as pro-Beijing supporters have held rival gatherings to sing China's national anthem.
In the district of Fortress Hill on Saturday, a group of men, many waving Chinese flags and wearing blue t-shirts declaring "I love HK police", attacked people perceived to 

AFP

AFP

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