Harry Maguire faces his old club Leicester for the first time this weekend with the Manchester United defender looking up the Premier League table at his high-flying former employers.
When Maguire made his world-record ?80 million ($97 million) move to Old Trafford this summer, it was widely seen as a step-up for the 26-year-old, the opportunity to prove himself on a larger stage.
But as Brendan Rodgers brings the Foxes to Old Trafford, he does so with Leicester five places and three points above United in the early-season league table.
Transport for Greater Manchester, who have become known in the city for their witty electronic message boards warning of forthcoming events, even joined in the debate billing the fixture as a "Race for 6th!" this week.
But, with Leicester currently sitting in third and supporters daring to dream of the unforgettable 2015-16 campaign when their club ended the season as champions, Maguire could be forgiven for looking slightly enviously at the team mates 

Man Utd's Maguire ready for Leicester reunion

PTI Automatic

Michelle-Lee Ahye, an Olympic 100m and 200m finalist, has been provisionally suspended for anti-doping violations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (IAU) said on Thursday.
The Trinidadian sprinter was sixth in both the sprint finals at the Rio Games in 2016. She was sixth again in the 100m at the World Championships in London in 2017, but is likely to miss this year's championships which start in Doha on September 27.
The IAU said that Ahye has been provisionally suspended since August 30 while it investigates a "whereabouts failure".
Athletes are required to report their daily whereabouts in advance to allow for unannounced doping controls. In the event of three breaches in less than a year, they risk a two-year suspension.
Earlier this week, American Christian Coleman, one of the favourites for the men's 100m in Doha, was cleared after being charged with a similar offence because, under the rules, his three violations had not all happened in the same 12-month period.

Trinidad sprinter suspended over dope tests

Paris metro and other public transport workers were to walk off the job Friday for a huge one-day strike over President Emmanuel Macron's plan to overhaul France's retirement system.
Ten of the city's 16 metro lines will be shut down completely, while service on most others will be severely curtailed, in particular during Friday's rush hours.
Two of the 3 main suburban lines traversing the city will be "very strongly disrupted," the Paris transport operator RATP warned, with just a handful of trains running during only the peak morning and evening hours.
Buses and trams will also be impacted, often with just one in three operating.
Many commuters are expecting a mad scramble for the bike-sharing systems and electric scooters that have mushroomed in the French capital since last year.
US ride-hailing giant Uber is hoping to seize the moment with two free 15-minute rides offered on the Jump electric bikes and scooters it has deployed in Paris.
And the RATP said it was financing 30 free .

Paris braces for massive metro strike over pension reform

The top appeals court in Turkey ordered the release of five former journalists from the opposition Cumhuriyet daily on Thursday, including prominent cartoonist Musa Kart, their lawyer said.
The journalists had been serving sentences of close to five years for "aiding and abetting terror groups without being a member".
"After the court order, we expect the release of five former staff this evening," lawyer Tora Pekin told AFP.
The five were among 14 former Cumhuriyet staff, including journalists and executives, sentenced in 2018 and their appeals were rejected by a lower appeals court earlier this year.
They were accused of supporting, through their coverage, three organisations that Turkey views as terrorist groups -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, and the Gulen movement blamed for the 2016 failed coup.
The case has sparked criticism over the state of press freedom in Turkey. Cumhuriyet, the country's oldest daily founded in 

Turkey court orders release of former opposition paper journalists: lawyer

Washington's top envoy for Syria rejected Thursday an allegation put forward in a UN report that some US-led air strikes in the conflict-torn country could possibly be categorised as indiscriminate attacks, amounting to "war crimes".
James Jeffrey, the US special representative on Syria, dismissed findings published in a UN report on Wednesday suggesting that the US-led coalition had with a number of air strikes in the country "failed to employ the necessary precautions to discriminate adequately between military objectives and civilians".
The UN Commission of Inquiry, which has been investigating human rights violations in Syria's drawn-out war for the past eight years, pointed to a series of air strikes carried out by the coalition in January in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, including one that killed 16 civilians.
"The Commission finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that international coalition forces may not have directed their attacks at a specific military ...

US rejects UN suggestion its Syria air strikes could constitute 'war crimes'

Spanish public prosecutors on Thursday questioned an ex-mistress of Spain's former king Juan Carlos after she said the monarch pocketed money from a high-speed train contract with Saudi Arabia, her lawyers and Spanish judical sources said.
The scandal broke last year after Spanish media published recordings attributed to Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein in which she alleged Juan Carlos collected a comission after a Spanish consortium was awarded a lucrative contract to build a high-speed rail network linking Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The woman in the recordings was speaking in 2015 with a retired police chief who is currently in jail for alleged money laundering.
Sayn-Wittgenstein, who is divorced from the German prince whose surname she bears, has not denied that the voice in the recording is hers, but said she was the victim of a smear campaign.
She was questioned as a witness in London, where she has a home, as part of an investigation into the affair, according to her lawyers .

Spanish prosecutors question ex-mistress of former king

The US Senate has approved a bill to press China on its treatment of Uighurs, requiring the US government to closely monitor the mass incarceration of the community and consider punishment of those responsible.
The Senate unanimously approved the so-called Uighur Human Rights Policy Act late Wednesday. It still needs passage by the House of Representatives, which is highly likely as the bill enjoys wide bipartisan support.
The act would require US intelligence to produce a report within six months on the crackdown in Xinjiang, the western region where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in re-education camps.
It would also establish a State Department special coordinator on Xinjiang and ask the FBI to assess reports of harassment by China of US citizens and residents of Uighur heritage.
The bill also asks Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to consider sanctions on Chinese officials behind the policy, notably Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party ...

US Senate presses action on China's treatment of Uighurs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin, as he looks to convey the image of a statesman ahead of an election on September 17.
Netanyahu is on a campaign to maintain his status as the country's longest-serving prime minister and the talks in Russia's Sochi come days after his controversial vow to annex the West Bank's Jordan Valley if re-elected.
Netanyahu has sought to highlight his relations with world leaders, including Putin and US President Donald Trump, and is on his third visit to Russia this year.
"This is a very important trip," he told journalists before his departure.
Meetings in Russia are meant to prevent clashes in Syria and "to ensure Israel's security, in the face of attempts by Iran and its proxies to attack us," he said.
Prior to meeting Putin, Netanyahu, who also serves as defence minister, met with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
"Every meeting with you is very important," Netanyahu said.  Moscow .

Israel's Netanyahu in Russia to meet Putin ahead of polls

The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved the easing of an arms embargo on the Central African Republic for the first time since 2013 when it was engulfed in violence.
Drafted by France, the resolution authorises the country's security forces to be supplied with weapons of a caliber of 14.5 mm or less provided that the UN has been notified at least 20 days in advance.
The notifications must specify the type, caliber, quantity and serial or lot numbers of the weapons as well as the manufacturer and supplier.
And under no circumstances, can the weapons be sold or transferred to third parties, according to the resolution.
"It remains to be seen when there can be a further easing," said a diplomat. "The hope is there won't be too many weapons entering the country, especially weapons the state cannot control." "The number of weapons entering the country must correspond to real needs," the diplomat added.
The Central African Republic, a country of 4.5 million people, plunged .

UN eases arms embargo on Central African Republic

A string of nighttime explosions at a Turkish military base in northern Cyprus damaged a nearby seaside hotel and injured 12 people Thursday, prompting the evacuation of terrified tourists, officials said.
The blasts rang out at intervals over a three-hour period in the arms depot at the base in Catalkoy, west of the town of Kyrenia, sparking a fire.
The luxury Acapulco Hotel was damaged, with windows shattered and ceilings collapsed, and guests evacuated to a safe area.
Turkish Cypriot authorities said 12 people were injured, two of whom remained in hospital several hours later. A probe was launched to determine the cause of the blasts.
The Kyrenia area on the north coast lies within a breakaway state that Turkish Cypriot leaders declared in 1983 but which remains recognised only by Ankara.
The island has been divided on ethnic lines since Turkish troops occupied its northern third in 1974 following a Greek Cypriot coup.
Turkey continues to maintain a sizeable military presence in ...

12 hurt as arms depot blasts damage north Cyprus hotel

US Ambassador Kelly Craft took up her post at the United Nations on Thursday, nine months after the departure of her high-profile predecessor Nikki Haley.
Craft, 57, served previously as US ambassador to Canada where she was involved in negotiations on a new US Mexico Canada free trade agreement.
She declined to speak with reporters on her arrival at UN headquarters, making her way to the 38th floor offices of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Haley, who unlike Craft held cabinet rank, emerged as a strong voice of American foreign policy under the US President Donald Trump.
After she stepped down at the end of last year, the role was filled by her number two, Ambassador Jonathan Cohen.
Craft is married to coal company CEO Joe Craft, a big fundraiser and contributor to Trump's 2016 campaign and inauguration festivities.
During a Senate confirmation hearing in June, she pledged not be an obstacle to climate diplomacy, and said she would recuse herself from UN discussions related to 

New US ambassador takes up post at United Nations

Uzbekistan said Thursday that it will lift visa restrictions for citizens from China in a bid to boost foreign tourism, becoming the first country in former Soviet nation in Central Asia to make the move.
An order signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that Chinese citizens including those from Hong Kong would be subject to a seven-day visa waiver from the beginning of 2020.
Uzbekistan, which does not share a border with China, is the first of the five 'stans' in ex-communist Central Asia to scrap visas for Chinese citizens.
While China is a key trade partner for the region Beijing has often struggled to counter perceptions that it is out to dominate its weaker neighbours via loans and strategic investments.
Uzbekistan has made tourism a priority to reduce its dependence on exports of its natural resources, including natural gas and metals.
The country's star draws are the fabled cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, which were once cultural centres and key points along the ...

Uzbekistan to waive visa restrictions for Chinese citizens

Israel set up scanners to intercept cellphone communications in the area around the White House in Washington, according to a report Thursday which was denied by the Jewish state.
Politico reported that US officials  believe Israelis were most likely the ones who set up several so-called stingray scanners, which mimic cellphone towers to intercept nearby calls and text messages, that were discovered in downtown Washington in 2017.
Several former national security officials told Politico that forensic analysis by the FBI and other agencies of the devices tied them to Israeli agents.
"The devices were likely intended to spy on President Donald Trump, one of the former officials said, as well as his top aides and closest associates -- though it's not clear whether the Israeli efforts were successful," Politico wrote.
Israel, one of the United states' closest allies, issued a strong denial.
"Israel does not conduct any espionage missions in the United States," said Foreign and ...

Israel scanned cellphones near White House: Report

Two Bangladeshi policemen have been disciplined after a rape victim's family said she was forced to marry one of the accused rapists in a police station, officials said Tuesday.
The mother-of-three had accused five men of confining her to a room and sexually assaulting her multiple times between August 29 and August 31 in the northern district of Pabna.
But her brother told the national Daily Star newspaper this week that officers at the police station forced her to sign documents divorcing her husband and marrying the main suspect.
The marriage allegedly took place when she first tried to file the complaint last week.
Police officials on Thursday said the marriage appeared to be part of an effort to prevent the suspects from being prosecuted.
"We have suspended sub-inspector Ekramul Haq for helping the marriage between the victim and one of her suspected rapists, who is also the chief accused," deputy police chief of Pabna, Mohammad ibne Mizan, told AFP.
"We have also withdrawn the ..

Bangladesh cops force gang-rape victim to marry suspect: Family

Massive bushfires across eastern Australia could be blazing for weeks, authorities warned Tuesday, as firefighters launched "Herculean" efforts to save homes from destruction.
More than 130 fires are raging in the states of Queensland and New South Wales, fuelled by strong winds and a prolonged drought, in an unusually ferocious and early start to the wildfire season.
Hundreds were evacuated after a fresh fire broke out on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, where video footage showed a huge blaze tearing through forests and glowing embers raining down.
About 1,000 firefighters battled through the night to contain the blazes across Queensland.
"Last night's Herculean efforts resulted in nothing short of a miracle," Queensland acting Premier Jackie Trad told reporters.
Just one home had been lost in the area, Trad said, but firefighters continued to battle the flames on Tuesday amid strengthening winds, supported by water-bombing aircraft.
In total, thousands of hectares of forest and dozens .

'Herculean' efforts save homes as Australia fires rage

The Taliban on Tuesday vowed to continue fighting against US forces in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump said talks with insurgents were "dead", saying Washington would regret abandoning negotiations.
"We had two ways to end occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihad and fighting, the other was talks and negotiations," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
"If Trump wants to stop talks, we will take the first way and they will soon regret it.

Taliban vows to fight on after Trump says talks are 'dead'

Hong Kong's embattled leader warned the United States on Tuesday not to "interfere" with her government's response to the city's pro-democracy movement, after fresh protests called on Washington to ramp up pressure on Beijing.
Millions of people have demonstrated over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge to China's rule of the financial hub since its handover from Britain in 1997.
Protesters took to the streets again on Sunday, marching to the American consulate to call on Congress to pass a bill expressing support for the pro-democracy movement.
The proposed law could undermine Hong Kong's special US trade privileges by mandating regular checks on whether authorities were respecting the Basic Law that underpins the city's semi-autonomous status.
But Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that any change to its economic relationship with Washington would threaten "mutual benefits".
"It's extremely inappropriate for any country to interfere in Hong Kong's ...

Hong Kong leader tells US not to 'interfere' after fresh protests

Bangladesh dropped off-spinner Mehidy Hasan and pace bowler Rubel Hossain in a new-look Twenty20 squad named Tuesday for the first two matches of the tri-nations series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
All-rounder Ariful Haque, pace bowler Abu Hider, spinner Nazmul Islam and batsman Mohammad Mithun were also left out from Bangladesh's last Twenty20 squad that played the West Indies in December 2018.
Opening batter Tamim Iqbal was not included after asking for a break from international cricket.
"We want to see some players for the next Twenty20 World Cup. This is why we changed the squad," said chief selector Minhajul Abedin.
Young pace bowler Yeasin Arafat and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam received their first Twenty20 call-ups while Afif Hossain and Mahedi Hasan return after playing just one Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in 2018.
Batsmen Sabbir Rahman and Mosaddek Hossain also received a call-up as Bangladesh prepare to begin the series against Zimbabwe in Dhaka's Sher-e 

Bangladesh axe Mehidy, Rubel in Twenty20 squad shake-up

US agents extracted a high-level Russian government source who had confirmed Vladimir Putin's direct role in interfering in the 2016 US presidential election, US media reported.
The source, who had been providing information for decades, had access to Putin and had sent pictures of high-level documents on the Russian leader's desk, CNN reported.
The network said the spy was pulled out of Russia in 2017 due to concerns that President Donald Trump and his cabinet could expose the asset due to repeated mishandling of classified intelligence.
The CIA refuted this. Brittany Bramell, the agency's director of public affairs, told CNN: "Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence -- which he has access to each and every day -- drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate." The agency offered to extract the source in late 2016 but the informant initially refused, citing family issues, the New York Times reported.
This prompted fears .

US extracted spy that confirmed Putin role in 2016 US vote: reports

Hundreds dead in the Philippines; a threefold increase of cases in Vietnam; hospitals overrun in Malaysia, Myanmar and Cambodia -- dengue is ravaging Southeast Asia this year due in part to rising temperatures and low immunity to new strains.
But one group of scientists is rolling out trials to breed dengue-resistant bugs in a bid to tackle one of the world's leading mosquito-borne illnesses, raising hopes the untreatable disease can finally be beaten.
The World Mosquito Program (WMP) has pioneered a method where male and female Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes are infected with the disease-resistant bacteria called Wolbachia before being released into the wild.
In a matter of weeks, baby mosquitoes are born carrying Wolbachia, which acts as a disease buffer for the bugs -- making it harder for them to pass on not only dengue, but Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
First trialled in northern Australia, it's been tested in nine countries around the globe, including in Vietnam where early ...

Mosquito trials raise hopes of defeating dengue

Eritrea is the world's worst country for press censorship, a media watchdog said Tuesday in a report which also cites extreme measures in nine other countries including North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia.
Under the three worst regimes -- Eritrea, North Korea, and Turkmenistan -- the media "serves as a mouthpiece of the state, and any independent journalism is conducted from exile," said a report by the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Other countries on the list of the 10 worst regimes for media "use a combination of blunt tactics like harassment and arbitrary detention as well as sophisticated surveillance and targeted hacking to silence the independent press," the report said.
Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, and Iran were cited for "jailing and harassing journalists and their families, while also engaging in digital monitoring and censorship of the internet and social media," the group said.
The rankings were based on factors including restrictions on privately owned or ...

AFP

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