Alexandre Lacazette hopes to be fit for Arsenal's Premier League opener at Newcastle after suffering an ankle injury.
Lacazette was forced to limp out of Arsenal's 2-1 Emirates Cup pre-season friendly defeat against Lyon on Sunday and left the stadium with a protective boot on his foot.
The French striker is being checked by Arsenal's medical team, but he does not think it is a serious problem.
Arsenal boss Unai Emery was also relaxed about the 28-year-old's chances of recovering in time for the trip to Newcastle on August 11.
Asked whether he might be out for one or two weeks, Lacazette told reporters: "No, before (that). Soon." It remains to be seen whether Lacazette travels to France for
Arsenal's friendly against Angers on Wednesday.
Arsenal wrap up their pre-season preparations with a clash against Barcelona on Sunday.
"It's in his ankle," Emery said after the defeat to Lyon. "He will probably be assessed over the next few days - but it's not serious.
"We are thinking it's not ...

Injured Lacazette hopes to make Arsenal's Premier League opener

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Britain on Monday ruled out swapping seized oil tankers with Iran as a second UK warship arrived in the Gulf to conduct convoys that have irritated Tehran.
A sense of crisis in the world's busiest oil shipping lane has been building up for weeks as Iran responds to US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign.
The US economic sanctions and stepped-up military presence are designed to force Iran to renegotiate a landmark 2015 nuclear pact from which Trump pulled out last year.
Britain further outraged Iran by seizing one of its tankers -- the Grace 1 -- on July 4 on suspicion of it carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.
Iran vowed to retaliate and its Revolutionary Guards stormed and detained the UK-flagged Stena Impero and its 23 crew as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on July 20.
New British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab flatly rejected the idea of the two tankers being exchanged or simultaneously released in a bid to dial back the tensions.
"There ..

Britain rules out seized tanker swap with Iran

More than 2,000 South Korean soccer fans will sue a sports agency after superstar Cristiano Ronaldo stayed on the bench when his Juventus side played a friendly in Seoul last week, a law firm said Monday.
The star Portuguese striker did not play a single second of the match against a K-league all-star team, ignoring appeals from the sell-out 65,000 crowd at the World Cup Stadium to lace up his boots.
With frustration mounting some even chanted the name of his great Argentine rival Lionel Messi.
When the game was first announced, organisers said the contract with Juventus obliged Ronaldo to play for at least 45 minutes, prompting many fans to splash out, according to Seoul law firm Myungan.
Tickets -- priced from 30,000 won (US$25) to 400,000 won ($338) -- sold out in just two and a half hours when they were released on July 3.
"So far, more than 2,000 fans have contacted us to pursue the suit," Myungan attorney Kim Hun-ki told AFP.
"We plan to officially file the suit on their behalf .

Show me the money: S. Korean soccer fans to sue over Ronaldo benching

Five protesters including four students were shot dead and several wounded at a rally in a town in central Sudan on Monday, a doctors committee linked to the protest movement said.
"Five martyrs succumbed to direct wounds from sniper bullets during a peaceful rally in Al-Obeid," the committee said in a statement.

Five protesters shot dead in Sudan town: doctors committee

An advertisement featuring an actor of Chinese origin with his skin darkened to portray different races has sparked anger in multi-ethnic Singapore, prompting an apology from the country's state-owned broadcaster.
Race is a sensitive issue in Singapore, which is home to ethnic Chinese, ethnic Indians and Muslim Malays, as well as a large number of expatriates from all over the world.
The ad, part of a government-initiated campaign for cashless transactions in the tech-savvy city-state, featured actor Dennis Chew from broadcaster Mediacorp as four characters.
His skin was darkened to depict an Indian man and a Malay woman wearing a headscarf, and he also portrayed a Chinese man and a Chinese woman. Each character was shown holding a plate of food paid for electronically.
"Brownface in a Singaporean ad in 2019. I thought we already went over this," magazine editor Ruby Thiagarajan said on Twitter, in a post that had been retweeted nearly 3,000 times by Monday.
"Brownface" or "blackface" 

'Brownface' ad sparks anger in Singapore

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday rejected the idea of swapping seized oil tankers with Iran in a bid to ease escalating Gulf tensions.
"There is no quid pro quo," Raab told BBC radio.
"This is not about some kind of barter. This is about international law and the rules of the international legal system being upheld. That is what we will insist on.

Britain rules out swapping seized tankers with Iran

Ride-hailing giant Grab is investing USD 2 billion in Indonesia over the next five years, using funds from Japan's SoftBank Group to boost its presence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the firms said Monday.
The Singapore-based firm has seen its business grow rapidly since it bought US-based rival Uber's regional ride-hailing and food business in March last year in exchange for a 27.5 per cent stake in Grab.
Its Indonesian investment will focus on building a next-generation electric vehicle transport network and rolling out e-healthcare services to improve access to doctors and medical services across the archipelago.
The announcement came after SoftBank last week said it would partner with tech firms including Apple and Microsoft in a new USD 108-billion investment fund.
It is the long-mooted successor to its mammoth Vision Fund, which took stakes in leading tech start-ups from Uber to WeWork.
"Indonesia's technology sector has huge potential," SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son ...

Ride-hailing giant Grab to invest USD 2 bn in Indonesia with SoftBank funds

The head of the UN special probe into Islamic State group crimes has called for trials like those at Nuremberg of Nazi leaders to ensure the jihadists' victims are heard and their ideology "debunked".
For a year, British lawyer Karim Khan has travelled around Iraq with a team of almost 80 people to gather evidence and witness testimony for the UN body known as UNITAD.
"It's a mountain to climb", the human rights specialist told AFP, as the investigative team works to analyse up to 12,000 bodies from more than 200 mass graves, 600,000 videos of IS crimes and 15,000 pages from the group's bureaucracy.
Five years ago, when their self-proclaimed "caliphate" spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom, the jihadists imposed their brutal rule over seven million people across Iraq and Syria with administrations, schools, child soldiers, a severe interpretation of Islam and medieval punishments.
Minority groups considered by IS to be "heretics" or "satanists" were killed by the ...

Head of UN investigators calls for an IS 'Nuremberg'

Jil Teichmann has jumped 28 places on the strength of her win in Palermo in the latest WTA rankings published Monday with the top 10 led by Ashleigh Barty unchanged.
Switzerland's Teichmann stunned top seed Kiki Bertens 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to clinch the Palermo WTA title on Sunday, a result which catapulted the left-hander to 54th.
It was a first top 10 win for 22-year-old who started 2019 ranked outside the world's top 140.
1. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 6605 pts
2. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 6257
3. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6055
4. Simona Halep (ROM) 5933
5. Kiki Bertens (NED) 5130
6. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 4785
7. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4638
8. Sloane Stephens (USA) 3802
9. Serena Williams (USA) 3411
10. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3365
11. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 3356
12. Belinda Bencic (SUI) 2963
13. Angelique Kerber (GER) 2875
14. Johanna Konta (GBR) 2790 (+1)
15. Mark?ta Vondrousova (CZE) 2652 (+1)
16. Qiang Wang (CHN) 2647 (-2)
17. Madison Keys (USA) 2555
18. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 2478
19. Anett ...

Palermo winner Teichmann upwardly mobile in WTA rankings

The head of Britain's big business lobby on Monday urged companies to shift to "an emergency footing" as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit becomes more likely.
The Confederation of British Industry in a report also warned that the EU was less prepared than Britain for such an eventuality but said both sides were not ready.
CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn wrote in The Times that a no-deal Brexit had become a "serious possibility".
"Now is the time to shift to an emergency footing.
"While it's not possible to seal our economy from all the damage the floodwaters of no deal will cause, we can lay down the sandbags and protect as much as we can," she said.
The CBI's head of EU negotiations Nicole Sykes, however, tweeted that it was "like putting sandbags down for a flood.
"Your kitchen's still going to be underwater but MAYBE we can save the bedroom upstairs," she wrote.
The CBI report said: "The EU lags behind the UK in seeking to prevent the worst effects of a no-deal scenario.
"Although ...

UK business chief calls for Brexit 'emergency footing'

An internal ethics report has alleged mismanagement and abuses of authority at the highest levels of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees even as the organisation faced an unprecedented crisis after US funding cuts.
The allegations included in the confidential report by the agency's ethics department are now being scrutinised by UN investigators.
The agency -- the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) -- said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and that it cannot comment in detail because the probe is ongoing.
AFP has obtained a copy of the report which describes "credible and corroborated" allegations of serious ethical abuses, including involving UNRWA's top official, Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl.
It says the allegations include senior management engaging in "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives."
One 

Report alleges ethical abuses at UN agency for Palestinians

Iranian forces warned a British warship's crew against putting their "life in danger" during the seizure of a tanker this month, in a new recording of the incident released Monday.
The audio message was accompanied by aerial video footage of a warship thought to be the HMS Montrose, which the UK defence ministry says has now been joined in Gulf waters by another warship, the HMS Duncan.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the British-flagged tanker "Stena Impero" on July 19.
"British warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy patrol boat: you are required not to interfere in this issue," an Iranian naval officer can be heard saying in the recording aired on state TV.
An officer on board the warship responds: "This is British warship Foxtrot 236: I am in vicinity of an internationally recognised strait with a merchant vessel in my vicinity conducting transit passage".
The Iranian officer replies: "British warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah navy patrol boat: don't put your life 

Iran forces warned off UK warship during tanker seizure: audio

Britain's Just Eat and Takeaway.com of the Netherlands unveiled Monday a plan to join forces to create a heavyweight in the rapidly-growing food delivery sector with around $8 billion in annual sales.
The combination of the two firms would create a delivery platform worth around $11 billion capable of competing against Britain-based Deliveroo and Uber Eats of the United States with a strong presence in important markets such as Britain, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.
If the transaction goes ahead, shareholders in Just Eat would own 52.2 percent of the combined firm which will be based in the Netherlands, while a London stock listing would be maintained.
Shares in FTSE-100 listed Just Eat jumped more than 20 percent when trading began Monday.
The firms said that by becoming one of the world's largest food delivery platforms, with annual orders of around 360 million last year, they would be able to leverage investments, particularly in technology and marketing.
"The key feature of 

Just Eat, Takeaway.com seek to deliver combo deal

Deadly violence marred the start of Afghanistan's election season on the weekend, after President Ashraf Ghani insisted "peace is coming" to the war-torn nation.
At least 20 people were killed and 50 others wounded on Sunday in an attack targeting the Kabul office of Ghani's running mate, Amrullah Saleh.
The violence came on the first day of campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections, serving as a grim reminder of Afghanistan's woeful security situation and the sort of mayhem and murder that have beset previous polls.
The attack began around 4:40 pm (1210 GMT), when a huge blast struck near the office of Green Trend, a youth and reform-focused civil society organisation Saleh heads. He escaped without serious injury, his office said.
The interior ministry said the assault began when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car at the entrance to the building, then three attackers ran inside.
After about six hours the siege ended with all attackers killed and the rescue 

20 dead as violence mars Afghan election season

Asia markets were mostly down Monday, with investors cautious ahead of US-China talks in Shanghai this week and amid more civil unrest in Hong Kong.
Two-day discussions begin on Tuesday with a Washington delegation led by White House Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
But analysts are pessimistic about a resolution to the year-long trade dispute between the world's top two economies that has seen USD 360 billion in tariffs imposed on bilateral trade.
"Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst best describes my view," said Vanguard Markets managing partner Stephen Innes.
"We are not overly optimistic about a positive Shanghai surprise."
Hong Kong was among the biggest downward movers on Tuesday with the Hang Seng falling more than two per cent after a fresh round of violent protests over the weekend, before paring losses to close one per cent lower.
Pro-democracy demonstrators in the financial hub fought a second consecutive day of running battles with police on Sunday ...

Asia markets down as US-China trade talks loom

China's first "cyber-dissident" Huang Qi, whose website reported on sensitive topics including human rights, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for leaking state secrets on Monday, a court said.
He was guilty of "leaking national state secrets and providing state secrets to foreign entities", the statement by the Mianyang Intermediate People's Court said, adding that Huang will be deprived of political rights for four years.

China's first 'cyber-dissident' given 12-year jail term: court

China on Monday said Hong Kong's top priority was to "punish violent and unlawful acts" as Beijing threw its support behind the city's government following another weekend of protests.
The semi-autonomous city must "restore social order as soon as possible", Xu Luying, spokeswoman of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China's State Council, said in a rare press conference on the city's protests.

China says Hong Kong's priority is to 'punish' violence

Russia's jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny might have been exposed to an unidentified "toxic agent," his personal doctor said on Monday, while health officials insisted his condition was satisfactory.
"Some toxic agent may be the reason for Alexei Navalny's 'illness'," his physician Anastasia Vasilyeva said in a post on Facebook, adding that officials at Moscow's hospital No 64, which treated him, have behaved strangely.
On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin's top opponent was rushed from jail to hospital suffering an acute allergic reaction.
Vasilyeva said later Sunday the 43-year-old could have been exposed to an "unknown chemical substance", complaining she was not allowed to properly examine him.
A representative of the hospital told AFP on Monday Navalny was "in a satisfactory condition."
"His body temperature is 36.6C," the representative said, declining to release Navalny's precise diagnosis.
In a new post on Monday, Vasilyeva, who treated Navalny for a serious eye ...

Putin opponent Navalny may have been exposed to 'toxic agent': doctor

French carmaker PSA warned it could shut down a plant in northwest England if the factory becomes unprofitable because of Brexit, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Chief executive Carlos Tavares said the company had an alternative to the Ellesmere Port plant, which employs 1,000 workers making Vauxhall Astra and Opel Astra cars.
"If the conditions are bad and I cannot make it profitable then I have to protect the rest of the company," Tavares was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.  Production could switch to southern Europe, the report said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to lead Britain out of the EU on October 31 even if this means doing so without an overall divorce deal with the European Union.
Supply chains in the automotive industry would be particularly adversely affected in case of a no-deal Brexit because of a sharp increase in trade tariffs.
Some 80 per cent of the vehicles made at PSA's Ellesmere Port plant are exported to the European Union.

PSA threatens to shut down UK plant over Brexit: report

Ryanair saw first-quarter net profits sink by more than a fifth, as it faced headwinds from rising costs, intense competition and Brexit turmoil, the Irish no-frills airline said Monday.
Earnings after taxation slumped 21 per cent to 243 million euros (USD 270 million) in the three months to the end of June compared with the same portion of the previous financial year, Ryanair said in a results statement.
That was in line with company guidance given in May.
Ryanair also reported a 6.0-per cent drop in average air fares as the low-cost short-haul sector faced intense competition, particularly in Germany.
At the same time, the British market has also been plagued by anxiety over Brexit, with the UK set to leave the European Union at the end of October.
"The two weakest markets were Germany, where Lufthansa was allowed to buy Air Berlin and is selling this excess capacity at below cost prices, and the UK where Brexit concerns weigh negatively on consumer confidence and spending," said ...

Ryanair flies into headwinds as profits slide

Cambodia has purchased "tens of thousands" of weapons from China, premier Hun Sen said Monday, providing rare details of arms deals with Beijing just days after denying a secret agreement to allow Chinese warships to use a local naval base.
The Wall Street Journal last week reported on a draft deal letting China access Ream base near Sihanoukville to dock warships and store weapons, apparently confirming months of rumours.
Cambodia tried to knock down the report on Friday by taking dozens of reporters on an unprecedented tour of the base.
Prime Minister Hun Sen repeated the denials in his latest remarks and called the news "slander", but he went into an unusual level of detail about arms sales from its powerful neighbour.
"I ordered the purchase of tens of thousands of additional weapons," he said, without explaining what the country had bought.
"Now they are being shipped."
Hun Sen said USD 40 million had been spent this year on top of a total amount of USD 290 million in previous ...

AFP

AFP

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