Virat Kohli looks to the umpire after he and opposing captain, Australia's Tim Paine came face to face after Kohli moved into Paine's path during play in the second cricket test between Australia and India in Perth | Photo: AP/PTI

After a torrid 12 months marred by the ball-tampering row and poor form without their top stars, Australia ended their summer on a high by emphatically winning two Tests against Sri Lanka.

Ashes 2019: Smith, Warner to play 'huge' part in England, says Tim Paine

Press Trust of India

The wreckage of a plane carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala and his pilot has been found two weeks after it disappeared in the English Channel, one of the investigators said on Monday.
Sala, 28, was flying from France to join his new club, Premier League side Cardiff City, when the light aircraft disappeared on January 21 north of the island of Guernsey.
Shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who was hired by the striker's family after the official rescue effort was called off, said the plane was found on Sunday morning.
"It is broken but most of it is there," he told BBC radio.
Sala's father Horacio spoke of his shock from his home in Progreso, Argentina, telling Cronica TV: "I can't believe it. It's a bad dream." A spokesperson for Britain's official Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) told AFP: "I can confirm it has been found." A further statement is expected later on Monday.
Mearns said his private company, Blue Water Recoveries, had found the wreckage before calling in the 

Footballer Sala's missing plane found: investigators

PTI Automatic

Iran's parliament Monday gave an overwhelming vote of confidence to President Hassan Rouhani's pick as health minister, after his predecessor resigned over budget cuts and criticism of the allocation of state funds.
Saeed Namaki was voted into office with 229 votes out of a total 259. He had been appointed as caretaker by Rouhani after the former minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi resigned on December 3.
Hashemi's resignation letter points at "inconsistencies and not delivering on promises" by the government's planning and budget organisation, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
Namaki had previously served as deputy to Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht, the head of planning and budget organisation. The Rouhani administration and Hashemi had repeatedly been criticised for their allegedly costly plan to reform Iran's healthcare system.
But in his last speech as minister, Hashemi said the reform project had cost a fraction of what was spent on bailing out failed credit institutions.
"The ...

Iran parliament approves new health minister

Five policemen raise their guns and fire dozens of times into a parked car at point-blank range in Pakistan.
Then they reach inside, around the bodies of the dead, to pull out three crying children.
The footage filmed by shocked witnesses to the killing went viral, sending Prime Minister Imran Khan scrambling to quell anger over a police culture of impunity that is now being threatened by social media.
Thousands have been gunned down in recent years across Pakistan in so-called "encounter killings" -- incidents where suspects allegedly resist arrest, are slain, then later identified as terrorists to boost statistics.
This latest "encounter" saw a family gunned down in broad daylight in the eastern city of Sahiwal last month, leaving four people dead including two parents and their teenage daughter.
Three children survived the incident, including nine-year-old Umair Khalil who later told journalists that police shot at the family as their father offered the cops a bribe, pleading to ...

Pakistan police culture of impunity faces trial by social media

A refugee footballer fighting an extradition request appealed for his freedom Monday, pleading "please don't send me to Bahrain" as he arrived in shackles at a Bangkok court, which extended his detention by another two months.
Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee and Australian resident, fears torture and even death if he is returned to his homeland.
Araibi was convicted in absentia on charges of vandalising a police station in Bahrain, but says he was out of the country playing in a match at the time of the alleged offence.
The player has said he believes he is being targeted over his criticism of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a member of Bahrain's ruling family.
Araibi was stopped at Bahrain's request at a Bangkok airport in November when he arrived in Thailand for his honeymoon. He has been held in detention since then as Thai courts decide whether to send him back to the Gulf state.
"Please don't send me to Bahrain," he pleaded .

'Don't send me to Bahrain': refugee footballer pleads in Bangkok

Spain, Britain, France and other EU nations on Monday recognised Venezuela's opposition chief Juan Guaido as interim leader after President Nicolas Maduro defiantly rejected an ultimatum to call snap elections.
Russia, one of the main allies of Maduro's regime, slammed what it dubbed European "interference" in the oil-rich but impoverished Latin American country, saying it was an attempt "to legitimise usurped power."
Already recognised by the United States, Canada, Australia and several Latin American countries, Guaido is trying to force the socialist leader from power so he can set up a transitional government and hold new elections.
After announcing the Spanish government's official recognition of Guaido, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged the 35-year-old National Assembly head to "call elections as soon as possible, elections that have to be free and democratic".
Sanchez added he wanted to spearhead a plan of humanitarian aid for Venezuela in the European Union and United Nations. 

EU nations recognise Guaido as Venezuela leader

Sri Lanka's president resisted calls from the island's Buddhist hierarchy to release a jailed firebrand monk Monday, even as 518 other convicts were released to mark the island nation's Independence Day.
Galagodaatte Gnanasara has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against minority Muslims in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka.
Since December he has been serving concurrent jail sentences over disruptive behaviour in court and intimidating a woman litigant.  Sri Lanka's Buddhist hierarchy had pressed President Maithripala Sirisena to grant an independence day reprieve but this was rejected.
"The Independence Day amnesty applied to those serving short periods of time and only those convicted for minor offences," prisons spokesman Thusahra Upuldeniya said.
An association of lawyers had warned that releasing Gnanasara would amount to a snub of the judiciary.  The monk has denied involvement in anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four people dead.
Gnanasara maintains close ties with ...

Sri Lanka keeps firebrand Buddhist monk behind bars

Iraqi politicians on Monday hit back at Donald Trump after the US president said he plans to keep American forces in the country to spy on Iran.
In an interview with CBS television, Trump reaffirmed his determination to pull the United States out of "endless wars" in Syria and Afghanistan but said American troops would stay on in Iraq, partly "to be looking a little bit at Iran".
"We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it," he said, referring to Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq that he visited in December.
"If somebody is looking to do nuclear weapons or other things, we're going to know it before they do," he said in the interview aired on Sunday.  His comments sparked a new round of demands in Baghdad for US forces to leave the country.
"The Iraqi constitution rejects the use of Iraq as a base for hitting or attacking a neighbouring country," President Barham Saleh said.
Saleh said US forces were in the country legally under an agreement ...

Trump comments spark Iraqi demands for US exit

At least nine people were killed and several wounded when a car loaded with explosives blew up near a mall in a busy market in the Somali capital on Monday, police said.
"The blast occured close to Mogadishu mall and it has caused death and destruction. Nine civilians were confirmed dead and several others are wounded," police officer Ahmed Moalin Ali said.

Nine killed in Somali market car bombing: police

West Indies captain Jason Holder has been suspended for the third and final Test against England due to his team's slow over-rate during their victory in Antigua last week, the ICC announced on Monday.
Cricket's governing body banned Holder, despite the hosts playing four seamers and the regular fall of wickets as England were bowled out for 187 and 132.
The ICC said in a statement that the Windies were two overs short of their target for the match.
Holder was previously found guilty of a slow over-rate during his team's third Test defeat by Sri Lanka last June.
"(Match referee) Jeff Crowe... imposed the suspension on Holder after the Windies were ruled to be two overs short of their target after time allowances were taken into consideration," the ICC said.
The 27-year-old all-rounder, who has taken seven wickets and scored 229 runs in the series so far, was also fined 40 percent of his match fee, while all the other Windies players were fined 20 percent each.
The Windies, who also ...

Windies captain Holder banned for slow over-rate

Britain on Monday recognised Venezuela's opposition chief Juan Guaido as interim leader after President Nicolas Maduro rejected a demand by several European powers for fresh elections.
"UK alongside European allies now recognises @jguaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held. Let's hope this takes us closer to ending humanitarian crisis," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement on Twitter.

UK recognises Venezuela opposition leader as acting president p

A powerful blast rocked a busy market Monday in the Somali capital, which is regularly targeted by Al-Shabaab Islamists, police said.
"There was a strong explosion at the Hamarweyne market," said police officer Ibrahim Mohamed. "We have no details for now but the area where the blast happened is a densely populated market." Mohamed said the market was near Mogadishu's municipality buildings.
The Al-Qaeda affiliated group was largely driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and has lost many of its strongholds. But it retains control of large rural swathes of the country and continues to wage a guerrilla war against the authorities.

Powerful explosion in busy market in Somali capital: police

A major inquiry into scandals in Australia's banking and financial services firms has referred more than 20 cases to regulators for possible prosecution, and called for substantial changes in the sector.
In the findings of its year-long investigation, the Royal Commission called for swathes of rules to be revisited, and for banks to be more heavily regulated or monitored to prevent future misconduct.
"Saying sorry and promising not to do it again has not prevented recurrence," said the inquiry's commissioner, former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne.
"The financial services industry is too important to the economy of the nation to allow what has happened in the past to continue or to happen again." Among the 76 key recommendations were the banning of particularly egregious sales practices in the pension and insurance markets, and structural changes in the mortgage broking sector.
The big banks were sharply criticised, with National Australia Bank's chair Ken Henry and chief executive ...

Inquiry refers scandal-hit Australian banks to watchdogs

Global smartphone sales saw their worst contraction ever in 2018, and the outlook for 2019 isn't much better, new surveys show.
Worldwide handset volumes declined 4.1 percent in 2018 to a total of 1.4 billion units shipped for the full year, according to research firm IDC, which sees a potential for further declines this year.
"Globally the smartphone market is a mess right now," said IDC analyst Ryan Reith.
"Outside of a handful of high-growth markets like India, Indonesia, (South) Korea and Vietnam, we did not see a lot of positive activity in 2018."
Reith said the market has been hit by consumers waiting longer to replace their phones, frustration around the high cost of premium devices, and political and economic uncertainty.
The Chinese market, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of smartphone sales, was especially hard hit with a 10 percent drop, according to IDC's survey, which was released Wednesday.
IDC said the top five smartphone makers have become stronger and now ...

2018 'worst year ever' for smartphone market: survey

US-Taliban talks are "on the right path", special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Thursday, but warned there was more work to be done, adding: "you can't eat an elephant in one bite".
It comes after Khalilzad confirmed to media this week that Washington and the Taliban had a "draft framework" in place for a deal which could pave the way for the insurgents to hold peace talks with Kabul.
The development was described by experts as a "milestone" in the grinding 17-year Afghan conflict, but prompted concerns from Afghans and observers who feared it could see US troops withdraw from the country before a lasting peace deal is reached with the government in Kabul.
"The path to peace doesn't often run in a straight line," Khalilzad tweeted, adding that the situation was "complex".
"We made significant progress on two vital issues: counter terrorism and troop withdrawal.
"That doesn't mean we're done. We're not even finished with these issues yet, and there is still work to be done on other vital 

US-Taliban talks 'on the right path', says US envoy

Bone fragments from one of the biggest mass graves found in Sri Lanka since its civil war ended nearly a decade ago have been sent to the US for analysis, officials said Thursday.
The remains of dozens of men, women and children were found at the site in the northern Mannar district where Tamil guerrillas fought security forces during the conflict.
The fragments were sent with a forensic expert to a Miami-based laboratory this week to determine when those buried had died, a senior official from the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) said.
Establishing a timeframe would point to which forces were in control of the area at the time.
Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces both held the region at different times during the conflict, as did troops from neighbouring India, who were originally deployed as peacekeepers in 1987, but ended up fighting the Tigers until 1990 when they withdrew.
In a statement, the OMP said it expected a report from the US lab by the end of next month.
The mass ...

Sri Lanka sends bone fragments from mass grave for US analysis

Jonny Bairstow was fighting a lone counter-attacking hand as the West Indies fast bowlers again ripped through the England top order with the visitors stumbling to 78 for four at lunch on the opening day of the second Test in Antigua on Thursday.
Put in on a green pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium which challenged the batsmen through pace and variable bounce, Alzarri Joseph took two wickets while Kemar Roach and Jason Holder claimed the others to justify Holder's decision to bowl first on winning the toss.
Pummelled by 381 runs in the first Test a week earlier in Barbados when they were routed by the four-pronged pace attack for 77 in the first innings before the spin of Roston Chase demolished them second time round, England were swiftly forced onto the back foot again with only Bairstow, who blazed his way to an unbeaten 52 off 62 balls with nine fours and one six, offering anything resembling substantial defiance.
The hosts will wrap up a rare Test series victory with a win .

Bairstow hits fifty as England collapse against Windies again

Venezuela's self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido ruled out the possibility of civil war in his country, saying the overwhelming majority of his compatriots wanted Nicolas Maduro to step down.
In an interview to Spain's El Pais newspaper published Thursday, Guaido repeated an appeal to Venezuela's armed forces to take his side.
"The risk of a civil war in Venezuela does not exist, despite what certain people want to believe or want to let us believe. Why? Because 90 per cent of the population wants a change," he said.
But there was "a risk of violence" from Maduro's government, which he said used specialised police forces and "paramilitaries" to quash opponents.
"They have killed dozens of youths in one week. Over 140 in 2017," he said.
Guiado, the head of Venezuela's congress, proclaimed himself interim president on January 23, saying the constitution entitled him to serve as chief of state because Maduro's re-election last May was invalid as his strongest opponents were ...

Guaido rules out risk of civil war in Venezuela

The British government announced Thursday it was scrapping MPs' February holiday in the rush to get ready for Brexit on March 29 but hinted it may need extra time amid chaos and confusion over strategy.
In a rare move, MPs were warned to ditch their holiday plans in order to cram through vital legislation over the next two months as Britain careers towards the EU exit door after 46 years of membership.
British lawmakers have not had their holidays pulled since they were recalled from their 2013 summer break to debate the escalating conflict in Syria.
After two years of tortuous talks following the seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, the two sides still do not have a withdrawal pact agreed - which means Britain could crash out of the bloc in political and economic turmoil.
"We are determined to have everything in place in order for us to leave on March 29 this year," Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman told reporters.
"The fact that recess won't be taking place 

British MPs' break scrapped as Brexit clock ticks down

Sri Lanka has decided against liquidating its national airline and will scout for a foreign investor, a minister said Thursday, despite warnings the loss-making carrier could drag on the economy.
A panel convened by President Maithripala Sirisena to determine the fate of debt-saddled SriLankan Airlines recommended it be retained, but subjected to a major financial restructuring.
The airline is estimated to be carrying loans and accumulated losses of nearly USD 2 billion.
"We have ruled out the closure of the airline because the process of winding down will also be expensive," State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne told reporters in Colombo.
"We have decided to go with the option of financial restructuring with a foreign investment partner."
The airline has two profit-making subsidiaries in catering and ground handling that could go some way to "enhancing the value of the company" through proper restructuring, he said.
Attempts to privatise the airline failed in May 2017 when San 

Sri Lanka rules out scrapping debt-laden national carrier

Arsenal announced the signing of Spain international Denis Suarez on loan for the rest of the season on Thursday's transfer deadline day.
Suarez will link up again with Arsenal boss Unai Emery, with whom he worked during a loan spell at Sevilla in the 2014-15 season.
The 25-year-old has played 71 games for Barcelona, scoring eight goals and once for Spain.
"We are very happy that Denis Suarez is joining us," Emery said on Arsenal's website. "He is a player we know well and I have worked with him at Sevilla.
"He brings us quality and options in many different attacking positions, so he'll be able to help the team."
The Spanish playmaker posted a picture of himself with Barcelona teammates on his personal Twitter account and said: "You're a group of amazing people! Thank you for everything, see you soon. Good luck and Forca Barca."
Arsenal are fourth in the Premier League after beating Cardiff 2-1 on Tuesday.

AFP

AFP

Page 766 - Afp