Glenn Maxwell says the Australian team felt Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were treated like criminals during the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, and the ordeal left them shellshocked.
Maxwell, who was one of three players rushed out to join the tour before the final Test in Johannesburg after the trio were sent home, said it had been extremely hard for the young squad to witness what happened to their teammates.
It was particularly tough for them to watch the televised emotional apologies from Smith and Bancroft on arrival in Australia, and chaotic scenes when Smith was booed and called a cheat while being escorted through Johannesburg airport.
"I think the way they saw it, it was obviously beaten up a fair bit and they've seen a couple of their mates treated like criminals," he told Melbourne's Radio SEN today.
"That is a hard thing for you to watch as a teammate, and to what they went through, especially Steve Smith at the airport, that was a hard thing for .

Maxwell reveals Aussie anguish at ball trio's treatment

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Russia and Egypt are to resume direct flights today following a more than two-year hiatus after a bomb downed a Russian charter over the Sinai peninsula in 2015.
Moscow officials stopped direct flights citing security concerns after the attack, in a major blow for the Egyptian economy, which relies heavily on tourism and had been a popular destination for Russians.
Today evening an Aeroflot plane is due to take off from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to Cairo, in a first step towards restoring flights to holiday destinations on the Red Sea.
Tomorrow, Egyptair will restart its service between the two capitals, and the two companies will together carry out five return flights between Moscow and Cairo a week.
But the move in itself will not immediately help Egypt's troubled tourism sector, Russian officials have said.
"Tourists do not need direct flights to Cairo. The transfer from Cairo to sea resorts is long and uncomfortable, and no one will be going there in that way," Russian Tourism 

Russia, Egypt resume direct flights two years after attack

Japan's foreign minister was in South Korea for a rare visit today, armed with a list of issues Tokyo wants to push onto the agenda of a looming summit between North and South Korea.
The first such visit in more than two years comes at a time of frenetic diplomatic activity in Northeast Asia, ahead of the North's planned summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.
North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un met Chinese President Xi Jinping in his first overseas trip last month.  Japan has largely remained on the sidelines, with suggestions last month of a third summit between Kim and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly petering out.
Instead, Tokyo has found itself forced to rely on the US and South Korea to tackle its concerns regarding the North, which last year test-fired several missiles that flew over Japan, sparking security concerns.
Tokyo's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said "it is extremely important that Japan, the US and South ..

Japan FM to voice N. Korea concerns in rare Seoul visit

Barcelona skipper Andres Iniesta admitted his crushing disappointment after the Catalans were sent packing from the Champions League by Roma in sensational fashion.
"It is very painful because nobody expected it with the lead we had," Iniesta told Catalunya TV.
"When you do things badly, you commit lots of mistakes and we didn't adapt to the game. It is a massive disappointment given the season we had been having."
Barcelona went to Rome leading 4-1 after the first leg of their quarter-final tie, but a 3-0 loss at the Stadio Olimpico condemned the five-time European champions to a defeat on away goals.
It is their third consecutive exit from the competition in the last eight.  "We always try to give the maximum but we are knocked out and now feel everyone's pain. We had high hopes this season and it has escaped us again," added the 33-year-old, who also acknowledged that the game could have been his last in the competition for Barca amid uncertainty about his future beyond this ...

Iniesta admits 'pain' after Barcelona suffer shock Champions League exit

Roma have their sights on Kiev and the Champions League final after completing a miracle comeback against Barcelona to overhaul a three-goal first-leg deficit and take their place in the competition's last four.
The Italian capital came alive after a magical night at the Stadio Olimpico in which Roma -- fourth in Serie A and fresh from being booed off in a 2-0 defeat against Fiorentina at the weekend -- swept Lionel Messi and co aside in front of a crowd that roared itself hoarse.
Trailing 4-1 after last week's quarter-final, first leg at the Camp Nou, Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas all scored to take them through to the semi-finals on away goals against all the odds last night.
"Perhaps the greatest night in Roma's history," was how daily Il Fatto Quotidiano described the result on Twitter.
Car horns blared and fans poured into the streets across the Eternal City as supporters hailed an incredible result for a success-starved club.
The last time Roma got so far in ...

Roma dreaming of Kiev after magical recovery against Barcelona

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola blasted Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz and lamented a number of decisions that cost his side dear after a 2-1 home defeat by Liverpool sealed a 5-1 aggregate Champions League quarter-final win for the five-time European champions.
Guardiola was forced to watch the second half from the stands after being sent off for his protestations at the break as free-spending City's dreams of conquering the Champions League for the first time were dashed for another season.
City led 1-0 on the night at that stage after Gabriel Jesus's second-minute opener, but the hosts felt aggrieved after Leroy Sane had a second goal wrongly disallowed for offside just before half-time.
"It's different to go in 1-0 at half-time to 2-0," said Guardiola, who also believed Liverpool's opener in a 3-0 first-leg win at Anfield last week should have been ruled out for offside.
"When the teams are so equal the impact of these decisions is so big." Mohamed Salah booked ...

Guardiola sent off as Salah sends Liverpool into semi-finals

Fast bowlers were the winners as Australia's post ball-tampering era began Wednesday with a heavily revamped list of nationally contracted players, minus the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner.
The list of 20 men's players offered deals by Cricket Australia for the 2018-19 season on the basis of their performances over the past 12 months included five first-timers.
Speedsters Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye made the cut, along with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
New Test captain Tim Paine and batsman Shaun Marsh rejoined the list, while spinner Adam Zampa, pacemen Jackson Bird and James Pattinson, all-rounder Hilton Cartwright and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade dropped off.
Chadd Sayers, who has played Test cricket in the past six months, missed out.
The minimum value of a contract for the upcoming season is Aus$286,000 (US$222,000).
With the next World Cup falling within the contract period, selectors placed a strong emphasis on the limited ...

Post tampering era begins with new Australia contracted players

Russia's special envoy on Syria Alexander Lavrentiev visited Iran today for an unannounced meeting, Iranian state media reported, with both sides criticising Western reactions to an alleged chemical attack.
Western countries have accused Syria of launching a chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus on Saturday that killed more than 40 people.
"If there is a claim about the use of chemical weapons, we want this issue to be legally investigated," Hossein Jaberi Ansari, a senior aide in Iran's foreign ministry, said after the meeting according to state news agency IRNA.
Syria and its allies Russia and Iran deny the attack and have called for an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Lavrentiev reportedly held extensive discussions on the situation in Syria with Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme Council on National Security, and other officials.
Ansari said Western powers were using the alleged chemical attack as "an ...

Russia's Syria envoy in Iran for talks on chemical attack

A military court in Egypt today sentenced 36 people to death for their role in several deadly church bombings, their lawyers said.
A string of bomb attacks on Coptic churches in Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta between 2016 and 2017 killed at least 80 people. The bombings were claimed by the Islamic State group.
According to defence lawyers, a total of 48 people appeared before the military court accused of playing a role in the attacks.  Egypt's Coptic minority makes up around 10 percent of its 96-million-strong population, and they have been targeted on numerous occasions by IS.

Egypt court sentences 36 to death for role in church bombings

The United Nations Security Council rejected a Russian-drafted resolution today on investigating chemical weapons use in Syria after Moscow vetoed a competing US-proposed measure.
Six countries including China and Russia backed the measure, while seven nations voted against. Two countries abstained.
A draft resolution requires nine votes to be adopted in the 15-member council and no veto from the five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

UN council rejects Russian measure on Syria chemical weapons probe

The White House today tempered Donald Trump's praise of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's trade comments, saying concrete action was needed before Washington would consider scrapping tariffs against Beijing.
"We're encouraged by the words, but we want to see concrete steps and concrete action," press secretary Sarah Sanders said shortly after Trump praised Xi's "kind words" and "enlightenment."
"We want to see more than just the rhetoric," she added, saying until that happened, tariffs would continue to enter into force.

White House wants 'concrete steps' before scrapping China tariffs

Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg offered an apology to US lawmakers today as he made a long-awaited appearance in a congressional hearing on the hijacking of personal data on millions of users.
Reading from his written testimony, Zuckerberg repeated a statement he had previously made, saying the misuse of data "was my mistake, and I'm sorry."
"It will take some time to work through all of the changes we need to make, but I'm committed to getting it right," Zuckerberg told a Senate hearing.

Zuckerberg tells lawmakers 'I'm sorry' for data abuses

The global chemical weapons watchdog said today it will "shortly" deploy a fact-finding team to the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma to probe an alleged poison gas attack.
Both Syria and its ally Russia have called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate after first responders said more than 40 people died in the suspected chemical arms attack on Douma on Saturday.
"The OPCW technical secretariat has requested the Syrian Arab Republic to make the necessary arrangements for such a deployment," the OPCW said in a statement.
"The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly," it added, saying the OPCW's director general Ahmet Uzumcu wants the team "to establish facts surrounding these allegations."
The OPCW has maintained a presence in Syria since it first set up its fact-finding mission in 2014 following repeated allegations of chemical weapons use.
But the deployment to Douma will be the first time an OPCW team has moved outside Damascus since ..

Watchdog sending team to probe alleged Syria gas attack

US President Donald Trump today seized on seemingly conciliatory remarks from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, praising Beijing's "kind words" as a breakthrough in the looming trade war between the two countries.
"Very thankful for President Xi of China's kind words on tarrifs [sic] and automobile barriers...also, his enlightenment on intellectual property and technology transfers," he tweeted.
"We will make great progress together!" Trump predicted, hailing the speech in which Xi renewed a commitment to lower car import tariffs.

Trump praises Xi's 'kind words,' predicts 'great progress' on trade

Texas will send more than 1,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, in response to President Donald Trump's call for the military deployment to the southern frontier, the state announced Tuesday.
An initial 250 Texas military personnel were sent to the border over the weekend. The Texas Military Department said the initial deployment was command and planning staff, along with support aircraft, vehicles and other equipment.
The department announced Tuesday it would activate 300 reserve troops this week, and each of the following weeks, for a total of more than 1,000 troops.
"The number of people coming across the border has increased more than 200 percent over this time last year," Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.
"The addition of National Guard on the border has proven to have a meaningful impact to reduce the flow of people and illegal activities coming across the border."
Texas already had approximately 100 troops at the border prior to Trump's request. They were 

More than 1,000 Texas troops headed to Mexico border

French and Saudi companies have signed draft agreements worth a total of USD 18 billion during a trip to Paris by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the French-Saudi business forum said today.
The memoranda of understanding cover sectors including petrochemicals, water treatment, tourism, health, agricultural and cultural activities, business leaders and representatives of both governments said in a statement.

France, Saudi Arabia sign deals worth $18 bn: business forum

The global chemical watchdog said today it will soon deploy a team to the site of an alleged toxic attack in Syria, as the regime in Damascus was on high alert after Western threats of a forceful response.
Warnings from US President Donald Trump there would be a "big price to pay" for the alleged attack have raised the spectre of an American strike on Syria, setting up a potential confrontation with regime backer Russia.
Moscow, which has troops on the ground in Syria, has already warned that US military action would be "very, very dangerous".
After threatening a decision within days, Trump on Tuesday abruptly cancelled his first trip to Latin America in order to oversee Syria developments.
Potentially looking to head off Western military strikes, Syria's foreign ministry said it had invited the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to visit the site of the alleged attack.
"Syria is ready to provide all necessary assistance to the mission," it said.
Several hours 

Chemical watchdog says to deploy to Syria as threats escalate

Malnutrition and anemia far exceed internationally established emergency levels among ethnic minority Rohingya children who have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh, US researchers warned today.
A total of 269 children aged between six months and five years were examined in the Kutupalong refugee camp in October 2017, said researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown since August.
The violence has left a trail of torched villages in its wake, with allegations of murder and rape at the hands of troops and vigilantes.
Myanmar has vehemently denied US and United Nations allegations of ethnic cleansing In the study, 24 pe rcent of children were deemed to have acute malnutrition, as indicated by their height, weight and arm circumference, putting them at increased risk of illness, starvation and death.
Chronic malnutrition was observed in 43 ..

'Emergency' malnutrition in Rohingya refugee kids: study

Israel's Labour party said today it was suspending relations with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of showing hostility to the Jewish community and allowing anti-Semitic statements and actions.
Israeli Labour leader Avi Gabbay sent a letter to Corbyn informing him of the decision. The suspension applies only to Corbyn's office and not the party as a whole, it said.
Both Gabbay and Corbyn are in the opposition in their respective countries.
"It is my responsibility to acknowledge the hostility that you have shown to the Jewish community and the anti-Semitic statements and actions you have allowed as leader of the Labour Party UK," Gabbay wrote.
"This is in addition to your very public hatred of the policies of the government of the state of Israel, many of which regard the security of our citizens and actions of our soldiers -- policies where the opposition and coalition in Israel are aligned."
Allegations of anti-Semitism have been a problem for veteran socialist ...

Israel Labour party suspends ties with Corbyn over 'anti-Semitism'

The UN Security Council will vote Tuesday on rival US and Russian drafts resolutions in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, diplomats said.
Russia has presented two proposals on chemical weapons use in Syria while the United States has put forward its own draft resolution setting up an inquiry that would identify the perpetrators.
The vote is scheduled for 3 pm (1900 GMT).

UN Security Council to vote on rival US, Russia drafts on Syria

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May have not been invited to the wedding of Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle, British media reported today.
Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for Kensington Palace, the prince's official residence, said: "It has been decided that an official list of political leaders -- both UK and international -- is not required for Prince Harry and Ms Markle's wedding".
Then prime minister David Cameron was invited to the 2011 wedding of Harry's brother Prince William, who is second in line to the throne after their father Prince Charles.
Harry's place in the line of succession makes this wedding less politically significant and the couple have instead invited youth workers and military veterans to attend.
Harry is fifth in line to the throne and will soon find himself in sixth place after William's wife Kate gives birth as expected later this month.
Kensington Palace also said on Tuesday that 2,640 people would be invited on the day 

AFP

AFP

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