Galen Rupp stormed to victory at the United States marathon trials to book his fourth consecutive ticket to the Olympic Games.
The 33-year-old distance runner, the protege of banned coach Alberto Salazar, powered home in 2hr 9min 20sec in blustery conditions in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jacob Riley claimed second place 2:10:02 while the 43-year-old Abdi Abdirahman took third to qualify for Tokyo.
The Somalia-born Abdirahman will be competing in his fifth Olympics after first competing in the 10,000m at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Rupp, a marathon bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics and a silver medallist in the 10,000m at the 2012 Games in London, has been troubled by Achilles and foot injuries in recent seasons.
He underwent surgery in 2018 and last year suffered a blow when long-time coach Salazar was given a four-year ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency for doping offenses.
Rupp, who is now coached by Mike Smith, has never failed a doping test and has repeatedly denied using ...

Rupp wins US marathon trials to secure Tokyo ticket

PTI Automatic

More than a dozen crew members of a cargo ship are missing after it collided with a fishing boat in waters off northern Japan, a coast guard official said Sunday.
The 1,989-tonne Belize-flagged cargo ship Guoxing 1 was carrying some 3,000 tonnes of iron scrap and rapidly took in water after the hit, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Tomoyuki Hanzawa told AFP.
The collision between the Guoxing 1 and a 138-tonne Japanese fishing boat happened around 10 pm (1300) GMT Saturday and the cause is unknown, he added.
The Guoxing 1 had a crew of 14 Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, of which 13 are still missing and the coast guard is searching for them, Hanzawa said.
One Vietnamese crew member was rescued by a nearby ship, while the 15 Japanese crew members of the fishing boat are safe.

13 missing off Japan after cargo ship, fishing boat collide

Former US vice president Joe Biden won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary on Saturday, defeating frontrunner Bernie Sanders, networks projected.
All of the major networks projected Biden as the winner of the contest just minutes after polls closed in the state at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT).
A South Carolina win is a major boost for the Biden campaign and revives his hopes of challenging Sanders for the Democratic nomination and the right to face Donald Trump in November's presidential election.

Former VP Biden wins South Carolina primary: Networks

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday threatened to let thousands of refugees cross into Europe and warned that Damascus would "pay a price" after dozens of Turkish troops were killed inside Syria.
Around 13,000 migrants have gathered along the Turkish-Greek border, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said late Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Greek police clashed with several thousand migrants, as they hurled rocks at security forces firing tear gas across the frontier.
Turkey and Russia meanwhile, who back opposing forces in the Syria conflict, held talks to defuse tensions after an air strike killed the Turkish troops, sparking fears of a broader war and a new migration crisis for Europe.
But Erdogan said he would let refugees travel to Europe from NATO-member Turkey.
"What did we do yesterday? We opened the doors," Erdogan said in Istanbul.
"We will not close those doors.... Why? Because the European Union (EU) should keep its promises."
He was referring .

Turkey raises migrant pressure on Europe over Syria conflict

The top prize at the Berlin film festival was won Saturday by "There is no evil" by Mohammad Rasoulof, an Iranian director who is currently unable to leave his home country.
"I wish Mohammad could be here himself, but unfortunately he is not allowed to leave the country. I would like to thank the amazing cast and crew who, put their lives in danger to be on this film," said producer Farzad Pak, accepting the film on Rasoulof's behalf.

'There is no evil' by Iran's Rasoulof wins Berlin filmfest top prize

US President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed the signing of a historic deal with the Taliban that Washington hopes will mark the beginning of the end of its longest war, and said he would meet Taliban leaders "in the not so distant future."
The US leader said he believed the Taliban were ready for peace but warned that should the deal fail to take hold, "we'll go back.

Trump says will soon meet 'personally' with Taliban leaders

The first death from the novel coronavirus has been confirmed on US soil, in Washington state, health officials said Saturday, after the first four cases of unknown origin were detected, indicating the disease was spreading in the country.
The fatality occurred in King county, the most populous in the state and home to Seattle, a city of more than 700,000 people. The victim was not immediately identified.
US President Donald Trump said he would address the media about the "latest coronavirus developments" at 1:30 pm Eastern time (1830 GMT).

First coronavirus death on US soil in Washington state: official

The number of cases of the new coronavirus in Italy has exceeded 1,000, the health ministry said Saturday, with the death toll rising by eight to 29 in the past 24 hours.
The number of cases reached 1,128 since the start of the epidemic, up from 888 on Friday, although 52 per cent of those tested show few to no symptoms, the Italian health authorities said.

Coronavirus cases exceed 1,000 in Italy, death toll at 29: official

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran, believes she has contracted the new coronavirus as Iran struggles to contain a surge in new cases, her husband said on Saturday.
The 41-year-old detainee complained that prison authorities are refusing to test her for the COVID-19 virus, despite suffering from a worsening "strange cold", according to spouse Richard Ratcliffe.
"I am not good. I feel very bad in fact," Zaghari-Ratcliffe told her husband in a phone call Saturday from the prison, he revealed in a statement.
"For a long time this has not felt like a normal cold," she added, noting her symptoms included a sore throat, fever and difficulty breathing.
"I know I need to get medicine to get better. This does not go magically."
Ratcliffe urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ensure that his wife is tested immediately, and that British-Iranians "held hostage in Evin Prison are diplomatically protected".
His appeal comes as Iran on Saturday reported a ...

Jailed UK-Iranian woman fears she has coronavirus: husband

World football's rule-making body has given the go-ahead to trials for concussion substitutes which could take place at this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The International Football Association Board, at its annual general meeting in Belfast on Saturday, said more research was needed before a permanent change was made to the laws of the game.
IFAB is considered the independent guardian of the laws of football.
Officials, in a statement issued after the meeting, paved the way for trials, with football one of several sports increasingly concerned by the impact of head injuries.
"The International Football Association Board (The IFAB)... agreed to draw up protocols to be used in trials for substitutions in cases of concussion," the statement said.
"The IFAB also agreed that more research data is required before proposing possible changes to the Laws of the Game.
It added: "FIFA (football's global governing body) indicated a strong interest in having trials at the men's and women's ...

IFAB approves concussion substitute trial for football

The Paris half-marathon, which was scheduled for Sunday with 44,000 registered runners, has been cancelled over fears of coronavirus, officials said Saturday.
The announcement came after the French government ordered the cancellation of "gatherings of more than 5,000 people" in enclosed areas as well as some external events.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said the cancellations of external events would affect gatherings in open areas where there would be "intermingling with populations from areas affected by the virus".
The weekend programme of French Ligue 1 football matches is unaffected and will go ahead as planned, he said.
The weekend games are not taking place in areas of France most affected by the virus, the Oise region north of Paris and La Balme-de-Sillingy village in the southeastern Haute-Savoie region.
Veran said there were 16 new cases of coronavirus in France, taking to 73 the number of people affected since the end of January. Two people have died, a 60-year-old .

Paris half-marathon cancelled over coronavirus fears

Ethiopia on Saturday expressed "disappointment" with the latest push by the United States to resolve a long-running dispute over a massive dam on the Nile River, suggesting a deal could still be far off.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa, has been a source of tension between Addis Ababa and Cairo since Ethiopia broke ground on it in 2011.
The US Treasury Department stepped in last year to facilitate talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan -- another downstream country -- after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reached out to US President Donald Trump, a close ally.
The process was initially supposed to conclude by mid-January, but officials pushed the deadline to the end of February, only to come up short again.
It is unclear what US mediation has accomplished so far.
Ethiopia opted not to send a delegation to the latest round of talks in Washington this week.
Instead US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held bilateral ...

Ethiopia 'disappointed' with US mediation on Nile dam

Malaysia's political crisis deepened Saturday after 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad rejected a decision by the king to pick his rival as the next prime minister, insisting he had enough backing to return to the role.
Ex-interior minister Muhyiddin Yassin was earlier named for the job by the monarch, who appoints the country's premiers after deciding who has backing from MPs, signalling a defeat for Mahathir and the return of a scandal-plagued party to power.
It capped a week of turmoil that began when Mahathir's "Pact of Hope" alliance collapsed and he resigned as prime minister following a bid by his rivals to form a new government and push out leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim.
Their alliance stormed to a historic victory in 2018 that broke the six-decade stranglehold on power of a corruption-riddled coalition, but it was riven by infighting over who should succeed the world's oldest leader.
The victory of Muhyiddin and his coalition, which is dominated by the country's ethnic Malay ...

Malaysia in crisis as Mahathir rejects new PM

Zinedine Zidane said the Clasico on Sunday will not decide the title race even if Real Madrid lose to Barcelona and fall five points behind them in La Liga.
Yet opposite number Quique Setien believes Barca's two-point cushion at the top makes the match at the Santiago Bernabeu "much more important for Madrid" than his team.
Victory for the Catalans would effectively give them a six-point advantage over Madrid, given what would be a superior head-to-head, with 12 games left to play.
But Zidane insists there would be still be a way back.
"I don't think anyone will lose anything this weekend," he said in a press conference on Saturday.
"There are still 12 games left, we'll still be in the title race regardless of the result. But we're going to try to win, 100 per cent."
Setien, also speaking Saturday, said the pressure was all on Real.
"For Madrid this match is certainly much more important than for us. In relation to their situation in the table, it is a key match, I don't know if it's .

Zidane says Clasico will not decide title, Setien puts pressure on Madrid

A maiden international century by Heinrich Klaasen lifted South Africa after they made a poor start in the first one-day international against Australia at Boland Park on Saturday.
Klaasen hit 123 not out in a South African total of 291 for seven after home captain Quinton de Kock won the toss and decided to bat on an easy-paced pitch in hot, windy weather.
South Africa were 48 for three when Klaasen went to the wicket. He shared stands of 78 for the fourth wicket with Kyle Verreynne, who made 48 on his international debut, and 149 for the fifth wicket with David Miller (64).
Klaasen, 27, was playing in his 15th one-day international. He more than doubled his previous highest score of 59. He faced 114 balls and hit seven fours and three sixes on a day when boundaries were scarce on a large outfield. The rest of the batsmen hit only ten fours and a six.
Pat Cummins was Australia's best bowler, taking three for 45.
Play took place with haze in the air from a nearby bushfire which ...

Klaasen century lifts South Africa against Australia

Afghans expressed unease and cautious hope about a historic deal signed Saturday that aims to have all foreign forces leave Afghanistan within 14 months in exchange for Taliban guarantees, with many people doubting the insurgents' intentions.
The agreement inked in Doha sets out a timetable to end America's longest war, which has cost tens of thousands of lives, in return for a commitment by the Taliban to refuse sanctuary to jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and hold negotiations with the Kabul government.
War-scarred Afghans have long sought an end to the onslaught of bombings and airstrikes over the past 18 years, but as the accord was signed many said they feared what comes next.
"I believe the Americans have been stranded here and with this deal they are looking for a way to flee the country," Kabul shopkeeper Najeeb Haleemi told AFP.
"I am pessimistic about the deal and worried about what will happen after," the 50-year-old added, echoing concerns expressed by others in the ...

Afghans greet US-Taliban deal with unease and optimism

The United States "will not hesitate to nullify" its historic deal with the Taliban if the insurgents renege on their security guarantees and commitment to hold talks with the Afghan government, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Saturday.
His comments came as the US signed an accord with the Taliban in Doha, laying out a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months as it seeks an exit from its longest-ever war.
But on a visit to Kabul, Esper warned that "should the Taliban fail to honour their commitments they will forfeit their chance to sit with fellow Afghans and deliberate on the future of their country."
"Moreover the United States would not hesitate to nullify the agreement," he added.

US 'will not hesitate to nullify' agreement if Taliban break deal: Pentagon chief

The Taliban governed Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, imposing strict Islamic sharia law before being ousted and launching an insurgency.
Here is some background on the movement:
The Taliban originated among young Afghans who studied in Sunni Islamic schools called madrassas in Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation.
They take their name from talib, the Arabic word for student.
In the early 1990s, with Afghanistan in the chaos and corruption of civil war, the Taliban was formed in the southern province of Kandahar under the leadership of one-eyed warrior-cleric Mullah Omar.
Omar, who led them until his death in 2013, was from a stronghold of the powerful Pashtun ethnic group from which come most Taliban fighters.
Haibatullah Akhundzada is now the top leader, while Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar heads the political wing.
Promising to restore order and justice, the Taliban rose dramatically.
They drew substantial support from Pakistan and ...

Afghanistan's Taliban movement

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, following the 9/11 terror attacks, targeted Al-Qaeda in the sanctuaries provided by the then Taliban government.
More than 18 years later, as Washington signed a deal with the Taliban on Saturday in Doha to end America's longest war, here is a timeline of developments:
On October 7, 2001 -- less than a month after the September 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people in the US -- President George W. Bush launches operation "Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan.
The country's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime had been sheltering Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda movement, which carried out the attacks.
The operation opens a military front in the US "war on terrorism".  Within weeks, US-led forces overthrow the Taliban, in power since 1996.
Besides carrying out air strikes, Washington also lends support to the Afghan Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban, contributing paramilitary teams from the CIA and special forces.
About 1,000 American .

Afghanistan: nearly two decades of US intervention

France said Saturday it will cancel all public "gatherings of more than 5,000 people" in closed spaces, as it seeks to curb the spread of coronavirus amid a surge of cases in the country.
The decision followed a special meeting of ministers to discuss the virus, which has infected 73 people in the country, according to Health Minister Olivier Veran.
A half-marathon race scheduled for Sunday in Paris has been cancelled, along with the final day of an agricultural symposium.

France cancels gatherings of more than 5,000 over virus fears

Russia's capital Moscow, which for the past months has largely been deprived of its traditional seasonal covering of snow, has seen its warmest winter since records began, the state weather service said on Saturday.
The head of Russia's forecasting centre Roman Vilfand told the TASS news agency that the average temperature in Russia from December to February has been some 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous record of minus 2.8 degrees seen in the winter of 1960-1961.
He said such differences between records were extremely rare. Records began 140 years ago in Russia.
"I am sure that we are not going to see such a warm winter again for a long time," he said.
He added that the winter record for Russia as a whole would also likely be beaten but said the data was still being compiled.
2019 was also the hottest year ever registered in Russia. Muscovites of the elder generation fondly remember crisper and colder winters from decades back when the parks of the city ..

AFP

AFP

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