Britain's political leaders were to criss-cross the country on Wednesday's final day of general election campaigning as a key poll showed the outcome could be hanging in the balance.
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour main opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were set for whistlestop tours of key battleground seats in a frantic last push for votes.
Thursday's snap general election was called in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock that has gripped Britain ever since the seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU.
After struggling to lead a minority administration, Johnson is hoping to secure a majority government that will enable him to take Britain out of the European Union on January 31.
His centre-right Conservatives have been consistently ahead in the opinion polls but YouGov's final survey of the campaign predicted they were set only for a narrow majority -- with the race tightening.
The pollsters' seat projection put the Conservatives on course for a relatively ...

Final push in Britain's Brexit election

PTI Automatic

Fresh from securing their place in the last 16 of the Champions League, Liverpool's involvement in the Club World Cup does not begin until next week but the fight for the right to face Jurgen Klopp's men in Qatar starts on Wednesday.
Competing as champions of the host country, Qatar's Al-Sadd -- coached by Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez -- entertain minnows Hienghene Sport of New Caledonia in the tournament's opening game at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
The winner of that game will advance to a tie against Mexico's Monterrey, the CONCACAF Champions League winners, on Saturday. Whoever emerges from that match will then be able to look forward to a plum semi-final against Liverpool on December 18.
While Al-Sadd have a world famous coach and some notable players -- former Atletico Madrid captain Gabi and the Algeria striker Baghdad Bounedjah -- the story of Hienghene Sport is a remarkable one.
The amateur side from the French overseas territory are in Qatar, and dreaming of taking on ...

Minnows dream of date with Liverpool at Club World Cup

Leeds United scored twice late on to beat Yorkshire rivals Hull 2-0 as they returned to the top of the English Championship table with a seventh successive league win.
The Whites have now gone 10 games unbeaten in total, with their veteran manager Marcelo Bielsa looking to lead Leeds, a fallen giant of the English game, back into the Premier League for the first time since the 2003/04 season.
Only the top two sides at the end of the regular campaign are assured of promotion into English football's lucrative top flight but Leeds' latest win put them 11 points clear of third-place Fulham.
They had to work hard for victory over Hull on Tuesday, however, and it wasn't until Jordy de Wijs put through his own net 16 minutes from time that the deadlock was broken at Elland Road.
But Leeds soon made sure of victory when, following a swift counter-attack after a Hull corner, Ezgjan Alioski followed up to score after Patrick Bamford had hit the post.
West Bromwich Albion, however, will have the 

Leeds win seventh in a row to regain Championship lead

Holders Liverpool safely negotiated trip to Salzburg to take their place in the last 16 of this season's UEFA Champions League while Chelsea are also through, but Ajax suffered a shock group-stage exit.
Six clubs secured spots in the draw for the first knockout round in their final group games on Tuesday, with Ajax and Inter Milan the big names to miss out.
Jurgen Klopp's side just needed to draw in Austria to keep alive their bid to retain the European Cup, and they duly beat Salzburg 2-0 thanks to two goals in two second-half minutes, by Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah.
Keita headed in Sadio Mane's cross against his former club to put Liverpool ahead in the 57th minute, and Salah then rounded goalkeeper Cican Stankovic to score from an improbably tight angle.
The result allowed Liverpool to progress as Group E winners, with Napoli going through in second place, while Salzburg are out and drop into the Europa League instead.
"What a team," Klopp told BT Sport. "What an effort. It was a .

Liverpool, Chelsea through to Champions League last 16 as Ajax go out

Carlo Ancelotti has been sacked by Napoli despite taking the Serie A side to the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday with a 4-0 win over Genk.
"Napoli has decided to relieve Carlo Ancelotti of his role as first team coach," the Italian side said in a statement.
Tuesday's win over Genk, which saw Napoli finish second in Group E, one point behind Liverpool, broke a nine-match winless run that came amid dressing room unrest and friction between the club, Ancelotti and the players.
Former AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso is the favourite to take over at Napoli, who finished second behind champions Juventus last season but are miles off the pace this year.
They sit seventh in the Italian top flight on 21 points, a whopping 17 points behind league leaders Inter Milan and more worryingly eight behind fourth-placed Cagliari, who hold the final spot for next season's Champions League.
On Monday Ancelotti told reporters that "a coach's suitcase is always ready" ahead of Tuesday's match, .

Ancelotti sacked despite guiding Napoli to Champions League last 16

Teenage prodigy Ansu Fati became the youngest player to score a Champions League goal as a second-string Barcelona side beat Inter Milan 2-1 to send the Italians crashing out of the competition.
The 17-year-old Guinea-Bissau-born attacker picked up a Luis Suarez cross to fire home four minutes from time on Tuesday and become the youngest player to score in the Champions League.
Barcelona were already through to the knockout stages as Group F winners and they left six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi at home.
But Serie A leaders Inter needed a win over the La Liga leaders or to match Borussia Dortmund's result at home to Slavia Prague to qualify on their superior head-to-head record.
Instead the Germans made it through to the knockout rounds with a 2-1 win to finish three points ahead of third-placed Inter, who go into the Europa League.
"Seeing replays of Fati's goal hurt," said Inter coach Antonio Conte.
"It's a goal that cut our legs from under us and killed us from all points ..

Fati makes history as Barca send Inter crashing out of Champions League

Lord's and Hove will stage next year's inaugural finals of English cricket's controversial new Hundred competition, the England and Wales Cricket Board has announced.
Hove, in Sussex, will be the venue for the women's final on August 14, with Lord's, widely regarded as the sport's spiritual home, staging the men's final on August 15.
"'The Home of Cricket' is a great setting for the final of this brand new competition, which will provide MCC the opportunity to welcome many more young people and families into the ground, including the Pavilion, not only for the final but across the group stages with our team, London Spirit," said MCC chief executive Guy Lavender in a statement on Tuesday.
Hove is one of England's leading venues for women's cricket, having been sold out for women's internationals and the Twenty20 Super League finals in recent years.
The Hundred is a new tournament consisting of eight city-based franchise sides, breaking away from the traditional county system.
Teams ...

Lord's and Hove to stage inaugural Hundred finals

The British Olympic Association has said it was dismayed by the decision of a group of athletes to pursue legal action while holding talks regarding the International Olympic Committee's controversial Rule 40.
The regulation restricts the deals athletes can strike for themselves during a specific period in and around the Games, with the aim to protect IOC and national team sponsors from their commercial rivals.
British sprinter Adam Gemili, however, has labelled the rule "ridiculous, unjust and unfair" ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
There are 20 names listed on a legal letter sent to the BOA last month but the governing body on Tuesday said it would contest any action because of its duty to all Olympic sport in Britain.
"The BOA can confirm it has formally responded to the recent legal challenge brought against the BOA's interpretation of the IOC's Rule 40 in the UK," it said in a statement.
The BOA added it had enjoyed a "positive meeting" last week with representatives 

British Olympic Association angered by athletes' legal action

Three soldiers and 14 attackers died in an assault earlier this week on an army camp in western Niger near the border with Mali, the defence minister said.
Heavily armed "terrorists" in a dozen 4x4 vehicles led the attack early Monday morning on the military post in the West African country's Tahoua region, he said.  "After two hours of intense fighting, the vigorous response of our defence and security forces enabled us to repel the attack and push back the assailants," the minister said Tuesday in a statement read on state TV.
"A vehicle packed with explosives was seized" by the army along with weapons and ammunition, he said.
Jihadist militants operate on Niger's northern borders with Mali and Libya, while its southeastern border with Nigeria is plagued by the Boko Haram group.
The statement added that the attackers had fled towards Mali after the battle at the Agando camp, which also left four soldiers and several attackers wounded.
It came as armed men launched an attack Tuesday .

Three soldiers, 14 attackers dead in Niger camp assault

An international panel of experts hired to advise Hong Kong's police watchdog over its handling of huge pro-democracy protests announced Wednesday they were quitting, in a major setback for the city's pro-Beijing government.
The move came a month after a leaked statement from the group revealed they felt the police watchdog was not equipped to carry out a proper investigation, and suggested a fully independent inquiry would be better suited.
On Wednesday, the panel said talks with the Independent Police Complaints Commission had made no headway since that leak.
"As a result, the IEP (Independent Expert Panel) has taken the decision to formally stand aside from its role," the statement said.
The experts also restated the criticisms it had of the police watchdog it was hired to assess.
"We ultimately concluded that a crucial shortfall was evident in the powers, capacity and independent investigative capability of IPCC," the experts said.
One of the core demands of protesters -- ...

Experts quit Hong Kong police probe, in blow to government

Aung San Suu Kyi is set to speak out in Myanmar's defence at the UN's top court on Wednesday, a day after the former democracy icon was urged to "stop the genocide" against Rohingya Muslims.
Once hailed internationally for her defiance of Myanmar's junta, the Nobel peace laureate will this time be on the side of the southeast Asian nation's military when she takes the stand at the International Court of Justice.
The small African state of Gambia has taken Myanmar to court over a bloody 2017 military crackdown in which thousands of people were killed and around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Suu Kyi is expected to tell ICJ judges that Myanmar was conducting legitimate operations against Rohingya militants, that it has carried out its own investigations into the bloodshed and that the court has no jurisdiction in the case.
Huge crowds are expected to turn out in Yangon to watch Suu Kyi speak via livestream amid a groundswell of support in Myanmar, where the woman ...

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to take the stand in genocide case

The Pentagon announced Tuesday it was temporarily suspending operational training for Saudi military students in the United States following a shooting rampage last week by a Saudi air force officer.
Saudi Arabian military students in the United States will continue classroom instruction but operational training is halted pending a security review, senior Defense Department officials said.
Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force, opened fire in a classroom at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida on Friday, killing three American sailors and wounding eight other people before being shot dead by police.
Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist ordered a review to be completed, within 10 days, of policies for screening foreign students.
The suspension of operational training applies to all members of the Saudi military currently undergoing training in the United States.
"The ones that are pilots will be grounded," an official said.
Pentagon ...

Pentagon suspends training of Saudis for security review

An international panel of experts hired to advise Hong Kong's police watchdog over its handling of huge pro-democracy protests announced Wednesday they were quitting, in a major setback for the government.
The move came a month after a leaked statement from the group revealed they felt the city's police watchdog was not equipped to carry out a proper investigation.
Instead they suggested a fully independent inquiry would be better suited for such a large task.
One of the core demands of protesters -- alongside fully free elections -- is an inquiry into the police, who have been left to battle black-clad activists for six months and are now loathed by significant chunks of the deeply polarised population.
But the city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam and the police have repeatedly rejected those calls.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the panel said talks with the Independent Police Complaints Commission had made no headway in the last month.
"As a result, the IEP (Independent ...

International experts say quitting Hong Kong police protest probe

The United States, Mexico and Canada signed a deal Tuesday to finalise their new trade agreement, paving the way to ratification after more than two years of arduous negotiations.
However, the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the US Senate would likely delay Congressional ratification of the trade pact until next year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the new additions to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) -- which notably toughened the deal's labour enforcement provisions -- made it the "best trade agreement in history."
The path to ratification in all three countries now looks clear for USMCA -- first signed in November 2018 to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which President Donald Trump complains has been "a disaster" for the US.
USMCA's ratification initially got bogged down in political complications, particularly in the United States, where opposition ...

US, Mexico, Canada sign deal finalising trade agreement

President Donald Trump warned Moscow against meddling in next year's election, the White House said Tuesday, but Russia's foreign minister denied the issue came up in a Washington meeting that drew controversy for occurring at all.
On the very day that House Democrats unveiled impeachment charges against Trump related to election interference, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Trump behind closed doors at the White House after saying he sought more cooperation.
The White House in a statement said that Trump "warned against any Russian attempts to interfere in United States elections and urged Russia to resolve the conflict with Ukraine."
Speaking to reporters moments afterward, Lavrov said he had not seen the White House account but said: "We haven't even actually discussed elections."
US intelligence found that Russia, among other steps, manipulated social media to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favour.
The mogul-turned-president is fond of denouncing the "Russia hoax" and has ...

Russian FM warned on election meddling but invited by Trump

The world's first fully electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight on Tuesday, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver where tall mountain peaks edge the Pacific Ocean.
"This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work," said Roei Ganzarski, chief executive of Seattle-based engineering firm magniX.
The company designed the plane's motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air, which ferries half a million passengers a year between Vancouver, Whistler ski resort and nearby islands and coastal communities.
Ganzarski said the technology would mean significant cost savings for airlines -- not to mention zero emissions.
"This signifies the start of the electric aviation age," he told reporters.
Civil aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions as people increasingly take to the skies and new technologies have been slow to get off the ground.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation has encouraged greater use of ...

First commercial electric plane takes flight in Canada

New Zealand police defended delays in recovering bodies from the White Island volcano Wednesday, saying it would be "madness" to rush into a landing on the still-smouldering disaster zone.
Monday's explosion at the popular tourist attraction off the North Island coast resulted in six deaths and authorities believe the remains of eight others listed as missing are still on the island.
A total of 47 day-trippers were on the island when the blast occurred, and many survivors suffered serious burns.
Police Minister Stuart Nash said he understood the frustration of family members who wanted their loved ones' remains returned but said recovery teams had no choice but to wait.
Nash said seismologists had predicted there was a 50 per cent chance of another eruption on the island, which sits semi-submerged 50 kilometres (30 miles) out to sea.
He said there were also poisonous gases pouring from the volcanic vent and the eruption had blanketed the island in a thick layer of acidic ash.
"It ...

New Zealand volcano still too dangerous to remove bodies

A shooting in a New York suburb not far from the Statue of Liberty left a police officer dead on Tuesday, and reports said several other people may have been killed during two hours of gunfire.
The local prosecutor said that one officer was killed and three other people -- two of them police -- had been wounded in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York.
NBC and Fox television reported that the death toll may have reached six, including two people suspected of firing on officers from a grocery store.
"We can confirm there's multiple deceased inside the building," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.
Media reports said the Jersey City shooting began when an officer, investigating a homicide, approached the store, which is near a synagogue and a school. Hundreds of rounds were fired in the ensuing shootout.
The incident is the latest high-profile shooting in the United States, where firearms were linked to nearly 40,000 deaths of various kinds in 2017, according ..

Officer among 'multiple' dead in shooting near New York

US authorities arrested three men in an alleged fraud that raised USD 722 million from investors lured by fake bitcoin mining earnings, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
Prosecutors described the scam as a "high-tech Ponzi scheme" run by the "BitClub Network," which took money from investors and rewarded them for recruiting new shareholders.
From April 2014 through December 2019 the group attracted unsuspecting investors using fraudulent earnings purported to come from the network's mining pool, according to the statement.
The scheme was orchestrated from Passaic, New Jersey and constituted a "worldwide fraudulent scheme," according to an indictment signed by US Attorney Craig Carpenito of New Jersey.
In messages with his co-conspirators, defendant Matthew Brent Goettsche referred to investors as "dumb" and said he was "building the whole model on the backs of idiots" as he directed others to manipulate the figures, the Justice Department said.
Defendants "are accused of ...

US arrests three in alleged USD 722 mn cryptocurrency fraud

President Donald Trump renewed his offensive against the US security establishment on Tuesday with a broadside criticizing the "attitude" of FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Trump attacked Wray for defending a Justice Department inspector general report that said there was adequate evidence and no politics behind the FBI's opening of an investigation into Russian interference during Trump's victorious 2016 election campaign.
"With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken," Trump tweeted.
The report, issued on Monday, found there had been numerous procedural errors but said there was no political bias against Trump by law enforcement.
Defending the FBI on Monday, Wray said the investigation had been underpinned by "adequate factual predication." The report starkly contradicted Trump's claims that the investigation -- which grew into a sprawling probe of multi-pronged Kremlin interference operations and Trump's business links with Russia -- was an 

AFP

AFP

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Final push in Britain's Brexit election

Minnows dream of date with Liverpool at Club World Cup

Leeds win seventh in a row to regain Championship lead

Liverpool, Chelsea through to Champions League last 16 as Ajax go out

Ancelotti sacked despite guiding Napoli to Champions League last 16

Fati makes history as Barca send Inter crashing out of Champions League

Lord's and Hove to stage inaugural Hundred finals

British Olympic Association angered by athletes' legal action

Three soldiers, 14 attackers dead in Niger camp assault

Experts quit Hong Kong police probe, in blow to government

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to take the stand in genocide case

Pentagon suspends training of Saudis for security review

International experts say quitting Hong Kong police protest probe

US, Mexico, Canada sign deal finalising trade agreement

Russian FM warned on election meddling but invited by Trump

First commercial electric plane takes flight in Canada

New Zealand volcano still too dangerous to remove bodies

New Zealand volcano still too dangerous to remove bodies

Officer among 'multiple' dead in shooting near New York

US arrests three in alleged USD 722 mn cryptocurrency fraud