Naomi Osaka poked fun on Sunday at a Japanese comedy duo's reported comments that the Japanese and Haitian tennis star needed to pick up some "bleach."
The relatively unknown female comedy pairing "A Masso" reportedly suggested last week Osaka needed "bleach," and said the 21-year-old former world number one was "too sunburned" during a live performance.
They apologised after the skit referring to Osaka made news.
"'Too sunburned' lol that's wild," Osaka wrote on Twitter.
"I never get sunburned" by using a sunscreen, she added -- naming a local brand.
Osaka is a household name in Japan, where her every move is followed feverishly by local media, particularly when she is in the country of her mother's birth.
She is the face of several leading Japanese brands, including the carrier ANA, and "Naomi-chan" -- as she is affectionately known -- was the main attraction at this month's Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, which she won.
But she has faced controversies over her dual heritage in a nation .

Naomi Osaka pokes fun at Japan comedians' 'bleach' comments

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Pope Francis on Sunday decried "the culture of comfort" that leads to indifference in the face of a global migration and refugee crisis.
The pope who has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy spoke during a Mass for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees.
"We cannot be indifferent to the tragedy of old and new forms of poverty, to the bleak isolation, contempt and discrimination experienced by those who do not belong to 'our group,'" Francis said.
"We cannot remain insensitive, our hearts deadened, before the misery of so many innocent people. We must not fail to weep. We must not fail to respond."
The pontiff has often spoken of the need to be welcoming to migrants, travelling to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013 on his first trip as pope to comfort refugees.
His message found political resistance in Italy's previous populist government, during which the former hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, campaigned to prevent the arrival in Italy of migrants ...

Pope decries world's indifference to migrants and refugees

He was accused of calling his female co-workers "whores," grabbing one woman's head and forcing it between his legs, threatening another with sexual assault and exposing himself in the office.
Now, more than a year after he was suspended, Chad Dominie may be returning to work as an administrative assistant for New York's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities after an arbitrator rejected the state's attempt to fire him.
Harassment victims and their advocates say his reinstatement would be another example of how the state is failing to protect government workers from toxic workplaces.
The state's protections for workers accused of misconduct are so strong, they say, it can make it difficult to fire men accused of grotesque abuses.
State laws designed to protect workers from harassment aren't effective if the state doesn't follow through in disciplining the employees responsible, said Mary Tromblee, a nurse who was one of the women who accused Dominie, said "Gov Cuomo keeps ..

State protects abusers, women harassed in public jobs say

A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has admitted that removing Mickey Arthur as head coach of the national team was a tough decision to make.
Arthur has recently spoken about the manner in which PCB's cricket committee recommended his removal after the World Cup, saying he felt let down by people he trusted most.
PCB's chief executive Wasim Khan said in an interview on Sunday that the cricket committee, which was headed by him and included Wasim Akram and Misbah-ul-Haq, had held a robust meeting and asked a lot of tough questions to Arthur, captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and former chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq during the post-World Cup inquiry.
"The first question we asked ourselves was were we happy to be number seven in Tests and number six in One-dayers. Are we happy that we have been inconsistent over a long period of time," Khan said.
"In Mickey's defence, he did a lot of good things for Pakistan cricket. But we had to make a tough decision, it's is a new regime, new ...

Removing Arthur as coach was a tough decision: PCB top official

Joe Biden is running for president to help "restore the soul" of the US, to rebuild its backbone and to unify the country, an Indian-American Democratic party supporter has said at a fundraiser organised for the former vice president.
Biden's wife Jill attended the fundraiser in Fremont, California and addressed a small group of Indian-Americans who gathered to raise funds for the presidential campaign of Biden.
"Joe Biden is running for president to help restore the soul of this great nation, to rebuild the backbone of the United States and to unify the country," said entrepreneur and Democratic political activist Ajay Jain Bhutoria who hosted the event at his house.
"Along with his experience, stability, measured analysis and response, Biden will additionally bring dignified leadership at home and a respected leadership on the world stage," said Bhutoria.
In her brief remarks, Jill spoke at length about being on the campaign trail and people urging her to convince her husband to run 

Group of Indian Americans hold fu

The Indian football team lifted the SAFF U-18 Championship for the first time when they defeated Bangladesh 2-1 in the title clash here on Sunday.
India surged ahead as early as the 2nd minute when Vikram Partap Singh sped past his marker and banged it in. The match-winner came in injury time when the nippy Ravi Bahadur Rana scored off a screamer from about 30 yards.
Yeasin Arafat reduced the margin for Bangladesh in the 40th minute.
"I had maintained that it will take a moment of brilliance to end this SAFF Championship, and it was fitting that Ravi finished if off with a wonderful strike," head coach Floyd Pinto stated moments after the final whistle.
"We were not just the best footballing team in the tournament, but also the most effective team. I am really happy for the boys. They earned it," he added.
"The sacrifices, and the commitment of the boys was exemplary."
India's Ninthoinganba Meetei was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
All India Football Federation ..

India U-18 claim maiden SAFF title

An airstrike by US-led forces overnight in eastern Afghanistan killed at least five civilians, local villagers said Sunday.
The villagers carried the bodies of the dead to the province's capital of Ghazni, chanting, "Death to Ashraf Ghani, death to America."
The day before, President Ashraf Ghani had called on Afghans to participate in presidential elections, despite widespread violence and political uncertainty following the collapse of US-Taliban peace talks earlier this month to end America's longest war.
Ahmad Khan Serat, spokesman for Ghazni province's police chief, said dozens of people marched from the Khoja Omari district to bring the five bodies to local authorities in the regional capital.
Shakaruddin Khan, who lost a son and a brother in the attack, described a drone attack the previous night. Five civilians were immediately killed, he said, with another dying in hospital from wounds soon after.
The US military in Kabul confirmed Sunday that airstrikes in the nearby Khoja ..

Afghan protesters claim US strikes kill 5 civilians in east

Hundreds of Lebanese protested Sunday in the country's capital and other areas over an economic crisis that worsened over the past two weeks, with worries over dollar-reliant Lebanon's local currency losing value for the first time in more than two decades.
Lebanon is facing a deep-running fiscal crisis as it staggers under one of the highest debt ratios in the world, at USD 86 billion or more than 150 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.
Many of Sunday's protesters in downtown Beirut blamed Lebanese political leaders for the widespread mismanagement and corruption.
The protesters gathered shortly before noon in the central Martyrs Square, then marched toward the government headquarters were riot police were deployed.
"The people want to bring down the regime," some of the protesters chanted as riot police stopped them from marching toward the government headquarters.
The slogan echoed that of the so-called Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
Other protesters chanted ...

Protests in Lebanon's capital over worsening economic crisis

In an unprecedented performance by an Indian, young Jehan Daruvala finished second runner up at the FIA F3 Championship, which concluded with the Russian Grand Prix here.
This is the best championship position ever by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series.
The 20-year-old has been consistently quick throughout the season in arguably the most competitive F1 feeder series. He kicked off his season overcoming clutch issues in race 1 and winning race 2 at the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
The former second runner up in the World Karting Championship proved his class once again by winning the first race of the second round at the French Grand Prix. He completed a hat-trick of podiums in the very next race.
Jehan eventually capped off the best season ever by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series, with a total of seven podiums in addition to two fastest laps and a pole position.
He has qualified in the top four in every round, except for Hungary where he was caught in traffic. The ...

Jehan finishes 3rd at FIA F3 Championship

Britain's senior-most Indian-origin Cabinet minister, Priti Patel, on Sunday ruled out the prospect of British Islamic State (ISIS) recruit Shamima Begum returning to the UK under her watch as home secretary.
Begum, who was 15-years-old when she secretly fled her home in east London, in 2015 to join the terrorist group is now living in a camp run by Kurdish forces in Northern Syria.
She has repeatedly begged British authorities to permit her to return, even if that meant imprisonment in a UK jail.
Our job is to keep our country safe. We don't need people who have done harm and left our country to be part of a death cult and to perpetrate that ideology, Patel told The Sun on Sunday'.
We cannot have people who would do us harm allowed to enter our country  and that includes this woman, she said, in reference to Begum.
Under British law a person can have their citizenship revoked but they cannot be made stateless.
Patel's predecessor, British Pakistani Sajid Javid, had withdrawn Begum's .

Priti Patel rules out prospect of ISIS bride returning to UK

Presidential elections are over, and Afghanistan now faces a period of uncertainty and possible political chaos.
Saturday's vote was marred by violence, Taliban threats and widespread allegations of mismanagement and abuse.
It was the fourth time Afghans have gone to the polls to elect a president since 2001 when the US-led coalition ousted a regressive Taliban regime.
The latest election seems unlikely to bring the peace sought by Afghans, tired of an increasingly brutal war, or an easy exit for the United States, seeking to end its longest military engagement.
The preliminary vote count won't be known before October 17 and the final tally on November 7.
If there is no clear winner, a second round of voting will be held.
Initial estimates and observations at polling stations suggest a light turnout among 9.6 million eligible voters.
Afghanistan's National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib said that those who turned up at polling stations "risked their lives to show that they want to ..

With vote over, Afghanistan faces possible political chaos

The CW is developing a female-fronted "Arrow" spin-off, the network has announced.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new project will focus on three of its female characters: Mia Smoak/Green Arrow and the Canaries (Katherine McNamara), Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy).
The spin-off is set to air as a backdoor pilot in the 10-episode final season of "Arrow", which airs October 15.
Showrunner Beth Schwartz, Marc Guggenheim, Jill Blankenship and Oscar Balderrama are co-writing the episode.
The quartet will serve as executive producers along with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti Productions, which produces all of The CW's DC Comics series in association with Warner Bros TV.
The CW president Mark Pedowitz hinted at another spin-off in the "Arrow"-verse, which includes "The Flash", "Legends of Tomorrow", "Supergirl" and the soon-to-debut "Batwoman", featuring Ruby Rose.

Female-led 'Arrow' spin-off in works

Indian coaches from Bangladesh's women's cricket staff will not travel to Pakistan for the international series next month amid political tensions between the neighbouring nuclear rivals, the country's Cricket Board said Sunday.
Tensions are heightened between India and Pakistan after New Delhi revoked the autonomy of restive Kashmir in early August, which was the country's only Muslim-majority state.
The women's team are due to play Pakistan from October 26 to November 4 in three Twenty20 internationals and two one-day internationals at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
The tour is still subject to security checks by Bangladesh's government before it can take place.
The governing body's chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told AFP that if it goes ahead, head coach Anju Jain, assistant coach Devika Palshikar, and trainer Kavita Pandey will not accompany the side in Pakistan.
But they will travel with the Bangladesh team when they play the ACC Emerging Women's Asia Cup in Sri Lanka from ...

Indian coaches of Bangladesh women's team won't travel to Pakistan: BCB

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly apologised to Queen Elizabeth II over the Supreme Court verdict earlier this week against his decision to prorogue Parliament.
Johnson telephoned the Queen on Tuesday after the UK Supreme Court ruled that he had been unlawful to suspend Parliament for five weeks, The Sunday Times reported.
A No 10 Downing Street source told the newspaper: He got on to the Queen as quickly as possible to say how sorry he was.
The Supreme Court rebuke has reportedly led to a breakdown of trust between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.
They are not impressed by what is going on  at the very highest levels of the family, a government source was quoted as saying.
A royal source claims that the Queen's senior advisers are fed up.
A palace official revealed that Johnson is now as distrusted as former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had revealed details of his conversations with the Queen while promoting his memoir in a breach of protocol.
It's 

Boris Johnson apologised to the Queen over Parliament suspension

A parade Tuesday by China's secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.
The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party's 70th anniversary in power.
Others include a supersonic drone and a robot submarine. The parade will highlight Beijing's ambition to enforce claims to Taiwan, the South China Sea and other disputed territories  and to challenge Washington as the region's dominant force.
The People's Liberation Army, the world's biggest military with 2 million men and women in uniform and the second-highest annual spending after the United States, also is working on fighter planes, the first Chinese-built aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarines.
"There are quite a lot of ...

Chinese parade a glimpse into military ambitions

Prominent Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah was detained Sunday morning beyond his overnight probation, his family and a judicial official said.
"We don't know where Alaa is... The police station says he's most probably at state security prosecution... we seriously don't have any information about him," his sister Mona Seif, also a well-known activist, said on Twitter early Sunday.
Abdel Fattah, 37, is serving five years of probation after completing a five-year jail sentence in March for staging a protest against a 2013 law effectively banning public gatherings.
His probation requires him to report to a police station near his home in Cairo at 6:00 PM every evening, and stay overnight in a cell until 6:00 AM.
On Sunday morning however he was not released.
Officers denied his mother Laila Soueif access to the police station and refused to say why he was not released.
The activist and computer programmer's whereabouts remain unknown and no word has been given on when he might appear 

Prominent Egyptian dissident detained

Fierce clashes broke out between protesters and riot police in Hong Kong on Sunday as thousands marched through the strife-torn city, during a day of global protests aimed at casting a shadow over communist China's upcoming 70th birthday.
Beijing is preparing for huge, tightly-choreographed festivities from Tuesday to mark the founding of the People's Republic of China, including a huge military parade that will revel in the country's emergence as a global superpower.
But ongoing unrest in Hong Kong threatens to upstage those celebrations as the semi-autonomous city boils with public anger over the erosion of its special freedoms under Beijing's rule.
Democracy activists in the financial hub had vowed to ramp up their nearly four-month-long campaign ahead of Tuesday's National Day celebrations, which Hong Kong protesters have dubbed a "Day of Grief".
Sunday witnessed the most intense clashes in weeks as police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons at multiple locations ...

Intense Hong Kong clashes ahead of China's 70th anniversary

The UN refugee agency says Libya's coast guard has rescued about 70 Europe-bound migrants after days in distress in the Mediterranean Sea.
The UNHCR says Sunday the people have disembarked back in Libya.
The previous day, it said a boat carrying at least 50 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean.
Coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said the shipwreck took place off the western city of Misrata, 187 kilometers (116 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.
Alarm Phone, an independent support group for people crossing the Mediterranean, said Saturday a second boat for migrants was in distress, with "about 56 lives at risk."
Libya became a major conduit for African migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe after the uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

UN says Libya's coast guard rescued 70 Europe-bound migrants

Lt Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal put the Sikh imperative of selfless service on display for all and touched a nation with his example, a senior US official has said, amid an unbridled outpouring of grief from many Americans over the gruesome killing of the first Indian-American police officer in Texas.
Dhaliwal, 42, who made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job in the US state of Texas, was gunned down while conducting a mid-day traffic stop in northwest of Houston on Friday.
Family, friends and strangers prayed on Saturday at Dhaliwal's memorial off Willancy Lane in northwest Harris County.
Dhaliwal's youngest sister Ranjeet Kaur joined the crowd and lit a candle for her brother. She remembered a man who loved his job.
"He was a really great person. He didn't deserve all this. He was a great person. He helped everybody. He never said no. He does as much as he can. I think this was the wrong time and the wrong place," Kaur was quoted as saying ..

Americans mourn trailblazing Indian-American Sikh police officer

At Kostas Mouhtaridis' silk factory in Soufli, the non-stop "clunk-click" of the weaving machinery is a loud but welcome sound.
The factory is a few hundred meters from the Evros River, which forms Greece's natural border with Turkey. It is one of Europe's most heavily militarised areas, patrolled constantly to deter illegal immigration into the European Union.
Soufli, a once-booming silk factory town in Greece's remote northeastern Thrace region, saw its centuries-old tradition of silkworm rearing, weaving and dying nearly snuffed out during Greece's decade-long financial crisis.
The town had already suffered a heavy blow when cheaper Chinese and Indian silk flooded the market in the 1990s. The companies that managed to survive then were later finished off during the financial crisis that erupted in 2008.
By 2012, there were only two silk makers left in the town, eking out an existence by supplying small home furnishing stores.
Yet seven years later, Mouhtaridis has few complaints. ..

Greek fashion firms revitalize centuries-old silk tradition

The planet is heating. Island nations are slipping away. A Pakistan-India nuclear war could be a "bloodbath."
Governments aren't working together like they used to. Polarisation is tearing us apart. Killing. Migration. Poverty. Corruption. Inequality. Sovereignty violations. Helplessness. Hopelessness.
"The problems of our times are extraordinary," Ibraham Mohamed Solih, president of the Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation threatened by the rising waters of climate change, said at the UN General Assembly a few days ago.
There are those mornings when you come into work and everyone seems cranky. That's how it felt at the United Nations this past week during the annual gathering of world leaders. Speech after gloomy speech by leaders from all corners of the planet pointed toward one bleaker-than-thou conclusion: Humanity clearly needs a spa day.
The United Nations was founded in an optimistic fervour after World War II's devastation, on the notion that a cooperative body of ...

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