About 1,000 people arrive in Texas each day, drawn by jobs, newly built homes and other opportunities. But in a state where prolonged drought is a regular occurrence, officials are struggling to ensure they can sate everyone's thirst.
Water experts are trying to determine how "resilient" the state's water infrastructure is in keeping safe drinking water flowing through the taps.
There are indications that the system is more fragile than once thought: After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, more than 200 public water systems shut down or warned customers to boil their tap water.
Months later, 3,700 Texans still lacked access to safe drinking water. Before that storm, 30 towns in 2013 were within six months of running out of water as a drought continued to grip the state.
"The state is growing so fast that we're constantly playing catch-up when it comes to building resilient water supplies," said Robert Mace, executive director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State .

Texas struggles to keep pace as thirst for water intensifies

PTI Automatic

US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China's efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarise man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a "toolkit of coercion," saying activities by Beijing the US perceives as hostile must end.
In his first major speech on the international stage, Shanahan mixed sharp criticism of China and warnings of North Korea's "extraordinary" threat with vows that the US will remain strongly committed to the Indo-Pacific region and is ready to invest billions of dollars in securing its stability.
While he didn't specifically name China in early parts of his speech, he made clear who his target was, making pointed references to Beijing's campaign to put advanced weapons systems on disputed islands in the region.
"If these trends in these behaviours continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful," he said.
His remarks underscore America's 

Defense chief calls out China on tech theft, South China Sea

The US envoy for Afghanistan is travelling to Afghanistan and also Belgium, Germany, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the next two weeks as part of an effort to help end the long-running war.
In Kabul, the State Department says Zalmay Khalilzad will consult with the Afghan government and other Afghans.
He also will continue talks with the Taliban in Doha, where the insurgent movement maintains a political office. The Taliban refuse to negotiate directly with the Kabul government.
At his other stops, Khalilzad will work to build international support for the Afghan peace process.
The talks so far have focused on a timetable for US troop withdrawal as well as Taliban guarantees that they won't harbor terrorist groups or allow Afghanistan to be used as a staging ground for global terror attacks.

US envoy for Afghanistan on 2-week peace mission

Pope Francis braved a rain-soaked, twisting drive through the mountains of Transylvania on Saturday to visit Romania's most famous shrine, urging Romanian and ethnic Hungarian faithful to work together for their future.
Storms forced Francis to change his travel plans and add in a three-hour car ride through the Carpathian mountains that he had planned to traverse via helicopter.
The steady rains doused the estimated 80,000-100,000 people who gathered for the Mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The showers let up as Francis arrived and he made a quick run through the poncho-clad crowds in his popemobile.
But the 82-year-old seemed unsteady after the long trip and held onto the arms of aides as he negotiated a mud-slicked path to get to the altar for Mass.
In his homily, Francis praised the multicultural and multilingual tapestry that makes up Romania and urged its people to put aside past divisions for the sake of "journeying together."
The rights ..

Pope braves rain-soaked mountain roads for Transylvania Mass

UK police have arrested 30 Hells Angels bikers during a three-day event marking the motorcycle club's 50th anniversary in Britain.
Police in Surrey and Sussex say 34 people had been detained on suspicion of drug offences and possession of offensive weapons in connection with the Hells Angels Euro Run 2019.
Police say 12 people  five Germans, three Hungarians, and one person each from Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Greece  have been charged.
Assistant Chief Constable Nev Kemp says authorities have been "very clear with those attending the Hells Angels event, many from overseas, that we will not tolerate criminal and anti-social behaviour."
Some 3,000 bikers are expected to take part in a 22-mile (35-kilometer) mass ride Saturday in southern England from Pease Pottage to Brighton, the highlight of the event.

UK police arrest 34 at Hells Angels 50th anniversary event

Thousands of English football fans draped in their team's colours gathered in Madrid ahead of Saturday's Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham, many still desperately seeking tickets for the match.
In the central Sol square several men held up handmade signs reading "Buy tickets" as chanting supporters from both sides walked past, many carrying beers, with temperatures already approaching 30 degrees centigrade.
Among them was Kemam Kalkavar, a Turkish engineer and lifelong Liverpool fan who flew from Ankara with a group of friends for the match and was willing to pay 5,000 euros ($5,575) for a ticket.
"Watching from inside the stadium is much more exciting. It's worth it," the 50-year-old told AFP.
Spanish police on Friday arrested a Venezuelan woman at Sol square who sold two fake tickets to a Romanian national for 4,200 euros per ticket, a police spokesman said.
The authorities expect around 32,000 ticket-holding fans from both teams will attend the match at the ...

English fans swarm Madrid ahead of Champions League final

New Zealand paceman Matt Henry led an inspired bowling unit to run through Sri Lanka's batting and power the Black Caps to a 10-wicket win in their World Cup opener on Saturday.
Henry returned figures of 3-29 and combined with fellow paceman Lockie Ferguson who also took three wickets to bowl out Sri Lanka for 136 in 29.2 overs in Cardiff.
Martin Guptill and Colin Munro then struck unbeaten half-centuries to make short work of their modest target. The Kiwis cruised home in 16.1 overs to register their third win in a World Cup game by 10 wickets.
The right-left batting combination of Guptill, who hit 73, and Munro, who scored 58, had little trouble in smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground.  Guptill hammered eight fours and two sixes including one hit that sailed out of the ground.
But it was Henry's spell of seven straight overs that opened the gates for New Zealand's domination against the 1996 champions.
Henry stood out in the absence of senior paceman Tim ...

New Zealand thrash Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in World Cup

Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas turned up the heat at Roland Garros on Saturday, booking their places in the last 16, as headline acts Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams waited to join them.
German fifth seed Zverev needed another five-setter to reach the fourth round, defeating Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2.
Zverev, whose best run at a Slam came in Paris last year when he made the quarter-finals, will face Italy's Fabio Fognini for a place in the last-eight.
Zverev, 22, had also needed five sets to defeat Australia's John Millman in the first round.
On Saturday, he hit 18 aces and 52 winners past 30th seed Lajovic, the runner-up to Fognini on Monte Carlo clay in April.
Fognini needed four sets to defeat Spanish 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The 32-year-old Fognini trails Zverev 2-1 in head-to-head meetings but crucially won their most recent meeting in Monte Carlo.
Crowd favourite Tsitsipas became the first Greek ...

Zverev, Tsitsipas into last 16 at sweltering Roland Garros

A 5.3-magnitude quake in southeast Albania Saturday injured four people and damaged houses, local officials said.
Media reports said four people were hurt in Floq, 15 kilometres southeast of the city of Korca, which lies 180 kilometres southeast of the capital Tirana.
Officials in Korca said the quake had damaged around 60 houses.
According to Albania's Institute of Geosciences, it struck at 6:26 am (0426 GMT) and was followed by seven weaker aftershocks.

Albania quake causes injuries, damages houses: officials

Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo: Last Blood" will be hitting the theatres in India on September 20.
The film marks the 72-year-old actor's fifth and final outing as the action character, John Rambo.
Stallone first played the part in 1982's "First Blood", which he followed up with "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985), "Rambo III" (1988) and "Rambo" (2008).
"Last Blood", directed by Adrian Grunberg from a script by Stallone and Matt Cirulnick, will see Rambo living on a ranch in Arizona, deeply troubled and wrestling with PTSD as he picks up casual work wherever he can.
When longtime family friend and estate manager Maria informs the former soldier that her granddaughter has gone missing after crossing into Mexico for a party, he sets off with her to find the youngster.
In pursuit, Rambo uncovers a sex-trafficking ring and teams up with a journalist whose half-sister has also been kidnapped. He must deploy all his skills to save the girls and bring down a vicious crime lord.
The film will ...

Sylvester Stallone's 'Rambo: Last Blood' to release in India on Sept 20

The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over an accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists dead and left 21 missing.
A Budapest court official said the Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn was charged but did not give further details.
The 64-year-old was detained Thursday for questioning "in relation to 'endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths'", a day after his vessel collided with the smaller Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists, causing it to overturn and sank on a busy stretch of the Danube.

Captain charged over deadly Budapest boat accident

At least 38 people were injured in a blast at a major explosives plant in central Russia on Saturday, local news agencies reported, citing emergency services.
The blast took place at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres east of Moscow, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Earlier reports said 19 people were injured in the accident and two were missing.
"Thirty eight people are injured, four of them are in a serious condition," a spokesman for local emergency services told the TASS news agency.
He said 25 are in a state of "medium" severity while nine others had "light" injuries.
Nobody was killed in the blast, the source told TASS.
Earlier health ministry officials told news agencies that the wounded had "shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity" and that they were receiving medical assistance.
The deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Dmitry Krasnov, told Russian state television that "two people are missing."
Russia's Investigative Committee said it had .

Blast at Russian explosives plant injures 38

President Donald Trump's vow to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports risks sabotaging not just his drive to forge more favourable trade deals but also a U.S. economy that he says has strengthened under his watch.
Trump announced Thursday that he would impose a 5 per cent tax on all Mexican imports on June 10  and raise it to 25 per cent by October 1  unless Mexico stopped a surge of Central American migrants into the U.S. That would swell the prices Americans pay for countless items from avocadoes to clothes to medical devices.
His threat, which drew an outcry from a broad span of business groups and political figures, suddenly cast doubt on prospects for a new North American trade agreement.
Trump last year negotiated the deal, formally called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, and billed it a triumph of his economic policymaking.
The USMCA must be approved by lawmakers in all three countries. Yet Mexico is unlikely to ratify the pact if it must cope with a new batch of ...

How Trump's Mexico threat imperils his own economic agenda

Around for 30 years in the professional circuit, Indian tennis star Leander Paes feels "blessed to have such a long career", having won 18 Grand Slam doubles titles and accumulated close to 1000 racquets.
Just two weeks before his 46th birthday, Paes won his opening round men's doubles match alongside France's Benoit Paire at the French Open here.
"I've been around for 30 years, I've been around a long time. I've seen 12 generations. I've seen guys like (Pete) Sampras here, I've seen guys like (Pat) Rafter," Paes said after his French Open first round match.
"Tennis has been a beautiful journey for me, I've been very blessed to have such a long career. Especially here, to win this four times."
Four French Open doubles titles since starting his journey in 1989, Paes' victims have included a young Roger Federer in Indian Wells qualifying.
"I have a collection of close to 1,000 racquets. I have Rod Laver's, I have a lot of the champions' -- Federer, Nadal, (Novak) Djokovic, Andy ...

Blessed to have a long career: Paes

China on Saturday raised tariffs to maximum 25 per cent on USD 60 billion worth of US products, in retaliation to the US raising punitive tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
In May, after the Sino-US trade talks in Washington ended without a deal, the Trump administration imposed additional tariffs on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.
The new tariffs range between 10 per cent and 25 per cent, state-run China Daily said quoting a statement by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.
The list of goods includes beauty products, sports equipment, musical instruments, wine, condoms, diamonds, wood, fabric and toys.
The US-China trade in 2018 totalled USD 659.84 billions, out of which China's exports constituted to about USD 539 billion and US exports about USD 120 billion.
US President Donald Trump is demanding that China reduce the massive trade deficit, which in 2018 increased to over USD 539 billion. He is also pressing for ...

China raises maximum 25% punitive tariffs on USD 60 billion US goods amid escalating tensions

A fire in a shelter for migrants in northwest Bosnia on Saturday left 32 people hurt either from burns or injuries after they jumped from windows to escape the flames, authorities said.
The blaze broke out after dawn in the privately-run facility in the town of Velika Kladusa, said Ale Siljdedic, spokesman for the Bihac regional interior ministry.
"The fire has been put out, 32 migrants have been injured," some of them after jumping from the second floor, Siljdedic told AFP, adding the blaze was "doubtless" due to an electrical fault.
One person was taken to hospital, regional International Migration Organization coordinator Vladmir Mitkovski told FTV television.
Around 500 migrants were in the shelter at the time, Siljdedic said.
It was the second blaze in recent weeks to hit a place where migrants were staying in Bosnia.
Three weeks ago, three migrants died when a candle they were using set fire to the abandoned building they were in, according to Indira Kulenovic, a manager for ...

Fire in Bosnian migrant shelter injures 32

Honda Racing India's Rajiv Sethu Saturday became the first Indian to finish in top-7 in the AP 250 class qualifying race in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship but met with a crash in the main race to end at 22nd here.
The morning qualifier saw Rajiv record the best ever finish by an Indian rider in top-7. His gap with lead rider Muklada was further reduced to under 1 second, the least ever so far.
Unfortunately, he could not maintain this momentum in Race 1. A poor start lost him 14 positions from his first ever third row start.
Rajiv made a quick recovery and by lap 3, he had overtaken one rider, and three more by lap 5. By the start of last 10th lap, Rajiv had returned to his targeted 10th position.
But then, searching for a slipstream came the high-side resulting in a crash in Turn 3. Despite minor damage in handle-bar, Rajiv managed to finish the race.
Starting 20th on the grid, the other rider Senthil Kumar made a good start but could not surge ahead till the 8th lap. Thereon, 

Rajiv becomes first Indian to qualify in top 7 in AP 250 class of ARRC

Polish inventor and entrepreneur Jerzy Wysocki catches a brown plate -- still warm -- as it drops out of a machine and he begins to eat the crunchy, fibrous tableware.
"A pork chop will always be more delicious on this wheat bran plate than on plastic," says Wysocki with a big grin at the Biotrem factory in Zambrow in northeast Poland.
Taking a bite, the plate does not have much of a flavour. It calls to mind dry cereal flakes or maybe what you would imagine cardboard to taste like.
But Wysocki says what matters is the tableware is biodegradable.
The sexagenarian invented the plate some 15 years ago, and today Biotrem makes around 15 million of them a year.
That figure could soon skyrocket thanks to a decision by the European Union to ban plastic plates and cutlery starting in 2021.
A son and grandson of millers, Wysocki got the idea for the tableware when he was looking to use up the leftovers of flour production, which take up a lot of space.
But he says he is also driven by the ...

You can have your plate and eat it too, says Polish inventor

The number of people injured at a blast in an explosives plant in central Russia on Saturday has risen to 38, local emergency services said, quoted by Russian agencies.
The blast took place at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres east of Moscow.
Earlier reports said 19 people were injured and two were missing.

Injured toll in Russian plant blast rises to 38: agencies

Thirty years ago millions of mourners crowded the streets of Tehran for the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and today the founder of the Islamic republic remains a guiding figure in Iran.
The image of the black-turbaned cleric who brought down the monarchy in 1979 stares out at people across the country, from hotel lobbies and the front of stadiums to hospitals and banknotes.
In life Khomeini was recognised by his followers as the "Imam", leader of the Shiite community, and decades after his death he remains enshrined in the Iranian constitution as "the great source of imitation".
"His key legacy is the strong notion of independence, sovereignty and resilience against foreign hegemony and imperialism that still continues to exist among Iranians," Mohammad Marandi, head of the American studies department at Tehran University, told AFP.
Born in 1902, Khomeini died on 3 June 1989 following a battle with cancer just over 10 years after he led the Islamic revolution that swept ...

Khomeini's legacy looms over Iran 30 years after death

Rahil Gangjee shot three-over 75 but still moved up the leaderboard at the end of third round of the Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open here Saturday.
Gangjee is now six-over and tied-44th from tied-57th after two rounds.
Starting from the tenth, Gangjee bogeyed the 16th and the 17th but found a birdie on the 18th. It was to be his only birdie of the day as he also bogeyed twice on the front nine, on second and seventh, at the Royal Golf Club.
Yuta Ikeda carded six-under 66 to move into lead at six-under 210 and he was one ahead of Chan Kim (69) at five-under.
Won Joon Lee (72) and Kyung Tae-Kim (72) were tied for third, while overnight leader Shugo Imahira (77) slipped to tied-5th with Dylan Perry (73) and Ryutaro Nagano (74).
The top four in this event qualify for the Open in Ireland in July.

Page 2715 - PTI Stories National