At least six people were killed and six more wounded in a suicide blast outside a military academy in the Afghan capital on Thursday, an official said.
The attack outside the Marshal Fahim National Defense University in western Kabul took place at the road entrance to the war college.
Kabul police spokesman Firdaws Faramarz said the suicide bomber had been on foot. He blew himself up when a soldier challenged him.
"Based on initial information, six people killed, six wounded, police have reached the scene," Faramarz said.
The attacker "detonated himself before reaching his target", Faramarz added, without providing further details.
The attack happened around noon (0730 GMT), a time when students typically leave school early during the month of Ramadan.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Police and security forces in and around Kabul have come under frequent attack in recent weeks, even as the US and the Taliban have held talks about a possible peace agreement.
Opened in 2005 

Six dead in suicide blast at Kabul military academy

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The bodies turned up in some of Chicago's most derelict places: alleys, abandoned buildings, weed-choked lots and garbage containers. The victims were mostly black women who had been strangled or suffocated.
Authorities believed many were prostitutes or drug addicts or both. There was evidence of sexual attacks, and some of the dead were naked or wearing torn clothes, as if someone had tried to rip them off.
The slayings that began in 2001 continued for years and remain unsolved. Now a national nonprofit group and a computer algorithm are helping detectives review the cases and revealing potential connections. The renewed investigation offers hope to the victims' relatives, some of whom have waited nearly two decades for answers.
"I say I've moved on from what happened, put it in God's hands. But deep down I know I haven't," said Marsean Shines, a teenager when his aunt, Winifred Shines, was strangled and left in an alley almost 19 years ago. Family members have always wondered if she 

Computer algorithm helps reopen dozens of Chicago cold cases

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field against England in the opening match of the World Cup at the Oval on Thursday.
England, the world's top-ranked one-day international side and the tournament favourites, included fast bowler Liam Plunkett in a line-up captained by Eoin Morgan, with Tom Curran missing out on his Surrey home ground.
South Africa omitted allrounder Chris Morris, with Dwayne Pretorius selected.
"A 10.30 am start at The Oval -- if there's anything in the wicket, it'll be in the first hour. We've got some fantastic fast bowlers and we're hoping it'll be a great occasion today," said Du Plessis.
Morgan said: "We would have looked to do the same, just preferring chasing. The wicket looks really good.
"The balance we've gone with is for South Africa so hopefully it is the right one. Mark Wood has trained fully and is available for selection, but unfortunately he's missed out.
"Jofra (Archer) has come in and impressed. He's very calm when he ..

South Africa bowl in World Cup opener against England

Mozambique says it needs USD 3.2 billion to recover from a pair of tropical cyclones that ripped into the southern African nation this year and killed more than 600 people.
That's according to a government assessment for a global pledging conference that begins Friday.
Some aid workers fear the worst is yet to come. Cyclones Idai and Kenneth wiped out crops on the eve of harvest, and hundreds of thousands of people might have to rely on food aid well into next year.
This was the first time in recorded history that two cyclones struck Mozambique in a single season, raising alarm about the effects of climate change on coastal nations.
Aid workers call relief efforts surprisingly underfunded. Just 30% of the U.N. humanitarian appeal for Mozambique has come in.

Mozambique seeks USD 3.2 billion to recover from cyclones

Coach Luciano Spalletti has left Inter Milan, the Italian Serie A club announced on Thursday.
"Luciano Spalletti is no longer head coach of the first team," Inter said in a statement.
"The club wishes to thank Spalletti for his work and the results achieved together."
Spalletti sealed Inter's Champions League berth for a second consecutive year on the final day of the Serie A season Sunday.
Former Italy and Chelsea coach Antonio Conte is reported to have already agreed a three-year deal to replace the 60-year-old Spalletti, who moved to the San Siro mid-2017.

Coach Spalletti leaves Inter Milan

Maurizio Sarri can take the Europa League title to the bank.
The Chelsea manager and ex-banker already had the most improbable rise from Tuscan amateur teams to soccer's elite, but he had never before had a winners' medal.
That all changed with Wednesday's 4-1 win over Arsenal in the Europa League final. Even with that, Sarri may still leave Chelsea.
Always an outsider, Sarri took a moment during the celebrations to sit in the dugout and light a cigarette  never mind the stadium's smoking ban. Known as a demanding and somewhat aloof coach, he has struggled to win over Chelsea's fans and admits to not always understanding one of his best players, Eden Hazard.
"Hazard is a wonderful player but you have to spend two, three months to understand him as a man," Sarri said after the match.
"But when you are able to understand him as a man, he's a wonderful man." Hazard said Wednesday he is leaving Chelsea, and Sarri may yet follow suit.
Chelsea may not want to keep a coach who has delivered .

Sarri gets a winners' medal, but may still leave Chelsea

Afghan authorities say a suicide bomber targeting a military academy in the capital of Kabul has killed at least six people.
The Interior Ministry says six others were wounded in the bombing on Thursday. A ministry statement says a soldier noticed a suspicious person and approached him, causing the attacker to detonate his explosives near the Mashal Fahim academy.
Ferdus Faramarz, spokesman for the Kabul police chief, says police are trying to get more details about the bombing in western Kabul.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but insurgents have targeted this academy in the past. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and have staged large-scale attacks in the Afghan capital.

Afghan official: Suicide bombing kills 6 near Kabul academy

East Asia should consider a common regional trading currency based on gold to promote commerce, and free the region from relying on dollar transactions, Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday.
Mohamad Mahathir said the proposed currency could be used for regional trade, but would not replace national currencies for use at the domestic level.
"In the Far East if you want to come together, we should start with a common trading currency, not to be used locally but for the purpose of settling of trade," he said at the Future of Asia forum in Tokyo.
"At the moment we have to depend upon the US dollar but the US dollar is also not stable. So the currency that we propose should be based on gold because gold is much more stable," he added.  He said the exchange rate of the regional currency would "relate to" the performance of individual countries and would help harmonise regional trade.
"That way we know much we owe, we know how much have to pay, in the currency of east Asia." Mahathir, who 

Malaysia PM proposes common Asia trading currency

Seven South Korean tourists died and 21 others were missing after a sightseeing boat capsized and sank on the Danube in Budapest, Hungarian and South Korean officials said Thursday.
The accident happened near the parliament building in the heart of the Hungarian capital after a collision with a larger river cruise boat during torrential rain around 09:15 pm (1915 GMT) on Wednesday, according to officials.
A total of 33 South Koreans were on board, Seoul's foreign ministry said, confirming the seven dead were Korean.
The youngest was a six-year-old girl, travel agency officials said.  The 26-metre tourist boat, called the "Mermaid," was also carrying two Hungarian crew members.
"Our services have recorded the death of seven people," Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for Hungarian emergency services, said early Thursday morning.
"Seven people have been taken to hospital in a stable condition with hypothermia and shock symptoms," Gyorfi added.
"A further 21 people are missing," a Hungarian police .

Seven South Koreans dead, 21 missing as Budapest tourist boat sinks

Asian markets largely fell Thursday as Beijing ratcheted up its rhetoric against Washington, fanning investor anxiety over the US-China trade war and a potential global economic slowdown.
With no date set for tariff talks to resume in the US-China trade war, and Beijing accusing Washington of "naked economic terrorism" on Thursday in its handling of the dispute, investors appeared resigned to the prospect of the spat extending into the summer.
"We are against the trade war, but we are not afraid of it," Chinese vice foreign minister Zhang Hanhui said at a press briefing.  "This premeditated instigation of a trade conflict is naked economic terrorism, economic chauvinism, and economic bullying," Zhang added.
A veiled threat by Beijing on Wednesday to cut critical exports of rare earths to the United States intensified concerns.
It was the latest salvo in a months-long row that has seen Washington and Beijing slap tit-for-tat tariffs on imports, with US President Donald Trump upping the 

Asian markets slump over slowdown fears

The founder and head of a Polish organization dedicated to helping victims of pedophile priests has resigned after allegations surfaced that he tried to extort money from a victim and demanded money from the producers of a documentary about clerical abuse.
The foundation "Have No Fear" said the head of its board, Marek Lisinski, has resigned and that it has opened an internal audit into the allegations reported Thursday by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
The development comes as the mostly Roman Catholic country has begun a reckoning with the problem of clerical sex abuse.
Lisinski, himself a survivor of clerical abuse, played a key role in forcing the public to confront the problem by forming the foundation five years ago.
It vowed it would keep working to help victims.

Polish advocate for church victims resigns in scandal

The Jonas Brothers are set to release a tell-all memoir, "Blood", which will hit the shelves on November 12.
The book is the first stint of the band, comprising Kevin, Joe and Nick, writing, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It was announced Tuesday that the Grammy-nominated trio have signed a book deal with Macmillan imprint Feiwel and Friends.
They will write the memoir with author Neil Strauss of "The Dirt" fame.
The book will shine a light on their origins as a music group, their rise to stardom, the secrets behind their breakup and their recent return to the music scene.
"We're three brothers from New Jersey, and we were not supposed to be successful. From record labels dropping us to our dad losing his job over us, this shouldn't have happened or lasted as long as it did.
"Yet here we are, more excited than ever, and we're so grateful and ready to tell the full story of the journey we've had as individuals, as artists, and as family," said Joe Jonas.
World English rights for .

The Jonas Brothers to release memoir, 'Blood'

Even as the union health ministry continues its efforts to prevent the entry of e-cigarette companies into India, a latest survey has found that 36 brands have been selling the devices illegally in the country since the last three years.
The survey, released ahead of the World Tobbaco Day on May 31, was conducted by New Delhi-based Consumer Voice, a not-for-profit organisation that advises the government on prominent people-related issues.
E-cigarettes involve a mechanism to deliver nicotine in an attractive format. They are marketed as a harm-reduction product which experts believe is contrary to the truth.
The devices do not fall within the scope of existing national legislation on tobacco production, distribution and use, yet pose significant health risks that are similar to those of conventional cigarettes.
While the union health ministry is repeatedly writing to the commerce ministry over banning the entry of e-cigarette brands into India, health experts in the country have ...

'36 e-cigarette brands illegally operating in India'

An army helicopter has crashed in western Ukraine killing four servicemen, the military said on Thursday.
The Mi-8 helicopter crashed in the western Rivne region during a training flight late Wednesday, killing three crew members and the commander of the 16th Separate Army Aviation Brigade of Ground Forces, a statement said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.
Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences and tasked  newly-appointed general staff chief Ruslan Khomchak with overseeing the investigation.
"Our army should not be losing people during games and drills," the 41-year-old president was quoted as saying by his office.
Zelensky, a former comedian, swept last month's presidential election in a rebuke to the establishment fuelled by popular anger over war with Russian-backed separatists and social injustice.
The conflict against Russia-backed insurgents in the east has claimed some 13,000 lives since 2014.

Four troops killed in Ukraine helicopter crash

The Maltese navy said Thursday it had rescued 75 migrants found clinging to a tuna pen while trying to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.
The rescue took place off the Libyan coast late Wednesday and the migrants will be brought to Malta, the Maltese military said in a statement.
It said it had coordinated multiple joint rescue operations in conjunction with the Italian coastguard and "in support of the Libyan coastguard".
Malta has appealed to the EU for help in dealing with the flow of migrants, which its much larger neighbour Italy has begun to turn away.
The island of 450,000 people is a common destination for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa, and a hardline stance from Italy has increased pressure on it.
More than 500 migrants have reached Malta this year, while 1,425 have made it to Italy, which has a population 130 times larger.
International Organization for Migration figures show 24,687 migrants have reached Europe so far this ...

Malta navy rescues 75 migrants clinging to tuna pen

Taiwanese tanks and soldiers have fired at simulated Chinese forces in an anti-invasion drill on the island's coast.
The live-fire drill on Thursday at a beach in southern Taiwan is part of an ongoing annual exercise designed to showcase the military's capabilities and resolve to repel an attack from across the Taiwan Strait.
China claims the self-governing island as its territory. Taiwan split from China amid a civil war in 1949.
The simulated response to a Chinese landing included assault helicopters, fighter jets and missiles launched at targets in the sea.
The Defense Ministry said the joint army-navy-air force operation tested the island's combat readiness in the face of the Chinese military threat.

Taiwan's military trains for a Chinese invasion on the beach

Pakistan has further extended the closure of its airspace along its eastern border with India until June 15, according to the country's civil aviation authority.
Pakistan fully closed its airspace in February after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. The country opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.
On May 15, Pakistan extended its airspace ban for flights to India till May 30.
According to a notice issued to airmen (NOTAM) by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the country's airspace along the eastern border with India will remain closed until 5 am (local time) on June 15.
As per a separate NOTAM issued by the CAA, the Panjgoor airspace would remain open for overflying transit flights from the western side as Air India had already been using that airspace.
Pakistan had given a special permission to India for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly through Pakistani ...

Pak extends closure of airspace along India till border till June 15

A high-level Afghan delegation led by national security adviser has held talks with top civilian and military officers in Pakistan, dicussing security issues, peace process with Taliban and also to prepare the ground for a possible visit of President Ashraf Ghani next month.
Hamdullah Mohib  who led a high-powered delegation that included the Afghan interior minister  was the first senior Afghan official to have travelled to Islamabad in months.
The crucial talks with Pakistani authorities, including Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, were part of the latest push by the two neighbours to remove irritants in their bilateral ties that have undermined efforts for a peace deal in Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday.
Diplomatic officials said that main engagements were with the security officials but foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood also attended delegation level talks on border security, Afghan peace process and political ties.
Army spokesman in brief statement on Wednesday said that ...

Top Afghan officials hold talks with Pakistani authorities

Pakistan will seek inspiration from their dramatic Champions Trophy win in England two years ago when they take the field in their opening World Cup match against a resurgent West Indies on Friday.
Pakistan have lost their past ten one-day internationals including a 5-0 whitewash by Australia and 4-0 thumping by England, and their problems were further compounded when they went down to outsiders Afghanistan by three wickets in a warm-up match.
But skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed hopes his side will draw inspiration from when they were in a similar position in 2017.
"We will seek inspiration from our Champions Trophy win because then also we were losing and then lifted ourselves at the right time to win the trophy," Sarfaraz told AFP ahead of the game in Nottingham.
Pakistan had lost 4-1 in Australia before the tournament and arch-rivals India whipped them by 124 runs in the opening game of the Trophy.
But Pakistan then beat South Africa, Sri Lanka and England on their way to the final, where ..

Pakistan seek Champions Trophy inspiration as West Indies loom

Former Oceania football general secretary Tai Nicholas has been banned for eight years for misappropriating FIFA funds and bribery, the world governing body said.
The ban -- the latest in a series for the scandal-hit Oceania Football Confederation -- follows FIFA investigations into money given to build a lavish 'Home of Football' in Auckland.
Nicholas, also a former FIFA standing committee member, was found guilty of misappropriating funds "as well as having offered and accepted gifts or other benefits", a FIFA statement said.
He was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) and banned from involvement in national and international football for eight years for the breaches of FIFA's code of ethics.
"The investigation into Mr. Nicholas concerned the misappropriation of FIFA funds allocated to the OFC between 2014 and 2017 in relation to the OFC Home of Football, as well as to various undue benefits accepted from or offered to several football officials and other individuals," FIFA said.
The 

Ex-Oceania football official banned for bribery, corruption

Desperate times call for desperate measures and colourful cricket superfan Shoyab Ali has had to deploy a full arsenal as he follows his beloved Bangladesh around the globe.
The 31-year-old Dhaka car mechanic, known at grounds worldwide for his distinctive tiger body and face paint, has injured himself, paid a bribe and spent his life savings to pursue his passion for the game.
But Ali insists there has been more gain than pain, and he is determined to become a fixture at the World Cup in England cheering on the South Asian nation, who begin their campaign against South Africa on Sunday.
Ali fixed the car of Bangladesh fast bowler Shahdat Hossain who gave him a ticket to his first game, which turned out to be a landmark.
Bangladesh defeated India by five wickets in Dhaka even though Sachin Tendulkar ended his long wait for his 100th international century in the Asia Cup game.
"After Bangladesh won, I cried in the stand for a long time. I saw the famous Indian fan Sudhir Gautam," he ...

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