Author: AFP

Arrests and a Chinese football club in meltdown

SHANGHAI: When Brazilian star Alexandre Pato jetted out of China for his holidays he played for Tianjin Quanjian. Two months and a dozen arrests later, the club as he knew it is gone. In its place is a new incarnation, although whether Pato is still there when the Chinese Super

Frampton fighting to help religious integration in Northern Ireland

LONDON: Northern Ireland’s former two-weight world boxing champion Carl Frampton grew up as a boy watching the riots that flared up between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast, but now he is banging the drum for both communities to come together. The 31-year-old – the only Northern Irish boxer to hold

Thunder coach fumes after lights go out at the Gabba

BRISBANE, Australia: Fuming Sydney Thunder coach Shane Bond has urged a review of the rules after farcical scenes in Australia’s Big Bash League when a game was abandoned after the lights went out. The Thunder had plundered 186 for four against Brisbane Heat in the competition on Thursday evening, anchored

Yuzvendra Chalal spins India into winning position in final ODI

MELBOURNE: India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (pic) captured the best figures by any bowler in one-day cricket in Australia to restrict the home side to just 230 in the third and deciding game in Melbourne on Friday. Chahal, playing in his first match in the series after coming in for Test

Siakam lifts Raptors over Suns, injured Embiid shines for Sixers

LOS ANGELES: Pascal Siakam banked in the winning shot at the final buzzer as the Toronto Raptors won their eighth consecutive home game with a 111-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. Siakam’s basket, which was upheld by a video review, bounced off the backboard and went in after

Former govt stalwart seeks to form new party

SINGAPORE: A former stalwart of Singapore’s long-ruling government and ex-presidential candidate said yesterday he is seeking to form a new party ahead of elections expected as early as this year. Analysts said the move by Tan Cheng Bock, who almost beat the ruling party’s de facto candidate in the 2011

21 dead in Colombian police academy bombing

BOGOTA: Colombia’ s government declared three days of mourning after at least 21 people died in a car bomb at a Bogota police cadet training academy, and 68 were wounded – the worst such incident in the city in 16 years. Authorities said they identified the bomber and that he

Top N. Korean in Washington to prepare new Trump summit

WASHINGTON: A top North Korean general was paying a rare visit yesterday to Washington, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump to finalise a new summit aimed at denuclearisation and easing decades of hostility. Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to leader Kim Jong Un, is the first

Swine flu kills 40 in western India

JAIPUR (India): At least 40 people have died and more than 1,000 have tested positive for swine flu since the beginning of this year in a western Indian state popular with foreigners, authorities said yesterday. Last year around 1,100 people died and 15,000 were infected across India by the highly

May refuses to rule out ‘no-deal’ Brexit

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May scrambled to put together a new Brexit strategy after MPs rejected her EU divorce deal, and insisted she could not rule out a potentially damaging “no-deal” split. The world’s fifth-largest economy is in political turmoil and grasping for solutions that could smooth its planned