Thursday, 8 September 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Tennis: Serena crashes out of US Open, loses No. 1 ranking

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Serena Williams crashed out of the US Open on Thursday, her semi-final defeat to Karolina Pliskova costing her a shot at a 23rd Grand Slam title and a record 187th straight week at number one.Pliskova, the 10th-seeded Czech playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final, triumphed 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) and will face either Caroline Wozniacki or Angelique Kerber, the German who beat Williams in the Wimbledon final and who will supplant the American atop the summit when the new world rankings are released on Monday.I dont believe it, said Pliskova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 prior attempts.I knew I had the chance to beat anyone if I played my game. I am excited to be in the final and to beat Serena as she is such a great champion.Even when she was down a set and break she was still fighting. I had to fight hard to win.Pliskovas nerves nearly betrayed her as up 3-0 in the tiebreaker she produced three errors, including a double fault.Williams led 4-3 and 5-4 in the decider but couldnt hang on, Pliskova taking it when Williams delivered her sixth double-fault of the match.While Williamss serve has long been reckoned the most powerful weapon in womens tennis, 11th-ranked Pliskova came into the contest boasting a tour-leading 439 aces.In a duel of power-hitters where protecting serve was crucial, Pliskova gained the upper hand with a break for 2-1 in the first set and Williams gave her a chance to serve it out with a shocking seventh game that started with a double-fault and continued with three errors to grant Pliskova a 5-2 lead.Pliskova pocketed the set in 26 minutes without facing a break point.Williams was under pressure immediately in the second, fending off a break point in the opening game. When her booming opening serve in the third game was called a let she indulged in a verbal jab at the chair umpire, but steadied herself to hold.She was on the ropes again, though, surrendering a break when her lunging forehand found the net to give Pliskova a 3-2 lead.Pliskova responded with a nervy service game of her own, a double fault and two forehand errors giving Williams a break back for 3-3.In the second set she went full power on my second serve so I had to take risks, Pliskova said of the doubles. The serve was key.Williams survived two double faults to start the next game. Pliskova retrieved two massive shots from Williams to win a rally for a break point, but Williams reeled off the next three points to hold, and from there they duked it out to the tiebreak.My goal today was to beat Serena, said Pliskova, not even thinking about Saturdays championship match. I dont care who I play in the final.

Football: Barca trio reunited, Ronaldo returns for Real

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MADRID (AFP) - Barcelonas fearsome front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar could join forces for the first time in four months against Alaves, while Cristiano Ronaldo will make his Real Madrdid return on Saturday.Neymar has missed Barcas 100 percent start to the season due to his efforts in leading Brazil to Olympic gold on home soil, but returned to Spain for the first time since May after more international duty in World Cup qualifying this week and is expected to start at the Camp Nou.Messi is a much bigger doubt after missing Argentinas clash with Venezuela in midweek due to a groin problem. The five-time World Player of the Year has played a limited part in training in recent days and coach Luis Enrique is likely to be cautious for the first of seven games in 22 days for Barca.Paco Alcacer is in line to make his debut after sealing a 30 million-euro ($33 million) move from Valencia and the Spanish international striker is aware he will have to make the most of limited opportunities as fourth choice behind Messi, Suarez and Neymar.I will do everything I can to take advantage of the chances I have to the full, Alcacer said as he was presented on Thursday.Andres Iniesta has also returned to training following a knee injury and will battle Arda Turan and Denis Suarez for a place in midfield as both have impressed early in the campaign.Ronaldo makes his long-awaited return at the Santiago Bernabeu against Osasuna earlier on Saturday in what will be his first appearance since suffering ligament damage in his left knee during Portugals Euro 2016 final win over France.Real havent suffered in Ronaldos absence with two wins from their opening two La Liga games and victory over Sevilla in the European Super Cup.And after winning two Champions League titles in his first three seasons at Madrid, Gareth Bale insists the European champions have to put more emphasis on ending a four-year run without winning La Liga.Its important to try to win La Liga because its been a few years since we have and its normal that its our focus, said Bale. Im looking forward to next weekends game against Osasuna and Im sure that they will make it difficult for us, but itll be great to be able to call upon almost the whole squad.Karim Benzema and Pepe have also returned from injury to leave Zinedine Zidane with a fully-fit squad bar the absence of goalkeeper Keylor Navas.Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid desperately need to kickstart their season after back-to-back disappointing draws with Alaves and Leganes when they visit Celta Vigo in the first match in a new early Saturday kick-off time of 1300 (1100GMT) designed to compete with the English Premier League in Asian television markets.Celta finished sixth last season, but have also endured a poor start with defeats in both their opening matches and the Galicians will be without influential playmaker Fabian Orellana for a month due to a muscle tear.Early season leaders Las Palmas have been on fire in scoring nine goals in their opening two games to shoot ahead of Barca and Madrid to the top of the table for the first time in 38 years.However, the searing Spanish heat could get in their way this weekend with record temperatures for September registered across the country.League chief Javier Tebas has promised players safety wont be risked and Las Palmas visit to Sevilla is one of a number of games that could be delayed or even postponed if temperatures are deemed to be too high.

Lahore Railway Station shut down over security concern

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Lahore Railway Station was shut down in the early hours of Friday over security concern while police have apprehended at least seven suspects during search operation in different parts of the city, Dunya News reported.The Pakistan Railway sources said that the railway station was evacuated and all the lights were turned off due to security concern. The sources further said that police officials were deployed at all entry and exit points of the Lahore Railway Station and no one was allowed to enter the vicinity.On the other hand, police carried out search operation in four divisions of the city and searched hotels, parks, rest houses and bus stands in Shahdara, Johar Town, Raiwind, Badami Bagh and Naulakha area.Police also conducted search operation in the Tablighi Centre in Raiwind, Bilal Ganj, Chungi Amar Sadhu. Police arrested seven suspects during search operation in Allama Iqbal Town.Police also took out flag march near Punjab University New Campus and its adjoining areas.

Taliban storm into southern Afghan city

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KANDAHAR (AFP) - The Taliban stormed into Tarin Kot Thursday, triggering heavy fighting around government buildings as panicked residents scrambled to flee the capital of southern Uruzgan province, the latest city to be targeted by insurgents.Hundreds of militants battled to overrun the local prison, police headquarters and the governors compound after breaching the city, but hours later Afghan forces bolstered by reinforcements and air support repelled them from Tarin Kot, officials said.The attack highlights the once rural insurgencys aggressive push to capture big cities, from Kunduz in the north to Lashkar Gah in the south, leaving Afghan forces fighting without full NATO support thinly stretched across multiple fronts.The Taliban onslaught in Tarin Kot prompted senior officials to retreat to the airport, home to a military base on the outer fringes of the city, which has been besieged by the Taliban for months.Tarin Kots normally bustling streets were deserted and shops closed as civilians sought to escape from the city.Sabir Menawal, a Tarin Kot resident, said Taliban fighters entered his house near the police headquarters and took up positions inside to fire at government buildings.The Taliban instructed us to leave the area immediately, Menawal told AFP. I fled with my family to a safer area of Tarin Kot, but we fear fighting could spread to this area too.In a sobering admission, Uruzgans police chief Wais Samim said many of the citys outer defences had fallen to the Taliban without a fight.Some policemen made deals with the Taliban and retreated from their posts. Some people here deliberately want the enemy to succeed, he told AFP. We will address this issue once we push back the enemy.Tarin Kot is the third provincial capital that has come under Taliban attack in recent weeks, after Lashkar Gah and Kunduz, which the insurgents briefly seized last year in a stinging blow to Afghan forces.The Taliban said they broke into Tarin Kots prison, but Samim rejected the claim and said many of the inmates had been transferred to the airport.Boosting morale for government troops, General Abdul Raziq, the powerful police chief of Kandahar province with a fierce reputation for brutality, arrived in Uruzgan with hundreds of reinforcements. Samim said 79 insurgents had been killed in Thursdays fighting, but declined to give a specific number of casualties for Afghan forces. He added that troops were preparing for another assault to flush out Taliban insurgents from the outskirts of Tarin Kot.President Ashraf Ghanis office said the government will not allow Uruzgan to become a sanctuary for terrorists.Reinforcements have reached the province, and the local police chief and provincial officials are on the frontline fighting the enemy, presidential spokesman Shahhussain Murtazawi said on Facebook. NATO forces, which ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, said they were providing assistance to Afghan forces in Uruzgan but declined to provide any specifics.Since being toppled by a US invasion in 2001, the Taliban have been seen as a rural militant movement capable only of hit-and-run attacks on cities. But they have demonstrated an alarming push into urban population centres over the last year.The deteriorating security highlights the struggle of overstretched Afghan forces to secure remote provinces such as Uruzgan, a top poppy-growing region where Australian, Dutch and American troops fought for years.

Kerry headed to Geneva for Syria talks: State Department

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry is leaving Thursday for Geneva, where he will hold high-level talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to try to strike a peace deal for Syria, the State Department said.Their discussion follows recent conversations on Syria and will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving towards a political solution needed to end the civil war, spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.The State Department did not say when Kerry and Lavrov will hold their talks on Friday, but the top US diplomat will be in Geneva early in the morning. The meeting in Geneva had been announced Wednesday by Russian diplomats as scheduled for Thursday and Friday, but Washington waited until the last minute to confirm Kerrys trip.Both sides have agreed that a deal would involve a durable ceasefire, humanitarian access to conflict-wracked areas and a resumption of peace talks.Kerry and Lavrov spoke by telephone Thursday on possible US-Russian cooperation aimed at destroying terror groups active in Syria, helping resolve humanitarian problems and promote a political solution to the conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said.The phone call was a US initiative, the ministry added.In fact, after five and a half years of chaos in Syria and four months before President Barack Obama leaves office, Kerry is racing after Lavrov to try to secure a deal to end the Syrian crisis.Their meetings have multiplied across the world, the latest on the sidelines of the Group of 20 major powers in China this week and in Geneva on August 26.The Syria war has pitted the former Cold War rivals against each other, with Russia flying a bombing campaign in support of Syrian strongman leader Bashar al-Assad and the United States backing rebel groups fighting to oust him from power.Moscow and Washington are looking for ways to revive a peace plan adopted by the international community in late 2015, which includes a sustainable ceasefire, humanitarian aid and a political transition between the regime and the opposition.Washington and Moscow also have discussed for months a strengthened military cooperation to ensure the ceasefire holds and to fight together against jihadist groups.But the many US-Russian contacts have not yielded anything concrete. Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was some alignment after meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit Monday.

US pushes Russia on 'true' Syria peace deal ahead of new talks

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GENEVA (AFP) - The US pressed Russia on Thursday for a true cessation of hostilities in Syria ahead of high-level peace talks Friday in Geneva, warning that its patience is running thin.Foreign ministers from the two powers, which support opposite sides in the five-year conflict, will meet in the Swiss city to push for a peace agreement, Russia said.Washington later confirmed that Secretary of State John Kerry was leaving Thursday for face-to-face talks Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.The talks will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving toward a political solution needed to end the civil war, spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.The diplomatic news came against a backdrop of continued military turmoil, with coalition-backed forces continuing to push the Islamic State group away from the Turkish border, an Islamist rebel leader dying in a bombing attack, and pro-regime forces making major gains on the outskirts of the ravaged city of Aleppo.US Defense Secretary Ash Carter told BBC radio that there was quite a long way to go before a final peace deal could be struck.He called for a true cessation of hostilities -- not what youve seen, which is a partial cessation of hostilities, adding: Our patience is not unlimited.Both sides have agreed that a deal must involve a durable ceasefire, humanitarian access to conflict-wracked areas and a resumption of peace talks.Amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to intensify efforts for a ceasefire as soon as possible in Aleppo, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.Moscow backs the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, while Ankara supports the opposition seeking his ouster. US President Barack Obama earlier held talks with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China but the two, on opposite sides in Syria, failed to bridge their differences.Lavrov suggested that problems in another part of the world -- namely, US sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis -- may be hampering efforts between the former Cold War rivals to resolve regional conflicts, a reference to the Syrian war. And Carter noted: We have our differences, serious differences, with Russia elsewhere, especially here in Europe with Ukraine.Fighting in the complex war continued to claim lives, with Turkish shelling over the border into Syria killing six Kurdish fighters aligned with US forces on Thursday.Syrian rebels supported by Turkish and coalition air strikes pushed further west into areas held by the Islamic State group in northern Syria. The top military commander of the Army of Conquest, the largest Syrian rebel alliance, was killed in an airstrike during a meeting of the leaders of the anti-government group, Islamist sources said Thursday.The former Al-Nusra Front, renamed Fateh al-Sham Front, announced on Twitter the martyrdom of commander Abu Omar Sarakeb.Pro-regime forces meantime overran a strategically important district on the southern outskirts of Aleppo, rolling back nearly every gain from a major month-long rebel offensive there, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday.The government advance further seals off Aleppos opposition-held eastern districts. Regime forces backed by the Russian air force have completely encircled opposition-held neighborhoods.Rebels are now back to square one, under an even more ruthless siege, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory, told AFP.Shops in the citys east have been struggling since Sunday to secure goods and prices are skyrocketing.The price of a kilo of meat rose from 3,000 pounds ($6) to 6,000, complained Ahmad, a father of three children, in the Bustan al-Qasr district, ravaged by air strikes.In London on Wednesday, the Syria opposition, under pressure, fleshed out a proposal for a transition to democracy without Assad after a six-month negotiating phase with the regime.The opposition hopes new talks would result in an 18-month transition that would see Syria governed by an interim body made up of opposition figures, current government representatives and members of civil society, according to a 25-page blueprint.The Syrian war -- which began as a pro-democracy revolt in 2011 but morphed into a multi-front conflict after the regime unleashed a crackdown -- has killed more than 290,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes.The Islamic State group has used the chaos to spread throughout the country and into Iraq. But it has lost ground in recent weeks.Turkey said Wednesday that it favored a joint operation with the US to oust the IS group from its de facto capital of Raqa in northern Syria.Erdogan said he had agreed with Obama to do what is necessary.

Islam can co-exist with French values: Hollande

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PARIS (AFP) - President Francois Hollande said Thursday that Islam could co-exist with secularism, warning in a key speech seen as preparing the ground for a re-election bid that the anti-terror fight should not undermine French values .The deeply unpopular Hollande has yet to announce whether he will run for a second term next year, but is widely expected to be a candidate.In a speech on terrorism and democracy in Paris he defended the countrys Muslim minority following a vitriolic debate on the banning of the Islamic burkini swimsuit.Nothing in the idea of secularism opposes the practice of Islam in France, provided it respects the law, Hollande said.Secularism was not a state religion to be used against other religions, he said, denouncing the stigmatisation of Muslims.Mayors in around 30 French towns this summer cited the countrys century-old secular laws in banning head-to-toe swimwear on their beaches, unleashing a furore.Several of the towns later revoked the bans after Frances highest administrative court ruled they were a serious violation of basic freedoms.Hollande rejected calls by conservatives, including his arch-rival, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, for a ban on the burkini, saying it would be unconstitutional.As to whether Islam can co-exist with a secular French state, like Christianity and Judaism do, he insisted: My answer is yes, certainly.The question the Republic must answer is: Is it really ready to embrace a religion that it did not expect to be this big over a century ago. There too, my answer is yes, certainly.In a wide-ranging speech Hollande cast himself as the defender of democracy in the face of a string of terror attacks that have left over 230 people dead since January 2015.The government has responded by deploying thousands of troops to patrol the streets, enacting a raft of anti-terror laws and repeatedly extending a state of emergency -- measures deemed insufficient by the conservative opposition.Hollande warned that France could not sacrifice its core values of liberty, equality and fraternity.Did the Patriot Act and Guantanamo protect Americans from the (terrorist) threat? No, he said, alluding to calls by Sarkozy for terror suspects to be interned in camps.Democracy is our weapon Hollande insisted. Polls predict the Socialist leader would suffer a humiliating defeat if he threw his hat in the ring again after five years marked by stubbornly high unemployment and only timid attempts at reform.Three of his former ministers have already announced their own presidential bids.They could soon be joined by ambitious former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who resigned from government last week and has hinted he too could run for the Elysee Palace.Hollande cast himself as the only man who could hold the fractured country together.When there is danger we must come together, he said.

20 US Marine personnel face action in Muslim recruit's death

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Marine Corps is weighing criminal or administrative charges against as many as 20 personnel at a recruit training depot following the death of a Muslim trainee, officials said Thursday.Investigators opened a probe into the March death of Raheel Siddiqui, 20, who reportedly fell three stories to his death at the recruitment depot in Parris Island, California.The Marines have classed the death as a suicide but, according to the Wall Street Journal, investigations suggest Siddiqui leaped from a third-story balcony after a drill instructor slapped him in the face.Citing anonymous Marine officials, the Journal said the drill instructor had referred to the Pakistani-American as a terrorist.According to a Marine Corps statement, investigations revealed departures from the policies and procedures established for Marine Corps recruit training.Commanders and senior enlisted advisers at the series, company, battalion and regimental level were relieved in the wake of Recruit Siddiquis death, and a number of drill instructors have been suspended, the statement reads. Currently, 20 Recruit Training Regiment personnel have been identified for possible military justice or administrative action.Investigators uncovered a slew of allegations of physical and verbal abuse of recruits by drill instructors. Commanders have implemented changes including the mandatory suspension of personnel who are being investigated for recruit abuse.I fully support and endorse these initial actions, Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller said in a statement.When Americas men and women commit to becoming Marines, we make a promise to them. We pledge to train them with firmness, fairness, dignity and compassion.

50 people remain stuck in cable cars suspended over French Alps

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GRENOBLE (AFP) - Around 50 people were stuck in cable cars high above the glaciers of Mont Blanc in the French Alps late Thursday after a helicopter rescue operation was suspended as night fell, officials said.The cable cars got stuck at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,468 feet), initially with 110 people on board.We succeeded in evacuating, in very difficult conditions, 60 people in an hour and a half, the prefect of the Haute-Savoie region, Georges-Francois Leclerc told AFP. We had to suspend the air transport rescue at nightfall, he added.Leclerc did not say whether the tourists remaining in the cable cars would have to spend the entire night suspended up there. A press conference was scheduled for 2030 GMT at city hall in Chamonix.The problem was caused by cables that got crossed for unknown reasons around 1400 GMT and the employees of the Mont-Blanc Company werent able to repair them, Mathieu Dechavanne, CEO of the company that manages the cable cars, told AFP.The cable cars connect Aiguille du Midi on the French side of the mountains with Pointe Helbronner on the Italian border, where the rescued passengers were taken.Weather conditions were at first good but later deteriorated turning cloudy at the high altitudes.The rescue operation involved three helicopters from Switzerland, France and Italy, Dechavanne said earlier.We are in contact with the clients (in the cable cars). They have water and some means of communication but are beginning to find its taking a long time, he added.The cable cars, which carry four passengers each, offer panoramic views of Mont Blanc, which straddles the French-Italian border.

Tennis: Venezuela barred from hosting Davis Cup match

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CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuela has been barred from hosting a Davis Cup tennis match against Peru over security concerns, authorities in the crisis-hit country said Thursday, alleging a conspiracy against its socialist government.Venezuelan tennis chief Luis Contreras told a news conference the International Tennis Federation (ITF) had ruled his country could not host the September 16-18 match in the Caribbean coastal city of Puerto La Cruz due to a high security risk.Venezuela is gripped by an economic and political crisis that has sparked deadly looting and rioting over recent months. It has nevertheless hosted sporting events such as Olympic boxing qualifying rounds in July.This is simply a conspiracy, said the president of the governments National Sporting Institute, Pedro Infante, referring to the ITFs decision.It is political in nature and is part of an international political network that is trying to undermine Venezuela.Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro has accused Washington and its allies of seeking to overthrow him.Venezuelan Olympic Committee chief Eduardo Alvarez said the ITF had proposed Miami or the Caribbean island of Aruba as alternative venues.Infante said Venezuelan authorities preferred the fixture to take place in Cuba but there was not time to organize it there. The Peruvian Tennis Federation said in a statement on Thursday that the fixture to decide which of the two countries gets promoted to Group I of the competition will finally take place in Lima, Peru.Infante said earlier that if Venezuela were obliged to play the games in Lima, it would insist they be closed to spectators.He said the government would take legal action against the ITF.Alvarez said he would take the case to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Tennis: Clijsters, Roddick in Hall of Fame contention

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Former world number ones Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Andy Roddick of the United States were among nominees announced Thursday for 2017 induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.Also placed on the ballot for consideration next year were Paralympic champion Monique Kalkman, 52, a noted 1990s Dutch wheelchair player, and contributors Vic Braden, an instructor who died in 2014 at age 85, and Steve Flink, a journalist and historian.Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick are two incredibly dynamic athletes who certainly left their mark on tennis history, said Hall of Fame president Stan Smith.Voting will take place later this year with inductees announced early next year and enshrinement set for July of 2017 at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.Im very honored, said Clijsters, a four-time Grand Slam singles champion. The women who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame are great champions who I have always admired. Its an honor to be considered to be part of that incredible group of athletes.Clijsters, 33, spent 19 weeks atop the rankings and is among only six women to rank atop singles and doubles. She won the US Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and the 2011 Australian Open. She won 41 career singles titles.Im incredibly honored to be considered for the Hall of Fame, said Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion. I put my all into our sport for many years and Im so grateful to have had the opportunity to compete with some of the best athletes tennis has ever known, many of whom were idols I looked up to all my life.Roddick, 34, spent 13 weeks atop the world rankings, including as the 2003 year-end world number one. He won 32 career singles titles and helped the Americans win the 2007 Davis Cup title.

Golf: Englishman Evans sets pace at Dutch Open

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SPIJK (AFP) - Englishman Ben Evans holds the lead at the Dutch Open after a six-under-par opening round of 65 put him a shot clear of the chasing pack at Spijk on Thursday.The 29-year-old, ranked 524th in the world, started his round on the back nine of the inland links course and sank seven birdies in all, including four in a row from the 12th.A bogey at the 17th proved to be the only blemish of his day in the Netherlands and he finished with five successive pars to ensure he will be the man to catch in the second round.I holed a lot of putts early on in the round to get me to two under and then hit a few nice wedges in close to get off to a pretty fast start. The putting was the difference today -- I holed a lot of mid-range putts, which I havent been doing a lot of lately, said Evans, who admits he needs a good performance to help him keep his Tour card.Evans leads from a group of eight players who shot 66, including South Koreas An Byeong-Hun and Swedens Peter Hanson.The duo were playing partners and they put on a masterclass on the sixth as both men put their approaches on the par five inside 10 feet to record eagles. They both also recorded six birdies and three bogeys. Australias Scott Hend, who lost the European Masters in a play-off to Swedens Alex Noren at Crans-sur-Sierre last weekend, is in a group two shots behind the leader after an opening 67.

Cycling: Nielsen wins stage 18, Quintana keeps Vuelta lead

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MADRID (AFP) - Magnus Cort Nielsen said it was a big dream come true after he claimed stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana in a sprint finish Thursday as Nairo Quintana maintained his handsome lead over Chris Froome.The Dane took his first Grand Tour stage win from Germanys Nikias Arndt and stage 16 winner Jempy Drucker in 4hrs 54min 31secs for the 200.6km ride from Requena to Gandia.Quintana finished alongside Froome in the same time to keep his 3min 37sec lead ahead of Fridays crucial 37km time trial from Xabia to Calp.Froome realistically has just two stages to overturn Quintanas commanding advantage if he is to become the first man to win the Tour de France and the Vuelta in the same year since 1978.The Brit is expected to claw back significant time on the Colombian in the time trial, setting up a showdown on the special category climb to Alto Aitana on Saturday before Sundays traditional parade around the centre of Madrid for the races final stage.We have two important stages remaining and we need to be aware of any attack they could come up with on Saturday. Tomorrow is head-to-head and there is no help, said Quintana.To have the red jersey gives you that little bit more adrenalin to fight for what you want.Quintana had said early in the race he needed at least a three-minute lead to hold off Froomes superior time trialing ability, but is hopeful of losing little more than a minute.I think more than a minute would be a lot. Now I am in very good condition and these type of time trials havent gone badly for me.After another gruelling mountain climb to the end of Wednesdays 17th stage, the long but mostly flat road to Gandia offered a chance for the sprinters to shine.A five-man breakaway enjoyed a lead of six minutes, but were also kept in check by the peloton and reeled in with 11km remaining to set up a sprint finish.Nielsen timed his run to the line perfectly to pick up Orica-BikeExchanges third win of the race after Britains Simon Yates and Belgian Jens Keukeleire took stages six and 12 respectively.Its a really big dream come true for me, said Nielsen.Orica have enjoyed a fine tour with Esteban Chaves 20 seconds off Froome in third overall and Yates fifth in the general classification.We normally try for the GC guys, but today I gave it a go and its amazing, added Nielsen.Its my first Grand Tour ever, three wins and two guys up in the GC. Its a nice team to be on at the moment.

Euro rises as ECB leaves policy unchanged

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NEW YORK (AFP) - The euro rose slightly against the dollar on Thursday as Europes central bank decided to leave current stimulus policies unchanged. The dollar however strengthened against the yen and the pound.Toward 2100 GMT on Thursday, the euro was at $1.1261, up from $1.1242. A pound was worth $1.3295, down from $1.3340.Policy makers at the European Central Bank opted Thursday not to make any changes to the ECBs ultra-loose monetary policy, keeping its asset-buying policy steady at 80 billion euros per month. The central bank also revised its 2016 eurozone growth forecast to 1.7 percent, up 0.1 percentage points over a prior estimate, but pushed it lower for next two years by the same amount to 1.6 percent.The strength in the euro today is likely due to the European Central Bank maintaining its stance on monetary policy, said Eric Viloria of Wells Fargo. There was some expectation that they could ease policy further... and they left their policy unchanged.

Unofficial result: PPP wins PS-127 by-election

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KARACHI (Dunya News) - Ghulam Murtaza Baloch of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has won the by-election in PS-127 constituency while Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidate remained runners up, according to unofficial results announced on late Thursday night, Dunya News reported.According to unofficial results, Ghulam Murtaza Baloch of PPP bagged 21,187 votes to win the PS-127 by-election. Waseem Ahmad of MQM remained second with 15,553 votes while Nadeem Memon of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was third by obtaining 5,880 votes. At least 21 candidates were contesting PS-127 by-election.Earlier, Malir areas become a battleground after voting for PS-127 by-election started at 8:00am on Thursday. Two people were injured in the incidents of violence and shooting outside polling stations.Police took seven in custody, whereas voting was stopped at two polling stations. Unidentified men tore MQM posters at Malir UC-11 polling station.At least 134 polling stations were set up for the by-election out of which 67 were declared highly sensitive while 49 were declared sensitive by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).The seat was vacated after MPA Ashfaq Mangi of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) resigned and joined Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP).
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