2 Air France Flights Heading From US to Paris Diverted: Reports

Two Air France flights en route to Paris from the United States were diverted on Tuesday because of security issues, and passengers and crew were safely removed, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

An Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles landed in Salt Lake City, where passengers and crew were being taken off the plane and escorted into the terminal, an FAA spokesman said.

A separate flight that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, also because of an unspecified security concern, and passengers and crew had disembarked, the FAA said.

Halifax airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the Air France Boeing 777 jet was diverted to Halifax at 10:15 pm. eastern time and was currently sitting at the end of the airport's main runway.

"It's an RCMP matter," Spurway said referring to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "The passengers are being deplaned at this point and being transferred to a secure area of the terminal building because they're international passengers."

CNN, citing a US government official, reported that Flight 65, the flight which originated in Los Angeles, was diverted after a bomb threat was called in from the ground. The official did not know if anyone was arrested in connection with that incident.

"Several law enforcement agencies are working in concert, following established protocol, to determine the nature of the threats which caused the aircraft to divert," FBI Special Agent Todd Palmer, of the agency's Salt Lake City division, told the network.

Security officials have been on high alert since last week's deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by Islamic State militants, killed 129 people.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

Story First Published: November 18, 2015 09:01 IST

Army Pays Tribute to 38-Year-Old Colonel Who Died Fighting Terrorists in Kashmir

Army pays tribute to Colonel Santosh Mahadik who was killed in an encounter with terrorists in north Kashmir

Srinagar:  The Army is today honouring Colonel Santosh Mahadik who was killed on Tuesday in a fierce gunbattle with terrorists in the forests of Kupwara in north Kashmir.

The 38-year-old Colonel of the Army's elite Para Commando force was the Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles. He was leading his troops in the encounter against four terrorists when he was shot and wounded. He died in hospital.

For the last one week, the Colonel and his troops had launched a cordon and search operation in Manigah forest area. Three days ago, two soldiers were injured in a gunfight but the terrorists managed to escape. That morning, as they zeroed in on the cordon, they came under heavy firing. Three soldiers and a Jammu and Kashmir police personnel were also injured in the gunfight.

Colonel Mahadik was from Maharashtra and is survived by his wife and two children, 11 and five years of age. The Army said the Colonel had conducted many successful counter-terrorist operations and had earlier been awarded the Sena medal for gallantry.

"We owe a deep debt of gratitude to officers like Santosh who lead from the front and are willing to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism," Lieutenant General DS Hooda, Army Commander, Northern Command said.

Colonel Mahadik was the second senior officer killed while fighting terrorists in Kashmir.

Colonel MM Rai, commanding officer of 42 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed in January in an encounter with terrorists in south Kashmir's Tral area.

Story First Published: November 18, 2015 09:29 IST

Russia Offers $50 Million Reward For Information on Sinai Plane Attackers

Vladimir Putin pledged to step up air strikes in Syria after Moscow confirmed a bomb brought down a Russian passenger jet in Egypt last month, the Kremlin said on November 17. (AFP)

Moscow:  Russia's federal security service (FSB) today said it would pay $50 million for information about "terrorists" who brought down the plane in Sinai last month with 224 people on board.

The FSB appealed for "help in identifying the terrorists" that exploded a bomb on the A321 plane travelling from Egypt to Russia. "There will be a reward of $50 million for information helping to arrest the criminals," it said on its website.

Story First Published: November 17, 2015 15:49 IST

After Inspiring Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh Tweets Zaheer Khan to Marry

Harbhajan Singh, who recently married Geeta Basra, was the first to hint about Yuvraj Singh's engagement with Hazel Keech, which turned out to be true. The off-spinner now wants Zaheer Khan to announce his marriage plans 

Harbhajan Singh wants Zaheer Khan to get married by next year. He had earlier hinted Yuvraj SIngh's engagement with Hazel Keech.

© AFP

Harbhajan Singh, who got married to Bollywood actress Geeta Basra on October 29, is turning out to be a match-maker of sorts for top Indian cricketers. The India off-spinner, who was the first to hint about Yuvraj Singh's engagement with Hazel Keech, said Zaheer Khan is 'next in line' to get hitched.
Harbhajan, who is on a comeback trail to the national team after being part of both the ODI and the T20I squads in the South Africa series, took to Twitter to say that Zaheer may tie the knot soon.

 

Serie A: Hot-shot Keisuke Honda Fires AC Milan up to Fourth

AC Milan are now only five points behind leaders Juventus, held 1-1 at Sassuolo on Saturday, while Roma put three unanswered goals past Chievo to reinforce their grip on second spot and reduce their deficit to a point.

Milan: Japan international Keisuke Honda struck a brace in a 3-1 win at Verona to go top of the Serie A scoring charts on Sunday as AC Milan moved up to fourth.

Milan travelled to the Bentegodi stadium looking for their second successive win having accounted for another Verona-based side, Chievo, two weeks ago.

The visitors were missing injured French forward Jeremy Menez, but Honda was in scintillating form.

"He's the consummate professional and a great player, I already said that back in August," Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.

"He rarely misses a scoring chance and deserves all the credit he gets."

Inzaghi added: "We're happy, these were three really important points, but we still have 

improvements to make especially in defence."

Milan were given a helping hand in the 21st minute when Brazilian Rafael Marques, one half of a centre-back pairing which also included Mexican international Rafa Marquez, skewed a volley into his own net from Ignazio Abate's cross from the right.

"It can happen to anyone," said Verona coach Andrea Mandorlini.

Milan were 2-0 up six minutes later when Stephan El Shaarawy, given a rare start on the left of a three-man forward line spearheaded by Spaniard Fernando Torres, found Honda in space on the right with a long ball from midfield.

Honda had time to run unmarked towards goal before curling a first-time shot past Verona 'keeper Rafael.

Verona striker Luca Toni came close to reducing the arrears with an acrobatic effort minutes later but Christian Abbiati pulled off a remarkable save to parry at his near post.

Abbiati was at full stretch again just after the half hour to push away Bosko Jankovic's header.

If Verona's defence had been conspicuously absent at Honda's first goal, they were even more so 10 minutes after the restart when the Japan international was left in acres of space.

French defender Adil Rami fired a low pass from just over the halfway line and Honda ran in practically unhindered to dink another left-footed shot over Rafael.

Verona grabbed a late consolation when Nico Lopez powered past Sulley Muntari before cutting in to beat Abbiati.

Milan are now only five points behind leaders Juventus, held 1-1 at Sassuolo on Saturday, while Roma put three unanswered goals past Chievo to reinforce their grip on second spot and reduce their deficit to a point.

Sampdoria are three points behind Roma in third after they drew 2-2 at Cagliari despite Manolo 

Gabbiadini and Spanish midfielder Pedro Obiang giving them a 2-0 interval lead.

"We didn't draw, we lost," Samp coach Sinisa Mihajlovic told Sky. "We can't afford to give away points like we did today.

"The only positive is that we're still in third place and still unbeaten."

Cagliari were given hope 13 minutes into the second half when Fabrizio Cacciatore saw red for a second bookable offence and defender Danilo Avelar stepped up to slam the resulting spot-kick into the top right-hand corner of Emiliano Viviano's net.

The pressure on Cagliari coach Zdenek Zeman eased somewhat when Marco Sau fired a late leveller after superbly controlling Avelar's quickfire pass into the area.

"It wasn't easy to claw back two goals from Sampdoria," said Sau, who now has three goals in seven games.

Elswhere, Palermo moved off bottom spot after Giancarlo Gonzalez's precision header secured a 2-1 home win for the Sicilians against Cesena.

Fabio Quagliarella's 62nd-minute strike was enough to secure a 1-0 home win for Torino against Udinese, while in Bergamo Yiadom Boakye bundled home a 90th-minute winner to secure a 1-0 win for Atalanta against Parma.

Parma now sit bottom of Serie A with six defeats and just one win in seven games.

Earlier, Serbian international Filip Djordjevic scored his fifth goal in three games as Lazio won 2-0 away to misfiring Fiorentina.

Lazio sit sixth, seven points off top spot, with Fiorentina in ninth place, 10 points off the pace.

Fernando Alonso Leaving Ferrari, Says Outgoing Team Chief

Fernando Alonso was said to have lost faith in Ferrari's inability to produce a winning car. With three races of the championship remaining, he sits third in the drivers' championship standings.

    

Spaniard Fernando Alonso is leaving Ferrari because he "can't wait much longer" if he wants to win another world title, outgoing Ferarri chief Luca de Montezemolo confirmed on Thursday.

Former two-time world champion Alonso was widely rumoured to be leaving the Italian giants at the end of the current season, two years before his contract ends.

De Montezemolo, who recently quit his post as president of the company, confirmed to Italian television Rai that the Spaniard was leaving "for two reasons".

"He's leaving for two reasons. One is he want to test himself in another environment, and two because he's at an age where he can't wait much longer if he wants to triumph again."

Alonso was said to have lost faith in Ferrari's inability to produce a winning car. With three races of the championship remaining, he sits third in the drivers' championship standings.

"It hurt him that he didn't win this year and he needs fresh motivation," added De Montezelomo.
Alonso's contract with Ferrari was set to expire at the end of 2016, meaning he would leave two years short of its expiry.

While speculation over the Spaniard's future destination continues, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull is rumoured to be heading to Ferrari.

Vettel announced last week he was quitting Red Bull.

Saeed Ajmal-Less Pakistan Seek to End 20-Year Australia Drought

Saeed Ajmal, who has been suspended due to an illegal bowling action, has single-handedly ruled the dry and slow tracks of Pakistan's neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates, especially at Dubai where he has 37 wickets in six Tests, three of which Pakistan won.

Pakistan hope to end a 20-year drought against Australia when they meet in the first of two Tests in Dubai from Wednesday but they are hobbled by the absence of spin king Saeed Ajmal.

Ajmal, who has been suspended due to an illegal bowling action, has single-handedly ruled the dry and slow tracks of Pakistan's neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates, especially at Dubai where he has 37 wickets in six Tests, three of which Pakistan won. 

That includes 24 wickets in a 3-0 rout of England in 2012.

Pakistan have also lost frontline seamers Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz -- both through knee injuries -- and have to rely on uncapped leg-spinner Yasir Shah and two-Test left-armer Zulfiqar Babar, both of whom are likely to play.

Captain Misbah-ul Haq, under pressure to score runs after managing nought and 15 in the preceding 3-0 one-day series defeat, admitted Ajmal's absence is significant.

"Ajmal has left a big hole," said Misbah, who skippers a team whose last Test series win over Australia was back in 1994.

"But we have youngsters who should grab the chance and I am confident they can."

The return of veteran batsman Younis Khan and Azhar Ali will boost Pakistan's fragile batting as they seek to remain unbeaten in a Test series in the UAE since they were forced to decamp in 2009 due to security fears in their country.

Australia will also look to include both spinners in Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe despite their unimpressive record of losing five of the last six Tests (one draw) in which they played with two spinners.

But they have dominated Pakistan, winning 13 out of the last 14 Tests against them.

Australia will hope skipper Michael Clarke, top Test run getter in 2013 with 1,093, anchors the batting after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained two months ago.

Clarke failed to get much-needed practice in the 153-run defeat in the four-day tour game against Pakistan 'A' on Sunday, managing just ten and five.

Clarke admitted Ajmal will be missed by Pakistan.

"I think there is no doubt that Ajmal is an amazing bowler. I think obviously Pakistan wish they had him available for selection," said Clarke.

"I have always said that Pakistan have always had a lot of talent in any form of the game and I am sure the Test eleven that they put on the field is very talented and know these conditions."

Australia will hope all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who has recovered from a hamstring injury, will be able to fill in for the more experienced Shane Watson who is out of the tour due to a calf injury.

Australia's pace attack will be led by Mitchell Johnson who bowled with venom in the two one-dayers he played -- taking six wickets -- and supported by the hard-working Peter Siddle.

A 2-0 cleansweep would return Australia to the top of the Test rankings.

The second Test will be played in Abu Dhabi from October 30.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Misbah-ul Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Shan Masood, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Talha, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah.

Australia: Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner, Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan, Steven Smith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Johnson, Steve O'Keefe, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner, Nathan Lyon.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) and Marais Erasmus (RSA)

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)