Injury-plagued Woods to miss Arnold Palmer tournament

http://ift.tt/2n6t2St

Tiger Woods of the United States plays his second shot on the first hole during the pro-am ahead of the Hero World Challenge at Albany, The Bahamas on November 30, 2016 in Nassau, Bahamas. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP

Four-time Masters winner Tiger Woods said Thursday he would miss the Arnold Palmer Invitational, putting his participation in next month’s Masters tournament seriously in doubt.

The American made the announcement via Twitter saying he was out of next week’s PGA Tour tournament because of back problems. He has not played since he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic on February 3.

“Unfortunately, due to ongoing rest and rehabilitation on my back, I won’t be able to play in this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational,” the 41-year old Woods said. “I’m especially disappointed because I wanted to be at Bay Hill to help honor Arnold.

“This is one event I didn’t want to skip. Arnold has meant so much to me and my family; I thought of him as a close friend …. He will be greatly missed and can never truly be replaced.”

Palmer died at age 87 in September.

The 14-time major-winner Woods returned from a 15-month injury lay-off in December and has slumped in the world rankings.

“I have no timetable for my return to golf, but my treatments are continuing and going well.”

Speaking at a news conference prior to the Genesis Open in Los Angeles in mid-February, Woods said he was hopeful he could make a successful return in 2017 but also admitted that during the latest long layoff he wondered whether he would ever return to golf.

“There was a time when I didn’t know if I could ever swing a golf club again and play with my kids,” he said.

Woods last won a major title at the 2008 US Open.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2ma0pzK

Malaysia says ready for ‘five-year’ stake-out at North Korea embassy

http://ift.tt/2lXIqfO

A North Korean embassy car transporting counsellor Kim Yu Song leaves the embassy in Kuala Lumpur on March 7, 2017, after police officials posted outside the embassy allowed them to leave the compounds.<br />Malaysia said March 7 that North Korea embassy staff are barred from leaving the country, in a tit for tat response after Pyongyang banned all Malaysian citizens from leaving. / AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN

Malaysia will wait to question suspects in the Kim Jong-Nam killing believed to be holed up in Kuala Lumpur’s North Korean embassy “even if it takes five years”, the country’s police chief said Tuesday.

A police cordon was set up outside the embassy after Pyongyang announced it would ban Malaysians from leaving North Korea, prompting an immediate tit-for-tat move from Kuala Lumpur.

The travel bans are just the latest twist in a heated diplomatic row over the Cold War-style assassination of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader in Malaysia last month, which has seen Kuala Lumpur expel Pyongyang’s envoy and vice-versa.

“We will wait, if it takes five years, we will wait outside. Definitely somebody will come out,” police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at a press conference in Penang, adding that he believed three people wanted in connection with the murder were in the building.

“This morning the deputy prime minister issued instructions not to allow any North Korean embassy staff to leave the country,” Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told journalists outside the embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“At the moment we’re trying to ascertain their numbers and their movements.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak later said all North Korean citizens in Malaysia, not just embassy staff, would be barred from leaving the country.

Police set up a barricade with cars blocking both ends of the street leading to the North Korean embassy shortly after noon, an AFP journalist said.

Around a dozen armed officers wearing bulletproof vests were stationed at each end of the road.

They rolled out yellow ticker-tape reading “do not cross” and initially denied a request from an embassy official to remove the barricade so a car could leave the compound.

Shortly afterwards the tape was removed and two cars were allowed to leave. The police presence was scaled down but officers remained patrolling the road and were seen recording movements out of the embassy in a ledger.

Around 100 journalists and photographers were also gathered outside.

The embassy, a two-storey neo-colonial house with a North Korean flag fluttering, is situated in Kuala Lumpur’s well-heeled Bukit Damansara district, known for its hipster cafes and restaurants.

The nascent stand-off has already been compared to the Julian Assange case, which has seen the founder of the secret-spilling Wikileaks website holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012.

Two women — from Indonesia and Vietnam — have been charged with the killing, but Malaysian police have also named several North Korean suspects, including the embassy’s second secretary and an employee of North Korea’s national airline.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mwmJql

FBI asks Justice Department to refute Trump wiretapping claim

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

FBI Director James Comey has asked the Justice Department to publicly refute President Donald Trump’s explosive, unsubstantiated accusation that Barack Obama tapped his phone during last year’s election campaign, US media reported on Sunday.

Comey’s extraordinary measure questioning the president’s truthfulness provides an indication of the implications of Trump’s incendiary claim about his predecessor. The department has not made any statement.

Trump’s aides were scrambling on Sunday to limit the political fallout of Trump’s accusation 24 hours after it was made — admitting it was still unproven, and calling on Congress to investigate.

Citing still undefined “reports” of “politically motivated investigations,” press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump was calling on Congress to “determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”

Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders echoed those comments.

“If this happened,” she told ABC, “this would be the greatest abuse of power, and overreach, that has ever occurred in the executive branch.”

Trump, who has returned to Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, has not publicly commented further on his allegations.

On Saturday, he tweeted: “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” He provided no evidence to back up the claim.

Watergate is the generic term for the scandal that brought down president Richard Nixon in 1974. It began with the revelation of a secret wiretap in the offices of the Democratic National Committee at Washington’s Watergate Hotel.

Obama, via a spokesman, denied Trump’s new allegation as “simply false.”

US presidents can’t legally order such wiretaps, which require the approval of a federal judge and reasonable grounds for suspicion.

Obama’s director of national intelligence James Clapper told NBC there was “no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time as a candidate or against his campaign.”

– President ‘furious’ –
Trump’s comments appear to have been based on unverified claims made by the right-wing Breitbart News outlet. His chief strategist, Steve Bannon, used to run it.

The New York Times, citing senior US officials, first reported that Comey believes Trump’s claim to be false.

The FBI director made the request on Saturday because “there is no evidence to support it, and it insinuates that the FBI broke the law,” the paper reported the officials as saying.

Previous media reports have indicated that US prosecutors investigated communications between a server registered to the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.

In his roles as a reality TV showman and presidential candidate, and now as president, Trump has repeatedly embraced conspiracy theories, including the suggestion that Obama was not born in America. Obama was born in Hawaii, a US state.

Trump leveled the latest charges in a string of tweets early Saturday, at the end of a week in which his administration was battered by controversy over links between his advisors and Russian officials.

Trump was said to be furious that good reviews of his maiden speech to Congress on Tuesday were overtaken by a series of revelations about aides’ meetings with Russian officials.

The president was also said to be angry that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any campaign or Russia-related investigations.

Sessions’ recusal came after it emerged that, speaking under oath during his Senate confirmation hearings about campaign contacts with Russia, he failed to disclose two meetings with Moscow’s ambassador in Washington.

Amid that and several other revelations of Trump aides holding meetings with Russian officials, the White House has denied allegations of collusion.

– Diversionary tactics –
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a campaign to meddle in last November’s presidential election in a bid to tilt it in Trump’s favor.

Former CIA director Leon Panetta on Sunday accused Trump of diversionary tactics.

“They are trying to obfuscate and trying to cover up. They are trying to somehow raise other issues,” he told CBS.

“In the end, it is going to be the truth that will determine what is involved here, and not tweets, but the truth.”

However, the Republican chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin Nunes, said his panel would look into Trump’s claims.

“The Committee will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates, and we will continue to investigate this issue if the evidence warrants it,” he said in a statement.

Democrats and a growing number of Republicans in Congress have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor and a bipartisan inquiry to look into the Russia issue.

With approval ratings already low, Trump could do without another scandal in his young presidency.

Republicans have largely stood behind him, hoping he will enact tax cuts and other policies they favor.

But some Republican lawmakers appear to be losing patience with the drama of Trump’s presidency.

“We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust,” Senator Ben Sasse said, adding that Trump’s allegations of wiretapping “demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots.”

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mvdWWa

Zidane hails impact of the substitutes in Madrid comeback

http://ift.tt/2m1IbDR

Real Madrid players celebrate their goal during the Spanish League football match Villarreal CF vs Real Madrid at El Madrigal stadium in Vila-real on February 26, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / BIEL ALINO

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane hailed the impact of Isco and Alvaro Morata off the bench as the European champions came from 2-0 down at Villarreal on Sunday to win 3-2.

Morata completed the comeback after Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo had hauled Madrid level to ensure Zidane’s men move back ahead of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

Real hold a one-point lead over their title rivals, who won 2-1 at Atletico Madrid on Sunday, but also have a game in hand.

“They deserve (to play) more for sure,” Zidane said of the Spanish international duo.

“The did very well, they changed the game. In any case we will need every player between now and the end of the season.

“They are all up for it. It is a long season, but this shows that everyone is ready when they are called upon.

“With everything that happened today it was vitally important to get the three points.”

Real had suffered just their second league defeat of the season at Valencia in midweek.

And Zidane’s men looked well on course to suffer another reversal when Villarreal struck twice in six minutes early in the second-half through Manu Trigueros and Cedric Bakambu.

However, Zidane reacted immediately by introducing Isco for the more defensively minded Casemiro.

Having been outplayed for the opening hour, Madrid forced Villarreal onto the back foot and were rewarded when Bale’s header halved the arrears 25 minutes from time.

Ronaldo then smashed home a controversial penalty after Villarreal captain Bruno Soriano was harshly adjudged to have handled inside his own box.

And the comeback was complete when Morata, who only replaced Karim Benzema 13 minutes from time, powered home Marcelo’s cross six minutes later.

“At 2-0 down you have to change something,” added Zidane.

“It worked out well for us. It allowed us to camp much more in their half.”

Bale was making his first start for three months and was forced to play almost the full 90 minutes given the circumstances before hobbling off to be replaced by Lucas Vazquez a minute from time.

However, Zidane said the Welshman suffered just “a knock” and should be fine to feature against Las Palmas on Wednesday.

Villarreal ‘keeper Sergio Asenjo was not so fortunate as he appears to have suffered a fourth cruciate knee ligament injury of his career.

Asenjo, who has presided over La Liga’s best defence, went down after turning Benzema’s header to safety midway through the first-half.

“Asenjo seems to have torn his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in his left knee. It’s a real shame,” said Villarreal coach Fran Escriba.

His absence proved vital as back-up ‘keeper Andres Fernandez let Morata’s header slip under his body for the winner.

Escriba had to watch that goal from the stands after being dismissed from the touchline for taking his protests over the penalty too far.

“The match was over for us after the penalty,” added Escriba.

“We lost our focus”.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lLzHzO

http://ift.tt/2lyIEwo

Uzomedia bring you the full cast and crew of “John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)”

John Wick: Chapter 2 is a 2017 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad. A sequel to the 2014 film John Wick, the plot follows hitman John Wick, who goes on the run after a bounty is placed on his head. It stars Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ruby Rose, John Leguizamo and Ian McShane, and marks the first collaboration between Reeves and Fishburne since appearing together in the Matrix trilogy.

Principal photography began on October 26, 2015, in New York City. The film premiered in Los Angeles on January 30, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 10, 2017. It received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $95 million.

Cast

– Keanu Reeves as John Wick, an ex-hitman

– Riccardo Scamarcio as Santino D’Antonio, a powerful Italian crime lord who forces Wick to perform an assassination

– Common as Cassian, Gianna’s chief bodyguard

– Laurence Fishburne as The Bowery King, an underground crime lord

– Ruby Rose as Ares, an assassin and Santino’s mute security enforcer

– John Leguizamo as Aurelio, the owner of a high-end chop shop

– Ian McShane as Winston, the owner and manager of the Continental Hotel in New York

– Bridget Moynahan as Helen Wick, John’s deceased wife

– Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in New York

– Thomas Sadoski as Jimmy, a police officer and friend of John’s

– David Patrick Kelly as Charlie, the cleaner

– Peter Stormare as Abram Tarasov, Viggo’s brother, Iosef’s uncle and a desk-bound Russian gangster.

– Franco Nero as Julius, the manager of the Continental Hotel in Rome

– Peter Serafinowicz as the Sommelier

– Claudia Gerini as Gianna D’Antonio, Santino’s sister

Credit: Wikipedia

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2mjSqkj

‘La La Land’ set to win big at Oscars…Read full details

http://ift.tt/2kVEbSt

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 07, 2016 shows actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling pose with writer and director Damien Chazelle (L) at their Hand and Foot prints ceremony in front of the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood on December 7, 2016 ahead of the release of the film LA LA Land set for December 9.<br />Fresh from victory at the Golden Globes, Hollywood musical "La La Land" leads the nominations on February 12 for Britain's Bafta awards, which are seen as a good indicator for future Oscar triumphs. Damien Chazelle's poetic love story has 11 nominations, including best film, best actor for Ryan Gosling and best actress for Emma Stone.<br />/ AFP PHOTO / Frederic J. BROWN

The Hollywood awards season reaches its glittering climax at the Oscars on Sunday with “La La Land,” a starry-eyed love letter to the glamour of Old Hollywood, tipped for glory.

Millions of viewers around the world will tune in for Tinseltown’s biggest night, with Damien Chazelle’s romantic musical pinning its hopes on 14 nominations, tied with “Titanic” (1997) and “All About Eve” (1950) for the most ever.

“When you mention those movies, it makes my head spin even more than it’s spinning. I’m a little speechless,” Chazelle, 32, told trade magazine Variety when the nominations were announced in January.

With voting among the Academy’s 6,000-plus members closed since Tuesday, the frenzied and at times schmaltzy campaigning that perennially marks the awards merry-go-round can no longer impact the results.

Analysts are backing “La La Land,” which stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and a struggling jazz musician who fall in love in Los Angeles, to win most of the awards for which it is nominated.

However, it is expected to fall short of the record 11 statuettes achieved by “Ben-Hur” (1959), “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003).

Gold Derby, a site that collates the awards predictions of experts and members of the public, has “La La Land” as a clear favorite in 10 categories, including best film, director, actress, score and song.

– ‘Storm expected’ –
Stone, who has dominated the awards season, is expected to bag her first statuette despite late momentum for France’s Golden Globe winner Isabelle Huppert, nominated for rape-revenge thriller “Elle.”

“I think (Stone) will win but if she doesn’t, it’s because she makes it look so easy and because you don’t see her putting on an accent, putting on a fake nose, all those things,” Stephen Galloway, editor-in-chief of weekly trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, told AFP.

“People like to see the acting. You don’t with her. That is actually why she is so great.” ​

Stone also faces competition from Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Meryl Streep, 67, who earned her record-breaking 20th nomination for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”

Gosling is expected to lose out in the best actor category, however, to Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) or Denzel Washington (“Fences”), who are seen as neck-and-neck in the show’s closest race.

“I really don’t know which way best actor will go,” veteran film critic Anne Thompson, awards editor for movie blog IndieWire, told AFP.

“I keep changing my mind. And production design and costumes are also hard to call. If ‘La La Land’ wins both, it gets 10. If it wins one, it gets nine.”

Crews rolled out plastic sheeting on Wednesday to protect the red carpet and fan bleachers, with intermittent rain showers expected to hit Los Angeles on Sunday.

“La La Land” — buoyed by a record seven Golden Globes in January — will vie for best picture with eight films including “Arrival,” family drama “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight,” the coming-of-age tale of an African-American in Miami.

– Youngest ever –
This year’s nominees reflected a push by the Academy to reward diversity after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the past two years that prompted calls for a boycott of the annual bash.

Black actors Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris are first-time nominees for “Moonlight,” while “Fences” hopefuls Washington and his co-star Viola Davis are both old hands, with 11 nominations between them and two wins for Washington.

Also nominated is past winner Octavia Spencer, a best supporting actress candidate for “Hidden Figures.”

She, Davis and Harris compete against past Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (“Lion”) and Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”), who has been nominated three other times before this year.

For best supporting actor, Ali is leading the betting ahead of Dev Patel (“Lion”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”), Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”) and Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”).

In the directing category, Mel Gibson’s surprise nomination for the critically acclaimed WWII biopic “Hacksaw Ridge” marks his comeback a decade after being ostracized by Hollywood for an anti-Semitic tirade.

Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) and Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester”) are also in the running, but Chazelle is expected to go one better than his losing nomination in 2015 for writing “Whiplash,” to become the youngest best director winner ever.

Televised live by ABC and shown around the world, the 89th Academy Awards will be held at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, and hosted by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kTsChS

West Nile virus epidemics made worse by drought

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Drought has sharply boosted the intensity of deadly West Nile virus epidemics, which are set to worsen with global warming, scientists reported Wednesday.

Their research, published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, offers the best explanation of why the disease’s impact has varied so much from year to year since arriving in the United States nearly two decades ago.

“We thought epidemics would coincide with the most ideal temperatures for transmission,” said co-author Marm Kilpatrick, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC).

“Instead, we found that the severity of drought was far more important.”

Birds are the main host for the West Nile virus, which is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes.

The study also issued a warning: over the next 30 years, the number of West Nile cases in some parts of the country could triple as climate change provokes more frequent and severe dry spells, it found.

West Nile virus — from the same family as yellow fever and Zika — was introduced into the United States in 1999.

Since then, it has infected some 45,000 people and claimed about 2,000 lives, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like Zika, the virus causes no symptoms in up to 80 percent of people infected. Others report fever, rash, body pain, headache, vomiting or diarrhoea.

In rare cases, brain swelling and neurologic infections can occur, sometimes resulting in death.

For years, epidemiologists have puzzled over fluctuations in the severity of the epidemics, which hit during the summer months.

In some years, there have been only a few hundred severe human cases across the nation. In others — notably 2002, 2003 and 2012 — some 3,000 people suffered brain-damaging meningitis or encephalitis each year, and almost three hundred died.

– Infected mosquitoes –
Variations from region to region were even more pronounced.

Human immunity built up with the spread of the disease was thought to be a factor, but still could not explain the differences.

Government scientists, essentially throwing up their hands, declared that predicting the size of future epidemics was too difficult, perhaps impossible.

In the study, a team led by Kilpatrick and Sara Paull, also from UCSC, looked at the possible impact of weather variables: summer temperature, precipitation, winter severity, and drought.

They were surprised to find that drought emerged as the main driver of more severe outbreaks of the disease.

The study also showed that the impact was worse in regions that had not suffered large epidemics in the past, suggesting that people exposed to the virus had built up lasting immunity.

Exactly how drought boosts transmission of the virus is still not clear.

Preliminary data suggests the number of mosquitos during drought years does not increase, but that the percentage infected with West Nile virus does.

The scientists speculate that drought conditions favour contact between birds and the mosquitos that feed off them — and pick up the virus in the process.

A recent study showed that West Nile can turn deadly years after people have recovered from an initial infection.

In one outbreak in Texas that killed nearly 300 people within three months, nearly as many died in the following decade due to complications associated with the virus.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2kMKvhj

Lalong loses appeal against sacked councillors

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Court of Appeal in Jos, on Wednesday threw out an appeal filed by Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau, against 271 elected councillors he sacked in July 2015.

The sacked councillors, through their counsel, Mr Gyang Zi, had sued Lalong, the Plateau Attorney General and the State House of Assembly, over their removal from office.

The officials, whose three-year tenure was truncated in its first year, described their removal as “illegal and unconstitutional’’.

Collectively, they filed a case against the trio before Justice David Mann of State High Court III, in Jos.

But the governor challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter and its decision to take the preliminary objection along with the substantive case.

Lalong failed in that suit and quickly appealed against the ruling.

The governor, through his counsel, Mr Victor Paul, prayed the appellate court to set aside the decision of the lower court.

He also sought an order that the preliminary objection of his clients should be heard first, before the substantive suit.

But the appellate court, presided by Justices A.G. Mshelia (lead Judge), A.H. Abiru and E.O. Williams, rejected Lalong’s objection to the decision of the lower court.

While upholding the decision of the lower court, the appellate court declared that there was nothing wrong with the lower court hearing both the substantive and the preliminary objection simultaneously.

The judges declared that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it.

The councillors’ counsel, Zi, in his reaction to the judgement, described the stance of the appeal court justices as “very satisfactory and a further testimony to the fact that there was hope for the common man”.

“We are happy that the appellate court saw reasons with the decision of the lower court and upheld it by dismissing the appeal of Gov. Lalong,’’ he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“My clients will go back to the High Court to pursue their rights, having been wrongfully sacked by the state government,” he said.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2k1Z3FB

Melbourne master Federer back in top 10

http://ift.tt/2kEUZfP

Roger Federer of Switzerland talks to media while holding the championship trophy the day after winning the Australian Open men's singles final for his 18th career Grand Slam in Melbourne on January 30, 2017. PHOTO: SAEED KHAN / AFP

Roger Federer has climbed back into the ATP top 10 on the strength of his epic 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

The 35-year-old Swiss great defied old rival Rafael Nadal on Sunday in a thrilling five-setter in Melbourne to move up seven spots to 10th in the latest rankings released on Monday.

Nadal, beaten 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, moved up three places to sixth in the list still dominated by early Australian Open victims Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Stan Wawrinka, defeated in the semis last week by Federer, is up one in third.

Germany’s Mischa Zverev, who upset Murray in the fourth round in Melbourne, soared 15 places to 35th, his best ever ranking.

Zverev’s teenaged brother Alexander climbed two rungs to 22nd after making it to the third round where he lost to Nadal.

Latest ATP rankings on Monday, January 30

1. Andy Murray (GBR) 11.540 pts

2. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 9.825

3. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 5.695 (+1)

4. Milos Raonic (CAN) 4.930 (-1)

5. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4.830

6. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 4.385 (+3)

7. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3.560

8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3.505

9. Gaël Monfils (FRA) 3.445 (-3)

10. Roger Federer (SUI) 3.260 (+7)

11. David Goffin (BEL) 2.930

12. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 2.790 (-2)

13. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 2.765 (+2)

14. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 2.685 (-2)

15. Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 2.415 (-2)

16. Roberto Bautista (ESP) 2.350 (-2)

17. Lucas Pouille (FRA) 2.131 (-1)

18. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 1.975

19. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 1.875 (+2)

20. Jack Sock (USA) 1.855

Selected

22. Alexander Zverev (GER) 1.735 (+2)

35. Mischa Zverev (GER) 1.238 (+15)

Vía The Guardian NigeriaThe Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2jlGbWh

IMF concerned over Afghanistan refugee influx

http://ift.tt/2kE6R58

Afghan refugees wait to update their family data at the UNHCR Verification Center in Chamkani, on the outskirts of Peshawar on January 26, 2017. More than 380,000 registered Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan in 2016.<br />ABDUL MAJEED / AFP

The International Monetary Fund has expressed concern over Afghanistan’s ability to cope with the massive number of refugees returning home to the war-torn country, an influx only expected to increase.

More than 700,000 Afghans returned home in 2016, the second largest refugee group after Syrians, the Washington-based organisation said in a report on Friday.

An additional 2.5 million refugees and internally displaced people are expected to follow over the next year and a half, which would increase the country’s population by 10 percent, according to the report.

“This is seriously aggravating the government’s capacity to absorb refugees in an already difficult environment of high unemployment and internally displaced people after decades of conflict,” it said.

With daily battles between government forces and Taliban insurgents, the number of people who have fled their homes for safer parts of Afghanistan has hit a record high.

According to a recent UN report, more than half a million Afghans were internally displaced by fighting last year.

The United Nations last week launched a $550 million humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan saying about a third of the population was in need of assistance this year, a 13 per cent jump from last year.

After 15 years and tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid, Afghanistan is still dangerously unstable and persistently at the bottom of almost every major human development index.

Vía The Guardian NigeriaThe Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2kDVxSo