London  : England captain Alastair Cook said the ongoing uncertainty over the identity of the team’s next permanent coach would not bother him so long as his side kept winning. As reports emerged on Monday that Australia’s Trevor Bayliss had emerged as the front-runner to replace the sacked Peter Moores as England coach rather than compatriot Jason Gillespie, the long-time ...

Sports Reporter : Dominated by a bulk of promising cricketers, a 22-member High Performance (HP) squad was announced yesterday in Mirpur. Beside the main squad, a list of players was also revealed under an ‘elite programme’ which will deal with pace bowling, batting, wicketkeeping and spin bowling. The newly-designed HP programme will begin its journey in a bid to keep the players ...

Pakistan spin bowler Raza Hasan has been banned for two years after failing a doping test, the country’s cricket board said. The 22-year-old left-armer returned an “adverse analytical finding” from a urine sample taken during a domestic tournament in January, the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement. The board declined to name the substance. Raza, who has played one ...

A pair of US fighter jets has escorted an Air France airliner bound for New York City after the flight was the subject of an anonymous threat. US officials said they had received a call claiming that there was a “chemical weapons threat” aboard the plane. Air France Flight 22, from Paris, was searched after landing in a secure area ...

China is to focus on projecting its military presence beyond its borders at sea, according to a strategy document. The navy will shift its focus to “open seas protection”, rather than “offshore waters defence” alone. It will also speed up developing its cyber force to tackle “grave security threats”, the State Council said. China has been accused of aggressively pursuing ...

The smallest and rarest marine dolphin in the world could be extinct within 15 years if protection is not stepped up, new research suggests. Conservationists say the remaining population of Maui’s dolphins has dropped below 50. The critically endangered species is found only in waters off New Zealand. Measures to prevent dolphins dying in fishing nets must be extended, according ...

Greece intends to keep repaying its debt, a government spokesman said, days after Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis warned it had run out of funds. Gabriel Sakellaridis said Greece would maintain repayments to its EU-IMF creditors for as long as possible. He also rejected the idea of possible capital controls that would restrict money transfers and access to savings. Greece and ...

Russia’s military forces have begun a large exercise involving around 250 aircraft and 12,000 service personnel, according to its defence ministry. The ministry described the four-day drill as a “massive surprise inspection”, to check combat readiness. The tests began on the same day as Nato and some of its partners started an Arctic training exercise. Russia’s actions in Ukraine and ...

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey is to ask state and territory governments to remove the consumption tax on tampons and other sanitary products. Earlier this month, an online petition asking the government to stop taxing a “bodily function” attracted about 90,000 signatures. Unlike products such as condoms and sunscreen, pads and tampons attract the 10% Goods and Services tax (GST). Mr ...

An extract from a plant traditionally used in Chinese medicine may help suppress appetite and lose weight, new research says. The findings suggest that the compound extracted from the “Thunder God” vine could be developed into a drug for treatment of obesity. In the study, the compound was found to reduce food intake significantly and cause up to a 45 ...