The county season gets under way on Sunday as champions Yorkshire start the defence of their title against promoted Worcestershire at New Road. Hampshire begin life back in Division One at home to Sussex, while Middlesex host Nottinghamshire and Durham face Somerset at Taunton. In Division Two, last season’s bottom club Leicestershire, without a County Championship win for two years, ...

Batting in Test cricket remains as much about the shots you don’t play as those you do and it was Ian Bell’s judgement at the crease that set the foundation for England’s domination Ian Bell ensured he had seen off the new ball at its hardest, the bowlers at their freshest and the pitch at its most damp and lively ...

At least seven people have been killed in an attack on the higher education ministry in a busy area of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say. The BBC’s Ibrahim Aden says a car loaded with explosives was driven into the wall surrounding the compound and there is an ongoing gun battle. A police official told the AFP news agency that the ...

The US has expressed concern after Russia lifted a ban on supplying Iran with the sophisticated S-300 air defence missile system. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the matter in a phone call with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, the White House said. Russia said the embargo was no longer necessary after an interim deal was reached on Iran’s ...

A Japanese court has blocked the restarting of two nuclear reactors in the western city of Takahama, after local people raised safety concerns. The plant had already obtained approval from the country’s nuclear watchdog. But locals had petitioned the court in Fukui prefecture, where Takahama is located, to intervene, saying it would not withstand a strong earthquake. All 48 commercial ...

India’s biggest online retailer has pulled out of a controversial deal after a social media backlash. Flipkart had agreed a deal with phone network Airtel to let customers browse its site for free, with Flipkart picking up their internet data costs. But critics said this went against net neutrality. Net neutrality means service providers should treat all traffic equally. Users ...

The carcass of a rare whale has been washed up on a Western Australia beach following Tropical Cyclone Olwyn, which hit the region last month. It is only the second time an Omura’s whale has been recorded in Australia. The whale was found on a remote beach near the town of Exmouth, 1,265km (784 miles) north of Perth. Scientists say ...

Boko Haram have abducted at least 2,000 women and girls since the start of 2014, according to rights group Amnesty International. A report published by the organisation on Wednesday says many of those captured have been forced into sexual slavery and trained to fight for the group. The group based its findings on nearly 200 witness accounts, including with 28 ...

 Three people, including a woman, were killed and two others injured in a road accident in Balaora Bazar area on Sylhet-Sunamganj highway on Wednesday afternoon. The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately. Witnesses said a Sylhet-bound passenger bus crushed into a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in the area, leaving three passengers, including a woman, of the auto-rickshaw dead on ...

RAB personnel recovered 375 bottles of banned cough syrup, Phensedyl, after searching the official car of Sylhet’s Deputy Commissioner Shahidul Islam. “The vehicle was stopped around 8:30pm Tuesday in Sylhet town’s Shibganj area based on a tip-off that the government vehicle was being used to move drugs,” RAB-9 acting commander Major Humayun Kabir told Sylhet Mirror. Kabir said the driver, ...