(Reuters) – Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante aggravated an existing ankle injury in Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Liverpool, manager Thomas Tuchel said, leading to the France international being substituted at half-time. Kante initially picked up the injury in the warm-up ahead of the UEFA Super Cup earlier this month and was not involved in Chelsea’s Premier League season opener against Crystal Palace as a precaution. He made a substitute appearance in last weekend’s London derby win against Arsenal, but Tuchel said the injury flared up again following a challenge from Liverpool’s Sadio Mane. He missed the Arsenal game because of pain in his ankle and some inflammation, but it was nothing serious obviously because he was back in training and he started (against Liverpool),” Tuchel said. But we did excellently and we are super happy… we deserved the point.”Chelsea will take on Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sept. 11.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters faced a critical day in efforts to prevent a massive California wildfire from reaching the Lake Tahoe resort region Saturday, hoping to take advantage of calmer winds before hot, heavy gusts return. The fire so far has burned about 149,000 acres, or 233 square miles (603 square kilometers). “It’s going to be a very pivotal day for us,” Horner said. The Caldor fire has destroyed more than 600 structures since it started on Aug. 14 in the Sierra Nevada. South Lake Tahoe City Manager Joe Irvin issued an emergency proclamation Thursday so the city that’s home to Heavenly Ski Resort can be better prepared if evacuation orders come and be reimbursed for related expenses.

SEVILLE (Reuters) -Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal celebrated his return from a long injury lay off by firing his side to a 1-0 win at Real Betis in LaLiga on Saturday. Carvajal volleyed home a cross from Karim Benzema to break the deadlock in the 61st minute in his first start for Real since April after missing most of last season and the European Championship due to a series of injuries. Betis had a chance to snatch an equaliser deep in added time and Madrid were grateful to keeper Thibaut Courtois for getting across goal to keep out a low drive from Martin Montoya. Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid side provisionally lead the table on seven points after their first three games, all of which have been away, having beaten Alaves 4-1 and drawn 3-3 with Levante. Betis have two points and remain without a win.

TURIN, Italy (Reuters) -Lacklustre Juventus began life without Cristiano Ronaldo by suffering a suprising 1-0 defeat at home to promoted Empoli in Serie A on Saturday. Juve, who this week agreed a deal with Manchester United to sell Ronaldo to the Premier League club, looked shorn of ideas up front in the Portuguese forward's absence. Empoli saw out their first win back in the Italian top flight in relative comfort, leaving Juve on one point from their opening two matches of the season. Having started the season with a 2-2 draw at Udinese, Juve, even without Ronaldo, were widely expected to have too much for their newly-promoted opponents. Juve failed to win their first two league matches at the start of a season for just the third time in their last 52 top-flight campaigns.

CAIRO - 29 August 2020: US Ambassador in Cairo Jonathan Cohen stressed Saturday the continued support for the partnership between the US and Egypt to preserve the cultural heritage and promote tourism and economic development. Cohen admired the restoration work of the iconic Red Monastery by the American Research Center in Egypt - (ARCE), supported by USG through USAID in Egypt at a cost of $3.6 million. The Red Monastery contains the only complete pre-medieval paintings surviving in Egypt. The embassy clarified that ARCE offered over one million dollars to rehabilitate monasteries in Sohag since its establishment in 1996. The ambassador pointed out that his country offered $102 million over 25 years to rehabilitate and protect more than 85 cultural sites across Egypt.

NORWICH, England :Leicester City's Marc Albrighton struck a 76th minute winner as the visitors condemned promoted Norwich City to a third straight defeat with a 2-1 win at Carrow Road on Saturday. But Leicester grabbed their second when Vardy set up Albrighton whose deflected shot flew past goalkeeper Tim Krul. It was a tough game today so to come away with three points, I am delighted for us," he said. Kenny McLean headed in a corner for what Norwich thought was a late equaliser but VAR ruled Todd Cantwell was offside. The victory moved Leicester up to eighth place on six points, while Norwich are second-bottom above Arsenal.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday met with the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Iraq’s capital Baghdad. The spokesperson for the Egyptian Presidency Bassam Rady said that Sisi affirmed his nation’s keenness towards fruitful cooperation for the sake of beneficial development, and its support towards Arab solidarity based on mutual respect. The Emir of Qatar expressed his appreciation for the positive developments in the Egyptian-Qatari relations, and praised the recent exchange of visits between both nations. Egypt and the other three countries involved in the dispute agreed to restore ties with Qatar immediately after the summit. The dispute included a trade and travel embargo against Qatar by the Arab quartet, which has now been lifted.

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Manchester City made light work of thrashing a hapless 10-man Arsenal 5-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, a result that means the Gunners have lost their opening three league games of a season for the first time since 1954-55. Rodri added a fourth early in the second half, before Torres scored his second late on to complete a miserable afternoon for Arteta and his side. "I know his awareness as a manager and as a leader, the moment everyone is back he will do an excellent job. I know this because I know him, I know the job he can do. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, no player has been sent off more often in the Premier League than the Swiss midfielder.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Iraq on Saturday to participate in the Baghdad Cooperation and Partnership conference. The Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said that Sisi’s participation in the conference is an extension of Egypt’s desire to support Iraq’s role in actively maintaining balance in the region, while ensuring its own security and stability. The conference seeks to discuss ways to enhance constructive dialogue with the aim of establishing partnerships, cooperation and economic integration between Iraq and all neighboring and friendly countries, he added. The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said that Baghdad conference is attended by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, France, Turkey, and Iran, as well as the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The conference is set to discuss ways to resolve the region’s problems and aim to create better circumstances for establishing economic partnership and cooperation between Iraq and neighboring countries.

Director Mohamed Abdalla made his 12-year dream to produce Egypt’s first silent theatrical show a reality on Friday with the premiere of ‘Halawes’ (Hallucinations), a silent adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’, at the al-Hanager Theater. Some of the cast had not been in mime theater before. We merge different aspects of theater schools to present a rich theater experience,” Abdalla said. Among the crew are assistant director Marwa Hassan, executive director Ahmed Reda with decorations designed by Amr Abdullah and lighting by Abu Bakr al-Sharif. I am hoping I could deliver my message to all mime theater artists in Egypt, telling them to continue the road without despair,” the director concluded.

The massive U.S.-led airlift is winding down, with many Western nations having completed their own evacuation efforts ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Afghanistan is heavily dependent on international aid, which covered around 75% of the Western-backed government’s budget. The Taliban have encouraged Afghans to stay in the country, pledging amnesty even to those who fought against them. When the Taliban last governed Afghanistan, from 1996 until the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, they imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. This time, the Taliban say women will be allowed to attend school and work outside the home.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot in the head by Israeli fire during a violent demonstration at the Gaza-Israeli border last week died of his wounds Saturday, Gaza health officials said. Violence erupted when Palestinian protesters began throwing rocks and explosives at Israeli troops near the fortified border. Another Palestinian man, later identified as a member of Hamas’ military wing, died from his wounds Wednesday. Hundreds of Palestinian protesters demonstrated Wednesday near the Gaza-Israeli border, again calling for the easing of the blockade. Egypt, which had closed its border crossing with Gaza to put pressure on Hamas, also partially reopened the crossing to allow a light flow of traffic to enter Gaza from Egypt.

Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population on Friday reported 234 new coronavirus cases, five deaths, and 329 recoveries. A total of 287,393 cases have been reported in Egypt, alongside 16,706 deaths and 237,385 recoveries. Health Minister Hala Zayed announced on Monday that Egypt’s first case of the fast-spreading delta variant was detected in mid-July. The committee, headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, agreed that restaurants, cafes, shops, and malls may return to summer working hours. The Health Ministry is currently working to issue QR-coded vaccination certificates for Egyptians and foreigners that receive their doses in the country.

Biden said earlier he had ordered the Pentagon to plan how to strike ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility for Thursday’s bombing. Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region, appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and later made inroads into other areas, particularly the north. BLASTS IN JALALABADA US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the drone strike was against an Islamic State militant planning attacks. A reaper drone, which took off from the Middle East, struck the militant who was in a car with an Islamic State associate. Biden has defended his decisions, saying the United States long ago achieved its rationale for invading the country in 2001.

The storm is expected to make landfall on the exact date Hurricane Katrina devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast 16 years earlier. “This will be a life-altering storm for those who aren’t prepared,” National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott said during a Friday news conference with Louisiana Gov. Ida intensified rapidly Friday from a tropical storm to a hurricane with top winds of 80 mph (128 kph) as it crossed western Cuba. In New Orleans, city officials said residents need to be prepared for prolonged power outages, and asked elderly residents to consider evacuating. Katrina is blamed for an estimated 1,800 deaths from the central Louisiana coast to around the Mississippi-Alabama state line.