Hattrick Kane leads England into last 16

England captain Ben Stokes is adamant his long-term goal of regaining the Ashes in Australia will have no ill-effects as he leads his side into a home Test series against the West Indies starting Wednesday.

This week's series opener at Lord's is set to bring down the curtain on England great James Anderson's time in international cricket, with the 41-year-old paceman's 188th and final Test marking the end of a record-breaking career spanning two decades.

No fast bowler has taken more than Anderson's 700 Test wickets and only India batting hero Sachin Tendulkar has played more matches (200) at this level.

But with the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia on the horizon, England believe now is the right time to jettison Anderson.

Not since England's 2010/11 triumph, have either they or arch-rivals Australia won an Ashes series away from home, with the battle for the urn still the yardstick by which many England captains are judged.

Previous England teams have been accused of obsessing about the Ashes to the exclusion of all else and it is a trap Stokes is keen to avoid ahead of a three-match series against the West Indies.

"We're not focusing on that over what we need to do here," Stokes told reporters at Lord's on Tuesday.

"We've got a lot of Test cricket to play before Australia. But we had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that series."

England, following a 4-1 series loss in India earlier this year, have dropped both Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, with debutant Jamie Smith set to keep wicket at Lord's, while Shoaib Bashir has been chosen as their spinner ahead of his more experienced Somerset team-mate Jack Leach.

"I'm not going to lie. I want us to be able to take a squad out there that I know is going to go at Australia," said Stokes, 33.

"I'll be nearly four years as captain when we go out there, I want to know we've done everything right over this 18-month period to go out there with a strong enough squad to not just compete with Australia but to beat them.

"It's probably the first time you've heard me speak like that about something so far away. It goes back to progression as a side. I want this team to progress over the 18 months, so I'm focusing on that because I want to go to Australia and win the Ashes back."

Stokes, meanwhile, is confident he can once again be a fully-fledged all-rounder following knee surgery in November to treat an injury that had stopped him from operating as a lively pace bowler.

"I've got myself into a position where I can finally say after a long time that I can play the role I've sort of been known for, which is batting and being that fourth seamer," he said.

Panama is creating an international panel to help improve transparency in its offshore financial industry.

The move follows the leak of millions of documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing it helped some clients evade tax and avoid sanctions.

Several countries are probing possible financial crimes by the rich and powerful in the aftermath of the leak.

President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would work with other countries over the revelations.

"The Panamanian government, via our foreign ministry, will create an independent commission of domestic and international experts," he said in a televised address.

The panel, he said, would examine working practices and propose measures that could be shared to strengthen the transparency of the financial and legal systems.

Correspondents say the president is eager to defend his country against a "media attack" by wealthy countries that he says are unfairly stigmatising him following the leak.

Mossack Fonseca, for its part, says that it has been the victim of a hack.

Mossack Fonseca says it has never been charged with any wrong-doing. Photo: Reuters

Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca insisted the leak was not an "inside job" - the company had been hacked by servers based abroad.

It has now filed a complaint with the Panamanian attorney general's office.

Fonseca served as a minister in the government of current President Juan Carlos Varela but stepped aside earlier this year after separate allegations linked the firm to the corruption scandal engulfing the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.

Mossack Fonseca's Brazilian arm was accused of helping several of those accused in the Petrobras case of opening offshore companies in Panama in order to launder money through property transactions.

Fonseca said he had stepped aside "to defend my honour and my firm" and denies any wrongdoing on the part of his firm in the Petrobras case.

Fonseca said the "only crime" that had been committed was the hack of his firm's servers. Photo: Reuters

Varela has been quoted in Panamanian media as saying that he is still in touch with Mr Fonseca, calling him a "friend".

"At difficult times friends do not run away, they are there," Varela said.

Mossack Fonseca has accused media organisations reporting the leak of having "unauthorised access to proprietary documents and information taken from our company" and of presenting this information out of context.

The revelations have already sparked political reaction in several countries where high-profile figures have been implicated.

On Tuesday Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stepped down after the documents showed he owned an offshore company with his wife but had not declared it when he entered parliament.

The ruling coalition has named Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as the new prime minister, with early elections to be held in the autumn.

Gunnlaugsson says he sold his shares to his wife and denies any wrongdoing.

Panama Papers - tax havens of the rich and powerful exposed

• Eleven million documents held by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca have been passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. BBC Panorama and UK newspaper The Guardian are among 107 media organisations in 76 countries which have been analysing the documents. The BBC does not know the identity of the source
• They show how the company has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax
• Mossack Fonseca says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and never been accused or charged with criminal wrongdoing
• Tricks of the trade: How assets are hidden and taxes evaded
• Panama Papers: Full coverage; follow reaction on Twitter using #PanamaPapers; in the BBC News app, follow the tag "Panama Papers"

Former England defender and football pundit Gary Neville branded the referee's decision to award England a penalty in the first-half of their Euro 2024 semifinal against the Netherlands as an 'absolute disgrace' on Thursday. 

The Dutch took the lead in just seven minutes with Savi Simons scoring a magnificent long-range goal after robbing the ball off England's Declan Rice. However, England responded quickly, with Harry Kane forcing a save from Bart Verbruggen and moments later sent a volley over the bar, and was caught by Denzel Dumfries on the follow-through.

It seemed totally innocuous but German referee Felix Zwayer was summoned to review the images and gave a penalty.

Kane, whose missed spot-kick against France cost England dear in the 2022 World Cup, made no mistake, slotting low into the corner as England drew level.

On ITV, former England defender Neville called the decision a "disgrace" while Roy Keane said Kane helped influence the VAR's decision by staying down in the box.

Neville clashed with fellow pundit Ian Wright, who was adamant it was a penalty. But Neville was incredulous as Wright called Dumfries challenge "reckless".

"Look, as a defender I think it's an absolute disgrace," former England right-back Neville exclaimed on ITV. "I think it's an absolutely disgraceful decision. 

"It's natural to block the shot, it's not a penalty, nowhere near a penalty.

"We're all going mad, we don't know what a penalty is. We've conditioned ourselves in the game to think that's a penalty. Honestly, that is not a penalty. I think in the box, there's a bit of licence to go in and block the shot."

"When you look at the way penalties are given now, it was reckless," Wright said. "That's why it was given. Anywhere else on the pitch, that's a foul."

Neville countered: "That is not a penalty. I think in the box, there's a bit of licence to go in and block the shot."

England took the game home 2-1 as Ollie Watkins struck a stunning injury-time winner to set up a Euro 2024 final showdown with Spain in Berlin.

Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's record for most Bundesliga goals in a season after scoring twice in a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, but the England striker acknowledges he needs "to get a move on".

Kane scored on either side of half-time on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, while also putting him over the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.

The 30-year-old has netted 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, six short of Lewandowski's 41 in the 2020-21 season.

Asked about the possibility of breaking the record with three games left to play in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on.

"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance. It depends on the last few games of course. But it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."

Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

A parliamentary body today asked the central bank to submit lists of organisations and companies, whose names have been published in the Panama Papers.

ALSO READ: Bangladeshis named as Panama Papers database goes online

The parliamentary standing committee on finance, at a meeting held at the parliament, also asked Bangladesh Bank to submit another report before it on banks which are involved in offshore banking, Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, chief of the parliamentary watchdog, told The Daily Star.

ALSO READ: Panama Papers put big names under spotlight

Razzaque, an Awami League lawmaker, chaired the meeting.

The Panana Papers was leaked to the media on April 15 this year. It has caused immense global scrutiny about offshore banking and tax evasions, where prominent businessmen and companies from Bangladesh have also been named.