US President Donald Trump, who was uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter during his nine-day trip abroad, resumed his favourite past-time today with a tweet storm in which he thundered against "fake news."
	"It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media," he wrote the morning after his return home.
	"Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!," he wrote, spelling errors and all.
	Trump returned late yesterday from his first international trip as US president, geared up to combat concerns over aides' ties to Russia including explosive reports that his son-in-law Jared Kushner sought a secret communications line with Moscow.
	In an earlier tweet today, Trump hailed what he called the trip's "great success."
	"Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great 

Fresh from his travels, Trump rails on Twitter about 'fake

PTI Automatic

A Frenchman who was abducted in early March in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been freed, the office of President Emmanuel Macron announced today.
	Macron praised the DR Congo authorities "for their mobilisation and the effectiveness of their action" in obtaining the hostage's release, the office said in a statement, without identifying him.
	Contacted by AFP, the president's office had no further information.
	The French foreign ministry announced on March 2 that armed kidnappers had seized five gold mine workers, including a Frenchman, in eastern DR Congo.
	The hostages worked for Banro, a Canadian gold mining corporation that runs two mines in DR Congo and is exploring for the mineral elsewhere in the vast, resource-rich country.
	The fate of the other people kidnapped was not known.
	The French foreign ministry, which did not give the nationalities of the other victims, said it had no information on the identity of the attackers.

French hostage freed in DR Congo

Airbus has begun building its first helicopter assembly plant in China, and the European planemaker plans to produce 18 machines a year there in hopes the country will soon open up its low-altitude airspace.
	China currently has a shortage of civilian helicopters for emergency medical purposes and other uses due to the military's tight control over the nation's airspace.
	Airbus Helicopters plans to complete its plant in the eastern port city of Qingdao at the end of next year.
	The first helicopter is scheduled to be delivered in mid- 2019, its president Guillaume Faury told reporters during the laying of the foundation stone yesterday.
	The plant will be the first by a foreign helicopter manufacturer on Chinese soil, he said. It will be jointly operated by Airbus Helicopters and Qingdao United General Aviation Company.
	Airbus also has an aircraft assembly plant in the northeastern city of Tianjin, which it opened in 2008.
	A letter of intent for a 750-million euro (USD 800 million) 

Airbus starts building first helicopter plant in China

Britain police have released CCTV footage of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi on the night of the attack as thousands defied the terror threat to take part in the Great Manchester Run today.
	Security was tight as 40,000 runners pounded Manchester's streets in the annual half marathon (21.1 km) a day after Prime Minister Theresa May lowered the terror threat level, which was hiked following Monday's carnage.
	Investigators gave details of Abedi's last hours as they released photographs from security cameras showing the black- clad suicide bomber wearing jeans and trainers, a black bodywarmer and baseball cap, the straps of his backpack visible on his shoulders.
	The 22-year-old, of Libyan origin, was born in the northwestern English city.
	The police statement said one of the last places he went to was a "city centre flat and from there he left to make his way to the Manchester Arena" where the attack took place.
	"The flat is highly relevant as a location which we believe may be the ...

Manchester bomber photos released as runners defy terror

At least 15 members of a single family were killed when a pickup truck veered off the road and plunged into a river in northern Afghanistan, officials said.
	Women and children were among the dead after yesterday's accident on the main highway between Parwan and Kabul, which is notorious for crashes.
	Apart from the 15 killed in the accident in the Salang district of Parwan province, two children were wounded and taken to hospital, said provincial spokeswoman Waheeda Shahkar, adding that the victims were all from one family.
	Alizai Ahmadi, a local police chief, confirmed the accident but put the death toll at 16. Ahmadi said six women and six children were among the dead.
	The Kabul-Parwan highway connecting the north and south of the country is heavily used and many vehicles are packed with people.
	War-torn Afghanistan has some of the world's most dangerous roads due to wear and tear, a lack of enforcement of traffic rules and decrepit passenger vehicles.
	In December last year 14 .

Afghan road accident kills 15 family members

Sports Minister Greg Hunt said today the federal government was prepared to provide mediation between Cricket Australia and players over the pay-dispute stalemate.
     CA chairman David Peever has turned down the Australian Cricketers' Association's request for independent mediation and there are fears the stand-off could potentially lead to a players' boycott of the showpiece Ashes series later in the year.
     Hunt said the government was hesitant about being too interventionist in contract disputes in professional sport.
     But he said there was scope to act as a mediator if the dispute looked likely to threaten the home Ashes series.
     "If it got to a last-minute situation, I suspect that we would offer to provide good officers brokering between the parties, but there's six months between now and the Ashes," Hunt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
     "It would be unthinkable that in the end we wouldn't have a full team.
     "I do not see either the players or .

Government ready to mediate in Australia pay row

South Korea today won badminton's Sudirman Cup for the first time in 14 years with an emotional 3-2 victory over 10-time champions China at Australia's Gold Coast.
     The South Koreans claimed their fourth cup in the world mixed teams competition with a charged 21-17, 21-13 win by Choi Sol-Gyu and Chae Yoo-Jung in the mixed doubles match.
     The victory -- their first in the biennial tournament since Eindhoven in 2003 -- ended China's 14-year grip on the Sudirman Cup.
     South Korea, who also won the Sudirman Cup in 1991 and 1993, fought back from 2-1 down in the final to claim victory.
     Upon winning match point the entire South Korean team descended on Choi and Chae and swamped them in celebration, with Chae eventually climbing off the floor in tears.
     It was an outstanding performance by Choi and Chae, ranked 14th in the world, against the second-ranked Chinese combination of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong.
     Rio Olympic champions Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan gave China a ...

South Korea upset China to win Sudirman Cup

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will ignore Supreme Court and congress as he enforces martial law across the southern third of the country, despite the constitution giving them oversight.
	Duterte on Tuesday imposed martial law in the Mindanao region, home to 20 million people, following deadly clashes in a mostly Muslim-populated city involving militants he said were trying to establish a caliphate for the Islamic State group.
	"Until the police and the armed forces say the Philippines is safe, this martial law will continue. I will not listen to others. The Supreme Court, congress, they are not here," Duterte told soldiers on Saturday.
	"Are they the ones dying and losing blood, bleeding, hemorrhaging because there is no help, no reinforcement? It's not them."
	The 1987 constitution imposes limits on martial law to prevent a repeat of the abuses carried out under the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was deposed by a famous "People Power" revolution the ...

Philippines' Duterte vows to ignore SC on martial law

New captain Sarfraz Ahmed will face his stiffest test yet when he leads unfancied Pakistan in the Champion's Trophy -- starting with a highly-charged clash against India.
     After qualifying by the skin of their teeth, Pakistan will need to overcome serious batting deficiencies to be competitive following their struggles in the one-day format in recent years.
     Pakistan's tournament in England starts with the toughest of games against arch-rivals India, the defending champions, in Birmingham on June 4.
     They are looking to halt a slump that began with a first-round exit from the 2015 World Cup, prompting all- rounder Shahid Afridi and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq to exit the one-day scene.
     Test specialist Azhar Ali then led Pakistan to an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash in Bangladesh and 4-1 reverses to both England and Australia before Sarfraz was handed the reins.
     The wicketkeeper-batsman is credited with injecting new energy after winning three of his first four games, two ..

New Pakistan skipper faces Trophy acid test

Islamist militants locked in street-to-street battles with security forces in a southern Philippine city have killed 19 civilians, the military said today, bringing the official death toll from nearly a week of fighting to at least 85.
	The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law on Tuesday across the southern third of the Philippines to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat of militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.
	Authorities said the militants had killed 19 civilians in Marawi, a mostly Muslim-populated city of 200,000 people. These included three women and a child who were found dead near a university.
	"These are civilians, women. These terrorists are anti- people. We found their bodies while conducting rescue operations (on Saturday)," regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told AFP.
	An AFP photographer saw another eight bodies by a road in the outskirts of Marawi today, with local residents identifying them as 

Islamist militants kill 19 in south Philippines: army

Mo Farah says he is unlikely to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as he prepares to wind down his glittering career.
     The four-time Olympic champion will sign off from track racing after August's World Championships in London before switching to the marathon.
     But the 34-year-old Briton, who laid down a marker with an emphatic 5,000m victory at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, said he is unlikely to be marathon racing at the 2020 Olympics.
     Asked if he expected to run in Tokyo, Farah told AFP: "I don't think I will be."
     "It's too far. I miss my family. My kids are growing up fast. I'm away six months of the year training and it makes me sad not to see them growing up."
     Nevertheless Farah said he is determined to take a serious crack at the marathon after the Worlds.
     "I feel like I haven't achieved what I could achieve on the road so I want to continue on," Farah said.
     "In terms of track racing, I didn't get where I am today overnight.
     "You've all ..

Tokyo 'too far' for Farah

A Lionel Messi masterclass salvaged some silverware to end Barcelona's season and gave coach Luis Enrique a victorious send-off as the Catalans retained the Copa del Rey with a 3-1 win over Alaves.
     Messi opened the scoring then helped tee up Neymar and Paco Alcacer to lead Barca to a record 29th Cup triumph after Theo Hernandez's brilliant free-kick had briefly brough Alaves level.
     Victory means Enrique bows out after three seasons in charge with nine trophies to his name, including the Cup in every year of his reign.
     However, once again it was Messi who inspired Barca to bounceback from the disappointment of losing their La Liga title to Real Madrid last weekend with a stunning individual display.
     Barca were without the suspended Luis Suarez and Sergi Roberto and Enrique was forced into another reshuffle just 11 minutes in as Javier Mascherano was forced off with a head injury.
     Yet, whilst Barca's depth has been much-criticised this season, Andre Gomes ...

Messi magic inspires Barca to retain Copa del Rey

In 42 years of trying England have never won a major global one-day international trophy but hopes are high they can finally put an end to that damning statistic as the host nation of next month's Champions Trophy.
     Eoin Morgan's men have come a long way in a short space of time since a humiliating first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand saw them labelled "an analogue team in a digital age".
     Proof of their resurgence came when they posted a world record ODI score of 444 for three against Pakistan at Trent Bridge last year.
     England, who once disdained the Indian Premier League, are now happy to let players miss internationals so they can extend their time in the lucrative Twenty20 event.
     In all-rounder Ben Stokes they have one of the world's best, with the Durham hero paid a record $2.16 million to take part before being named the tournament's most valuable player on the field as well.
     And even when Stokes fails to fire, England can ..

England hope Champions Trophy provides elusive title

South Africa captain AB de Villiers insisted his side had done nothing wrong after they found themselves caught up in a fresh ball-tampering row as they lost their one-day international series against England.
     The hosts somehow managed to win by two runs at Southampton to go 2-0 up when it seemed South Africa were on the brink of levelling matters ahead of Monday's third and final ODI at Lord's.
     As if that was not bad enough for the tourists, de Villiers thought he might be accused of ball-tampering during England's innings.
     After the 33rd over, it appeared he was trying to get the ball changed.
     But de Villiers later revealed he was in fact insisting to umpires Chris Gaffaney and Rob Bailey that the Proteas were not responsible for illegally altering its condition.
     The vexed issue of ball-tampering is particularly emotive for South Africa given that Test skipper Faf du Plessis was fined his match fee by the International Cricket Council in November for shining 

South Africa's De Villiers angry at 'ball-tampering' inference

Ben Stokes struck a superb century before pacemen Josh Ball and Mark Wood helped England seal a dramatic and series-clinching two run-win over South Africa in the second one-day international.
     Victory put England 2-0 up with one to play ahead of Monday's finale at Lord's.
     Stokes made South Africa pay dearly for dropping him off both first and second balls after the all-rounder had been passed fit to play following a knee injury.
     Yet in a match where the Proteas dropped six chances in all, they were still on course for a morale-boosting win ahead of the start of next week's Champions Trophy ODI tournament in England.
     South Africa, the world's top-ranked ODI side, needed 20 off the last two overs chasing a target of 331 yesterday.
     That became 10 off 10 balls when David Miller (71 not out) struck Jake Ball for a six and a four off successive deliveries.
     But South Africa -- often accused of 'choking' in pressure situations -- saw Miller and Chris Morris (36 ..

Southampton, May 28 (AFP) Completed scoreboard in the

Serena Williams may be missing from this year's French Open, but big sister Venus is still going strong and marks her Roland Garros 20th anniversary today.
     Three weeks shy of her 37th birthday, the American star, who made her debut in the French capital in 1997, kicks off her latest campaign against China's Wang Qiang.
     Williams, seeded 10, has played every year since 1997 with the exception of 2011 and despite her senior citizen status, she is still a contender at the Slams as her run to the Australian Open final in January proved.
     Her staggering longevity is illustrated by the fact that her potential second round opponent is compatriot Amanda Anisimova who, at just 15, is the youngest main draw competitor since 2005.
     When Venus was losing the 2002 Roland Garros final to Serena, Anisimova was just nine months old.
     "I'm here as I still have a lot to give. That just wraps it up," said Venus who has never got beyond the quarter-finals in Paris since her ...

Venus set for French Open 20th anniversary

Top seed Stan Wawrinka defended his Geneva claycourt title, rallying for a set down to see off German outsider Mischa Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
     The Swiss player's first trophy of the season gives the 32-year-old world number three a boost ahead of the French Open -- which he won in 2015 -- and where he opens against Slovak Jozef Kovalik on Monday.
     "I'm extremely happy to win my second title in Switzerland. It means a lot to me. This is the first time that my daughter is in the stadium when I win the title and that makes it even more special," said Wawrinka yesterday.
     After losing the first set to qualifier Zverev,the older brother of Alexander Zverev who stunned Novak Djokovic in the Rome Masters final, three-time Grand Slam winner Wawrinka needed 2 hours 20 minutes to seal victory.
     "The level was great today, I think it was a great final. Mischa was playing very well and maybe I was hesitating a bit in the beginning," said the Swiss player.
     "I'm happy that I came 

Wawrinka holds Geneva title ahead of French Open bid

Myanmar authorities must investigate a video showing men in military uniforms viciously beating handcuffed detainees suspected of being ethnic rebel fighters, rights groups said today.
	The video's emergence comes as negotiators from the civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the military hold peace talks with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups in the capital, aimed at ending some of the world's longest running civil wars.
	The unverified video first surfaced on Facebook yesterday morning and quickly went viral.
	It showed several men dressed in army uniform kicking three handcuffed men in civilian clothes, part of a wider group of people detained outside some rural houses.
	At one point in the 17-minute long video, a uniformed man smashes his helmet into the face of one of the victims.
	The uniformed men can be heard asking the handcuffed detainees whether they belong to the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic rebel group from north- eastern Shan State ...

Myanmar must investigate 'army beating' video: rights groups

Canada's main opposition Conservative Party has elected Andrew Scheer as its leader to take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next election, expected in 2019.
	Scheer, 38, is a lawmaker from western Saskatchewan province who has pledged to reduce government spending and trim deficits.
	After a year of campaigning, he defeated 12 other hopefuls at a suspenseful party meeting outside Toronto yesterday.
	Scheer now faces the difficult task of uniting two deeply divided wings of the party ahead of the next election.
	He succeeds interim leader Rona Ambrose, who took over from then prime minister Stephen Harper after his defeat in the 2015 elections.
	Harper was credited with uniting the right and breaking the Liberals' stranglehold on power over most of the last century in Canada.

Canada's opposition Conservatives pick new leader

The Libyan jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia, which is linked to Al-Qaeda and deemed a terrorist organisation by the UN and United States, has announced its "dissolution" in a communique published online.
	Washington accuses the group of being behind the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi in which ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
	Ansar al-Sharia is one of the jihadist groups that sprung up in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, in the chaos following the death of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. They overran the city in 2014.
	East Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar earlier this month launched an offensive to oust jihadist fighters from their two remaining strongholds in Benghazi.
	In its communique Ansar al-Sharia yesterday said it had been "weakened" by the fighting.
	The group lost its leader, Mohammed Azahawi, in clashes with Haftar's forces in Benghazi at the end of 2014.
	Most of its members ..

AFP

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