United Airlines will keep the Boeing 737 MAX out of service for even longer, and does not expect to fly the plane this summer, executives said on Wednesday.
The additional delay follows Boeing's announcement Tuesday postponing until mid-2020 the target date for winning approval from regulators to return the MAX to the skies.
"We do not anticipate flying the MAX this summer," United Executive Vice President Andrew Nocella said on a conference call to discuss the airline's earnings.
United Chief Executive Oscar Munoz said the carrier remains confident the plane will ultimately return to service, dismissing a "worst-case" scenario where it is permanently removed from the lineup.
"We're actually encouraged at what we hope is a more realistic timeline and target," Munoz said, alluding to Boeing's goal dates that repeatedly lapsed in 2019.
The MAX has been grounded since mid-March following two crashes that killed 346 people.
On Tuesday, Boeing signaled the new "mid-2020" target to ...

United Airlines: No Boeing 737 MAX flights this summer

PTI Automatic

Democrats were to present opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump on Wednesday after a day of strict party line votes on ground rules that foreshadowed the president's likely acquittal.
Trump, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos as the historic trial got underway, blasted the proceedings as a "witchhunt" and a "hoax" and said he expected the Republican-majority Senate to clear him "fairly quickly."
Republicans, who hold a 53 to 47 seat edge in the Senate, shot down a series of bids by Democrats to introduce White House witnesses and documents on Tuesday during nearly 13 hours of acrimonious debate that lasted late into the night.
Trump defended the Republicans' rejection of Democratic efforts to force former national security advisor John Bolton and others to testify at his trial saying of Bolton, for example, that it would present a "national security problem".
"John, he knows some of my thoughts," Trump said. "He knows what I think about ...

Democrats to make case against Trump at impeachment trial

A plot against Trump or American democracy at work?
Conservatives glued to Fox News and liberals tuned to MSNBC, America's most watched cable news networks, are getting radically different takes on the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
"A political hit job," "a partisan smear campaign," "a dirty trick from beginning to end" -- from the start of his opening monologue Tuesday evening, Fox News' Sean Hannity hurled thunderbolt after thunderbolt at the proceedings in the US Senate.
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Fox News has, with rare exceptions, aligned itself with Trump, accusing his Democratic opponents and the mainstream media of being out to get him under any pretext.
For Hannity, Fox News's biggest star, the impeachment trial that got under way Tuesday is the culmination of "a never-ending series of attacks and allegations" that that the president has endured for the past three years.
The Democrats "have been calling for impeachment two days after the president was ...

Two opposing visions of impeachment on US cable news

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday called on the US to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, in a meeting with a visiting envoy.
The US last month lifted fast-changing Sudan from a blacklist for religious freedom violations, but Khartoum awaits the bigger prize of removal from the terror list.
The designation has severely impeded investment in the country, which is emerging from decades of military rule and conflict.
Saudi media said the kingdom's state minister for African affairs, Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Kattan, met in Riyadh with the US envoy to Sudan, Donald Booth, and "stressed to Washington the necessity of lifting Sudan from the terrorism list".
According to state broadcaster Al-Ekhbaria, the minister emphasised "Saudi Arabia's support for Sudan's security and stability".
Washington has included Khartoum on its list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993 on charges of collaborating with Islamic extremist groups, notably Al-Qaeda.
In 2017, the United States lifted ...

Saudi calls on US to remove Sudan from 'terror list'

At least 32 people were killed on Wednesday when suspected nomadic Misseriya herders from Sudan attacked a village in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei along the border of South Sudan, a local official said.
Abyei has been contested since South Sudan gained independence in 2011, while there have long been tensions between the South Sudanese Ngok Dinka community and the Misseriya herders who traverse the area looking for grazing.
Kuol Alor Kuol, the chief administrator of the Abyei area, told AFP that heavily armed Misseriya and allied militia attacked the village of Kolom early on Wednesday.
"Thirty-two people were killed among them children and women, and secondly about 24 people are wounded...and about 15 people including children were abducted and 20 houses burned," Kuol said.
He said the wounded had been evacuated to a hospital in the town of Agok which is run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
In 2011, the UN Security Council deployed a peacekeeping force to the area after ...

32 killed in attack in disputed South Sudan border region: official

An escaped Belgian prisoner taunted his former jailers by returning his prison badge with a cheery holiday message, purportedly from Thailand.
Oualid Sekkaki had sent a postcard bearing the message "Greetings from Thailand", a source speaking on condition of anonymity said on Wednesday, confirming local reports.
"Yesterday the local jail authorities received a letter from Mr Sekkaki," prison service spokeswoman Kathleen Van De Vijver said, without confirming the origin or content of the letter.
"There was a message for management and his badge."
The 26-year-old escaped from Turnhout prison in northern Belgium with four other detainees in December. Three were quickly rounded up and one was arrested in January in the Netherlands.
But Sekkaki's whereabouts remained unknown, adding to his family legend: His brother Ashraf was nicknamed the "king of escapes" after fleeing Bruges jail in 2009 in a helicopter.
Oualid Sekkaki was in Turnhout after being sentenced for his role in a shooting in 

'Greetings from Thailand': Belgian fugitive taunts jailers

Protestors outside a Canadian courtroom pressing for the release of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive fighting extradition to the US were paid actors, they told local media.
It was not clear, however, who footed the bill.
A dozen men and women on Monday, at the start of the hearing considering whether or not to hand over Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou to US authorities to face fraud charges, held up red and white hand-written signs that read "Free Meng" and "Trump stop bullying us".
They declined to speak to an AFP journalist at the scene.
But later a handful were tracked down and spoke to Canadian media, saying they were paid 100 Canadian dollars (USD 76) to 150 Canadian dollars for two hours work that they had understood to be as extras in a movie shoot.
The offer, they said, came through Facebook or acquaintances.
"A CBS reporter approached me and my friend and she started interviewing us. And it was in those moments and questions where I started realizing, 

Actors paid to protest for Huawei exec's release: media

French and Dutch police arrested 23 people on suspicion of smuggling 10,000 Kurdish migrants to Britain in refrigerated lorries and rubber boats, Europe's judicial agency said on Wednesday.
Nineteen suspects were held in France and four in the Netherlands following a 16-month probe, Eurojust said.
The gang charged up to 7,000 euros (USD 7,750) per person to cross the channel, and made around 70 million euros in total profits, Eurojust said.
The gang "are suspected of facilitating the illegal transport of approximately 10,000 Kurdish immigrants to the United Kingdom in refrigerated lorries and small rubber boats," the agency said.
"The network picked migrants up from rest areas between Le Mans and Poitiers," in western France, before taking them across the English Channel. The probe extended to the Netherlands after vehicles with Dutch licence plates were seen to be involved.
The payments were made through a "hawala" banking operation in the Netherlands -- an informal network of money .

French, Dutch smash huge migrant smuggling ring to UK

Inter Milan's Serie A title push hit another stumbling block on Sunday after a 1-1 draw at lowly Lecce as Ante Rebic fired city rivals AC Milan to a last gasp 3-2 win over Udinese.
Antonio Conte's Inter looked to be bringing home maximum points from his hometown team, where he started his footballing career in the 1980s, when Alessandro Bastoni headed the away side in front with 18 minutes remaining.
But Marco Mancosu grabbed a precious point for the southerners five minutes after going behind.
Inter have won just two of their last six league games but are one point behind leaders Juventus, who can however open up a four-point advantage when they host Parma later on Sunday.
Conte's side are now also under threat from Lazio who are just two points behind with a game in hand after hammering Sampdoria 5-1 on Saturday.
Earlier Ante Rebic hit a brace, including the stoppage time winner, against Udinese that snatched a dramatic win that gave troubled AC Milan back-to-back league victories.  

Inter stall in Lecce as Rebic lifts AC Milan

Hometown hero Anthony Sinisuka Ginting snatched the men's Indonesia Masters title Sunday in a dramatic comeback over defending champion Anders Antonsen, while Spain's Carolina Marin lost a nail-biting final to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon.
Ginting clinched victory after Denmark's Antonsen took the first game in a 17-21, 21-15 and 21-9 duel that stretched over one hour and 11 minutes.
The Indonesian shuttler's win in the $400,000 tournament is his second after taking the title in 2018 -- and gave him hope for his run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
"I am really happy to win at home. This motivates me to go further in the future including for the Olympics," Ginting told reporters in Jakarta.
Antonsen tipped his hat to the winner.
"I started out playing good at the first set. Anthony was playing better and better and yeah, I was not able to keep my level high," the defeated Dane said.
Former world champion Marin also suffered the sting of defeat after losing the women's final to Intanon who .

Hometown hero Ginting nabs Indonesia Masters with comeback win

Kevin Kasuza struck a half-century on debut while opening partner Prince Masvaure recorded his maiden fifty as Zimbabwe finished the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on 189 for 2 in Harare.
Masvaure, playing in his third Test, made 55 before he was caught by Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne off the slow left-arm bowling of Lasith Embuldeniya.
Kasuza, one of three Zimbabwe players handed their Test debut, survived a dropped chance off a miscued hook shot before bringing up his own half-century.  He eventually fell lbw to Lasith Kumara for 63 after facing 214 balls and spending more than five hours at the crease.
Craig Ervine injected the innings with some impetus late in the day, hitting three sixes and as many boundaries as he finished unbeaten on 55. Brendan Taylor was 13 not out.
Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams elected to bat first despite overcast skies at the Harare Sports Club, where the African nation are playing their first home Test since 2017.
The hosts gave ..

Kasuza, Masvaure fifties give Zimbabwe solid platform

England captain Joe Root produced a Test-best bowling performance to send South Africa hurtling towards a humiliating defeat on the fourth day of the third Test at St George's Park on Sunday.
Root took four for 31 as South Africa slumped to 102 for six after being forced to follow on.
They were still 188 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat, with England seemingly assured of taking an unbeatable 2-1 series lead into the final Test starting in Johannesburg on Friday.
England dominated the day despite a second lengthy rain break in two days.
They needed only 28 balls to dismiss South Africa's last four batsmen for the addition of a single run at the start of play, with Stuart Broad picking up three of the wickets without conceding a run.
South Africa were all out for 209 and Root immediately enforced the follow-on.
Rain early in South Africa's second innings threatened to thwart England's push for victory but fast bowler Mark Wood struck twice when play resumed more than three hours 

South Africa on brink of humiliating defeat after Root Test best

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit a remote area of northwest China's Xinjiang region late Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.
The shallow quake struck at 9:27 pm (local time) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east-northeast of the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar.
In its initial assessment, the USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties.
It said however that significant damage was likely, with many buildings in the region built from mud bricks or cinder block masonry.
The area near the quake's epicentre is sparsely populated mountain and desert terrain.
China is regularly hit by earthquakes, especially in its mountainous western and southwestern regions.
In February 2003 a powerful 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Xinjiang and caused significant damage.

6.0 quake shakes China's Xinjiang

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has traveled to Colombia to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday.
Guaido's move comes amid an overture by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for direct negotiations with the United States on an end to crippling US sanctions.
Opposition lawmaker Stalin Gonzalez told AFP that Guaido, who is recognised by the United States and more than 50 other countries as Venezuela's acting president, will meet in Bogota with Pompeo.
The US secretary of state is scheduled to arrive in the Colombian capital on Monday at the start of a Latin American tour.
Guaido has been barred from leaving Venezuela since proclaiming himself acting president a year ago after the National Assembly declared President Nicolas Maduro a "usurper."
He defied the travel ban once before, in February 2016, when he secretly traveled to Colombia and then visited several other countries to marshal regional support for his challenge to Maduro.
The 

Venezuela's Guaido in Colombia to meet with Pompeo: lawmaker

World leaders made a fresh push for peace in Libya at a summit in Berlin on Sunday, in a desperate bid to stop the conflict-wracked nation from turning into a "second Syria".
The presidents of Russia, Turkey and France joined other global chiefs at the talks hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel and held under the auspices of the United Nations.  The summit's main goal is to get foreign powers wielding influence in the region to stop interfering in the war -- be it through weapons, troops or financing.
Leaders of both warring factions -- strongman Khalifa Haftar and the head of Tripoli's UN-recognised government Fayez al-Sarraj -- were also in Berlin for the first such gathering since 2018.
But pro-Haftar forces upped the ante ahead of the talks by blocking oil exports at Libya's key ports, crippling the country's main income source in protest at Turkey's decision to send troops to shore up Sarraj's Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
Ahead of the talks, Turkish President .

Libya summit opens in Berlin, seeking end to foreign meddling

Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday outside the former offices of Agos newspaper in Istanbul where Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered 13 years ago, a killing which sent shockwaves across the country.
Dink was shot dead with two bullets to the head in broad daylight in central Istanbul on January 19, 2007, by a then 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout.
The 52-year-old Dink was editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian bilingual weekly Agos and a fierce advocate of reconciliation between Turks and Armenians.
His death became a wider scandal after it was discovered that security forces were aware of the murder plot, but failed to act.
"For Hrant, for justice," the crowds chanted.
"We have not forgotten and we will not let it be forgotten." A giant picture of Dink was hanging outside the former building of Agos weekly, embellished with slogans reading: "It is not late to be ashamed" and "This case will not be over before we say it is over."
Hakan, one of the supporters ...

Slain Turkish-Armenian journalist commemorated in Istanbul

Libya's military strongman Khalifa Haftar must drop his "hostile attitude" so that the conflict in the war-torn nation can be resolved, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ahead of crunch talks in Berlin on Sunday.
"For a political solution and the implementation of other phases of a solution, Haftar's hostile attitude should come to an end," Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
The comments reportedly came during a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin shortly before the start of an international summit on Libya.
Turkey and Russia are on opposed sides in the deadly conflict, with Erdogan backing the UN-recognised government of Fayez al-Sarraj, while Putin supports rival Haftar's troops.
The Berlin summit, attended by a slew of world leaders including the two main rivals in the Libyan crisis, hopes to extract a pledge for a lasting ceasefire and an end to foreign interference.
Ankara and Moscow brokered a fragile Libyan ceasefire earlier 

Libyan strongman Haftar must end 'hostile' attitude: Erdogan

More than a thousand opposition activists of various stripes marched in central Moscow on Sunday after President Vladimir Putin proposed re-drafting the constitution, unleashing political upheaval.
Protesters -- mostly young anti-fascist activists -- chanted "Revolution" and "No to dictatorship" and some carried copies of the constitution.
The annual sanctioned march was called to commemorate the memory of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova who were gunned down in Moscow by ultra-nationalists in 2009.
A number of independent local deputies including Yulia Galyamina and opposition-minded Russians joined the march, carrying copies of the constitution and chanting "Putin leave!".
About ten people including a protester who carried a placard urging Putin to quit power were detained by police.
Pyotr Alyoshin, a 54-year-old lawyer, said at the march he was against changing the country's basic law.
"The constitution that I hold in my hands protects our rights and ...

Russian activists take aim at Putin in march against repression

Prince Masvaure struck his maiden Test fifty while opening partner Kevin Kasuza approached a half-century on debut as Zimbabwe reached 108 for 1 at tea on the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Harare.
Masvaure, playing in his third Test, made 55 before he was caught by Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne off the slow left-arm bowling of Lasith Embuldeniya.
Kasuza was unbeaten on 48 following the afternoon session, having survived a dropped chance after he miscued a hook off Suranga Lakmal.
Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams elected to bat first despite overcast skies at the Harare Sports Club, where the African nation are playing their first home Test since 2017.
The hosts handed debuts to three players -- opening batsman Kasuza, left-arm spinner Ainsley Ndlovu and seam bowler Victor Nyauchi -- in their first Test match in 14 months.
Fast bowler Lakmal returned for Sri Lanka, having missed the entire Pakistan series, while Angelo Mathews was also included in an experienced 

Masvaure fifty helps Zimbabwe to solid start against Sri Lanka

England fast bowler Mark Wood came out after a lengthy rain break and plunged South Africa into trouble in their second innings on the fourth day of the third Test at St George's Park on Sunday.
South Africa, forced to follow on after being bowled out for 209, were 44 for three at tea, still 246 runs short of making England bat again. Wood used his extreme pace to send Dean Elgar's off stump flying out of the ground before he had Zubayr Hamza feeling for a ball outside his leg stump to present a catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
England captain Joe Root struck a third blow for the tourists when he trapped Pieter Malan leg before wicket in the last over before tea, leaving England well-placed to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series despite uncertain weather.
Following a lengthy delay on Saturday, the players were off for more than three hours, including the lunch break, on Sunday.
England enforced the follow-on after they needed only 28 balls to dismiss South Africa's last four ...

Wood double blow rocks South Africa after follow-on

Gas-rich Qatar signed a USD 470-million deal on Sunday to build its first solar energy plant, capable of meeting up to one-tenth of peak national power demand.
The Al-Kharsaah plant, near the capital, is a 10-square-kilometre joint venture with French and Japanese partners due for completion in 2022 ahead of the football World Cup.
"Eight times the solar power pledged in the World Cup bid will be produced," Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told a media briefing in Doha.
Qatar's ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, vowed at the United Nations last year that the tournament would be carbon neutral, but gave little detail on how this would be achieved.
"Production capacity will be around 800 megawatts and 10 percent of peak demand," said Kaabi following a signing ceremony between Qatari state firms, France's Total and Japan's Marubeni.
"Eight-hundred megawatts will be the largest (solar power plant) built by Total," said the French energy giant's chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne.
By 

AFP

AFP

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