Almost exactly two years after the death of renowned French chef Paul Bocuse, the Michelin Guide has retracted the coveted three-star ranking his restaurant held for an unprecedented 55 years, prompting anger and dismay from many of his peers.
The Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near food-obsessed Lyon in southeast France, was the oldest three-starred restaurant in the world, having held the accolade without interruption since 1965.
The Michelin Guide told AFP on Friday that the establishment "remained excellent but no longer at the level of three stars" and will have only two in the 2020 edition of the famous red book -- known as the "Bible" of French cuisine.
The Bocuse d'Or organisation, which holds the annual international cooking competition he created, greeted the announcement with "sadness" and expressed its "unwavering support" for the restaurant.
Bocuse's family and his kitchen team said they were "upset" by the decision, and celebrity chef Marc Veyrat, who recently sued the ...

Michelin strips star from French culinary beacon Bocuse

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Mohamed Salah says Liverpool's focus is solely on ending a 30-year wait to win the Premier League title, rather than doing so by going the whole season unbeaten.
Jurgen Klopp's men have dropped just two points in 21 games to set a new record for Europe's top five leagues of 61 points from a possible 63 to start the campaign.
That has propelled the European champions into a 14-point lead over title holders Manchester City with a game in hand, but Salah insists the Reds are still taking their title challenge one game at a time ahead of Manchester United's visit to Anfield on Sunday.
"We don't think about being unbeaten until the end of the season. If we do that, it would be great, but at the end of the day we just want to win the Premier League. That's the most important thing," Salah told Premier League Productions.
"Unbeaten or not, it's not necessary - we want to win the Premier League."
Liverpool could move a massive 30 points clear of United with victory on Sunday, but the Red ...

Title, not invincible tag, the most important goal for Salah

Kagiso Rabada was criticised by former West Indies fast bowling great Michael Holding and ex-England batsman Kevin Pietersen on Friday amid heated debate over the decision to ban him from the fourth and final Test against England.
The South Africa fast bowler pleaded guilty to a level one breach of the International Cricket Council's code of conduct because of the way he celebrated the dismissal of England captain Joe Root during the first day of the third Test at St George's Park on Thursday.
He was fined 15 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point. As it was his fourth demerit point in a 24-month period he incurred an automatic one-match ban, ruling him out of next week's fourth Test in Johannesburg.
"He has to learn," said Holding, who was commentating for SuperSport television.
"You can't keep making the same mistakes. He has to remember he is damaging his team. South Africa without Rabada at the Wanderers -- that's a big blow."
After bowling Root, Rabada charged down 

Rabada ban triggers dispute ahead of fourth Test

Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope hit centuries as England built a strong position on the second day of the third Test against South Africa and England at St George's Park on Friday.
England were 426 for eight at tea. The four-match series is tied at 1-1.
World player of the year Stokes hit 120, his ninth Test century, while Pope was unbeaten on 106, his maiden Test hundred.
Stokes and Pope put on 203 for the fifth wicket after coming together on the first day when their side were struggling at 148 for four.
In contrast to an attritional first day, when England could only score 224 for four in 90 overs, England scored freely for most of the day, although Pope made hard work of moving from his score of 75 at lunch to his century, needing most of the afternoon before he punched Anrich Nortje through midwicket for his 14th boundary after facing 190 balls.
While Pope moved cautiously to join Dom Sibley in scoring a maiden Test hundred during the series, Sam Curran provided the impetus for England 

Stokes, Pope punish South Africa with centuries

France has made proposals to the United States to resolve the dispute over taxing multinational tech giants that aims to seal the framework for a global deal by the end of the month, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Friday.
"There are possibilities available, we are working with (US Treasury Secretary) Steven Mnuchin. I made several proposals to him," Le Maire said days before self-imposed deadline to find a resolution expires.
On January 7, Paris and Washington set a two-week deadline to end a row over a French tax on multinational tech giants, with a US threat of sky-high retaliatory duties on USD 2.4 billion of French products from wines to leather handbags still hanging in the air.
Le Maire declined to unveil details about the proposals or whether France had made a gesture on the implementation of the tax that would hit US firms like Netflix and Amazon.
"We are going to keep that to ourselves for the moment, but I think there is a path to a possible compromise between the ...

France makes proposals to US to resolve tech tax row

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Harry Maguire as Manchester United's new captain less than six months after his ?80 million ($104 million) move from Leicester.
Maguire will take over as skipper from Ashley Young, who is expected to complete his move to Inter Milan on Friday.
The England international, 26, has led the side in games when Young has been absent and was an obvious choice for the role having played in every Premier League match this season.
"Harry has been wearing the captain's armband and he will keep wearing it," said Solskjaer, whose side take on runaway leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
"He's come in and been a leader in the group. I have not been surprised but I've been impressed by his leadership skills."
"He is part of a group that we've had that have been leading this young group," added Solskjaer.
"Ashley has been of course, Marcus (Rashford) is a young lad but he has been involved, David (de Gea) and Harry, so Harry will keep on wearing the armband ...

Maguire named as new Man Utd captain, with Young set for exit

Veteran Spanish driver Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally for the third time on Friday, finishing with a comfortable winning margin in the first running of the event in Saudi Arabia.
The 57-year-old crossed the line in the 12th and final stage 6min 21sec ahead of nearest challenger and reigning champion Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar, who had managed to cut Sainz's lead to just 24 seconds on Tuesday but fell back after navigation blunders.
"I feel very happy. There's a lot of effort behind this. A lot of training, practice," Sainz told the race's website.
"It has been a flat out rally since the beginning. It was fantastic, a first time in Saudi Arabia, of course you can always improve but it was a fantastic effort," he added.
Asked about defending his title next year Sainz said: "It's too early to think about it, let me enjoy this."
Sainz, the father of F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr., seized control of the race from the third stage in his X-raid Mini.
He has now won the Dakar with three ...

Spanish driver Carlos Sainz wins Dakar Rally for third time

Kagiso Rabada was criticised by former West Indies fast bowling great Michael Holding and ex-England batsman Kevin Pietersen on Friday after incurring a ban which will put him out of the fourth and final Test against England in Johannesburg next week.
Both former internationals said Rabada had let his team down by being a repeat disciplinary offender.
The South Africa fast bowler pleaded guilty to a level one breach of the International Cricket Council's code of conduct because of the way he celebrated the dismissal of England captain Joe Root during the first day of the third Test at St George's Park on Thursday.
He was fined 15 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point. As it was his fourth demerit point in a 24-month period he incurred an automatic one-match ban.
"He has to learn," said Holding, who was commentating for SuperSport television.
"You can't keep making the same mistakes. He has to remember he is damaging his team. South Africa without Rabada at the ...

Rabada slammed by Holding, Pietersen after celebration ban

Christopher Tolkien, the son of JR R Tolkien who was responsible for publishing many of his father's works, has died aged 95, the Tolkien Society said.
The academic, a former lecturer in Old and Middle English as well as Old Icelandic at the University of Oxford, is credited with drawing the 1954 map of Middle-earth for his father's novel "The Lord of the Rings".
After his father's death in 1973, he became the literary executor of the Tolkien Estate.
He spent years compiling and editing his father's material before publishing many of his works, including "The Silmarillion" in 1977 and "The Fall of Gondolin" in 2018.
"We have lost a titan and he will be sorely missed," Tolkien Society chairman Shaun Gunner said in a statement Thursday.
"Christopher's commitment to his father's works has seen dozens of publications released, and his own work as an academic in Oxford demonstrates his ability and skill as a scholar," Gunner added.
"Millions of people around the world will be forever ...

Christopher Tolkien, son of Lord of the Rings author, dies aged 95

Ukraine's prime minister offered his resignation on Friday after audio was leaked of him questioning President Volodymyr Zelensky's grasp of economics, in the first major political test for the inexperienced leader.
It was unclear whether Zelensky would accept Oleksiy Goncharuk's offer, which came after a recording emerged of him reportedly saying the president had a "primitive understanding" of the economy.
Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience, came to power after a landslide election win last year and his "Servant of the People" party later won a strong majority in parliament.
He has been embroiled in the US impeachment process and faced tough talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but had so far managed to avoid any significant domestic political problems.
The audio recording was leaked on social media on Wednesday and reportedly came from an informal December meeting between ministers and senior officials from the National Bank.
According to local media 

Ukraine PM offers to resign after leaked recording

Global equities rose Friday as investors, still buoyed by a landmark China-US trade deal, turned their focus to the earnings season and the global outlook, while also cheered by Chinese economic data.
In early afternoon European trade, London rose 1.0 per cent, Frankfurt jumped 0.7 per cent and Paris added 0.9 per cent, aided by news that China's economy appears to be stabilising.
"Stock markets in Europe are higher this morning as the bullish move in Asia overnight has influenced traders in this part of the world," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
"China released some broadly positive economic reports, which has boosted sentiment around the globe."
All three main indexes on Wall Street ended at record highs Thursday, boosted by the Senate's approval of a new North American free-trade deal, while Google parent Alphabet joined Apple and Microsoft to become a trillion-dollar firm for the first time.
The positive energy funnelled through to Asia, where Hong Kong gained 0.6 per ...

Global equities burst higher on trade deal

The latest round of peace talks between South Sudan's two rival leaders has failed to strike a deal on the vital issue of internal boundaries, mediators said on Friday.
Critics have accused President Salva Kiir of reorganising state boundaries to shore up his power and the issue has hobbled talks with rebel leader Riek Machar.
South Africa's Deputy President David Mabuza, mediating the talks in South Sudan's capital Juba, said the two men had agreed to a week-long arbitration process to help resolve the dispute.
The longtime rivals, whose fallout sparked a civil war in 2013, signed a peace agreement in 2018 but have missed two deadlines to form a power-sharing government.
They have held several rounds of discussions since November, when they were given 100 more days to form a unity government.
Mabuza said the talks had concluded without an agreement over states and boundaries.
"The number of states and their boundaries has been a sticking point between parties towards the formation of 

S Sudan talks fail to end impasse over state boundaries

The European Union will challenge the China-US trade agreement at the World Trade Organization if it creates "distortions" in the market that harm EU companies, the bloc's envoy to Beijing said Friday.
Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis told reporters the 28-nation EU "will monitor the implementation" of the "phase one" deal that was signed on Wednesday by President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
"In our opinion, quantitative targets are not WTO-compatible if they lead to trade distortions," Chapuis said.
"If it were to be the case, we will go to the WTO to settle this matter."
He said that during a meeting at the Chinese foreign ministry, he was given "formal assurances that in absolutely no way would European businesses be affected by the US-China deal".
The WTO's principle of most-favoured-nation treatment says countries cannot discriminate between trading partners.
Under the deal, China agreed to import an additional USD 200 billion in US products over two years -- above ...

EU warns of WTO challenge if China-US deal creates 'distortions'

The Louvre museum in Paris shut down Friday after striking workers blocked the entrance, management said, in the latest protest against plans to overhaul France's pension system.
Hundreds of disappointed visitors massed in front of the entrance to the world's most visited museum, some hurling insults at the striking workers, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
The blockade came as union leaders seek to widen opposition to the pension reforms, which have triggered the longest transport strike in France in decades.
The unions are looking for a second wind as the movement starts to flag, with the proportion of workers at national railway operator SNCF falling to 4.6 percent on Friday.
On Thursday, around 187,000 people took part in a sixth day of nationwide protests against the overhaul, according to the interior ministry, well below the 452,000 who turned out for similar demos on January 10.
The overhaul aims to forge a single pensions system from the country's 42 separate ...

France's Louvre shut by pension strikes

The World Health Organisation warned Friday that a dire lack of new antibiotics was threatening efforts to curb the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, which kill tens of thousands of people each year.
The UN health agency published two new reports revealing that there are few new effective antibiotics in the pipeline, meaning that the world is running out of options for fighting so-called superbugs.
"Never has the threat of antimicrobial resistance been more immediate and the need for solutions more urgent," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
"Numerous initiatives are underway to reduce resistance, but we also need countries and the pharmaceutical industry to step up and contribute with sustainable funding and innovative new medicines," he said.
Antibiotic resistance happens when bugs become immune to existing drugs, rendering minor injuries and common infections potentially deadly.
An estimated 33,000 people die in Europe every year from such drug-resistant ...

As superbugs spread, WHO raises alarm over lack of new antibiotics

Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a peace conference on Libya in Germany on Sunday, as world powers step up efforts to find a lasting ceasefire.
The peace talks in Berlin will focus on stopping the fighting and launching a "broad political dialogue" under the auspices of the United Nations, the Kremlin said.
Libya has been in turmoil since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
Last April, an assault on Tripoli by military strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces sparked fighting that has killed more than 280 civilians and 2,000 fighters, displacing thousands.
"On January 19 Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Berlin to take part in the International conference on Libya," the Kremlin said.
Earlier in the day, Russia's acting foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said preparations for the peace conference were nearly ready but lamented that the war-scarred country's rivals refused to speak to each other.
"In my opinion, final documents look ...

Putin to attend Libya peace conference

A South Carolina woman was Thursday sentenced to 25 years in jail after she admitted poisoning her husband by putting eye drops in his drinking water.
In a plea deal, Lana Sue Clayton, 53, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Steven Clayton, 64, at their home in Clover, near Charlotte, CBS-affiliate WBTV reported.
She was accused of poisoning her husband by lacing his drinking water with eye drops between July 19 and 21, 2018.
Her husband was initially thought to have died of natural causes but an autopsy toxicology report showed poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline, which is found in eye drops.
"The coroner found a level of tetrahydrozoline in his system and that's when we opened the case because that was very unusual for us," York County Sheriff's Office public information officer Trent Faris said, according to WBTV.
Prosecutors said in 2016 she also shot her husband in back of the head with a crossbow, ABC-affiliate WSOC-TV reported.
At the time the incident was 

US woman jailed for killing husband with eye drops

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to usher in a "new era" of ties with Myanmar after a red carpet welcome Friday on a state visit aimed at buttressing the embattled government of Aung San Suu Kyi and driving through multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals.
Myanmar fighter jets escorted Xi's plane as it touched down in Naypyidaw where children presented him with flowers, according to China's official Xinhua news agency, as he was whisked off to a greeting party.
In addition to being its largest investor, China has become an indispensable ally for Myanmar as it reels from Western isolation over the Rohingya crisis.
But widespread mistrust of Beijing's ambitions and its influence over armed insurgencies in areas bordering the two countries threaten to undermine the bond.
Xi told Myanmar leaders he was "convinced that the concerted efforts of our two sides will make this visit a success and take the bilateral ties to a new level and into a new era," Xinhua reported.
During the trip he .

China's Xi vows 'new era' of Myanmar ties after red carpet welcome

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg joined several thousand protesters in the streets of the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday, days before the start of the Davos summit of the world's political and business elites.
"So far during this decade we are seeing no sign whatsoever that real climate action is coming," the 17-year-old eco-warrior said to a rock-star welcome from the mostly teenage crowd.
"That has to change," she said, adding in a message to world leaders: "This is just the beginning. You haven't seen anything yet. We assure you of that!".
Thunberg is due to address the summit in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos next week with a call on governments and financial institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels.
Friday's carnival-like protest brought the cobbled streets of the city centre to a standstill, with demonstrators calling for urgent climate action and booing as they passed a branch of Credit Suisse, which campaigners criticise for its fossil fuel ...

Greta joins thousands at climate protest before Davos

England's Ben Stokes hit his ninth Test century as he and Ollie Pope punished a dispirited South African bowling attack on the second day of the third Test at St George's Park on Friday.
Stokes (108 not out) and Pope (75 not out) took England to 335 for four at lunch.
In contrast to an attritional first day, when England could only score 224 for four in 90 overs, Stokes and Pope added 111 runs in 27 overs after the start of play was delayed by 45 minutes by rain.
Hit by the news that strike bowler Kagiso Rabada would miss the fourth and final Test after incurring a fourth disciplinary demerit point within 24 months, South Africa's bowlers neither posed a significant threat nor were able to exert the control they did on the first day.
The hosts had one brief and illusory moment of success when Pope was given out leg before wicket to debutant Dane Paterson shortly before lunch when he had 74 - only for the decision to be overturned on review because the ball was missing leg ...

Stokes, Pope punish South Africa

Recalled Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez Friday said he will retire from international cricket after the Twenty20 World Cup later this year, vowing to end his career on a positive note.
The 38-year-old was Thursday recalled to Pakistan's Twenty20 series against Bangladesh starting in Lahore from January 24.
Hafeez has been one of Pakistan's key players -- in all three formats, as a top order batsman and a handy off-spinner -- since making his debut during an England tour in 2003.
But his career was dogged by questions over the legality of his bowling action, reported on three occasions during international matches. He was also banned from bowling for 12 months in 2015.
Hafeez, dubbed the "professor" for his knowledge of the game, said he enjoyed playing for Pakistan.
"It has been a privilege," he told media.
"I want to play the Twenty20 World Cup and then exit from Pakistan's international team."
Hafeez retired from Tests in December 2018 after playing 55 Tests. He was more ...

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