Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury urged the European Union and United States Wednesday to reach a negotiated solution to a long-running dispute over airline subsidies and tariffs, saying there would be no winners in a trade war in the sector.
"The EU and US administrations should freeze all tariffs and sit round the table to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution," Faury said in an article to be published in Thursday's edition of the French economic daily, Les Echos, but released in advance.
On Monday, the World Trade Organization arbitrator gave Washington the green light to slap tariffs on $7.5 billion (6.8 billion euros) worth of EU imports, in retaliation for illegal EU subsidies to Airbus.
It was a landmark moment in the 15-year legal battle between the European planemaker and US counterpart Boeing.
In the immediate line of fire are civilian aircraft from Britain, France, Germany and Spain -- the countries which formed Airbus -- which will cost 10 percent more when ...

EU-US airliner war in nobody's interests: Airbus chief

PTI Automatic

Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the legacy of 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus, who is traditionally seen as the first European to arrive in the New World and who is sometimes accused of being responsible for the genocide of indigenous Americans.
"On Monday we paid tribute to the Italian explorer who led a voyage of discovery to the New World, a gentleman known as Christopher Columbus," the US president said at the beginning of his press conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
"To me it will always be called Columbus Day," he said. "Some people don't like that -- I do." Trump was referring to the city of Washington's recent decision to re-name the holiday celebrated on the second Monday of October from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day.
The city councilman behind the name change has said Columbus, who was born in present-day Italy but sailed on behalf of Spain, "colonized, mutilated, and massacred thousands of Indigenous People in the Americas" and ...

Trump prefers 'Columbus Day' over 'Indigenous Peoples' Day'

The US on Wednesday ordered Chinese diplomats to notify the State Department before meeting with federal and local officials, calling it a "reciprocal" move.
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new restrictions came in response to the inability of US diplomats to meet with a range of Chinese officials and academics.
The move comes as Washington and Beijing -- the world's two largest economies -- are locked in a bitter trade dispute. A partial deal is now being put down in writing, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
"Unfortunately in China, US diplomats do not have unfettered access to a range of folks that are important for us to do our job there," the official told reporters.
"That includes local and provincial level officials, academic institutions, research institutes," the official said. "We have to seek permission and such permission is often denied."
Chinese diplomats will henceforth be required to tell the State Department in ...

US imposes tit-for-tat restrictions on Chinese diplomats

Russian authorities removed three US diplomats from a train in an Arctic shipyard city where nuclear submarines are made, news agencies reported Wednesday.
The US State Department confirmed the visit -- which according to the reports took place on Monday -- but said the diplomats were on an official trip and had informed the Russian authorities.
Moscow in turn said the diplomats had named a different city as their destination and had "obviously got lost".
In a statement to Russian news agencies, the Russian foreign ministry confirmed "that this was an official trip and that they informed the Russian defence ministry of their plans.
"Only, they said their intention was to visit Arkhangelsk and they ended up en route to Severodvinsk," the ministry said, referring to the regional capital around 30 kilometres (21 miles) away.
Severodvinsk is an Arctic port with a naval shipyard that builds nuclear submarines.
"They obviously got lost. We are ready to give the US embassy a map of Russia," .

US diplomats taken off train in Russian nuclear sub port: Reports

France and Germany agreed Wednesday on an accord governing the export of jointly developed weapons and defence equipment, removing a key stumbling block to their development of next-generation tanks and fighter jets.
"We have finalised a major, legally binding deal on arms exports to fully complete these programmes," French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The two leaders met in the southwest French city of Toulouse, home of the pan-European aircraft and defence group Airbus, as well as a major factory owned by Dassault Aviation.
Both companies are working on the ambitious Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project, which will combine a new fighter plane with drones, satellites and other aircraft to help reduce the EU's long reliance on US planes and equipment.
But Paris and Berlin have not always seen eye-to-eye on weapons sales beyond the EU -- and both countries say such exports are crucial for making the new plane and tank ...

France, Germany break impasse on arms exports

President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to pull US troops out of Syria, calling it "strategically brilliant," and denied giving Turkey a "green light" to launch operations against Kurdish militants.
"President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan's decision didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time," Trump told reporters at the White House. "He's been building up troops on the border with Syria for a long time."
The US president also disparaged the Kurdish allies he abandoned in the face of the Turkish offensive, saying they were "not angels," as well as Republican critics at home of his abrupt withdrawal.
Trump has come under intense fire for effectively giving Turkey a green light to invade northern Syria, but he dismissed those concerns.
"I didn't give him a green light," Trump said of a telephone conversation he held with Erdogan prior to the Turkish incursion.
"Just the opposite of a green light. I wrote a letter right after that conversation, a very ..

Trump defends Syria pullout, denies giving Turkey 'green light' for invasion

Four US diplomats on Wednesday opened accounts at a Sudanese bank for the first time in decades, as Khartoum seeks to draw international businesses back to the country to help revive the ailing economy.
In October 2017, the United States lifted its decades-old trade embargo on Sudan. But the move has so far failed to attract foreign investments, seen as vital to revive Sudan's economy hit hard by foreign currency shortages.
In December 2018 an economic crisis sparked a nationwide protest movement. The uprising eventually led to the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in April.
"We lifted economic sanctions in 2017 and we want to show that Sudan is open for business, that banks, international banks and businesses are welcome back here," Ellen Thorburn, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Khartoum told AFP after she opened her account at a branch of the Bank of Khartoum.
"The timing seemed right now with the civilian led transitional government and the changes that they .

US envoys open Sudan bank accounts for first time in decades

British terror police on Wednesday charged a 36-year-old woman with planning a bomb attack on London's famous St Paul's Cathedral, Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Safiyya Amira Shaikh is accused of making preparations between August 19 and October 10 to carry out two bomb attacks on a hotel and on the cathedral.
She is accused of making contact with a person she believed to be an explosives expert and of travelling to a London hotel and St Paul's to conduct reconnaissance for planting bombs there.
Police said she had also prepared the words of a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State militant group.
Shaikh, who was arrested on October 10, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where she was remanded in custody to appear at London's Old Bailey criminal court on November 1.

UK terror police charge woman over St Paul's bomb plot

The price of bread shot up 60 percent overnight in Zimbabwe, in the latest blow for a population already struggling with spiralling living costs.
Zimbabweans can barely keep pace with the price rises that have rekindled fears of hyperinflation which reached 500 billion percent a decade ago and forced the country to trash its own currency.
Already many families live on one meal a day, with the southern African country in the grip of a major downturn that has provoked biting shortages of basics such as fuel and medicine.
Bakers said they were forced to hike their prices due to rising production costs.
Electricity prices have "gone up significantly, the price of fuel has also been going up weekly, the prices of raw materials have also gone up including the cost of importing wheat," said Dennis Wala, the president of the National Bakers' Association.
Electricity is only available for around six hours a day, forcing many bakers to use generators to run their ovens.
"The bread manufacturer .

Price of bread rises 60% overnight in Zimbabwe

The EU and Britain looked to be close to nailing down an elusive Brexit deal late Wednesday, just in time to be submitted to a key European summit.
If a text emerges forming the basis of a legal treaty, Britain could be headed for a managed withdrawal from the European bloc it has been part of for nearly half a century.
Otherwise, the Brexit crisis that has sapped UK politics for the past three years could worsen, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could make good on a vow to take his country out of the EU without a deal in two weeks' time.
"I'd like to believe a deal is being finalised," French President Emmanuel Macron said alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel in southern France as negotiators in Brussels worked frantically.
European sources warned it was not a done deal, with one stressing "talks continue" and another declaring: "There is still no white smoke." "We're almost there," the second one said, adding: "Everything is resolved except the application of VAT in ...

Brexit deal seen close as EU-UK talks go down to wire

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday the Kurdish rebel PKK, who have waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara, were "probably" a bigger terror threat than the Islamic State group.
"The PKK, which is a part of the Kurds, as you know, is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
Tens of thousands have died since the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. The PKK is considered a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
Under fire for abandoning America's Kurdish allies in the anti-IS fight to face a Turkish assault in northern Syria, Trump disparaged the Kurds earlier Wednesday saying they "are not angels".

Trump says Kurdish PKK 'probably more of terrorist threat' than IS

Syrian regime troops and Russian soldiers on Wednesday entered the key border town of Kobane, following a deal struck with Kurdish authorities amid a deadly Turkish offensive, a war monitor said.
"Syrian regime and Russian troops have entered the town of Kobane," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Kobane is a highly symbolic town for Syria's Kurds, whose forces had in 2015 wrested the town from Islamic State (IS) group control in an epic battle backed by the US-led coalition.
Since then, Kobane has been under the control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the spearhead of the US-backed force that went on to crush IS in Syria.
In a stunning turn of events, Washington announced a troop withdrawal from northern Syria earlier this month.
The pullout prompted Turkey to launch on October 9 a deadly cross-border offensive targeting Kurdish forces.
In a desperate bid to defend themselves, Syrian Kurd authorities struck a deal with President Bashar al-Assad's regime ...

Syria regime forces enter Kobane under deal with Kurds: Monitor

The UN Security Council warned in a unanimously adopted statement Wednesday of a risk of "dispersion" of jihadist prisoners in Syria, but stopped short of calling for a halt to Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces there.
"Members of the Security Council expressed deep concerns over the risks of dispersion of terrorists from UN-designated groups, including ISIL," the statement said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
All 15 Council members including Russia, a key player in the conflict, declared themselves "very concerned (about) a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation" in northeastern Syria.
All were in agreement on the danger of IS regrouping, summed up a Western ambassador, who requested anonymity.
The short text proposed by France was adopted following a brief meeting held at the request of European members of the Council.
It does not condemn the Turkish offensive -- which the United States is seen as having green-lighted by withdrawing troops from ...

Security Council warns of 'risk of dispersion' of Syria jihadists

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that "I'd like to believe a deal is being finalised" on Britain's looming exit from the European Union, ahead of a crucial summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
"Our hope, our goal is to be able to endorse an accord that I hope will be reached in the coming hours. The echos we've had are positive," Macron said of crunch talks among EU officials aimed at reaching an exit deal.
"I'd like to believe a deal is being finalised and that we will be able to approve it tomorrow," he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Toulouse, southwest France.
"We believe it will be possible to have an accord between the European Union and Great Britain on Brexit," Merkel said.
"From what I've heard these past few days, I think more and more that we will reach this accord," she said.
British and European negotiators have been locked in talks this week to avert a "no deal" exit on October 31, which could spark economic and ...

Macron on Brexit: 'I'd like to believe a deal is being finalised'

President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that he had given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "green light" to launch operations against Kurdish militants in Syria.
"President Erdogan's decision didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time," Trump told reporters. "He's been building up troops on the border with Syria for a long time.
"I didn't give him a green light," Trump said. "Just the opposite of a green light.

Trump denies giving Turkey's Erdogan 'green light' for Syria invasion

International law enforcement authorities announced Wednesday that a global investigation into child pornography sold for bitcoin on the underground internet had reaped 337 arrests and the shutdown of the dark web's most notorious pedophile site.
Authorities from the United States, Britain, South Korea and other countries said they had rescued at least 23 minor victims of sexual exploitation who were often video-recorded by abusers who then sold the videos on the now-shuttered "Welcome to Video" site on the darknet.
The website sold the videos to users for bitcoin, which makes it extremely difficult to track the buyer.
From June 2015, when "Welcome to Video" started up, to March 2018, the website received at least 420 bitcoin virtual currency -- around $370,000 at the time of the payments -- in at least 7,300 transactions, the US Justice Department said in an indictment.
The server, which had about 250,000 videos, was seized by US, British and South Korean police on March 5, 2018 and .

Global darknet child porn probe leads to 337 arrests

Hundreds of Syrian Kurds entered neighbouring Iraqi's Kurdish autonomous region on Wednesday, fleeing a Turkish invasion, an official said.
"On Wednesday, about 800 Syrian refugees entered Iraqi Kurdistan," said Rashid Hussein of the refugee authority for the autonomous Kurdish region.
The new arrivals, mostly women and children, were being taken to Berdarch camp in Dohuk province, he told AFP, as the fighting in nearby northeastern Syria entered its second week.
Iraqi Kurdistan previously hosted millions of Iraqis who fled fighting with Islamic State group jihadists who occupied much of the country's north between 2014 and 2017.
Many of them are still housed in camps for the displaced.
NGOs operating in the region said they had been on alert since Ankara launched its operation on October 9 against Kurdish militants, following an abrupt US withdrawal.
On Saturday evening, 182 Syrian Kurds started crossing the border into Iraqi Kurdistan "to escape bombardments in northeastern Syria", .

Hundreds of Syrian Kurds seek refuge in Iraq

Hundreds of foreign nationals on Wednesday took to the streets of Cape Town, demanding to be relocated from South Africa after camping at the UN refugee agency offices for a week.
The foreigners, many of whom described themselves as asylum-seekers, say they no longer feel safe in South Africa after a surge of xenophobic attacks last month.
"Save lives of refugees before it is too late," said one slogan, painted in green on a white banner.
Many of the protesters have been camping at the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cape Town since October 9, vowing not to leave the premises until the agency addressed their concerns.
The numbers had grown steadily over the past week, spilling out from corridors to the kerb outside the building.
"We marched to parliament for the government to hear us and to send a loud and clear message," said Sylvia Nahimana, a group representative from Burundi.
"We have been negotiating with them since 2008 but the killing ...

Foreigners in South Africa appeal to be relocated after attacks

Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday issued a royal pardon for journalist Hajar Raissouni, overturning a prison sentence for an "illegal abortion" and sexual relations outside marriage, the justice ministry said.
The 28-year-old will walk free "in the coming hours", while sentences handed down to her Sudanese fiance, gynaecologist, anaesthetist and a medical assistant were also overturned, an official told AFP.
The case, which saw Rassiouni and the others sentenced on September 30, had provoked a storm of protest from rights groups.
The ministry statement said the pardon came as the monarch wanted to help "preserve the future of the couple, who wanted to establish a family in line with our religious and legal precepts, despite the error they made".
The journalist works for Arabic-language newspaper Akhbar Al-Yaoum, which has a history of run-ins with the authorities.
Raissouni was arrested on August 31 as she left a clinic in Rabat. In court, she denied having had an abortion, ...

Royal pardon for Moroccan journalist jailed for abortion

Italy is to slap internet giants such as Amazon and Google with a three-percent tax, according to the proposed budget it submitted to the European Commission on Wednesday.
The tax would be applied to companies with sales of over 750 million euros (USD 830 million), of which at least 5.5 million euros come from services provided in Italy, according to Italian media reports.
The move would bring around 600 million euros into state coffers annually from 2020, according to Italian finance ministry calculations made last year.
The tax is similar to one launched in France, which has generated friction with the United States.
That tax prompted US President Donald Trump to threaten to retaliate with tariffs on French wines.
Italian media reported on Tuesday that a Trump administration official had threatened to hit back at Italy with similar levies.
Italy, like France, has said it would scrap its own digital tax once a new international levy, currently being discussed in negotiations led by ..

Italy latest to slap Internet giants with 'digital tax'

Pakistan's foreign minister said Tuesday that Prime Minister Imran Khan's talks with Tehran and Riyadh had been "encouraging" after visits to try to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf.
Khan travelled to Iran and Saudi Arabia as a "facilitator" between the arch-rivals, following a series of attacks on oil infrastructure and tankers in recent months that have raised fears of war.
"Our talks have been encouraging and the response that we got in the two countries was beyond our expectation," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a press conference in Islamabad after Khan's visit to Riyadh.
"Iranian leadership told us they don't want escalation and wish to resolve the issue peacefully," he said.
Iran's leaders "said they are also mentally prepared for a dialogue, either direct or with third-party facilitation", Qureshi added.
Earlier this week Khan held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the presidential palace and later met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It 

AFP

AFP

Page 349 - Afp