Massive German chemical company BASF said Thursday it would slash 6,000 jobs worldwide by 2021, as the company slims down its organisation in pursuit of fatter margins.
"BASF expects a reduction of a total of around 6,000 positions worldwide until the end of 2021" out of 122,000 employees, the company said in a statement, saying the layoffs would save around 300 million euros (USD 341 million) annually.
The move is part of a broader "excellence programme" aimed at boosting profits by two billion euros per year.
Executives aim to "develop our organisation to work more effectively and efficiently," chief executive Martin Brudermueller said.
BASF said it would centralise many services common to its different divisions, like engineering, procurement, human resources, finance and logistics, as well as create a 1,000-strong "corporate centre" to support executives.
As part of the restructuring, bosses and worker representatives at BASF's headquarters in Ludwigshafen agreed to bring forward .

German chemical giant BASF says to slash 6,000 jobs

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Palestinian officials on Thursday dismissed the Bahrain conference led by "amateurs" like Jared Kushner, as they opened two days of talks on Jerusalem's future at the United Nations.
The meeting at the UN's European headquarters lacked the fanfare -- and multi-billion dollar economic plans -- that accompanied the Bahrain talks spearheaded this week by President Donald Trump's son-in-law.
The Geneva meeting, called the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem, was convened by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
Officially, the conference is aimed at preserving Jerusalem's multi-faith heritage, but with few top-level officials on hand its outcomes are unlikely to influence the Middle East peace process.
Nevertheless, Palestinian leaders sought to portray the meeting as a counterpoint to the "Peace to Prosperity" conference in Bahrain, boycotted by the Palestinians who accused the unabashedly pro-Israel Trump of dangling ...

Palestinians blast 'amateur' Kushner at UN Jerusalem meet

Former England star Marcus Trescothick on Thursday announced he would retire at the end of the season, bringing down the curtain on a 27-season career with county side Somerset.
The 43-year-old opening batsman, who played 76 Tests and 123 one-day internationals, has scored a total of 26,234 first-class runs since making his debut for Somerset in 1993.
Trescothick, whose international career was ended by anxiety attacks, still holds an ambition to win his place back in the first XI of the title-chasing side before the end of the season.
"It's been an incredible 27 years and I've loved every minute of it," he told the Somerset website.
"However, everything has to come to an end eventually.
"I've been discussing my future with the club and my family for a while and we felt that now was the appropriate time to make this announcement in order for both the club and I to put plans in place.
"There's still a lot of the season left and I'll be doing everything I can to put in performances for .

Former England opener Trescothick to retire

Former captain Waqar Younis says it is becoming "impossible to ignore" the parallels between Pakistan's World Cup resurgence and their 1992 triumph.
Victories against South Africa and New Zealand in the past week have breathed new life into Pakistan's bid to reach the semi-finals in England and Wales after they won just one of their opening five fixtures.
Their trajectory through the tournament has so far mirrored that of their only World Cup triumph to date, when they started slowly in 1992 before picking up pace to lift the trophy.
"It is becoming impossible to ignore the parallels with 1992," said Waqar in a column for the International Cricket Council.
"The similarities are freaky and even though the players won't have been thinking about it, there is no way they can put it out of their minds altogether."
Pakistan's chances of reaching the last four have been helped by England's defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia.
The hosts now need to win both their remaining games against India .

Pakistan's Waqar says 1992 World Cup parallels are 'freaky'

The 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, hailed at the time as a historic boost for regional peace, is unravelling before the eyes of its European backers who appear powerless in the face of US rejection of the accord, analysts say.
The United States, under the presidency of Barack Obama, was among the powers that clinched the deal. But in May 2018, Donald Trump declared he was abandoning the signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor.
European powers led by Germany and France have sought to salvage the deal but analysts say the accord appears all but doomed as the risk of military confrontation between Tehran and Washington grows.
Frustrated it was not getting the promised benefits of the deal following the US withdrawal, Iran last month said it would stop respecting the agreed limits on stockpiles of enriched uranium as well as those for heavy water.
"Everything was sealed after the decision by Donald Trump," Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of France's Foundation for Strategic ...

Europe powerless as Iran nuclear deal unravels

Former captain Daniel Vettori said New Zealand would not panic after Kane Williamson's side suffered their first defeat of the World Cup against Pakistan.
The beaten 2015 finalists had the chance to seal their semi-final place alongside Australia at Edgbaston on Wednesday but lost by six wickets as Pakistan's Babar Azam starred with the bat.
"The one thing New Zealand won't do is panic after the defeat to Pakistan. This team doesn't panic and hasn't for a long time," said Vettori in a column for the International Cricket Council.
"They have been playing a style of cricket that has delivered success and they have won five games out of seven, with one washout."
"That success breeds confidence and calmness, so there is no point in changing strategy just because of one loss" he added.
"They will stay true to how they have played for a number of years."
New Zealand remained second in the table, on 11 points, after their loss to Pakistan and look likely to reach the semi-finals despite the .

New Zealand won't panic after World Cup defeat, says Vettori

Iran will not exceed Thursday a uranium stockpile limit agreed under a nuclear deal with world powers, contrary to what Tehran said earlier this month, according to a diplomatic source in Vienna.
"They won't exceed it today," the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source suggested there might be a "political reason" for this, given the intensified efforts by European governments in recent days to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region.
There was no indication to suggest the agreed limit would be exceeded this weekend either, the source added, underlining that Tehran can suspend its uranium enrichment activities at any time.
Iran said 10 days ago that it would surpass the agreed 300-kilogramme (660-pound) reserve of enriched uranium on June 27 because it no longer felt bound by the 2015 deal which the United
States unilaterally pulled out of in May 2018.  Vienna is home to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA, which is ...

Iran won't exceed uranium stockpile limit on Thursday: diplomatic source

Hours of discussions over whether the United Nations climate process needs protecting from big energy interests were "scrubbed" from official conclusions at a conference in Germany this week, AFP has learned.
Talks between nations over how to implement the Paris climate goals wrap up in Bonn Thursday, when summaries of discussions and decisions will be presented to delegates and observers.
Among those allowed to participate in UN climate talks are representatives of trade organisations who count among their members energy giants such as ExxonMobil and Shell.
Industry representatives say their presence as observers at climate negotiations is crucial as it will be the private sector that is tasked with implementing change in the global economy.
Critics question why lobby groups tied to fossil fuel companies should be allowed inside a process that specifically aims to slash the planet-warming emissions those fuels cause.
The UN says that no outside interests influence decisions taken ...

Big energy discussion 'scrubbed from record' at UN climate talks

Myanmar's military on Thursday rejected an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's call for a full investigation into alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims.
Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary probe in September into the 2017 crackdown by Myanmar's military that forced some 740,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh with accounts of rape, mass killings and razing of villages.
On Wednesday she said she would take the issue to the next stage by submitting a request to ICC judges to open a full investigation.
It is not clear when that decision would be made.
Myanmar has not signed up to the ICC, but the court ruled in September it has jurisdiction over alleged atrocities because Bangladesh -- where the Rohingya are now refugees -- is a member.
Myanmar had rejected the ruling in September in a typically defiant manner, a position a military spokesman reiterated Thursday.
"The military and government have not neglected the issue and have been trying to take action against 

Myanmar army rejects ICC bid for full Rohingya probe

US carmaker Ford said Thursday that it plans to slash a total of 12,000 jobs across Europe as part of a previously announced restructuring.
The overall figure includes 5,400 layoffs already announced in Germany and 1,700 in Wales.
The move comes as the company closes or sells six plants in Britain, France, Russia and Slovakia this year and next.
The job cuts will come "primarily through voluntary separation programmes", said Ford, which employs around 51,000 people and operates 24 factories around Europe.
As well as the factory closure in Wales, three sites in Russia, one in Slovakia and one in France will be shuttered.
Thursday is the first time Ford has publicly stated the jobs impact of its plans.
Group chief executive Jim Hackett announced last autumn a massive restructuring of the American firm, aiming to save USD 11 billion and turn Ford into a more "agile" group with faster decision-making processes.
The company aims to catch up with the world leaders in the industry's ...

Ford says to slash 12,000 jobs in all across Europe

Double suicide attacks shook Tunisia's capital Thursday, even as the country was plunged into uncertainty with the hospitalisation of President Beji Caid Essebsi who was said to be in "critical condition".
The violence revived fears for the stability of the North African state, which is seen as a rare democratic success story of the Arab
Spring uprisings but has been hit by repeated Islamist attacks.  Thursday's blasts -- one on a central avenue and another against a security base -- killed a police officer and wounded at least eight people including several civilians, the interior ministry said.
An AFP correspondent saw body parts strewn in the road around a police car after the first attack, which took place on Habib Bourguiba, a central avenue near the old city.
The interior ministry said one policeman died from his wounds after that attack, while another policeman and three civilians were wounded.
"It was a suicide attack, which took place at 10:50 (local time)," interior ministry 

Tunisia president in 'critical condition', attacks rock capital

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday warned that US President Donald Trump was mistaken in thinking a war between their countries would not last long.
"'Short war' with Iran is an illusion," Zarif tweeted a day after Trump said he does not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting did break out, it "wouldn't last very long".

Iran's Zarif rejects Trump idea of short war as 'illusion'

Selfies, which have become a global sensation in the last decade or so, have remarkably killed five times more people than shark attacks.
And the death toll has crept up incrementally each year as smartphones become more sophisticated and selfie-sticks increase the range at which people can snap themselves, prompting them to take bigger risks for the perfect shot.
Between October 2011 and November 2017, at least 259 people died taking selfies around the globe, according to India's Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, compared to just 50 people killed by sharks in the same period.
While women take the most selfies, young men, who are more prone to take risks, make up three quarters of the selfie deaths -- in drownings, crashes, falls or shooting accidents.
India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion and 800 million cell phones, holds the record for the number of people dying in the act of photographing themselves, with 159 recorded so far.
That is more than half of the ...

Selfies: five times more deadly than shark attacks

GPS signals in Israel's airspace have been disrupted for three weeks, a government spokesman said Thursday, with local reports suggesting that Russia might be the cause of the problem.
It has baffled authorities who have failed to find the source and forced airports to change some landing procedures, a spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority said.
Air traffic controllers have been instructing planes to use instrument landing systems, "and at no point has there been a safety incident pertaining to the GPS disruption due to navigation accuracy and flight routes," the IAA said in a statement.
The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations noted on its website earlier this week it had received "many reports from pilots that they have experienced loss of GPS signal in the vicinity of the Ben Gurion International Airport," Israel's main civilian airport.
While Israeli officials could offer no concrete information as to the source of the problem, an army radio report said ..

Planes landing in Israel see GPS signals disrupted

Huawei employees have teamed up with Chinese military scientists to carry out research, a collaboration that challenges the telecom giant's assertion that it has no ties to the country's government or armed forces.
Founded by former People's Liberation Army (PLA) engineer Ren Zhengfei, Washington suspects Huawei has deep ties to China's military and thus poses a security threat.
US President Donald Trump placed Huawei last month on a blacklist prohibiting US firms from selling components to the company, raising tensions in the US-China trade war. A 90-day reprieve was granted.
Several research papers published since 2009 show Huawei employees have worked with researchers at different arms of the People's Liberation Army, according to an AFP review of academic papers. Bloomberg News first reported on the collaborations.
Military and private sector collaboration is common in many countries but Huawei has gone to great lengths to deny any close relationship with the Chinese government or 

Huawei staff pair up with Chinese military on research

Brazilian superstar Neymar wants to return to Barcelona two years after quitting the club to join Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona's vice-president said Thursday.
"What is correct, at the current time, what I have read, what I have heard, which seems exact, is that Neymar wants to come back to Barcelona," Jordi Cardoner told a press conference at the Camp Nou.
But he stressed that Barcelona had made no contact so far with the world's most expensive footballer who joined the French champions for 222 million euros.
For the moment the club acknowledged Neymar's interest in returning to Barcelona but said there was no recruitment effort on their part to resign him.
"To say that Barca is working on recruiting Neymar, that is something I cannot agree with," Cardoner said.
"For the moment all that is happening -- and not only with Neymar -- is that a number of players would like to play for a great club like Barcelona. We will see what happens in timely fashion."
"We are currently working on ..

Neymar wants Barcelona return, says club's vice-president

Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan voted Thursday to lift the immunity of a former president, paving the way for a prosecution that could provoke a political crisis in the fragile Central Asian state.
Prosecutors accuse 62-year-old Almazbek Atambayev of making illegal land purchases and of corruption, but he enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution as a former leader.
Kyrgyzstan's parliament, loyal to Atambayev's successor Sooronbai Jeenbekov, voted 103 to six in favour of lifting that protection.
Moves against Atambayev may lead to a major power struggle in Kyrgyzstan, which has seen a series of political crises and revolutions since gaining independence with the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.
The defiant former leader has stepped up security at his residence in the village of Koi-Tash, outside the capital Bishkek, with around 200 "guards" checking visitors' bags, and a press centre has also been set up there.
Around dozen supporters arrived on horseback at the residence in the foothills .

Kyrgyzstan faces new crisis as ex-leader stripped of immunity

Egypt star Mohamed Salah said exiled team-mate Amr Warda "shouldn't be sent straight to the guillotine" after the forward was banished from the squad over mounting sexual harassment allegations.
The 25-year-old Warda was excluded ahead of Wednesday's 2-0 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo after sexual harassment claims surfaced earlier this week on social media platforms. Multiple women posted screenshots and testimonies of Warda's alleged lewd comments.
The decision came hours after another viral clip posted on Twitter by a social media user showed him apparently exposing himself to her. AFP cannot verify the authenticity of the brief video.
Salah, who has made a point of speaking up for women in the Muslim world, lent his support to the embattled Warda while condemning his actions.
"Women must be treated with the utmost respect. 'No' means 'no'. Those things are and must remain sacred. I also believe that many who make mistakes can change for the better and shouldn't be ..

'Shunning is not the answer': Salah says Warda can change

Mist sprays, cooling scarves and pots of morning glory flowers were among the measures unveiled on Thursday by Tokyo 2020 officials to beat the heat during next summer's Olympics.
Doctors have warned the Games could see deadly medical emergencies as athletes, volunteers and spectators face the sweltering Tokyo summer where the mercury can easily reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Organisers plan to create shaded spaces, rest areas if people fall ill, cooling fans and misting stations to combat the heat.
Tokyo 2020 also showed off a new line of licensed products designed to ward off heatstroke, including cooling scarves and sun visors.
Sporting one of the scarves, Tokyo 2020 Games Delivery Officer Hidemasa Nakamura enthused: "It's so cool when worn after putting in water."
Nakamura also revealed that organisers are considering allowing fans to bring in their own drink bottles under certain conditions, adding that security and sponsorship issues had still to be worked ...

Mist and morning glories: Tokyo 2020 bids to beat the heat

Wayne Rooney scored a sensational goal with a blast from his own half for his US club DC United that triggered social media storm of applause across the globe on Thursday.
His 'goal of the season' lifted United to a 1-0 victory over Orlando City on Wednesday and saw the veteran former England striker dance an excited little jig.
The ex-Manchester United star hammered a 68-yard strike over the head of Orlando goalkeeper Brian Rowe and into the back of the net in the 10th minute.
"I thought it was nice and it was special to score the goal this evening," Rooney told the DC United web site.
Rooney was the most advanced DC United player as his team defended in depth. When the ball was hoofed clear, two City men converged but only deflected it into Rooney's path.
Facing the Orlando goal and with the ball bouncing in front of him, Rooney saw Rowe was out of his 18 yard box and smashed a first-time shot.
As the ball swerved and dipped over the despairing goalkeeper, Rooney broke into a brief .

Rooney smashes winning goal from inside his own half

A suicide attack targeted police on the main street of Tunisia's capital on Thursday morning, wounding a civilian and several police personnel, a police officer at the scene told AFP.
Body parts were strewn in the road around a police car on Habib Bourguiba avenue near the old city in Tunis, an AFP correspondent said.

AFP

AFP

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