Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan kicked off a week-long Asian tour Wednesday with an eye to strengthening ties with regional allies and having "candid" talks with his Chinese counterpart on Beijing's growing might.
"It's more about listening and being able to hear from the allies and partners," the acting US defence secretary said in a plane bound for Jakarta.
Indonesia is the first leg of a tour that also includes stops in Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
On Thursday, Shanahan will meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo after talks with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu.  Cooperation on maritime issues with the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago nation will be at the top of the agenda, as the US looks to offset China's expanding presence in the South China Sea.
In Singapore on Saturday, Shanahan is to meet Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional defence forum.
"I want to identify areas where ..

Pentagon chief in Asia for 'candid' talks on China expansion

PTI Automatic

A judge ruled Wednesday there was suffient evidence in a corruption case to try SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian engineering giant at the center of a political scandal that has rocked Prime Justin Trudeau's government.
The company spent months openly lobbying the federal government for an out-of-court settlement of fraud and bribery charges linked to its dealings in Libya.  But allegations that Trudeau's aides brought improper pressure on his attorney general to settle the case spilled out in an angry public split that tarnished Trudeau's golden boy image.
The court's decision followed an extended preliminary hearing in which evidence in the case was tested. The specifics of the ruling are under a publication ban.  SNC-Lavalin is expected to return to court on June 7 to indicate their preference for a trial by jury or by judge.
Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin was charged in 2015 with paying Can$47 million in bribes between 2001 and 2011 to secure contracts in Libya during the rule of former ...

Firm at center of Canadian political scandal heads to trial

France's domestic intelligence service on Wednesday questioned a journalist who broke the story of a scandal that shook President Emmanuel Macron, the latest in a growing number of reporters to be quizzed in a trend that has disturbed press freedom activists.
Ariane Chemin, who works for the daily Le Monde, said she was questioned by the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) for some 45 minutes in the presence of her lawyer after being summoned last week.
"I explained that I only did my job as a journalist," she told AFP after the meeting.  She added that she had insisted on her right to protect her sources while carrying out work in the public interest based on a law dating to 1881.
"They asked me many questions on the manner in which I checked my information, which was an indirect way of asking me about my sources," Chemin said.  Le Monde's managing director Louis Dreyfus was also questioned by the DGSI on Wednesday.
Chemin has written a series of articles over former ...

Japan law loosens rules for self-driving cars

Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali says he is not worried about the prospect of flat pitches that are likely to favour batsmen during the World Cup in England and Wales.
The 24-year-old was Pakistan's star performer in the Champions Trophy win in England two years ago, taking 13 wickets to finish as player of the tournament.
But his recent form has been a worry for Pakistan, coinciding with 10 straight ODI losses leading into their opening World Cup match against the West Indies in Nottingham on Friday.
Hasan said he knows how to bowl on flat pitches.
"The way modern cricket is going, every bowler needs to know that taking wickets is the key," Hasan said.
"You take wickets and you win matches." Touted for taking wickets in the middle overs of one-day matches, Hasan rose to the top of the bowler's charts in 2017, taking 45 wickets -- the most in the calendar year.
But he managed just three wickets in four matches against England in a 4-0 loss earlier in May.
"I know that I have not taken many ..

Pakistan's Hasan does not fear flat pitches at World Cup

Roger Federer breezed into the third round of the French Open for the 15th time on Wednesday by seeing off German lucky loser Oscar Otte, while 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas also progressed.
The 37-year-old Federer held off a persistent world number 144 Otte, saving all four break points he faced in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Next up for the 20-time Grand Slam title winner is a clash with Norway's Casper Ruud who put out Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
"The Grand Slams are incredible. You can meet a player who qualified who (you) have not heard of before," said Federer, who last played at Roland Garros in 2015.
"It was difficult, he really played a great match." Federer's only French Open trophy came in 2009, and 10 years on he faces a daunting task to grab a second, potentially needing to beat Tsitsipas, Nadal and world number one Novak Djokovic in order to come out on top.
He was on his game against Otte, though, ...

Federer, Nadal power into Roland Garros third round

Kevin Pietersen believes the fearless brand of one-day cricket England have played under Eoin Morgan means they can win the World Cup for the first time.
England, who launch the tournament against South Africa at the Oval on Thursday, have transformed their approach to the one-day international game under Morgan and coach Trevor Bayliss since their embarrassing first-round exit at the 2015 edition.
"When you are allowed to fail you can play some unbelievable sport," former England batsman Pietersen, one of the most talented runscorers of his generation, said at the official tournament opening in London on Wednesday.
"That is what Morgan and Bayliss have done." The former England skipper praised Morgan's leadership.
"He's cool, he's calm and he has the backing of his players, which is the most important thing," he said. "And you get supported by your players when you know that your leader is supporting you.
"I think the most encouraging thing about this England team is that they are ...

England's 'do-or-die' World Cup bid excites Pietersen

Two people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a market place bombing in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, a military spokesman said Tuesday -- an apparent retaliatory attack for the killing of a wanted rebel leader.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have since 2004 been plagued with conflict between ethnic Malay-Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the region around a century ago.
Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in violence that rarely makes international headlines despite taking place a few hours south of some of Thailand's tourist hotspots.
On Monday afternoon, the insurgents detonated a motorcycle bomb at a crowded market place in Nong Chik, Pattani province, killing two civilians.
"A 14-year-old boy and a 38-year-old woman died," Colonel Thanawee Suwannathat, spokesman for the southern army, told AFP.
Four military rangers were wounded in the blast.
The bombing appeared to be in ...

Three killed in Ramadan violence in restive Thai south

Seven soldiers jailed for killing a group of Rohingya Muslims have been freed from a Myanmar jail despite serving less time than two reporters imprisoned for exposing the massacre.
Prisons department director general Myint Soe told journalists the soldiers were "no longer in detention", declining to give any further information.
Four officers and three soldiers were sentenced in 2018 to 10 years with hard labour for killing 10 Rohingya villagers, with army chief Min Aung Hlaing and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi holding up the sentence as evidence of accountability within the military.
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who helped expose the killing, were jailed last September for seven years on charges linked to their reporting.
They were granted a presidential pardon this month after spending over 500 days behind bars.
The killings unfolded during a bloody army crackdown in 2017 that forced some 740,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh.
UN investigators 

Myanmar frees soldiers jailed for Rohingya massacre

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused both Egyptian security forces and jihadists of committing "war crimes" in their confrontation in the restive North Sinai region.
"While Egyptian military and police forces were responsible for the majority of abuses documented in the report, extremist militants have also committed horrific crimes," the New York-based group said in a 134-page report.
"Some of the abuses carried out by government forces and the militants, which this report documents, are war crimes, and their widespread and systematic nature could amount to crimes against humanity."
HRW compiled the report over two years interviewing more than 50 residents of the Sinai Peninsula, in northeast Egypt, where independent media coverage is effectively banned and a state of emergency has been in force since 2013.
In late 2017, North Sinai was the scene of the deadliest attack in Egypt's modern history when militants killed more than 300 worshippers at a mosque, without any group claiming .

HRW accuses Egypt forces, militants of Sinai 'war crimes'

Arsenal are aiming to win a first European trophy in a quarter of a century in distant Baku on Wednesday and their hopes of doing so appear to rest at the feet of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
After missing out on a top-four place in the Premier League, the assessment of Unai Emery's first season in charge of the Gunners will be far kinder if they can end the campaign with victory in the Europa League final.
It all comes down to this London derby in an unlikely setting by the Caspian Sea -- if Arsenal win, they will have a first piece of European silverware since raising the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994 and with it the additional prize of a return to the Champions League.
And while the Gunners have frequently toiled defensively this season, conceding 51 goals in the Premier League, Emery knows he is the envy of almost every coach in Europe with Lacazette and Aubameyang in his ranks.
They have scored 50 times between them this season, with Lacazette getting 19 goals ...

Half a century and counting? Strike duo hold key to Arsenal hopes

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez confirmed on Monday the club are keen to sign Eden Hazard this summer and claimed Sergio Ramos has an offer to move to China.
Hazard could play his last match for Chelsea in the Europa League final against Arsenal on Wednesday, with the Belgian's contract expiring next year.
"I have a lot of interest in him coming to Madrid, I'm not going to lie, and I hope this year he can play here," Perez told Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Monday night.
"We have wanted to sign Hazard for several years and I hope he will come this year. Until now we have not achieved it, but this time his contract ends next year."
After a disappointing season, Madrid are expected to overhaul their squad this summer and Perez suggested the club's captain Ramos is considering a move.
Ramos and Perez argued after Madrid's Champions League defeat to Ajax in March, with Ramos reportedly telling Perez the team's failings were down to a failure to replace Cristiano Ronaldo.
Perez 

I hope Hazard comes this year: Perez says Madrid want Chelsea star

The transformation of Liverpool and Tottenham's fortunes under Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino has so far been measured in progress rather than trophies.
That will all change for the winner of Saturday's Champions League final with one of the two claiming the biggest prize in Europe. Klopp has not won any silverware since arriving at Anfield in October 2015, while Pochettino is yet to claim any trophy in his coaching career.
However, the fact that Klopp and Pochettino are two of the highest rated coaches in world football is evidence if any was needed that there is more to good management than lifting trophies.
Klopp has come close on several occasions. The German has lost three finals as Liverpool boss, on penalties to Manchester City in the League Cup and Sevilla in the Europa League during his first season in 2015/16 before fortune favoured Real Madrid in last season's Champions League final.
Falling at the final hurdle once more would be even more heartbreaking for the Reds ..

Liverpool or Tottenham to finally reap rewards of Klopp, Pochettino's good work

Harry Kane was included in England's 23-man squad for next month's Nations League finals on Monday but Tottenham Hotspur team-mates Harry Winks and Kieran Trippier were both left out.
Gareth Southgate, the England manager, has reduced his group from the list of 27 he named earlier this month, with Southampton's James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond also sidelined.
England captain Kane, who has not played since suffering ankle ligament damage in April, was retained by the Southgate on the day he insisted he was "ready" for Spurs' clash with Liverpool in Saturday's Champions League final.
Kane has not played since suffering the injury in the first leg of Tottenham's quarter-final against Manchester City on April 9, which was also when Winks made his last appearance.
Spurs subsequently announced Winks had undergone groin surgery, although the midfielder said he hoped it was not the end of his season.
Trippier, a full-back, was a member of the England squad that made it to the semi-finals .

Kane in England squad for Nations League finals

Dani Alves will replace Neymar as the captain of the Brazilian national team in the Copa America, the country's football federation (CBF) announced Monday.
"The decision was communicated to Neymar by (coach) Tite on Saturday," CBF said in a statement about the striker, who was handed a three-match suspension for lashing out at a spectator following Paris Saint-Germain's shock defeat by Rennes in the French Cup final earlier this month.
Eight-time winners Brazil face Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru in the group stage, which starts on June 14, after two friendlies against Qatar and Honduras.
Neymar, 27, missed the humiliating 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Germany in 2014 due to injury after fracturing his back in the previous round.
A year earlier, he was named player of the tournament at the Confederations Cup as Brazil won the competition for a record fourth time.

Dani Alves to replace Neymar as Brazil team captain at Copa America: federation

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill stalled his announced resignation and took legal action to prevent a vote of no confidence Tuesday, deepening the country's political crisis.
The veteran leader launched what appeared to be a last-gasp bid to cling on to power, pressing the Supreme Court to thwart a planned parliamentary vote to remove him from office.
Facing mounting criticism, O'Neill on Sunday announced that he would step down, but has so far avoided formally submitting his resignation to the country's governor general.
O'Neill -- who has been in power since 2011 -- is battling for his political life after a string of cabinet resignations sparked by his signing a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with France's Total and US firm ExxonMobil earlier this year.
Local communities had complained bitterly about not benefiting from similar deals in the past.
O'Neill's government narrowly avoided a vote of no confidence after the signing by adjourning ...

Papua New Guinea in crisis as PM stalls resignation

Two people, including a child, were feared dead Tuesday in a mass stabbing attack that also injured 17 people in Japan, emergency services said.
The rampage was a rare attack in a country with one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world and there was no immediate detail on the motive of the knifeman.
The attack occurred during the busy early morning commute as workers headed to their offices and children to school in Kawasaki, a city south of Tokyo.
"One man and one female child are showing no vital signs," said fire department official Yuji Sekizawa, employing a phrase commonly used in Japan to mean the victims have died but the death has not yet been certified by an official medical professional.
The fire department said 17 others were injured in the attack, among them several children.
"A man stabbed them," another spokesman for the department, Dai Nagase, earlier told AFP.
"We received an emergency call at 7:44 am, which said four elementary schoolchildren were 

Two feared dead, 17 hurt after Japan mass stabbing

President Donald Trump bid farewell Tuesday to Japan's Emperor Naruhito and flew to a US naval base to wrap up a symbolism-laden state visit reaffirming Washington's clout in Asia in the face of rising Chinese power.
Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania, became the first world leader to meet with newly enthroned Naruhito and Empress Masako on Monday -- an honour that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said underlined the two countries' deep economic and strategic ties.
There has been little substance in the visit, which started Saturday and included an Abe-Trump golf game, as well as the presentation by Trump of a huge trophy at a sumo tournament.
Tricky negotiations over Washington's insistence that Japan open markets to more US products or face steep auto tariffs have been all but set aside until after elections here in July.
But more than anything, Trump's presence in Japan and his hosts' energetic efforts to please him were meant to signal that, at a time of ever greater Chinese 

Trump bids Japanese emperor farewell, tours US navy base

President Nicolas Maduro promised Monday to show "good faith" ahead of a meeting in Norway between representatives of his government and those of opposition leader Juan Guaido.
"We are going to be showing our very best good faith... to be able to find, based on the platform the parties agreed on, peaceful, democratic solutions to help overcome Venezuela's conflict," Maduro said in a televised address.
The talks in Norway this week will be the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of Maduro and those of his rival Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by some 50 countries.
Maduro confirmed that his delegation will include Communication Minister Jorge Rodriguez, Miranda state Governor Hector Rodriguez and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who were on the ground in Norway.
"This is a dialogue between the Revolutionary Government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the extremist opposition... which is trying to topple the government at the behest of US interests," ...

Maduro pledges 'good faith' ahead of talks with opposition in Norway

A mass stabbing attack in the Japanese city of Kawasaki on Tuesday injured at least 19 people, among them one person left with "no vital signs", the local fire department said.
"The number of injured people is now 19, including one who is seriously injured and now shows no vital signs," Kawasaki Fire Department spokesman Keiichi Hayakawa told AFP.
"A man stabbed them," another spokesman for the department, Dai Nagase, earlier told AFP.
"We received an emergency call at 7:44 am, which said four elementary schoolchildren were stabbed." Public broadcaster NHK said at least three people were in critical condition.
Police said one suspect, a man, had been detained. NHK said he had stabbed himself, suffering a serious wound.
The broadcaster said two knives were spotted at the scene, but there was no immediate confirmation from officials.
The attack occurred at a park not far from a local train station, local media said, at the time of the morning commute.
Footage broadcast on local TV ...

19 hurt, including children, in Japan stabbing attack: Fire dept

The German government has called on people to wear the Jewish kippa ahead of an anti-Israel protest as a demonstration of solidarity and as Jews face a spike in anti-Semitism, withdrawing an earlier warning against wearing the traditional skullcap.
At the weekend, Felix Klein, the country's commissioner on anti-Semitism sparked uproar when he said in an interview with the Funke regional press group that he could not "advise Jews to wear the kippa everywhere all the time in Germany."
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin voiced shock at Klein's warning and said it was a "capitulation to anti-Semitism" and evidence that Jews are unsafe in Germany.
Late Monday, Klein reversed course after Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman intervened.
"The state must see to it that the free exercise of religion is possible for all... and that anyone can go anywhere in our country in full security wearing a kippa," Steffen Seibert told a press conference.
In his latest statement to Funke, Klein said: "I call .

AFP

AFP

Page 581 - Afp