German fifth seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber saw her hopes of a career Grand Slam ended by Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova at Roland Garros on Sunday as Roger Federer prepared to make his Paris return after a four-year absence.
Fifth-seeded Wimbledon champion Kerber slumped to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to 18-year-old Potapova who was making her French Open debut.
"I had a lot of confidence and I have to thank my coach for that," said 81st-ranked Potapova who hit 28 winners past her German opponent.
Kerber, 31, has now lost six times in the French Open first round.
The German left-hander had come into Roland Garros carrying a right ankle injury which forced her to pull out of the Italian Open and retire from her second round tie in Madrid.
"She played really good, I tried my best," said Kerber who was broken six times in the match which brought the curtain up on a rebuilt Court Philippe Chatrier.
"I didn't really have great preparation and I was just happy to get on ..

Kerber crashes to Russian teen at Roland Garros as Federer returns

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When Yannick Hanfmann takes on 11-time champion Rafael Nadal in the biggest match of his career at Roland Garros, he won't be fazed by the noise generated by thousands of fans getting behind the Spaniard as being partially deaf from childhood means he probably won't hear them anyway.
The 27-year-old German, ranked a lowly 184 in the world, has come through three tough rounds of qualifying to make the main draw in Paris for the first time.
Likely to play Nadal on the 15,000-seater Court Philippe Chatrier, Hanfmann says his childhood deafness can occasionally work to his advantage.
"A centre court full of spectators doesn't affect me," the Munich resident told Germany daily Bild in an interview.
"I have a hearing aid but it doesn't really work. Sometimes it's a problem, because not everyone knows.
"If I don't react when somebody calls my name, they think 'what's up with him?'" Hanfmann only turned professional four years ago after a four-year US college stint in which he helped the ...

Hanfmann feels childhood deafness can boost chances of shocking Nadal

Maurizio Sarri faces an uncertain future as Chelsea manager even if the much-maligned Italian leads his side to victory in the Europa League final against Arsenal.
Sarri has endured a traumatic first season at Stamford Bridge and he heads to Baku with little clarity over his prospects of staying in charge beyond Wednesday's final.
Despite guiding Chelsea into next season's Champions League, via a third-place finish in the Premier League, and reaching two cup finals, there remains a sense Sarri is on borrowed time whatever the result against Arsenal.
The 60-year-old has been linked with a move to Juventus or Roma, with reports saying Chelsea would not block his return to Serie A.
Even if Sarri does not join the Italian champions, he could still be sacked if Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and his coterie of advisors feel the former Napoli boss is not the man to guide them through a turbulent period.
With a damaging two-window transfer ban looming -- pending an appeal by Chelsea to the ..

Sarri's Chelsea future in spotlight as Europa final looms

Unai Emery's first season at Arsenal will be judged a success or failure depending on the outcome of a single game -- the Europa League final against Chelsea -- but the Spaniard has a habit of saving his best for Europe's second-tier competition.
Emery won the Europa League three years in a row between 2014 and 2016 when at Sevilla and would become the most decorated coach in the competition's history with another victory in Baku.
However, it is not only a first European trophy for 25 years at stake for Arsenal, but also a much-needed return to the riches of the Champions League after a two-season absence that will make or break the impression of Emery's debut campaign.
Arsenal's preparations for the final have been dogged by off-field issues over the awarding of the final to the Azerbaijani capital.
Many fans have been priced out of making the near-5,000-mile (8,000-kilometre) round trip, while Emery's team selection has also been affected, with midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan deciding 

Emery seeks Europa League success to salvage Arsenal's season

Sudan's main opposition group and supporter of the protest movement Sunday rejected its call to stage a two-day general strike because of a deadlock in talks with the ruling military.
"We reject the general strike announced by some opposition groups" in the umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the National Umma Party said in a statement.
Its opposition to the strike slated to start Tuesday was a sign of division between protest leaders at a time of deadlock in negotiations with army generals over installing a civilian administration.

Sudan main opposition group rejects general strike call

An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced three French citizens to death after they were found guilty of joining the Islamic State group, a court official said.
Captured in Syria by a US-backed force fighting the jihadists, they are the first French IS members to receive death sentences in Iraq, where they were transferred for trial.
Named as Kevin Gonot, Leonard Lopez and Salim Machou, they have 30 days to appeal.
Iraq has taken custody of thousands of jihadists repatriated in recent months from neighbouring Syria, where they were caught by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces during the battle to destroy the IS "caliphate".
Iraqi courts have placed on trial hundreds of foreigners, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, although no foreign IS members have yet been executed.
Those sentenced on Sunday were among 12 French citizens who were caught in Syria and transferred to Iraqi custody in February.
Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised Iraq's ...

Three French IS members sentenced to death in Iraq: judiciary

Imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has called for an end to hunger strikes by thousands of jailed supporters in Turkey protesting the conditions of his detention, his lawyers said Sunday.
Ocalan, the co-founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) held on Imrali island off Istanbul since 1999, was allowed to see his lawyers this month for the first time in eight years.
"I expect the action to come to an end in light of the broad statements to be made by my two lawyers," Ocalan said in a message read by his lawyer Nevroz Uysal during a press conference in Istanbul.
The first visit took place on May 2.
After Turkish authorities lifted an official ban on lawyers' visits to Ocalan, a second trip by two of his lawyers was made on May 22.
His lawyers said during their visit on May 22, Ocalan said the hunger strikes "had achieved their goal" and was insistent in his call for the action to end.
"We believe the hunger strikers will end their action after this," the ...

Kurdish rebel leader calls end to jail hunger strikes in Turkey

A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at a nature reserve in southwest China, showing albinism exists among wild pandas in the region, state media reported.
The spotless, red-eyed animal was photographed while trekking through the forest mid-April in southwestern Sichuan province, said official news agency Xinhua on Saturday.
The panda is an albino between one to two years old, said Li Sheng, a researcher specialising in bears at Peking University, who was quoted in Xinhua's report.
The Wolong National Nature Reserve -- where the animal was spotted -- told AFP it had no further details about the albino panda.
More than 80 per cent of the world's wild pandas live in Sichuan, with the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu province.
There were about 548 giant pandas in captivity globally as of November, reported Xinhua.
The number living in the wild has dwindled to fewer than 2,000, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Famed for its "panda diplomacy", in which China dispatches the rare ..

Rare albino panda caught on camera in China: state media

Shi Yuqi stunned world champion Kento Momota as hosts China whitewashed Japan for an 11th Sudirman Cup title on Sunday.
Japan have never won the badminton world mixed-team championship and their search goes on after they were well beaten 3-0 in the Chinese city of Nanning.
China's dominant victory over the top seeds is an ominous indication of the depth they possess in their ranks with next summer's Tokyo Olympics on the horizon.
Roared on by the home crowd, China went 1-0 up through their men's doubles and then took a 2-0 lead after a captivating women's singles match between Chen Yufei and Akane Yamaguchi.
Japan needed their talisman Momota to beat Shi in the men's singles to keep the tie alive.
The world number one had defeated second-ranked Shi four times in five previous meetings, including last year's world championship final.
It looked like more of the same when the 24-year-old Momota won the first game 21-15, but Shi suddenly found rhythm and his subdued Japanese rival faded ..

Momota stunned as China win Sudirman Cup with Japan whitewash

Egypt has unfrozen the assets of its Mubarak-era interior minister, who was acquitted on all corruption-related charges earlier this month, a judicial source confirmed Sunday.
The Illicit Gains Authority decided last Thursday to lift freezes on Habib al-Adly's assets and those of aides who were key players in the graft that dominated Egypt under long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
"He is free to walk, with no cases or charges against him at the moment," the judicial source told AFP.
Adly's behemoth security apparatus was accused of systematic torture and repression of dissent, helping fuel the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.
In May, a court fined the former minister 500 Egyptian pounds (about  USD 29) on charges of abusing public funds.
Adly was sentenced in April 2017 to seven years in prison along with 10 other former officials, for embezzling about USD 122 million.
But his case was thrown out, with the court citing procedural errors, and a retrial was ordered last year.
In 2014, .

Egypt unfreezes assets of Mubarak-era interior minister

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday that Germany's warning to Jews on the dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap were a "capitulation to anti-Semitism" and evidence Jews were unsafe there.
Germany's government commissioner on anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, said in an interview published Saturday he "cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany," due to increasing anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish attacks there.
Rivlin said Klein's remarks "shocked" him, and while appreciating the German government's "commitment to the Jewish community," accused it of bowing to those targeting Jews in Germany.
"Fears about the security of German Jews are a capitulation to anti-Semitism and an admittance that, again, Jews are not safe on German soil," he said.
"We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-Semitism with defeatism -- and expect and demand our allies act in the same way," he said.
Anti-Semitic crimes rose by 20 per cent in 

Israel president says Jews unsafe in Germany after kippah warning

An 8.0-earthquake struck northern Peru in the early hours of Sunday but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The US Geological Survey said the epicenter was at a depth of 110 kilometers (68 miles). The agency has previously said that most big quakes in South America occur at a maximum depth of 70 kilometers.
The quake hit at 0741 GMT about 75 kilometers southeast of the town of Lagunas, along the Amazon basin near the border with Brazil.
"Some casualties and damage are possible and the impact should be relatively localized," USGS said in a preliminary assessment.
The Geophysics Institute of Peru said the quake measured 7.2 magnitude while Peruvian authorities said the tremor caused alarm among locals but no damage was reported.
The earthquake was felt in northern and central Peru, including the capital Lima.  "Based on all available data... there is no tsunami threat because the earthquake is located too deep inside the earth," the US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning ...

8.0-magnitude earthquake hits Peru, no injuries reported

Tens of millions of Europeans will vote Sunday as 21 countries choose their representatives in a battle between the nationalist right and pro-EU forces to chart a course for the bloc.
Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Cyprus were the first to open their polling stations at 0400 GMT and France, Germany, Italy and the rest followed over the next two or three hours.
Seven EU member states had already voted, but no official results can be published until rest of the union has taken part. The European Parliament will give an estimate at 1815 GMT and provisional results will begin to emerge from 2100 GMT.
Eurosceptic parties opposed to the project of ever closer union hope to capture as many as a third of the seats in the 751-member Strasbourg assembly, disrupting the pro-integration consensus.
The far-right parties of Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini and France's Marine Le Pen will lead this charge, and anti-EU ranks will be swelled by the Brexit Party of British populist ..

Final votes cast as Europe chooses future course

Iraqi leaders have warned of the risks of war during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose country is locked in a tense standoff with the United States.
Zarif's visit to neighbouring Iraq -- which is caught in the middle of its two allies the US and Iran -- follows a decision by Washington to deploy 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi warned of the "danger of a war" during a meeting with Zarif on Saturday night, his office said.
Abdel Mahdi pleaded for the "stability of the region and the upholding of the nuclear deal," it said, referring to a 2015 agreement between Tehran and major powers.  Iraqi President Barham Saleh discussed with Zarif "the need to prevent all war or escalation," his office said.
On Saturday Zarif called the deployment of extra US troops to the region "very dangerous and a threat to international peace and security." It follows a US decision in early May to send an aircraft carrier strike ...

Iraq warns of 'danger of war' as Iranian FM visits

Former prime minister and close advisor to Thailand's revered royals Prem Tinsulanonda died early Sunday aged 98, a senior parliamentarian said, ending a decades-long career of unrivalled influence over Thai politics.
Prem "passed away this morning around 9 o'clock", interim house speaker Chai Chidchob told MPs on the third day of Thailand's new parliament.  "I would like to ask everyone to stand for a moment in memorial."
Hailed as a stabilising force by allies but loathed by critics as a conservative underminer of democracy in the kingdom, Prem was a top aide to the late beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej and helped cement the unshakeable bond between the monarchy and the military.
As Privy Council president his influence endured through a tense succession period after Bhumibol died in 2016 and Prem was briefly appointed regent before Bhumibol's son Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne.
Prem presided over the king's surprise wedding to Queen Suthida days before his coronation ...

Thailand's unmatched powerbroker Prem Tinsulanonda dies aged 98

While Huawei's founder brushes aside a US ban against his company, the telecom giant's employees have been less sanguine, confessing fears for their future in online chat rooms.
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei declared this week the company has a hoard of microchips and the ability to make its own in order to withstand a potentially crippling US ban on using American components and software in its products.
"If you really want to know what's going on with us, you can visit our Xinsheng Community," Ren told Chinese media, alluding to Huawei's internal forum partially open to viewers outside the company.
But a peek into Xinsheng shows his words have not reassured everyone within the Shenzhen-based company.
"During difficult times, what should we do as individuals?" posted an employee under the handle Xiao Feng on Thursday.
"At home reduce your debts and maintain enough cash," Xiao Feng wrote.
"Make a plan for your financial assets and don't be overly optimistic about your remuneration and ...

'Don't be too optimistic': Huawei employees fret at US ban

US President Donald Trump on Sunday played down recent missile launches by North Korea as he teed off a state visit to Japan with a round of golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Before hitting the course, Trump tweeted that North Korea had tested "some small weapons" that had "disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me".
This appeared to be a reference to one of his "people", National Security Advisor John Bolton, who had said the previous day there was "no doubt" the launches had contravened UN Security Council resolutions.
But Trump said: "I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me."
The American president maintains that North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un had pledged he was serious about denuclearisation although experts say there is still a wide gulf between the two sides over what that means exactly.
At their summit, Trump and Abe are likely to touch on tensions with North Korea, which have mounted after a summit in February in Hanoi collapsed without ..

Trump downplays North Korea launches on Japan visit

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill resigned on Sunday, media reports said, following a string of high-profile political defections that threatened his leadership.
O'Neill -- who had been in power since 2011 -- handed over the reins to Julius Chan, who has twice been prime minister, PNG broadcaster EMTV reported.
"It is important that we maintain a certain amount of stability. We have heard the calls and we have agreed for a change of government," O'Neill told reporters, according to EMTV.
Chan said the transition was to ensure stability in the Pacific nation.  "I want to thank the Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, for all that he has done to bring this country (to where it is) today," he told reporters.
"Men and women of Papua New Guinea... we have very short memories. Tomorrow you will look back and see all the things that he has done. But like life itself, you just got to move on." O'Neill, 54, survived a vote of no confidence earlier this month, but had been under pressure .

Papua New Guinea PM Peter O'Neill resigns

President Donald Trump will be ringside Sunday for Tokyo's big sumo tournament, but if he hopes his longtime love of US-style professional wrestling will give him special insight into the action, he better think again.
Both sumo and the WWE involve enormous men wearing very little and trying to batter each other. Both are popular in their respective countries, drawing large excitable crowds. But that's -- almost -- where similarities end.
WWE wrestlers are out more to entertain than to wrestle. While there is a winner and a loser, the combatants are following a choreographed script that ends in a pre-determined outcome.
Over the years of World Wrestling Entertainment extravaganzas, the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker have stopped at nothing in pursuit of victory.
Not only fists and body slams are used, but also chairs, ladders, snakes and fire -- that's right, the ring was once set on fire.
However, all the action is rehearsed, then carefully meted out .

Japanese sumo vs Trump's WWE: big differences in clash of big men

Ireland voted by an overwhelming majority to relax its constitutional restriction on divorce, results showed Sunday, the latest in a series of reforms to modernise the charter of the once devoutly Catholic nation.
Some 82 per cent of voters cast their ballots in favour of removing a provision requiring couples to live separately for four out of the previous five years before dissolving their marriage.
The Irish government has signalled it will bring forward new legislation shortening the requirement to two out of the prior three years.
At present Irish divorce law is regarded as among the most restrictive in Europe.  It is thought to be responsible for the republic having the lowest separation rate of any EU member state, according to 2015 figures from the country's Central Statistics Office.
The outcome of Friday's referendum will also see Irish lawmakers granted powers to recognise foreign divorces once it is signed into law by the president.
The mandated separation period was a ...

Ireland votes overwhelmingly to relax strict divorce law

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Saturday he would send delegates to Oslo next week for the first face-to-face meeting with representatives of President Nicolas Maduro's government as part of a Norway-led mediation effort.
They "will talk with both the Norwegian government and with representatives of the regime", Guaido said in a statement, after the two Venezuelan sides traveled separately to the Norwegian capital last week without meeting.
Guaido, recognized by the United States and dozens of other countries as Venezuela's interim president, said the opposition delegation will be headed by deputy parliament speaker Stalin Gonzalez and the ex-deputy Gerardo Blyde, both of whom were involved in the initial talks with the Norwegians.
Media reports said Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez and the governor of Miranda province Hector Rodriguez represented Maduro's government in the initial talks, but it was unclear if they would participate in next week's ..

AFP

AFP

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