The US Federal Aviation Administration did not independently evaluate the safety of a Boeing 737 MAX system implicated in two deadly crashes, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The US regulator, as part of an internal review, has preliminarily concluded that FAA officials largely deferred to Boeing's assessments of the accident-ridden 737 MAX during the certification process, the person said.
Boeing's top-selling 737 MAX narrow-body planes have been grounded globally since mid-March following two plane crashes that killed 346 people. A common link in both crashes was the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System.
During the FAA certification, Boeing did not flag to regulators that a failure of the MCAS could lead to a catastrophic event, a classification that would have triggered more regulatory scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The FAA approved the 737 MAX in early 2017 and the plane entered into service in May of that year.
In both the Lion Air ..

FAA deferred to Boeing on key 737 MAX assessments: source

PTI Automatic

Chinese telecom giant Huawei is willing to sign a "no-spy" agreement with countries including Britain, the firm's chairman said on Tuesday, as the head of NATO said Britain must preserve secure mobile networks.
Liang Hua visited Britain as the government weighs the risks of allowing the Chinese company to help develop its 5G infrastructure.
"We are willing to sign 'no-spy' agreements with governments, including the UK government, to commit ourselves, to commit our equipment to meeting the no-spy, no back-door standards," Liang told reporters.
The British government is in the middle of a furious debate over whether to let Huawei roll out its next-generation mobile service.
The private Chinese firm currently has the most advanced and cheapest 5G capacities in the world.
But the United States has warned its close ally that it might have to limit security and intelligence sharing with Britain if it allowed China to play a significant role.
Washington's broader geopolitical concerns have ..

Huawei chairman says ready to sign 'no-spy' deal with UK

Investigators were on Tuesday pursuing leads that five mysterious deaths, including three by crossbow bolts, may have been a murder-suicide pact among Germans with a reported passion for medieval folklore and weaponry.
Police probing the initial triple death said they found the last wills of two of the victims in a hotel room, and no signs of a struggle or involvement of other people.
Germany has been baffled by the macabre case since the trio of corpses was found Saturday in a hotel in the Bavarian town of Passau, followed by Monday's discovery of two dead women across the country in the town of Wittingen.
Mass-circulation Bild daily reported that the victims had shared a fascination with the Middle Ages, including knights, jousting, weapons and alchemy.
According to an autopsy report, two of the victims in the Passau hotel room -- a man named Torsten W., 53, and a woman called Kerstin E., 33 -- were found lying in the double bed, hand-in-hand.
They were killed with crossbow shots to 

Possible suicide pact in macabre German crossbow murders

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the United States does not want war with Iran but vowed to keep pressuring Tehran.
"We fundamentally do not seek a war with Iran," Pompeo told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
But he added: "We have also made clear to the Iranians that if American interests are attacked, we will most certainly respond in an appropriate fashion." Pompeo said that he spoke both to Lavrov and, on Monday in Brussels, to European allies about the threat the United States sees from Iran.
His remarks come after the United States deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East, although President Donald Trump denied a report that he is considering sending 120,000 troops.
"We are looking for Iran to behave like a normal country," Pompeo said, pointing in part to Tehran's backing of Huthi rebels in Yemen who are under attack from US ally Saudi ...

'We fundamentally do not seek a war with Iran': Pompeo

Police in southern Bangladesh arrested a prominent poet Tuesday after he was accused of hurting the religious feelings of the country's minority Christian community, police said.
Henry Sawpon, a Christian himself, was detained in Barisal, south of the capital Dhaka, after a priest filed a case against him for a series of defamatory writings about the clergy.
"He was arrested under the country's digital security law for hurting religious sentiments of the Christian community," Barisal Metropolitan Police commissioner Shahabuddin Khan told AFP.
Sawpon, whose poems and rhymes are regularly published in leading Bangladesh newspapers and magazines, was sent to jail after a court rejected his bail application.
Police said Sawpon had posted slanderous remarks against Barisal's Catholic fathers on his Facebook profile since 2016. He also accused the city's Bishop of embezzling funds.
Days before his arrest, Sawpon told local media that two unidentified men entered his home after midnight and .

Bangladesh Christian poet arrested over writing on priests

The 2017 decision by city officials in Philadelphia to impose a beverage tax on sugary and artificially-sweetened drinks caused sales to drop by 38 percent, according to one of the first studies evaluating the duty's effects.
Since January 1, 2017, Philadelphia has added a tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on all soft drinks including "diet" sodas.
Shops passed on the additional costs to consumers, either in whole or in part, resulting in an average price increase across all beverages of 24 cents in supermarkets and 50 cents in mass merchandise stores.
Areas bordering the city that were not affected by the tax saw a bump in sales, but after accounting for this effect, the net fall in sales was estimated at 38 percent on year.
The numbers confirm a basic economic theory: if the price of a product goes up, fewer people will buy it.
"Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages is one of the most effective policy strategies we have to reduce purchases," said Christina Roberto, an assistant professor of ...

Soft drink sales plunged in Philadelphia after soda tax: study

Tiger Woods plans to practice smarter and play less to keep his body fresh, but the 43-year-old golf star might change that strategy to reach the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sixth-ranked Woods, who snapped an 11-year major drought by winning last month's Masters, seeks his 16th major title at this week's 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
With the PGA settling into its new May date after moving from August, it's only the sixth time Woods has not played between major starts, admitting Tuesday he wasn't mentally ready to return two weeks ago at Quail Hollow.
"I'm always looking for breaks," Woods said. "I wanted to play at Quail Hollow, but to be honest with you, I wasn't ready yet to start the grind of practicing and preparing and logging all those hours again." Woods, whose 2017 spinal fusion surgery ended years of back injuries, has plenty of motivation this week.
Woods could return to world number one for the first time since March 2013. He would match the all-time US PGA win mark ..

Tiger trims events to stay fresh but eyes Tokyo Olympics

Imam-ul-Haq came into form ahead of the World Cup with a career-best 151 as Pakistan made 358 for nine against tournament hosts England in the third one-day international at Bristol on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old left-hander's innings was also the highest individual score by a Pakistan batsman against England at this level, surpassing the 138 made by his opening partner, Fakhar Zaman, in a 12-run defeat at Southampton on Saturday that left the home side 1-0 up in this five-match series.
Meanwhile Chris Woakes did his chances of being included in tournament hosts England's final 15-man squad for the World Cup no harm with a return of four wickets for 67 runs in a maximum 10 overs.
But team-mate Joe Denly's World Cup chances suffered a setback, with the leg-spinner -- playing in place of the rested Adil Rashid -- bowling a couple of full tosses in a solitary over costing nine runs before he was taken out of the attack by England captain Eoin Morgan.
Warwickshire pace-bowling all-rounder ...

Imam century powers Pakistan to 358-9 in third ODI against England

Beijing unleashed its tightly controlled media this week after keeping a lid on rhetoric for months as the trade war with Washington reignited, with fiery clips from state media ricocheting around the internet.
The spree of editorials and commentaries in China's state media Monday and Tuesday ramped up attacks on Washington and its trade tactics, with Beijing rolling out the propaganda campaign in synch with its retaliation on US goods.
China announced Monday it would raise tariffs on USD 60 billion in US exports by next month, responding in kind to President Donald Trump's decision last week to hike duties on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese merchandise.
The barrage began Monday night during state broadcaster CCTV's primetime newscast watched across China.
"China has already given its answer: talk and the door is open, fight and we'll fight you to the end," an anchor read, looking directly at the camera.
"Through 5,000 years of ups and downs, what kind of battle has the ...

China's state media hits back at US on trade

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected a report that he is considering sending 120,000 troops to counter Iran, but didn't rule out sending "a hell of a lot more" soldiers in the future.
"I think it's fake news," Trump said of a New York Times report that the White House is considering a plan to send 120,000 troops to the region as part of a tightening pressure campaign against the Iranian government.
"Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that," Trump told reporters.
"Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. If we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that."
The Pentagon has already dispatched an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bomber planes to the region in the last few days.

Trump denies planning to send 120,000 troops to counter Iran

Departing Dutch star Arjen Robben has said that he is still undecided about what to do when he leaves Bayern Munich, and admitted that he may still retire from football altogether.
The 35-year-old winger is set to leave Munich after 10 years at the end of the season, and has been linked with clubs as diverse as Inter Milan and his hometown club Groningen.
At a press conference in Munich on Tuesday, Robben said that he still didn't know what life after Bayern held for him.
"I am late making my decision because of my injury. I wanted to get back on the pitch first," said Robben, who had been sidelined since November before returning to action against Hanover two weeks ago.
"My wife would have preferred it otherwise, to be honest," he said.
"It is not an easy decision to make. If you decide that you are going to keep playing, you have to find a place where everything is just right, not just in terms of football but also for my family."
Asked whether he might stop playing altogether, ...

'Retirement is an option' - Bayern icon Robben dreaming of fairytale farewell

Paris authorities have warned operators of the thousands of electric scooters that have inundated the city to keep them off pavements or face a temporary ban amid rising complaints from pedestrians.
On Monday, the ten competitors who have launched services in Paris all signed a "code of good conduct" with the mayor's office, which says the city is now "saturated" with the devices.
The companies -- with catchy one-syllable names such as Lime, Bolt, Wind and Flash -- have collectively put 15,000 scooters on the streets in the past few months, causing tensions that have emerged in cities worldwide from Madrid to Los Angeles.
Fans have embraced them as a quick and cheap way to get around, since the "dockless" devices are unlocked with a phone app and can be left anywhere when a ride is finished.
That is exactly the problem, critics say, pointing to scooters strewn across the city's stately squares or abandoned in piles littering narrow sidewalks, to the bane of people hauling groceries or 

'Saturated' Paris tells e-scooter fleets to clean up

Yemen's Huthi rebels have handed over security of key Red Sea ports to the "coastguard" but much work remains to remove military equipment, the UN said Tuesday.
General Michael Lollesgaard, head of the UN redeployment committee, welcomed the handover "of the security of the ports to the coastguard", according to a UN statement.
"There is still a lot of work to be done on the removal of the manifestations, but cooperation has been very good.

Yemen rebels hand security of Hodeida ports to 'coastguard': UN

With dementia cases set to soar, the World Health Organization presented Tuesday its first-ever guidelines for reducing the risk, including healthy eating, regular exercise and cutting out tobacco use.
The number of people living with dementia is expected to explode from approximately 50 million today to 152 million by 2050, the WHO said in its report.
"In the next 30 years, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement, stressing that "we need to do everything we can to reduce our risk of dementia." The UN agency said that a healthy lifestyle appeared to help keep cognitive decline at bay.
The scientific evidence gathered to draw up the guidelines, Tedros said, "confirm what we have suspected for some time, that what is good for our heart, is also good for our brain." Dementia is caused by a variety of brain illnesses that affect memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday ...

With dementia cases set to triple, WHO issues guide to cut risk

A surge of tensions in the Gulf has shown the risk of a military confrontation between arch-foes Iran and the United States, even if any conflict would likely be marked by guerrilla warfare rather than full-scale battles, analysts say.
A series of mysterious attacks on ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, the key ally of Tehran's Gulf rival Saudi Arabia, prompted President Donald Trump to warn Iran would "suffer greatly" if it harmed US interests.
The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since the seizure by Iranian radicals of American embassy staff in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The two sides have at times been close to conflict -- in particular during a tense period under former US president George W. Bush -- but analysts see a series of factors as making the current moment particularly combustible.
Trump dismayed European allies by pulling out of the 2015 deal on Iran's nuclear programme unilaterally and is now ratcheting up the rhetoric 

Could Gulf tensions lead to Iran-US war?

Five jailed Catalan separatists elected in polls last month will be allowed to attend the first day of Spain's national parliament on May 21, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
But the court also ruled against definitively releasing the five, including Catalonia's former vice-president Oriol Junqueras, as demanded by their lawyers.
All five have been in custody for more than a year over their role in Catalonia's secession attempt in October 2017 and are currently on trial in Madrid, charged with rebellion.
During the parliament's opening session, they will have to promise to comply with the Spanish constitution which pledges the "unbreakable unity" of Spain.
Junqueras, who led the list of his ERC separatist party, was elected to Spain's lower house of parliament in the general elections held on April 28.
Others elected to the lower house were civic leader Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull, Catalonia's government spokesman at the time of the failed attempt to break from Spain.
Both were .

Jailed Catalan politicians can attend parliament opening: Spain court

Drone attacks claimed by Iran-aligned Yemen rebels shut down one of Saudi Arabia's main oil pipelines Tuesday, further ratcheting up Gulf tensions after the mysterious sabotage of several tankers.
Days after the United States deployed bombers and an assault ship to bolster an aircraft carrier in the region, the world's largest crude exporter said two pumping stations had been targeted early Tuesday.
They lie on the East West Pipeline, able to pump five million barrels of oil a day from the oil-rich eastern province to a Red Sea export terminal.
The announcement came hours after Yemen's Huthi rebels said they had targeted vital installations in Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition against them.
Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Saudi Aramco had "temporarily shut down" the pipeline to "evaluate its condition" but added that oil production and exports had not been interrupted.
"The company (Saudi Aramco) is working on restoring the pumping station before resuming ...

Saudi shuts main oil pipeline after Huthi drone attacks

Moscow and Washington's top diplomats said Tuesday they were ready to improve ties, ahead of the countries' highest-level talks in nearly a year as President Vladimir Putin hosts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Pompeo arrived in the sunny Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday amid a raft of disagreements, from arms control to the raging Venezuela and Iran crises.
At the start of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and before a planned evening meeting with Putin, Pompeo expressed hope the two rivals could "stabilise the relationship".
"I am here today because President (Donald) Trump is committed to improving this relationship," he said.
"We have differences -- each country will protect its own interests and look after its own people -- but it's not that we have to be adversaries on every issue." Lavrov said Russia was ready to open a new page in ties.
"I believe it's time to start building a new, more responsible and constructive model of mutual perception of each ...

Russia, US say ready for better ties as Putin set to host Pompeo

Three Nepali journalists are being probed for circulating a news item on the Dalai Lama, officials said Tuesday, in a sign of growing Chinese influence on its small Himalayan neighbour.
The journalists, who work with Nepal's national news agency Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), were asked for clarifications after translating a wire report about the Dalai Lama's discharge from a hospital and his return to Dharamshala in April.
The circulation of the translation coincided with the visit of Nepal's president Bidhya Devi Bhandari to China on invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Hari Adhikari, chairman of RSS, said that a committee has been formed and the management will decide whether to take any action against the three after it submits a report.
"As the national news agency, we don't carry news that is against the foreign policy of our country and affects the relationship with our neighbours," Adhikari said.
Nepal, home to around 20,000 Tibetans, is under intense pressure from its 

Nepal probes journalists for Dalai Lama news

Gunmen killed four Catholics in a religious procession in north Burkina Faso a day after a priest and five parishioners were murdered at mass, church officials said Tuesday.
The parade with a statue of the Virgin Mary was moving through the town of Ouahigouya on Monday when "a group of terrorists intercepted the procession, killing four worshippers and burning the statue," said a spokesman for the Ouagadougou Cathedral.
According to the Burkina Faso news agency AIB, the assailants stopped the procession. "They let the minors go, executed four adults, and destroyed the statue," it quoted a local person as saying.
Paul Ouedraogo, president of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger, told a meeting of bishops in the capital Ouagadougou the attack had claimed four lives.
The killings came a day after a group of 20-30 armed men, according to witnesses, burst into the Catholic church in Dablo, also in the Nord Region of Burkina Faso, shooting dead five parishioners and their ...

Gunmen kill four at Catholic parade in Burkina Faso: church

President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to help hard-hit American farmers caught in the middle of the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing.
China on Monday hit back against the United States, announcing it will sharply increase duties on thousands of US agricultural and manufactured goods to retaliate against Trump's decision last week to more than double the punitive duties on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese merchandise.
"Our great Patriot Farmers will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of what is happening now," Trump said on Twitter.
"Hopefully China will do us the honor of continuing to buy our great farm product, the best, but if not your Country will be making up the difference based on a very high China buy." Since last year, the trade war has gutted US farm exports to China and weighed on both countries' manufacturing sectors.
The Trump administration last year offered $12 billion in compensation to American farmers and has vowed to do more, using the ..

AFP

AFP

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