Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis on Sunday said he would quit in July after he was eliminated from a presidential runoff that will see an independent economist square off against a conservative on May 26.
"The failure to get into the second round is an assessment of me as a politician," Skvernelis told public broadcaster LRT, adding that he would tender his resignation in July.
Gitanas Nauseda, an economist and political novice topped the first round, partial official results showed, and will face runner-up Ingrida Simonyte, a conservative ex-finance minister, in the second round set to focus on inequality and poverty.

Lithuanian PM Skvernelis says will quit after loss in presidential race

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Sudan's army rulers and protesters are to hold fresh talks over handing power to a civilian administration on Monday, spokesmen for the generals and the protest movement said.
On Saturday, the Alliance for Freedom and Change -- an umbrella for the protest movement -- said the generals had invited it for a new round of talks after several days of deadlock.
"The meeting was planned for today but it has now been postponed to Monday," alliance spokesman Rashid al-Sayed said.
Sayed did not explain why the talks were postponed, but sources in the alliance said that more time was needed for consultations within the leadership.
Late on Sunday, the spokesman for the ruling military council, Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, confirmed that the new round of talks will be held on Monday.
The talks are being held in an "optimistic atmosphere", Kabbashi said in a statement, adding that the negotiations aimed "to reach an agreement over the arrangements of the transitional period".
The latest 

New talks on Sudan civil rule Monday

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Panama on Sunday near the border with Costa Rica, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The quake struck at a depth of 37 kilometres in the far west of the country and the closest town was Santa Cruz, about five km away, it said.
There was no tsunami alert issued from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage.
In November 2017, a 6.5-magnitude quake on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica left buildings swaying in the capital San Jose and contributed to the deaths of two people who had heart attacks.
Further north, two months earlier in September 2017, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed more than 300 people in Mexico.

Strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake hits Panama: USGS

Iran's move to stop respecting some of the agreed limits on its nuclear activities showed it is "not in a position of weakness", a deputy speaker of the Islamic republic's parliament said Sunday.
"The timely decision of the Islamic republic regarding its commitments in the (nuclear deal) showed that Iran is not in a position of weakness," said Ali Mottahari, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Tehran announced Wednesday that it would stop respecting some of the curbs on its nuclear activities imposed under the landmark 2015 deal with world powers.
The announcement came exactly a year after the US withdrew from the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with further measures threatened if the agreement's other signatories fail to mitigate the impact of renewed American sanctions within 60 days.
The sweeping sanctions have dealt a severe blow to the Iranian economy.  Mottahari's comments came a day after President Hassan Rouhani called for unity among ...

Tehran lawmaker says move on nuclear curbs shows Iran 'not weak'

When in 1948 US bombers started dropping tiny, improvised parachutes loaded with sweets into Berlin during the Soviet blockade, one little German girl wrote to complain.
Mercedes Wild, now 78, recalled how she protested that the constant drone of airlift planes disturbed her chickens -- and during the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, eggs were a valuable commodity.
Then Gail Halvorsen, the US pilot who dreamed up the candy drops, wrote back, enclosing sticks of chewing gum and a lollipop with his letter.
His gesture sparked a long-lasting friendship between Halvorsen, Wild and their families which mirrored the post-World War II German-American relationship, she told AFP.
"It wasn't the sweets that impressed me, it was the letter," she said. "I grew up fatherless, like a lot of (German) children at that time, so knowing that someone outside of Berlin was thinking of me gave me hope." "Candy bomber" Halvorsen insists that the real heroes of the Berlin Airlift -- the mammoth logistical ...

US 'candy bomber' back in Berlin after 70 years

US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping could meet next month on the sidelines of the G20 summit to hash out their differences on trade, but no new talks are scheduled, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Sunday.
The world's top two economies ended two days of negotiations in Washington on Friday with no deal. While making it clear that the US was unwilling to settle, Kudlow sought to tamp down concerns, insisting the process was ongoing.
"We need to see something much clearer and until we do, we have to keep our tariffs on," Kudlow said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday," adding: "We can't accept any backtracking."
As for future negotiations, while there are "no concrete, definite plans yet," Kudlow said China had invited Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to Beijing -- and higher-level discussions could be on the cards.
The chances of Trump and Xi meeting during the Group of 20 summit in Japan in late June "are ...

Trump, Xi could meet next month on trade: White House aide

Lithuanians voted for a new president on Sunday with concerns over income inequality and poverty dominating round one of a tight race in the Baltic eurozone state.
Voter turnout tallied at 56.45 percent at the close of voting on Sunday, according to the Central Elections Commission, which also said it expected to publish partial official results in the night or early on Monday.
Nine candidates are vying to succeed two-term independent incumbent Dalia Grybauskaite. The politician nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her strong resolve has been tipped as a contender to be the next president of the European Council.
But pre-election surveys suggest only three stand a chance of making it to an expected May 26 run-off that would coincide with European Parliament elections.
Centre-left Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, conservative ex-finance minister Ingrida Simonyte and independent economist Gitanas Nauseda lead the pack, and each has focused primarily on bread and butter issues.
Simonyte is ...

Lithuanians elect new president amid inequality woes

Former military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning said Sunday she again plans to refuse to testify before a grand jury about her leak of classified documents to WikiLeaks -- even if it means returning to jail.
Manning, who served seven years in prison over her transfer of secret diplomatic and military documents, recently spent another two months in lock-up for contempt of court after refusing to answer the grand jury's questions.
Federal prosecutors have for years been investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and they apparently want Manning to testify about her dealings with him.
Her release last week came on a technicality -- that grand jury's term was expiring. But a new grand jury has been convened and called on her to appear this week.
"They've already stipulated they want to ask the same questions," Manning told CNN.
"I am going to refuse," she added. "I have nothing new to provide." Manning admitted that while she and her legal team do not know if she will be jailed ..

Manning again will not testify on WikiLeaks, risking return to jail

German police were investigating Sunday the deaths of three people found in a Bavarian hotel room with crossbow bolts in their bodies.
The corpses, all of German citizens, and two crossbows were discovered around noon Saturday in the remote riverside hotel in the city of Passau near the Austrian border.
The three were a 33-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man from Rhineland-Palatinate state and a 30-year-old woman from Lower Saxony, who had jointly booked the room on Friday.
Police said there were no initial indications that anyone else was involved.  Post-mortems will be carried out in coming days.

Three bodies found with crossbow bolts in German hotel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a site for a promised new settlement to be named after US President Donald Trump had been chosen and formal approval was under way.
"I promised that we would establish a community named after President Trump," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
"I would like to inform you that we have already selected a site in the Golan Heights where this new community will be established, and we have started the process," he said in Hebrew.
Netanyahu pledged such a move last month, in appreciation of Trump's recognition of Israel's claim of sovereignty over part of the strategic plateau.
Trump broke with longstanding international consensus on March 25 when he recognised Israel's claim of sovereignty over the part of the Golan it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
In December 2017, he said Washington would recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, sparking outrage among the Palestinians who 

Israel says site found for Golan 'Trump' settlement

The United Arab Emirates said Sunday four merchant vessels had been targeted by "acts of sabotage" in Gulf waters off its coast.
"Four commercial, civilian trading vessels of various nationalities this morning suffered acts of sabotage" off the UAE's eastern coast, its foreign ministry said in a statement.
It did not name who was responsible, but warned that "carrying out acts of sabotage on commercial and civilian vessels and threatening the safety and lives of those on board is a serious development".
Nobody was harmed during the incident, the ministry said.
It called on world powers to help keep maritime traffic safe.

UAE reports rare 'acts of sabotage' against 4 boats off its coast

Vincent Kompany said Manchester City's Premier League title win on Sunday was the "hardest" he had experienced after Pep Guardiola's men held off Liverpool on a dramatic final day.
City won 4-1 on the south coast, with Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan on the scoresheet after Glenn Murray gave the home side a shock lead in the first half.
A 14th straight league win ensured Guardiola's men pipped Liverpool by a solitary point as the Reds' long wait to win the league continued despite a 2-0 victory over Wolves at Anfield that saw them post the third highest points tally in Premier League history.
"Back to back... I think it was the hardest, most tough Premier League ever," Kompany told Sky Sports.
"Liverpool was exceptional. I don't meant to rub it in, it is what it is, they didn't deserve to lose.
"It makes me so much more happy that we played such a great team all season. We had our backs to the wall, we won at the Etihad and today we were able to stay in 

Man City's Kompany hails 'hardest' Premier League title

As the clock ticked down on Liverpool's unsuccessful bid to win their first English title in 29 years, a defiant refrain echoed around Anfield as all four sides of the famous old stadium chanted "We shall not be moved, we're the team that's gonna win the European Cup".
Liverpool may have fallen just a point short in the title race after Manchester City retained the Premier League crown with their 4-1 victory at Brighton.
But the Anfield faithful were determined to remind the world that Sunday's 2-0 win against Wolves in their last domestic game of the season wasn't the end of an incredible campaign for Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp's side hope to turn the agony of their title near-miss into the ecstasy of a sixth European Cup when they face Tottenham in the Champions League final on June 1.
Tuesday's incredible 4-0 win against Barcelona that erased a 3-0 first leg deficit and sent Liverpool to their second successive Champions League final, ensuring their last shot at winning the title for .

Defiant Liverpool turn to Euro dreams as title bid ends in frustration

Bernardo Silva emerged as the understated driving force behind Manchester City's Premier League title triumph after the Portugal playmaker finally won over Pep Guardiola.
While the two major player of the year awards in England went to his City teammate Raheem Sterling and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, Bernardo has delivered a sublime season that deserves its own recognition.
In a campaign during which City were without the injured Kevin De Bruyne for long periods while David Silva only occasionally reached peak form, it was Bernardo who provided their creative impetus time and again.
It is a remarkable transformation for the diminutive 24-year-old, who has gone from a fringe player last season to one of the first names on the teamsheet for City boss Guardiola.
Bernardo started only 15 Premier League games in his first season as he struggled to convince the manager that he was ready for the physically demanding nature of English football.
But, from the moment he starred in the ...

'He's a joy, I love him': Bernardo fuels City's title triumph

Manchester City held off a titanic challenge from Liverpool to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League title by coming from behind to beat Brighton 4-1 on Sunday.
A 14th straight league win ensured Pep Guardiola's men pipped Liverpool by a solitary point as the Reds' long wait to win the league continued despite a 2-0 victory over Wolves at Anfield that saw them post the third highest points tally in Premier League history.
City remain on course to complete the first ever domestic treble in English football in the FA Cup final next weekend as goals from Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan saw the visitors recover from Glenn Murray's shock opener.
For 83 seconds Liverpool fans were able to dream, but City showed why they are champions and have racked up a remarkable 98 points, just two shy of their record century of points last season.
Liverpool applied as much pressure as they could with their own nine-game winning run to end the ...

Man City batter Brighton to retain Premier League title

An Egyptian man was sentenced Sunday to death by hanging for a deadly attack on a Cairo church in 2017 claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, a judicial source said.
Ten people including a police officer were killed as the assailant targeted the Saint Mina Coptic church in Helwan, on the southern outskirts of Cairo.
According to the authorities, the attacker was armed with an assault rifle, ammunition and a bomb he intended to detonate at the church.
A Cairo criminal court sentenced the man for "murdering nine Copts and a policeman, possessing weapons and forming a terrorist group linked to IS," the source said.
A second man, who is on the run, was sentenced to death in absentia, the source added.
Two others were sentenced in absentia to life in prison, four received 10-year terms and two were given three years each in prison. Another defendant was acquitted.
All of those convicted have the possibility to appeal.
Coptic Christians, who account for around 10 percent of Egypt's ...

Egypt condemns man to death for Cairo church attack

Gunmen killed a priest and five churchgoers during mass Sunday in an attack on a Catholic church in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso, security sources and a local official said.
"Towards 9.00 am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee."
The attackers -- between 20 and 30 according to a security source -- managed to trap some of the worshippers, Zongo added.
"They killed five of them. The priest, who was celebrating mass, was also killed, bringing the number of dead to six." The gunmen then set fire to the church, several shops and a small cafe before heading to the local health centre, which they looted, burning the chief nurse's vehicle.
"There is an atmosphere of panic in the town," said Zongo.
"People are holed up in their homes, nothing is going on. The shops and stores are closed. It's practically a ghost town," he added.
Security reinforcements were sent from .

Gunmen kill six during Catholic mass in Burkina Faso

Gunmen killed a priest and five other people during mass Sunday in an attack on a Catholic Church in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso, security sources and local official said.
"Towards 9.00 am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic Church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee.

Gunmen kill six in Burkina Faso Catholic Church: sources

France has released Belhassen Trabelsi, brother-in-law of ousted Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, on bail while it mulls a extradition request from Tunisia, sources said Sunday.
Lawyers Xavier Nogueras and Marcel Ceccaldi said they had obtained Trabelsi's conditional release "owing to procedural problems", confirming news initially announced by the Tunisian justice ministry.
Trabelsi, 56, who faced charges of organised money laundering and has paid 100,000 euros (USD 112,000) in bail, must remain in France and report regularly to a local police station, they added.
It was the second time that an appeals court in Aix-en-Provence, southeastern France, had ordered his release from a jail in Marseille.
The first time was on March 28, but before Trabelsi walked free, the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor arrested him again based on a February 2017 warrant issued by a Tunisian magistrate.
Tunisia's extradition request refers to a series of convictions in absentia and three 10-year ...

France releases in-law of Tunisia's Ben Ali on bail

Clashes between members of two Sudanese tribes in an eastern town have left seven people dead and 22 wounded over the past two days, a local official said Sunday.
The violence erupted on Saturday between members of the Nuba and Bani Amer tribes in the town of Gadaref, said Mohieddine Ahmed, governor of Gadaref province.
"It all started when a woman from the Nuba tribe and a water vendor from the Bani Amer tribe quarrelled over the price of water" on Saturday, Ahmed told AFP.
"The verbal dispute ended with the vendor killing the woman, which triggered anger among her tribe members." Members of the two groups then set fire to homes and shops belonging to each other's kin, Ahmed added.
"In the ensuing clashes seven people have been killed and 22 wounded," Ahmed said, adding that the two groups have clashed in the past.
The wounded included seven policemen, he said, as officers sought to separate the groups with tear gas and by firing shots in the air.
Ahmed said the fighting that erupted 

Sudan tribal clashes kill 7, wound 22: local official

The United Nations said Sunday that a Yemeni rebel withdrawal from key Red Sea ports was proceeding as planned, after the government accused the insurgents of faking the pullout.
The first day of the redeployment by Huthi insurgents from the ports of Hodeida, Saleef and Ras Issa on Saturday "went in accordance with established plans," a UN statement said.
"All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," it added.
Military equipment is expected to be removed in the coming days, while demining is also planned, the statement said.
Formal verification of the first redeployment will take place at the three ports on Tuesday, according to the UN.
Hodeida port serves as a lifeline for millions in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, which has been pushed to the brink of famine by more than four years of devastating war.
The pullback is considered a first step in ...

AFP

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