Germany coach Joachim Loew hopes to prove his critics wrong and open 2019 with a win when his new-look team host Serbia in a friendly in Wolfsburg on Wednesday.
Loew, who arrived in Wolfsburg later than expected due to a dental operation this week, is hoping to bounce back from a painful 2018, in which Germany suffered an early World Cup exit and were relegated from the top tier of the UEFA Nations League.
The friendly against Serbia is a warm-up for Sunday's prestigious opening Euro 2020 qualifier away to the Netherlands with the Germans hunting revenge after a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of the Oranje last October at the Amsterdam Arena.
Amid fears that German football is in decline, the 59-year-old Loew is under pressure to show that he can build a new era of success around a younger generation of players.
Yet he has also faced fierce criticism for his decision to strike veteran World Cup winners Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Mueller from the national team set-up, falling .

Gambling Germany boss Loew goes all-in ahead of Serbia friendly

PTI Automatic

Roger Federer departed Indian Wells empty-handed for a second straight year, but the Swiss great sees no reason he can't get back on track at the Miami Masters.
"Sure, it's frustrating and disappointing and sad to some extent," Federer said after falling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Austrian Dominic Thiem in Sunday's final.
Thiem, 25, denied Federer a record sixth Indian Wells title and returned to his career-high of fourth in the world -- bumping Federer down to fifth going to the second leg of the "Sunshine Double" of Indian Wells and Miami.
But Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam winner who claimed a remarkable 100th career title in Dubai last month, can afford to take the defeat in stride -- especially when he's playing well and feels his 37-year-old body is fully fit.
"It's just not as dramatic," he said of falling to a player who was "just a bit better when it mattered".
"Whereas, when you're hurt and things are difficult, maybe those hurt more.
"I'm going to Miami. The body is perfectly fine. .

No trophy, no regrets as Federer departs Indian Wells for Miami

Germany launches its auction Tuesday for the construction of an ultra-fast 5G mobile network as a transatlantic dispute rages over security concerns surrounding giant Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei.
The United States has threatened to end intelligence sharing with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware made by Huawei from the infrastructure, arguing that Chinese equipment could help Beijing spy on Western companies and governments.
Attempting to play down the row on Monday, Jochen Homann, chairman of the German Federal Network Agency (BNA), said: "No matter whether a supplier comes from Sweden or China, companies must meet certification requirements and security checks."
'5G' - 'fifth generation' - is the latest, high-speed generation of cellular mobile communications and Berlin will require winning bidders to offer 5G service to at least 98 percent of German households, motorways and rail lines.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy whose wireless networks rank 46th in the world 

Germany launches 5G auction amid row with US over Huawei

World Cup winner Julian Savea said Tuesday he was "heartbroken" over the New Zealand mosque shootings as All Blacks team-mate Sonny Bill Williams took a week off Super Rugby to support people affected by the tragedy.
Williams, a devout Muslim, said his "heart is heavy" over Friday's attack, which left 50 people dead, as he announced a trip to Christchurch to "show love" and give donations.
Hulking wing Savea has bagged 46 tries in 51 Test starts, but has struggled this season after moving to Toulon. However, he put his personal woes aside to pledge support to the Muslim community.
"I've been privileged enough to learn about Islam through my wife's family, especially her grandparents," the 28-year-old tweeted from France.
"They've been to Mecca twice, they pray five times a day, they encouraged me to fast during Ramadan and taught me what it means to be a Muslim," Savea added.
"And I will make sure my children learn about Islam too because it's a beautiful religion, and Muslims are the 

Savea 'heartbroken' over mosque killings as All Blacks rally round

North Korea should take "actual action" towards giving up its nuclear weapons to break the deadlock in talks with Washington, a top security adviser to the South's president said, suggesting Seoul's patience with Pyongyang may be wearing thin.
President Moon Jae-in was instrumental in brokering the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, seizing on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to catalyse a rapid diplomatic rapprochement after a year of missile tests, threats and tensions.
But the first summit between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June produced only a vague commitment to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".
Their second meeting in Hanoi last month broke up without agreement, or even a joint statement, as the two failed to come to a deal over sanctions relief and denuclearisation.
Since then, Pyongyang has said it is considering suspending the talks and images have emerged of rebuilding works ..

Time for N Korea to take concrete steps: Moon adviser

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised on Tuesday that the man responsible for last week's deadly mosque massacres would face "the full force of the law", as she vowed never to utter his name.
"He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety -- that is why you will never hear me mention his name," Ardern said in an emotional address to a special meeting of parliament, which she opened with the Arabic greeting "as salaam aleikum" -- 'peace be upon you'.
"I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them," she told the gathering in Wellington, four days after the massacre in the southern city of Christchurch.
"He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless," she said.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, was captured by police and has been charged with one count of murder, but Ardern assured parliament other charges would follow.  "He will face the full force of .

NZ premier Ardern vows mosque gunman will face 'full force of law'

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on world leaders to press technology firms to tackle the "ungoverned" space of extremist internet content in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack.
In a letter published Tuesday, the Australian leader asked the G20 summit host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that the issue be raised when leaders gather in Osaka this June.
Morrison is in the middle of a tough re-election campaign, where his party has faced persistent allegations of fuelling anti-migrant sentiment to appeal to conservative voters.
Morrison has spoken publicly several times to denounce extremism since the attack that killed 50 people in neighbouring New Zealand on Friday.
He has also taken aim at tech companies for their seeming inability to stop the propagation of extremist content, such as live footage shot by the gunman as he rampaged through the Al Noor mosque.
"They've created these capabilities, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they're ...

Australian PM pushes G20 to tackle internet extremism

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has drawn a sharp rebuke from New Zealand for using controversial video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop.
Erdogan, campaigning for local elections this month, has presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam more broadly and projected the video of the killings at his rallies over the weekend.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair".
Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage, that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday.
The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, livestreamed ...

Erdogan campaign use of mosque shooter video draws NZ ire

New Zealanders have begun handing in weapons in response to government appeals following the Christchurch massacre, but the gesture has put some squarely in the social media firing line.
John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton, decided to give his semi-automatic rifle to police after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday plans to tighten gun laws in light of the slaughter Friday of 50 Muslim worshippers.
She also encouraged owners to surrender unnecessary firearms after it emerged that the accused mosque attacker, Australia white nationalist Brenton Tarrant, had legally acquired the guns he used in the rampage.
Hart said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted that "on the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn't outweigh the risk of misuse. We don't need these in our country".
The tweet drew a barrage of derogatory messages to his Facebook account -- most apparently from the US, ..

New Zealanders give up guns after massacre, but some face blowback

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has launched a fresh crackdown on charity ships which rescue migrants off Libya and bring them to Italy.
"The ports have been, and remain, CLOSED", Salvini said on Twitter Monday, as his office released an eight-page directive on the laws regarding rescue operations -- laws it said some aid vessels had been breaking.
The minister, who also heads up the anti-immigrant League party, has repeatedly declared Italian waters closed to NGO rescue vessels, leaving several of them stranded at sea in the past in a bid to force Europe to take its share of asylum seekers.
While he acknowledged in his directive that helping those who lives are in danger was a "priority", he warned that there must be "sanctions" for those who "explicitly violate international, European and national rescue regulations".
"Nor must the real risks that the group of migrants may conceal individuals involved in terrorist activities... be overlooked".
The "passage of rescue ships ..

Italy's Salvini lays down law for migrant rescue ships

As the Islamic State group defended its last scrap of territory against Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria, a spokesman has urged followers to attack them elsewhere in the war-torn country.
An IS spokesman, in an audio recording posted on Telegram Monday, called for action from the group's supporters in areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
"Avenge the blood of your brothers and sisters... Set up the (explosive) devices, deploy the snipers," said the spokesman, named as Abi Hassan al-Mujahir.

IS calls for revenge against Syria Kurds

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed leaders' unwillingness to call out hate, while parliament unanimously passed a motion to stand against white supremacy in the wake of the Christchurch mosques attack.
"I stand here today to cast a light on this hatred and on our unwillingness to call it out," Trudeau said in the House of Commons Monday.
"As leaders, as (a) privileged few with power and an audience, we have a responsibility to do something." Trudeau said allowing bigotry in party politics, online, at town halls and "when it reaches our front door" amounted to nothing more than complicity and cowardice.
"I'm calling on like-minded countries of the world to stand with Canada in this fight. Muslims, Christians, Jews, black, white, all of us, we must fight this hatred as a team."
The prime minister's comments come amid a heated debate over religious and racial bigotry in the neighbouring US that saw President Donald Trump berated over his tepid response to the New Zealand .

Canada lawmakers vow to confront hate, white supremacy

Two sports marketing companies founded by Brazilian entrepreneur Jose Hawilla, a key witness in the massive Fifa corruption scandal, were fined USD500,000 each, Brooklyn prosecutors have said.
Traffic Sports International and Traffic Sports USA, which were founded by the late Brazilian businessman, had pleaded guilty to paying top football officials bribes for the promotional rights to major Latin American soccer tournaments.
Hawilla, who died last May at the age of 74 in Brazil, had emerged as a central witness for the prosecution in the lengthy case at a federal court in Brooklyn.
The trial wound up with the conviction of the two of the three accused, the former president of the Brazilian football federation, Jose Maria Marin, and the ex-head of the Paraguayan football federation and of the South American confederation Conmebol, Juan Angel Napout.
Most of the 42 senior figures charged in the vast Fifagate case by the US Justice Department were South American, although several ...

Two sports marketing companies fined USD1 million in US Fifagate trial

Almost 40 per cent of new HIV cases in the US occur because people do not know they are infected, while a similar proportion know but are not in treatment, a new study has said.
The report released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based on 2016 data and aims to bolster a strategy outlined by President Donald Trump to end the epidemic within 10 years.
The strategy has two main strands: far more widespread screening, and enabling the infected better access to treatment from the moment they test positive.
The study found that 38 per cent of infections came from HIV-positive people who were unaware of their status, and 43 per cent from people who knew they were infected but took no anti-retroviral drugs.
The remaining infections came from people who were receiving HIV treatment but were not yet "virally suppressed." The CDC blamed financial, social and other reasons for people not using medication, which these days typically comes in the form of a daily ...

Nearly four in 10 HIV spreaders in US unaware of infection

A woman has pleaded guilty to pushing her 16-year-old friend from a bridge at a popular swimming area near Vancouver.
The Columbian reports 19-year-old Tay'lor Smith pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment Monday in Clark County District Court.
Prosecutors are recommending no jail time when Smith is sentenced later this month.
Smith pushed Jordan Holgerson off the bridge August 7 at Moulton Falls northeast of Vancouver.
Video posted on YouTube that went viral shows Holgerson being pushed.
Holgerson broke six ribs and punctured her lungs in a fall of over 50 feet (15 metres).
In an interview on "Good Morning America" Smith said she didn't consider the repercussions.
Outside the courtroom, Genelle Holgerson said she and her daughter want this chapter of their lives to be over.

Washington woman who shoved friend off bridge pleads guilty

Eight people were killed in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon on Monday when a vehicle hit a roadside mine, security sources told AFP.
The vehicle, part of a civilian convoy under military escort, veered off the road in an attempt to overtake another vehicle when it hit the device.
Military and civilian militia sources blamed Boko Haram jihadists for planting the mine, underlying the persistent threat to civilians in the remote region.
"The vehicle exploded and all the eight people inside were killed," said a military officer. "Seven more people from the other vehicle we're injured from the explosion."
The incident happened at about 10:00 am (0900 GMT) at Warabe village, some 15 kilometres (nearly 10 miles) from the town of Gwoza, said civilian militia leader Umar Ari.
The convoy had left Gwoza and was heading to Pulka some 20 kilometres away on the border with Cameroon he added.
The Boko Haram faction loyal to its long-time leader Abubakar Shekau is known .

Landmine kills eight in NE Nigeria: Security sources

Boeing and US aviation regulators are coming under intense scrutiny over the certification of the 737 MAX aircraft after news that two recent crashes of share similarities.
On March 11, just a day after the Ethiopia crash left 157 dead, a grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena to at least one person involved in the plane's certification, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing people close to the matter.
The subpoena, which came from a prosecutor in the Justice Department's criminal division, seeks documents and correspondence related to the plane, according to the report.
A criminal inquiry is "an entirely new twist," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of the Leeham Company, who recalled a probe of a 1996 ValuJet crash as the only other aviation probe that was not a civil investigation.
"Unlike France, where criminal investigations into aviation accidents seems common, it is very, very rare in the US," Hamilton added.
The Transportation Department also is probing ...

US probing certification of Boeing 737 MAX

The father of the Turkish-born man suspected of killing three people in an attack Monday in the Dutch city of Utrecht said his son should be punished if found responsible, a Turkish news agency reported.
"If he did it he must be punished," the DHA agency quoted Mehmet Tanis, father of 37-year-old suspect Gokmen Tanis, as saying after what Dutch officials said was likely a terror-related attack.
Dutch police said they had made an arrest after issuing a picture of Gokmen, whose family originally hails from Yozgat in central Turkey, media reports said.
His father revealed he had lost contact with his son having returned to his homeland in 2008 after divorcing his wife, DHA reported.
She remained in the Netherlands with Gokmen.
Mehmet Tanis said he had since remarried and now lives in the central province of Kayseri.
"I have had no dialogue, no contact with my son for 11 years. We have not spoken to one another since 2008," he told DHA.
"He did not have an aggressive attitude -- but 11 ...

Dutch attack suspect should be punished: Father

The French government sacked the top police official in Paris on Monday following another weekend of rioting in the capital during "yellow vest" protests which have put President Emmanuel Macron on the defensive.
The police's failure to keep the Paris protests from spiralling out of control over the weekend again cast a harsh spotlight on their tactics.
About 5,000 police were deployed in the capital on Saturday, far outnumbering the several hundred black-clad rioters who caused havoc in front of groups of often passive policemen for more than seven hours on the famed Champs-Elysees.
Business owners were left fuming Monday, as Macron cut short his skiing holiday to meet top ministers to discuss the 18th consecutive Saturday of "yellow vest" demonstrations.
"The events of last Saturday, in particular on the Champs-Elysees, were unacceptable and the president asked the government to provide a response that was up to the needs of the situation," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a .

Paris police chief sacked after Champs-Elysees rioting

Fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine insurgents has now reached the ancient temples of Mrauk U, the former capital of the Rakhine kingdom and a popular tourist site, local residents said Monday.
Rakhine state in Myanmar's west is riven with ethnic and religious divisions.
It came under the global spotlight after the bloody 2017 army crackdown that forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border into Bangladesh.
But now the army is waging war against the Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, a population that also stands accused of aiding the military in their expulsion of the Rohingya.
Several thousand people have been displaced by the spreading violence which has neared the state capital Sittwe and has now engulfed the town of Mrauk U.
"We've been hearing gunshots and heavy artillery fire since about 7:30pm," local historian Khin Than told AFP by phone on Monday evening, adding that she saw soldiers ...

Myanmar military fights rebels among ancient Rakhine temples

Former US president George W. Bush on Monday called immigration a "blessing and a strength," as lawmakers  tussled with Donald Trump over border wall funding.
The Republican, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight after leaving office in 2009, did not explicitly criticize Trump or the border wall policy.
Speaking at a naturalization ceremony for 51 new American citizens at the George W Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, the nation's 43th president called for reform of "outdated and ineffective" immigration laws.
He also emphasized: "Borders are not arbitrary and they need to be respected."
"Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength," Bush said in prepared remarks.
"I hope those responsible in Washington can dial down the rhetoric, put politics aside and modernize our immigration laws soon." Bush's remarks came as Congress and the White House were gearing up for a court fight over Trump's declarations of an ...

AFP

AFP

Page 699 - Afp