Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduling a rushed visit to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and celebrate first lady Melania Trump's birthday, and then is inviting him to be first foreign leader to meet Japan's new emperor, the two countries announced Friday.
Without close friends in Asia, Abe is seen as using every opportunity, even the emperor's accession, to court Trump.
Tokyo and Washington said Friday that Trump and the first lady will make a state visit to Japan at the end of May, just weeks after Crown Prince Naruhito ascends Japan's Chrysanthemum throne. Naruhito's 85-year-old father, Emperor Akihito, is ending his three-decade reign on April 30 by abdicating.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said receiving Trump as the first state guest of the new imperial era would "symbolize the unshakable bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance."
Japanese officials are also arranging for Trump to watch the final day of a sumo wrestling tournament on May 26 so he can ...

Japan using emperor, first lady's birthday to court

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduling a rushed visit to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and celebrate first lady Melania Trump's birthday, and then is inviting him to be first foreign leader to meet Japan's new emperor.
Without close friends in Asia, Abe is seen as using every opportunity, even the emperor's accession, to court Trump.
Tokyo and Washington said Friday that Trump and the first lady will make a state visit to Japan at the end of May, just weeks after Crown Prince Naruhito ascends Japan's Chrysanthemum throne. Naruhito's 85-year-old father, Emperor Akihito, is ending his three-decade reign on April 30 by abdicating.

Japan using emperor, first lady's birthday to court Trump

A "computer glitch" may have been behind the fast-spreading fire that ravaged Notre Dame, the cathedral's rector said Friday, as architects and construction workers tried to figure out how to stabilize the damaged structure and protect it from the elements.
The fire burned through the lattice of enormous oak beams supporting the monument's vaulted stone ceiling, dangerously weakening the building.
The surrounding neighborhood has been blocked off, and stones have continued to tumble off the sides of the cathedral since Monday evening's devastating blaze.
Speaking during a meeting of local business owners, rector Patrick Chauvet did not elaborate on the exact nature of the glitch, adding that "we may find out what happened in two or three months."
On Thursday, Paris police investigators said they think an electrical short-circuit most likely caused the fire.
The Parisien newspaper has reported that investigators are considering whether the fire could be linked to a computer glitch or ..

Notre Dame rector: "Computer glitch" possible fire culprit

Thousands of Christian pilgrims and clergy members marched through the ancient stone alleys of Jerusalem's Old City, retracing Jesus' path to crucifixion in observation of Good Friday.
The faithful carried wooden crosses high on their shoulders and sang hymns to mark one of Christianity's most solemn and sacred days.
The confluence of Good Friday and the Jewish holiday of Passover this year led to flocks of tourists and a festive atmosphere in the holy city.
Worshippers from all over the world marched slowly along the Via Dolorosa, the cobblestone path that cuts through the limestone-walled Old City, where tradition says Jesus bore the cross to his crucifixion. The pilgrims stopped at several points on the way, re-enacting symbolic moments from Jesus' story.
The procession culminates at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe Jesus was buried before his resurrection on what is celebrated as Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile Friday, Jewish residents were 

Christian pilgrims march through Jerusalem for Good Friday

Afghanistan's former president says he's saddened by the cancellation of wide-encompassing talks with the Taliban, stressing that peace won't be possible in his homeland, ravaged by more than 17 years of war, until Afghans from all walks of life sit together and negotiate.
Hamid Karzai spoke to The Associated Press a day after the Qatari hosts announced that a scheduled gathering of Afghan-to-Afghan talks was postponed indefinitely after a falling out over who should attend.
The talks were to start on Friday in Qatar, where the Taliban maintain an office.
They would have marked the first time that Taliban and Kabul government officials sat together.
Although Karzai did not blame a particular side for the cancellation, he urged the U.S. to "put force behind it to make it (talks) happen.

Ex-president: Peace possible when all Afghans sit together

Turkey's foreign minister says the United States has yet to respond to a proposal to set up a technical committee to review possible security threats that Russia's S-400 missile defence system could pose to the US F-35 fighter jet program.
Turkey's decision to purchase the advanced Russian system has deepened a rift between the NATO allies.
US officials have warned of consequences if the purchase is finalised while Turkish officials say the deal cannot be cancelled.
Speaking at a news conference with his Polish and Romanian counterparts Friday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey is taking utmost care to ensure that the S-400 system is under full Turkish control.
He added that Turkey does not believe that the S-400 would threaten the F-35 program, of which Turkey is also a partner.

Turkey says Russian system no threat to F-35s, seeks panel

Two Australian doctors in Thailand to receive royal honours for helping rescue a boys soccer team from a flooded cave say they are looking forward to a reunion with the people they helped save.
Richard Harris and Craig Challen were given the award at a ceremony Friday presided over by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Four Australian officials involved with the rescue effort were also honoured.
Both highly skilled divers, the doctors played key roles in rescuing members of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach in Chiang Rai province last July.
They said before the award ceremony they were looking forward to going to the northern province Monday to see how the boys are faring.

Aussie doctors bestowed Thai royal honours for cave rescue

Prosecutors are seeking three years in prison for a Massachusetts man who admitted to sending threatening letters filled with white powder to President Donald Trump's sons and others.
Daniel Frisiello is set to be sentenced Friday in Boston federal court. He pleaded guilty in October.
The letter Frisiello sent to Donald Trump Jr. was opened last year by his now-ex-wife, Vanessa. She was briefly hospitalised as a precaution after she reported feeling ill. The substance turned out to be nonhazardous.
Other recipients of Frisiello's letters included Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Frisiello's lawyer is seeking five years of probation, including one year of home confinement.
His lawyer says the 25-year-old has developmental delays, is autistic and would be susceptible to "exploitation, violence and isolation" in prison.

Man who sent white powder to Trump's sons to be sentenced

Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma has long been an example of how the power of big dreams, strong leadership and sheer elbow grease can create massive fortunes in China's go-go economy.
Yet, recent remarks by the head of Chinese online business giant Alibaba that young people should be prepared to work 12-hour days, six days a week have prompted a public debate over work-life balance in the country.
Ma is one of China's richest men and his comments brought both condemnation and support as China's more mature economy enters a period of slower growth  and young people look to escape the drudgery their parents often had to endure.
Even the newspaper People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, issued an editorial this week, saying mandatory overtime reflects managerial arrogance and was also "impractical and unfair" to workers. Online complaints included blaming long work hours for a lower birth rate.
"Companies' anxiety is understandable, but the way to alleviate anxiety is .

Alibaba head's remarks spark debate over China working hours

Japanese police say a car driven by an 87-year-old man has smashed into pedestrians at a Tokyo intersection, killing a woman and a girl on a bicycle and overturning a garbage truck. Eight people were reportedly injured.
The Metropolitan Police Department said the woman and child were pronounced dead at a hospital after the accident Friday.
The Mainichi newspaper said eight other people were injured. Police did not have details on the injuries and were still confirming the identities of the dead. The cause of the crash was being investigated.
Photos showed a smashed car, the overturned garbage truck and a bicycle on the pavement. A straw hat and a helmet were lying nearby.

Car smashes into pedestrians in Tokyo, killing 2 on bicycle

French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting officials from the United Nations' cultural agency, where he is expected to set out ideas for the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.
He will meet with state delegates from UNESCO, which oversees global heritage issues, in the Elysee Palace Friday.
Macron's push for a speedy rebuild indicates he wants the fire-ravaged monument's reconstruction to be part of his legacy, and is seizing the moment to try to move on from the divisive yellow vest protests. His initial wish for it to be rebuilt in just five years was met with incredulity.
Macron had been due to deliver an uneasy speech Monday setting out long-awaited plans to quell anti-government protests that have marred his presidency, but it was postponed after the fire broke out.
Instead, the French leader immediately went on the scene of the fire and announced: "We will rebuild Notre Dame."
According to an opinion poll by BVA institute published Friday  the first one carried out since ...

Macron meets officials, eyes Notre Dame for legacy-building

For many of France's yellow vest protesters, the stinging sadness that came with the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral has quickly given way to boiling anger.
Despite their struggles to make ends meet, some made small donations for the restoration of the iconic Paris building.
But they also felt unheard when French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation to speak about the fire, instead of laying out his response to the social crisis that has fueled their protests since last November.
And they felt even more outraged when, in just a few hours, billionaires pledged hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) to help restore the damaged cathedral while their demands remain unsatisfied in their longstanding fight with the French government.

More yellow vest protests despite Notre Dame fire

Chinese courts have sentenced more than three dozen military veterans to years in prison for protesting over the lack of benefits, saying they disrupted social order in a bid to further their own interests.
The announcements on Friday from the courts in the eastern provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu follow repeated demonstrations by veterans of various ages who say they haven't been adequately compensated for their service.
China's ruling Communist Party tightly restricts all public demonstrations and while it relies on the armed forces to maintain its hold on power, many veterans say they have been left to fend for themselves on meager pensions and little support.
The 47 sentenced to up to six years had been involved in protests last year that involved hundreds of former soldiers.

China sentences military veterans for protesting

A first round of Afghan-to-Afghan peace talks that would have seen Taliban and government officials sit together for the first time were postponed indefinitely after a falling out over who should attend.
Sultan Barakat, director of Qatar's Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, the organisation sponsoring the talks, tweeted news of the postponement on Thursday, saying "this is unfortunately necessary to further build consensus as to who should participate in the conference."
The talks scheduled for Friday between Afghan and Taliban representatives were considered a significant first step toward finding a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan and the eventual withdrawal of the US troops, which would end America's longest war.
The senior official said negotiations went awry after President Ashraf Ghani opposed a list of participants announced by Barakat's organisation. A list of 243 people was announced by Qatar on Thursday. That list differed from Ghani's list of 250 people, .

Qatari official: Afghan talks postponed indefinitely

NASA's first female astronaut candidate, pilot Jerrie Cobb, has died.
Cobb died in Florida at age 88 last month. News of her death came Thursday from journalist Miles O'Brien, serving as a family spokesman.
In 1961, Cobb became the first woman to pass astronaut testing. Altogether, 13 women passed the arduous physical testing and became known as the Mercury 13. But NASA already had its Mercury 7 astronauts, all test pilots and men. None of the Mercury 13 ever reached space.
Cobb served for decades as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Amazon jungle. She emerged in 1998 to make another pitch for space, as NASA prepared to launch John Glenn on shuttle Discovery at age 77. Cobb argued unsuccessfully that the research should include an older woman.

NASA's 1st female astronaut candidate, Jerrie Cobb, dies

Public at last, special counsel Robert Mueller's report revealed to a waiting nation Thursday that President Donald Trump had tried to seize control of the Russia probe and force Mueller's removal to stop him from investigating potential obstruction of justice by the president.
The report said that in June 2017, Trump directed White House Counsel Don McGahn to call the acting attorney general and say that Mueller must be ousted because he had conflicts of interest.
McGahn refused  deciding he would rather resign than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre of Watergate firings fame.
For all of that, Mueller said in his report that he could not conclusively determine that Trump had committed criminal obstruction of justice.
The Justice Department posted a redacted version of the report online Thursday morning, 90 minutes after Attorney General William Barr offered his own final assessment of the findings.
The two-volume, 448-page report recounts how Trump ...

Trump tried to seize control of Mueller probe, report says

A Swedish programmer friendly with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he's confident the allegations that have him jailed in Ecuador lack substance and "will collapse."
Privacy activist Ola Bini also says in a statement provided by his attorney that he's being held under "the best of circumstances," but that prison conditions are "despicable."
"He's sleeping on the floor without a mattress" in Quito's overcrowded Inca Provisional Detention Center, attorney Carlos Soria said Thursday, and has not yet received a visit from a Swedish consular official a week after being arrested boarding a fight for Japan.
A judge ordered Bini held for 90 days while prosecutors prepare a case. Soria said they have presented no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, said Tuesday in Washington that Bini hacked cellphones and online accounts belonging to private citizens and the government.
Interior Minister Paula Romo originally said Bini was involved with two unnamed Russian ...

Assange friend jailed by Ecuador says case will collapse

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 prisoners Thursday and urged them to serve one another as brothers, as he ushered in the solemn pre-Easter rituals made more poignant this year following the devastation of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral.
Francis travelled to a prison in Velletri, outside Rome, for the Holy Thursday service that re-enacts the biblical story of Christ washing the feet of his disciples. The Mass opens the most solemn period in the liturgical calendar, leading up to the commemoration of Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter.
Francis has frequently performed the Holy Thursday ceremony at prisons to reinforce his message that even the most important figures must serve the most marginal like slaves, as Jesus did in washing the feet of his disciples.
"The bishop isn't the most important. The bishop must be the most servant-like," Francis said.
Directing his message at the prisoners themselves, Francis urged them to not try to dominate one another, and .

Pope washes inmates' feet, says bishops must be servants

A Canadian man convicted of terrorism for nearly killing an airport police officer in Michigan was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.
U.S. prosecutors said Amor Ftouhi drove 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Montreal to the airport in Flint, Michigan, where he yelled "God is great" in Arabic and repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville in 2017.
Investigators said Ftouhi wanted to stab Neville, take his gun and start shooting people in the airport. He legally drove into the U.S. at Champlain, New York, and arrived in Flint five days later. He tried but failed to buy a gun at a gun show and instead bought a large knife.
Prosecutors have said he told investigators his "mission was to kill and be killed." His defense lawyer, Joan Morgan, said Ftouhi wasn't attempting to create mass casualties and wanted to be killed so his family could collect life insurance and so he could become a martyr.
Before sentencing, Ftouhi told the judge he had no regrets and only wished he could have acquired a 

Canadian sentenced to life in prison for US airport attack

The fighting between Libya's rival factions for control of the country's capital this month killed 205 people so far, the World Health Organization said, announcing it would deploy medical specialists, including surgeons, to treat the wounded.
The clashes, which erupted earlier in April, have threatened to ignite a civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The fighting has also forced the U.N. to indefinitely postpone reconciliation talks planned for mid-April that meant to try and find a way to pull Libya out of the chaos that followed Gadhafi's ouster.
WHO said Wednesday it would send medical staff to treat the wounded, whose number has reached 913. It wasn't clear how many among the dead are civilians.
Fighting over Tripoli is pitting the self-styled Libyan National Army, which is led by commander Khalifa Hifter and aligned with a rival government based in the country's east, against militias affiliated with Tripoli's ...

WHO says over 200 killed in fighting over Libyan capital

North Korea said Thursday that it had test-fired a new type of "tactical guided weapon," its first such test in nearly half a year, and demanded that Washington remove Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from nuclear negotiations.
The test, which didn't appear to be of a banned mid- or long-range ballistic missile that could scuttle negotiations, allows North Korea to show its people it is pushing ahead with weapons development while also reassuring domestic military officials worried that diplomacy with Washington signals weakness.
Separately, the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused Pompeo of playing down the significance of comments by leader Kim Jong Un, who said last week that Washington has until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy.
Both the demand for Pompeo's removal from the talks and the weapon test point to North Korea's displeasure with the deadlocked negotiations.
In a statement issued under the .

AP

AP

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