China says it will bar government authorities from demanding overseas companies hand over technology secrets in exchange for market share.
Vice Chairman of the Cabinet's economic planning agency Ning Jizhe told reporters on Wednesday that the provision will be contained in a foreign investment law.
Accusations that China demands the disclosure of technology secrets are a key stumbling point in the U.S.-China trade dispute that has seen a major disruption in commerce between the world's two largest economies.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday set this year's growth target for the country at 6 to 6.5 percent. Such a growth rate, if achieved, would be among the world's strongest. Yet it would be slightly below last year's 6.6 per cent growth in China and would mark a new three-decade low.

China says new law will bar demands for technology handover

PTI Automatic

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has proposed a joint project with China to use artificial rain to clean the air in Seoul, where an acute increase in pollution has caused alarm.
Moon also on Wednesday instructed government officials to quicken the retirement of old coal-burning power plants.
Seoul has been struggling to tackle the rise in air pollution that experts have linked to China's massive industrial activity and emission from South Korean cars.
Fine dust levels in South Korea have hit new highs over the past week, leaving people wearing masks while commuting under thick-gray skies online users have compared to the scenes of the movie "Wall-E.

South Korea proposes clear-air project with China

Egypt's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday hosted talks with the foreign ministers of Algeria and Tunisia, Libya's neighbors to the west, days after Libya's rival governments agreed to hold elections.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Algeria's Abdelkader Messahel and Tunisia's Khemais Jhinaoui said at a news conference in Cairo that their countries support holding elections.
"We need a unified, independent and stable Libya," said Messahel. "A stable Libya would guarantee the security of Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt." The Libyan election agreement was forged last Wednesday between the head of the U.N.-recognized government in the west, Fayez al-Sarraj, and Khalifa Hifter, the commander of forces based in the county's east.
Hifter's forces recently took control of the southern border with Algeria, part of a campaign announced in January to "eliminate gangs, Islamic State terrorists and criminals" in the south.
Tunisia's Jhinaoui called for armed groups in Libya to be disbanded: "We ...

Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria FMs take part in talks on Libya

A group of British lawmakers who quit the Conservative and Labour parties to form a centrist independent bloc in Parliament say they have begun the progress of forming a new political party.
Chuka Umunna says he and other members of the Independent Group are holding talks on Tuesday with elections regulator the Electoral Commission.  He says "we aren't a political party but quite clearly there is an appetite for a new one, so we are here to discuss with them what that involves."
Eight lawmakers including Umunna quit the opposition Labour Party and three left the governing Conservatives last month, partly in opposition to the government's conduct of Britain's departure from the European Union.
The breakaway lawmakers hope to gain members from among disgruntled pro-Europeans in other parties.

New UK centrist group aims to become a political party

A prominent French militant who joined the Islamic State group, Jean-Michel Clain, died over the weekend from wounds suffered in an earlier airstrike that killed his jihadi brother, his wife said Tuesday as she emerged from the group's last pocket of land in Syria.
The wife, who identified herself only as Dorothee, said another French woman who had joined IS, Hayat Boumeddiene, was killed in another strike in Syria last week. Boumeddiene had been wanted by French police as a suspected accomplice in a 2015 attack in the Paris region.
Dorothee was one of hundreds of people who on Tuesday streamed out of Baghouz, the last village held by the Islamic State group, under stepped-up assault the past four days by US-backed forces.
The latest wave of evacuations brings the final defeat of IS by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces one step closer  a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to defeat the group's so-called "caliphate" that once covered a vast territory straddling both 

Prominent French jihadis killed in IS-held area in Syria

An Israeli spacecraft has taken the ultimate selfie on its roundabout journey to the moon.
Organizers for the privately funded mission released the photo Tuesday, 1  weeks after its launch. It shows the spacecraft Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, orbiting some 23,300 miles (37,600 kilometers) away, with the entire Earth as the stunning Apollo-style backdrop. Australia easily stands out.
A plaque reads: "Small Country, Big Dreams" and "The people of Israel live." The spacecraft is shooting for a moon landing April 11. It rocketed from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 21 and has been circling Earth in ever bigger loops.
Despite some early problems, Beresheet should be close enough to enter lunar orbit in early April. A touchdown would make Israel the fourth country to pull off a moon landing.

Israeli spacecraft snaps ultimate selfie on way to moon

Sri Lanka's government on Tuesday proposed increases in spending on public servants and incentives to boost agriculture and fisheries in a new national budget, which opposition lawmakers criticized as an attempt to attract voters ahead of a presidential election this year.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the basic salaries of public sector employees will increase by 107 percent from 2016 to 2020, and the government has allocated 40 billion rupees (USD 222 million) in the budget to pay the increased amount. They will also receive an allowance of 2,500 rupees (USD 14) starting July 1.
The 3.15 trillion rupee (USD 17.5 billion) budget covers only eight months because of a political crisis that erupted last October, forcing the adoption of a four-month stopgap funding measure to avert a government shutdown.
Presenting the budget in Parliament, Samaraweera also announced a decision to increase allowances for the military and police, concessionary loans targeting young people to ..

Sri Lanka government boosts budget ahead of elections

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, credited with bringing together the East and West in his innovative designs, has been awarded this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize, known internationally as the highest honor in the field.
The 2019 prize was announced Tuesday by the jury of the Hyatt Foundation. Founded in 1979, the prize honors each year a living architect or architects whose work demonstrates talent and vision, as well as a contribution to humanity.
Isozaki is the ninth Japanese to win the honor, including Kenzo Tange, under whose apprenticeship Isozaki began his career after graduating from the prestigious University of Tokyo. Tange won the prize in 1987.
Isozaki, 87, was one of the first Japanese architects to build abroad, and has been praised over his five-decade career for making a statement that transcends national boundaries through his buildings that are simple in design, but also appear to redefine the feelings of space in people's surroundings.
Tom Pritzker, chairman of 

Arata Isozaki wins Pritzker for designs blending East, West

Britain's counterterrorism police are investigating after three padded mailing bags with what appears to be small explosive devices inside were found in London.
Police said smaller bags inside the mailers enclosed the devices that "appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened." Officials say the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command "is treating the incidents as a linked series."
One mailer was found near Heathrow Airport. A building was evacuated as a precaution after the package was opened and part of it burned.
Officials say the building is not at the airport and flights were not affected. There were no injuries.
Another mailer turned up near City Airport, and the third in the mail room at Waterloo Station. The package at the rail station was not opened.

Counterterror police examine 3 explosive devices in London

Three major Montreal radio stations have stopped playing Michael Jackson songs as a result of child-molestation allegations against the late musician that aired Sunday in an HBO documentary.
A spokeswoman for the owner of the French-language stations CKOI and Rythme and the English-language The Beat says Jackson's music was pulled starting Monday morning.
Cogeco spokeswoman Christine Dicaire says the action is a response to listener reactions to the documentary.
She added that the decision will also apply to Cogeco Media stations in smaller markets in Quebec. The company operates 23 radio stations.
The documentary "Leaving Neverland" began airing on HBO Sunday. It details the abuse allegations of two men who had previously denied Jackson molested them and actually supported him to authorities.

3 Quebec radio stations stop playing Michael Jackson songs

The Norwegian Refugee Council says more than 32 people have died and thousands displaced as heavy rains and flooding swept away homes across Afghanistan.
The NRC says hundreds of homes were destroyed and around 4,000 families are in need of assistance in southern Kandahar province alone.
The flooding began Friday and subsided Monday. Relief efforts were ongoing Tuesday.
Southern Helmand and western Farah and Herat provinces have also been affected by flooding.
Heavy snowfall across Afghanistan has raised fears of severe flooding this spring and so far this year nearly 50 people have already died from flooding.
Even before the floods this week, 6.3 million people were thought to be in need of humanitarian assistance across Afghanistan.

Heavy rains, floods kill 32 people across Afghanistan

A New York man has been sentenced to a year in jail for killing a dog found hanging from a tree.
Robert Overton Jr. was sentenced Monday in Chautauqua County Court, where he pleaded guilty earlier to aggravated animal cruelty.
Overton told police he killed the pit bull last year after it behaved aggressively to his young daughter.
Prosecutors say Overton will become the first offender to be placed on the western New York county's Animal Abuser Registry.

New York man sentenced to 1 year for hanging dog from tree

Fast-food chain KFC is memorializing a popular Chinese Communist hero with restaurant decor extolling his deeds, in a rare matching of an iconic American brand with Communist propaganda.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the company launched its first "Lei Feng Spirit" restaurant in Lei's home province of Hunan on Tuesday, the official remembrance day for the soldier who died in 1962 at the age of 21.
Lei's example of selfless service to the Communist Party and his comrades was popularized in 1963 by former leader Mao Zedong and remains a rallying point for party unity and public service.
Critics question the facts surrounding his alleged good deeds, saying most were based on accounts in a diary reportedly found after his death.
The KFC restaurant in the provincial capital of Changsha is decorated with Lei's writings and image. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"Lei Feng has been the role model for generations of Chinese. As the KFC (outlet) in his ...

KFC dedicates China restaurant to memory of Communist hero

A senior British government minister insists that Brexit talks with the European Union are making progress, as negotiators meet in Brussels seeking a way to break the logjam.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says "the signals we are getting are relatively positive." EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is meeting UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on Tuesday, as Britain seeks changes to a Brexit deal that has been rejected by UK  lawmakers.
Their objections center on a provision to guarantee there are no barriers along the currently invisible Irish border. Britain wants reassurances the mechanism will be temporary.
EU leaders insist that the legally binding withdrawal agreement can't be reopened. But Hunt told the BBC that Britain is "prepared to be flexible" about how changes are achieved.

UK minister says Brexit talks yield 'positive' signals

Iran says its foreign minister wanted to resign last month after being kept in the dark about a surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Tehran.
President Hassan Rouhani ultimately rejected Mohammad Javad Zarif's resignation, throwing his full support behind the diplomat who negotiated the country's nuclear deal with world powers.
Zarif later returned to his job.
Both men face growing pressure from Iranian hard-liners as the nuclear accord unravels under American pressure.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Tuesday that "one of the reasons for Zarif's resignation was this type of lack of coordination with the Foreign Ministry."
Assad was warmly received by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rouhani and also Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard.

Iran reveals FM wanted to resign over Assad visit to Tehran

The United States is more likely to be involved in a "shooting war" in the disputed South China Sea than the Philippines but the latter would be embroiled in such a conflict just the same because of its 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty with Washington, the Philippine defence chief said Tuesday.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the treaty needed to be re-examined to clear ambiguities that could cause chaos and confusion during a crisis.
He cited China's aggressive seizure in the mid-1990s of a Philippine-claimed reef, saying "The US did not stop it."
The Philippine proposal for the treaty's review was among the key topics when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with President Rodrigo Duterte and other officials during an overnight visit to Manila last week.
The treaty behind one of the longest-standing security alliances in Asia calls on the US and the Philippines to come to each other's defence against an external attack.
In the past, the Philippines has tried to clarify whether ..

Philippines worried it may get involved in war at sea for US

Chinese tech company Huawei on Tuesday opened a cybersecurity lab in Brussels, the heart of the European Union, as it tries to win over government leaders and fight back US allegations that its equipment poses a national security risk.
Company executives inaugurated the Huawei European Cybersecurity Center, which will allow the wireless companies that are its customers to review the source code running its network gear.
The launch comes amid a standoff between the U.S. and China over Huawei Technologies, the world's biggest maker of telecom infrastructure for new high-speed 5G networks.
The US has been lobbying allies to shun Huawei because of fears its equipment could facilitate digital espionage by China's communist leaders.
The new lab in the Belgian capital gives Huawei a venue to reassure the EU's policymakers about its cybersecurity credentials.
It opened a similar center in Bonn, Germany, in November and funds a government-run British testing site, the Huawei Cyber Security ...

Huawei opens Brussels security lab in bid to reassure EU

A prominent Dubai bank is warning that non-oil companies across the United Arab Emirates have cut staff at their sharpest rate in nearly a decade amid an economic slowdown.
Emirates NBD, which is majority owned by Dubai's government, issued the report on Tuesday.
It relied on data from some 400 private sector companies outside of the UAE's oil economy, which includes the nation's manufacturing, services, construction and retail sectors.
The report says that "companies lowered their staffing levels at the sharpest pace since the survey began in August 2009 and business confidence dropped."
It says the companies wanted to operate with "minimum requirements in terms of staff, partly to help manage costs."
The report added that "anecdotal evidence suggested that the slowdown reflected challenging market conditions and competitive pressures.

UAE non-oil companies cutting jobs at fastest rate in decade

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned home on Tuesday after travelling two and a half days by train from Vietnam, where his high-stakes nuclear summit with President Donald Trump ended without any agreement.
The Kim-Trump summit broke down mainly because of disputes over the extent of sanctions relief the North could win in return for its nuclear disarmament steps.
Both Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the summit's breakdown, but neither side says they would pull out of diplomacy.
The crowd welcoming Kim at Pyongyang's railway station gave shouts of joy and loud hurrahs upon his return, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim received a salute from the head of the army's honor guards and was presented with flowers from children. Senior officials also greeted Kim with "their ardent congratulations," KCNA reported.
The report briefly mentioned Kim's summit with Trump but didn't say the meeting failed to produce any agreement.
The North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper 

Kim returns home after failed nuclear diplomacy with Trump

Hillary Clinton says she won't run for president in 2020, but vows she's "not going anywhere."
The former secretary of state, senator and first lady ruled out another campaign during an interview posted Monday by New York TV station News12.
Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump, says, "I'm going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe."
She says, "What's at stake in our country, the kind of things that are happening right now are deeply troubling to me."
She says she has spoken with several of the candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, and has told them, "Don't take anything for granted, even though we have a long list of real problems and broken promises" from the Trump administration.

Hillary Clinton says she won't run for president in 2020

Russia accused Britain on Monday of refusing to allow access to Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in violation of an international treaty, saying Moscow doesn't know whether they are alive or dead a year after they were reportedly attacked with a nerve agent.
Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said Britain is obligated to allow access under the Vienna Convention to determine whether the two are alive and want or need Moscow's help.
Otherwise, he said, Britain could be responsible for "forced detention or even abduction of two Russian nationals."
Polyansky used the first anniversary of the attack in the city of Salisbury to again criticise Britain's refusal to provide proof for its allegation that Moscow was responsible for poisoning the Skripals with a nerve agent.
British Prime Minister Theresa May went to Salisbury on the anniversary to praise the "spirit and resolve" of its people after the attack, which left Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the ...

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