China has sounded a positive note ahead of trade talks this week with Washington, but the two sides face potentially lengthy wrangling over technology and the future of their economic relationship.
Both sides have expressed an interest in settling their tariff fight over Beijing's technology ambitions. Yet neither has indicated its stance has changed since a December 1 agreement by presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to postpone further increases.
Envoys will have "positive and constructive discussions" during meetings Monday and Tuesday, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
The American side is led by a deputy US trade representative, Jeffrey D Gerrish, according to the US government.
Neither side gave details of their agenda but Gerrish's delegation includes agriculture, energy, commerce, treasury and State Department officials.
The Chinese government gave no details of who would represent Beijing.
The talks are going ahead despite tensions over the arrest of a ...

China upbeat ahead of US trade talks, but differences large

PTI Automatic

Police searched for suspects Sunday in a shooting that killed three men and injured four during a brawl at a popular Los Angeles-area bowling alley and karaoke bar.
Cell phone video aired by KNBC-TV showed groups of people throwing punches as a crowd gathered late Friday at Gable House Bowl in the coastal city of Torrance. Gunshots suddenly rang out and onlookers screamed and ran for their lives.
There were no arrests. Police Sgt Ronald Harris said Sunday that investigators are trying to determine if there may be more than one suspect.
"We just don't know at this point," he said.
"That's one of the many questions detectives are looking at."
Friends and family members of the victims held a candlelight vigil Saturday night in the parking lot of the bowling alley in southern Los Angeles County.
A memorial with photos and flowers was also set up at the site.
Officers responding to panicked 911 calls found seven people with gunshot wounds. Three men were pronounced dead at the scene and ...

Suspects sought in California bowling alley triple homicide

Authorities in Kentucky say five family members from Michigan headed home from vacation were among six people killed in a wrong-way accident on Interstate 75.
Lexington police said in a statement that a southbound pickup truck being driven in the northbound lanes struck the family's sport utility vehicle at 2.30 am Sunday. The statement says the SUV caught fire. All five occupants died, along with the pickup's driver.
The Fayette County coroner's office says the family from Northville, Michigan, was returning from a vacation in Florida.
A coroner's statement identified them as 42-year-old Issam Abbas, 38-year-old Rima Abbas, 14-year-old Ali Abbas, 13-year-old Isabella Abbas, and 7-year-old Giselle Abbas.
The pickup's driver was identified as 41-year-old Joey Lee Bailey of Georgetown. The crash remains under investigation.

Michigan family of 5 killed in wrong-way crash in Kentucky

A black man was arrested and charged with murder in the killing of a 7-year-old black girl in a drive-by shooting that authorities said Sunday appeared to be a case of mistaken identity, not a racially motivated attack, as her family feared.
Jazmine Barnes' family had described the gunman in the Dec 30 slaying as a white man driving a red pickup, and believed race played a role in the shooting.
But acting on a tip received by a civil rights activist, the sheriff's department zeroed in instead on Eric Black Jr, a 20-year-old black man who admitted he was driving a dark-coloured SUV from which a passenger opened fire, authorities said.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez cautioned that authorities were still investigating, but said: "At this point, it does not appear it was related to race."
Gonzalez said authorities have identified the second suspect, who is also black, but would not say whether the person was in custody.
Chris Sevilla, Jazmine's father, said in a brief telephone ...

Man charged with murder in Houston girl's death

President Donald Trump acknowledged Sunday that weekend shutdown talks led by his vice president would not break an impasse, as newly empowered House Democrats planned to step up the pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to reopen the government.
Heading to Camp David for staff meetings, Trump showed no signs of budging on his demand for $5.6 billion for a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Undercutting the staff-level talks, Trump declared that only he could make a deal with Democratic leaders  "in 20 minutes, if they want to."
Said Trump: "If they don't want to, it's going to go on for a long time."
With the partial shutdown in its third week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she intends to begin passing individual bills to reopen agencies in the coming days, starting with the Treasury Department to ensure people receive their tax refunds.
That effort is designed to squeeze Senate Republicans, some of whom are growing increasingly anxious about the extended shutdown.
The seemingly 

Trump says he needs to deal with Dem leaders to end shutdown

A US military spokesman confirms that an American airstrike killed an al-Qaida operative accused of involvement in the attack nearly two decades ago on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors.
The man targeted, Jamal al-Badawi, was wanted for his role in the attack on Oct 12, 2000.
The spokesman for US Central Command, Navy Capt William Urban, says the military has confirmed through "a deliberate assessment process" that al-Badawi was killed on Jan 1 in the strike east of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.
President Donald Trump tweets that "Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole."
The Cole was attacked by suicide bombers in an explosives-laden boat while refuelling at the Yemeni port of Aden.

US confirms death of militant involved in USS Cole bombing

Police in New York City say they helped a couple ring in the new year by reuniting them with their missing engagement ring.
NBC New York reports the diamond ring was dropped down a sewer grate Thursday near Times Square.
Officers noticed the ring in a grate on Eighth Avenue and 48th Street and recovered it with the help of the FDNY and a police emergency services unit.
The NYPD says in a tweet the couple was reunited with their ring Friday.
While it was the first engagement ring recovered in 2019, the NYPD found another engagement ring last month that was given back to the couple on "The Ellen Show.

Couple reunited with engagement ring dropped in sewer

A Saudi woman used social media to draw attention to her plight trying to flee her family, claiming that authorities in Thailand confiscated her passport and were holding her Sunday at an airport hotel room in Bangkok.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, 18, began posting on Twitter late Saturday after Thai authorities stopped her in transit from Kuwait. She claims to have a visa for Australia, where she appears to have been planning to seek asylum.
On Twitter, she wrote of being in "real danger" if forced to return to her family under pressure from Saudi authorities. She also posted a copy of her passport to provide evidence of her identity.
For runaway Saudi women, fleeing can be a matter of life and death, and they are almost always doing so to escape male relatives.
Alqunun told Human Rights Watch she was fleeing abuse from her family, including beatings and death threats from her male relatives who forced her to remain in her room for six months for cutting her hair.
"I am giving my family ..

Saudi woman runaway held in Thailand while fleeing family

Two journalists who co-anchor news broadcasts at a television station in Ohio now plan to also co-anchor a life together as husband and wife.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Sheree Paolello (pah-LEL'-loh) and Mike Dardis of WLWT-TV in Cincinnati announced their Dec. 28 engagement on Friday.
Paolello said Friday on Twitter that "the man I was looking for has been sitting next to me the whole time."
Dardis told The Enquirer that Cincinnati is a city where people "love the local news team to be a part of your family," and he thinks their engagement fits right in with that.
They say they had immediate chemistry when Dardis joined the broadcast team in 2012 and started dating in 2017.
Paolello and Dardis plan to marry in late spring or early summer.

Co-anchors in life: 2 broadcasters announce engagement

The Palestinian Authority says it is withdrawing its officers from a key crossing point between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The announcement on Sunday came amid rising tension between the Islamic militant movement, which took control of Gaza in a 2007, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
The Palestinian Authority says Hamas has harassed and detained officers as part of a weeklong effort to stop its rival from holding a rally in Gaza to mark Fatah's anniversary. The PA's withdrawal of its officers from the Rafah crossing apparently aims to put pressure on Hamas.
Hamas handed control of the crossing to Abbas's Palestinian Authority in 2017 as part of Egyptian efforts to reconcile the two parties.
Abbas met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo on Saturday.

Fatah withdraws officers from Gaza-Egypt crossing

Egypt's president on Sunday inaugurated a new cathedral for the Coptic Orthodox Church and one of the region's largest mosques in a highly symbolic gesture at a time when Islamic militants are increasingly targeting the country's minority Christians.
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a general-turned-president, has made sectarian harmony a cornerstone of his rule, fighting Islamic militancy while advocating equality between the overwhelming Muslim majority and Christians, who account for 10 percent of Egypt's 100 million people.
However, el-Sissi's widely publicized policy to staunch sectarianism has done little to protect Christians in rural Egypt, where Muslim extremists frequently attack their homes and businesses or force them to leave their homes after violent disputes.
Critics and activists say discrimination against Christians there is often tolerated by local authorities and branches of the security agencies.
But Sunday's opening ceremony in Egypt's New Administrative Capital, el-Sissi's 

Egypt el-Sissi inaugurates cathedral, mosque in new capital

Authorities in Guatemala are holding a member of a UN-sponsored anti-corruption commission in the capital's airport, refusing him entry to the country in an escalation of tensions between the government and the commission.
Colombian national Yilen Osorio was detained by Guatemalan immigration officials upon arrival at the airport Saturday afternoon.
The move comes despite a court ruling that Guatemala must grant visas and entry to members of the commission, which has investigated top members of Guatemala's government, including President Jimmy Morales and his brother.
They deny accusations of corruption Osorio heads an investigation of alleged bribery implicating the vice president of congress and others.
There was no immediate comment from Guatemala's government.
During 11 years in Guatemala, the commission has pressed corruption cases that have implicated more than 600 people.

Guatemala bars entry to UN-sponsored corruption investigator

US President Donald Trump is expressing optimism about trade negotiations with China as US officials are expected in Beijing for talks aimed at easing a trade battle.
Trump said Sunday he spoke recently to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump says: "I really believe they want to make a deal. The tariffs have absolutely hurt China very badly."
After several tit-for-tat tariff increases, the leaders agreed December 1 to postpone further hikes. American officials are due in Beijing Monday.
Both governments face pressure to reach a settlement.
Chinese economic growth fell to 6.5 per cent in the quarter ending in September. Third-quarter US growth was 3.4 per cent and unemployment is at a five-decade low. But surveys show consumer confidence is weakening due to concerns about growth.

Trump expresses optimism in trade talks with China

Pakistani officials say two roadside bombs blasts have wounded eight people in the country's southwestern Baluchistan province.
Officer Shams Uddin of the Levies Force said Sunday that the convoy of the force's senior officer Abdul Malik was targeted in Pishin district with a roadside bomb planted in a motorcycle. He said the attack left Malik, his two subordinates and three civilians wounded.
In the second attack, a Frontier Corps paramilitary soldier and a civilian were wounded in Panjgur district when a remote-controlled bomb exploded as a paramilitary vehicle was driving by. Police officer Khurshid Dashti said the security vehicle was badly damaged.
No one claimed responsibility for either attack. Baluchistan has been a scene of low level insurgency by Baluch separatists who have claimed such attacks in the past.

Roadside bombs wounds 8 in southwest Pakistan

Spain's maritime rescue service says it has saved 549 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The service says its craft intercepted six small smuggling boats carrying a total of 350 migrants on Saturday in waters east of the Strait of Gibraltar.
On Sunday another 199 migrants were pulled from five different boats, including two tiny inflatable boats meant for small bodies of water or near the beach. One of those tiny recreational boats was carrying four children. The other was packed with 10 adults.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that 2,262 migrants died while crossing the Mediterranean in 2018.
The European Union's border agency says that 57,000 migrants reached Spain last year, double the figure for 2017. That is partially due to the fact that Italy, Malta and other EU nations have been refusing to let aid boats full of rescued migrants dock at their ports.
Overall, however, unauthorised border crossings into Europe hit a five-year low in 2018.

Spain rescues 549 migrants from boats in the Mediterranean

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says a 5.9-magnitude earthquake has jolted the country's western province of Kermanshah, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Fars said Sunday's temblor rocked the Kurdish town of Gilan-e-Gharb, which was one of the Kurdish areas that suffered extensive damage from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in November that killed 600 people in western Iran.
Iran sits on major fault lines and is prone to near-daily earthquakes. In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people.

Report: Moderate quake rattles western Iran, no casualties

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday that a delayed vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal will "definitely" go ahead later this month, as she promised to set out measures to win over skeptical lawmakers.
May told the BBC that in the coming days she will give more details about measures addressing Northern Ireland and concern over the Irish border.
She also promised a greater role for Parliament in negotiations over future trade relations with the European Union as a sweetener, and added that "we are still working on" getting extra assurances from Brussels to secure domestic support for her deal.
May struck a withdrawal agreement with the EU in November, but that deal needs Parliament's approval. In December, May decided to postpone a parliamentary vote intended to ratify the agreement at the last minute after it became clear that it would be overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Commons.
Lawmakers are resuming debate on the deal Wednesday, before a vote expected to be held 

UK PM May: Brexit critics risk damaging UK democracy

A first round of talks between White House officials and congressional aides has made little progress toward ending the government shutdown, with each side accusing the other of giving no ground.
More discussions were planned for Sunday, while President Donald Trump, who did not attend the negotiating session, was scheduled to be at Camp David for a retreat with White House staff on border security and other topics.
With the talks stalled, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said House Democrats intend to start passing individual bills to reopen agencies. The first would be the Treasury Department, to ensure people receive their tax refunds.
"Not much headway made today," Trump tweeted on Saturday after receiving a briefing from the team led by Vice President Mike Pence.
Democrats said the White House did not budge on the president's key demand, USD 5.6 billion to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. The White House said money was not discussed in depth, but the administration ..

Each side accusing other of giving no ground on shutdown

Congo's top electoral official says the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.
Corneille Nangaa told The Associated Press that the results of the December 30 election will not be made public Sunday as expected. He said the official electoral commission will confirm the delay later Sunday.
The postponement in announcing the results is expected to increase tensions in Congo.
The Catholic Church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, said that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations show a clear winner. The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.
The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.

Congo delays announcing results of presidential election

Eugeniu Iordachescu, a Romanian civil engineer who devised an ingenious way to save 12 churches and many other historic buildings from being destroyed by the country's former Communist strongman, has died at 89.
He died Friday from a heart attack and his funeral was being held Sunday, his daughter-in-law, Ligia Iordachescu, told The Associated Press.
From 1982 to 1988, thousands of buildings were razed in the heart of Bucharest, the Romanian capital, to make way for a plan by then-Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu to build a giant House of the People and Soviet-style apartment buildings.
The urban redesign known as systemization, which occurred all over Romania, was inspired during Ceausescu's 1971 visit to North Korea.
Dubbed "the guardian angel" of churches, Iordachescu devised a radical system that placed whole buildings including churches, monasteries, banks and apartment buildings on the equivalent of railway tracks and rolled them hundreds of meters (yards) away to save them ...

Romanian engineer who saved churches from destruction dies

Egypt's Interior Ministry said a policeman was killed late Saturday as he was trying to defuse an explosive device near a church in a residential Cairo district.
The ministry said the blast also wounded the commander of the bomb squad and another policeman.
The device was in a suitcase concealed on the rooftop of a building close to the church in the Nasr City suburb in eastern Cairo, added the ministry, which oversees the police.
The blast came just two days before the Orthodox Coptic Church, the dominant denomination among Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians, celebrates Christmas.
It also came a little more than a week after a roadside bomb hit a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids, killing three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian driver.
Saturday's incident likely will force authorities to further tighten security around churches ahead of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas.
Already, armed policemen guard churches, and security guards check the identity of visitors.
Metal ...

AP

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