The United Nations on Tuesday called for an immediate reduction of violence in Afghanistan, warning that civilian deaths by both the Taliban and Afghan security forces are on the increase.
The UN mission also expressed concern about stepped-up attacks and brutality of the Islamic State group.
A horrific attack last week at a maternity hospital in the Afghan capital has not been claimed by any group, but the United States said it bears all the hallmarks of Afghanistan's IS affiliate  targeting the country's minority Shiites in a neighbourhood of Kabul that IS militants have repeatedly attacked in the past.
The Taliban denied involvement in the maternity hospital attack, which killed 24 people, including two infants and several new mothers.
The UN report blamed the Taliban for killing 208 civilians last month and also said that operations by Afghan forces in April had killed 172 civilians.
Civilians are often caught in the crossfire of the fighting and Afghan forces say they are ...

UN: Civilian deaths by Taliban and Afghan forces on the rise

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The Premier League has been told by government experts that coronavirus restrictions could endure for at least a year across English football, with players allowed to resume only non-contact training from Tuesday.
England's top division has been studying how the Bundesliga was able to resume at the weekend while being realistic about missing its aspiration of getting back underway by June 12.
We have to be flexible about it, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a media call on Monday.
The Germans are a couple of steps ahead of us obviously and we can learn from them and watch them and take confidence from their success."
Team executives will hold talks next Tuesday to discuss protocols for allowing players to take part in contact training, but it is dependent on government approval and there being no new spike in COVID-19 cases after an easing of lockdown restrictions.
(Once) we have had a proper discussion with clubs about how much is required to create the fitness .

EPL players face year of coronavirus restrictions

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says NASCAR can hold its races at Pocono Raceway in late June if the coronavirus situation improves in the area, though the races might have to go off without fans.
Pocono Raceway is in Monroe County, which currently is under Wolf's strictest pandemic orders, or a red designation. But Wolf said Monday that if the county moves to yellow, then NASCAR may hold the two races as long as there are no spectators present and guidelines are followed to keep competitors safe.
Wolf on Friday said he had told NASCAR officials that his state wasn't ready to make a decision on the reopening of Pocono Raceway, which is scheduled to host races June 27 and 28. Parts of Pennsylvania have moved to the yellow designation.
NASCAR resumed its Cup Series schedule Sunday at Darlington, South Carolina, without fans.

NASCAR's Pocono races might be run without fans

The much-vandalized statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is staying in Malmo. Where, exactly, remains to be seen.
Committee members from the Swedish city's council met Monday to discuss proposals from local citizens about where to move the statue of the soccer player from its current location outside the stadium.
The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound), 3-meter (9-foot-10) bronze statue has been repeatedly attacked since Ibrahimovic become a part-owner in Hammarby, a Stockholm-based team and a rival of the striker's boyhood club of Malmo. The most recent act of vandalism saw the statue cut off at the ankles, leading to it being removed in early January for repairs and put in a secret location.
The sculpture stays in Malmo, said Frida Trollmyr, the city's deputy mayor for culture and sports.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a son of Malmo, this is where he belongs.
Trollmyr said there would now be a process to determine the specific location where the statue will be placed. A final decision will be made in ...

Ibrahimovic statue to remain in Malmo despite vandalism

Bayer Leverkusen cruised past Werder Bremen 4-1 as the Bundesliga completed its first full round of games on Monday after resuming competition.
German soccer has so far avoided major pitfalls in three days of games following a two-month suspension for the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of Leverkusen's players clustered together after scoring in Werder's empty stadium, rather than opting for the league's recommended celebrations of minimal physical contact.
Werder was without one player who was isolating at home after someone in his personal life tested positive for the coronavirus. Werder said on Friday that the player, who the club has not named, tested negative.
The Bundesliga faces its next test this week as players return to live at home ahead of the weekend's games. Teams spent the seven days leading up to their first games in a group quarantine in hotels, but that was a one off.
Both Leverkusen and Werder kept up their form from before the break, with Leverkusen staying six league ..

Leverkusen beats Bremen 4-1 in Bundesliga

More than 130,000 autoworkers returned to factories across the US for the first time in nearly two months Monday in one of the biggest steps yet to restart American industry, while an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus yielded encouraging results in a small and extremely early test.
Stocks rallied on the vaccine news and signs that the worst of the crisis has passed in many countries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared about 900 points, or nearly 4 per cent.
In a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump said he's been taking a malaria drug to protect against the virus even though his own administration has warned it should only be administered in a hospital or research setting because of potentially fatal side effects.
Automakers from Detroit's Big Three  Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Ford  to Honda and Toyota put screening procedures in place at the dozens of factories that reopened from the Great Lakes states south to Tennessee and Texas and out west to ...

Automakers help restart US industry as globe reopens further

Australia's trade minister has described as deeply disappointing China's decision to place tariffs of around 80 per cent on Australian barley in a dispute that has been linked to Australian support for a coronavirus inquiry.
The tariffs that take effect Tuesday come a week after China banned beef imports from Australia's four largest abattoirs over labelling issues.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham rejects China's claim that barley is subsidised by the Australian government.
Birmingham also says Australia could appeal to the World Trade Organisation to resolve both the beef and barley disputes.
Birmingham said he has tried without success to speak to his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan for the past week.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says China is looking into trade issues between the sides in accordance with related laws and World Trade Organisation rules.
Australian barley farmer Andrew Weidemann says the tariff barrier stops the trade completely with Australia's .

Asia Today: Australia disappointed by China's barley tariffs

A Lebanese man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Minnesota to conspiring to export drone parts and technology from the US to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
US Attorney Erica H MacDonald said Monday that Usama Hamade, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export goods and technology.
His brother, Issam Hamade, pleaded guilty in March in federal court in Minnesota.
Prosecutors said the brothers acquired sophisticated technology for drones from 2009 to 2013 and illegally exported them to Hezbollah, which the US considers a terrorist organisation.
The Hamades were arrested in February 2018 in South Africa and were extradited to the US last fall.
According to an indictment, the parts included inertial measurement units, which can be used to track an aircraft's position, and digital compasses, which can be paired with the inertial measurement units for drone guidance systems.
The parts also included a jet engine and 20 piston engines.

Lebanese man pleads guilty to drone parts export conspiracy

A UN investigative team says it has made significant progress in collecting new sources of evidence in Iraq against Islamic State extremists, including over 2 million call records that should strengthen cases against perpetrators of crimes against the Yazidi minority in 2014.
The team also reported progress in its investigations of the mass killings of unarmed cadets and military personnel from the Tikrit Air Academy in June 2014 and crimes committed by Islamic State extremists in Mosul from 2014 to 2016.
In a report to the UN Security Council obtained by The Associated Press, the investigative team said it is continuing to engage with the Iraqi government on pending legislation that would allow the country to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIL.
In the coming six months, the team will continue its work with the government of Iraq in order to capitalise on this opportunity, with a view to securing the .

UN team reports new evidence against Islamic State in Iraq

China reported seven new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a day after President Xi Jinping announced his country would provide USD 2 billion to help respond to the outbreak and its economic fallout.
Three of the new cases were listed as imported, and once again no new deaths were reported.
Just 85 people remain in treatment while another 392 are under observation and isolation for being suspected cases or after testing positive without showing symptoms.
China has reported 4,634 deaths among 82,690 cases of COVID-19.
Xi's appearance via video link at the World Health Assembly on Monday came amid finger-pointing between the United States and China over the pandemic, and the World Health Organization bowing to calls from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus  which could be seen as a setback for Beijing.
China has repeatedly said now is not the time for such an investigation, which could look into allegations .

China reports 7 new virus cases, no deaths

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is taking a malaria drug to protect against the new coronavirus, despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects.
Trump told reporters he has been taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily for about a week and a half now.
Trump spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential cure or prophylaxis for COVID-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals.
The drug has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and has not been shown to combat the new coronavirus.  Trump said his doctor did not recommend the drug to him, but he requested it from the White House physician.
"I started taking it, because I think it's good," Trump said. "I've heard a lot of good stories.
The White House physician, Dr Sean Conley, said in a statement released through the ...

Trump says he's taking malaria drug to protect against virus

As COVID-19 reached remote indigenous lands in Brazil's Amazon, the government agency responsible for protecting native people brushed off calls for action, focusing instead on waging ideological battles, according to agents from the institution itself and others.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's repeated promotion of developing the vast Amazon has for months prompted indigenous activists, celebrities and agents on the ground to sound the alarm.
In the face of a spreading pandemic, they warn inaction is enough to wipe out many indigenous people.
The Associated Press spoke to four agents who work with indigenous peoples in the farthest reaches of Brazil's Amazon, and they were unanimous in their conclusion: The national Indian foundation, known as FUNAI, is hardly doing anything to coordinate a response to a crisis that could decimate ethnic groups.
There's not enough protective equipment for agents who enter indigenous territories or meet with native people in cities. Necessities .

Indigenous infections grew amid slow Brazil agency response

Australia on Tuesday welcomed international support for an independent coronavirus pandemic investigation as China ratcheted up a bilateral trade rift by placing tariffs on Australian barley.
The World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus.
The comprehensive evaluation, sought by a coalition of African, European and other countries including Australia, is intended to review lessons learned from WHO's coordination of the global response to COVID-19, but would stop short of looking into contentious issues such as the origins of the respiratory virus.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne had earlier welcomed the apparent majority support for the motion, saying her government wanted the inquiry to be impartial, independent and comprehensive.
Australia is seen as a leader in rallying global support for an inquiry, attracting Chinese criticism that it is ...

Australia welcomes virus inquiry but condemns China tariff

Mountains of infectious waste, including huge piles of discarded coffins and tons of hospital garbage, are popping up across Mexico amid the coronavirus pandemic, a grisly problem authorities attribute to illegal dumping and unscrupulous operators.
Authorities announced on Monday that they had found 3.5 tons of hospital waste dumped in the woods on the outskirts of Mexico City, and 6,000 cubic yards (meters) of medical waste piled ceiling-high at a clandestine warehouse in Puebla state, leaking out of over-crammed trailers and buildings.
Teetering piles of coffins, meanwhile, are piling up outside Mexico City's overworked crematoriums.
The office for environmental protection said much of the waste would have to be incinerated because it represents a health risk and blamed unscrupulous, unlicensed operators for the problem.
The scene at the Puebla warehouse was grotesque: mountains of red plastic hospital waste bags had been crammed so tightly into one metal-sided warehouse that the ...

Mexico faces infectious waste disposal problem amid pandemic

The world economy likely faces a long slog back from the coronavirus crisis.
Two reports out Monday predict that global growth will struggle to bounce back from the lockdowns, travel restrictions and business closures meant to contain the pandemic.
IHS Markit said that it expects the world economy to shrink 5.5% this year, triple the damage it sustained in the 2008 financial crisis, and then struggle to regain traction.
While growth in the hardest hit economies may snap back briefly, the momentum will soon fade,'' the financial research firm warned. It expects the US economy to contract 7.3% this year and the collective economy of the 19 European countries that share the euro currency to recoil 8.6%.
Hobbling the rebound, IHS predicts, will be a wave of business bankruptcies and cautious spending by consumers trying to repair their household finances and uneasy about resuming old habits that drive economic growth  shopping, eating out, booking vacations and going to movies.
Government 

Reports: World economy faces tough journey back from crisis

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is slamming the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak, proclaiming that President Donald Trump, had months, months to take action and failed to do so before the US death toll began rising.
Biden addressed the AAPI Victory Fund's Progressive Summit virtually on Monday, speaking from his home in Delaware, as Canadian geese honked loudly and persistently in the background. The group aims to empower Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
The former vice president said of the virus, The scale of the loss is staggering and it's infuriating.
But more than that, it's heartbreaking to think how much fear, how much loss, how much agony could have been avoided if the president hadn't wasted so much time and taken responsibility, Biden said. We got denials, delays, distraction  many of which were openly xenophobic.
Biden added, that the country, Got bald-faced lies about testing capacity that, 'Anyone who wants a test can .

Biden criticises Trump's response to outbreak

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is taking a malaria drug to lessen symptoms should he get the new coronavirus, even though the drug is unproven for fighting COVID-19.
Trump told reporters he has been taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily for about a week and a half now.
Trump spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential cure for COVID-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals.
The drug has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and has not been shown to combat the new coronavirus.  Trump said his doctor did not recommend the drug to him, but he requested it from the White House physician.
"I started taking it, because I think it's good," Trump said. "I've heard a lot of good stories.

Trump says he's taking malaria drug in case he gets virus

Congressional Democrats say the State Department watchdog fired by President Donald Trump last week was investigating possible impropriety in a massive arms sales to Saudi Arabia last year, adding new questions to the watchdog's abrupt dismissal.
Democrats said Monday that ousted Inspector General Steve Linick was probing how the State Department pushed through a dollar 7 billion Saudi arms sale over congressional objections.
Democrats previously suggested the dismissal might have been tied to Linick's investigation of allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may have improperly ordered staff to run personal errands for him.
Neither the White House nor the State Department has provided specific reasons for Linick's late Friday dismissal, which comes amid broader concerns over Trump's removal of numerous inspectors general at various executive branch departments.
Trump has said he had lost confidence in those fired but has not given specific reasons, which lawmakers from both ...

Democrats: Fired watchdog was looking into Saudi arms sale

Islamic extremists stormed a village just as people were preparing to break their Ramadan fast after sundown, killing at least 20 people in the first attack of its kind in northeastern Nigeria since the Muslim holy month began, authorities said Monday.
Witnesses said fighters from the extremist group Boko Haram carried out the attack in Gajigana, where they entered the opposite side of the village from where Nigerian soldiers were posted.
The shootings were sudden and intense; people began to flee in all directions, said Ba'an Bukar, a member of a local civilian defense group.
Many of the victims were too weak to flee after several weeks of fasting, and temperatures had soared to 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, he added.
Audu Mustapha, a member of the Borno state House of Assembly, said 25 others were wounded in the attack about 47 kilometers (29 miles) north of the state capital, Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has now been waging its insurgency for more than a decade in 

Authorities: Boko Haram attacks Nigerian village, killing 20

The International Criminal Court on Monday rejected a multimillion euro compensation claim by a former Congolese vice president who was cleared of war crimes charges after spending a decade in the court's custody.
Jean-Pierre Bemba filed a claim for compensation and damages after he was acquitted on appeal two years ago of war crimes and crimes against humanity he was alleged to have committed as a military commander of troops fighting in Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
He originally was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.
Bemba's lawyers sought a total of nearly 69 million euros including compensation for the time he spent in jail and damages for legal costs and losses in the value of assets frozen by the court including a Boeing 727 passenger jet.
The court said in a statement Monday that judges ruled that Bemba failed to establish that he had suffered a grave and manifest miscarriage of justice and therefore rejected his request for compensation for 

ICC rejects compensation claim by former Congo VP Bemba

A gym in New Jersey reopened for business early Monday, defying a state order that shut down nonessential businesses to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.
People began gathering outside the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr several hours before it reopened at 8 a.m. The owners have said the decision to resume operations at the members-only facility was not about financial gain, but rather a question of Constitutional rights.
We truly believe that if we don't do this, in the end, we will have zero rights and no say in what happens, co-owner Frank Trumbetti said in a video posted on the gym's Facebook page. Trumbetti has said he recently lost a loved one to the coronavirus.
Dozens of people came out to show their support for the gym, with many holding signs critical of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and others waving American flags. Only some were wearing face coverings and most people tightly clustered together on the sidewalk and parking area in front of the gym.
If they shut us down today, ..

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