China Friday strongly dismissed a US official's comment that the Chinese government's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square 30 years ago was "a full-on massacre, terming it as an "unfounded accusation" and asked Washington to stop interfering in its internal affairs.
US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Thursday said that the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen incident shouldn't be forgotten and that it was "a full-on massacre of peaceful protestors".
Tiananmen Square here witnessed brutal massacre of students rebelling against the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1989, demanding democracy. Thousands were believed to have been killed in the protests.
The massive square became famous all over the world with an iconic picture of a young man standing before a row of battle tanks in a bid to stop them.
As to what the US spokesperson said is an unfounded accusation against China and interference in its internal affairs. China deplore that and firmly opposes ...

China deplores US criticism of Tiananmen Square protests as "a full-on massacre"

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Russian diplomat Tatiana Valovaya has been named the next director-general of the UN office at Geneva, making the former journalist the first woman appointed to run the world body's European headquarters.
The appointment by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres restores Russian leadership to a role held by Russian diplomats for nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1993-2011).
Danish national and long-serving UN veteran Michael Moller has had the job since 2013.
In a statement, the UN described Valovaya as having "over 35 years of extensive experience in journalism, diplomacy and government service."
She currently works for the Eurasia Economic Commission, a regional body that includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in charge of integration and macroeconomics.
She began her career as a journalist for "The Economic Gazette" in Moscow in the 1980s, before joining the diplomatic corps, serving as the Third and later Second Secretary at the ...

UN names Russian diplomat to lead European HQ

First innings scoreboard in the World Cup match between Pakistan and West Indies at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Pakistan:
Imam-ul-Haq
c Hope b Cottrell
2
Fakhar Zaman
b Russell
22
Babar Azam
c Hope b Thomas
22
Haris Sohail
c Hope b Russell
8
Sarfaraz Ahmed
c Hope b Holder
8
Mohammad Hafeez
c Cottrell b Thomas  16
Imad Wasim
c Gayle b Holder
1
Shadab Khan
lbw b Thomas
0
Hasan Ali
c Cottrell b Holder
1
Wahab Riaz
b Thomas  18
Mohammad Amir
not out
3
Extras (nb2, w2)
4
Total (all out, 21.4 overs)
105
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Imam), 2-35 (Zaman), 3-45 (Sohail), 4-62 (Babar), 5-75 (Sarfarez), 6-77 (Imad), 7-78 (Shadab), 8-81 (Hasan), 9-83 (Hafeez), 10-105 (Riaz)
Bowling: Cottrell 4-0-18-1 (1w), Holder 5-0-42-3, Russell 3-1-4-2, Brathwaite 4-0-14-0, Thomas 5.4-0-27-4 (1w 2nb).

West Indies v Pakistan World Cup scoreboard

India has the potential to reach USD one trillion size of digital economy by 2025, a commerce ministry official said Friday while highlighting the importance of services sector of the country.
Addressing a India-China business forum here,  Sangeeta Saxena, Director in the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said with 560 million internet subscribers and the world's second largest instant messaging service users after China, India has emerged as one of the three top digital economies of the world.
Above all, India has Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has data base of 1.2 billion people as Aadhaar, she said.
The potential of services sector is such that the government has realised India can create one trillion dollar of economic value from digital economy by 2025, she said.
"Currently we are at USD 200-250 billion. It can go up to USD 500 billion," she said.
But if India unlocks the potential of digital economy not only in IT and electronics sector but also .

India's digital economy seen at USD 1 trillion by 2025: Official

Second seed Karolina Pliskova was knocked out of the French Open on Friday after a 6-3, 6-3 defeat by Croatia's Petra Martic.
Czech Pliskova produced an error-strewn display against the 31st seed, who will face either Russian Veronika Kudermetova or Estonia's Kaia Kanepi for a place in the quarter-finals.
Her defeat means Naomi Osaka will retain the world number one spot after Roland Garros.
Martic has now won 14 matches on clay this season, more than any other player on the WTA Tour.
Former world number one Pliskova remains without a Grand Slam title in her career, despite arriving in Paris with high hopes after powering her way to Italian Open triumph in Rome.
The game which saw her broken to fall 5-3 behind in the second set encapsulated an erratic display -- as she served two double faults, missed perhaps the easiest volley seen on the newly-rebuilt Court Philippe Chatrier, and capped it off by drilling the simplest of forehands several feet past the baseline.
Pliskova finished ...

Second seed Pliskova knocked out of French Open

While the majority of players at Roland Garros talk forehands and backhands, Germany's Andrea Petkovic prefers to chat Goethe and Oscar Wilde.
So, in keeping with her free spirit, the 31-year-old last year took herself off to Woodstock, the storied site of the 1969 music festival which showcased flower-power and hippies.
"I loved it. I like being in nature, doing whatever I wanted to do, having my routine and going to the same coffee shop every day," Petkovic told a small group of reporters at Roland Garros after making the third round.
"I love having time for my writing and when I hit the wall I knew that it was just a two-hour bus ride to New York City so I was never far from civilisation." Petkovic, a former political science student, is in the process of writing a book which is due to be published in 2020.
Although reluctant to discuss its contents, she has insisted that it is not particularly tennis-related.
She found the atmosphere of Woodstock in upstate New York last autumn ...

From Woodstock to Roland Garros: Petkovic is made of write stuff

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought Friday to paper over differences with Germany in the face of a deepening rift with one of its major NATO allies.
The divisions were underlined earlier this week when German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump during a visit to the United States.
Germany is the first stop on a four-nation tour of Europe in which Pompeo will also visit Switzerland and the Netherlands before joining Trump on his state visit to Britain.
His trip to Berlin had been cancelled at the last minute in early May, as Pompeo then took a major detour to visit Iraq to discuss security as tensions rose sharply between the United States and Iran.
The abrupt cancellation had raised eyebrows as the two allies were at loggerheads over a number of issues including the Iran nuclear deal, NATO defence spending and the North Stream 2 pipeline project between Germany and Russia.
Merkel, in the United States on Thursday to deliver an address at ...

Pompeo takes conciliatory tone in Germany amid rocky ties

Oshane Thomas took four wickets as West Indies dismissed Pakistan for a paltry 105 in their World Cup opener at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Thomas finished with 4-27 as Pakistan, sent in to bat, were bowled out in just 21.4 overs, with Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam scoring 22 each.
It was Pakistan's second-lowest World Cup total, their worst being 74 all out against England in Adelaide in 1992.
Mohammad Hafeez with 16 and Wahab Riaz (18) were the only other batsmen who reached double figures.
Jason Holder took three wickets and Andre Russell took two.

West Indies dismiss Pakistan for 105 in World Cup clash

India and China have an understanding on managing border differences such as the 2017 Doklam standoff, feels a researcher at a prominent UK-based think tank.
Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16, 2017 after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed tri-junction by the Chinese army.
Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off ended on August 28.
Antoine Levesques, a research fellow for South Asia at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), said that though there were chances for incidents like Dokhlam to happen again between India and China, there was an understanding that now was in place between the two neighbours.
The tension we witnessed around Doklam in 2017 was successfully managed by the two sides, but we can't rule out that something similar could happen again though there is in place an understanding between India and China since last year, Levesques said at the annual IISS ...

India and China have understanding on border management, says researcher

Islam's holiest city Mecca is abuzz with pilgrims in the last days of the fasting month of Ramadan, despite tight security for high-profile gatherings of Muslim and Arab dignitaries.
At a palace overlooking the Grand Mosque, Saudi Arabia's King Salman hosted back-to-back emergency summits of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab League in the early hours of Friday.
Some roads remained blocked as Mecca geared up to host a third meeting later in the day, a long-scheduled gathering of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
As the flags of participating countries fluttered in the streets, worshippers in white flocked towards the Grand Mosque that surrounds the Kaaba stone towards which Muslims pray.
Mecca sees an influx in the last 10 days of Ramadan, which believers consider the holiest month.
Pilgrims from all over the world spend those days praying in the Grand Mosque as well as other places of worship in the holy city, entry to which is forbidden for non-Muslims.
Emirati visitor ...

Politics and prayers for the last days of Ramadan in Mecca

India has further liberalised e-visa rules for Chinese businessmen as the bilateral trade is set to cross USD 100 billion this year, a senior Indian diplomat here said on Friday.
The India-China bilateral trade last year touched a historic high of USD 95.54 billion, according to the official data released by China early this year.
The trade deficit in 2018, according to the data, climbed to USD 57.86 billion from USD 51.72 billion in 2017.
"We are glad that our bilateral trade will cross the significant mark of USD 100 billion this year," India's Deputy Ambassador in China Dr Acquino Vimal said while addressing an event on 'India-China business forum, exploring opportunities, enhancing cooperation' specially in the IT sector.
A large number of Chinese investors and Indian IT firms based in China attended the get-together organised by NASSCOM -- a trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry -- and the Indian embassy.
"Closer ..

India-China trade set to cross USD 100 bn this year: senior Indian diplomat

The US-led coalition said Friday it had unintentionally killed more than 1,300 civilians in air strikes during its fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
The figure is far lower than the death tolls given by groups which have monitored the conflicts in the two countries.
"The coalition conducted 34,502 strikes between August 2014 and the end of April 2019," it said in a statement.
During this period, it "assesses at least 1,302 civilians have been unintentionally killed by coalition strikes".
The coalition said it was still assessing 111 additional claims of civilians deaths, and was ready to receive new allegations or fresh evidence to review.
The coalition has repeatedly said it does all it can to avoid civilian deaths.
Airwars, an NGO which monitors civilian casualties from air strikes worldwide, estimates more than 7,900 civilians have been killed in coalition raids -- well in excess of the total acknowledged by the coalition.
The Syrian Observatory ...

US-led coalition says 1,300 civilians killed in air war on IS

Gulf and Arab allies rallied around Saudi Arabia Friday as it ratcheted up tensions with regional rival Iran after a series of attacks, drawing accusations from Tehran of "sowing division".
Tehran, which has strongly denied involvement in any of the attacks, expressed disappointment that Riyadh plans to level the same "baseless accusations" at a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) early on Saturday.
King Salman called on Gulf and Arab leaders to confront Iran's "criminal acts" after still unexplained sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, in the Sea of Oman and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.
His remarks came at the start of two back-to-back emergency summits in the Muslim holy city of Mecca that drew near-unanimous support for the Sunni kingdom from Gulf and Arab states -- with the notable exception of Iraq.
A joint statement issued by Arab leaders condemned "acts by the terrorist Huthi militias ...

Riyadh rallies allies against Tehran at Mecca summits

The main suspect in the bombing last week in the French city of Lyon that wounded 14 people had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, France's counter-terrorism prosecutor said on Friday.
Remy Heitz said in a statement the 24-year-old man has admitted making the bomb and depositing the device in front of a bakery. He will be brought before an investigating judge.
The suspect, identified only as Mohamed Hichem M, was arrested on Monday. He arrived in France on a tourist visa in August 2017 but failed to leave again. Police did not give his nationality but some French media reported that he was Algerian. He was unknown to police services before the incident.
He could be charged with attempted murder, criminal terrorist conspiracy and manufacturing, possessing and carrying an explosive device in relation with a terrorist undertaking.
French President Emmanuel Macron had called the explosion an "attack" but no group has claimed responsibility for the explosion yet.
Last week, ...

Lyon bomb suspect had pledged allegiance to IS

Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera on Friday rejected the result of last week's presidential election, saying he had launched a court battle to have the vote annulled on the grounds of fraud.
Chakwera lost the election by just 159,000 votes to incumbent Peter Mutharika, who was hurriedly sworn into office the day after the delayed result was issued on Monday.
"I reject the Malawi Electoral Commission's fraudulent presidential results," Chakwera said in a statement.
He announced that he was filing a high court petition to have the election declared void.
"What we have witnessed in front of our very eyes is not an election, but daylight robbery, a crime against our decency as a people and our democracy as a nation."
Chakwera's Malawi Congress Party (MCP) last weekend obtained a brief court injunction to halt the release of the results, claiming "very glaring irregularities".
The party said that results sheets were covered in correction fluid and some sheets from polling ...

Malawi opposition files suit against vote 'robbery'

China on Friday accused the United States of repeatedly lying about the effects of the trade war on its economy as Beijing prepares to hike tariffs on American goods ranging from wine to pianos and condoms.
Saturday's retaliatory tariff increase will cap a week that was marked by a heated war of words and Chinese threats to curb exports of rare earths, which are key to US tech industries, after President Donald Trump blacklisted telecom giant Huawei.
The latest target of Beijing's ire was comments by Trump stating that the US tariffs have had a "devastating effect" on the Chinese economy.
"The US side has said such lies not just once or twice. Every time China exposes them in time, but the US seems to be very persistent, even obsessed, and keeps repeating these lies," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.
Washington and Beijing resumed their tariffs battle earlier this month after trade talks in Washington ended without a deal, with the US side ...

China slams US 'lies' as tariff hike looms

The Confederation of British Industry has warned candidates for the leadership of Britain's Conservative Party that leaving the European Union without a deal would devastate the nation's economy.
In a letter to contenders vying to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, the group's head, Carolyn Fairbairn, warned that most firms would never be ready for a no-deal Brexit.
Fairbairn says smaller and medium-sized businesses in particular "cannot afford complex and costly contingency plans."
Britain's Parliament has voted not to leave the EU without a deal, but May's failure to secure an agreement has prompted candidates to suggest no-deal should be back on the table.
So far, 12 Conservative lawmakers are vying to replace May. The contest's winner will become Britain's next prime minister without the need for a national election.

Industry group warns Tory candidates against no-deal Brexit

Women who experience symptoms of depression are at increased risk of developing multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer, a study has found.
The research, published in the journal Health Psychology, suggests that depression and chronic diseases share a similar genetic or biological pathway.
"These days, many people suffer from multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer," said Xiaolin Xu, a PhD scholar at the University of Queensland in Australia.
"We looked at how women progress in the development of these chronic diseases before and after the onset of depressive symptoms," Xu said.
The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health followed healthy, middle-aged women with no previous diagnosis of depression or chronic illness over 20 years.
The study found 43.2 per cent of women experienced elevated symptoms of depression and just under half the cohort reported they were diagnosed or taking treatment for ...

Depression may up risk of multiple chronic diseases: Study

China on Friday said it would create a blacklist of "unreliable" foreign firms and individuals in a new escalation of its trade war with the United States.
The move comes two weeks after Chinese tech giant Huawei was added to the US Commerce Department's "entity list", cutting it off from critical American-made components for its products, though a 90-day reprieve was issued.
After being added to the list, a series of US companies said they would cut off their business with Huawei, while foreign companies have also been left to analyse if the order applies to their business with Huawei.
The Chinese move to create its own "entity list" appears to be a way to pressure foreign companies to maintain commercial relations with Huawei.
"Foreign enterprises, organisations or individuals that do not comply with market rules, deviate from a contract's spirit or impose blockades or stop supplies to Chinese enterprises for non-commercial purposes, and seriously damage the legitimate rights and ...

China to create blacklist of 'unreliable' foreign firms

A volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali erupted Friday, spewing a plume of ash and smoke more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) into the sky.
Mount Agung, about 70 kilometres from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been erupting periodically since it rumbled back to life in 2017, sometimes grounding flights and forcing residents to flee their homes.
The latest eruption shortly before noon on Friday shot a cloud of volcanic ash high into the sky, but caused no disruption to flights, Indonesia's geological agency said.
Agung remained at the second highest danger warning level, and there is a four-kilometre no-go zone around the crater.
Last summer, dozens of flights were cancelled after Agung erupted, while tens of thousands of locals fled to evacuation centres after an eruption in 2017.
The last major eruption of Agung in 1963 killed around 1,600 people.
Indonesia is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a vast zone of geological instability where the collision of tectonic plates causes ...

Bali volcano spews ash in new eruption

North Korea executed its special envoy to the United States following the collapse of the second summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.
The Chosun Ilbo said Kim Hyok Chol, who laid the groundwork for the Hanoi meeting and accompanied Kim on his private train, was executed by firing squad for "betraying the supreme leader" after he was "won over to the US" during pre-summit negotiations.
"Kim Hyok Chol was executed in March at Mirim Airport along with four senior foreign ministry officials following an investigation," the newspaper quoted an unidentified source as saying.
The other officials were not named.
Asked about the account, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was trying to verify it.
"We've seen the reporting to which you're referring. We're doing our best to check it out," he told reporters on a visit to Berlin.
"I don't have anything else to add to that today." Kim Hyok Chol was the North's ...

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