Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday exhibited a recently uncovered, unusual series of 2,000-year-old chambers carved out of the bedrock beneath the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem.
The Israel Antiquities Authority's excavations are uncovering new sections of a sprawling network of ancient subterranean passageways running alongside a contested Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, while the compound is the third-holiest site in Islam. It was the site of two Jewish temples in antiquity and today is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.
Archaeologists began excavating a large, late Byzantine building located around 35 meters (120 feet) from the base of the wall last year. Beneath the plain white mosaic tiled floor of the monumental structure, they discovered a series of small chambers hewn out of the bedrock. Fragments of clay oil lamps and limestone cups helped date the ...

Dig near Jerusalem's Western Wall yields 'puzzling' chambers

PTI Automatic

A former Navy pilot who captured a California congressional district from Democrats and a state legislator who retained a Republican-held Wisconsin seat joined the House on Tuesday, buoying a GOP seeking momentum for its uphill fight for the chamber's majority in this fall's elections.
California's Mike Garcia and Wisconsin's Tom Tffany, who won special elections last week to fill vacancies, are conservatives backed by President Donald Trump. Both will serve until Jan. 3, filling unexpired terms of lawmakers who resigned last year.
The two men stood side by side on the House floor as they were sworn into office by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. In this age of the coronavirus, they elbow-bumped afterward but did not wear face masks.  Garcia's victory was more noteworthy.
Garcia's win came in a Los Angeles-area district that was among dozens of suburban seats that Democrats won from the GOP in 2018, catapulting them to House control. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had 

2 Republican special election winners sworn into House

Google says it will no longer build custom artificial intelligence tools for speeding up oil and gas extraction, separating itself from cloud computing rivals Microsoft and Amazon.
The announcement followed a Greenpeace report Tuesday that documents how the three tech giants are using AI and computing power to help oil companies find and access oil and gas deposits in the U.S. and around the world.
The environmentalist group says Amazon, Microsoft and Google have been undermining their own climate change pledges by partnering with major oil companies including Shell, BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil that have looked for new technology to get more oil and gas out of the ground.
But the group applauded Google on Tuesday for taking a step away from those deals.
While Google still has a few legacy contracts with oil and gas firms, we welcome this indication from Google that it will no longer build custom solutions for upstream oil and gas extraction, said Elizabeth Jardim, senior corporate ...

Google backs off on AI for oil and gas extraction

The Spanish government is submitting for parliamentary approval a draft bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by mid-century, in line with the Paris Accord on climate change that most countries have backed to limit rising temperatures.
The final approval could take months and the bill passed Tuesday by the left-wing coalition members of Prime Minister Pedro Snchez's Cabinet could still be modified by lawmakers. But if passed close to its current form, it would mark the first time that the goal of making Spain emission neutral by 2050 is enshrined in law.
World leaders agreed five years ago in Paris to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5 C (2.7 F) by the end of the century. But scientists say countries will miss both of those goals by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions this year.
The Spanish bill echoes the European Union's goal of a "Green Deal to reactivate ..

Spain drafts law eyeing climate neutrality by mid-century

Russia on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump's threat to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Yes, there are opportunities to improve it... and we are ready -- as before -- to play an active role in this work," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by news agency Interfax.
"But we are against breaking everything that is there for the sake of one state's political or geopolitical preferences, I mean the United States or even a group of states with the United States at its helm," Ryabkov told reporters after a meeting with lawmakers of the ruling United Russia party.
"We are against politicising everything that is linked to the COVID-19 spread," Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti.
"The WHO cannot become a puck that is passed back and forth." Trump has accused the WHO of botching the global coronavirus response and of being a "puppet of China".
He has been locked .

Russia denounces US attempts to 'break' WHO

Amazon is gradually reopening its warehouses in France after consulting with unions on new virus safety measures, in an effort to end weeks of legal troubles that had sharply curtailed the company's business.
In a victory for labor unions, French courts ruled last month that Amazon hadn't done enough to protect its workers from the coronavirus. The world's largest online retailer shut its French warehouses as a result  just as demand soared because stores were shuttered by virus restrictions.
After protracted negotiations, Amazon started a three-week reopening process Tuesday.
It's now holding training sessions for staff, in one small group at a time, on the new virus protection measures it's putting in place, Amazon's France director Frederic Duval said on public broadcaster France-Info.
Unions say the new measures include stricter social distancing, better enforcement, and changes to scheduling to reduce the number of people allowed to work in the same place at the same time.
Duval .

France: Amazon back in business after virus deal with unions

The British government published Tuesday the outlines of a new post-Brexit tariff regime that could potentially lead to a fall in the price of thousands of products, including Christmas trees, cocoa and fridges.
The Department for International Trade said the new regime will see tariffs eliminated on 62 billion pounds ($76 billion) of imports. Called the U.K. Global Tariff, it will apply to all countries that the U.K. does not have a trade agreement with.
Our new Global Tariff will benefit U.K. consumers and households by cutting red tape and reducing the cost of thousands of everyday products, said International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.  However, tariffs on industries such as agriculture, automotive and fishing are remaining as an attempt to protect them against competition.
The U.K. Global Tariff will replace the European Union's external tariff on Jan. 1, when the country is formally due to exit a transition period aimed at smoothing its departure from the bloc earlier this ...

As EU talks stall, UK outlines tariffs for post-Brexit world

Expressing solidarity with the Sikh and Hindu communities facing persecution in Afghanistan, former US vice president Joe Biden has said that recent attacks, including the one on a gurdwara, demonstrates the dangerous conditions of religious minorities in the war-torn country and urged the Trump administration to consider the request for emergency refugee protection.
Asserting that the Hindu and Sikh communities are Afghans and a vital part of the country's heritage, Biden, who is the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, said that the intense persecution they have faced in recent decades is an unspeakable tragedy.
With the recent uptick in violence in Afghanistan, including a horrifying attack this week on a hospital maternity ward, I want to express my concern about the situation facing Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, including the terrorist attack on Sikhs at the Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul in March. Sikhs and Hindus are not outsiders living in Afghanistan, ...

Recent attacks show dangerous conditions of minorities in Afghanistan: Biden

H-1B visa holders do not adversely affect US workers, a new research said on Tuesday, suggesting that the presence of the workforce holding such visas boosts employment among other workers in an occupation.
The National Foundation for American Policy said that the findings of its new research should give pause to policymakers considering imposing additional restrictions on the H-1B program.
There is little reason to think doing so will help American workers, it said in its latest research.
H-1B visa holders do not adversely affect US workers, according to new research. On the contrary, the evidence points to the presence of H-1B visa holders being associated with lower unemployment rates and faster earnings growth among college graduates, including recent college graduates, the report said.
Further, the results suggest that, if anything, being in a field with more H-1B visa holders makes it more likely that US-born young college graduates work in a job closely related to their college 

H-1B visa holders do not adversely affect US workers: Report

Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday that Moscow has scaled down its military drills amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian military also has decided not to conduct any war games near the country's borders with NATO member nations during the outbreak.
Russia-West relations have sunk to post-Cold War lows after the 2014 Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and Moscow's support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly voiced concern over the deployment of NATO forces in the Baltics, describing it as a threat to its security. Russia and the alliance also have blamed one another for conducting destabilizing military exercises near the borders.

Russia says it scales down war games amid pandemic

Spain is mandating facial masks in all public spaces, including outdoors when a safe distance of 2-meters (6.5-feet) between people can't be kept.
Health Minister Salvador Illa says the decision expands recommendations in March for masks worn only in hospitals and nursing homes.  Previously, masks were in short supply in a country ravaged by the pandemic.
Last month, masks became mandatory on public transportation.  Spain has recorded more than 27,000 deaths from the coronavirus and more than 230,000 confirmed infections.

Spain mandates masks in all public spaces

Pressure on Italy's hospitals has continued to decline, an essential condition for the country to safely continue to eliminate or ease lockdown measures for the coronavirus.
For the first time since mid-March, the number of persons hospitalized in non-intensive care beds has dipped under 10,000. The number of COVID-19 patients occupying intensive care beds also has decreased in recent weeks, down to 716 on Tuesday, according to Health Ministry figures.
Throughout the outbreak, most coronavirus patients in Italy haven't needed hospitalization but instead stayed isolated at home. There were 813 new cases of infection nationwide in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday evening, raising to 226,699 Italy's overall known case tally.
The daily increase in deaths was registered at 162, increasing the country's total number of persons who died with confirmed COVID-19 infections to 32,169.

Italy sees more encouraging coronavirus numbers

Etihad Airways said Tuesday it would fly aid for the Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic from the capital of the United Arab Emirates into Israel, marking the first known direct commercial flight between the two nations.
The flight comes as the UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula, has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel over its occupation of land wanted by the Palestinians for a future state.
However, it marks an open moment of cooperation between the countries after years of rumored back-channel discussions between them over the mutual enmity of Iran.
Etihad, a state-owned, long-haul carrier, confirmed it had a flight Tuesday to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
Etihad Airways operated a dedicated humanitarian cargo flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv on 19 May to provide medical supplies to the Palestinians, the airline told The Associated Press. The flight had no passengers on board.
Emirati government officials did not respond to multiple requests for ...

Etihad makes 1st known commercial flight between UAE, Israel

Turkey reported a continued downward trajectory in COVID-19 deaths and confirmed infections Tuesday, with 28 new deaths and 1,022 infections over the past 24 hours.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted new figures showing a total of 4,199 deaths and 151,615 reported positive cases since March 11, when the first infection was confirmed.
Koca said the decrease in patients needing intensive care continued and the number of patients who recovered reached 112,895.
Turkey has opted for partial lockdowns, contact tracing and early treatment in combating the novel coronavirus. Fifteen provinces, including Istanbul, are in the final day of a four-day lockdown.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he hoped the upcoming nationwide lockdown during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr from May 23-26 would be the final round.
Turks were urged to commemorate from their balconies a national holiday Tuesday that marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence in 1919.

Turkey reports downward trend in virus deaths, infections

Six drugmakers that manufacture generic hydroxychloroquine report the drug is in short supply, while three others reported in the last week that their product is available, according to the Food and Drug Administration's drug shortages website.
The companies cite increased demand as the cause, with some stating they expect to next ship the drug at the end of May.
President Donald Trump said Monday he has been taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement daily for about a week and a half now, after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump has spent months pushing hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure or preventive drug for COVID-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals.
One of the companies, Concordia Pharmaceuticals, also makes the brand-name version, called Paquenil. It says that drug is completely unavailable but is expected to be available again at the end of this month.

Companies say hydroxychloroquine in short supply

The US on Tuesday included the India unit of Huawei along with its other foreign subsidiaries in its Entity List, as part of efforts to prevent the Chinese telecom company from doing business in America.
The Trump administration in recent months has increased its action against Huawei, preventing it from doing business in the US, as it believes the company known for its technological advancement in 5G is being used by the Chinese leadership in Beijing to serve their interest.
Huawei and its non-US affiliates have been added to the Entity List, because they pose a significant risk of involvement in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States, said a notification issued in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
The Indian entity listed in the notification is Huawei Technologies India Private Limited.
Huawei is an untrustworthy vendor and a tool of the Chinese Communist Party, beholden to its orders, the State Department said in a statement ...

US includes Huawei India in its export control Entity List

Highlighting India's long-standing history of promoting inclusive and peaceful societies, a top UN official on Tuesday voiced concern over incidents of "increased hate speech and discrimination" against minority communities in the country following the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, however, welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for unity and brotherhood in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic.
Dieng said in a note to the media on Tuesday that he is "concerned over reports of increased hate speech and discrimination against minority communities in India" since the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.
The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.
The CAA, which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to ...

UN official says concerned over 'hate speech and discrimination' against minorities in India

Expressing support for the Afghan peace process, special representatives from China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia welcomed the signing of the power-sharing deal between President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah and urged for a responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from the war-torn nation to ensure a smooth transition.
The Special Representatives on Afghanistan Affairs of the four nations issued a statement after a virtual meeting during which they exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan and the reconciliation process, Pakistan's Foreign Office said.
The special representatives reiterated respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and welcomed the agreement between the two main Afghan leaders, hoping that it would expedite the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.
Ghani and Abdullah on Sunday shared a power-sharing deal on Sunday after months of a bitter dispute over the results of last year's presidential election that ...

Special envoys welcome Afghan deal, urge for responsible withdrawal of foreign troops

The restart of the Bundesliga last weekend has drawn criticism from the sports community in football-mad Germany with world champion rower Oliver Zeidler branding it "a joke" and criticised an "insane system".
"It's a joke," Zeidler told AFP subsidiary SID.
"If children cannot go to daycare and caterers are not allowed to use their full capacity, then allowing millionaires on the pitch sends the wrong signal."
The 23-year-old, the 2019 world champion in single sculls, said he would like fans to turn their backs on the "insane system" and the "increasingly drifting parallel world" in which football exists.
The German Bundesliga became the first top European league to resume after the restart plan was approved by Angela Merkel's government.
Regular testing of players, games played behind closed doors and replacements wearing face masks are part of the strict hygiene measures.
Germany currently has 175,210 cases of the coronavirus, which has so far claimed over 8,000 lives.
However, ...

"A joke": Bundesliga restart draws criticism from German sports community

Canada and the US have agreed to extend their agreement to keep border closed to non-essential travel to June 21 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the border is a source of vulnerability, so the agreement will be extended by another 30 days. The restrictions were announced on March 18 and were extended in April.
Trudeau said Canada's provincial leaders clearly wanted to continue the measures.
This will keep people in both of our countries safe." Trudeau said.  U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. and Canada are doing well in handling the pandemic. But many Canadians fear a reopening.
The U.S. has more confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world, though its per capita numbers are well below many other nations.
Essential cross-border workers like healthcare professionals, airline crews and truck drivers are still permitted to cross. Truck drivers are critical as they move food and medical goods ..

Canada, US extend border closure to non-essential travel

Six positive cases for coronavirus have been detected at three Premier League clubs after players and staff were tested ahead of a return to training, England's top flight said Tuesday.
"The Premier League can today confirm that, on Sunday 17 May and Monday 18 May, 748 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19," the league said in a statement.
"Of these, six have tested positive from three clubs."
No details were released over which individuals or clubs are affected.
"Players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of seven days," added the league's statement.
Premier League clubs began returning to training in small groups on Tuesday after protocols on safety measures were signed off on Monday.
The number of positive cases represents just 0.8 percent of those tested and is consistent with similar widespread testing conducted by other major leagues hoping to complete the season.
Germany's top two divisions registered 10 positive cases out of ...

Page 48 - PTI Stories National