Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters

President Donald Trump warned China on Saturday that it should strike a trade deal with the United States now, otherwise an agreement would be "far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term".
Washington and Beijing are locked in a trade battle that has seen mounting tariffs, sparking fears the dispute will damage the global economy.
Two days of talks ended Friday with no deal. China's top negotiator said the two sides would meet again in Beijing at an unspecified date, but warned that China would make no concessions on "important principles."
"I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win -- in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year," Trump said in a tweet Saturday.
"The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in U.S. history, & ...

Trade deal now or it will be 'far worse' after 2020: Trump warns China

Press Trust of India

Unheralded Atalanta moved third in Serie A with a 2-1 win over Genoa edging the Bergamo side closer to a first-ever Champions League qualification with two games left this season.
Musa Barrow and Timothy Castagne's second-half goals on Saturday sent Atalanta two points clear of Inter Milan, who play already-relegated Chievo on Sunday.
But AC Milan responded with Hakan Calhanoglu heading in the only goal against Fiorentina to boost Gennaro Gattuso's team's hopes of a return to elite European football for the first time since 2013-2014.
AC Milan are fifth, one point behind Inter, with Roma a further three points adrift in sixth before they host champions Juventus on Sunday.
"Today's win was really important, as the closer we get to the finish line, the more decisive each point becomes," said Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini.
"Mathematically, we have only a few points left to go, but it also puts us in a better state of mind going into the Coppa Italia final.
"The team has been ...

Atalanta go third but Calhanoglu keeps AC Milan in Champions League chase

PTI Automatic

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has said he feels supported by club president Josep Bartomeu and compared the reaction to their Champions League exit to a child having a tantrum.
Barca crashed out in the semi-finals on Tuesday after one of the greatest comebacks in the tournament's history saw them lose 4-0 to Liverpool and throw away a 3-0 advantage from the first leg.
The defeat has left Valverde's future in doubt but, ahead of their penultimate La Liga game of the season at home to Getafe on Sunday, he insists he wants to continue.
"I'm not thinking about it, not at all," Valverde said in a press conference on Saturday.
"I have the strength to continue, I'm fine, I'm like everyone else, what we want to do is take a step forward and face the situation, not hide under a stone.
"I've talked to the president and I've always felt supported by the club.
"I know that when there's a blow of this kind, everything becomes disjointed. It's as if you have to burn everything, like when our ...

Valverde feels Barcelona support despite Champions League collapse

Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman will fight for World Boxing Association welterweight supremacy on July 20, promoters have confirmed.
An announcement on the Fox television broadcast of the Premier Boxing Champions card featuring Jarrett Hurd and Julian Williams Saturday confirmed the bout.
Eight-division world champion Pacquiao, 40, is coming off a January victory over American Adrien Broner that took his record to 61-7-2 with 39 knockouts.
He holds the WBA's secondary "world" welterweight title.
In Thurman, he'll be taking on the WBA's "super world champion" in the division.
"In the biggest night of boxing this year, boxing's only eight-division world champion, Senator Manny 'Pac Man' Pacquiao, will take on undefeated WBA Welterweight World Champion Keith 'One Time' Thurman on Saturday, July 20 in a blockbuster showdown that headlines a Premier Boxing Champions on FOX Sports Pay-Per-View event," promoters said in a statement.
Venue for the bout was not ...

Pacquiao to fight Thurman in WBA welterweight showdown

Eight members of a "terrorist" cell were killed on Saturday in a police raid in Saudi Arabia's eastern Qatif region, a Shiite minority stronghold, state media reported.
The recently-formed cell was preparing to carry out "terrorist" activities against the security of the country, the official Saudi Press Agency reported citing a state security spokesman.
He said the men were killed after they fired shots at security forces, who had surrounded a residential apartment in the Sanabis neighbourhood.
"They were called on to surrender, but they did not respond and opened fire at the security forces... which resulted in their killing," said the spokesman.
No civilians or security forces were injured in the operation, he added.
Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province -- which includes Qatif -- has seen bouts of unrest since 2011 when protesters emboldened by the Arab Spring uprisings took to the streets.
The demonstrators have demanded an end to what they say is discrimination by the Sunni-dominated .

8 'terrorist' suspects killed in Saudi Arabia: state media

The newly-formed Brexit Party, which wants a clean break from the EU, has doubled its lead over other British parties in an opinion poll out Sunday on the European Parliament elections.
The Opinium survey in The Observer newspaper put the Brexit Party of eurosceptic figurehead Nigel Farage on 34 percent, doubling its lead over the main opposition Labour Party to 13 points in a fortnight -- and on course to get more votes than Britain's two main parties put together.
Labour, on 21 percent, has dropped seven points while the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats are in third place on 12 percent, up five points, on the corresponding poll from two weeks ago.
Prime Minister Theresa May's governing Conservatives are in fourth place on 11 percent.
Had Britain left the European Union as planned on March 29, it would not be taking part in the European Parliament elections, which will be held in the UK on May 23.
In the 2016 referendum on Britain's EU membership, 52 percent voted to leave while 48 ...

Brexit Party doubles UK European election poll lead

Local authorities have discovered the remains of 35 people in mass graves in violent Jalisco state, on Mexico's central Pacific coast, officials said Saturday.
Prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solis said most of the bodies were located at a ranch in the town of Zapopan.
Among the dead, "27 of the bodies had been tied up when killed. And we have two people identified at this time," Solis told a news conference.
The number of dead could still rise as the forensics team wraps up processing of the site, he warned.
"We are digging more than three meters deep. We are also using heavy machinery, with engineers to do structural calculations as we don't want to weaken some of the perimeter walls," he added.
Solis said the skulls of seven other people and other human remains were discovered on the premises of a house located in Guadalajara, Mexico's second most populous city.
Families with missing kin have rushed to authorities in Jalisco asking for details on the exhumations.
More than 40,000 people 

In Mexico, 35 bodies found in mass graves

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has described Tehran's threat to resume nuclear work -- in what would be a contravention of its commitments under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal -- as a "bad reaction", calling on Tehran to show "political maturity".
"Iran has had a bad reaction, faced with a bad US decision to withdraw from the Vienna agreements and impose sanctions," Le Drian said in an interview published online by Le Parisien, referring to the 2015 deal signed in Vienna.
"It is a pity that the United States is not honouring its commitments, Iran must show its political maturity," Le Drian added.
Iran announced earlier this month that it will stop respecting some limits on its nuclear activities imposed under the landmark 2015 deal.
The announcement came exactly a year after the US withdrew from the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with further measures threatened if the agreement's other signatories fail to mitigate the impact of renewed American 

French FM urges Iran to show 'political maturity' over US nuclear deal pullout

A former journalist who worked for the Afghan parliament was shot and killed in Kabul on Saturday, an official said, in the latest brazen attack to rock Afghanistan's capital.
Mena Mangal was well known in Kabul circles for her work presenting shows on several television networks, before she left journalism to become a cultural advisor to parliament.
According to interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, Mangal was gunned down in eastern Kabul in broad daylight.
An investigation was under way, but he did not provide further details.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Mangal's death, and it was not immediately known why she had been targeted.
Crime in Kabul has grown steadily worse in recent years, adding to the many stresses for residents in a city where terrorist attacks are a frequent occurrence.
Prominent women's rights activist Wazhma Frogh said Mangal had recently written on social media that she felt her life was threatened.  The plight of women in Afghanistan has ...

Female Afghan former journalist shot dead in Kabul

England just did enough to beat Pakistan by 12 runs in the second one-day international at Southampton on Saturday as they took a 1-0 in the five-match series World Cup hosts England, top of the ODI rankings, made 373 for three with Jos Buttler hitting 110 not out.
But Pakistan, thanks mainly to opener Fakhar Zaman's 138, stayed in the hunt before a target of 19 off the last over, bowled by Chris Woakes, proved just beyond them as they finished on 361 for seven.
The series, which started with Wednesday's no-result washout at The Oval, continues in Bristol on Tuesday.

England edge out Pakistan in 2nd ODI

Amid rising fears over US-Chinese trade tensions and mounting tariffs, President Donald Trump said Saturday that firms could easily avoid additional costs by producing goods in the United States.
"Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It's very simple!" he said Saturday on Twitter, echoing a similar message he sent Friday -- and even retweeted.
Trump had accused Beijing of reneging on its commitments in trade talks and ordered new punitive duties, which took effect Friday, on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports, raising them to 25 percent from 10 percent.
He then cranked up the heat further, ordering a tariff hike on almost all remaining imports -- USD 300 billion worth, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer -- from the world's second-biggest economy.
Those tariffs would not take effect for months, after a period of public comment.
The developments came as two days of US-Chinese talks ended Friday with no .

Trump to US companies: make products at home

"Yellow vest" protesters gathered in Paris and other French cities Saturday for the 26th straight week of rallies against President Emmanuel Macron, with scattered incidents of violence but overall a marked decline in the size of the crowds.
Several hundred people began marching near the Jussieu university in the centre of the capital, chosen to show solidarity with teachers who went on strike this week against an education reform project.
"It's going to be a day in support of parents, families and everyone in the education system," Jean-Christophe Valentin, a city hall worker at the rally, told AFP.
With protests outlawed on the Champs-Elysees and a large part of central Paris, organisers had called for "national" rallies in the cities of Lyon and Nantes.
Around 2,000 to 3,000 people turned out in both cities, AFP journalists estimated, confirming the decline in attendance since the protests began in November, when it hit a high of 282,000 across France.
The interior ministry, for ...

Sporadic clashes as 'yellow vests' rally in France

South Sudan's capital Juba will ban all clubs and limit bar hours due to alleged "immoral acts" taking place in night spots, the presidency said Saturday.
"Jubek state government has banned all the night clubs, bars and night music shows in Juba city," read a statement from the presidency.
The governor of Juba, Augustino Jadalla Wani, said in a video posted on Facebook that while nightclubs would be shut, bars would have their hours limited to early evening, and would be forbidden from operating during the day.
"Discos we ban it totally because what is happening there is really very dangerous for the future of this country," he said, adding that girls as young as 13-years old frequented these clubs.
"We are serious and we are going to make sure discos are not working in this country." In addition, he said the capital would make it obligatory for couples checking into hotels to produce a marriage certificate.
South Sudan is in its sixth year of civil war, with fighting largely halted ..

Ban the boogie: South Sudan's capital shuts nightclubs

A Canadian man handed the death penalty for drug smuggling in China will appeal his sentence Thursday, in a case that has deepened the diplomatic rift between Beijing and Canada.
The appeal comes against the backdrop of Beijing's anger over the December arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei, who faces a US extradition hearing in Canada on Wednesday.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced to death on drug trafficking charges in January.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the decision as "arbitrarily" chosen.
Schellenberg's appeal will take place Thursday morning at the Dalian Intermediate People's Court in northeastern Liaoning province, a source familiar with the case told AFP.
The Dalian court declined to comment. The provincial level Liaoning High People's Court did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
"Canada remains extremely concerned that China has chosen to apply the death penalty, a cruel and inhumane ...

Canadian drug smuggler to appeal China death sentence Thursday

Japanese car giant Toyota said Wednesday its annual net profit fell by a quarter despite record sales, blaming investment losses, but it forecast an upturn in the year ahead.
The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid said net profit came in at 1.88 trillion yen ($17 billion) in the year to March 31, down 24.5 per cent from the year before, which was its best-ever result.
The firm forecast net profit to rise 19.5 percent in the coming year to 2.25 trillion yen.
Toyota's bottom line for the past year was pushed down by some 294 billion yen in book losses on its investment portfolio.
Sales rose 2.9 per cent to a record 30.23 trillion yen in the last year, leaving an operating profit of 2.47 trillion yen, which was up 2.8 perc ent on-year.
For the current year to March 2020, Toyota expects operating profit will increase 3.3 percent to 2.55 trillion yen with sales forecast to sag 0.7 percent to 30 trillion yen.
Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting ...

Toyota annual net profit drops by a quarter

South Africans go to the polls on Wednesday in national elections which the ruling ANC party, in power since 1994, is the favourite to win despite corruption scandals and sluggish economic growth and record unemployment.
The ANC has won all the past five elections, but Wednesday's vote is set to be an electoral test on whether the party has staunched a decline in popularity.
The party is tipped to win the vote, but with a reduced majority and the result will reveal whether its new leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, can reverse growing resentment among South African voters.
Ramaphosa took over from scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma, under whose leadership the ANC saw the most significant drop in support since 1994.
He acknowledged on the eve of the election that "we are humble enough to admit our mistakes. We have taken decisive steps to fight corruption."
The election comes 25 years since Mandela led the African National Congress (ANC) to power in the country's first multi-racial ballot, ...

South Africans head to polls tipped to be won by ANC

After a turbulent first season at Chelsea, Maurizio Sarri goes into Thursday's Europa League semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt savouring some much-needed breathing space.
Sarri has spent most of the campaign engaged in a struggle to win over his sceptical players and fans.
At one stage, it appeared the Chelsea manager was fighting a losing battle as a miserable run of results sparked reports he was on the verge of the sack.
Amid reports that Chelsea's stars were sick of Sarri's inflexible game-plan, monotonous training sessions and habit of criticising them through the media, the nadir came in February when Blues goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted during the League Cup final defeat against Manchester City.
Sarri has side-stepped one crisis after another just deftly enough that he has emerged from a bleak winter with his prospects of avoiding the axe looking brighter after Chelsea secured a top four finish in the Premier League last weekend.
With a place in ...

Sarri buys time with unexpected top-four finish

Mauricio Pochettino dropped a tantalising hint that his work at Tottenham Hotspur might be done if they can come through their Champions League semi-final against Ajax on Wednesday and go on to win the trophy for the first time in their history.
Spurs must overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit when they take on the Dutch club in the return of their last-four tie in Amsterdam, with a final against Liverpool on June 1 the prize for the winners.
"It would be a fantastic way to close a five-year chapter and go home," said Pochettino, appointed coach of the north London club in 2014, at a press conference at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Tuesday.
When asked to clarify if the Argentine meant he would be willing to walk away if he were to deliver Champions League glory, Pochettino said his comments were "not a joke".
"To win the Champions League with Tottenham in these circumstances, this season, maybe I need to think a little bit about doing something different in the future, for sure, because to ...

Pochettino drops hint about future as Spurs prepare for Ajax showdown

Arsenal's collapse at the business end of the Premier League season means the success or failure of Unai Emery's first campaign now solely depends on lifting the Europa League and as a result sealing Champions League football.
The Gunners travel to Emery's old club Valencia on Thursday defending a 3-1 semi-final, first leg lead given to them by star strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the Emirates last week.
Arsenal's awful record on the road this season will give the Spanish side plenty of encouragement that they can overturn a two-goal deficit.
Emery's men conceded three times in losing at Wolves and Leicester in their last two away league games and were also defeated at BATE Borisov and Rennes before turning Europa League ties around at the Emirates.
Attack may therefore be the visitors' best form of defence in the cauldron of the Mestalla and Arsenal are at least getting what they paid for from Lacazette and Aubameyang.
"We played against two strikers ...

Arsenal lean on Lacazette, Aubameyang to save their season

Liverpool legends Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen hailed their former club's stunning Champions League semi-final fightback against Barcelona as Anfield's greatest ever European night.
Jurgen Klopp's side recovered from a 3-0 first leg deficit to reach the final with a pulsating 4-0 victory over the Spanish champions on Tuesday.
The historic escape act was one of the finest in Champions League history and Fowler believes it should be ranked as the best of Liverpool's European triumphs at their famous old stadium.
The striker placed Liverpool's dismantling of Lionel Messi and company above their dramatic 1977 European Cup quarter-final win over St Etienne, widely regarded as the previous pinnacle in the competition at Anfield.
"You know when you talk about the great nights, this is the best ever. It's absolutely incredible," Liverpool-born Fowler told BT Sport.
"Before the game, we were talking about all the superlatives we can about Messi. We can run out of superlatives for ...

Liverpool legends salute fightback for the ages

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed his side as "mentality giants" after producing one of the most stunning comebacks in Champions League history to beat Barcelona 4-0 and progress to the final for the second consecutive year on Tuesday.
The Reds not only had a mountain to climb on the scoreboard after last week's 3-0 loss at the Camp Nou, but were deprived of two of their most potent attacking weapons in Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino due to injury.
However, Divock Origi -- making a rare start -- and substitute Georginio Wijnaldum both scored twice as Barca surrendered a three-goal first-leg lead to exit the Champions League for the second straight season.
"With any other team I wouldn't think it was possible. They are really mentality giants," said Klopp. "It is unbelievable the season we had, the games we had, the injuries we had now.
"Going out there and putting in a performance like this on the pitch is unbelievable. I am really proud to be the manager of this team.
"What ...

AFP

AFP

Page 615 - Afp