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BHUBANESWAR: Four-time world champions Pakistan will open their Hockey World Cup campaign against Germany today (Saturday) in Bhubaneswar, India.

Ranked 13th, Pakistan will be hoping to kick-start the tournament with a win after a chaotic build-up to the World Cup.

Pakistan have failed to reach the semi-final of the mega-event since 1994. The Germans will start as favourites against Pakistan who are ranked seven places below.

Both sides have met eight times in the World Cup with Pakistan winning five of their encounters (including the penalty shootout win at 1994 semi-final) and Germany coming out on top in the other three. In 1982 they came across twice, in a pool game and the final.

In 1973 Germany beat Pakistan 1-0 in the third-place playoff game, while Pakistan beat Germany 5-1 in the semi-final of the 1975 event. In the semi-final of the 1978 World Cup Pakistan defeated Germany 1-0.

In 1982, World Cup pool game Pakistan beat Germany 5-3 repeating the feat again in the final to lift the title 3-1.

The 1990 tournament saw Germany beating Pakistan 1-0 while Pakistan beat Germany on a penalty shootout in the semi-final of the 1994 World Cup.

The last time these two met was during the 2002 World Cup where Germany defeated Pakistan 3-2.

This year’s mega-event is being held in Bhubaneswar, India and features hosts India, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand and Pakistan and will continue till December 16.

The match between Pakistan and Germany will start at 6:30 PM Pakistan Standard Time.

KARACHI: The tenth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS 2018), one of the most prestigious, biennially held event in the country kicked off at Karachi’s Expo Centre on Tuesday.

The four-day defence exhibition which will continue till November 30 was opened by President Arif Alvi. Around 262 high-level delegations from 51 different countries are attending the exhibition.

Addressing the opening ceremony, the president asserted, “”Pakistan is a peaceful country and we look forward to resolution of all issues in a peaceful manner. War is no option.”

The president upheld, “Our weapons are for peaceful intent.” He stressed that “instability in regions is not the only paradigm we should be looking at”. “We have handled our borders strongly and sent a strong message to our neighbours,” President Alvi said.
IDEAS 2018

Organised under the aegis of Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO), the IDEAS 2018 brings together defence industry players from different parts of the world.

“There will be 522 exhibitors from 50 countries this year,” the media director of DEPO, Commodore Tariq Javed said in a media briefing.

Besides, Pakistan itself other major exporters of defence technology including China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA will have their exclusive country pavilions.

The guest countries are expected to showcase their latest technological innovations while a large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors from across the globe will attend the event.

The event will encompass series of activities ranging from world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces, the IDEAS Karachi Show to a counter-terrorism demonstration.

Networking and business expansions through business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs are said to be additional features of the exhibition.

Two Russian naval ships will also be visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018.

New inventions of Pakistan defence industry including those from Global Industrial Solutions, Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, Shibli Electronics,Universal Smart Military Systems and Daudson Armoury will also be inaugurated and showcased during the exhibition.

The first two days of the exhibition have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and networking activities. Commodore Tariq Javed said this will be followed by an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare therein from Pakistan’s perspective. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat would be the keynote speaker at the seminar with national and international subject matter experts to present their scholarly papers on the topic, he said.

Exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force respectively was said to be another significant component of IDEAS 2018.

An air show by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is also scheduled at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Sea View, on November 29.

The fourth day of the exhibition will be open for public. “It will, however, be only for those who may have already registered themselves online to visit the exhibition,” said Commodore Tariq Javed mentioning that security of the participants, national and international visitors besides public in general will not be compromised in any manner.
PAF to showcase indigenously manufactured products

This year PAF is participating in the mega event with locally made state-of-the-art military hardware, including Air Defence Command and Control Centres and integrated simulators, a press release issued by Directorate of Media Affairs of PAF said.

Manufactured by the personnel of PAF, these simulators are being used by PAF to modernise its operational training environment.

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra would also setup their stall at the venue along with a static display of JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak aircraft.

Further, PAF will also present an air show at Sea View on November 29. Besides JF-17 Thunder and F-16 fighter aircraft, Sherdil aerobatics team will present a scintillating aerial display.

Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts.

Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain.

“Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this,” bin Alawi said.

“The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as others states] and also bear the same obligations.”

His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos.

“We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” bin Alawi told the summit.

Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward the “deal of the century” (Middle East peace), he added.

Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process.

The three-day summit was attended by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and his counterparts in Italy and Germany also participated, but Jordan’s King Abdullah canceled his appearance after a flood that hit the Dead Sea region killed 21 people.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt welcomed the “warming ties & growing cooperation between our regional friends” in a tweet late on Friday.

(Net news/ media 92 news)As the guns fell silent in 1918, World War I victors all agreed on one thing: Germany must pay.

How much was a matter of debate but there was never any doubt that the post-war settlement enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles was going to be punitive.

Germany did pay, but it was not alone. A century on, the world lives with the consequences of a peace accord that, even at the time, was criticised as making another war inevitable in Europe, a continent which had dominated the world for centuries.

Economist JM Keynes, then a British Treasury official, resigned rather than be associated with a treaty he denounced as “Carthaginian” in its harshness. French Marshal Ferdinand Foch judged it “not so much a peace as a 20-year armistice”.

The “war to end all wars” turned out to be the exact opposite. By ensuring Germany´s economic ruin and political humiliation, the post-war settlement provided fertile ground for the rise of Nazism and its ensuing horrors.

Beyond Germany, the slew of peace treaties redrew the map of Europe, carving up vanquished empires and creating as many future conflicts as new countries and borders from the Baltic States to Turkey, via Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Famine, terror and the Cold War
Just as important, the war served as an incubator for the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Against a backdrop of desperate food shortages, military failure left the Tsarist state crippled and vulnerable to an assault by Lenin´s Bolsheviks, who then established the Soviet Union as an authoritarian Communist state.

Disastrous agricultural policies resulted in more than three million people dying in the famine of the early 1930s, millions more under the Great Terror unleashed by Lenin´s successor, Joseph Stalin.

By the mid-1930s, conditions were in place for the post-World War II division of Europe.

That in turn produced the Cold War and its associated splitting of the rest of the planet into Western or Soviet spheres of influence, and an unstable global equilibrium that helped fuel countless conflicts across the developing world.

While the political prestige of the main victors Britain and France was at a height in 1919, it did not hide the blossoming on the international stage of the United States, which would become the main economic, military and political power in the Western camp in the following decades.

Middle East overhaul
World War I also left a lasting mark on the Middle East. By encouraging an Arab revolt, Britain helped precipitate the collapse of the Germany-allied Ottoman empire.

A secular Turkey emerged and Britain and France assumed post-war control of much of the Arab world.

By then Britain had also made clear, through the 1917 Balfour Declaration, its support for the principle of a Jewish state on land it had pledged to the Arabs.

Finally, the Ottoman empire´s collapse also resulted in the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in what they steadfastly argue was a full-blown genocide.

A new social order
Events in Russia cast a long shadow over the rest of Europe, generating a fear of upheaval that helped accelerate reforms while also inspiring other revolutionaries, including the nascent fascist movement that was soon to seize power in Italy.

Worker uprisings in Germany and Hungary immediately after the war were crushed or collapsed internally.

But waves of militancy in other countries — in the Fiat factories of Turin, Italy or the shipyards of Scotland´s Red Clydeside — delivered major advances in terms of working conditions and the rights of trade unions to represent their members.

More broadly the aftermath of World War I was a period of rapid social progress in much of the industrialised world. This was most notable in terms of women´s right to vote, which, in the popular memory, is often seen as having been “earned” through female participation in war-related activities.

Less obvious positive legacies of a war which left millions maimed or traumatised were greater social acceptance of the disabled and the destigmatisation of mental illness.

The war also spurred new waves of creativity in the arts.

Poetry was revived as an art form across the world; Dadaism, the avant-garde art movement, was born and led in turn to Surrealism; and jazz, brought to Europe by American soldiers, became the soundtrack for the escapism and innovation of the “roaring ´20s”.

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia faced a growing chorus of incredulity Sunday over its belated explanation of how critic Jamal Khashoggi died inside its Istanbul consulate, as world powers demanded answers and the whereabouts of his body.

After a fortnight of denials, Saudi authorities admitted on Saturday that the Washington Post columnist was killed after entering the consulate on October 2, a disappearance that sparked outrage and plunged the Gulf kingdom into a spiralling international crisis.

Turkish officials have accused Riyadh of carrying out a state-sponsored killing and dismembering the body, with pro-government media in Turkey reporting the existence of video and audio evidence to back those claims.

Police have searched a forest in Istanbul where they believe his body may have been disposed of.

After initially saying Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, and then that they were investigating his disappearance, Saudi authorities backtracked and admitted the 60-year-old was killed in a “brawl” with officials inside the consulate.
Saudi Arabia admits Khashoggi died in consulate, fires two senior officials

But that narrative — combined with the absence of Khashoggi’s body — quickly drew scepticism and scorn from many, including staunch allies.

Ankara vowed to reveal all the details of a two-week inquiry as US President Donald Trump said he was unsatisfied with Saudi Arabia’s response to the columnist’s death while the EU, Germany, France, Britain, Australia, Canada and the UN also demanded greater clarity.

The controversy has put the kingdom — for decades a key ally in Western efforts to contain Iran — under unprecedented pressure.

It has also evolved into a major crisis for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a Trump administration favourite widely known as MBS, whose image as a modernising Arab reformer has been gravely undermined.
‘Changing stories’

Canada is among the latest countries to question Riyadh’s version of events.

“The explanations offered to date lack consistency and credibility,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement Saturday.

Senior Republican senator Marco Rubio was starker in his assessment.

“Saudi Arabia’s changing stories on #KhashoggiMurder is getting old. The latest one about a fist fight gone bad is bizarre,” he tweeted, renewing his call for sanctions against those responsible.

Ankara said it had a “debt of honour” to reveal what happened.

“We are not accusing anyone in advance but we don’t accept anything to remain covered (up),” said ruling Justice and Development Party spokesman Omer Celik.
US newspaper publishes ‘last piece’ by missing Saudi journalist

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said many questions remained unanswered while German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged transparency, adding that “available reports on what happened in the Istanbul consulate are insufficient.”

“This cannot stand. This will not do,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison added on Sunday.

The EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini and UN chief Antonio Guterres both called for a proper investigation and for the perpetrators to be held to account.

Trump initially said he found the explanation credible, but later expressed more scepticism — although he warned against scrapping a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the conservative kingdom.

“No, I am not satisfied until we find the answer,” he told reporters. “It was a big first step. It was a good first step. But I want to get to the answer.”

Saudi Arabia’s Gulf ally, the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the Saudi disclosures, as did Egypt.
Shielding crown prince

In the Saturday admission, Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb also announced a series of moves including against people linked to the crown prince, who Khashoggi had criticised in his writings.

He said 18 Saudis had been arrested and two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed had been sacked, together with three other intelligence agents.

The Saudi king also ordered the establishment of a ministerial body under the chairmanship of the crown prince — his son — to restructure the kingdom’s intelligence agency and “define its powers precisely,” Saudi state media said.
Trump says may consider sanctions over missing Saudi journalist Khashoggi

Saudi officials have roundly denied that the crown prince had any involvement in the affair.

But one suspect identified by Turkey was said to be a frequent companion of the young heir to the throne, three others were linked to his security detail and a fifth is a high-level forensic specialist, according to The New York Times.

The decision to overhaul the intelligence apparatus and sack members of Crown Prince Mohammed’s inner circle is designed to “distance the crown prince from the murder,” said analysis firm Eurasia Group.

In a recent off-the-record interview published posthumously by US magazine Newsweek, Khashoggi described the 33-year-old heir apparent as “an old-fashioned tribal leader,” but said he would have accepted an offer to work as his adviser.

“I’m not calling for the overthrow of the regime,” the one-time royal insider said. “I’m just calling for reform of the regime.”

Saudi Arabia warned it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed on the oil-rich kingdom over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the Riyadh stock market plunged on growing investor jitters.

From tech tycoons to media giants, a host of Western companies are now distancing themselves from the Gulf state, imperilling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman´s much-hyped economic reform drive.

US President Donald Trump has threatened the kingdom with “severe punishment” if Khashoggi, who has been critical of Prince Mohammed, was killed inside its Istanbul mission.

But Riyadh vowed to hit back on Sunday against any punitive measures.

“The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats or attempts to undermine it whether through threats to impose economic sanctions or the use of political pressure,” an official said, according to state news agency SPA.

The official said Riyadh would “respond to any action with a bigger one”, pointing out that the oil superpower “plays an effective and vital role in the world economy”.

According to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, the kingdom has “over 30 measures” it could implement.

Following Riyadh´s assertion it would retaliate, Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggi’s disappearance “with the utmost seriousness”.

“There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and — if relevant — to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account.”

This message had been conveyed “directly to the Saudi authorities”, said the statement, signed by Britain´s foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany´s Heiko Maas.

‘Baseless allegations’
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2.

Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi left the building safely and dismissed accusations that authorities had ordered his murder by a hit squad as “lies and baseless allegations”.

Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the mission and claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered.

A Saudi dissident in Quebec said on Sunday he believes the kingdom hacked his phone and listened to calls he had with Jamal Khashoggi prior to the journalist´s disappearance. “For sure, they listened to the conversation between me and Jamal and other activists, in Canada, in the States, in Turkey, in Saudi Arabia,” Omar Abdulaziz said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Saudi King Salman spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone on Sunday, the Saudi foreign ministry said, telling Erdogan: “No-one will get (to) undermine the strength of this relationship.”

According to a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named, Erdogan and the king discussed “the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi” and also emphasised the “importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation.”

In the US, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Saudi Arabia should take Trump´s warning over the journalist´s fate seriously.

“When the president warns, people should take him at his word,” he told Fox.

“If the Saudis are involved, if Khashoggi was killed or harmed or whatever, bad outcome here. He (Trump) will take action.”

Saudi stocks tumble
Investors have taken fright, prompting Saudi stocks to tumble by around seven per cent at one point on Sunday, wiping out their gains for 2018.

The kingdom´s Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) lost more than 500 points, diving by seven percent in the first two hours when trading resumed after the weekend, in panic selling reminiscent of the days after the global financial crisis in 2008.

It later clawed back some losses to close down 3.5 per cent at 7,266.59 points.

Mohammed Zidan, market strategist at Thinkmarket in Dubai, said the drop in Saudi stocks was linked to the uncertainty surrounding the Khashoggi affair.

“The withdrawal of top participants from the Riyadh investment conference has also negatively impacted traders´ sentiment,” he told AFP.

Business barons including British billionaire Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN, have pulled out of next week´s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.

JP Morgan CEO James Dimon and Ford chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday they would also not attend.

The cancellations have cast a pall over the annual summit at which Prince Mohammed wowed investors last year with talking robots and blueprints for a futuristic mega city.

The withdrawal of Uber´s Khosrowshahi from the event is particularly symbolic as the kingdom´s vast Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested $3.5 billion in the ride-hailing app.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India on Thursday looking to tie up billions of dollars in arms deals with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, likely irking the US, China and Pakistan in one fell swoop.

The Kremlin said before the two-day visit that the “key feature” would be the signing of a $5-billion deal for the advanced S-400 air defence system, despite US sanctions against countries buying Russian defence hardware.

India will ask the United States for a special waiver for the purchase — as discussed by their defence and foreign ministers in New Delhi last month — but Washington has signalled there is no guarantee it will accede.

The US is in a difficult position as it seeks to contain China through better ties with India, which like Washington has been unnerved by Beijing’s growing assertiveness.

Washington and New Delhi announced plans last month for joint military drills in 2019, and agreed on the exchange of sensitive military information.

But Russia remains India’s main arms supplier, and a string of new deals with the Asian giant would be a major win for Moscow — and a big snub to the US.

Putin and Modi, who appear to enjoy a personal rapport, are also likely to discuss a deal for four Krivak-class frigates worth $2 billion and 200 light utility Ka-226 helicopters pegged at $1 billion.

India and Russia have already concluded an Inter-Governmental Agreement for the choppers, 60 of which would be built in Russia and the rest in India.

“Russia is a time-tested friend. I am really glad some spine has finally been shown by India,” R.R. Subramanian, a Delhi-based strategic affairs analyst, told AFP.

“It’s about time we […] showed that we are not going to be pushed around by Washington.”

Experts say India needs the sophisticated S-400 system to fill critical gaps in its defence capabilities, in view of China’s rise and perceived threats from Pakistan, against whom India has fought three wars.

Indian Air Force Chief Birender Singh Dhanoa said on Wednesday that the S-400 and the 36 Rafale fighter jets purchased from France — a 2016 deal mired in political controversy — represent a “booster dose” for the country.
Boldly go

Putin, 65, and Modi, 68, are also set to discuss a possible second Russian-built nuclear power plant in India. Moscow is currently expanding India’s biggest nuclear power plant in Kudankulam.

Also on the agenda is Russian training for Indian astronauts as New Delhi aims to launch its first crewed space mission in 2022.

Rakesh Sharma, the only Indian to travel in space, did so on a Soviet spacecraft in 1984.

But military kit is the main focus.

India is the world’s biggest arms importer and is undergoing a $100-billion upgrade of its ageing hardware, much of it of Soviet vintage like MiG jets that regularly crash in the Indian countryside.

Russia is still India’s biggest arms supplier, and the two have had warm ties since Stalin died in 1953.

The US is now number two, though, supplying the Indian military with advanced hardware like Apache attack helicopters and negotiating the sale of armed drones.

Russia-India trade has slipped below $10 billion since 2014, as Modi has cultivated closer diplomatic and economic ties with Washington, while Russia has courted Pakistan and China.

But ties received a boost last year when Modi and Putin held a fruitful annual bilateral summit, followed by meetings in Astana and at the G20 in Germany. They also met in Sochi this year.

On the strategic front, Russia helped India become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this year and has backed New Delhi’s long-held demand for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Moscow is also pushing for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group of countries controling access to nuclear technology despite atomic-armed India not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address a press conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin on June 4, 2018. Photo: AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday as they seek to publicly brush past their list of differences and promote cooperation between their countries.

The visit by Merkel and members of her cabinet comes as part of German-Israeli government consultations held regularly, though the last one in 2017 was postponed, with scheduling conflicts cited as the official reason.

There were reports however that Merkel was unhappy with a law passed then related to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

There has been no shortage of controversy ahead of this week´s visit.

Last week at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu accused Europe of “appeasement” of Iran, a word evoking European capitals´ reluctance to stand up to Adolf Hitler in the run-up to World War II.

Netanyahu has been seeking to convince European countries to follow US President Donald Trump´s lead and withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

Germany, like the other signatories to the hard-fought deal, has sought to keep it alive, saying it is preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons for now.

Netanyahu has also hit out at what he calls the EU´s “absolutely crazy” demands of Israel, such as those related to his country´s occupation of Palestinian territory.

As a counterweight, he has sought sympathetic ears within the EU among countries whose leaders´ nationalist stances have been a thorn in Brussels´ side, including Hungary.

Despite those issues and others, both sides seem determined to have the visit run smoothly.

Germany says the discussions will focus on economic ties, innovation and technology, while noting that the government-to-government consultations have been in place for 10 years.

It mentions Merkel´s previous comments on the responsibility toward Israel that Germany bears as the perpetrator of the Holocaust.

Felix Klein, who heads the German government´s fight against anti-Semitism, will be part of the delegation. Fears of a resurgence in anti-Semitism in Germany are expected to be discussed.

“Germany and Israel are linked by a unique relationship,” Merkel said in her weekly podcast.

“And we are grateful that we are now close partners and friends.”

There will be no meetings with Palestinian officials during the one-day visit.
‘She’s lost hope’

EU nations have repeatedly criticised Israeli settlement building and warned over threats to remaining prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Germany has remained steadfast on the issue.

In recent weeks, it has joined calls against Israel´s planned demolition of a Bedouin village located in a strategic area of the occupied West Bank.

On Tuesday, residents of the village, Khan al-Ahmar, displayed signs with Merkel´s picture calling for help.

Yoram Ben-Zeev, a former Israeli ambassador to Germany, said Merkel would likely only “go through the motions” during the visit on issues related to the conflict with the Palestinians.

“I think that for the time being she´s lost hope that things can move,” Ben-Zeev told AFP, noting Trump´s confusing statements on the conflict, Netanyahu´s right-wing stance and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas´s unpopularity.

“Why should she put her hands in the fire?”

Netanyahu will likely want to speak about his country´s main enemy Iran while possibly requesting Merkel´s assistance in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Ben-Zeev.

Russia has been angered by the recent accidental downing of one of its planes by Syrian air defences during an Israeli raid in Syria.

It has delivered the advanced S-300 air defence system to Syria as part of its response, which could limit Israel´s strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah targets there.

A visit to Israel by Germany´s then-foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel in 2017 ended in acrimony when Netanyahu cancelled their meeting.

Netanyahu made the decision after Gabriel refused to call off meetings with rights groups critical of Israel´s government.

When Gabriel visited again in January, the two met but Netanyahu publicly corrected him over his stance on a two-state solution.

Gabriel had said he was “very thankful to hear that, of course, also the government of Israel wants to have two states” with secure Israeli borders.

Netanyahu interjected to reiterate his position that Israel must maintain security control in the Palestinian territories under any peace arrangement.

He declined to say whether that would mean Palestinian statehood or some lesser form of autonomy.

LAHORE: The 2019 World Cup Trophy will arrive in Lahore today as part of its world tour.

The trophy will tour Pakistan from October 3 to 13 with the most coveted prize in world cricket visiting Lahore in the first phase from October 3 to 5.

The trophy will then travel to Islamabad from October 6 to 8 and then Karachi from October 9 to 13.

The cricket World Cup will take place in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, 2019.

The trophy kicked off its world tour from the International Cricket Council (ICC) headquarters in Dubai on August 27.

In a statement issued by the ICC, “Travelling across five continents, 21 countries and over 60 cities the ‘most connected Trophy Tour ever’ will allow fans around the world to get up close to the coveted prize that will be lifted at Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 14, 2019.”

During the nine-month journey, the trophy will travel not only to countries taking part in the tournament but for the first time ever will go beyond traditional cricket heartlands and connect with fans in a further 11 countries where cricket is growing, including Nepal, USA and Germany.

The trophy will travel to Oman, the USA, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany before arriving in England and Wales on February 19, 2019 for a 100-day domestic Trophy Tour.

Roger Federer of Switzerland serves the ball during his men´s singles third round match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia on Day Six of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2018. Photo: AFP
Five-time champion Roger Federer found a new way to amaze Saturday as he reached the US Open last 16 with a 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Nick Kyrgios.

The second-seeded Swiss withstood an early onslaught from the unpredictable Aussie, firing 51 winners that included an unlikely forehand flicked around the net post that Kyrgios couldn’t believe.

“Definitely a bit of luck and good feet,” Federer said of the shot that denied Kyrgios a game point — although the Australian would go on to hold for 4-3 in the third set.

Federer had the luxury of a two-set lead when the duo’s most entertaining exchanges thrilled the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.

Things would have been much different if Kyrgios could have converted one of four break points in the seventh game of the opening set.

“I think if he breaks there he probably runs away and wins that first set,” Federer said. “He came out firing a lot of aces and feeling good.”

But Federer escaped, breaking Kyrgios to pocket the first set and dominating the second.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia reacts during his men´s singles third round match against Roger Federer of Switzerland on Day Six of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2018. Photo: AFP
“He’s an unbelievable frontrunner,” Kyrgios said. “When he gets in front, there’s not much you can do.”

Federer will be seeking a 13th appearance in the US Open quarter-finals when he plays Australian John Millman, who reached the last 16 of a major for the first time with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic was up late on Ashe against French veteran Richard Gasquet.

Djokovic beset by injury and self-doubt to start the season, broke out of the doldrums with his 13th Grand Slam title at the All-England Club.

He backed that up with a Cincinnati Masters title to put himself into the title mix along with Federer and world number one Rafael Nadal despite his relatively modest sixth seeding.

Kerber can’t get it done
The third round was the end of the line for men’s and women’s fourth seeds from Germany — Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber.

Kerber, the 2016 US Open winner tying to become the third woman in the last 20 years to win both Wimbledon and the US Open in the same season, was bundled out by Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Zverev, the 21-year-old sensation who has lifted titles in Munich, Madrid and Washington this year and reached finals in Miami and Rome fell, 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 to veteran compatriot Philippe Kohlschreiber.

EPTEMBER 01: Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia shakes hands with Angelique Kerber of Germany after their women´s singles third round match on Day Six of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2018. Photo: AFP
It was another Grand Slam disappointment for Zverev, touted as the youngster most likely to end the major dominance of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal.

Kohlschreiber will seek a quarter-final berth against 2014 runner-up Kei Nishikori after the Japanese downed Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Kerber’s defeat followed the early exits of world number one Simona Halep and No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki — who were both also seeking a second Grand Slam title of the year.

Kerber didn’t blame a domino effect for her departure.

“I just try to go my way, I’m not looking around who was winning or who was losing,” said the German, who was at a loss to account for a bad day at the office.

“You have sometimes days where you are trying everything, but it’s not really working as you wish,” she said.

Cibulkova, the 29th seed, moves on to face 2017 finalist Madison Keys, who shook off a slow start to beat Serbian Aleksandra Krunic 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France also departed, beaten 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) by Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, and Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova sprang a surprise, too, with a 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 7-6 (7/1) victory over 13th-seeded Belgian Kiki Bertens.

Suarez Navarro, seeded 30th, next faces 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2.

Vondrousova, through to a Grand Slam third round for the first time, will play Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-0 after taking out Wozniacki in the second round.