
-
Israel says expands Gaza offensive to seize 'large areas'
-
Curry drops 52 as Warriors win, Jokic bags career-high 61 in Denver loss
-
South Korea mobilising 'all resources' for violence-free Yoon verdict
-
Myanmar quake victim rescued after 5 days as aid calls grow
-
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti tax fraud trial set to begin
-
Warner showcases 'Superman' reboot, new DiCaprio film
-
'Incredible' Curry scores 52 as Warriors down Grizzlies, Bucks edge Suns
-
Asian markets edge up but uncertainty rules ahead of Trump tariffs
-
Nintendo's megahit Switch console: what to know
-
Nintendo to unveil upgrade to best-selling Switch console
-
China practises hitting key ports, energy sites in Taiwan drills
-
Oil, sand and speed: Saudi gearheads take on towering dunes
-
All eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP after ruthless Red Bull move
-
'Image whisperers' bring vision to the blind at Red Cross museum
-
Hay shines as New Zealand make 292-8 in Pakistan ODI
-
Other governments 'weaponising' Trump language to attack NGOs: rights groups
-
UK imposes online entry permit on European visitors
-
How a Brazilian chief is staving off Amazon destruction
-
Meme politics: White House embraces aggressive alt-right online culture
-
China launches military drills in Taiwan Strait
-
US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote
-
Trump 'perfecting' new tariffs as nervous world braces
-
Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms
-
French court says Le Pen appeal ruling could come before presidential vote
-
The battle to control assets behind Bosnia crisis
-
Prabhsimran powers Punjab to IPL win over Lucknow
-
Mass layoffs targeting 10,000 jobs hit US health agencies

Germany's Scholz seeks to build trust in Washington debut
Olaf Scholz makes his Washington debut as German chancellor on Monday, trying to dispel doubts over Berlin's resolve to stand up to Russia in the standoff over Ukraine.
As Scholz seeks to emerge from the long shadow of his veteran predecessor Angela Merkel, the new German leader will meet US President Joe Biden with several points of friction on the table.
While the US under Barack Obama relied heavily on Merkel's unique rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Moscow's annexation of Crimea, Scholz has come under fire on both sides of the Atlantic for his vague stance in the current crisis.
Biden has taken pains to restore relations with Europe after the mutual recriminations of the Donald Trump years, but critics say Scholz has made that task more complicated.
Berlin's refusal to consent to shipping arms to Ukraine, its often muddled messaging on potential sanctions and above all its refusal to call off the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to provide cheap Russian gas to Germany have all vexed Washington.
Analyst Constanze Stelzenmueller at the US think tank Brookings Institution said "contradictory statements" from Berlin on Russia had sparked "confusion, disappointment and harsh criticism" in Washington.
"Scholz's visit to Washington is an opportunity to fix his coalition's battered image," she told AFP.
- 'Lost their marbles' -
The chairwoman of the German parliament's defence affairs committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, was even more alarmist about the young government's standing in Washington.
"In some quarters in the US there is the impression that the Germans have lost their marbles," she told AFP.
Scholz took office in December at the helm of a complex three-way coalition between his Social Democrats, the ecologist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.
They have turned in a shaky start faced with surging coronavirus infections and the looming prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz has often struggled with his messaging given divisions within the government and the influence of "Putinversteher" (Putin sympathisers) in his own party who tend to view Washington more suspiciously than Moscow.
The German coalition agreement sets out a "restrictive" arms export policy, arguing that sending weapons into conflict zones is more likely to fuel than resolve them.
But several European partners as well as the US administration have argued this leaves Ukraine particularly vulnerable as tens of thousands of Russian troops mass on its borders, and could tempt Putin rather than placate him.
- 'Stand up for security' -
Despite occasional rifts, close transatlantic ties have remained a cornerstone of German foreign policy since World War II.
It is for this reason that the sour tone with Washington has opened Scholz up to stinging rebukes.
Johann Wadephul, a leading MP with Merkel's Christian Democrats, told AFP he had received emails from colleagues in Washington "raising doubts about Germany's reliability".
John Kornblum, a former US ambassador to Germany, noted Berlin and Washington had long fostered different notions of stability.
"Germany is a country which does not like to take risks, it's a country which feels very uncomfortable if other people take risks," he told a Johns Hopkins foreign policy podcast recently.
On several major issues, he said, "Germany has in fact not been very much in line with its European partners for some time. And this Russia threat, the Putin strategy of course is the most dramatic."
On the thorny issue of Nord Stream 2, Scholz's language has evolved and he now concedes that the project would be axed should Russia invade.
However security experts on both sides of the Atlantic say Moscow's moves may be far less cut-and-dried than that and Scholz and Biden will have to discuss other red lines.
The German leader has also committed to diplomacy and will travel to Ukraine and Russia later this month after close consultations with European partners.
Michael Roth, head of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee and a close SPD ally of Scholz's, said he suspects that some criticism of Scholz is rooted in Republican efforts to "discredit" Biden's rapprochement drive.
"The most important thing is that we show President Biden that Europeans are willing to stand up for security, peace and stability in all of Europe," he told AFP.
Y.Nakamura--AMWN