- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
Putin says ready for compromise after talks with Macron on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready for compromise and would look at proposals put forward by French leader Emmanuel Macron in talks on Monday, while still blaming the West for raising tensions over Ukraine.
Emerging from nearly five hours of talks in the Kremlin, the two leaders voiced hope that a solution could be found to the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Repeatedly thanking Macron for coming to Moscow, Putin said at a joint press conference that the French leader had presented several ideas worth studying.
"A number of his ideas, proposals... are possible as a basis for further steps," Putin said, adding: "We will do everything to find compromises that suit everyone."
He did not provide any details but said the two leaders would speak by phone after Macron meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.
Macron said he made proposals of "concrete security guarantees" and that Putin had "assured me of his readiness to engage".
The French presidency said the proposals include an undertaking from both sides not to take any new military action, the launching of a new strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the Ukrainian peace process.
Putin again denied that Russia was acting aggressively, despite Western fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine after Russia amassed tens of thousands of its troops on its borders.
"It is not us who are moving towards NATO's borders," he said, in reference to alliance deployments in eastern Europe.
- Biden threatens gas pipeline -
The meeting in Moscow came at the start of a week of intense diplomacy over the Ukraine crisis, with US President Joe Biden also hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington on Monday.
Biden made a categorical vow at the talks to shut down the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow launches an invasion.
"If Russia invades -- that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again -- then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2," Biden told a joint White House news conference with Scholz, following bilateral talks in the Oval Office.
"I promise you," Biden said, "we will bring an end to it."
US officials say Moscow has assembled 110,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and is on track to amass a large enough force -- some 150,000 soldiers -- for a full-scale invasion by mid-February.
Russia insists it has no plans to attack and has instead put forward its own demands for security guarantees.
It is demanding a permanent ban on Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, joining the US-led alliance and that the bloc roll back its military presence in eastern Europe.
Macron, whose country currently heads the European Union has tried to position himself as the key EU figure in negotiations with Russia.
- UK, German troops to deploy -
Germany's new government has come under criticism from Ukraine and some in the United States over accusations that it is not fully engaging with US-led efforts to push back against Russian military pressure on Ukraine.
But Biden and Scholz in Washington insisted there were no disagreements on how to deal with Moscow.
"We're working in lockstep to further deter Russian aggression in Europe," Biden said in the White House's Oval Office.
"We are close allies and we act in a coordinated and united way, when it comes to responding to the current crises," Scholz told reporters earlier Monday, saying Russia would pay "a very high price" if it attacks Ukraine.
Biden has reacted to the Russian troop build-up by offering 3,000 American forces to bolster NATO's eastern flank, with a batch of the troops arriving in Poland on Sunday.
Britain said Monday that 350 more British troops would be sent to the Polish border and Germany announced that another 350 of its soldiers would go to Lithuania.
While Scholz is in Washington, his foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in Kyiv along with her Czech, Slovak and Austrian counterparts for a two-day visit.
Visits to Moscow by the British foreign and defence secretaries are also expected at the end of this week.
T.Ward--AMWN