France’s Macron to host Putin at Versailles palace on May 29

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will host Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks at the Versailles palace on May 29, the French presidency said on Monday, as the countries look to reset strained relations.

The meeting, confirmed by the Kremlin, will coincide with an exhibition celebrating 300 years of Franco-russian ties since the visit of Russian tsar Peter the Great to France in 1717.The visit comes three weeks after Macron’s election and seven months after Putin, 64, cancelled a trip to Paris for the opening of a Russian cathedral complex near the Eiffel Tower in a spat with then president Francois Hollande.

The Socialist leader had said Russia’s bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.

Speaking last Friday, Russia’s ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said Moscow had a “positive perception” of Macron, 39, describing him as “very intelligent, realistic and pragmatic”. “I think he’s not very ideological compared with his predecessors,” Orlov told a meeting of business leaders. “With him we have more chances of moving forward

Putin and Macron would discuss combatting terrorism and settling the crises in Syria and Ukraine

than before.” The Kremlin said in a statement that the two men would discuss combatting terrorism and settling the crises in Syria and Ukraine.orlov, in an interview with the French business magazine Challenges, said Syria was “the most burning” issue. Macron “seems more determined than Francois Hollande,” he said, adding: “We now must go forward in (peace talks in) Geneva where France can play a greater role.”

He added of the new French president that “with him we’re dealing with a real head of state — brilliant, competent, intelligent.”

Macron’s election campaign was subject to repeated cyberattacks and his aides accused the Kremlin of mounting a “smear campaign” against him.

Thousands of emails and documents were dumped online by hackers shortly before midnight on the last day of campaigning and were then relayed by anti-secrecy group Wikileaks.

Paris prosecutors have opened a probe into the attack.

The Putin-macron meeting will follow Donald Trump’s first trip abroad as US president, with stops in Saudi Arabia and Israel as well as the NATO headquarters in Brussels and a G7 summit in Italy.

Orlov told the business leaders that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was convinced after meeting with Trump earlier this month that the US leader wants to normalise relations with Russia. SEOUL: Handcuffed, her inmate number 503 attached to her clothing, former South Korean President Park Geunhye begins her corruption trial tomorrow in the same courtroom where a brutal dictator was sentenced to death two decades ago. Once the most powerful person in the country, Park will now face judgment over charges of extortion, bribery and abuse of power that could send her to jail for life.

The hearing in room No 417 of the Seoul Central District Court will be Park’s first public appearance since she was jailed in the early hours of March 31.

Her arrest came weeks after she was removed from office in a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which upheld the December impeachment by lawmakers after massive street protests over the corruption allegations began last October.

Prosecutors boast of having “overflowing” evidence proving her involvement in criminal activities. They accuse Park, South Korea’s first female president, of colluding with a friend of 40 years to take about $26 million from the country’s largest companies through bribery.

She also allegedly allowed her friend to manipulate state affairs from the shadows.

The scandal has led to the indictments of dozens of people, including former Cabinet ministers, senior presidential aides and billionaire Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong, who is accused of bribing Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for business favors.

Park has apologised for putting trust in Choi but denied breaking any laws and accuses her opponents of framing her. Choi also denies wrongdoing.

She will join the former president in court tomorrow, and judge Kim Se-yoon is expected to decide whether to try them together or to split Park’s and Choi’s cases. Park’s lawyers have alleged the combined hearings could create bias.

Park has spent the past weeks locked in a small cell with a television, toilet, sink, table and mattress. She reportedly sees only a few visitors and her lawyers and mostly avoids television and newspapers.

As president, Park was criticized for what opponents saw as her imperial manner. ANKARA: Turkey summoned the US ambassador on Monday to protest “aggressive behaviour” by American security personnel and “security lapses” during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington last week.

The key visit was marred by bloody clashes that took place outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence after Erdogan met American counterpart Donald Trump. US officials said Erdogan’s bodyguards attacked a small group of proKurdish protesters gathered outside the building and the incident ignited a storm of controversy.

Turkey blamed the violence on supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who picked on pro-erdogan US- based Turks.

The ministry summoned John Bass, American ambassador in Ankara, to deliver a “written and verbal protest” over “the aggressive and unprofessional actions taken.”

The ministry accused US security personnel of acting “contrary to diplomatic rules and practices... towards the close protection team” of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in front of the Turkish embassy chancery in Washington.“it has been formally requested that the US authorities conduct a full investigation of this diplomatic incident and provide the necessary explanation,” it added. The ministry said it told Bass there were “lapses of security” during Erdogan’s stay. It hit out at “the inability of US authorities to take sufficient precautions at every stage of the official programme.” However, the ministry said it emphasised to Bass that this would not overshadow an otherwise “successful and important visit”.

US Senator said that the Turkish ambassador should be thrown out of the US.