WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Stephen Moore, who was picked by him to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, has decided to withdraw from consideration.

The president's announcement came after weeks of tussling with opponents over Moore's past comments about women, his personal financial issues, as well as his similar view with the president on Fed policy.

"Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process," Trump tweeted.

3 May 2019; DW: Sudan's public prosecutor has ordered the interrogation of ousted President Omar al-Bashir on charges of "money laundering and financing terrorism."

Al-Bashir was removed from power and arrested by Sudan's military on April 11 after months of protest against his 30-year rule. The military and opposition leaders are now in the process of setting up a transitional government.

VIENNA, May 2. /TASS/: Moscow decided to simplify the procudere of obtaining Russian citizenship for Donbass residents because the Ukrainian authorities are depriving them of their legal rights, Russia's Deputy Envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Dmitry Balakin said on Thursday.

Balakin said Russia regrets to see how Kiev deprived Donbass residents of almost all their legal rights and excluded them from political and social-economic processes in Ukraine, thus making them de facto disenfranchised people on the territory of their own country.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 (Xinhua): U.S. experts in law and international business on Thursday expressed positive views on China's pledge to lower tariffs and import more goods and services from other parts of the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement about China's plan to have more imports "is, of course, welcome," and its willingness to provide a "level-playing field" is an important factor in bilateral trade, said Mei Gechlik, a law professor at Stanford University, on Thursday.

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 2 (Xinhua): Brazil legend Pele on Thursday paid tribute to Lionel Messi after the forward scored his 600th goal for Barcelona during his team's 3-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

The 31-year-old Argentina international reached the milestone with a curling 30-yard free-kick, his second goal of Wednesday's match at the Camp Nou, as Barcelona edged toward a place in the final.

"I would like to congratulate you, Lionel Messi, for your 600th goal. What a way to score it. Sensational," Pele said in a Twitter post.

3 May 2019; DW: Jamal Khashoggi, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Jan Kuciak: Their murders are among the most serious attacks on press freedom and a symptom of a deep-rooted problem, says Christophe Deloire of Reporters Without Borders.

Almost one person in two in the world does not have access to freely reported news and information. As Europeans, we can count ourselves lucky that we enjoy "this freedom that allows us to verify respect for all the other freedoms." 

BERLIN, May 2 (Xinhua): Patrick Herrmann has extended his expiring contract with Borussia Monchengladbach, the Bundesliga outfit confirmed in an official statement on Thursday.

The attacking midfielder has penned a three-year contract extension and will stay with the "Foals" until June 2022.

"I play for Borussia for so long and everyone knows who much my heart is attacked to this club. So I am all the happier that I am allowed to play here for at least three more years," Herrmann told the club's official homepage.

Gadchiroli, May 2 (PTI) Maharashtra Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal Thursday denied that there was any intelligence input regarding the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district in which 16 persons including 15 policemen were killed Wednesday.

He, however, admitted that there were some lapses in operational procedures which led to the tragedy.

To a question by reporters here, he said the IED blast that killed the policemen and a civilian driver could be the handiwork of Korchi and Kurkheda Dalams of the Naxals operating in the area.

Three unidentified Kashmiris have been killed by Indian security forces in an alleged encounter in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, an Indian Army spokesperson said.

An encounter broke out between Kashmiri separatist and the Indian security forces in the Imam Sahib area of Shopian following a cordon and search operation in the early hours, the Indian Army official alleged.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — A man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and another woman nearly 25 years ago was executed Thursday evening in Georgia.

Scotty Garnell Morrow’s approximate time of death was 9:38 p.m., Warden Benjamin Ford told witnesses at the state prison in Jackson. Morrow, 52, was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend Barbara Ann Young and her friend Tonya Woods at Young’s Gainesville home in December 1994.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Cyclone Fani has made landfall on India’s eastern coast as a grade 5 storm, lashing the emptied beaches with rain and wind gusting up to 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour.

The India Meterological Department says the “extremely severe” cyclone in the Bay of Bengal hit the coastal state of Odisha around 8 a.m. on Friday.

India’s National Disaster Response Force says around 1.2 million people have been evacuated from low-lying areas of Odisha and moved to nearly 4,000 shelters.

3 May 2019; DW: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sought to rally the military on Thursday in the wake of an unsuccessful coup against him.

He called on the armed forces to oppose anyone involved in opposition leader Juan Guaido's latest attempt to oust his regime.