Global stock markets fell on Friday as trade war worries returned with a vengeance when China said it would target US imports worth USD 75 billion with new tariffs.
The new round in the bruising trade war between Washington and Beijing caused a sudden trend reversal in European markets which had been showing solid gains in the morning.
Wall Street, which had been expected to open higher, also came off to a weaker start.
US stocks were "decisively lower", said analysts at Charles Schwab, "with the threat of new tariffs on USD 75 billion of US goods by China causing trade fears to ramp up".
Trade blues even overshadowed excited anticipation ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, which will be parsed for clues about the US central bank's plans for monetary policy.
There are hopes Powell will outline further cuts to borrowing costs, having done so last month for the first time since the financial crisis, but with the US economy in much better health than most others, 

Stock markets reverse gains as China targets US imports

PTI Automatic

Tunisian electoral and media authorities have banned three local outlets from covering the presidential election campaign, including a channel founded by key candidate Nabil Karoui.
The ban targets media mogul Karoui's Nessma TV, alongside Zitouna -- a broadcaster close to the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party -- and Radio Quran.
"It is not permitted for candidates in the presidential election... (to) conduct their electoral campaigns through these channels, who do not hold licenses and broadcast illegally", Nouri Lajmi, head of the High Independent Authority of the Audiovisual Commission (HAICA), told AFP on Friday.
The ban was agreed jointly by HAIFA and the Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE), Lajmi said.
The campaign is set to take place from September 2 to September 13 and the poll itself is scheduled for September 15.
Established in 2012 to regulate Tunisian media, HAICA has been fighting for months to impose the law on the three outlets.
Nessma TV, one of the ...

Authorities ban 3 broadcasters from covering Tunisian poll campaign

Mexico registered zero economic growth in the second quarter, according to revised data released Friday, meaning that Latin America's second-biggest economy dodged a recession even more narrowly than previously thought.
"Gross domestic product (GDP)... registered no change in real terms in the second quarter of 2019," Mexico's official statistics institute, INEGI, said in a statement.
INEGI had initially said in July that GDP expanded by 0.1 per cent in the period from April to June.
That puny-but-positive figure at least indicated the economy had returned to growth, after shrinking in the first quarter of the year.
Friday's revised figure, on the other hand, is a fresh bit of bad news for Mexico and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist who took office in December promising to kick-start the economy, among other things.
He has not gotten off to an encouraging start: the economy shrank by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, raising the specter of a ...

Mexican economy registers zero growth in Q2

A US military ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, the island's defence ministry said, a move likely to further irk Beijing in the wake of Washington's latest arms sales to Taipei.
The transport ship was conducting a "freedom of navigation" voyage, the ministry said in a statement without providing any details.
China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its sovereignty -- while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters.
It comes after the US State Department on Tuesday approved the transfer of 66 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan in a USD 8 billion deal, following another huge military hardware sale agreed just last month.
China has blasted the deal and threatened to sanction firms involved in the sale of the fighter jet, at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are already strained by a punitive trade war.
It was the seventh such passage by US Navy ships this year according to data released by Taiwan's defence ...

US ship sails through Taiwan Strait after fighter jet sale

Pakistan will host Sri Lanka for six limited over internationals starting next month, the two cricket boards said Friday, another step towards reviving international cricket in Pakistan after years of isolation.
In a joint statement, the cricket boards said the One Day International series will begin on September 27 in Karachi where they will play the other two ODI matches on September 29 and October 2.
The Sri Lankans will then move to Lahore for three T20 matches starting on October 5 and the final match will be on October 9, with the second match scheduled for October 7.
This will be Sri Lanka's second tour of Pakistan since their team bus was attacked by militants during a Test match in Lahore in March 2009.
Eight years later, the Sri Lankans returned to Pakistan for a Twenty20 international in Lahore in October 2017.
The two boards said the teams were due to play two Test matches in October and follow it up with the six shorter form matches in December, but decided to swap ...

Pakistan to host Sri Lanka for limited over series

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday agreed to "activate mutual efforts" to ease the situation in Syria's Idlib region, the Kremlin said.
"They discussed the issues of Russian-Turkish cooperation in the context of stabilisation of the de-escalation zone," the Kremlin statement said.
"They agreed to activate mutual efforts with the goal of liquidating the terrorist threat coming from this region," during a phone call initiated by Erdogan, it said.
The Turkish presidency said "ceasefire violations in Idlib by the regime, and its attacks have led to a grave humanitarian crisis."
"These attacks damage the efforts to regulate the Syrian conflict," it said.
The Syrian regime and Russia have been bombarding Idlib, the last major jihadist-run bastion in the country, for four months. Idlib is protected by a buffer zone patrolled by Turkish troops that was part of a deal reached last year.
But a Syrian regime offensive has this week ...

Putin, Erdogan to 'activate' cooperation on Syria: Kremlin

England captain Joe Root fell for his second successive duck as his side slumped to 54-6 at lunch on the second day of the third Test at Headingley on Friday.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer had taken a Test best 6-45 as England, looking to level the five-match series at 1-1, dismissed Ashes-holders Australia for 179 on Thursday's opening day after Root won the toss in overcast conditions.
But even though the blue and sunny skies above Headingley ought to have made life easier for the hosts' batsmen, there was always the chance England's fallible top-order would be undone by Australia's quicks.
Josh Hazlewood duly proved that theory correct by taking 3-26 in 11 overs, with England six down in 24.
World Cup-winning opener Jason Roy, new to Test cricket this season, took guard having made just 40 runs in four innings this series.
He fell for nine in familiar fashion on Friday when he edged a drive off Hazlewood to David Warner, holding the first off four catches at first slip.
Roy's exit saw ..

Root out for second straight duck as England collapse to 54-6 in third Ashes Test

French President Emmanuel Macron believes his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro lied to him at the G20 summit earlier this year on Brazil's stance on climate change, and France will now block a trade deal between the EU and South American nations.
"Given the attitude of Brazil over the last weeks, the president can only conclude that President Bolsonaro lied to him at the Osaka summit," a French presidential official Friday as a public row flared between the two leaders over wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest.
The official said Brazil's comments and policies over the last weeks showed that Bolsonaro did not want to respect obligations on climate change.
"Under these conditions, France will oppose the Mercosur (Free Trade Agreement with the EU) as it stands," the official added.

Macron believes Bolsonaro 'lied' on climate at G20: France

Rain and flash floods have killed 54 people in Sudan since the start of July and affected nearly 200,000, the United Nations said Friday.
The worst affected area is White Nile state in the south but Khartoum and other regions have also been affected.
"More than 37,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged," the UN said, quoting figures from the government body it partners with in the crisis response.
"Humanitarians are concerned by the high likelihood of more flash floods," it said, adding that most of the 54 recorded deaths were due to collapsed roofs and electrocution.
The floods are having a lasting humanitarian impact on communities, with cut roads, damaged water points, lost livestock and the spread of water-borne diseases by insects.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an extra USD 150 million were needed from donors to respond to the floods, in addition to the USD 1.1 billion required for the overall humanitarian situation in Sudan.

Sudan floods kill 54 since July: UN

Myanmar on Friday pushed blame for its second failed attempt to repatriate the Rohingya on Bangladesh, a day after not a single refugee turned up to return to conflict-scarred Rakhine state.
The Myanmar military waged a brutal crackdown on the stateless Muslim minority in western Rakhine state, leading to an exodus of more than 740,000 Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh.
The region remains riven by religious and ethnic conflict.
The Rohingya who stayed remain confined in squalid camps or villages with no freedom of movement.
Despite a 2017 pact signed by the two countries, the first repatriation efforts have failed, with virtually no Rohingya agreeing to return without guarantees of safety and citizenship.
A fresh push was to begin Thursday, with both governments vowing to repatriate nearly 3,500 Rohingya, but this again fell flat when no one turned up for buses intended to ferry them across the border.
Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued the blame game Friday.
"Smooth ...

Myanmar blames Rohingya repatriation failure on Bangladesh

Ireland may vote to block a trade deal between the EU and South American nations if Brazil fails to curb record fires ravaging the Amazon, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Friday.
"I am very concerned that this year has seen record levels of destruction of Amazonian forests by fire," he said in a statement.
"There is no way that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments."
Varadkar added Ireland "will monitor closely Brazil's environmental actions" over the next two years ahead of European Union ratification of the Mercosur deal.
Once in force, it will cover markets of 780 million consumers representing a quarter of global gross domestic product.
He also criticised the "Orwellian" stance of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of laying the blame for the fires on environmental campaign groups and NGOs.
Bolsonaro has also claimed activist groups are whipping up an "environmental psychosis" in a bid to harm Brazil's ..

Ireland may withold EU-Mercosur deal support over Amazon fires: PM

Britain will not change its backing of the 2015 deal on Iran's nuclear programme under new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a British diplomatic source said Friday, a day ahead of a G7 summit where the Iranian atomic drive is set to be a major sticking point.
"We are strong supporters" of the nuclear deal, said the official, asking not to be named. "I don't think you will find any change in the British government position." Johnson is expected at the G7 in Biarritz to hold talks with US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the landmark accord last year.
Trump and Johnson have a strong personal rapport and the British premier, who took office last month, has emphasised the importance of close relations with the United States as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.
But the British official said the nuclear deal, which Britain helped negotiate, is important to ensure that Iran never obtains an atomic weapon. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.
"It is important ...

No change in British backing of Iran nuclear deal under Johnson: UK official

Five young people were killed and dozens more injured in a stampede at a packed rap concert in the Algerian capital, a spokesman for the rescue services said Friday.
The stampede took place Thursday night as fans thronged an entrance of the August-20 Stadium where rapper Soolking was to perform.
The 29-year-old has won a huge number of fans in the North African country, his song "La Liberte" (Freedom) becoming a mainstay of anti-government protests that will enter their seventh month on Friday.
Captain Nassim Bernaoui of the civil protection unit told AFP there were five victims of the crush: "two young girls aged 19 and 22 and three boys aged 13, 21 and 16."
Dozens of people were lightly injured, Bernaoui said, 86 of whom were treated on the spot with another 32 taken to hospital.
Eight others were transferred to the Mustapha Pacha hospital in Algiers in critical condition, he added.
The APS news agency quoted the head of the hospital, Abdeslam Bennana, as saying the five killed in ..

Five killed in Algiers rap concert stampede

French security forces began locking down the resort town of Biarritz on Friday ahead of this weekend's G7 meeting, with the deployment of 13,000 officers seen as heavy-handed by opponents.
The popular tourist destination in southwest France in the picturesque Basque region is normally basking in its annual summer boom at this time of year.
Instead, its historic centre is now off-limits as US President Donald Trump and other leaders of the world's advanced economies prepare to fly in for three days of talks that start on Saturday.
Surfers have been ordered out of the water on the central beach, the Grande Plage, while the train station and airport are set to close later Friday for the weekend.
"The aim is to have maximum security with a minimum of disruption. We will not tolerate any unrest. If it happens, we will respond," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in Biarritz this week.
And even though French authorities have banned demonstrations in Biarritz, there remains fears of 

Yellow vests, anarchists put French police on G7 alert

Climate change activists chanting slogans and waving banners demonstrated boisterously outside Brazil's embassy in London on Friday, urging President Jair Bolsonaro to do more to halt the fires in the Amazon rainforest.
Several hundred protesters gathered opposite the central London embassy, unfurling signs reading "stop destruction now", "save our planet" and "I want you to panic".
They chanted "climate justice" and "save the Amazon".
English teacher Luisa Brown, 36, told AFP: "We want to do something to stand in solidarity with people of Brazil.
"Also, we have children and would like for them to grow up in a world which has its lungs."
Protests over the Amazon fires were also planned for other European cities.
Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of this year -- the highest number for any year since 2013. Most were in the Amazon.
The data comes as Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, faces growing criticism over his ..

European demos held over Amazon fires

A blast from a homemade bomb killed one Israeli and seriously wounded two of her family members in an attack near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, officials said.
Israeli security forces were deployed throughout the area of the attack near the settlement of Dolev, northwest of Ramallah, in a search for suspects.
Israeli medics had earlier reported that a 17-year-old had been critically wounded in the attack.
President Reuven Rivlin and her hometown of Lod in central Israel both announced her death.
Medics from the Magen David Adom rescue service gave the ages of the two others as 46 and 20. Israel's army said the victims were a father and his two children.
The two other victims were taken by helicopter to a hospital, the army said.
"Three civilians who were in a nearby spring were injured in an IED blast," the army said in a statement.
Further details were not yet available on the incident.
Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlers and security forces occur ...

Homemade bomb kills Israeli, wounds two others in West Bank

French President Emmanuel Macron was to hold talks Friday with Iran's foreign minister ahead of a G7 meeting where he will attempt to soothe tensions between Tehran and Washington at what risks being a stormy summit.
"We're at a critical moment," Macron warned on Wednesday, acknowledging that Iran is "laying out a strategy for exiting the JCPOA," the name of the 2015 accord reining in the country's nuclear ambitions.
He admitted this week there were "true disagreements" over Iran within the G7 club of rich nations, which are meeting in France this weekend.
But Macron said he would "try to propose things" in the talks with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday.
Tensions have soared in recent months over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, with both Tehran and Washington claiming to have shot down rival drones in the Mideast.
Iran has also locked horns with Britain, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards seizing a British tanker in July after Britain ...

Macron meets Iran FM to push for G7 detente

Malaysian authorities seized over three tonnes of cocaine and ketamine worth USD 161 million, officials said Friday, the biggest drug seizure in the country's history.
Customs officials and police had found 467 kilograms (1,030 pounds) of ketamine and about 3,200 kg of cocaine in raids on Sunday.
The ketamine was discovered first in a shop in the town of Puncak Alam, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur, with 13 men arrested, including nine foreigners, according to a government statement.
Interrogation of one of the men led officials to carry out another raid in the nearby city of Shah Alam, where several packages of cocaine were discovered.
The cocaine was believed to have been shipped from Ecuador and the ketamine from Pakistan, with both coming through the country's main port.  The drugs had an estimated value of 676 million ringgit (USD 161 million), officials said.
Early investigations found they were to be exported to other countries, although officials did not say ...

Malaysia makes record USD 161 mn drug seizure

A blast from a homemade bomb wounded three people in an attack near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Israel's army said, while medics reported one of the injured in critical condition.
"Three civilians who were in a nearby spring were injured in an IED blast," the army said in a statement.
"One of the civilians is being treated at the scene while the remaining two were evacuated by (army) helicopter to a hospital for further medical treatment."
The incident occurred near the Israeli settlement of Dolev, northwest of Ramallah.
Medics from the Magen David Adom rescue service said a 17-year-old was in critical condition and being treated at the scene. It gave the ages of the two others as 46 and 20.
Israeli security forces were deployed throughout the area, AFP journalists reported.
Further details were not yet available on the incident.
Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlers and security forces occur sporadically in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the .

Homemade bomb wounds three near Israeli settlement: Army

A Dutch WikiLeaks associate who went missing under mysterious circumstances a year ago probably had a kayaking accident, Norwegian police said Friday, adding that his body had not yet been found.
Arjen Kamphuis, a cybersecurity expert then aged 47, had not been seen since he left his hotel in the northern Norwegian town of Bodo on August 20, 2018.
His disappearance had triggered a wave of conspiracy theories on social media, ranging from CIA and Russian involvement to a mission to carry out a secret project for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Then police discovered a kayak in the same area where a fisherman had found some of Kamphuis's personal belongings floating in the waters about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Bodo.
"The police have concluded that Mr Kamphuis most likely suffered an accident in the evening of August 20, 2018, while kayaking in the Skjerstad Fjord a few kilometres north of the village of Rognan in Nordland County in northern Norway, and was subsequently lost at 

Missing WikiLeaks associate had kayak accident in Norway: police

French winegrowers are on tenterhooks as they wait to see whether Donald Trump will follow through with his repeated threats to raise tariffs on French wine in retaliation for the new GAFA tax.
As the leaders of the world's richest countries gather for the G7 opening Saturday, winegrowers in host nation France fear they will have to suffer consequences from the new French tax on the US tech giants.
Representatives of the GAFA corporations -- Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon -- on Monday railed against the tax aimed at plugging a loophole that allows the firms to pay next to nothing in countries where they make huge profits.
They called the tax "discriminatory" and a "troubling precedent".
Meanwhile, while President Trump has repeatedly warned of retaliation, on August 9 suggesting a 100 per cent tax on French wine imports to the United States, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
Trump, though a teetotaller, had tweeted in late July that "American wine is better than French ...

AFP

AFP

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