San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major US city to effectively ban the sale and manufacture of electronic cigarettes.
The city's board of supervisors unanimously endorsed legislation which backers said was necessary due to the "significant public health consequences" of a "dramatic surge" in vaping among youths.
The ordinance says e-cigarette products sold in shops or online in San Francisco would need approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, which none currently has.
The city's mayor has 10 days to sign the legislation, which she has said she will do.

San Francisco becomes first major US city to ban e-cigarette sales

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Oil services firm TechnipFMC has agreed to pay a total of USD 296 million to resolve allegations the company paid bribes in Brazil and Iraq, the US Justice Department announced Tuesday.
A former Technip consultant also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
US Attorney Richard Donoghue, the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York, said the outcome showed Washington would pursue people and companies "who seek to win business through corrupt payments to foreign officials.

TechnipFMC fined USD 296 million over Brazil, Iraq bribes

Rap superstar Cardi B on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to attempted assault charges, including two felonies, filed in connection with her alleged involvement in a New York strip club brawl.
"Not guilty, sir," the 26-year-old artist said before a packed courtroom in Queens, looking swank in a fitted, low-cut navy blue and pink double-breasted pant suit and razor-sharp straight bob.
The brash rapper appeared calm throughout the proceedings, her hands clasped behind her back, showing off her talon-esque hot pink nail extensions.
The arraignment came days after a grand jury indicted Cardi B in connection to the incident, with court documents showing 14 charges including two felonies against the rap superstar.
On August 29, 2018, Cardi B was in the Angels Strip Club in Queens when her group reportedly lobbed bottles, chairs and a hookah smoking device, which police said bruised a female employee in the legs.
Cardi B allegedly ordered an attack on two sisters working at the club because one of 

Rapper Cardi B pleads not guilty to strip club brawl charges

A court on Tuesday found the French state had failed to take sufficient steps to limit air pollution around Paris, a legal first in the country hailed by environmental campaigners as a victory for victims of dirty air.
The case at the administrative court in Montreuil outside Paris was brought by a mother and daughter who argued their health had been harmed by the air in a notoriously congested area of the city.
But the court also said it did not find any direct link between the pair's health problems and failures of the state, throwing out their demand for damages.
Backed by NGOs, the complaint was the first brought by individuals against the French state over health problems caused by air pollution.
"The state committed a fault by taking insufficient measures concerning the quality of air," the court said in a statement.
It said that between 2012 and 2016, the state had failed to take sufficient measures to bring concentrations of certain polluting gases below allowed limits.
"For ..

In legal first, court faults France over air pollution

Nearly 20,000 migrants have been rescued from the Sahara desert in Niger over the past three years, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.
The IOM said that on June 15 alone it rescued 406 migrants from 14 West African countries, including seven women and four children.
"We walked for hours under the scorching desert sun with no water or idea where we were heading," the IOM quoted Amadou, a 27-year-old from Mali, as telling rescuers.
The UN organisation said the most recent rescues had mainly included people from Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry and Mali.
"Despite having assisted so many groups of migrants, I still find it difficult every time a new group arrives, with newborns in their arms, faces covered in sand and their clothes ripped apart," said Alhassane Adouel from IOM.
"After so many arrivals, it still breaks my heart to see what they have to go through." Trucks carrying migrants north frequently breakdown in the desert or become lost, with smugglers ...

20,000 migrants rescued from Sahara in three years: IOM

Jared Kushner on Tuesday called for the Palestinians to accept the "Opportunity of the Century" that he says will pump USD 50 billion into a stagnant economy but told them they must first agree if they want a peace deal.
Opening the long-awaited Middle East peace initiative of his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, at a conference in Bahrain, Kushner insisted that the administration has not "given up" on the Palestinians, whose leadership is boycotting the US-led "economic workshop".
"Agreeing on an economic pathway forward is a necessary pre-condition to resolving the previously unsolvable political issues," Kushner said as he opened the two-day event before a gala dinner.
In a data-driven presentation in the style of a corporate executive, the 38-year-old adviser to Trump and family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the need for a political solution.
"To be clear, economic growth and prosperity for the Palestinian people are not possible without an 

Kushner pitches Palestinians 'Opportunity of Century' -- if they want peace

America's grinding trade wars are darkening the economic horizon and could justify a decrease in interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday.
But Powell also insisted the central bank was "insulated" from political pressures despite President Donald Trump's persistent criticism of the Fed chairman.
Powell's speech in New York amplified the central bank's recent message that policymakers are ready to step in to protect the world's largest economy, which next week will mark its longest expansion on record but is showing increasing signs of strain.
Markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to cut rates next month as Trump's trade battles drag on and the global economy slows -- both factors that have begun to dent business confidence and investment in the United States.
But Powell was careful to temper this message, warning that the central bank would not "overreact" to individual data points and short-term swings in sentiment that could quickly evaporate.
"The ...

US Fed 'grappling' with need for rate cut: Powell

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday the US central bank will be closely scrutinizing Facebook's newly announced cryptocurrency Libra with an eye toward potentially regulating the virtual coin.
Powell became the latest official to voice concern over the global virtual currency unveiled last week by Facebook and an array of partners which aims to lower transaction costs and bring more services to people without access to the banking system.
"We're looking at it very carefully," Powell said at an event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. "Given the possible scale of it, I think that our expectations from a consumer protection standpoint, from a regulatory standpoint, are going to be very, very high." The Libra coin plan, backed by financial and nonprofit partners, represents an ambitious new initiative for the world's biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream.
But the plan has already prompted ...

US Fed to look 'carefully' at Facebook virtual coin Libra

Canadian manufacturer Bombardier announced Tuesday the sale of its CRJ Series regional jet program to Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for USD 550 million, effectively exiting the commercial passenger aircraft sector.
The deal with Mitsubishi, which has been seeking to break into aviation, comes after Bombardier recently sold a majority stake in its new medium-range C Series jetliners to Airbus, which has been renamed A220, and its Q Series turboprop line to a Canadian investment fund.
The sale of the 75- to 100-seat CRJ line -- along with its service and support networks in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto; Bridgeport, West Virginia; and Tucson, Arizona -- is expected to close by the end of 2020.
In a statement, Bombardier said Mitsubishi will also assume liabilities totalling USD 200 million, and take over all maintenance, support, refurbishment, marketing and sales activities for the aircrafts.
Mitsubishi president Seiji Izumisawa said the CRJ will compliment the ...

Bombardier sells regional jet division to Mitsubishi for $550 mn

French restaurant Mirazur run by Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco was Tuesday crowned the world's best restaurant at an awards ceremony put on by British trade magazine Restaurant.
In second spot in the World's 50 Best Restaurants was Noma in Copenhagen, and in third was Asador Etxebarri in Spain.
An ecstatic Colagreco called his team to the stage and exclaimed "Wow, wow, wow" after his victory was announced.
"Thank you my team. You deserve it, all these years. Thank you friends for supporting us during these last 13 years," he said at the awards ceremony in Singapore.
In fourth place was Bangkok's Gaggan, whose owner-chef Gaggan Anand has won praise for his modern spin on his native Indian cuisine.
Restaurant magazine, owned by William Reed Media, launched the awards in 2002 and they are now as coveted by restaurants as Michelin stars, although the methodology used to select the best restaurants has faced criticism, especially from several French chefs who say it remains unclear.
There 

French restaurant run by Argentine chef crowned world's best

In Greenland, the scourge of child sexual abuse has emerged as a pressing concern with nearly one in three having suffered abuse in their childhood, and efforts to combat it hampered by a persistent conspiracy of silence.
The sparsely populated autonomous Danish territory is confronted with major social problems, including high levels of suicide and alcoholism. The government highlights alcohol and hash abuse as the number one health concern.
But the recent airing of a documentary on sexual abuse on Danish public television has put the spotlight on the issue, renewing the Arctic island's commitment to tackling abuse of children.
"I was about six years old... I was woken up in the middle of the night because someone was touching me. My hands were tied, my knees were tied and he abused me," said Anna-Sofie Jonathansen in the documentary.
She is a resident of Tasiilaq, a remote village in the south-east where the documentary said nearly half of adults under 60 years of age have been ...

Greenland seeks to break silence around child sexual abuse

Sri Lanka's police Tuesday stepped in to prevent a local council from banning Muslim traders from a weekly fair in another backlash from the devastating Easter attacks blamed on Islamic extremists.
The local government body had ordered minority Muslims not to participate in the farmer's market in the town of Dankotuwa, 47 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital.
"We got a court order against the Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Saba (council) because we can't allow this Islamophobia," local police Superintendent K. A. B. Kumarapeli told AFP by telephone.
He said the local council chairman representing a political party affiliated to former president Mahinda Rajapakse ordered Muslims to stay away, saying their presence could trigger violence in the region.
The region has a high concentration of Christians who suffered the most in the April 21 suicide bombings that targeted three churches and three hotels. At least 258 people were killed and nearly 500 wounded in the attacks.
However, police ...

Sri Lanka police overturn local council ban on Muslims

The British government voted a budget of ?778million ($990 million) for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Tuesday, double the amount contributed when the event was held in Glasgow five years ago.
The Games, in which 5,000 athletes from 71 nations compete in 19 sports between July 27 and August 7, will be the biggest sporting and cultural event staged in the West Midlands.
Birmingham beat Liverpool in a truncated all-English race to host the event in December 2017 after original host Durban was stripped of the Games after running into financial problems.
Central government will provide three quarters of the funding (?594 million) with a further ?184 million to be raised by Birmingham City Council.
The pot of public money will underwrite the city's preparations for the 11 days of sport and provide key funding for the Games' two main building projects: the redevelopment of Alexander Stadium and the construction of an aquatics centre.
"Having our budget confirmed is a key ...

?778 million budget passed for Birmingham Commonwealth Games

West Indies paceman Sheldon Cottrell has handed plenty of batsmen their marching orders at the Cricket World Cup and seen his unique celebration win an army of followers online.
A serving member of the Jamaica Defence Force, Cottrell's march and salute has been his trademark since bursting onto the international scene in 2013 and the distinct send-off has caught the imagination of fans at the World Cup.
The left-arm quick returned figures of 4-56 in his team's five-run loss to New Zealand on Saturday to take his tally for the tournament to nine.
"It's a military-style salute. I'm a soldier by profession. Me saluting is just to show my respect to the Jamaica Defence Force," Cottrell told the BBC.
"I do it every time I get a wicket. I practised it for six months when I was training in the army," he said.
Among the many videos of the Cottrell imitation on Twitter, a clip of a young boy and girl copying the bowler's salute in a British street has gone viral.
The person who shot the video .

World Cup fans stand to attention for Cottrell's salute

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he hopes for a peace deal with the Taliban "before September 1", speaking as he made his first visit to Kabul since Washington launched talks with the insurgents last year.
Pompeo met with President Ashraf Ghani as well as General Scott Miller, who leads NATO's Afghanistan mission and the US war effort in the country, as well as other high-level Afghan officials during the unannounced one-day visit to the Afghan capital.
He said peace was Washington's "highest priority". Last September the US began a fresh push to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table to end America's longest war.  "I hope we have a peace deal before September 1, that's certainly our mission set," Pompeo said during the visit.
US officials have previously said they are hoping for a deal before the upcoming Afghan presidential elections, which have already been delayed twice and are now set for September.
The next round of talks between the Taliban and the US are set .

Pompeo hopes for Afghan peace deal 'before September 1'

Mitchell Santner said New Zealand could not afford to take "dangerous" Pakistan lightly as they attempt to seal their place in the World Cup semi-finals in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Unbeaten New Zealand have 11 points from five victories and a rained-off game while Pakistan must win to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the last four.
"Obviously, they've had a pretty good record over here," said the spinning all-rounder on the eve of the match at Edgbaston.
"They won the Champions Trophy a couple of years ago and they've come off a pretty good win against South Africa." "We're at the top at the moment (before the England v Australia result), but we can't take any games lightly."
Santner praised Pakistan's varied bowling attack.
"Their bowling attack on the whole is very good. They've got some very good seam bowlers as well as spin bowlers. We're aware of their strengths, and I think Wahab (Riaz) back into their team is very good for them."
"(Mohammad) Amir is bowling very well .

New Zealand's Santner warns over 'dangerous' Pakistan

President Donald Trump warned Iran that an attack on US interests would trigger an "overwhelming" response and could bring "obliteration."
Amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, Trump tweeted that "any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force.
In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration." Iran's leaders only understand "Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world," Trump said in the tweet.

Trump warns of 'overwhelming' retaliation to any Iranian attack

Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood questioned New Zealand's ability to win the biggest matches ahead of Wednesday's World Cup clash in Birmingham.
Kane Williamson's side are undefeated at the tournament in England and Wales, with five wins in six games, plus one no result.
In contrast, Pakistan must win the match at Edgbaston if they are to maintain a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals after a poor start to the tournament in England and Wales.
Mahmood, a former allrounder who played in three World Cups for Pakistan, said New Zealand had a good record early in tournaments but often wilted under pressure at the business end.
"New Zealand's history is such that they get there winning, winning and then when a crunch situation comes up, in the semi-final, or quarter-final, they don't do that well," Mahmood said on Tuesday.
"It can happen to any team. Everyone has to have a bad day. Hopefully New Zealand have it tomorrow."
New Zealand, who have never won a World Cup, have ...

Pakistan's Azhar questions New Zealand toughness ahead of World Cup clash

US National Security Advisor John Bolton warned Iran Tuesday against disrupting a Bahrain conference on Middle East peace, amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran.
"Iran has engaged over the past couple of months in a long series of unprovoked and unjustifiable attacks," Bolton said.
Tehran last week shot down a US spy aircraft which it says entered Iranian territory, a claim denied by Washington.
The US has also accused the Islamic Republic of involvement in a series of attacks on Gulf shipping, accusations Iran refutes.
The United States on Tuesday launches a conference in Manama unveiling the economic aspects of its plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
"In that kind of environment, threatening the conference in Bahrain is always a possibility," Bolton said during a visit to Jerusalem.
"It would be a big mistake for Iran to continue this kind of behaviour," he added.
Bolton was responding to a journalist's question about possible Iranian interference, but no evidence has .

Bolton warns Iran against disrupting Bahrain conference

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated Tuesday throughout the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the launch of the US administration's Middle East peace plan.
Around 3,000 people protested in Nablus in the northern West Bank, with dozens attending demonstrations in Ramallah and Hebron, AFP journalist said.
The US is set to roll out economic proposals at a conference in Bahrain later Tuesday aimed at paving the way towards a peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
But the Palestinians are boycotting the event, accusing President Donald Trump's administration of pro-Israel bias.
Rallying calls from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and other groups raised fears of widespread clashes, but they did not materialise.
A general strike was called for in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and most shops and restaurants in the enclave were closed, an AFP journalist said.
Demonstrators at a small female-led protest in northern Gaza burned pictures of Trump, an AFP ...

Palestinians protest, strike over US peace plan

After a wait of two and a half years, the US administration is launching its Middle East peace plan Tuesday - with an economic initiative that the Palestinians are boycotting.
For this most unconventional of US presidents, Donald Trump's Middle East peace-making bid is unlike decades of previous US attempts.
There is no talk of land swaps, a Palestinian state or other political issues that have vexed diplomats for decades.
The Trump administration says it will get to the political issues later.
For now, its plan will open over cocktails and dinner Tuesday evening in Bahrain at an intimate two-day "economic workshop" at a luxury hotel overlooking the Gulf.
Led by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, the "Peace to Prosperity" framework dangles the prospect of USD 50 billion of investment in the Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab countries over 10 years.
Listing a slew of projects to develop roads, border crossings, power generation and tourism, the framework sets an .

AFP

AFP

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