- President Donald Trump says China's new ban on all fentanyl-related substances will be a "game-changer" in the deadly US opioid crisis, but experts warn it may just shift production elsewhere -- particularly Mexico.
Under pressure from Trump, China on May 1 banned all chemical analogues of fentanyl, the synthetic drug at the heart of an overdose epidemic that is killing tens of thousands of people a year in the United States.
Trump won the fentanyl concession as part of his trade war with China, which is allegedly the world's leading supplier of the powerful narcotic, along with designer drugs that mimic it and the precursor chemicals used to make all of them.
But law enforcement officials and anti-narcotics experts warn the ban will probably just push production to other countries -- including the United States' southern neighbor, whose powerful drug cartels are already deeply immersed in fentanyl trafficking.
Blame it on the "balloon effect", the idea that banning a drug is like ..

Amid fentanyl crackdown, Mexico risks 'balloon effect'

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President Donald Trump escalated his surprise tariff threats against Mexico on Friday, triggering alarm about the likely economic fallout, spooking global markets and raising the prospect of US trade wars on multiple fronts.
Trump announced his readiness to levy tariffs on all Mexican imports, beginning at five percent starting June 10 and rising to as high as 25 per cent in coming months until Mexico substantially reduces the flow of illegal immigration.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said early Friday that his country was "doing our job" to stop the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States, and warned Trump that hitting his neighbor with tariffs would be a lose-lose game.  But the US president only doubled down on his threats of punishment, saying in a new flurry of tweets that "Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades."
The impact of new tariffs would be devastating for Mexico, which sends 80 percent of its exports to the US.
Lopez ...

Trump doubles down on Mexico tariff threat, markets rattled

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday renamed the country's airports to commemorate tsars and space pioneers as well as writer Anton Chekhov and operatic tenor Dmitri Hvorostovsky after an online poll that stirred up controversy.
Russia's Sheremetyevo airport will now be named after national poet Alexander Pushkin, known for witty works such as "Eugene Onegin," while the airport of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on far eastern Sakhalin Island will take Chekhov's name, even though he visited the island only to write about the grim conditions in its tsarist-era prisons.
An online poll launched last autumn asked the public to nominate and vote on famous figures whose names could be given to around 40 airports across Russia.  Until now, almost all the country's airports have been named after their geographical location, usually the names of villages.
There was controversy over the renaming of the airport of the western city of Kaliningrad, formerly part of Germany, as many locals ...

Putin renames airports after famous Russians

The United Nations Security Council decided Friday to cut 1,000 troops from a regional peacekeeping force in Somalia, despite a rise in attacks by the Al-Shabaab militia in Mogadishu.
The council voted unanimously to draw down the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), but left the door open for the council to revisit that decision if violence worsens.
The resolution put forward by Britain reduces AMISOM troops by 1,000 to a ceiling of 19,626 by February 28, but maintains 1,040 police.
The force's mandate was extended for a year.
Under a transition plan agreed in 2017, AMISOM will gradually hand over security to Somali forces, but the African Union has raised concern about the extra responsibility as the country heads to elections next year.
The United Nations is seeking to shore up stability in Somalia, where Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab fighters have been seeking to topple the government for a decade.
The Shabaab were chased out of Mogadishu in 2011 by AMISOM, and have had to ...

UN to cut 1,000 troops from Somalia force

Roger Federer became the oldest man to reach the French Open fourth round in 47 years on Friday by winning his record 400th Grand Slam match in straight sets against Norwegian Casper Ruud, while women's second seed Karolina Pliskova was dumped out.
The 37-year-old Federer, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015, saw off the 63rd-ranked Ruud 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) on Court Suzanne Lenglen despite an action-packed fourth set.
It is the 14th time the 20-time Grand Slam champion has reached the second week in Paris, and he will face either French wildcard Nicolas Mahut or Argentina's Leonardo Mayer for a quarter-final spot.
"It was hard to find weaknesses in his game, so I'm relieved, I'm now going to have a good shower and it's going to be great," said the 2009 winner, who hit 52 winners and served 11 aces past Ruud, whose father Christian played the 1999 French Open when Federer made his debut.
"It was a nice match to play in."
Federer is the oldest man to book a last-16 ..

Federer reaches French Open fourth round, Pliskova out

Suspected Islamists in northern Mozambique killed at least 16 people on Tuesday in their deadliest attack since they launched an insurgency in the remote region in 2017, local sources told AFP on Friday.
A Mitsubishi truck was ambushed as it was carrying passengers and goods on a dirt road in the coastal district of Macomia, they said. Confirmation of the fatalities only emerged on Friday.

16 killed in Mozambique insurgency attack: local sources

Beijing warned Friday that the US should not underestimate China's military as the top defence officials from both countries met on the sidelines of a security forum.
As Beijing and Washington vie for influence in a region hosting potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan met Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe for 20 minutes Friday.
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said they "reached some consensus" on issues of common concern, adding that Wei "particularly emphasised the Taiwan issue".
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides having being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.
Beijing is regularly angered by US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait, which it considers its territorial waters.
"He (Defence minister Wei) pointed out that the US has recently had a series of negative words and ...

Beijing warns US not to underestimate Chinese military

Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko retained control over his political party on Friday as the former president and his allies seek to win back support two months before a crucial parliamentary vote.
Last month the pro-Western politician suffered a crushing defeat in presidential elections to comedian Volodymyr Zelensky amid popular anger over the country's separatist war in the east, corruption and poverty.
Poroshenko's party has since launched a major re-branding effort to recover from his ballot box defeat ahead of the snap polls set for July 21.
Last week the party -- called Petro Poroshenko's Bloc Solidarity -- announced it was changing its name to European Solidarity.
Poroshenko was elected leader of the renamed party on Friday.
"I am very grateful to you for electing me head of the European Solidarity party," Poroshenko said minutes after the unanimous vote that was broadcast live by a private Ukrainian channel.
The party -- seen as Poroshenko's political vehicle -- was previously led ..

Ukraine ex-president elected party chief ahead of polls

Global efforts to impose a unified tax policy on Google, Facebook and other internet giants have cleared a major hurdle ahead of a G20 summit in Japan, officials said Friday.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that 129 countries had signed off on a roadmap to grab a fairer tax share of the companies' booming sales.
"Important progress has been made through the adoption of this new programme of work, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to do as we seek to reach, by the end of 2020, a unified long-term solution to the tax challenges posed by digitalisation of the economy," OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said in a statement.
The OECD said Gurria would seek the blessing of G20 finance ministers for the roadmap when they meet in the Japanese city of Fukuoka on June 8-9.
That meeting is in preparation for a full G20 summit involving US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and their peers in Osaka at the end of June.
The 

G20 digital tax takes step closer

More than 200,000 Muslims took part in the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of annexed east Jerusalem, as Israel heightened security following a Palestinian stabbing attack.
The religious authority in charge of the compound, the third holiest site in Islam, said in total 260,000 worshippers took part in the lunchtime prayers.
The prayers came only hours after a Palestinian teenager stabbed two Israelis inside the Old City before being shot dead by Israeli security.
In a separate incident, another Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as he sought to sneak into Jerusalem, reportedly to pray at Al-Aqsa.
In Jerusalem itself, a 19-year-old Palestinian stabbed one Israeli near the Damascus Gate and another near Jaffa Gate on the other side of the walled Old City, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
One of the Israelis was in a critical condition and the other suffered serious wounds, he said.
"Police ...

200,000 pray at Jerusalem mosque after stabbing attack

Confusion mixed with despair in Afghanistan Friday after former president Hamid Karzai mistakenly declared that the Taliban had announced a new ceasefire in the war-torn country.
The Taliban were quick to dismiss reports of the truce minutes after Karzai made the announcement on Facebook, saying the former president appeared to be referring to a message about last year's Eid holiday ceasefire.
"It is hoped that media and social media users do not become victims of (this) mistake," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Many Afghans -- exhausted by decades of war and violence -- have pinned their hopes on another truce for the next week's Eif holiday, marking the end of Ramadan.
Karzai's announcement unleashed a brief spell of confusion across the country, with media outlets firing off tweets and breaking news reports announcing the alleged truce.
"Former Afghan president shame on you for posting baseless news," wrote Facebook user Amanullah Kamran.
"You are making fun of yourself .

Former Afghan leader mistakenly claims new Taliban truce

West Indies crushed Pakistan by seven wickets in a one-sided World Cup match at Trent Bridge on Friday, with the two-time champions showing they are a resurgent force in the one-day game.
Fast bowler Oshane Thomas took four wickets as Pakistan were bundled out for their second-lowest World Cup total of 105 in just 21.4 overs on the second day of the competition in England and Wales.
West Indies cruised to victory in just 13.4 overs, Chris Gayle top-scoring with 50. He reached his half-century off 33 balls with three sixes and six fours before he was dismissed off the next ball he faced.
During his innings Gayle, who calls himself the "Universe Boss", broke the record for the most sixes hit in World Cup history.  He now has 40 maximums, three more than retired South African batsman A B de Villiers.
Nicolas Pooran smashed paceman Wahab Riaz for a huge six over the square-leg boundary to give the 1975 and 1979 world champions an ideal start to their campaign.  "It was a good game. I ...

Thomas, Gayle lead West Indies World Cup rout of Pakistan

Pope Francis on Friday praised the "sacrifices" of Romanian emigrants on the first day of his trip to the country, where rampant unemployment and poverty have pushed millions of youngsters to seek better lives abroad.
Francis said the exodus had led to the "depopulation of many villages" in Romania, which still faces major socio-political problems despite joining the EU in 2007.
"I pay homage to the sacrifices endured by so many sons and daughters of Romania who... have enriched those countries to which they have emigrated, and by the fruit of their hard work have helped their families who have remained at home," he said in a speech broadcast on national television.
Francis arrived in Bucharest earlier Friday with a message of integration for faith communities and a post-election European Union following nationalist gains.
Thousands of people had gathered along the capital's main boulevards to wave to Francis on his way to the presidential palace, with many TV channels broadcasting ...

Pope praises 'sacrifices' of Romanians seeking fortune abroad

Iran's stocks of key nuclear materials are still within the limits set by a 2015 deal with world powers, the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report on the matter said Friday.
Despite an announcement from Iran earlier this month that it no longer considered itself bound by the agreed restrictions on stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water, stocks of both did not exceed the ceilings set in the 2015 agreement, the report said.

Iran's stocks of nuclear materials still within limits: IAEA

Rescuers were searching Friday for a four-year-old girl missing after a boating accident in eastern France that killed three people, local officials said.
The inflatable boat capsized on Thursday in the Rhine River that marks the border between France and Germany, just off the French town of Gerstheim and close to a hydro-electric power station and dam.
French and German rescuers were employing divers and using helicopters in a bid to find the missing girl.
Officials said the four people -- part of a group of seven Germans and Romanians who had come from Germany -- had taken to the water in defiance of clearly posted warnings against swimming and boating.
A man, 29, and a girl aged 6 both died when the boat capsized, while a 22-year-old man from the same group also lost his life when he jumped in to rescue them.
Two other witnesses of the accident who dived in a bid to save the victims managed to swim to safety.
Notices in the area in German and French clearly state that water ...

Three drown, 4-year-old missing in France boat accident

A US court on Thursday weighed the fate of the last abortion clinic in Missouri, which risks becoming the first state in 45 years without access to the procedure amid a nationwide push to curtail reproductive rights.
As a judge heard arguments, crowds of protestors took to the streets of Missouri's largest city St. Louis, warning of dire consequences if the state of six million loses its sole abortion provider.
"No one should decide what women do with their bodies," said Jane Wees Martin, a 70-year-old painter who was among the hundreds holding up signs reading "My vagina, My choice," and "Reproductive autonomy is a human right."
Denouncing a "war against women," health management student Neha Hanumanthiah, 19, said "I did not realise how conservative my state was."
The state is pursuing a case against Planned Parenthood, which provides women's reproductive services throughout the United States, arguing that the group failed to make its contract doctors cooperate with an investigation 

Protests as court weighs fate of Missouri's sole abortion clinic

China on Friday said it would release a blacklist of "unreliable" foreign companies and individuals, hitting back after the United States targeted telecom giant Huawei in their escalating trade war.
The announcement was made a day before Beijing is due to increase tariffs on USD 60 billion in US goods, capping a week marked by rising Chinese threats of retaliation after President Donald Trump blacklisted Huawei.
The US Commerce Department placed Huawei on an "entity list" on grounds of national security on May 16, a move that curbs its access to US-made components it needs for its equipment. A 90-day reprieve was later issued.
China's commerce ministry announced on Friday that it will release its own list of "unreliable entities".
Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said the list will include "foreign enterprises, organisations or individuals that do not comply with market rules, deviate from a contract's spirit or impose blockades or stop supplies to Chinese enterprises for non-commercial ...

China to create company blacklist as US trade war escalates

A plastic bag ban comes into force in Tanzania on Saturday, as Africa leads efforts to stem the tide of plastic blighting the farthest reaches of the globe, and depths of the ocean.
Tanzania is banning the importation, production, sale and use of plastic bags, becoming the 34th African country to implement such restrictions, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
"Let me be clear on this, once it reaches June 1, the government is not planning to add any more days and we will not tolerate anyone who will be caught using them. No plastic bag will be allowed in the country," Tanzania's vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan said when announcing the move in April.
Tanzania -- whose wildlife is a popular tourist draw -- has also issued a notice to travellers that they will have to "surrender" plastic bags in their possession before entering the country.
"The government expects that, in appreciation of the imperative to protect the environment and keep our country clean 

Tanzania latest African nation to ban plastic bags

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte voiced rare frustration with China Friday, urging progress on a code of conduct for the contested South China Sea, which he warned was becoming a "flashpoint".
Duterte was delivering a speech at an economic forum in Tokyo, but veered off script with remarks about the resource-rich sea, over most of which China claims sovereignty despite competing claims from the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam.
"I love China... but it behooves upon us to ask, 'is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?" he said.
Beijing and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have for years tried to hammer out a code of conduct to govern the disputed waters, but the process has been slow.
"I am sad and bewildered -- not angry, because I cannot do anything," Duterte said. "I just hope China will come up with this 'conduct' soon."
"The longer it takes," he said, the greater the chance the sea would be a "flashpoint of troubles", ...

Philippines' Duterte warns over South China Sea 'flashpoint'

Thousands of Iranians joined annual rallies in support of the Palestinian cause on Friday, rejecting a US peace plan President Donald Trump has dubbed the "deal of the century".
The Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations, which are held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, were launched by Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and are held by pro-Iranian groups across the region.
Demonstrators burnt US and Israeli flags and effigies of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
They held up posters reading "Quds, the eternal capital of Palestine" and "no to the deal of the century." The long-awaited "deal", which has yet to be unveiled by its architect, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say Trump's policies have shown him to be blatantly biased in favour of Israel.
High-ranking officials attended the Tehran rally, including President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Javad ..

Iran rejects US Mideast peace plan at Quds Day rally

Oshane Thomas took four wickets as West Indies skittled Pakistan for their second-lowest World Cup total of 105 at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Thomas finished with four for 27 while Jason Holder 3-42 and Andre Russell 2-4 shared the spoils as Pakistan, sent in to bat, were demolished in just 21.4 overs.  Opener Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam were the joint top-scorers with 22 each in an abysmal display of batting.
The only other batsmen to reach double figures were Wahab Riaz, who scored 18, and Mohammad Hafeez (16).
Riaz put on 22 for the last wicket -- the highest stand of the match -- with Mohammad Amir, who made three not out.
Pakistan's lowest World Cup score was 74, made against England at Adelaide on the way to their only World Cup title in 1992.
"New experience for me, this being my first World Cup," Thomas told Sky Sports.
"I was confident of running in and doing my job. Andre Russell started the job for us, I just followed his footsteps today. Lot of guys tried to mix it up with ...

AFP

AFP

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