Russia bans Nobel-winning rights group, raids independent newspaper, in one day

Shipping was at a near-standstill in Belgium's port of Antwerp on Friday following an overnight oil spill, Europe's second-biggest port said as it raced to contain the risks of pollution and economic damage.

A port statement said the spill occurred during a "bunkering operation" -- the process of filling a ship with fuel -- in the Deurganck Dock, which is used by some of the largest vessels in the world to load and unload goods in Antwerp.

A spokesman told AFP that as of midday Friday the port's North Sea access route via the Scheldt river estuary was "totally blocked", with Belgian media reporting that several dozen container and cargo ships heading in and out had been affected.

"We hope that the port will be fully operational in 24 hours," the spokesman said.

The port statement said the source of the spill had been stopped and the "directly involved seagoing vessels have been contained for active clean-up operations."

However, it said the pollution had spread towards the Scheldt river overnight.

"Emergency services are fully mobilised and are focusing on containment and clean-up operations," it said.

It was not yet clear how much oil had been spilled into the water.

The tidal Scheldt river estuary is the main maritime access route to Antwerp port, along with several narrower canals primarily used for inland navigation. 

An AFP team on site saw around 15 stationary ships near the port entrance, though it was not possible to confirm if they were being kept out by the traffic shutdown.

Local media reported that the spill occurred during the refuelling of the container ship MSC Denmark VI.

The ship's operator, MSC, confirmed the vessel was involved in the incident but declined to provide additional information. 

"Our priority is safety," a spokeswoman for the company's Belgian office told AFP, adding that they were focused on safeguarding "the crew, the terminal, the nature". 

- Key gateway -

Citing a "risk of impact on nearby nature areas", the port said it was "doing everything possible to minimise both operational and ecological damage".

"We regret the impact of this incident on our port and the vulnerable nature areas along the Scheldt," the statement said.

The Pieter Coecke, a Belgian-flagged pollution control vessel, was operating in the area of the spill Friday, according to the Marine Traffic website.

Second only to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Antwerp port on Belgium's north coast is a key gateway for goods coming into Europe from the United States, China and elsewhere.

Larger than 22,000 football fields, it handles transit each year of around 267 million tonnes of goods and is used by around 20,000 seagoing vessels and 50,000 inland vessels, according to its website.

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Inside an underground shelter at a hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa, a television screen flickers with images of Iranian missiles as doctors and midwives deliver Sarah Bird's third child.

"She's beautiful," a midwife says, placing the newborn in her mother's arms for a first kiss.

"She is!" exclaims Bird, 38, breaking into a broad smile.

Her husband Yitzhak, tense throughout, finally exhales, then explains that the couple will wait a week before choosing a name.

The couple had arrived just hours earlier at the Mount Carmel Medical Center and were taken straight to the facility's underground shelter, carved into the mountainside.

About 10 babies are born there each day, according to Clalit, Israel's main healthcare provider, which operates the hospital.

Since the war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, 370 newborns have been delivered in the shelter.

Within hours of the initial strikes on Iran, major hospitals across Israel shifted to maximum emergency readiness, moving patients and critical departments underground. 

Operating theatres, intensive care units and even maternity wards have been relocated to protected subterranean spaces.

A fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect on April 8, and no Iranian missiles have been fired at Israel since.

But in Haifa — still reeling from a strike on a residential building that killed four people days before the truce — sirens continue to wail.

Rocket fire from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, an ally of Tehran, has not stopped. Israel says Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire and has continued strikes on its neighbour, which have left more than 300 people dead this week.

More than 20 rocket alerts sounded in northern Israel on Thursday alone, along the Lebanese border, after Hezbollah said it had fired multiple barrages.

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A cloud of small bubbles and a fishy gurgle announce the latest arrival at the "fish doorbell" in the Netherlands: a perch, recognisable by its dorsal fin and tiger-striped scales.

As the perch stares at the camera with globulous eye, thousands watching a livestream race to click a button that will open a lock separating the River Vecht from the canals of Utrecht, enabling the fish to glide through.

Open from March to June, the "fish doorbell" allows web users from all over the world to ease the path of perch, catfish, and eels -- a key need in the Netherlands where millions of fish find themselves blocked by locks, dykes and pumping stations.

"A number of species of fish migrate in spring to reproduce and they get stuck at all the obstacles," said Anne Nijs, who operates the doorbell along with the Utrecht authorities.

The quirky "fish doorbell" has shot to fame, even being featured on the US talk show "Last Week Tonight", with comedian John Oliver spending a full 10 minutes explaining it.

Nijs, 46, told AFP that there was a serious side to the doorbell, raising awareness of the man-made obstacles fish and other aquatic animals have to face on their life journey.

Before the doorbell was set up in 2021, fish would sometimes wait for weeks before passing through the lock, which is closed for much of the time.

As well as losing valuable reproduction time, the wait made them vulnerable to predators both from the water and the air, Nijs explained.

Now, every click sends a screenshot to her and her team, who decide when a critical mass is reached to ask the lock-keeper to open the doors.

"Sometimes 300 people ring the bell for one fish... it takes up a bit of time but it's one big positive project," she told AFP.

"Lots of people say that it's kind of slow TV to them, (it helps them to) calm down," she added.

- 'Inland waters' -

Despite its popularity, the fish doorbell is just a drop in the ocean.

The Dutch are world-famous for creating an intricate system of flood defences and dykes to shield the low lying country from rising sea levels.

The problem is that these barriers also block aquatic life, preventing several species from their natural migratory path or reaching cooler waters.

Like the fish doorbell, sometimes human intervention is the only solution.

For 12 years, the Dutch Foundation for A Sustainable Eel Sector (DUPAN) has organised the transport of millions of European eel fry into Dutch waters.

"They are coming here, but they cannot get into the inland waters where they grow," said Magnus van der Meer from DUPAN.

After wriggling across the Atlantic Ocean from their birthplace in the Sargasso Sea off the east coast of the US, the glass eels arrive in the cooler waters of Europe.

Many thrive in Portuguese or French waters, but thousands find themselves stuck trying to get into the Netherlands.

So DUPAN transports three million eels annually from France -- where they thrive -- to rebalance the Dutch population.

"Of course there should be another solution. It would be nice to offer the eel the opportunity to just come naturally inside the Dutch waters," the 70-year-old told AFP.

But as long as water levels are high, the Dutch need their defences, meaning "that solution will not be available in the near future," he added. 

Many of the eels will grow to adulthood, be fished and eventually eaten. Others however are released back into the sea to continue the migratory cycle.

Some might even make it to Utrecht and a webcam where from far away, the lock is magically opened for them.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Saudi refinery shut -

French energy giant TotalEnergies said it had shut down a major refinery on the eastern Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia after it was damaged during the war.

The Saudi energy ministry had announced Thursday "multiple attacks" recently on its oil and gas sites, including the SATORP refinery, a joint venture owned by TotalEnergies and the Saudi state-owned Aramco group.

No details on production impacts, nor the type of attack, were disclosed.

- Israel air raid sirens -

Air raid alerts sounded across Israel, including in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv and the southern coastal city of Ashdod, after rocket fire from Lebanon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but Israeli media reported that air-defence systems had intercepted at least one incoming rocket.

Earlier Friday, Hezbollah said it had launched three waves of rocket and drone strikes against Israeli soldiers on both sides of the border as well as a town in northern Israel.

- Iran leader issues new message -

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said in his latest written message that the Islamic republic did not want war with the United States and Israel but would protect its rights as a nation, state television reported.

"We will not renounce our legitimate rights under any circumstances, and in this respect, we consider the entire resistance front as a whole," he added, in an apparent reference to Lebanon, where Israel is fighting with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Khamenei has still not been seen in public since being appointed to succeed his father, late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

- Iran doing 'poor job' on Hormuz: Trump -

US President Donald Trump accused Iran of doing a "very poor job" of allowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and of breaching the terms of their fragile two-week ceasefire agreement.

"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "That is not the agreement we have!"

- Trump warns against Hormuz tolls -

Trump also warned Iran against imposing a toll for ships passing through the key strait.

"There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait -- They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!" he said on Truth Social.

In a second message, Trump added: "Very quickly, you'll see Oil start flowing, with or without the help of Iran."

- Beirut evacuation order -

Israel's military warned residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, long a Hezbollah stronghold, of imminent strikes and called for them to evacuate.

The World Health Organization urged Israel to cancel the evacuation order, saying the district it intends to target is home to two hospitals.

The announcement came a day after Israel carried out its largest wave of strikes since the start of its war with Hezbollah on March 2, killing more than 300 people and wounding over 1,000, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

- Trump, Starmer seek 'practical plan' -

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Trump called "for a practical plan" to get shipping moving again through the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Iranian ceasefire, the UK leader's office said.

The two leaders "agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the Strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution", according to Downing Street.

"The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible," and agreed to speak again.

- Israel-Lebanon talks planned -

Israel and Lebanon will hold negotiations next week in Washington after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct talks, a US official said Thursday.

The negotiations will come soon after the United States and Iran are due to open talks in Pakistan.

Israel has said the Lebanon invasion, in which it is targeting Hezbollah, is not affected by the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

But a Hezbollah lawmaker reiterated his group's rejection of any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

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Pakistan is due to host talks between Iran and the United States in a bid to turn a fragile two-week ceasefire into a lasting end to a war that has roiled global energy markets.

Here are five things to know about the Islamabad talks:

- The war behind the talks -

On February 28, the US and Israel launched deadly coordinated strikes that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and struck Iran's military and nuclear infrastructure. More than 3,000 people were killed in Iran in five weeks, according to Iranian media and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas passes, sending energy prices soaring and disrupting trade worldwide.

On April 8, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. The ceasefire is expected to expire April 22.

- Pakistan's unlikely starring role -

Pakistan's value as a mediator rests on an unusually broad diplomatic network. 

Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan following independence in 1947, with the two neighbours sharing a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border and deep historical, cultural and religious ties. Pakistan is also home to over 20 million Shia Muslims: the second-largest such population in the world after Iran.

Islamabad has cultivated strong ties with Washington, Riyadh and Beijing. 

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited Beijing at the end of March for talks with Wang Yi, who backed Islamabad's mediation efforts as "in keeping with the common interests of all parties".

Trump himself told AFP that China helped bring Iran to the negotiating table, an account backed by Pakistani officials.

"On ceasefire night, hopes were fading, but China stepped in and convinced Iran to agree to a preliminary ceasefire," a senior Pakistani official familiar with the negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity. 

- What's on the table? -

The gap between the two sides remains vast.

Washington's reported 15-point proposal centres on Iran's enriched uranium and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has countered with a 10-point plan demanding control over the strait, a toll for vessels crossing the strait, an end to all regional military operations and the lifting of all sanctions.

Lebanon is also a major sticking point. Israel continued its strikes in the country targeting Hezbollah -- after the ceasefire came into force -- with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's assertion that the truce included Lebanon.

US Vice President JD Vance appeared to take a softer tone, saying there may have been a "legitimate misunderstanding" from Iran that Lebanon would be included. 

Iranian sources have also told Iranian media that Tehran won't attend the talks unless a ceasefire is in place in Lebanon

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on X that Israel's strikes on Lebanon rendered the negotiations "meaningless".

Iran has also long refused to concede to Washington's demands on its nuclear programme. 

- Who are the negotiators? -

Vance will lead the American team, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

It marks the most senior US engagement with Iran since Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal. Witkoff held multiple rounds of Oman-mediated talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi before the war cut the process short.

Iran has not officially announced the composition of its delegation.

- Islamabad on lockdown -

The talks are being held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The government has kept its cards close to its chest without confirming the venue, but the Serena Hotel -- located next to the foreign ministry in the capital's high-security Red Zone -- asked its guests to clear out on Wednesday.

The same day authorities in the capital announced a two-day public holiday on Thursday and Friday.

The talks themselves are expected to be indirect: the two delegations sitting in separate rooms with Pakistani officials shuttling proposals between them, mirroring the format used in earlier Oman-mediated rounds. 

Outside, the streets of Islamabad are flooded with armed security personnel in military fatigues, traffic diversions and police checkpoints. The capital, already a quiet city, was even quieter on Friday.

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When the US-Israeli war with Iran began at the end of February, it was widely assumed that Moscow would be one of the conflict's key winners.

Higher oil prices, a distracted Washington and a sudden need for Western air defence systems in the Gulf were seen as a boost to Moscow's four-year invasion of Ukraine.

But in Kyiv, officials and analysts say a flurry of high-level visits by President Volodymyr Zelensky and the inking of security accords across the Middle East amount to a diplomatic coup that have given the embattled country outsized clout in a region recently seen as aligned with Russia.

"Ukraine is for the first time -- and to some countries' surprise -- acting as a state that can provide security services, that can, as experts say, export defence and security expertise," Volodymyr Fesenko, a respected political observer in Kyiv, told AFP.

That is a marked turnaround from 2022 when an under-equipped Kyiv went on bended knee to the United States and Europe to appeal for sophisticated air defence systems, advanced battle tanks, and as many artillery shells as they could get their hands on.

The rapid proliferation of drones has made many of those weapons less relevant, and spurred Ukrainian rag-tag arms producers to become global leaders in drone warfare and anti-drone systems. 

- 'Moscow extremely upset' -

Kyiv's forces neutralise hundreds of the Iranian-designed drones launched by Russia every day, and as Iran started firing off drones across the Middle East in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks, Zelensky quickly deployed more than 200 of his anti-drone experts to at least four states.

Zelensky himself paid high-profile visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Syria -- becoming one of the first foreign leaders to visit the region during the war.

"Moscow is extremely upset with Ukraine's rapid strengthening of ties with the Gulf countries in the wake of Iranian air terror," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.

"They understand that Ukraine's unique experience has dramatically changed its role in the region," he added.

Sybiga said Russia and its close ally Iran had taken to spreading disinformation about Ukrainian anti-drone units to undermine Kyiv's diplomatic reach -- like that Iran had struck a depot housing Ukrainian anti-drone systems in the United Arab Emirates.

Despite Ukraine managing to give itself a surprise role in the conflict, the question remains what material benefit it can extract besides some good publicity.

"Frankly, in the Gulf countries you can simply ask for money," political analyst Taras Zagorodniy suggested to AFP in a telephone interview.

"This is a way to scale our own technologies and attract additional resources, because we need money to support our technologies and investments," Zagorodniy, Managing Partner of the National Anti-Crisis Group think tank, added.

Details of the defence agreements struck with several states in the region have not been made public.

Zelensky had previously proposed swapping Ukrainian drone warfare technology for the advanced air defence missile ammunition -- though that idea appeared to gain little traction.

- No 'breakthrough' -

The Ukrainian leader has also suggested that improved ties with the Gulf could help place broader pressure on Russia to halt its invasion. 

But analysts have warned that these overtures do not amount to a breakthrough -- yet.

For one, the impact of the two-week truce agreed between the United States and Iran is unclear. 

Zelensky has said Ukrainian anti-drone units will remain in the Middle East but the long-term demand for Ukrainian war tech remains in question.

The region has largely refrained from criticising Russia's invasion and has not hit Moscow with sanctions. Many states seek good relations with both sides to play a mediating role -- hosting talks or brokering the return of children.

"It is premature to speak of a breakthrough. This is not even a step -- rather a first cautious move in the right direction," former Ukrainian diplomat Vadym Triukhan wrote in a recent analysis.

To be a "game changer" for Kyiv, the pace of engagement needed to be kept up.

"If this tempo is not lost, then within a few months it will be quite realistic to reach multi-year, multibillion contracts," Triukhan wrote.

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China's President Xi Jinping met Taiwan's opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, telling the visiting delegation he had "full confidence" that Taiwanese and Chinese people would be united.

Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party's first leader to visit China in a decade, but her trip has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing.

China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing's claims that the self-ruled island is part of its territory.

Xi told Cheng as the two met on Friday that "the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change".

"This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this," Xi said during the talks carried by Taiwanese media. 

He also said China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the "common political foundation of... opposing Taiwan independence".

The KMT supports closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

Cheng echoed Xi's stance, telling a press conference after their meeting that by "opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war".

She also told Xi earlier that the Taiwan Strait would "no longer be a focal point of potential conflict" and "both sides should transcend political confrontation".

Beijing has sworn to take Taiwan and has not ruled out using force, ramping up military pressure around the self-ruled island in recent years.

China conducts near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near the island and regular large-scale military drills.

Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over the government's plan to spend NT$1.25 trillion ($39 billion) on defence, which has been stalled for months in parliament, controlled by Cheng's KMT party.

- Defence spending -

Cheng's trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi.

The United States has been piling pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to back a proposal for defence purchases, including US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack.

Cheng has railed against the government's proposal, insisting "Taiwan isn't an ATM" and instead backed a KMT plan to allocate NT$380 billion ($12 billion) for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions.

While KMT party members regularly fly to China for exchanges with officials, its last leader to visit was Hung Hsiu-chu in 2016.

Cross-strait relations have worsened in particular since the election of Tsai's successor, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing considers a separatist.

Lai said in a Facebook post on Friday that "China's... military threats in and around the Taiwan Strait and the island chain have severely undermined regional peace and stability".

Cheng landed in Shanghai on Tuesday evening, saying shortly after her arrival that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not doomed to war, as the international community has feared".

The KMT leader also travelled to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she visited the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, one of the few Chinese historical figures revered in both Beijing and Taipei.

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Traffic in a seaside Australian town was briefly diverted on Friday when a local seal decided to take a nap on the road.

The dozy pinniped was spotted snoozing on a road in Dromana in the southern state of Victoria.

Local police placed cones around the seal -- known to some locals as Sammy -- who could be seen sunning himself with little concern for the traffic.

"You don't know where he will pop up next," local Laura Ellen, who spotted the slumbering animal, told AFP.

"He usually sleeps all day," she said.

"It made me laugh when I saw him on the road. Haven't seen him do that before."

The seal was later redirected back to the beach by wildlife rescuers and the lane was re-opened.

Seals are a common sight along Victoria's coast and it is illegal to touch or feed them, the state government says.

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While the Artemis II astronauts have been protected from the icy vacuum of space on their journey, their bodies have nonetheless been left exposed to possibly high levels of radiation -- a danger of space travel that NASA is anxiously waiting to study.

Their trip around the Moon has taken the four astronauts farther into space than any human before -- more than 1,000 times the distance from Earth to the International Space Station.

Earth's magnetosphere offers some protection against radioactive cosmic rays and solar particles to the orbiting ISS, but no such cover on the Moon. 

Studying the impacts of radiation is essential as NASA hopes to eventually build a Moon base and send astronauts on the long trip to Mars.

The US space agency installed radiation sensors on the Orion capsule and took blood samples of the astronauts before takeoff to compare with samples post-trip. The crew's saliva samples are gathered throughout the journey and their health is monitored via smartwatches.

NASA has also placed state-of-the-art computer chips in the capsule that can replicate certain physiological functions, like that of an organ.

Mission planners chose to mimic bone marrow, which produces blood cells and is one of the tissues "most quickly affected by radiation and other stressors," NASA Human Research Program chief scientist Steven Platts told AFP.

With all of the data, Platts said his team hoped to better understand the variation between low earth orbit and deep space.

"It will be good research information for us to see the level of radiation, but also the type of radiation," he said.

"Our prediction is that we'll see a lot more galactic cosmic radiation... which is from supernovas and is everywhere," versus radiation coming from the Sun, he said.

- Mental health -

Platts said while most people associate radiation with cancer risk, it also can impact the central nervous system and blood circulation.

"It can lead to inflammation in the brain, and that's one of the things that can increase the risk of Parkinson's disease," he said.

With the Artemis II astronauts spending just 10 days in space, radiation is not a major concern, but the danger could rise dramatically with longer stays on the Moon.

Extensive health studies were conducted on the Apollo astronauts, but technology has advanced greatly in the 50 years since, said Bruce Betts, chief scientist at the Planetary Society, a space advocacy group.

"There will be a lot of information on the medical side of things," he said.

The other major focus is on psychological risks of spending long periods of time on the Moon or Mars.

With greater disconnection from home and tight living quarters, mental health could pose the greatest danger to astronauts on such missions, Platts said.

He compared the difference between the ISS and the tiny Orion capsule as like going from a "six-bedroom house, like a mansion... to a camper van."

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A mounting diplomatic row between Ecuador and Colombia intensified on Thursday, with Bogota recalling its ambassador after Quito announced 100 percent tariffs on imports from its South American neighbor.

The two countries have been engaged in a trade war for months, with Ecuador accusing Bogota of failing to combat drug trafficking and illegal mining along their shared border. 

"Our ambassador to Ecuador must return immediately," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in an X post responding to Ecuador's leader Daniel Noboa, a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump.

"The next cabinet meeting will be held at a location on the border with Ecuador," Petro added.

The diplomatic tit-for-tat escalated after Petro referred to a jailed former Ecuadoran vice president as a "political prisoner" this week.

The left-wing Petro was referring to Jorge Glas, who was vice president under firebrand former socialist leader Rafael Correa and Correa's successor Lenin Moreno.

Glas was sentenced to 13 years in prison last year for corruption, his fourth conviction since 2017.

That prompted right-wing Noboa to recall his envoy from Colombia for consultations on Wednesday and announce the tariffs starting in May.

Petro earlier called the threat of a 100 percent tariff "a monstrosity" and threatened to withdraw Colombia from the Andean Community of Nations, a trade bloc which also includes Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

"It's just simply a monstrosity, but this signifies the end" of the grouping, "in which we already no longer participate," Petro earlier said on X.

Noboa responded that "it is not possible to reach agreements with someone who does not share the same commitment to fighting narco-terrorism."

"In the future, it will be possible to talk with a government that is truly committed to combating crime and drug trafficking," Noboa said.

The right-wing Ecuadorian leader kicked off a trade war with Colombia in January over the alleged lack of cooperation in combating drug trafficking.

From an initial 30 percent, he later increased tariffs on Colombia to 50 percent.

Colombia responded with 50-percent tariffs and by halting electricity sales to Ecuador, which has suffered chronic energy shortages.

Talks between the two countries failed to produce a breakthrough.

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© Agence France-Presse