Separatists in Canada oil province seek independence referendum

The top-seeded Detroit Pistons recovered from the brink of NBA playoff elimination with an astounding comeback against the Orlando Magic on Friday, taking their series to a decisive game seven.

Up 3-2 and seeking a close-out win, the Magic had led by as many as 24 in the second half, before their shooting suddenly collapsed and Detroit took full advantage.

A shell-shocked Orlando missed 23 consecutive field goals -- the longest streak in playoff history -- scoring just one point in over 10 minutes of basketball.

Boos rained down on the court as a 71-54 Magic advantage was transformed into an 80-72 Detroit lead, with a stunning 26-1 run.

The Pistons sealed a 93-79 victory.

"Never say die, simple as that. I mean, Detroit grit, it's what we've been talking about all year," said Cade Cunningham, who led the way with 32 points and 10 rebounds.

Having been down 3-1 in the series, the Pistons had looked set to become just the seventh top seed in NBA history to lose in the first round to their conference's bottom seed.

But they now have a chance to win the series back in Detroit on Sunday, and progress to an Eastern semi-final against either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Toronto Raptors.

After an even first quarter, Orlando went on a hot streak for a sudden 17-point lead. Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr. all sank three-pointers in less than a minute. 

Paolo Banchero stirred to life too, with Orlando shooting 62 percent in the second quarter as their defense restricted Detroit to 12 points.

Orlando's lead stretched to 24 soon after the break, before an epic Pistons fightback began.

Detroit were suddenly winning every turnover, while the Magic's shooting collapsed under the pressure of trying to close out their first playoff series win since 2010.

The Pistons, having dominated the regular season with a 60-22 record, will now be favorites to win their own first playoff series since 2008.

"Thank God we get to take this back to the crib. It's gonna be loud in Detroit, and we got to finish our business," said Cunningham, who scored 19 in the fourth quarter.

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Separatists in Alberta are preparing to submit a petition on Monday that they say has enough signatures to force a referendum on independence for the oil-rich Canadian province.

Polls indicate the pro-independence camp remains a minority among Alberta's five million people, but has hit a historic high of roughly 30 percent.

Alberta separatists are also closer than ever to forcing a referendum, riding momentum fuelled by intensifying grievances over Ottawa's control of the provincial oil industry. 

They have also undeniably gotten a boost from the return to power of US President Donald Trump.

After launching a petition in January, Stay Free Alberta, the group coordinating the independence push, had until the beginning of May to collect 178,000 signatures to force a referendum.

The group's leader, Mitch Sylvestre, expressed confidence the group will succeed.

"We will have the required signatures to trigger the referendum with a comfortable buffer," Sylvestre told AFP Thursday.

The separatists plan to present their list to provincial officials in the capital Edmonton on Monday.

- 'Permanent change' -

Alberta's First Nations have filed a court challenge, arguing independence would violate their treaty rights, a case that could render a referendum illegal.

But even if the vote never happens, or the separatists ultimately lose, many believe the process has left Canada permanently changed.

Michael Wagner is an independent historian and long-standing supporter of Albertan independence.

"Even if we lose the referendum, (this) is not going to just disappear," he told AFP. "I think this is going to be a permanent change in our political culture."

Jason Kenney, a conservative federalist former Alberta premier, agreed.

If the independence camp gets 20–35 percent support in a referendum, "it will turn the separatist movement from a marginal fringe into a real factor in our politics that will be disruptive for a long time to come," he told an event last month.

- 'Tipping point' -

Alberta joined the Canadian confederation in 1905 and resentments towards eastern political leaders in Ontario and Quebec fuelled marginal separatist movements at various points over the last century.

But Wagner said separatism gathered real pace in protest against former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's 1980 National Energy Program, which broadened Ottawa's control over the oil industry.

The program included price controls for domestic oil sales and new taxes giving Ottawa more revenue from Alberta's oil.

Trudeau's government argued the measures protected Canadians following the global oil price shocks of the 1970s.

Wagner said the program was considered an attack in Alberta and called it a "game-changer" which entrenched the idea of independence.

Fast-forward 35 years, Trudeau's son Justin is elected prime minister with a climate-conscious agenda reviled by many in Alberta.

Through Trudeau's decade in power, Albertans accused his Liberal government of demonizing oil production and stifling investments in the sector, especially for pipeline capacity.

Mark Carney's 2025 election was "a tipping point", Wagner said.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a huge polling lead in early 2025.

"It was fully expected he would be our hero. He would rescue us from the Liberal government. When the polls started turning for Carney, and then Carney actually won, the disappointment here was so dramatic," Wagner said.

- 51st state? -

Trump has discussed annexing Canada and weakening it economically, but the US role in Alberta's current separatist effort is disputed.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent drew attention in January when he said the US and Alberta were "natural partners."

Some secessionists insist Alberta's future lies in union with Washington.

But Sylvestre's legal advisor Jeffrey Rath, who says he has met several times with top State Department officials on future Alberta-US ties, rejects statehood.

"The people in our movement are not interested in freeing themselves from the clutches of the federal government... just to put ourselves under yet another government 3,500 miles away," he told the right-wing True North media outlet.

But, he argued, Trump's support will be crucial to stabilizing Alberta as it breaks away from Canada.

For Wagner, "51st state people have always been a very small minority."

"Most Alberta independence supporters are actually patriotic Canadians who have just been frustrated."

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Three Iranian men pressed rehydrated raisins at an artisan distillery just outside New York, thousands of miles from their war-struck homeland. 

They were carefully producing aragh sagi, a traditional spirit banned by the clerical authorities along with all alcohol following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Despite its outlaw moonshine status, the drink is still made clandestinely and consumed inside Iran. 

"Everybody's drinking, but we just don't want to get caught," said Siavash Karampour, formerly a fixture on Tehran's rock music scene and now the co-manager of a bar in Brooklyn. 

Together with three childhood friends who, like him, came to New York to rebuild their lives, they decided to brew the Iranian firewater in the United States. 

They say they wanted to offer others like them a taste of home as well as "something that has been behind the curtain." 

Branded as "SAG," their aragh sagi -- like a stronger Italian grappa -- is made in the still of David Nahmias, a distiller born into a Moroccan Jewish family who makes mahia, a traditional dried fig-based spirit from his homeland. 

"They came to me through word of mouth. Their alcohol uses the same process as arak, which you find in Syria or Lebanon -- but without the anise. It wasn't complicated for me... And I liked them!" Nahmias said. 

The creators of SAG, aged between 35 and 41, settled in New York several years ago and remain active in the local Iranian diaspora and all have day jobs.

They were the first to bring aragh sagi to the US market, although a handful of brands exist in Europe. 

-' I feel privileged' -

The company's output of 7,000 bottles a year -- sold for $50 a pop in around 30 liquor stores and available in as many bars -- remains modest.

But bars have latched on to their creation as a way to promote new cocktails.

"We just started this back in the day, as a hobby... we kind of want to grow organically," said brew group member Sasan Oskouei, a visual artist. 

The entrepreneurs see their venture as a project that goes beyond a simple spirit, representing an emotional and cultural gesture. 

"So many Iranian artists and filmmakers have highlighted some parts of Iran that haven't been seen before, and in making this, we are kind of doing the same thing," said Karampour. 

Since they launched SAG two years ago, many artistic projects have emerged to complement the brand, with parties in New York and DJ sets performed by Iranian musicians. 

Their connection to Iran through friends and family is constant, making the ongoing conflict between Tehran and their host nation all the more painful. 

"It's really tough to be seeing all these images, and then you still have to go to work and live your daily life... You technically live in two countries," said Karampour. 

With the help of large handheld food mixers, they carefully grind the mixture of dried Californian grapes and water, which they then ferment before distilling it in a large still imported from Germany. 

Amir Imani, a computer engineer, says New York was the ideal place to establish their brand, a city that is both very diverse and tolerant, and where their business is not written off as "exotic." 

"Being in New York helps, because I can see people are not supportive of what is happening in this administration -- either the war or like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and all of that," Imani said. 

"So I feel privileged that I'm here surrounded by people who think the same."

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At a gas station in Los Angeles, Ryder Thomas wore a grimace of barely suppressed anger as he filled his pickup truck, watching the cost tick up to $130 for a full tank -- $30 more than he was paying before the US and Israel attacked Iran.

"I'm mad about the price, but I'm even madder about why it's so high," the 28-year-old told AFP. 

This week, pump prices in the United States climbed to their highest level since early 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a global surge in the cost of oil.

Hostilities in the Middle East, which began when Israel and the United States started bombing Iran on February 28, have crimped supply, sending the price of crude surging.

The war launched by President Donald Trump is unpopular all over the United States, with polls showing a clear majority disapprove of a conflict whose aims they think are unclear.

"There was absolutely no need for this war. It's just like when we invaded Iraq, there were no weapons of mass destruction," Thomas said.

"Trump is an idiot, that's all it is."

For weeks, the Republican billionaire has insisted that attacking Iran was necessary to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, and has repeatedly promised a short conflict. 

But despite the overwhelming might of the US military, the Islamic republic has blocked the Strait of Hormuz -- a global trade artery used to transport a fifth of the world's oil and gas.

— Domino effect —

The result of this squeeze on supply is rising prices, sending gas in already-expensive California above $6 a gallon ($1.59 per liter), compared with around $4.50 a gallon before the war.

Thomas worries about the domino effect this oil crunch will have on everything else he buys, as the rising cost of transport pushes up the prices of everyday goods like food and clothing.

"I hope the middle-of-the-road voters who got Trump elected start thinking about it and realize what he's done to them," he said of a president who campaigned on reducing costs for everyday Americans.

Trump voter David Chavez, who was waiting among dozens of cars lining up to refuel at Costco -- a wholesale retailer whose prices are often a little lower than average -- said it was not that simple.

"It is not nice; we don't want to pay more for gas," acknowledged the cameraman as he got his credit card ready to fill up his minivan.

However, "we don't know everything that happens behind closed doors. It's too easy to blame one person for all the problems."

— Food bank —

Chavez said he voted for Democrats in the past, but switched to Trump because of former president Joe Biden's "poor handling of immigration and poor handling of the economy."

He accused oil giants of taking advantage of the current climate to artificially inflate prices, and pointed out that stricter environmental rules in California amp up the cost to motorists in the massive state.

Nonetheless, he admitted to being disappointed in Trump, but said no one is perfect.

"Trump still handles things a little bit better," he said.

In the same gas line, 73-year-old Flo, who did not want to give her full name, said she no longer knew what or who to believe on the reasons for rising gas prices.

What she knew for certain was that increased fuel costs were making her life much harder.

"With gas this high, I go to the food bank now, more so than ever," the retiree told AFP.

"I've had to cut back on driving too."

Between her pension and a part-time job she takes home around $3,000 a month -- almost half of which is swallowed by rent.

"Life was already hard," she sighed. "But now it's just harder."

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(The Center Square) — On the heels of President Donald Trump threatening to reduce troops in Europe, the Department of War announced Friday the reduction of 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year.

The announcement comes two days after the president posted on social media that the United States was considering reducing troops in Germany.

On Thursday, The Center Square asked the president if he also was considering pulling troops out of Italy and Spain following the countries’ decisions not to provide any support in the strikes on Iran.

Trump indicated that he would consider doing the same with Italy and Spain.

“Yeah, probably will. Why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help. Spain has been horrible. Absolutely,” the president told The Center Square.

Germany is currently home to more than 36,000 American troops, the largest population in Europe. In comparison, Italy is home to nearly 13,000 troops and Spain has nearly 4,000, according to USA Facts.

The president has been at odds with many European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, over the war in Iran. Since the strikes began Feb. 28, Trump has expressed deep frustration with NATO countries over their lack of support for the U.S. strikes on Iran, despite the U.S.' support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

In addition to threatening to reduce or remove American troops from some European countries, the president has discussed a desire to pull out of NATO altogether.

It is unclear if Amy troops removed from Germany or other European nations will be shifted to other European bases or elsewhere in the world. Poland has been seen as a possible location for a build-up of American troops as it is geographically closer to Russia.

Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes in the south, including in a town where Israel's army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire.

The strikes in Habboush killed eight people, including a child and two women, and wounded 21 others, the ministry said, raising an earlier toll.

Other strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, two of them women, and wounded four more, it said.

The ministry also reported a strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and wounded seven others.

In Habboush, where the Israeli evacuation warning was issued, an AFP photographer saw clouds of smoke rising after the raids.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes "launched a series of heavy strikes... less than an hour after" the warning.

Israel's military had said it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah after the Iran-backed group's "violations of the ceasefire agreement", and told residents to flee to open areas at least one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the town.

The NNA also reported Israeli strikes and artillery fire on other south Lebanon locations, including Tyre.

Israel has kept up deadly strikes on Lebanon despite the April 17 ceasefire that sought to halt more than six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks". 

Israeli soldiers are operating inside a "Yellow Line" running some 10 kilometres deep inside Lebanon's border, where they are carrying out wide-scale detonations and demolitions of buildings.

The NNA said Israeli troops carried out detonations in the southern town of Shamaa, and "demolished a monastery and a school" run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun after other detonations of "homes, shops and roads" there.

- 'Fear for their lives' -

Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and sites in southern Lebanon on Friday, saying they were in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.

The group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon's health ministry on Friday raised the toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to more than 2,600 dead, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' under-secretary general for national society development and coordination, Xavier Castellanos, said that when Lebanese Red Cross volunteers go on a mission, "they fear for their lives".

Two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics are among those killed in Israeli strikes.

"That a person that is trying to save lives, is trying to alleviate human suffering, might be targeted, might be killed... this is something that I found absolutely unacceptable," Castellanos told reporters near Beirut.

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Top-ranked Nelly Korda, coming off her third major title, closed with a birdie to seize a share of the lead after Friday's second round of the LPGA Riviera Maya Open.

The 27-year-old American fired a bogey-free five-under par 67 to stand on nine-under 135 after 36 holes at El Camaleon Golf Course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

"It was a good day," Korda said. "Drove it really well. Hit it to the right spots on the green and capitalized on some good shots."

She finished level with compatriot Brianna Do, who fired a 69 in quest of her first LPGA title, with American Melanie Green one stroke back on 136 after shooting 70 and Japan's Minami Katsu fourth on 137 after a 68.

Korda captured the Chevron Championship last week for her third career major and also won the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions. She finished second in her other three starts so far this year.

Korda, who began the day two strokes behind co-leader Do, birdied the second, par-five fifth and par-three eighth, then birdied 14 and the par-five 18th to grab a share of the lead.

"Overall just a solid day," Korda said. "Didn't make any mistakes really. If I did, I bounced back really well."

Do began on the back nine with back-to-back birdies then added birdies at the par-three 15th and par-four second before a closing bogey.

"I started with two birdies on 10, 11, my first two holes, and that really got things going," Do said. "Kind of a lull in the middle on the back nine, but kept it together and shot three-under, so good round. Solid."

Spain's Carlota Ciganda and China's Liu Yu, who shot 66, shared fifth on 138 with Germany's Olivia Cowan, Mexico's Gaby Lopez, Paraguay's Sofia Garcia and Thailand's Arpichaya Yubol sharing seventh on 139.

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Fourth-ranked Cameron Young rode a hot start and surged to a five-stroke lead after Friday's second round of the PGA Cadillac Championship.

Young birdied four of the first seven holes on his way to firing a five-under par 67 and stand on 13-under 131 after 36 holes at Trump National Doral in Florida.

"I've just putted really well," Young said. "I've left myself in mostly doable spots when I've missed greens.

"But I haven't driven it great and that's something I hopefully look to return to normal over the next couple days."

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, fellow American Alex Smalley and Canada's Nick Taylor shared second on 136 with American Gary Woodland on 137.

Young, who won the Players Championship in March and captured his first PGA title last August at Greensboro, said he feels comfortable with a big lead, well aware it could vanish quickly on the weekend.

"I've been around the lead quite a bit and I'm not particularly uncomfortable. I've liked this golf course thus far," Young said.

"There's a lot of guys four or five back. I'm sure somebody will be four- or five-under tomorrow so you have to prepare for that."

Young topped putting and scrambling statistics.

"I avoided the bad misses for the most part. It's not like I drove it awful but I would love to play from the fairway a couple more times the next couple days," he said.

"There's a lot of golf to be played on a difficult golf course but so far I've played well. If I can drive it a little bit better, I feel like I can keep cruising and see what happens."

Young reached the green in two and birdied the par-five first hole to grab the solo lead then stretched the margin with a 17-foot birdie putt at the third and a 27-foot birdie putt at the fifth.

The lead reached four strokes when Young sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the seventh.

Young's approach at the par-five eighth was plugged in a bunker. He punched out into an adjacent bunker then blasted to five feet and rescued par.

At the par-three ninth, Young missed the green but rolled the ball just outside six feet and saved par again.

Young sank a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-three 13th, boosting his advantage to five, but then needed two shots to escape greenside rough at 14 and made his first bogey of the tournament.

Young drove the green at the par-four 16th and two-putted for birdie from 26 feet to restore his five-stroke margin.

- 'Pick your spots' -

World number one Scottie Scheffler, a four-time major winner, fired a 67 to join a pack in sixth on 138.

"It's a golf course where there's some trouble -- there's a fair amount of water but the greens are fairly big. Fairways aren't too narrow but they are hard to hit just based on how firm the golf course is," Scheffler said.

"There's definitely some challenge out there. You have to pick your spots. I did a good job of giving myself some looks today. Wish I had holed a few more but overall if I do that over the course of the next couple days I'll be in a good spot."

The $20 million signature event marks the PGA Tour's return to the Blue Monster course for the first time since 2016. Doral had hosted a LIV Golf event in recent years.

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A US appeals court on Friday temporarily halted mail delivery of mifepristone, the medication used in the majority of abortions in the United States.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered the order in a lawsuit brought by the southern state of Louisiana, which has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The order by the conservative-dominated court requires women seeking abortions anywhere in the United States to obtain mifepristone in person from health clinics, and bans delivery by mail or through a pharmacy.

The appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that allowed mifepristone to continue to be delivered by mail while the FDA conducts a review of its regulations regarding the drug.

Proponents of reviewing mifepristone's safety have cited a study -- which was not peer-reviewed and was published on a website, not in a scientific journal -- conducted by a conservative think-tank.

The FDA originally approved mifepristone in 2000. It is the most common method for abortion care in the United States and is also routinely used for managing early miscarriage.

Mifepristone, which prevents pregnancy progression, and misoprostol, which empties the uterus, are approved to terminate a pregnancy up to 70 days of gestation in the United States.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill welcomed the appeals court decision calling it a "Victory for Life!"

"The Biden abortion cartel facilitated the deaths of thousands of Louisiana babies (and millions in other states) through illegal mail-order abortion pills," Murrill said. "Today, that nightmare is over."

- 'Isn't about science' -

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, condemned the appeals court ruling, which is expected to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

"This isn't about science -- it's about making abortion as difficult, expensive, and unreachable as possible," Northup said in a statement.

Julia Kaye, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said "anti-abortion politicians have just made it much harder for people everywhere in the country to get a medication that abortion and miscarriage patients have been safely using for more than 25 years."

Some 20 states have banned or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for half a century.

Polls show a majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure or ban it outright.

In 2024, the US Supreme Court rejected a bid to restrict mifepristone, ruling that anti-abortion groups and doctors challenging the medication lacked the legal standing to bring the case.

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World champion Lando Norris beamed in the Florida sunshine Friday after steering his upgraded McLaren to pole position for Saturday's sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old Briton made the most of the extensive upgrades on his car to outpace Mercedes' Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, at 19 the youngest man to lead the drivers' championship in F1 history, and end Mercedes' early season domination. 

"I've always loved Miami, both on and off the track," said Norris, who claimed his maiden F1 triumph at the compact circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in 2024. "And this is a good result for us, but still only at the beginning of the weekend.

"There's still a long way to go, but it's nice to kick off by doing this. We've got a lot of new upgrades on the car and it is nice to feel some grip again -- and nice to reward the guys and girls who have put a lot of work into this."

Asked if he felt this indicated that the defending constructors' champions had regained the initiative from McLaren, Norris was cautious.

"It's so tough to know because every track is different. We've known that this track has always been good to us, but we knew that what we were bringing was hopefully going to be a good step so it's nice that our estimations have proved to be correct. 

"The team deserve that... Since the first lap today, I felt very comfortable and I thought I had a bit of rear grip, so it is good to start with pole."

McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who won last year's race, was a close third ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, four-time Max Verstappen of Red Bull and early season leader George Russell of Mercedes. 

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the second Ferrari, the Italian team along with Red Bull having brought major upgrade packages to the Miami race. 

It was the first time this year that Mercedes had been outpaced in a qualifying session, after three races run before the five-week hiatus due to the conflict in the Middle East. 

A disappointed Russell said: "I think it is pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made. It's much bigger than we expected, even if this has never been a favourite circuit for me."

He added that he had struggled with overheating tyres and other problems throughout Friday. 

Verstappen was also disappointed, but realistic and said he could see the positives in Red Bull's improved performance thanks to their upgrades, but added that the team were still "very weak" in the high-speed section of the track. 

"We need to work on that," he said, a comment repeated by Ferrari's Hamilton, who said he had hoped Ferrari's extensive upgrade package would have delivered greater rewards.

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