Briefly

EUROPE

Macron, Sunak meet to mend relations

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met on Friday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron in efforts to mend ties following post-Brexit tensions, as well as improving business ties and toughening efforts against Channel migrant crossings. The French-British summit, the first since 2018, will show a "new chapter" opening in relations between the two countries, according to Macron's office. Relations between the UK and France chilled amid post-Brexit wrangling over fishing rights and other issues, and hit rock bottom under then-prime minister Boris Johnson. His successor, Liz Truss, ruffled French feathers last year when she said the "jury is out" on whether Macron was a friend or a foe.

MEXICO

Fentanyl largely US' problem, president says

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday that his country does not produce or consume fentanyl, as he appeared to depict the synthetic opioid epidemic largely as a US problem. His statement came during White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall's visit to Mexico to discuss the fentanyl crisis. He said the United States should use family values to fight drug addiction. "Why don't they (the United States) take care of their problem of social decay?" he said. Fentanyl has been blamed for about 70,000 opioid deaths a year in the US.

NEPAL

Ram Chandra Poudel elected as new leader

Ram Chandra Poudel, leader of the Nepali Congress party, was elected as the third president of Nepal on Thursday. Poudel defeated his rival Subash Chandra Nembang, vice-chair of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). Poudel, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, will start his five-year term on Monday.

Agencies - Xinhua