Published30 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Christy CooneyBBC NewsThe US has announced sanctions on 25 China-based firms and individuals allegedly involved in the production of chemicals used to make fentanyl.Fentanyl, a potent opioid used as a painkiller or sedative, plays a major role in the ongoing US drug crisis.Attorney General Merrick Garland said the drug’s supply chain “often starts with chemical companies in China”.China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters news agency.In April, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said there was “no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl” between China and Mexico.This came after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on the Chinese government to help stop the alleged flow of fentanyl and its precursors into his country. The US authorities blame Mexican drug gangs for supplying fentanyl to users across the US.Fentanyl can be legally prescribed by doctors, but a dramatic increase in opioid addiction in the US in recent decades has led to a rise in illegal production and overdoses.In 2022, the drug was linked to a record 109,680 deaths.The US treasury department announced sanctions against what it called a “China-based network responsible for the manufacturing and distribution” of precursors of fentanyl and a number of other illegal drugs. Officials say companies in the fentanyl supply chain routinely use false addresses and mislabelling to avoid their products being identified by law enforcement.Those affected by the sanctions include 12 entities and 13 individuals based in China, as well as two entities and one individual based in Canada, the treasury said.The sanctions will freeze the entities’ US assets and bar Americans from dealing with them.Merrick Garland is due to travel to Mexico with other senior officials for meetings on how to tackle the supply of illegal drugs. “We know who is responsible for poisoning the American people with fentanyl,” Mr Garland told reporters.”We know that this network includes the cartels’ leaders, their drug traffickers, their money launderers, their clandestine lab operators, their security forces, their weapons suppliers, and their chemical suppliers. “And we know that this global fentanyl supply chain, which ends with the deaths of Americans, often starts with chemical companies in China.”Fourth wave of fentanyl crisis hits every corner of USThe Real Story: Why can’t America contain the fentanyl crisis?The justice department has also unsealed indictments charging eight Chinese companies and 12 of their employees with crimes related to fentanyl and methamphetamine production, the distribution of opioids and sales resulting from precursor chemicals.No-one has been arrested and the Chinese government did not work with US authorities on the investigations, Mr Garland said.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.More on this storyExpert: Fentanyl crisis has ‘only gotten worse’ Video, 00:00:37Expert: Fentanyl crisis has ‘only gotten worse’Published18 September0:37US seizes enough fentanyl to kill every AmericanPublished21 December 2022

Published8 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Christy CooneyBBC NewsA group of 67 women from Greenland are seeking compensation from the Danish government over a campaign of involuntary birth control in the 1960s.At least 4,500 women, some of them teenagers, were fitted with coils under a programme intended to limit birth rates among the indigenous population.An inquiry is due to conclude in 2025, but the women, some of whom are in their 70s, want compensation now.They are seeking 300,000 kroner (£34,880; $42,150) each.Greenland, now a semi-sovereign territory of Denmark, was a Danish colony until 1953.The scale of the campaign was exposed last year in a podcast published by Danish broadcaster DR.Records from the national archives showed that, between 1966 and 1970 alone, intrauterine devices (IUDs) were fitted into the women, some as young as 13, without their knowledge or consent.The government of Greenland estimates that, by the end of 1969, 35% of women in the territory who could potentially have borne children had been fitted with an IUD, according to DR.A commission set up by the Danish and Greenlandic governments to investigate the programme is not due to deliver its findings until May 2025. “We don’t want to wait for the results of the inquiry,” said psychologist Naja Lyberth, who initiated the compensation claim.”We are getting older. The oldest of us, who had IUDs inserted in the 1960s, were born in the 1940s and are approaching 80. We want to act now.”Ms Lyberth said that, in some cases, the devices fitted had been too big for the girls’ bodies, causing serious health complications or even infertility, while in others the women had been unaware of the devices until they were discovered recently by gynaecologists.She accused the Danish government of the time of wanting to control the size of Greenland’s population in order to save money on welfare.”It’s already 100% clear that the government has broken the law by violating our human rights and causing us serious harm,” she said.‘Doctors fitted a contraceptive coil without my consent’Watch: Greenland’s Lost GenerationGreenland profile Mads Pramming, the lawyer representing the women, sent a claim on their behalf to the office of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday.Ms Lyberth said she expected the government to refuse the request pending the results of the commission, and that if it did the group would take the matter to court. Last year, Denmark apologised and paid compensation to six Inuit who were taken from their families in the 1950s as part of an attempt to build a Danish-speaking elite within Greenland.Greenland has a population of just 57,000 and is both the largest island and the northernmost area of land in the world. The territory has its own flag, language and prime minister, although its currency, justice system, and foreign and security affairs are still controlled by Denmark.More on this story‘Doctors fitted a contraceptive coil without my consent’Published8 December 2022Children taken from Greenland win Danish apologyPublished8 December 2020Birth control scandal of Greenland’s young womenPublished30 September 2022