DMX is hospitalized with little brain activity after overdosing

Today's Focus takes us to Kinshasa, DRC's sprawling capital city, where growing addiction to "bombé," a new artisanal drug, is rattling authorities. The lethargy-inducing mixture is made of crushed pills (often opioids but composition varies) and chemical residue that's been filtered through exhaust pipes.

Hundreds of drug users shelter in squalid conditions under a bridge in western Kabul synonymous with hard drugs and violent crime - and since the Taliban came to power, raids on areas where addicts gather have become more frequent. With poppies cheap and easy to grow, Afghanistan provides around 90 percent of the world's production of heroin, but since retaking power the Taliban have pledged to ban narcotics production.

Dairo Antonio Usuga was captured in a jungle raid involving 500 police personnel and 22 helicopters. President Ivan Duque compared it to the fall of Pablo Escobar.

Handing the win to pharmaceutical companies, the judge said the plaintiffs hadn't proven that deceptive marketing by the firms led to a rise in unnecessary opioid prescriptions.

A shootout involving rival gangs near the Mexican resort of Cancun has left two suspected drug dealers dead. The gun battle sparked panic among foreign tourists.

Deaths resulting from drug overdoses in the US are higher than those from guns and car crashes. Experts believe that an increased use of fentanyl is to blame for the "tragic milestone."

Indian police claim two marijuana smugglers were using Amazon's website to order and move their product. Investigators accused the retail giant of "not cooperating" with the authorities.

This week has seen a new chancellor take the helm in Germany: Olaf Scholz is leading a never-tried-before coalition of his own Social Democrats, as well as the Greens and pro-business Liberals. They come to office promising to get a hold on Covid-19, keep the economy stable – and bring some liberal changes to the EU's biggest economy, including the legalisation of recreational cannabis.

Afghanistan is the world's top producer of opium and the illegal drug trade has helped finance the ruling Taliban. Over the past decades, millions of Afghans have fallen into drug addiction. The Taliban now claim they want to eradicate the use of narcotics. When they were in power from 1996 to 2001, the fundamentalists had banned poppy cultivation. But the intervention of US-led troops in 2001 relaunched opium production. Today, it remains permitted and is even intensifying in a country on the brink of economic collapse. Our team on the ground reports.

Four men have been arrested and charged in last year's overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams, who was best known for playing a shotgun-toting drug dealer in the HBO crime drama "The Wire," the U.S. prosecutor in New York City said on Wednesday. Williams, 54, was found dead in his New York apartment on Sept. 7, police said.

It is still unclear who is behind the attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau. President Embalo claims that the coup plotters wanted to end his fight against drug trafficking. But what about the role of the political elite?

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Friday.⁣