MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday described as “unfair” the decision by the Trump administration to suspend imports of Mexican beef cattle for 15 days due to the detection of screwworm in shipments.
Sheinbaum, who has spent the past few months scrambling to offset tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, said she hoped the suspension would not result in another economic blow for her country.
“We do not agree with this measure,” she said at her morning press conference on Monday. “The Mexican government has been working an all fronts from the very first moment we were alerted to the screwworm."
The U.S. restricted Mexican cattle shipments in late November following the detection of the pest, but lifted the ban in February after protocols were put in place to evaluate the animals prior to entry into the country. But there has been an “unacceptable northward advancement” of the screwworm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement Sunday.
“The last time this devastating pest invaded the U.S. it took our livestock industry 30 years to recover,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on the X social media platform. “This can never happen again.”
The screwworm is a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly that can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters the skin, causing serious and life-threatening damage and lesions.
Mexico’s Health Ministry issued an epidemiological warning this month after the first human case of screwworm myiasis, or parasitic infestation, was confirmed on April 17 in a 77-year-old woman living in the southern state of Chiapas.
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FILE - Cattle graze next to the Victoria reservoir in the State of Mexico, Mexico, Oct. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Bring on postseason hockey in Buffalo. The Sabres’ playoff drought is finally over.
Following an NHL-record 14 seasons of futility, during which the team finished no better than 19th in the league standings, the Sabres clinched a berth on Saturday when the New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings in regulation. Buffalo's playoff drought was among the four North American major sports’ longest active streaks, ranking second behind the NFL's New York Jets, who last qualified in 2010.
The Sabres clinched with six games left in their season, before playing at Washington on Saturday night, and are in contention to earn the Eastern Conference's top seed. At 46-22-8, Buffalo is riding a 35-8-4 surge that has vaulted the team after sitting last in the East in early December.
The turnaround has been remarkable for a franchise that through Saturday has gone 5,458 days since the Lindy Ruff-coached team lost Game 7 of a first-round series to Philadelphia on April 26, 2011.
In the ensuing years, the Sabres have finished last overall four times and are on their seventh coach, with Ruff back for a second stint, and their fourth general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen.
Buffalo’s run up the standings coincided with Kekalainen being promoted from his position as senior adviser on Dec. 15, replacing Kevyn Adams, who was fired after five-plus seasons.
The Sabres already had won three straight when the change occurred and proceeded to go on a franchise record-matching 10-0 run. They’ve not looked back since. Buffalo is 14-3-2 since returning from the Olympic break, and the team’s worst stretch since December has been a 0-1-2 skid.
Though Adams’ firing played a role in spurring the team, so did Buffalo getting healthier.
The Sabres’ top two lines were replenished with the return of Josh Norris and Jason Zucker, and their goaltending got a boost with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen shaking off an early season injury to resume sharing the starting duties with Alex Lyon. After opening the season 4-5-1, Luukkonen has gone 15-4-2 since Dec. 21.
Kekalainen also added depth at the trade deadline last month by acquiring center Sam Carrick, forward Tanner Pearson and defensemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn.
The team is led by two of its longest-tenured players: captain Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, and forward Tage Thompson, who was acquired in a trade that sent Ryan O’Reilly to St. Louis in the summer of 2018.
Dahlin entered Saturday ranking sixth among NHL defensemen with 67 points, while Thompson was tied for 11th among all skaters with 38 goals.
The next test for Buffalo is winning a playoff series, something the team hasn’t done since beating the Rangers in six games in the second round in 2007.
The turnaround has revived a fanbase that had grown weary with losing, various rebuilding plans that failed to generate a winner and a revolving door of talent being shuffled in and out of Buffalo — from O’Reilly’s departure to Jack Eichel being dealt to Vegas in November 2021 following a lengthy standoff over how to repair a neck injury. Each went on to win the Stanley Cup with his new team.
The Sabres have not hoisted the Cup through their first 54 seasons of existence.
Buffalo has had 21 home sellouts this season, including 15 in a row, a year after selling out just five games.
This season, the Sabres have shown resolve in rallying back from deficits. Buffalo entered Saturday with 19 come-from-behind wins, tied for seventh in the NHL. That included defeating Tampa Bay 8-7 last month after trailing 7-5 with nine minutes left in regulation.
The Lightning also clinched Saturday before playing.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) celebrates his goal with defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Buffalo Sabres' Mattias Samuelsson (23), front left, celebrates his goal with the bench against the Ottawa Senators during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
