US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • - Blockade begins - The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for a naval blockade of Iranian ports has passed.
  • The latest developments in the Middle East war: - No Trump apology - US President Donald Trump said he had "nothing to apologise for" after criticising Pope Leo XIV's calls for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.
  • - Blockade begins - The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for a naval blockade of Iranian ports has passed.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:

No Trump apology

US President Donald Trump said he had "nothing to apologise for" after criticising Pope Leo XIV's calls for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.
"Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, adding that the US-born pope was "very weak on crime and other things."
Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Trump's criticism of Leo as "unacceptable".

Trump: Iran wants a deal

Trump said Iranian representatives had called to make a peace deal after talks in Pakistan ended at the weekend without agreement.
"I can tell you that we've been called by the other side. They'd like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly," he told reporters outside the Oval Office, without identifying which officials had called.

Israel hits 150 Hezbollah targets

Israel's military said Monday that it had struck around 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, as the country prepares for peace talks with Lebanese officials in Washington.
"In the past 24 hours, approximately 150 Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets were struck in numerous areas across southern Lebanon," the military said, adding that the targets included "military structures, anti-tank missile launch points, and terror command centers".

US to destroy Iran 'attack ships'

Trump said US forces would destroy any Iranian "fast attack ships" that approach the American naval blockade of Iranian ports that came into effect on Monday.
"Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," he said on his Truth Social network, adding that the rest of Iran's navy had been "completely obliterated."
The US military would be "using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," the president said, referring to airstrikes on alleged narcotics boats off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump also said 34 ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, adding it was the most since the war began. 

Blockade begins

The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for a naval blockade of Iranian ports has passed.
The US military announced Sunday it will begin blockading all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, but will allow ships not coming or going to Iran to pass through the strait.

Pakistan: truce 'holding'

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "holding" and that efforts were underway to reach an agreement after weekend talks failed to do so.
"The ceasefire is still holding and, as I speak, full efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding issues," Sharif told a cabinet meeting in brief televised remarks.

Qatar urges US, Iran mediation

Qatar's foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart that Iran and the United States should engage positively with mediation efforts.
In a call with Abbas Araghchi, Qatari Foreign Minister and Premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani "emphasised the need to open maritime routes, guarantee freedom of navigation, and refrain from using them as a tool for pressure or bargaining".

Hormuz blockade questioned

The head of the UN maritime agency said no country had a legal right to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a trade passage paralysed by the US-Iran war.
"In accordance to international law, no countries have the right to prohibit the right of innocent passage or the freedom of navigation through international straits that are used for international transit," the International Maritime Organization's Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez told a news conference.

Russia pulls atomic staff

Russia has withdrawn almost all its staff from Iran's sole nuclear power plant, built and operated with help from Moscow, the head of Russia's atomic energy agency said.
"We began the final rotation at the Bushehr station," Rosatom's Alexei Likhachev said, adding that 108 people were evacuated while just 20 -- top managers and those responsible for equipment safety -- remained at the station.
burs-giv/rh

Global Edition

Right-wing candidates tipped for runoff in Peru presidential poll

BY CARLOS MANDUJANO

  • Several of the 35 presidential candidates could yet make a late surge to snatch a runoff spot.
  • Two Peruvian right-wing candidates looked set on Monday to advance to a presidential runoff, after an election marred by logistical foul-ups and deep voter anger.
  • Several of the 35 presidential candidates could yet make a late surge to snatch a runoff spot.
Two Peruvian right-wing candidates looked set on Monday to advance to a presidential runoff, after an election marred by logistical foul-ups and deep voter anger.
With voting still ongoing in parts of the capital, Lima, a day after the election began, Keiko Fujimori, the 50-year-old daughter of a disgraced ex-president, led the field with 17 percent of the vote.
She was followed by Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a wealthy former Lima mayor who has vowed to hunt down migrants, drawing comparisons to US President Donald Trump. Lopez Aliaga commanded 15 percent of the vote.
Voting is still underway at around a dozen polling places in Lima, where ballot materials failed to arrive on time for Sunday's election.
The police said they had detained an election official over the delays, which prevented tens of thousands of people from casting their vote.
Several of the 35 presidential candidates could yet make a late surge to snatch a runoff spot.
But Fujimori already claimed the partial results on Sunday night as a victory for the right, which, she said, had vanquished the leftist "enemy."
Peruvians had hoped Sunday's election would end the political chaos that has brought eight presidents in a decade and a surge in violent crime.
But the election saw more tumult, with missing election materials preventing many polling centers from opening on time.
"The authorities are so incompetent," said 56-year-old domestic worker Nancy Gomez, who was among voters queued around the block in Lima for a second day.
Police and prosecutors raided the headquarters of the National Office of Electoral Processes in an effort to find out who was to blame.
They also raided a private subcontractor blamed for failing to deliver ballots, boxes and other materials on time. 
Lopez Aliaga had initially claimed "grave electoral fraud" and called on supporters to take to the streets in protest.
But as he emerged in second place, his supporters' cries of fraud were more muted.
Piero Corvetto, head of the election commission, admitted to a "logistical problem," but said there was "no possibility" of election fraud.
"There is full assurance that the results will faithfully reflect the popular will," he said.

Crime and punishment

Violent crime and corruption dominated the run-up to the vote.
Peru's homicide rate has more than doubled in a decade, while reported extortion cases jumped from 3,200 to 26,500 over the same period.
On the eve of the election, frontrunner Fujimori, daughter of scandal-tainted ex-president Alberto Fujimori, told AFP that she would "restore order" in her first 100 days by sending the army into prisons, deporting undocumented migrants and strengthening borders.
In an exclusive interview, Fujimori said she would seek a united front with conservative leaders in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia.
"We will ask for special powers," she said, including to modernize the police force. "We will expel undocumented citizens," she added.
This is Fujimori's fourth bid for the presidency. Her father died in 2024 after serving 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity, including directing death squads, as well as bribery and embezzlement.
During the campaign, she has leaned on newfound nostalgia for his strongman rule.
"I believe that time and history are giving my father the place he deserves," she told AFP.
Incumbent President Jose Maria Balcazar, in office for less than two months, was barred from running.
More than 90 percent of Peruvians say they have little or no confidence in their government and parliament, according to Latinobarometro, a polling organization.
Despite the turmoil, Peru remains one of the region's most stable economies.
arb/cb/pnb/msp

politics

Opposition candidate concedes defeat in Benin presidential election

  • Romuald Wadagni, I offer my republican congratulations.
  • Benin presidential election favourite Romuald Wadagni headed for victory Monday as his opponent conceded defeat even as votes were still being counted.
  • Romuald Wadagni, I offer my republican congratulations.
Benin presidential election favourite Romuald Wadagni headed for victory Monday as his opponent conceded defeat even as votes were still being counted.
Opposition candidate Paul Hounkpe offered "republican congratulations" to finance minister Wadagni, 49, who had been widely tipped to win after being endorsed by outgoing leader Patrice Talon.
Official results are not expected before Tuesday. But Wadagni's ability to conjure economic growth in the face of jihadist attacks gave him a clear lead, even if the eight million-strong electorate showed scant enthusiasm for either candidate, notably in the West African nation's cities.
"To... Romuald Wadagni, I offer my republican congratulations. Democracy requires mutual respect and the ability to rise above partisan divides,” Hounkpe said in his concession statement.
Talon stood down after two five-year terms since 2016. But in the capital Porto-Novo, turnout for Sunday's vote ranged from 20 to 40 percent at some polling stations, while life in economic capital Cotonou was largely back to its usual bustle by Monday.
Hounkpe ran a low-key campaign and needed the help of majority lawmakers to secure the required parliamentary endorsements even to get on the ballot paper.
The main opposition Democrats party did not field a candidate as its leader, Renaud Agbodjo, failed to secure sufficient endorsements.
For the media, in the words of Le Telegramme daily, the election was "generally calm and well-organised," while Le Matin Libre saw "Wadagni on his way to the Marina," the presidential palace.
Le Patriote, however, saw "signs of an electoral heist."
"We are waiting for the CENA (electoral commission) to confirm in the coming hours what we already knew: the undisputed victory of our candidate," said Rominus Gnonlonfoun, a leading Wadagni supporter.

Challenges ahead

Jean de Dieu Hadjinou, a member of Hounkpe's party, said he did not trust "either social media or the premature celebrations of a camp that is already claiming victory."
For Alimata, a lock seller in the Gbegemey neighbourhood, "if this election or Wadagni's arrival can change our lives, we shall be happy but for now, we have to find a way to feed the family".
Earlier, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) election observation mission praised "a peaceful atmosphere" and "the smooth running of the election."
The head of Benin's electoral commission, Sacca Lafia, said the election had passed off peacefully, although an electoral monitoring platform set up by civil society groups reported around one hundred incident "alerts".
The cases involved voting stations that had opened early or where voting boxes appeared full before the start of voting.
Wadagni embodies continuity with the Talon era, which has seen Benin enjoy rapid economic growth, an expansion in tourism and the completion of numerous infrastructure projects. 
But major challenges remain, including a huge wealth gap. The poverty rate is estimated at more than 30 percent and many people feel they have not felt the benefits of economic growth.
Benin's growth will also depend on security, with the country's north plagued by increasingly deadly jihadist violence, carried out mainly by Al-Qaeda's Sahel branch, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
The next elections are not until 2033, as a constitutional reform passed last year has extended the presidential term from five years to seven and synchronised all elections to take place then.
bur-pdw/tw

Global Edition

Pro-EU Magyar vows 'new era' in Hungary after ousting Orban in vote

BY ANDRAS ROSTOVANYI

  • "At long last it feels so good to be Hungarian.
  • Hungarian pro-EU prime minister-elect Peter Magyar pledged on Monday to usher in a "new era" after defeating long-time nationalist leader Viktor Orban in elections seen as a blow to hard-right populism.
  • "At long last it feels so good to be Hungarian.
Hungarian pro-EU prime minister-elect Peter Magyar pledged on Monday to usher in a "new era" after defeating long-time nationalist leader Viktor Orban in elections seen as a blow to hard-right populism.
Orban, a self-described "thorn" in the European Union's side who was backed by US President Donald Trump and maintained close ties to Moscow, was ousted in Sunday's ballot after 16 years in power.
Hungarians fed up with corruption handed conservative former government insider Magyar a decisive victory, with a two-thirds majority in parliament. The vote saw a record turnout. 
Magyar, 45, said he would do "everything in our power" to ensure the "beginning of a new era", adding Hungarians "didn't vote for a mere change of government, but for a complete regime change."
In power since 2010, Orban has transformed the central European country of 9.5 million people into a model of "illiberal democracy", making wide-ranging reforms that restricted civil rights and the independence of the judiciary, media and academia.
In that, he frequently clashed with Brussels, which has frozen billions of euros in funds over rule-of-law concerns.

'No time to waste'

Magyar said he was "willing to take on" reforms, including anti-graft measures, to seek to unlock the funds.
He urged President Tamas Sulyok, an Orban ally, to convene parliament "as soon as possible".
The president has 30 days, or until May 12, to do so.
Sulyok on Facebook said he had invited the leaders of parliamentary parties to a meeting on Wednesday.
"Our country has no time to waste. Hungary is in trouble in every respect. It has been plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined," Magyar told reporters.
Many EU leaders welcomed Magyar's win, while the Kremlin said Moscow hoped for "pragmatic" relations with Hungary's new government and China -- which Orban also courted -- congratulated Magyar.
Magyar thanked both Moscow and Beijing for "being open to pragmatic cooperation, just as Hungary is."
Orban, 62, conceded defeat on Sunday, saying the message was "painful but unambiguous".
Magyar was a supporter of Orban for years before emerging as his most serious challenger.
He stepped into frontline politics just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offering better public services.
He garnered support against a backdrop of economic stagnation and despite an electoral system skewed in favour of Orban's Fidesz.
Ahead of the vote, US Vice President JD Vance, one of the most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe, visited Hungary last week to attend a rally with Orban.
His boss, Trump, had promised to back Hungary with the United States' "economic might" if Orban's party won.

'Weight lifted off'

The election "could mark a real turning point for Donald Trump's culture war in Europe", said Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
It gave "confidence (to) pro-European forces across the continent" and meant that association with Trump's culture war was now becoming "more of a liability than an asset", he said.
Orban, who repeatedly blocked EU moves to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, made Ukraine a central campaign issue, portraying Kyiv as "hostile" to Hungary.
Like Orban, Magyar opposes sending EU military aid to Ukraine or offering Ukraine a fast-track route to join the 27-nation bloc.
He reiterated that stance on Monday, saying: "We are talking about a country at war. It is completely out of the question for the European Union to admit a country at war."
On election night, jubilant supporters poured into the streets to celebrate in the capital, Budapest.
"At long last it feels so good to be Hungarian. It's like a weight lifted off our shoulders," Csilla Bekesi, 25, told AFP.
burs-jza/yad

earnings

Goldman Sachs eyes more corporate mergers despite war uncertainty

BY JOHN BIERS

  • While the "level of uncertainty is higher" due to the war, Chief Executive David Solomon told analysts that clients remain interested in large deals. 
  • Goldman Sachs reported strong first-quarter earnings on Monday, pointing to continued client interest in dealmaking that so far has not been derailed by the Middle East War.
  • While the "level of uncertainty is higher" due to the war, Chief Executive David Solomon told analysts that clients remain interested in large deals. 
Goldman Sachs reported strong first-quarter earnings on Monday, pointing to continued client interest in dealmaking that so far has not been derailed by the Middle East War.
The New York-based investment bank scored an 18 percent jump in quarterly profit to $5.4 billion, citing a "significant increase in completed mergers and acquisitions volumes" that boosted financial advisory revenues.
Overall revenues rose 14 percent to $17.2 billion.
While the "level of uncertainty is higher" due to the war, Chief Executive David Solomon told analysts that clients remain interested in large deals. 
"We continue to see significant activity on the M&A front," Solomon said in a conference call. "We don't see that slowing."
Solomon also expressed bullishness on winning business from upcoming initial public offerings that will proceed because "it's important for those businesses and for capital formation on those businesses," he predicted.
Solomon expressed confidence in Goldman's private credit business in response to analyst questions amid growing investor anxiety.
"We feel we're very well positioned," Solomon said, pointing to an inflow in the quarter in private credit."
But Solomon described the worry about private credit as unsurprising given that "this has been a very long credit cycle" without a recession where problems are exposed.
"So when you do have cycle turn in a recession, we'll see higher losses across the space than you would have had if it was a shorter cycle," he said.

Political opportunity for deals

Monday's batch of results marked the third in a row in which Goldman flagged completed deals as a positive driver. Investment banking fees surged 48 percent in the quarter amid the strong mergers and acquisitions (M&A) flow.
The firm also saw an uptick in operating expenses in the period, partly due to the M&A surge. The presentation alluded to "significantly higher transaction-based expenses."
Revenues fell for fixed income, currency and commodities due to weakness in interest rate products and some other categories. However, this was partially offset by increases in commodities and currencies.
Revenues also rose in equities trading.
Increased volatility usually translates into higher trading revenues for Goldman.
Since US and Israeli forces attacked Iran on February 28, the surge in oil prices has dominated financial markets, often dictating trading dynamics in equities and other assets.
Solomon reiterated  that CEOs from large view the current period as a window of opportunity to executive major deals under President Donald Trump's administration after the preceding Biden administration took a highly skeptical view of industry consolidation.
"As I talk to CEOs, of course they're watching what's going on geopolitically, but that's also balanced by the fact they see an opportunity during this period of time to drive scale and scale creation in businesses," Solomon said. "And that candidly trumps the geopolitical risk."
Goldman shares, which had risen more than 11 percent between late March and last Friday, fell 3.5 percent in late-morning trading. 
jmb/sms

US

Trump vows US will sink any Iran boats that challenge blockade

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, ISLAMABAD, WASHINGTON, BEIRUT, JERUSALEM AND DUBAI

  • In a social media post, Trump said the bulk of Iran's navy had already been destroyed during the war, but that if any of what he said were Tehran's few remaining "fast attack ships" approach the blockade "they will be immediately ELIMINATED".
  • US President Donald Trump warned Monday that any Iranian attack boats that approach the naval blockade he has ordered around the country's ports will be destroyed, despite international calls for a ceasefire to be respected and negotiations to resume.
  • In a social media post, Trump said the bulk of Iran's navy had already been destroyed during the war, but that if any of what he said were Tehran's few remaining "fast attack ships" approach the blockade "they will be immediately ELIMINATED".
US President Donald Trump warned Monday that any Iranian attack boats that approach the naval blockade he has ordered around the country's ports will be destroyed, despite international calls for a ceasefire to be respected and negotiations to resume.
The US military said the blockade would begin at 1400 GMT and apply to all ships leaving or seeking to dock at Iranian harbours, but as the deadline passed there was no announcement that the measure had come into effect, nor sign of any interceptions.
In a social media post, Trump said the bulk of Iran's navy had already been destroyed during the war, but that if any of what he said were Tehran's few remaining "fast attack ships" approach the blockade "they will be immediately ELIMINATED".
Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after a delegation led by Vice President JD Vance returned from a meeting with Iranian officials in Pakistan without having secured a deal to end the war launched on February 28 with deadly US and Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Last Wednesday, the US and Iran agreed a two-week truce to allow the negotiations to go ahead, and mediator Pakistan and Gulf state Qatar were still calling on Monday for it to be respected as diplomatic efforts continue.    
"The ceasefire is still holding and, as I speak, full efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding issues," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan told a cabinet meeting.
The head of the International Maritime Organization, Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez, said no country could "prohibit the right of innocent passage or the freedom of navigation through international straits that are used for international transit".
Qatari Foreign Minister and Premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged both sides to guarantee freedom of navigation and refrain from using maritime routes "as a tool for pressure", encouraging Tehran and Washington to remain in touch with mediators.
Iran had already closed the strait to what it regards as enemy shipping, allowing only vessels serving countries it deems friendly -- such as China -- to cross. 
Oil prices, which had tumbled with the truce, jumped around eight percent Monday amid fears the renewed standoff would block more tankers.
The US leader's latest change of tack left some observers perplexed. 
"Presumably, Trump's intent is to try to starve Iran of export revenue and compel Iran's main oil customers, particularly China, to pressure Tehran to end its blockage of the strait," think tank The Soufan Center said in its daily note. 

Uncertainty

"The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," US Central Command said, adding it would begin at 1400 GMT on Monday.
US forces would not impede vessels transiting the strait to and from non-Iranian ports, it added.
Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po's Center for International Research, said a US blockade was "not a minor coercive signal" but could rather be considered an effective resumption of the war.
Iran's military command issued a statement branding the blockade a criminal act of piracy, and warned that if the security of its harbours "is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe".
China, Washington's great power rival and a big importer of Iranian oil, also criticised the plan. 
"The Strait of Hormuz is an important international trade route for goods and energy, and maintaining its security, stability, and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said, urging Iran and the US not to reignite the war.
Among Washington's NATO allies, much criticised by Trump for their reluctance to follow him to war, Spain's Defence Minister Margarita Robles said the planned naval blockade "makes no sense".
"It's one more episode in this whole downward spiral into which we've been dragged," she said. 
And in a BBC radio interview, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would not join the blockade, adding the UK "is not getting dragged in". 
French President Emmanuel Macron said that France and Britain would host a conference with countries prepared to join a "peaceful multinational mission" to secure the strait, but it would be "strictly defensive" and only operational once circumstances permit.

'We'll see'

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation in Pakistan, has said Tehran will "not bow to any threats", while navy chief Shahram Irani has called Trump's blockade "ridiculous".
The strait was far from the only friction point impeding efforts to end the war.
The US delegation in Islamabad -- led by Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner -- was frustrated by Iran's refusal to give up what it insists is a civilian nuclear programme.
Russia has offered to hold Iran's enriched uranium safely as part of any deal.
"The offer still stands, but has not been acted upon," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 
Russia has personnel helping run Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, but Alexei Likhachev, director general of Moscow's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, said 108 of them have already been pulled out and only a "final rotation" of 20 remain. 
The area around the Bushehr facility has been struck at least four times during the war. 
burs/dc/smw

research

Norwegian effectively cured of HIV after transplant from brother

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • However, on the day of the transplant in 2020, the doctors were stunned to discover that the brother carried the CCR5 mutation. 
  • A Norwegian man has been effectively cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother, doctors announced on Monday. 
  • However, on the day of the transplant in 2020, the doctors were stunned to discover that the brother carried the CCR5 mutation. 
A Norwegian man has been effectively cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother, doctors announced on Monday. 
The patient's brother happened to carry a rare, virus-blocking genetic mutation.
The 63-year-old man, dubbed the "Oslo patient", is the latest in around 10 people worldwide who have gone into long-term remission from HIV after receiving a transplant to treat unrelated blood cancer.
The high-risk procedure normally requires a donor to have a specific mutation of their CCR5 gene, which blocks HIV from entering the body's cells. 
Only around one percent of people in northern Europe have the necessary mutation.
The Oslo patient, who had been living with HIV since 2006, was diagnosed with a fatal blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome in 2017.
His doctors searched for a donor who would help treat both. When they couldn't find one, they chose the man's elder brother.
However, on the day of the transplant in 2020, the doctors were stunned to discover that the brother carried the CCR5 mutation. 
"We had no idea... That was amazing," doctor Anders Eivind Myhre of the Oslo University Hospital told AFP. 
 

'Winning the lottery twice'

 
The patient said "it was like winning the lottery twice", added Myhre, who was also the lead author of a study describing the case in Nature Microbiology.
Two years after the transplant, the patient stopped taking the anti-retroviral drugs which had been reducing the level of HIV in his body.
The researchers found no trace of the virus in samples of the man's blood, gut and bone marrow.
"For all practical purposes, we are quite certain that he is cured," Myhre said.
Now the Oslo patient, whose name was not revealed, is "having a great time" and has more energy than he knows what to do with, Myhre said.
The painful and potentially dangerous transplant procedure is for people who have both HIV and deadly blood cancer so is not a feasible option for the millions of people living with the virus across the world.
However, researchers believe that studying these rare cases will reveal more about how HIV works in the hope of finding a cure for all patients.
 
 

'No longer a patient'

The Oslo patient is the first person to receive a transplant from a family member.
The patient's immune system had been "completely replaced" by the donor's, sqaid study co-author Marius Troseid of the University of Oslo.
It was the first time this had been observed in a cured patient's bone marrow and gut, he told AFP.
Even before the researchers found out the brother had a CCR5 mutation, they had some hope that the Oslo patient's HIV could be cured.
That is because in 2024 it was revealed that the so-called "next Berlin patient" entered long-term remission despite receiving a transplant that did not have two copies of the mutated gene.
The original Berlin patient, Timothy Ray Brown, was the first person declared cured of HIV back in 2008. Patients in London, New York, Geneva, Duesseldorf and elsewhere followed.
Given the Oslo patient's robust health, Troseid suggested that his nickname was no longer suitable.
"The Oslo patient is perhaps no longer a patient. At least he doesn't feel like it," Troseid said.
dl/gil

bombings

'No warning': Survivors say Nigerian air force bombed packed market

BY ADAMU ALIYU NGULDE WITH NICHOLAS ROLL IN ABUJA

  • The Nigerian air force said it is investigating reports of civilian casualties.
  • The market was packed, like it was every Saturday, when the Nigerian air force jets screamed overhead. 
  • The Nigerian air force said it is investigating reports of civilian casualties.
The market was packed, like it was every Saturday, when the Nigerian air force jets screamed overhead. 
Soon after, swathes of trading stalls at a market in Jilli, a small town in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state, were reduced to ash, with incinerated bodies lying in the rubble, a video from the scene shared with AFP shows.
Survivors, human rights groups and local officials say it is yet another massacre of civilians by the Nigerian air force.
The Nigerian military said it targeted a "logistics hub" located "near the abandoned village of Jilli", on the Borno-Yobe state border, targeting militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
But according to a conflict monitoring report prepared by the UN and seen by AFP, the strikes hit the Jilli market and "mistakenly killed at least 56 people," with local chief Lawan Zanna Nur saying that the dead and injured together numbered "around 200".
"I don't know if there were jihadists at the market. We are just ordinary people," Mala Garba, 42, told AFP from a hospital in Borno state capital Maiduguri while recovering from bullet wounds.
He was among the 46 victims from the town an AFP reporter saw at the hospital, some heavily bandaged, others with IV drips attached.
The governor of Borno state, the epicentre of Nigeria's 17-year-long jihadist insurgency, said the government shut the market down five years ago. 
But Yusuf Bagana, a tailor who survived the strike, said it was operating normally.
He told AFP he "didn't know" about any closure orders and "was just focusing on my daily activities" before the bombing knocked him unconscious.
The "airstrike hit the entire Jilli town," said Garba. "All of us were living in the town. There was no warning."

Living under, among jihadists

During the peak of Nigeria's insurgency, about a decade ago when ISWAP forerunner-turned-rival Boko Haram controlled swathes of territory, "some elders knew there were Boko Haram and informants around," Garba said. 
More recently, he said, in 2023 the army conducted house-to-house searches in the village and arrested two people. But there had not been any major security incidents since then, he added.
A security source told AFP that jihadists "control" and collect taxes from the market.
Pictures released by the military showed trucks and motorcycles allegedly belonging to jihadists amid what appeared to be a crowded market -- with one of the photos even labelled "market". Photos then show the site destroyed by strikes.
The Nigerian air force said it is investigating reports of civilian casualties.
When civilians are killed by the military, they are often accused of "harbouring" jihadists, said Isa Sanusi, country director at Amnesty International Nigeria -- an accusation that is often impossible to distinguish from simply living under jihadist control, as many Nigerians do across swathes of the northeastern countryside held by the militants.
Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, spokesman for operations in the northeast, said that the strikes followed "sustained intelligence" and "a rigorous and professional targeting process". 
The military also said the strike hit targets that were affiliated with the killing of a Nigerian brigadier general last week, the second killing of a high-ranking officer in five months.
But Sanusi, who spoke to local residents and shared the video of the scorched market with AFP, said that militants simply being present did not justify the high civilian death toll.
"If the market is entirely run by insurgents, that is a different story," he told AFP. "But if the allegation is that insurgents used the market, that makes their claim very baseless."

US says not involved

The United States, which has sent troops to the country to train the Nigerian military, including in target selection, was "not involved in the planning, intelligence sharing, or execution of this operation," a US Africa Command spokesperson told AFP.
Over the years, Nigerian airstrikes have repeatedly killed civilians, with Human Rights Watch warning after a deadly strike in January that "such deaths have become a recurring feature".
Issa Mammane, another man recovering in Maiduguri hospital, told AFP that "five members of my family were killed" in the strikes.
Across Borno state, the violence has continued.
On Sunday, about 150 kilometres away from Jilli, ISWAP militants struck the garrison town of Monguno, near Lake Chad. 
Ten soldiers, including a colonel, were killed, two anti-jihadist militia sources told AFP.
str-abu-nro/pdw

Israel

Iran releases assets of football captain in Australia asylum row

  • "The assets of Zahra Ghanbari, a footballer for the Iranian women's national team, which had been seized, were released by court decision," Mizan said. 
  • Iran's judiciary said Monday authorities had released the assets of the captain of Iranian women's football team which had been seized after she made and then withdrew an asylum claim in Australia last month.
  • "The assets of Zahra Ghanbari, a footballer for the Iranian women's national team, which had been seized, were released by court decision," Mizan said. 
Iran's judiciary said Monday authorities had released the assets of the captain of Iranian women's football team which had been seized after she made and then withdrew an asylum claim in Australia last month.
Zahra Ghanbari was among a group of six players and one backroom staff member who sought asylum in Australia in March after playing in the Women's Asian Cup at the start of the Israeli-US war against the Islamic republic.
Five of them, including Ghanbari, later changed their minds and returned home along with the rest of the team and were given a hero's welcome at a special ceremony in central Tehran on March 19.
"The assets of Zahra Ghanbari, a footballer for the Iranian women's national team, which had been seized, were released by court decision," Mizan said. 
It added that the move was taken after "a declaration of innocence following her change in behaviour."
The announcement came two days after Iranian media published a list of people they called "traitors" whose assets had been frozen by court order following the outbreak of the war with Israel and the United States on February 28.
Ghanbari's name appeared on the list, although it was not immediately clear when the decision to freeze her assets had been taken. 
Rights groups have repeatedly accused Iranian authorities of pressuring athletes who compete abroad by threatening relatives or seizing property if they defect or make statements against the Islamic republic.
In this case, campaigners accused Tehran of pressuring the women's families, including summoning their parents for interrogations by intelligence agents. Iranian authorities however alleged that Australia sought to force the athletes to defect.
The team had drawn criticism from hardliners in Iran after failing to sing the national anthem of the Islamic republic before their first match. They sang the anthem in later matches and it featured prominently in the welcome ceremony in Tehran.
The controversy, against the background of the war, erupted with the Iranian men's team due to play in the World Cup in the United States in June.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino told AFP last month in Turkey on the sidelines of an international friendly being played by Iran that "Iran will be at the World Cup" and play its group matches as scheduled in the US.
Just two of the Iranian women's footballers remained in Australia and have been training with the club Brisbane Roar.
bur-mz-sjw/ser

trial

French court jails Lafarge ex-CEO for funding IS in Syria

BY ALEXANDRE MARCHAND AND ELEONORE DERMY

  • The Paris court found that Lafarge -- now part of the Swiss conglomerate Holcim -- paid nearly 5.6 million euros ($6.5 million) in 2013 and 2014 via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) to jihadist groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria.
  • A French court on Monday fined the cement group Lafarge over $1.3 million and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to the Islamic State group and other jihadists to maintain its business in war-torn Syria.
  • The Paris court found that Lafarge -- now part of the Swiss conglomerate Holcim -- paid nearly 5.6 million euros ($6.5 million) in 2013 and 2014 via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) to jihadist groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria.
A French court on Monday fined the cement group Lafarge over $1.3 million and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to the Islamic State group and other jihadists to maintain its business in war-torn Syria.
The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated "terrorist" organisations and agreed to pay a $778 million fine, the first time a company had faced the charge.
The Paris court found that Lafarge -- now part of the Swiss conglomerate Holcim -- paid nearly 5.6 million euros ($6.5 million) in 2013 and 2014 via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) to jihadist groups and intermediaries to keep its plant operating in northern Syria.
It ruled that Lafarge must pay the maximum fine of 1.125 million euros ($1.31 million) sought by prosecutors during the trial. 
It also sentenced the company's former CEO Bruno Lafont to six years in prison for financing "terrorism", which a judge ordered him to start serving immediately -- even though a lawyer confirmed that Lafont would appeal the ruling.
"This method of financing terrorist organisations, and primarily IS, was essential in enabling the terrorist organisation to gain control of Syria's natural resources, allowing it to finance terrorist acts within the region and those planned abroad, particularly in Europe," said the presiding judge, Isabelle Prevost-Desprez.
The company established a "genuine commercial partnership with IS", she added, saying the amount paid to jihadist organisations -- which was "never disclosed" -- contributed to the "extreme gravity of the offences".
Lafarge had finished building a $680 million factory in Jalabiya in 2010, just before Syria's civil war erupted in March the following year amid opposition to then-president Bashar al-Assad's brutal repression of anti-government protests.
IS jihadists seized large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" and implementing their brutal interpretation of Islamic law.
While other multinational companies left Syria in 2012, Lafarge evacuated only its expatriate employees and left its Syrian staff in place until September 2014, when IS jihadists seized control of the factory.
In 2013 and 2014, Lafarge paid intermediaries to access raw materials from the Islamic State organisation and other groups and to allow free movement for the company's trucks and employees.
It paid jihadists including the Islamic State group and Syria's then Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.

'Single aim: profit'

The defendants included the company, five former members of operational and security staff, and two Syrian intermediaries.
The court found all eight former employees guilty of financing "terrorist" organisations and issued sentences ranging from 18 months to seven years behind bars.
Firas Tlass, a Syrian ex-member of staff who made the payments to the jihadist groups, was sentenced in absentia to seven years in jail.
Former deputy managing director Christian Herrault was handed five years in jail.
Herrault had argued that the decision to keep the factory open was made out of concern for local staff.
"We could have washed our hands of it and walked away, but what would have happened to the factory's employees?" he said.
Prosecutors said 69-year-old Lafont "gave clear instructions" to keep the plant operation, a decision they called "staggering in its cynicism".
The French national counterterrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) said in its closing argument in December that Lafarge was guilty of funding "terrorist" organisations with "a single aim: profit".

Second case ongoing

Holcim, which took over Lafarge in 2015, has said it had no knowledge of the Syria dealings.
A second case, concerning allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity, is ongoing.
Kurdish-led Syrian fighters, backed by US airstrikes, defeated the IS "caliphate" in 2019.
An inquiry was opened in France in 2017 after several media reports and two legal complaints in 2016, one from the finance ministry for the alleged breaching of an economic sanction and another from non-governmental groups and 11 former Lafarge Syria staff members over alleged "funding of terrorism".
In the US case, the Justice Department said Lafarge sought the Islamic State group's help to squeeze out competitors, operating an effective "revenue sharing agreement" with them.
Lafont, who was chief executive from 2007 to 2015, at the time denounced the inquiry as "biased".
amd-edy/ekf/ah/js

EU

Ukraine loan, frozen funds: how could Orban's ouster unblock EU?

BY MAX DELANY

  • While they'd learned to live with his grandstanding, Orban's hardening stance towards the end -- and proximity to Moscow -- had seriously strained trust between leaders. 
  • After years of holdups and bitter horse trading, EU leaders breathed a resounding sigh of relief at Viktor Orban's crushing defeat in Hungary's elections. 
  • While they'd learned to live with his grandstanding, Orban's hardening stance towards the end -- and proximity to Moscow -- had seriously strained trust between leaders. 
After years of holdups and bitter horse trading, EU leaders breathed a resounding sigh of relief at Viktor Orban's crushing defeat in Hungary's elections. 
From support for Ukraine to sanctions on Russia, the bete noire from Budapest repeatedly stalled some of the EU's key initiatives.
Now, as his vanquisher Peter Magyar gears up to take power vowing to reset ties, the question is how quickly could these dossiers get unlocked? 
Here are five areas to watch:
 

90 billion euros for Ukraine?

 
Most pressing is a desperately needed 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine that Orban took hostage as he made opposition to helping Kyiv a key campaign plank. 
Orban's veto -- which he tied to a row with Ukraine over a damaged pipeline pumping Russian oil -- enraged his EU counterparts as it came after he gave his initial green light. 
Conservative Magyar is no major cheerleader for Kyiv, but if Orban doesn't budge in his remaining weeks in office then unblocking the loan could be an easy way for the newcomer to win over hearts and minds in Brussels.
It will also take two tango and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will have to play ball over the pipeline and soften his rhetoric as well.
"Sooner or later this has to resolve itself. Hopefully sooner," said one EU diplomat, talking as others on condition of anonymity.
 

Sanctions on Moscow

 
In a similar vein, Magyar could also signal a shift in Budapest's approach to Russia by backing a stalled package of sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
Orban -- who maintained good ties with Russia's Vladimir Putin despite the invasion -- was slammed by critics as acting like a trojan horse for the Kremlin inside EU summits.
Hungary repeatedly held up previous rounds of punishment on Moscow and, as the electioneering heated up, Orban threw a spanner in the fresh round of sanctions. 
By changing tune, Magyar can showcase a switch by Budapest.
That would then leave Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico -- the other most Moscow-friendly leader in the EU -- as the only holdout.
 
- Ukraine's EU membership?
 
A longer term test will be over Ukraine's EU membership push.
Orban was an implacable opponent of Kyiv's bid and to the chagrin of Brussels and Ukraine was vetoing any progress.
Now he is on his way out, Magyar could show willingness by greenlighting the opening of so-called negotiating "clusters" that EU officials insist Kyiv has long been ready for.
But Magyar, who has vowed a referendum on Ukraine's membership, is no pushover and there are still plenty of steps down the road for things to be held up.
"We shouldn't expect Hungary to become super pro-Ukraine membership all of a sudden," said a second senior EU diplomat. 
Also, other countries cautious about Kyiv joining had hidden behind Orban's opposition. They may now have to come out of the shadows more. 
"The end of Hungarian obstruction to Ukraine's accession does not mean it will accelerate," summed up Sebastien Maillard from the Jacques Delors think tank. 
 

Frozen funds for Hungary

 
It's not just a one-way street for Magyar: he will be desperate to show his promise to reset ties with Brussels can bring fast benefits to Hungary and its flagging economy. 
The EU has frozen some 18 billion euros in funds earmarked for Budapest over Orban's democratic backsliding, tackling graft and the treatment of LGBTQ issues.
Magyar has until the end of August to start pushing through reforms to try to secure the 10 billion euros left over from Covid recovery funds, or lose them for good.
Brussels could be willing to move fast on EU funds as it did for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after he took power a few years ago. 
"It is very important that we work intensively with the new Hungarian government," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said. "The Hungarian people deserve it."
 

New mood?

 
It may be a little harder to gauge, but EU officials will also be hoping for a more constructive atmosphere around the bloc's top table.
While they'd learned to live with his grandstanding, Orban's hardening stance towards the end -- and proximity to Moscow -- had seriously strained trust between leaders. 
"I think everyone will welcome Magyar with renewed enthusiasm," an EU official said.
That's not saying that all will now be joy and harmony. EU leaders will still fight their corners tooth and nail, Magyar included.
"Magyar will want, as he did during the campaign, not to be caricatured as being a pawn of Brussels; do not expect him to say yes to everything," said an EU diplomat. 
bur-del/ec/gv

conflict

'Help me!': family's anguish over Equatorial Guinean lured into Ukraine war

  • I'm on the front line in Ukraine, I'm fighting for Russia," he begged Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in an anguished voice message sent to his parents.
  • A desperate voice crackled down the phone -- Mariano Nkogo Mba Nchama's 22-year-old son pleaded for help to get home to Equatorial Guinea from Ukraine, where he is fighting for the Russian army.
  • I'm on the front line in Ukraine, I'm fighting for Russia," he begged Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in an anguished voice message sent to his parents.
A desperate voice crackled down the phone -- Mariano Nkogo Mba Nchama's 22-year-old son pleaded for help to get home to Equatorial Guinea from Ukraine, where he is fighting for the Russian army.
Daniel Angel Masie Nchama is among nearly 1,800 Africans fighting in the Kremlin's war on Ukraine; some signed up voluntarily in the hope of high pay, others say they were tricked or coerced.
"Come and help me! I'm on the front line in Ukraine, I'm fighting for Russia," he begged Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in an anguished voice message sent to his parents.
The recording has spread widely on social media and caused a strong reaction in oil-rich but poverty-stricken Equatorial Guinea, ruled by Obiang for over 40 years.
Masie Nchama, a computer science student who dreamed of moving abroad, left the central African nation for military training but found himself forcibly enrolled in the Russian army and headed for war.
Panicked at the prospect of being sent to the front, he contacted his family late in March and appealed to the authorities for help.
"We need to find a plan to get me out of here quickly, because if they send me to the front line, it's going to be really hard. Once I'm there, there'll be no going back unless the war ends," Masie Nchama says in the recording.
His father said his son was contacted by a Cameroonian living in Russia, who sold him on the idea of a military training course and the promise of a job as a bodyguard. 
Now he is at a Russian military base in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, after leaving Equatorial Guinea in December for Cameroon, where he got a Russian visa the following month -- a copy of which AFP has seen.
He was in Russia for just 45 days before being sent to the war zone.
"We were promised that after 10 months of military training, we would be given a job, but to our great surprise, we were sent to the front. I don't know if I'll come back," he says. 
- Diplomatic efforts - 
Following a TV report that also gained broad attention on social media, the Equatorial Guinean government confirmed in a statement the existence of a suspected recruitment network run by a Cameroonian national known by the pseudonym "Fabrice".
He apparently tricks young people by dangling the prospect of military training in Eastern Europe, then sends them to fight in Ukraine.
The government called for international actors to take steps to dismantle and prosecute the network. 
In a meeting with the Russian ambassador on March 31, the Equatorial Guinean vice president asked for Moscow's help to return Masie Nchama.
The envoy said Russia was committed to helping him and proposed cooperation with Equatorial Guinea to prevent such cases in the future, a statement by the African government said. 
As the war triggered by Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has dragged on, Moscow has taken soldiers from allies such as North Korea, which is thought to have sent thousands of troops.
Moscow has also pushed a recruitment drive across the African continent, signing up fighters from Egypt to South Africa and from Ghana to Zimbabwe.
Ukraine estimates that more than 1,780 Africans from 36 countries are fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine. 

Sent to the front

In February, the All Eyes On Wagner (AEOW) organisation, which investigates Russian hybrid warfare, published the names of 1,417 Africans recruited by Moscow between January 2023 and September 2025 for the war.
More than 300 of them have died in Ukraine.
Moscow agreed recently to stop recruiting Kenyans after a network sent more than 1,000 fighters from the east African country to join Russian forces in Ukraine.
According to his father, Masie Nchama left with 36 young French-speaking Africans and another from Equatorial Guinea.
After training in Murmansk in northern Russia, the recruits were separated. 
"My son went to Donetsk while his compatriot was sent elsewhere in the Donbas," he told AFP. 
In a voice message which AFP has heard, he explained that he was forced to sign documents in Russian without understanding what they said. 
His father said he has photos, videos and audio recordings proving his presence in the Donetsk region, an area of active fighting.
The family has filed a complaint with the Equatorial Guinean police and demanded urgent action from the authorities.
Despite their fears, his parents still hope to see Masie Nchama again -- a fighter he is said to have relieved at the front has confirmed he is still alive.
sam/cc/pdw/kjm/cms

Israel

Iran executed at least 1,639 in 2025, more hangings feared: NGOs

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • Even during the war, Iran hanged seven people in connection with the January protests, another six men convicted of membership in the banned opposition group People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), and one dual Iranian-Swedish citizen charged with spying for Israel.
  • Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025 and now risks hanging more in the the wake of the war against the US and Israel, two NGOs said Monday, urging the West to put capital punishment "at the heart" of any negotiations with Tehran.
  • Even during the war, Iran hanged seven people in connection with the January protests, another six men convicted of membership in the banned opposition group People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), and one dual Iranian-Swedish citizen charged with spying for Israel.
Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025 and now risks hanging more in the the wake of the war against the US and Israel, two NGOs said Monday, urging the West to put capital punishment "at the heart" of any negotiations with Tehran.
The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent on the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024, and also included 48 women, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their joint annual report.
If the Islamic republic "survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression", the report said.
IHR -- which requires two sources to confirm an execution, the majority of which are not reported in Iranian official media -- said the figure represented an "absolute minimum" for the number of hangings in 2025.
The report said the number of executions was by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008, and was the most reported since 1989, in the earlier years of the Islamic revolution.
Raphael Chenuil-Hazan, executive director of ECPM, said the question of abolition of the death penalty needed to be "at the heart" of any talks between Iran and the West on ending the conflict that is currently on hold with a ceasefire.
"Be strong, put the death penalty in all the deals," he told reporters at a news conference in Paris, adding that the "reality is the same" even after more than five weeks of war that saw the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam lamented that after US-Iran talks in Islamabad at the weekend that failed to agree a breakthrough there was "no mention of the Iranian people's rights in any of those negotiations".
A moratorium on use of the death penalty and the release of all political prisoners must be "demand number one" in talks, he said.

World's top executioner?

The report also warned that "hundreds of detained protesters remain at risk of death sentences and execution" after being charged with capital crimes over January 2026 protests against the authorities -- quashed by a crackdown that rights groups say left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested.
Even during the war, Iran hanged seven people in connection with the January protests, another six men convicted of membership in the banned opposition group People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), and one dual Iranian-Swedish citizen charged with spying for Israel.
Amiry-Moghaddam said that death sentences have been issued against at least 26 other people arrested over the January protests, "but several hundred more" are facing charges that could see them executed.
"The message they send by executing people every day is to say 'we have the power to kill'," he added.
In 2025, at least 48 women were executed, the highest number recorded in more than 20 years and a 55 percent increase from 2024 when 31 women were hanged, according to the NGOs.
Of these, 21 were executed for murdering their husbands or fiances, the report said.
Almost all hangings were carried out inside prisons, but public hangings more than tripled to 11 in 2025, the report said.
Almost half of those executed were convicted of drugs-related offences, the report said. 
Rights groups including Amnesty International say Iran carries out the most executions of any nation worldwide per capita, and the most of any country other than China, for which no reliable data is available.
Amiry-Moghaddam said there were more than 500 other possible cases of executions in 2025 that were not included in the report as they could not be conclusively sourced. Compiling the figures has also been complicated by the internet blackout imposed by the authorities during the January protests and the war, he added. 
Chenuil-Hazan added that this could mean Iran has "perhaps" now even overtaken China as the world's top executioner.
sjw/srm

US

Trump says 'not a big fan' of Pope Leo after his anti-war message

  • "I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
  • US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is "not a big fan" of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace amid the war in the Middle East.
  • "I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is "not a big fan" of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace amid the war in the Middle East.
The 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders on Saturday to end the violence, telling worshippers at St Peter's Basilica: "Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"
"I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo. He's a very liberal person, and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
He accused the pontiff of "toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon."
Trump later doubled down on his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social, saying: "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."
"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," he said.
The president added that Leo had only been elected "because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump." 
"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."
Trump later posted an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as Jesus Christ. 
In the image, the president appears dressed in red and white robes as he cures a man with his healing hand. The American flag is shown over his shoulder. 
Trump and the White House have previously shared AI-generated images, including one that showed the president dressed as the pope.

Rejecting a rift

Washington and the Vatican have rejected reports of a rift.
On Friday, a Vatican official denied reports that a top Pentagon official gave the church's envoy to the United States a "bitter lecture" over Pope Leo's criticisms of the Trump administration.
The story in the Free Press -- which the Pentagon had already dismissed as "distorted" -- reported that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was summoned in January to the Pentagon, where he was given a dressing-down by US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.
The military official reportedly told the cardinal that the United States "has the military power to do whatever it wants -- and that the Church had better take its side."
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement "the account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way."
While both parties insist the meeting was cordial, the Holy See and the White House have openly been at odds over the Trump administration's hardline mass deportation campaign -- which the pope called "inhuman" -- and the use of military force in the Middle East and Venezuela. 
When Trump made genocidal threats against Iran Tuesday -- saying "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" -- the pontiff slammed the "truly unacceptable" statement and urged parties to "come back to the table" for negotiations. 
Earlier this month, Pope Leo hailed the news of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran as a "sign of real hope."
But peace talks between the United States and Iran, held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, ended abruptly and without a resolution on Saturday, with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon-session of talks that Washington has delivered its "final and best offer."
sla/cms/lkd/lga

US

US military to begin blockade of Iranian ports on Monday

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, ISLAMABAD, WASHINGTON, BEIRUT, JERUSALEM AND DUBAI

  • "The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," US Central Command said in a statement, adding it would begin at 1400 GMT on Monday.
  • The US military said it would begin a blockade of all Iranian ports on Monday, after talks between the warring sides in Pakistan collapsed with President Donald Trump blaming the Islamic republic's refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
  • "The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," US Central Command said in a statement, adding it would begin at 1400 GMT on Monday.
The US military said it would begin a blockade of all Iranian ports on Monday, after talks between the warring sides in Pakistan collapsed with President Donald Trump blaming the Islamic republic's refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Trump had announced on social media he would blockade the strategic Strait of Hormuz trading route that he has been demanding Tehran fully re-open, after his vice president, JD Vance left negotiations with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad on Sunday.
The stall in talks dashed global hopes of a deal to permanently end the war that has killed thousands and thrown the global economy into turmoil since it began in late February.
As negotiating teams flew out, mediator Pakistan said it would keep facilitating their dialogue and has called on both sides to honour the fragile two-week ceasefire struck last week that experts said could be put at risk by any maritime military blockade.
"The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," US Central Command said in a statement, adding it would begin at 1400 GMT on Monday.
US forces would not impede vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports, it added.
Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed the US military's statement, a more limited operation than envisaged in his earlier post that asserted all ships trying to enter or exit the strait would be blocked.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards had warned before the US military announcement that they had full control of traffic through Hormuz and would trap any challenger "in a deadly vortex".
In his lengthy social media post, Trump said on Sunday his goal was to clear the strait of mines and reopen it to all shipping, but that Iran must not be allowed to profit from controlling the waterway.
"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said. "Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!"
Oil prices -- which tumbled last week after the temporary ceasefire  -- jumped around eight percent Monday, with both key WTI and Brent contracts topping $100 a barrel.
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation in Pakistan, said Tehran would "not bow to any threats" from Washington, while navy chief Shahram Irani called Trump's blockade threat "ridiculous".
After the highest-level US-Iran talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution failed to deliver a deal, Iranian foreign ministry Abbas Araghchi blamed "maximalism, shifting goalposts, and (a) blockade" that prevented an agreement he said they were "just inches away from".
Trump told reporters on Sunday he was ambivalent on the prospect of talks continuing with Iran.
"I don't care if they come back or not. If they don't come back, I'm fine," he said.

'Final and best offer'

Tehran has already been restricting traffic through the strait -- a key route for global oil and gas shipments -- while allowing some vessels serving friendly countries such as China to pass.
Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po's Center for International Research, said a US blockade was "not a minor coercive signal" but could rather be considered an effective resumption of the war.
The US military said Saturday that two US Navy warships had transited the strait to begin clearing it of mines, a claim Tehran denied.
Iran's Fars news agency reported Sunday that two Pakistan-flagged oil tankers bound for the strait had turned back.
But the strait was far from the only friction point jettisoning global efforts led by Pakistan to end the war, which began on when Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran, which retaliated by attacking Gulf and Israeli cities.
The US delegation in Islamabad -- led by Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner -- was frustrated by Iran's refusal to give up what it called its right to a nuclear programme.
"I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" Trump later posted.
Vance told reporters in Islamabad that Washington had made Tehran its "final and best offer," adding: "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

Violence in Lebanon

Even before the historic talks, concern had been high over whether the ceasefire could collapse due to continued Israeli strikes it says are targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Iran and Pakistan insist the truce also applies.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Sunday he was working to stop the war and ensure Israeli troops withdrew, even as Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu told troops in south Lebanon that the fight there was far from over.
Lebanese and Israeli officials are due to hold talks in Washington on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said overnight it had launched rocket towards towns in northern Israel, continuing attacks that it began in early March to avenge the death of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of Israeli-US strikes that began the regional war.
Israeli strikes on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon last week after the temporary ceasefire announcement had killed hundreds, according to Lebanon's health authorities.
burs-ft/msp/ceg/mtp

gender

Australia names Coyle first woman to lead army

  • "And it is a deeply historic moment.
  • A woman will command Australia's army for the first time since its founding 125 years ago, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Monday as he unveiled the "deeply historic" appointment.
  • "And it is a deeply historic moment.
A woman will command Australia's army for the first time since its founding 125 years ago, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Monday as he unveiled the "deeply historic" appointment.
Lieutenant general Susan Coyle was named Australia's Chief of Army following a three-decade career during which she has served in the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
"Her achievement means that she will be the first woman to command a service in Australian history," Marles told reporters. 
"And it is a deeply historic moment. As Susan said to me, you cannot be what you cannot see." 
Australia's army is in the throes of a major transformation, equipping itself with long-range firepower, drones and other modern combat tools.  
Coyle stressed her experience in areas such as cyber-warfare. 
"This breadth of experience provides a strong foundation for the responsibilities of command and the trust placed in me," she said.
sft/oho/tc

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • - Iran says deal was 'inches away' - Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had been just "inches away" from a deal with Washington during weekend talks in Pakistan.
  • The latest developments in the Middle East war: - Trump says doesn't care if Iran returns to talks - US President Donald Trump said he does not care if Iran comes back to negotiations with the United States after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to produce a deal.
  • - Iran says deal was 'inches away' - Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had been just "inches away" from a deal with Washington during weekend talks in Pakistan.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:

Trump says doesn't care if Iran returns to talks

US President Donald Trump said he does not care if Iran comes back to negotiations with the United States after weekend talks in Pakistan failed to produce a deal.
"I don't care if they come back or not. If they don't come back, I'm fine," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, upon his return from Florida.

Countdown to US Gulf blockade

The US military said it will blockade all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, effectively seizing control of maritime traffic in the critical Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the global oil supply passes.
"The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," US Central Command said in a post on X, adding the United States would "not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports".
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Iranian security forces had full control over the Strait of Hormuz and warned enemies would be trapped in a "deadly vortex" in case of any "wrong move".
Iran's navy chief Shahram Irani called Trump's threat "ridiculous and funny", according to state TV, adding the country's military was "monitoring and supervising all the movements of the aggressive American army in the region".

Iran 'will not bow' to threats

Iran's parliament speaker, who led the weekend talks, said his country would not give in after Trump's earlier threats to blockade the strait.
"If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, cited by several Iranian news agencies.
"We will not bow to any threats, let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson."

Oil rises above $100 again

The US oil benchmark rebounded above $100 a barrel on Monday after peace talks failed and Trump ordered the blockade of Iranian ports.
Shortly after trading began, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery rose around eight percent to $104.50, while June delivery of international benchmark Brent rose seven percent to $102.

Iran says deal was 'inches away'

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had been just "inches away" from a deal with Washington during weekend talks in Pakistan.
"Iran engaged with US in good faith to end war," he said in a post on X.
But when "just inches away" from an agreement, "we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade", he added.

Lebanon working for Israeli withdrawal

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he was working to stop the Israel-Hezbollah war and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
"We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands, the return of all the prisoners, to rebuild our destroyed villages and towns, and the safe return of the displaced," Salam said.

Netanyahu says threat of invasion removed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting troops who invaded southern Lebanon, said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
"The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.

Israeli tank rams UN vehicles

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said an Israeli tank twice rammed peacekeeping vehicles in the country's south where Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since last month.
Israeli soldiers had also blocked a road in south Lebanon's Bayada "that is used to access UNIFIL positions", it said a statement.

Lebanon deaths

Lebanese official media reported extensive Israeli strikes across the country's south as the health ministry said at least five people were killed and the war's overall toll on that front rose to 2,055 dead.
Israel insists the current Middle East ceasefire does not apply to its military operations in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
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US

Trump says 'not a big fan' of Pope Leo after his anti-war message

  • "I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
  • US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is "not a big fan" of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace.
  • "I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is "not a big fan" of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace.
"I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo. He's a very liberal person, and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
He accused the pontiff of "toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon."
On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders to end the violence, telling worshippers at St. Peter's Basilica: "Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"
Trump reiterated his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social saying: "I don't want a Pope who think it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."
Washington and the Vatican have recently denied reports of a rift.
On Friday, a Vatican official denied reports that a top Pentagon official gave the church's envoy to the United States a "bitter lecture" over Pope Leo's criticisms of the Trump administration.
The story in the Free Press -- which the Pentagon had already dismissed as "distorted" -- reported that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was summoned in January to the Pentagon, where he was given a dressing-down by US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.
The military official reportedly told the cardinal that the United States "has the military power to do whatever it wants -- and that the Church had better take its side."
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement "the account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way."
While both parties insist the meeting was cordial, the Holy See and the White House have openly been at odds over the Trump administration's hardline mass deportation campaign -- which the pope called "inhuman" -- and the use of military force in the Middle East and Venezuela. 
When Trump made genocidal threats against Iran Tuesday -- saying "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" -- the pontiff slammed the "truly unacceptable" statement and urged parties to "come back to the table" for negotiations. 
Earlier this month, Pope Leo hailed the news of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran as a "sign of real hope."
But peace talks between the United States and Iran, held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, ended abruptly Saturday with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon-session of talks that Washington has delivered its "final and best offer."
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trade

Spain's Sanchez calls China trade imbalance with EU 'unsustainable'

  • However, Sanchez stressed on Monday that trade between the EU and China was "imbalanced", calling on Beijing to open its market to European imports.
  • Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called China's trade imbalance with the European Union "unsustainable" on Monday, as he began a three-day visit to Beijing where he hopes to strengthen economic ties.
  • However, Sanchez stressed on Monday that trade between the EU and China was "imbalanced", calling on Beijing to open its market to European imports.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called China's trade imbalance with the European Union "unsustainable" on Monday, as he began a three-day visit to Beijing where he hopes to strengthen economic ties.
Sanchez's visit is his fourth to China in four years as he seeks to position Spain as a bridge between Beijing and the 27-member European Union, whose relations with the United States show signs of strain.
US President Donald Trump's tariffs and unpredictable foreign policy have caused concern among Western leaders, many of whom -- including from Britain, Canada and Germany -- have flocked to Beijing, in recent months seeking closer ties.
However, Sanchez stressed on Monday that trade between the EU and China was "imbalanced", calling on Beijing to open its market to European imports.
"We need China... to open up so that Europe does not have to close itself off," Sanchez said, during a visit to Tsinghua University.
He called on Beijing to "help us correct the current trade deficit... A deficit that is unbalanced, which grew by a further 18 percent last year alone. And which is unsustainable for our societies in the medium and long term".
Last year, Spain, with a population of around 50 million, ran a trade deficit of 42.3 billion euros ($49.1 billion) with China, a country of more than 1.4 billion people.
Spain's own trade deficit with China, Sanchez added, accounts for 74 percent of the European country's total deficit.
The Spanish leader is also keen to boost trade with China after Trump, who is due to visit Beijing in May, threatened last month to cut trade with Spain.
Trump's threats came after Spain denied the use of its military bases for US strikes against Iran, a key economic partner of Beijing.
Spanish government sources said a primary goal of the trip is particularly to secure greater market access for agricultural and industrial goods, and to explore joint ventures in the technology sector.
Sanchez is also expected to use the visit to attract new investors for the eurozone's fourth-largest economy and to gain access to China's critical raw materials.
On Monday, he is scheduled to visit the headquarters of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi and tour a technology exhibit at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 
Sanchez is then set to meet top Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Tuesday.
During his visit to China in April 2025, Beijing agreed to expand access for a range of Spanish products, including pork and cherries. 
The Spanish government has said that Spain's exports to China rose 6.8 percent in 2025, crediting the growth to strong ties with Beijing.

Spanish 'gateway'

Spain holds special appeal for Chinese investors, in part because its economy is growing at one of Europe's fastest rates and energy costs remain relatively low, said Claudio Feijoo, a China expert at the Technical University of Madrid.
"China perceives Spain as relatively friendly, less confrontational toward China than other countries and likely more independent from Washington. This allows for more autonomous decision-making," he told AFP.
"Spain is also seen as a gateway to Europe, Latin America and North Africa. It can function as a hub -- a place from which multiple markets can be accessed at once."
Agricultural products have the greatest potential in China, he said, noting that the country "cannot produce all the food it needs, or at least not at the quality required by its population", while Spain is a major producer of many food items.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday called Spain "an important partner of China within the EU", adding that Sanchez's visit offers a chance to "promote bilateral relations to an even higher level".
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia paid a state visit to China last November, the first by a Spanish monarch in 18 years, highlighting the closeness of ties.
Sanchez, one of Europe's few remaining left-wing leaders, is travelling with his wife Begona Gomez and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.
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film

Lost film of French cinema pioneer retrieved from US attic

BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON WITH JEFF KOWALSKY IN JENISON, UNITED STATES

  • For the past 20 years, McFarland, 76, had been the keeper of the trunk, which originally belonged to his late great-grandfather who showed silent movies to audiences in rural Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century.
  • The battered wooden trunk had been in the family for a century -- shifted from attic to barn to garage as it was handed down through the generations.
  • For the past 20 years, McFarland, 76, had been the keeper of the trunk, which originally belonged to his late great-grandfather who showed silent movies to audiences in rural Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century.
The battered wooden trunk had been in the family for a century -- shifted from attic to barn to garage as it was handed down through the generations. No one knew a cinematic treasure was inside.
That was until retired high school teacher Bill McFarland's curiosity got the better of him. 
For the past 20 years, McFarland, 76, had been the keeper of the trunk, which originally belonged to his late great-grandfather who showed silent movies to audiences in rural Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century.
"It was just this trunk of films that seemed too good to throw away. But I had no idea what they were or how to show them," McFarland told AFP. 
He offered them to museums and even tried to sell them through an antique store, whose owner soon told him to take them away after learning vintage nitrate film reels were highly combustible and could explode.
Then last summer, McFarland drove from his home in the northern state of Michigan to the US Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper in the southern state of Virginia.
He was in for a surprise -- a pleasant one.

Pioneering short film

Spliced in the middle of one of the 10 reels was a lost short film by Georges Melies, a French cinema pioneer -- the first to experiment with fictional narratives and special effects at the very dawn of moving pictures.
The 45-second film, "Gugusse and the Automaton," was made in 1897 -- just two years after the Lumiere Brothers staged the world's first public screening of a movie in Paris.
Melies, a theatrical showman and magician, attended that screening and was inspired to make films of his own. He is most famous for "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) with its iconic scene of a rocket landing in the eye of the man in the Moon.
By a decade later, his filmmaking had fallen out of vogue as the center of the movie world shifted from Europe to America.
Melies ended up as a toy seller in Paris’ Gare Montparnasse train station -- a story that was dramatized in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film, "Hugo." But his legacy endured.
"He was one of the first filmmakers," said George Willeman, leader of the congressional library's nitrate film vault, who said the recovered reel was likely a third-generation copy of the Melies original. "And one of the first to experience film piracy."

Copy's miraculous survival

In retrospect, piracy was a salvation for film historians as it means that Melies' work lives on.
Reputedly, he destroyed hundreds of his own negatives, and the celluloid was melted down -- and some of it used as raw material to make soldiers' boots during World War I.
While "Gugusse and the Automaton" was known to be in Melies' back catalogue, no one had seen it until McFarland delivered it to the library in his Toyota sedan last September.
It features a magician -- played by Melies -- cranking up an automaton that grows in size and then beats the magician on the head with a stick. The magician retaliates by bashing the automaton with a sledgehammer until it disappears, shrinking through a surprisingly slick series of jump cuts.
"These single frame cuts are really precise for a movie this old, and the gags are timeless," said Jason Evans Groth, curator of the library's moving image section, who recounted McFarland popping the trunk of his car with the film reels inside when he arrived in Culpeper.
The film's discovery has taken McFarland on another journey -- learning about the life of his great-grandfather William DeLyle Frisbee.

'Ticking time bomb'

Born in 1860 in the rural northwest of Pennsylvania, Frisbee was a stocky, mustached man with many strings to his bow. 
He grew potatoes, kept bees, made maple syrup and taught school three months each year. In his downtime he would travel by horse and buggy across Pennsylvania and neighboring states with what he called his "exhibition": a new-fangled Edison phonograph, a magic lantern slide projector and later on, movies. 
Well-thumbed pocket diaries describe Frisbee's travels. "Gave the exhibition at Garland, $5 receipts, rough crowd," reads one entry, referring to a community in northwestern Pennsylvania.
"I can only imagine Saturday night, they might have been liquored up a little bit," observed McFarland. "I wonder if there were disappointed customers, or if they were just rowdy? Maybe they were excited at seeing these pictures."
A century on, and the archivists at the Library of Congress were excited too.
An alarmed McFarland watched specialists whisk the precious reels to a refrigerated vault, already home to tens of thousands of films from the golden age of Hollywood -- and specially designed to prevent a nitrate-fueled fire.
"It finally really registered that I had been...carrying a ticking time bomb," McFarland said.
Library film preservation specialists spent a week restoring the film reel frame-by-frame and digitizing it. The reel was shrunken through age and frayed, but otherwise in remarkable condition for something stashed in sun-heated attics for years.
It’s now a piece of cinema history, viewable on the library’s website.
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