Churches to the rescue of Cuba's legions of poor

Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev, an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia, took an absolute majority in parliamentary elections that could spell an end to the country's half-decade of political uncertainty, according to near complete vote results on Monday. 

The European Union's poorest member has experienced eight votes since 2021, when anti-graft rallies brought down the conservative administration of long-time pro-European leader Boyko Borissov.

The Kremlin was quick to applaud Radev.

"Evidently we look favourably upon Radev's words (regarding closer ties with Moscow) ... as well as those of certain other European leaders regarding their commitment to resolving issues through dialogue," said  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. 

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said "Bulgaria is a proud member of the European family and plays an important role in tackling our common challenges", adding: "I look forward to working together".

Radev, 62, who resigned earlier this year after nine years as president, ran in Sunday's vote on a pledge to fight corruption, bringing together a wide spectrum of voters, with the turnout the highest since 2021.

Radev's Progressive Bulgaria grouping secured 44.7 percent in Sunday's vote, according to official results with 98.3 percent of the votes counted, putting him on course to gain some 130 seats in the 240-seat parliament.

The landslide victory marks the first outright parliamentary majority for a single formation in Bulgaria since 1997 when a centre-right, pro-European grouping won.

Borissov's GERB party slumped to 13.4 percent of the vote, running neck and neck with the liberal PP-DB coalition, which stood at 12.7 percent, according to the electoral commission's results.

The far-right Vazrazhdane party and the Turkish and Roma minority party MRF also were set to win seats.

- ' Victory of hope' -

"PB has won unequivocally -- a victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear," Radev told reporters as projections trickled in.

He said Bulgaria would "make every effort to continue on its European path".

"But believe me, a strong Bulgaria and a strong Europe need critical thinking and pragmatism. Europe has fallen victim to its own ambition to be a moral leader in a world with new rules," the former air force general added.

Radev has said he wants to rid the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people of its "oligarchic governance model".

He supported anti-corruption protests last year that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.

While Radev can govern on its own, "the real question" is whether he will take "real steps" against high-level corruption, including through reforms of the judiciary, political analyst Teodor Slavev said.

For key judicial or constitutional changes requiring a two-thirds majority, he will need support in parliament from other parties.

- 'Eurosceptic' path -

Radev is expected to face "pressure" to lead Bulgaria down a "eurosceptic" path, both from within his own party and the far-right opposition, according to Daniel Smilov, a political scientist at the Center for Liberal Strategies.

"His initial signals are that he will pursue a pro-European policy and will not block the EU... The whole question is whether those signals will actually be followed through," he told AFP.

Ahead of the vote, Radev urged "practical relations with Russia, based on mutual respect and equal treatment".

He has also criticised a 10-year defence agreement signed last month between Bulgaria and Ukraine, which has been battling Russia's full-scale invasion since 2022.

He has opposed Bulgaria sending arms to Ukraine, but said he would not use his country's veto to block EU decisions.

Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, congratulated Radev  Sunday but warned "winning elections is one thing, governing is another".

Political parties had urged Bulgarians to vote in order to curb the effectiveness of vote buying.

In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying and detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Qatar flights -

Qatar's aviation authority said it would begin allowing flights from foreign airlines to land at its main airport for the first time since the start of the Middle East war.

"Qatar Civil Aviation Authority has issued a Notice to Airmen announcing the gradual resumption of operations for foreign airlines in the State of Qatar via Hamad International Airport," the body said in a statement.

- Dutch aid to offset fuel hike -

The Dutch government said it would allocate more than 950 million euros ($1.1 billion) to help compensate businesses and individuals for the surge in petrol prices since the war's outbreak.

"Energy prices are expected to remain high for the time being, even if the conflict in the Middle East should end soon," the government said.

"Households and businesses are already feeling the impact," it said, adding that they would be the priority for a first package of measures worth 627 million euros.

- 'Israel talks separate' -

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said planned talks with Israel aim to end "hostilities" and stressed they were "separate" from Iran-US negotiations.

"The choice to negotiate aims to stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the (Lebanese) army all the way to the internationally recognised southern borders" with Israel, Aoun said in a statement.

- Iran slams US 'violations' -

Iran's foreign ministry said it has yet to reach a decision on whether to attend the next round of talks with the United States, which it accused of "violations" of their two-week ceasefire. Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad. 

"While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly press briefing.

- China 'concern' -

China expressed "concern" over the US seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel that tried to evade a naval blockade, and urged all parties to resume peace talks.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a phone call on Monday that "normal traffic" through the vital Strait of Hormuz "should be maintained".

- Israel Lebanon warning -

Israel's military warned Lebanese civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah's activities in the area were violating a ceasefire agreement struck last week.

Thousands of displaced residents have begun making their way back to parts of southern Lebanon since the truce between Israel and Lebanon took effect on Friday.

- Iran executions -

Iran hanged two men convicted of having links to Israel's spy agency, the latest in a string of executions of detainees regarded as political prisoners by rights groups since the outbreak of war with Israel and the United States.

The People's Mujahedin (MEK), an opposition group banned in Iran, confirmed the executions of MEK members Mohammad Masoom Shahi, 38, and Hamed Validi, 48. 

- Israel soldier hits Jesus statue -

The Israeli army said that it had determined an image circulating on social media that shows a soldier in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is authentic and depicts one of its troops.

The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off of a cross. 

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender".

- Oil price bounce -

Oil prices surged on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it, citing the United States' blockade of its ports.

European stock markets were lower in late morning trading, also pressured by Tehran's announcement that it was not currently planning to attend peace talks.   

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The father of music superstar Amy Winehouse on Monday lost a UK lawsuit he brought against two of her friends, who auctioned some of her clothes years after her death.

The late singer's former stylist Naomi Parry and her friend Catriona Gourlay sold dozens of items, including a black Armani bag and dresses Winehouse wore on her last tour in June 2011.

The court was told in a trial that they "took advantage" of her father's forgetfulness and pocketed some £730,000 ($979,000) in sales.

Both denied acting dishonestly and said the items had been given or lent to them by the singer, even if there was no proof.

But Amy's father, Mitch Winehouse, sued the pair, alleging they did not have the right to sell the items, which were auctioned between November 2021 and May 2023 by Los Angeles-based auctioneers.

Judge Sarah Clarke said in her written judgement that she found that "neither Ms Parry nor Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed any of their disputed items from the claimant".

"Even if I am wrong about that, Mr Winehouse could have discovered what disputed items the defendants had with reasonable diligence," she added.

Dismissing the case, the judge ruled that the 155 items, including ballet slippers, dresses, handbags, earrings and make-up were owned by the two women or gifted to them.

A few were described as "abandoned by Amy" therefore her father "has no ownership nor immediate right to possession".

Singer-songwriter Winehouse, who enjoyed meteoric global success, died in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, aged just 27.

She was a distinctive figure with her beehive hairdo, heavy black eye makeup, multiple tattoos and smoky voice.

She shot to international fame with her Grammy Award-winning 2006 album "Back to Black", which included the track "Rehab", charting her battle with addiction.

According to court documents, her father believed any sums collected from the sales organised by Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions would be due to him and the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

The foundation is a charity set up in the singer's name working with young people to foster hope and self-reliance.

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Slovenian outgoing Prime Minister Robert Golob, whose party secured a razor-thin majority in parliamentary elections last month, on Monday said he had failed to form a coalition.

His announcement opens the door for runner-up Janez Jansa, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, to seek to form a coalition in the EU member of two million.

"We are looking forward to our work in the opposition," liberal Golob, 59, told reporters after meeting President Natasa Pirc Musar.

He added that he had not found a partner among centre-right parties to join his party and its allies to secure a parliamentary majority.

Golob's liberals won 29 seats last month, while the conservatives of three-time premier Jansa got 28 seats in the 90-seat parliament.

Jansa -- who had frequent run-ins with Brussels during his last stint as prime minister -- has pledged to restore "Slovenian values," such as the "traditional family," and "close the (state money) pipe" to NGOs deemed political parties.

- 'Most ideal for country' -

Jansa, 67, has publicly rejected any coalition talks.

On Monday, Jansa reiterated he was not in a rush to form a government while seeking to do what is "the most ideal for the country".

"The (Slovenian Democratic Party) SDS is not forming any government at the moment," Jansa told reporters after he also met Pirc Musar.

"This week we will concentrate on the constitution of the parliament, since that is on the agenda," he said, adding that, if needed, his party was "ready for new elections tomorrow".

Golob insisted on Monday that Jansa would form a coalition, saying he was "convinced that this coalition of fraudsters will not last long".

Although the SDS has denied any ongoing coalition talks, Christian-democrat Nova Slovenija and Jansa's former ally Anze Logar's Democrats -- who rejected on Friday any agreement with Golob -- have many common points with the SDS' programme.

Earlier this month, the parliament's inaugural session elected a lawmaker from anti-establishment Resnica party as speaker with the backing of Jansa's conservatives, Nova Slovenija and Logar's Democrats.

While Resnica party has rejected entering any coalition, Jansa may get its support after the SDS enabled the appointment of Resnica's leader as parliamentary speaker.

President Pirc Musar has to propose a prime minister designate to parliament within 30 days of its April 10 inaugural session.

If the candidate does not get a majority, the law sets a 10-day deadline for parties to propose a new candidate.

Golob, a former power company manager, was a political newcomer in 2022, when he topped the vote that year, propelled by anger over the Jansa government's crackdown on civil liberties.

Jansa has accused the Golob government during its last mandate of squandering money, behaving as if "money grew on trees" and sowing "chaos".

The last days of campaigning ahead of the March 22 vote were overshadowed by claims of foreign interference, with authorities probing whether Israeli company Black Cube was behind secretly recorded videos alleging graft in Golob's government.

A civil society group, together with an investigative journalist and two researchers, accused Black Cube over the videos, linking it to Jansa's party.

Jansa has admitted to having met a Black Cube official, but has denied being behind the videos.

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A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan Monday, shaking large buildings in Tokyo hundreds of kilometres away and prompting a warning for tsunami waves of up to three metres (10 feet).

The quake hit at 4:53 pm (0753 GMT) in Pacific waters off northern Iwate prefecture, Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

Around 40 minutes later, an 80-centimetre (31-inch) tsunami wave hit a port in Kuji in Iwate, according to the JMA, which initially estimated the quake's strength at 7.4 but later revised it upwards.

"Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building," it said, warning that damage due to tsunami waves was expected.

"Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted," it said.

Footage from national broadcaster NHK did not show any immediate visible damage around several ports in Iwate.

A JMA official warned in a televised press briefing that more quakes could strike the area within the next week, particularly within the next two to three days, potentially "causing even stronger shaking".

The prime minister's office said it had set up a crisis management team.

"For those of you who live in areas for which the warnings have been issued, please evacuate to higher, safer places such as higher ground," Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters, adding that the government was trying to confirm whether there were any casualties or property damage.

Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 jolts every year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world's earthquakes.

The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth's surface at which they strike.

Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and caused a devastating meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

In 2024, the JMA issued its first special advisory of a possible "megaquake" along the Nankai Trough.

This 800-kilometre undersea trench is where the Philippine Sea oceanic tectonic plate is "subducting" -- or slowly slipping -- underneath the continental plate that Japan sits atop.

The government has said a quake in the Nankai Trough and subsequent tsunami could kill as many as 298,000 people and cause up to $2 trillion in damage.

The JMA lifted the 2024 advisory after a week but it led to panic-buying of staples like rice and prompted holidaymakers to cancel hotel reservations.

It issued a week-long second "megaquake" advisory in December 2025 after a magnitude-7.5 tremor struck off the northern coast.

The December 8 quake triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres (28 inches) and injured more than 40 people, but no major damage was reported.

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American AI developer Anthropic plans to "lay the risks out on the table" even as it restricts deployment of a new model dubbed Mythos, whose powerful cybersecurity capabilities raise stark questions for companies and governments.

"We have a model that's beginning to outstrip human capabilities in the cyber world," Anthropic's Paris-based chief of relations with startups and tech firms Guillaume Princen told AFP in an interview.

Mythos is "capable of spotting security holes that have existed for decades, in systems tested by both human experts and automated tools, that have never been discovered before," he added.

Anthropic has delayed a general release of Mythos, sharing it first with a few dozen key American tech and financial services players -- such as Nvidia, Amazon, Apple and JP Morgan Chase -- to allow them to test and improve their security infrastructure.

But the company has also been accused of overhyping the powers of a technology which is its stock in trade -- and the subject of fierce competition with rival OpenAI.

The Mythos news broke as rumours grow that Anthropic will list on the stock market this year.

- Safety first? -

"We prefer to be transparent and lay these risks out on the table," Princen said, adding that AI safety concerns are "central to Anthropic's DNA".

"We don't have all the answers, this has to be a conversation between tech actors like us who have the data, the academic world, the political world and the world of economists," he added.

Mythos' reported capabilities have unsettled the American financial sector and the European Union, which requested more information from Anthropic.

In an open letter to businesses, the British government said that Mythos "highlights the speed at which  AI capabilities are increasing and the threats they potentially pose".

No European company is part of Anthropic's "Project Glasswing" consortium for shoring up cyber defences using Mythos' findings.

That has raised questions about how prepared the rest of the world will be for the offensive capabilities of US-owned AI.

Mythos is "certainly not a model that will soon be opened to the public at large, for obvious reasons," Princen said.

Anthropic is nevertheless "thinking about the next waves of opening up," he added.

- European growth -

Europe is the region where Anthropic sees the fastest growth.

Its Claude Code software development tool generates around $2.5 billion in annualised revenue -- a figure based on extrapolating from a few recent weeks of sales.

Much of that expansion comes from "European firms riding the wave" of AI, Princen said.

The company has opened offices in Dublin, London, Paris and Munich, and wants to keep investing across the continent.

"We go where the demand is," Princen said, pointing to partnerships with European firms like Swedish coding startup Lovable or Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk.

Relatively unknown to the wider public until recently, Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI staff and makes around 80 percent of its revenue from business-to-business sales.

The company and its Claude chatbot surged in prominence in late February, when bosses refused to allow its AI tools to be used by the Pentagon for mass surveillance of American citizens or fully autonomous weapons.

The Trump administration responded by designating Anthropic a so-called "supply chain risk" to national security -- a decision being contested in multiple legal cases.

In legal documents seen by AFP, Anthropic finance chief Krishna Rao warned that Washington's move could cost the firm multiple billions in revenue this year.

On the other hand, "there are a lot of people who started using Claude precisely because of the position we took on that question," Princen said.

Anthropic said in early April that it had tripled its annualised revenues quarter-on-quarter to over $30 billion -- outpacing OpenAI for the first time.

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Iran insisted it has no plan to attend a new round of negotiations with the United States on Monday, as uncertainty grows over a push to stop the Middle East war from resuming. 

US President Donald Trump said he was sending negotiators to Pakistan for talks on ending the war that engulfed the region and rattled global markets, while repeating threats to attack Iran's energy infrastructure if it did not make a deal.

After initial talks ended without a deal in Islamabad earlier this month, both sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations, including the US seizure of an Iranian cargo ship early Monday that Trump said was trying to evade a US blockade of the country's ports.

"We have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.

"While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviours that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," he added, calling the US blockade and cargo ship seizure "clear violations of the ceasefire".

Iran says the US blockade and attack breached the two-week truce set to end overnight Tuesday and threatened to retaliate, while Trump says Tehran has breached the ceasefire in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which it has all but shut.

The counter-claims have thrown into fresh doubt the bid to end the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran the morning of February 28, killing the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

"We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it," Trump said in a social media post.

Oil prices jumped sharply on Monday over fears hostilities could resume in the weeks-long war, after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again over the weekend following its brief reopening on Friday in recognition of a ceasefire in Lebanon.

- Security tight -

In spite of the uncertainty surrounding the talks in Pakistan, security has been visibly stepped up in the capital, Islamabad.

Authorities announced road closures and traffic restrictions across the city, as well as in neighbouring Rawalpindi.

The US president said his negotiators, whom he did not name, would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening. 

A White House official said Vice President JD Vance would lead the delegation after Trump said he would not, citing security concerns. He would be joined by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, the official said.

Trump has been under pressure to find an off-ramp since Tehran moved to choke off the Strait of Hormuz.

But the cargo ship attack and naval blockade to cut off Iran's oil revenues drew renewed threats from Tehran instead of immediately bringing them back to the negotiating table.

On Sunday, Trump announced that a massive Iranian-flagged cargo ship "tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them," adding a US destroyer blew "a hole in the engineroom" before US Marines seized the vessel.

The ISNA news agency later cited a spokesperson for Iran's central command centre as warning that the military "will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US military".

Tasnim news agency reported Tehran had sent drones in the direction of US military ships after Touska was seized and "attacked".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards for their part warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission "will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted".

- Sticking points -

Iran's foreign ministry said delays in implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting militant group Hezbollah, was also a violation of the ceasefire.

A separate truce agreed between Israel and Lebanon took effect on Friday, which included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran drew Lebanon into the war.

Israel's military on Monday warned Lebanese civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah's activities in the area were violating that agreement.

Thousands of displaced residents have begun making their way back to southern Lebanon since the truce began.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military would use "full force" against any threats in Lebanon, even during the ceasefire.

He also vowed to level homes allegedly used by Hezbollah, with Lebanese state media reporting that demolitions were underway.

Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium.

Trump said on Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over its roughly 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of enriched uranium. 

"We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," he said.

But Iran's foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried from US bombing in last June's 12-day war, was "not going to be transferred anywhere".

Baqaei said on Monday that the issue of moving the country's enriched uranium was not discussed with US negotiators.

"It was never raised as an option for us," he said.

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Iran on Monday executed two more members of opposition group the People's Mujahedin (MEK), the organisation said, with Iranian authorities saying they had been hanged on charges of spying for Israel.

Mohammad (also known as Nima) Masoom Shahi, 38, and Hamed Validi, 45, were put to death at dawn in the central prison of Karaj outside Tehran, the MEK's political wing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement.

They were both members of the MEK, which is banned in Iran, it added.

The hangings were the latest of detainees regarded as political prisoners by rights groups during the war between the Islamic republic and the United States and Israel.

Since executions resumed in March during the war that erupted on February 28, Iran has executed eight members of the MEK and seven men convicted over protests in January.

"With today's executions, at least 15 political prisoners have been executed since 19 March," said Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, director of Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights.

He warned of "further executions of political prisoners and protesters in the coming days and weeks." 

"The two members of the MEK join a growing number of heroic members executed this month under the rule of religious dictatorship," the group's leader Maryam Rajavi wrote on X.

"Their only 'crime' was their commitment to freedom and the liberation of their people," she added.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said the two men were "members of a spy network linked to Mossad", Israel's intelligence agency.

They were convicted of the capital offence of "moharebeh", meaning waging war against God, as well as "collaboration with hostile groups and the Zionist regime", Mizan said.

The NCRI described the accusations against the men as "absurd".

Iran is the world's second most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups based outside the country, which accuse the Islamic republic of using capital punishment as a tool to instill fear throughout society.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, IHR and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in a joint report last week.

With a new round looming in Islamabad of possible talks between the US and Iran, Amiry Moghaddam added: "A complete halt to all executions and the release of political prisoners must be a central demand in any agreement with the Islamic republic."

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Pope Leo XIV heads to Angola's remote and diamond-rich northeast on Monday in the latest stop on an Africa tour during which he has spoken out against the country's glaring poverty. 

On the eighth day of a trip to four African nations, Leo will fly to the town of Saurimo, 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the capital Luanda.

Angola is one of Africa's top producers of crude oil and diamonds, but around a third of its population live below the World Bank poverty line.

Saurimo is the capital of the historically marginalised Lunda Sul province and close to Angola's largest diamond mine, Catoca, which extracts around 75 percent of the country's diamonds.

Leo will hold an open-air mid-morning mass expected to draw around 30,000 people.

Afterwards he is due to visit a home for the elderly, underscoring the Catholic Church's support for the province's poor infrastructure and services. 

Despite its mineral wealth, Lunda Sul suffers from poverty, with mining also blamed for environmental damage.

In his first event after arriving in oil-rich Angola on Saturday, the pope spoke out against the harm caused by rampant exploitation of natural resources, which has been a theme of his tour of the continent.

"How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are caused by this logic of exploitation," he said in an address to government officials including President Joao Lourenco.

The pope is due later Monday to meet clergy to discuss challenges facing the church in Angola, including a lack of resources and the growing influence of evangelicism.

After John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, Leo XIV is the third pope to visit this country, which was badly battered in a 27-year civil war that erupted after independence from Portugal in 1975. 

At a mass Sunday attended by 100,000 people, the 70-year-old pontiff called for Angola to overcome divisions of the past and create a future where "the scourge of corruption will be healed by a new culture of justice and sharing."

Leo's tour of Africa -- an 18,000-kilometre journey over 11 days -- began in Algeria a week ago and continued to Cameroon. It winds up in Equatorial Guinea over April 21-23.

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Thousands of American and Philippine troops, joined for the first time by a significant contingent of Japanese forces, began annual military exercises Monday set against the backdrop of the Middle East war. 

The war games will feature live-fire exercises in the north of the Philippines facing the Taiwan Strait, as well as a province off the disputed South China Sea, where Philippine and Chinese forces have engaged in repeated confrontations.

In one drill, the Japanese military, which is contributing about 1,400 personnel, will use a Type 88 cruise missile to sink a World War II-era minesweeper off the coast of northern Luzon island.

More than 17,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors are taking part in the 19-day Balikatan, or "Shoulder to Shoulder," exercises -- about the same number as last year's edition, including contingents from Australia, New Zealand, France and Canada.

Balikatan comes as Iran and the United States, along with Israel, edge towards the end of the two-week ceasefire that halted the Middle East war, ignited by surprise US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

"Regardless of the challenges elsewhere in the world, the United States' focus on the Indo-Pacific and our ironclad commitment to the Philippines remains unwavering," US Lieutenant General Christian Wortman said at Monday's opening ceremony.

Without providing precise numbers, Wortman, commander of the Marine Expeditionary Force, later told reporters that approximately 10,000 US personnel would take part in the exercises.

Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner added that US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Paparo had assured him at the war's outbreak that this year's Balikatan would be "the biggest ever".

Among the high-end weapons expected to be used is a US Typhon missile system that has been in the archipelago since visiting US forces left it there in 2024, provoking outrage from Beijing.

"We anticipate that it will be incorporated at some level during the course of the exercise," Wortman said.

- 'Playing with fire' -

While both militaries insisted that no exercises would take place "near Taiwan", coastal defence drills are set fewer than 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the island's southern coast.

Beijing has ramped up military pressure around self-ruled Taiwan, which it considers part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize.

China slammed the joint exercises on Monday, saying the United States, Japan and the Philippines were "playing with fire".

"What the Asia-Pacific region needs most is peace and tranquility, and what it needs least is the introduction of external forces to sow division and confrontation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news briefing.

"We wish to remind the countries concerned that blindly binding themselves together in the name of security will only be akin to playing with fire -- ultimately backfiring upon themselves," he added.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos warned in November that given his country's proximity to the island democracy, "a war over Taiwan will drag the Philippines, kicking and screaming, into the conflict."

In February, US, Japanese and Philippine aircraft patrolled over the Bashi Channel that separates the Philippines from Taiwan to test what Manila called their "ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments".

Japan's first Balikatan as a full participant follows the signing of a reciprocal access agreement approved by the Japanese Diet last June.

Colonel Takeshi Higuchi of Tokyo's joint staff told Japanese media the drills would "contribute to creating a security environment that tolerates no attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force".

Marcos has been building up security ties with Western nations to deter China. Over the past two years, Manila has also signed visiting forces or equivalent agreements with New Zealand, Canada and France to facilitate joint military exercises.

Outside the Manila base where Monday's opening ceremony was held, a group of about 50 people protested against the exercises, holding aloft signs branding US President Donald Trump an "imperialist terrorist" and demanding US forces leave the country.

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