Curious spectators lined the roads to watch the machines and their human rivals race at the half marathon in Beijing

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday held an open-air mass in Equatorial Guinea in front of tens of thousands of followers, wrapping up his first major international tour that began with harsh criticism of his stance on Iran from US President Donald Trump.

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics has been in the closed-off central African nation since Tuesday, where he took aim at the suppression of civic freedoms and called for prisoners to be better treated in a country infamous for its brutal jails.

On his final day in the oil-rich former Spanish colony of two million people, where most of the population lives in poverty, he officiated at a mass before 30,000 people at a stadium in Malabo, the former capital.

He was due to arrive back in Rome at about 8:00 pm (1800 GMT). On the way, he will speak to reporters travelling with him, with his remarks eagerly awaited after Trump's attacks.

Trump called the US-born pontiff "very weak on crime and other things" and said he was "wrong" to call for an end to violence in the Iran war, in comments that cast a pall over the early stages of his four-country, 11-day Africa tour.

The pope later expressed regret that his speeches were being interpreted as a response to the US leader's criticism and maintained he had no interest in debating with him.

- 'Tyrants' -

Yet throughout the trip, from Algeria to Cameroon, then on to Angola and Equatorial Guinea, he piled high his calls for social justice, peace and respect for human dignity, while denouncing inequality, corruption and the unfair exploitation of natural resources by "tyrants".

His newly forceful style, blasting those who "in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it", was a marked departure from the restraint he has shown since he was elected in May last year.

Leaders of the four countries he visited have all been criticised -- in varying degrees -- for authoritarian tendencies.

Equatorial Guinea, ruled with an iron fist by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema since 1979, has long faced claims of human rights abuses as well as the trampling of civil freedoms.

But he urged the country to place itself "in the service of law and justice" and condemned "troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions" for prisoners.

On Wednesday, the pope went to Equatorial Guinea's notorious Bata prison, where he was greeted by hundreds of shaven-headed inmates in the driving rain.

Pope Leo -- born Robert Francis Prevost -- is at 70 relatively young for a pope and has shown energy that contrasts sharply with the declining health of his Argentinian predecessor, Francis, who died a year ago at 88. 

His next trip abroad will be to Spain from June 6 to 12.

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Romania's Social Democratic Party on Thursday said it had quit the coalition government of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, triggering a new political crisis in the turmoil-weary country.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the biggest in parliament with around 130 seats of the total 465, joined a pro-EU governing coalition in June last year. 

This ended months of political turmoil, marked by the annulment of presidential elections over allegations of Russian interference in December 2024.

"As of now, the prime minister no longer has the support of a parliamentary majority, which means he no longer has the democratic legitimacy to serve as head of the Romanian government," the party said.

Bolojan's government has taken a series of unpopular measures, such as tax increases, as it seeks to cut the biggest deficit in the European Union.

The moves have drawn the ire of the PSD, which sees its electoral base being eroded by the far right.

- Pro-EU track -

On Thursday, the PSD said it was open to being part of "a new pro-European government", and to support another prime minister, "whether a politician or a technocrat".

Bolojan has said several times that he refuses to resign and will continue to lead the government.

The 57-year-old has built a reputation as a reformer intent on curbing the waste of public money and attracting EU funds, but has been criticised for his "inflexibility".

The country's president, Nicusor Dan, who held consultations with the parties in the ruling coalition on Wednesday, urged for calm after the meetings, giving assurances that Romania would stay on a pro-EU track.

He said the country would remain on track in terms of public finances and access to European funds despite the rift in the coalition and ruled out any possibility of the far right coming to power. 

Political scientist Sergiu Miscoiu told AFP that without a parliamentary majority Romania faced a political crisis, with "many of the necessary decisions no longer able to be made".

He said the political class was irresponsible.

"Precisely the strengths Romania had -- its stability and the fact that pro-European forces managed to regroup and defeat the populism and nationalism backed by Russia -- will be lost, sacrificed," Miscoiu said.

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Tanzania's electoral violence last year left at least 518 dead, a government-appointed commission said Thursday, giving a figure far below opposition estimates and failing to say who was responsible.

While President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared to have won 98 percent of the vote in the October 29 election -- in which key opposition figures were barred from running -- the polls triggered days of protests around the country that were brutally suppressed by security forces.

Opposition and religious groups say thousands were killed by security forces, while Western diplomats have given estimates between 1,000 and 2,000.

Hassan sought to depict the protests as pre-planned and implied they were orchestrated by foreigners. 

"The commission has told us that all the violence was planned, coordinated, financed and executed by people with training and equipment for committing crimes and destruction," she said after the report was presented. 

She argued that Africa's internal wars were usually instigated by outsiders who want "to continue to plunder the resources". 

The report was immediately dismissed by the opposition. 

"It's all a cover-up actually. Like many other statements that the president has made, the report is all designed to whitewash the regime's crimes," John Kitoka, head of foreign affairs for the Chadema opposition party, told AFP by phone. 

Mohamed Chande Othman, head of the commission set up by Hassan, said the toll of 518 was "not final and conclusive".

He rejected independent reports of mass graves and bodies being seized from hospital mortuaries, saying they "could not be substantiated".

It is the first government statement on casualty figures -- 2,390 were wounded, including 120 police officers -- but Othman did not state who was responsible.

"The images that widely circulated online, some of them were authentic, while others... had been manipulated, using AI," he said. 

He also said some of those missing were "people who disappeared for romantic reasons and people who abducted themselves".

- Media blackout -

Foreign journalists were barred from entering the country to cover the election, and an internet blackout during and after the vote complicated efforts to gauge the scale of the violence.

But Hassan claimed reports on the unrest were false. 

Hassan condemned "a lot of information distortion", saying that groups and individuals had reported statistics "exaggerating or the level of impact that took place" without verification.

The violence triggered rare criticism from African observers, with the African Union saying the election did not comply with "standards for democratic elections".

The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), a UK-based independent digital investigation organisation, released a report in January that analysed images from the unrest and "verified the repeated use of live ammunition by security forces and plain-clothed armed men". 

It "identified possible mass graves through satellite imagery and verified large piles of bodies" within user-generated content, as well as images showing civilians "assaulted" and "humiliated".

The report also provided a map of incidents where they had authenticated images of protesters "vandalising buildings, starting fires and throwing rocks at police officers".

The evidence also included verified footage of "the shooting of fleeing protesters, including a pregnant woman".

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Portugal on Thursday asked Air France-KLM and Lufthansa to make binding offers to buy a controlling stake in TAP Air Portugal, as the government seeks to privatise an airline it rescued during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Portuguese government announced last September that it was seeking a major international airline to buy most of the 49.9 percent stake that it plans to privatise.

Air France-KLM and Lufthansa both submitted non-binding offers this month, and Portugal's government now wants them to submit binding bids within three months.

"Two of the three big European airline groups... are in the running, which demonstrates the attractiveness of the company as well as the country," said Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento.

IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, had earlier expressed an interest in taking a stake but did not make a bid.

Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz, who is in charge of the privatisation of TAP, said a final decision could be made in August or early September.

TAP,which was renationalised in 2020 to stem losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, is among the few remaining state-owned carriers in Europe.

International airlines are circling around TAP primarily because of its routes to Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

"Thanks to its ideal geographical position, Lisbon would become the group's unique southern European hub," Air France-KLM said earlier this month, adding that it would offer "extensive connectivity" to the Americas and Africa.

The airline has around 7,700 employees and a fleet or around 100 Airbus planes. 

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American actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal will head up the jury of the Venice Film Festival, organisers said Thursday.

Gyllenhaal and the other jurors will select the winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award for Best Film at the festival, which takes place in September.

Gyllenhaal, 48, made her director's debut with her adaptation of Elena Ferrante's "The Lost Daughter", for which she won the festival's Best Screenplay award in 2021. 

Gyllenhaal said in a statement she was "thrilled to accept the invitation to lead this year’s Venice Film Festival jury".

"Venice has always supported truthful, singular voices and I am honored to play a part in continuing that brave and necessary tradition," she said.

Festival director Alberto Barbera praised Gyllenhaal as "an actress capable of giving voice to challenging and multifaceted characters" and "an original filmmaker".

"Having her lead our jury means we can count on an authoritative and independent voice," he said.

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest of its kind in the world.

It takes place every year and forms part of the Venice Biennale, a famed series of arts festivals.

The Biennale recently drew fire for allowing Russia to particiate in this year's art event, the first time the country will be included since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia's participation in the Biennale is "morally wrong" in a statement released Tuesday, and reiterated the EU's intention to cut its funding of the festival.

"While Russia bombs museums, destroys churches and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture, it should not be allowed to exhibit its own," she said.

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Nestle, the food giant whose brands include Nespresso coffee and Perrier water, saw first-quarter sales figures slump due to the strong value of the Swiss franc and a baby formula recall, but sales volumes overall edged higher.

The maker of Purina dog food, Maggi bouillon cubes, Gerber baby food and Nesquik chocolate-flavoured drinks has struggled with flagging consumer demand in key markets in recent years.

Nestle shook up its management last year and laid off six percent of its staff.

For the first three months of the year the company reported sales of 21.3 billion Swiss francs ($24.9 billion), a drop of 5.7 percent from the period last year.

The franc has appreciated considerably as investors seek a safe haven amid global uncertainty, resulting a 9.3 percentage point drag on Nestle's sales when it converts international earnings into the Swiss currency.

Excluding currency impacts and changes in business operations, known as organic sales, revenues were up by 3.5 percent.

The results beat expectations of 2.5 percent organic sales growth to 21.2 billion Swiss francs, according to analysts surveyed by Swiss financial news agency AWP.

Nestle's management has been targeting another indicator, real internal growth (RIG), which reflects sales volumes.

This rose by 1.2 percent in the first quarter, surpassing the 0.2 percent expected by analysts.

"Our first-quarter performance demonstrates that our RIG-led growth strategy is delivering," said Nestle's new chief executive, Philipp Navratil.

The company's shares rose six percent, far outpacing the Swiss market that rose one percent overall.

"Nestle is showing early signs of re‑igniting volume growth," said analysts at Vontobel.

"This is the kind of reassurance investors were waiting for and it corroborates management's relatively upbeat tone following" 2025 annual results, they added.

"In an uncertain and complex environment, I would like to thank all our people for their dedication and our customers and consumers for their trust," Navratil added.

That trust was tested at the start of this year when it emerged that Nestle waited for days for a health-risk analysis before alerting authorities after detecting a toxin in its baby formula.

A scare over the toxin cereulide in an ingredient received from a global supplier eventually forced several manufacturers to recall potentially contaminated products in over 60 countries.

Nestle estimated that the recall and impact on consumer demand led to a 0.9 percentage point drop in organic sales.

It said product availability had returned to normal.

"We are already seeing early signs of improvement and expect to fully recover by the end of the year," the company said in a statement.

Navratil said at a press conference that the company was monitoring developments in the Middle East closely, in particular the swings in energy prices.

However, "we have so far seen very little impact in our business globally," he said.

The company said its factories in the Middle East region, which contribute around three percent to sales, continue to operate.

But it warned that the impact of the war on the cost of raw materials, production and distribution, as well as consumer behaviour, remained uncertain.

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The Iran war has exposed Africa's vulnerability to fuel chokepoints and is heading for a 86 million tonne fuel shortfall by 2040, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) said Thursday.

Africa imports over 70 percent of its refined fuel and some $230 billion worth of essential goods, including fuel, food, plastics, steel, and fertiliser each year, the AFC said in a report released in Nairobi.

Its dependence on fuel imports will continue to rise from 74 million tonnes in 2023 to 86 million tonnes in 2040, said the report by the pan-African finance institution.

That is equivalent to almost three of the giant refineries run in Nigeria by the Dangote group -- by far the biggest in Africa.

"Not only is it importing fuel, but on the eastern side of the continent, those imports are vulnerable to chokepoints -- we've all learned about the Strait of Hormuz this year, and it's not the only chokepoint," said the AFC's chief economist Rita Babihuga-Nsanze at the report's launch.

The Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for a fifth of global fuel transport, has been effectively shut down by the war in the Middle East, leaving import-dependent countries in east Africa facing critical shortages.

Kenyan President William Ruto, speaking at the AFC summit, said the war showed the need for Africa to stop relying on outsiders.

"Our ambitions will remain unrealised if we continue to depend on external capital whose primary interest is securing raw materials for their own industries," said Ruto.

"We cannot continue to export raw materials and import finished products made from them," he added. 

- Infrastructure -

Kenya last year announced an infrastructure splurge, including 50 new hydroelectric dams and 10,000 megawatts of additional power generation within seven years, as well as plans to revamp roads, rail and airports.

"While historical injustices from colonialism to inequities in the global economic order are real, we must also acknowledge that other regions have faced similar challenges, but they have risen above them," Ruto told the summit. 

"We are constrained only by the extent that we accept the status quo through acquiescence, complacency, and limited ambition."

Fixing Africa's energy shortfall requires new hubs and better performance from existing assets, the AFC report said. 

Babihuga-Nsanze highlighted the example of Zambian dams that were not designed to cope with new drought conditions, and two gigawatts of Angolan hydropower that was not connected to the regional grid and therefore went to waste. 

She also highlighted the shortages of fertiliser due to the Mideast war, since a high proportion comes from the Gulf.  

Such vulnerabilities are "strange", said Babihuga-Nsanze, given that Africa has 80 percent of the world's phosphate reserves -- a key fertiliser source -- yet only produces 20 percent of the global stock. 

"There's a real opportunity for Africa to step in the gap here," she said.

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Rising reggae star Meta Dia will headline this year's Stereo Africa Festival in Dakar celebrating contemporary African music and the sounds of the diaspora.

Meta -- who sings in English, French, Wolof and Pulaar -- is renowned for his socially conscious music, unifying messages and captivating performances.

He will take the stage on May 9 for a special concert at the festival, which is now in its fifth year.

"Performing in Senegal is my greatest dream," the Senegalese-born singer-songwriter told AFP. 

Having settled in the United States nearly 25 years ago, his band, Meta and the Cornerstones, is set to release a new album, "Echoes of Time", on May 29.

The international reggae group blends Afro, soul and hip-hop influences atop a roots reggae foundation, and is acclaimed for its overall contributions to modern reggae.

"Senegal shaped me spiritually and that spirituality is the backbone of my music, it is the message I carry with me wherever I go", he said.

"I have travelled the world but I miss the place I call home, so having this opportunity to return and perform in Senegal is a true joy", he said.

The founder of the Stereo Africa Festival, Sahad Sarr, a singer-songwriter and frontman of the Senegalese band SAHAD, will also perform among some 30 concerts that run from May 5 to 10.

He called Meta and the Cornerstones "the ambassador of African reggae, currently the most talented in the world".

Since its inception, the Stereo Africa Festival has attracted more than 10,000 attendees and hosted 250 local and international artists.

It also features a "Stereo Revelations" programme, a springboard for young Senegalese talent which has awarded past recipients a year of professional guidance and support to help establish their careers.

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Environment ministers from G7 nations launched a two-day meeting in Paris on Thursday with climate change kept off the agenda to avoid a row with the United States.

The office of France's ecology minister Monique Barbut had said the Group of Seven would focus on "less contentious issues" to appease its largest and most powerful member, drawing criticism from activists.

Barbut said the G7 "must remain a forum for convergence" and France as host was prioritising unity at a time when environmental protection was slipping down the global agenda. 

"I hope we can send a strong message of unity and ambition", Barbut said at the opening of the meeting.

Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom sent their environment ministers to Paris but Washington dispatched Usha-Maria Turner, an assistant administrator at the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Ocean conservation, funding for biodiversity, and the transformation of dry areas into desert are on the agenda, among other broad environmental themes.

Barbut's office said it "chose not to address the climate issue head-on because the United States' positions on this subject are well known".

President Donald Trump's administration has withdrawn the United States from global agreements on climate change and weakened environmental protections since he returned to office in 2025. 

Gaia Febvre from Climate Action Network, an alliance of activist groups, said "a G7 moving at the pace of the United States cannot claim to respond to the crises of the century".

"By yielding to pressure, it weakens collective action and renounces its potential leading role," she told AFP.

It takes place just days before more than 50 countries meet in Colombia for the first-ever global conference dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change.

- Forests and funding - 

France is spearheading an initiative to raise public and private finance for the protection of biodiversity and hopes to win the backing of other G7 nations.

Barbut's ministry hopes to announce $800 million in funding for national parks in some 20 African countries, according to sources close to the matter.

Jean Burkard, advocacy director at WWF France, welcomed this inclusion on the G7 agenda but said any funding "must be additional and not compensate" for cuts elsewhere to state budgets for nature. 

The G7 meeting also hopes to reach a political declaration on desertification and security, while sessions on oceans will look to strengthen an alliance on marine protected areas. 

Other sessions are planned, including on water pollution, while a visit to the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris is also scheduled Thursday as part of a session dedicated to woodlands.

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Two commuter trains collided head-on near the Danish capital early Thursday leaving five critically hurt and 12 others with lesser injuries, emergency services said.

Police were unable to provide any information about the cause of the accident, which occurred near a level crossing in a rural wooded area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Copenhagen, near the town of Hillerod.

"A total of 17 people were injured. Of them, five were deemed to be in critical condition at the scene," Anders Damm-Hejmdal, chief physician at Copenhagen's emergency medical responders, told reporters. 

Police said they were alerted to the crash at 6:29 am (0429 GMT).

The yellow and grey locomotives of the two trains could be seen smashed and buckled in, the glass from their windshields and windows shattered. Both trains and their carriages remained upright on the rails.

Thirty-eight people were on the two trains.

A large number of ambulances and police cars were dispatched and all the passengers were evacuated and the injured transported to hospitals.

The mayor of Gribskov municipality, Trine Egetved, said on Facebook that some of the injured were flown to hospital on helicopter.

- 'People thrown around' -

Emergency crews wound up their rescue efforts around three hours after the accident, as investigators continued their work at the scene.

"We can't provide any details for now about the cause," police official Morten Kaare Pedersen told reporters.

"We are in the process of gathering the necessary information about the course of events. So there are, and will continue to be for quite some time, a lot of investigations underway."

Damm-Hejmdal said the number of critically injured "could change" over the course of the day.

The number "is obviously dynamic and could change. But that is the status as of now," he told a press conference almost four hours after the accident.

"Initially it is difficult to get an overview of the exact injuries," he said.

"You can imagine two trains colliding. That causes a lot of different injuries, people get thrown around."

Egetved said she had been "deeply upset and shocked".

"This train is used by many residents of Gribskov, workers and students," she said.

Denmark prides itself on its safety record, but a 2019 train crash left eight dead and 16 injured.

In August last year, an express train hit a farm truck on a crossing killing one person and injuring 27.

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