India declares victory over Maoist insurgency

A French court has ruled to extradite Russian banker Vladimir Antonov, a former owner of English football club Portsmouth, to Lithuania, his lawyer said on Friday.

Antonov was detained in western France last December on suspicion of fraud, following a European arrest warrant from Lithuania.

He is accused of having stripped assets and funds from a leading Lithuanian bank, Snoras, where he was a majority shareholder, between 2008 and 2011, when the lender was nationalised.

A second arrest warrant issued in December 2025 added charges of corruption, money laundering and bankruptcy, with total losses amounting to at least 478 million euros ($551 million).

Antonov's lawyer said that his client would challenge the ruling.

The court "clearly did not take into account the real risk to Mr. Antonov's life in Eastern Europe", Henry Ermeneux told AFP.

In 2024, a Lithuanian court sentenced Antonov in absentia to 10.5 years in prison for embezzlement.

In 2011, Antonov was arrested in Britain on the strength of a Lithuanian arrest warrant issued over the collapse of the Snoras Bank, but later released.

He purchased Portsmouth, then in the second-tier Championship, in June 2011.

He stepped down the following November when his company, Convers Sports Initiatives, went into administration following his arrest over the fraud allegations.

In 2015, a lawyer said Antonov had fled Britain because he feared for his life.

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As he wages war on Iran, President Donald Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Christian pastors. Solemnly, some placed their hands on his shoulder or forearm. They offered their blessings.

In a war against a country led by Shia Muslim clerics, the United States -- which has a constitutional separation between church and state -- is also invoking religion, with some Trump officials casting it as almost a divine mission.

At the event for Holy Week, when Christians mark the last days of Jesus Christ before the resurrection on Easter, the Reverend Franklin Graham told Trump of the Bible's Book of Esther in which he said "the Iranians" -- a Persian king of contested historical accuracy -- ordered the killing of all Jews.

"Today the Iranians, the wicked regime of this government, wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire. But you have raised up President Trump. You've raised him up for such a time as this. And Father, we pray that you'll give him victory," said Graham, son of famed late evangelist Billy Graham.

Unmentioned, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great, still revered by Iranians, was the first world leader to grant freedom to the Jews, liberating them from captivity in Babylon. 

The story of the Book of Esther has also been repeatedly cited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who used the occasion of Passover to compare his war alongside Trump to the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian captivity.

Iran's government since 1979 has been explicitly rooted in religion, with a top Shia cleric serving as supreme leader.

Iran's military has drawn parallels between their defenses and the Battle of Karbala, the 680 CE battle in which the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein was killed, an event commemorated by Shia as an act of martyrdom and self-sacrifice in the face of tyranny.

- Crusades are back -

When George W. Bush went to war against Afghanistan's Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, he called his campaign a "crusade" but quickly backtracked, aware of the historical baggage in the Islamic world of a term often used loosely as a metaphor in the West.

Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has shown no such compunctions. The former Fox News host in 2020 wrote a book called "American Crusade" in which he called for a "holy war" to rid America of the left.

Among his tattoos are a Jerusalem Cross, a Crusader-era emblem embraced by the far-right, along with the Latin inscription "Deus Vult," or "God wills it," a motto for the Crusaders.

If there was any doubt on his views on Muslims, he also has a tattoo that reads "kafir," or "infidel," in Arabic.

Hegseth, who has vowed to rain down "death and destruction" on Iran, at a news conference called on Americans to pray "every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ."

Speaking to CBS News, Hegseth said, "We're fighting religious fanatics who seek nuclear capability for some religious Armageddon."

"My Christian faith," he said, "is important in our fighting ranks to give them perspective."

- Shutting down diversity -

The Pentagon in recent decades has welcomed a diversity of faiths, with chaplains tasked more with offering personal comfort and guidance than on blessing leaders' decisions.

"Someone with command authority asserting a faith perspective in a manner of favoritism, disregarding the diversity of faiths represented in the military and the nation, is at the least disrespectful and careless and at the most an abuse of power," said Kenneth Williams, a former military chaplain who now teaches at Georgetown University.

The religious embrace of war is also deeply offensive to many Christians. Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, has hoped that Trump will seek "an off-ramp" and "a way to decrease the amount of violence."

In his Palm Sunday homily, the Pope said God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."

Asked by an AFP journalist about the Pope's remarks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is "very noble" to pray for troops in a time of war.

Much of the administration speaks openly in religious terms. Vice President JD Vance announced in the midst of the war that he is publishing a book on his embrace of Catholicism called "Communion." 

Trump himself is not known to be personally religious. The thrice-married realtor and former television celebrity was raised Presbyterian and rarely attended religious services. 

But since entering politics he has embraced the Christian right. Christian conservatives hailed Trump for helping them achieve their priority -- the end of the nationwide right to abortion, thanks to justices Trump appointed to the Supreme Court.

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Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco.

Now the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries' sides.

On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. 

"The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents," a local resident told AFP.

CAF stripped Senegal of its title on March 17, over the team's angry departure from the pitch after a penalty was awarded to Morocco late in second-half stoppage time.

In a photo the following day, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was seen in his office with the trophy behind him.

Senegal has lodged an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the matter and some fans have meanwhile called for a boycott of Moroccan goods. 

On March 18, Dakar called for an international investigation into "allegations of corruption within the CAF leadership" in a statement that sent a chill through Morocco.

"An official (Senegalese) document mentioned corruption. It insinuates that Morocco is the corrupting influence without of course any evidence and this could have repercussions," Morocco's Aziz Daouda, a track and field official and former athlete, told AFP.

He added that "comments made by certain Senegalese football officials are damaging relations" between the two countries, referring to allegations that Morocco controls CAF.

- 'Hostages' of Morocco -

One of Senegal's points of contention is the detention of 18 Senegalese football fans in Morocco for more than two months now.

They were sentenced on February 19 to prison terms ranging from three months to a year for hooliganism.

Minutes before the end of the match, some Senegalese supporters attempted to storm the pitch while Senegal's players halted the game for nearly 20 minutes in protest of the late penalty to Morocco.

The appeal hearing for the 18 fans was postponed for a second time on Monday until April 13.

Dozens of demonstrators in Dakar called for their release at the end of February, describing them as "hostages" of Morocco.

"One gets the impression that this affair goes beyond the realm of sport and that is regrettable. For two countries that claim to be friends, such as Morocco and Senegal, things should not have come to this," Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said in late February, lamenting the supporters' convictions.

That said, Morocco's relationship with Senegal is "unique, specific and extraordinary", Senegal's Director of Religious Affairs Djim Ousmane Drame said in a recent article.

"Morocco has always been the only (African) country with which diplomatic relations with Senegal are based on an emotional bond and popular appeal, beyond the institutions and bilateral ties," Bakary Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute think tank told AFP.

Fez, for example, is a favourite destination for many Senegalese Muslim followers of Tidianism, an influential brotherhood in Senegal whose founder, Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane, is buried there.

Moroccan authorities meanwhile made no comment and "preferred not to get involved in this football affair" following the CAF decision, Daouda said.

- Business, diplomacy partners -

In late January in Rabat, Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch spoke of a "natural, lasting" relationship with Senegal where he said Morocco has invested more than $540 million.

Many Moroccan companies operate in Senegal, particularly in the food, pharmaceutical, energy, construction, mining, banking and insurance sectors.

On the international stage, the two countries' diplomatic views are generally aligned.

Senegalese nationals constitute the largest group of foreign residents in the kingdom (18.4 percent), according to official figures, and a robust student exchange also exists between the two countries.

"There are many of us on both sides trying to calm down all those hotheads from both camps who enjoy spreading irresponsible claims, lots of 'fake news' and plenty of insults," Daouda said.

Former Senegalese foreign minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio wrote in early February that "a hundred minutes of football will never be able to ruin a thousand years of close ties between Senegal and Morocco".

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Cuban authorities began to free prisoners on Friday after announcing it would pardon 2,010 inmates, the second release in less than a month as it faces heightened US pressure.

More than 20 inmates came out of La Lima penitentiary in east Havana, holding their release papers, crying and hugging relatives who had been waiting for them all morning, AFP journalists said.

"Thank you for this opportunity that they gave us," said Albis Gainza, 46, who had served half of a six-year sentence for robbery.

He said he could not sleep after learning he would be released.

"This needs to keep going ... (and) more are released," Gainza told AFP.

The Cuban government announced late Thursday that it would pardon 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian and sovereign gesture" to mark Holy Week.

It did not link it to talks with the United States, but the move came days after President Donald Trump eased a de facto oil blockade of Cuba by allowing a Russian tanker to deliver crude to the fuel-starved island.

This "follows a long pattern where there is a song and dance about how it has nothing to do with negotiations when it clearly does," Andres Pertierra, a historian of Cuba at the University of Wisconsin in the United States, told AFP.

The Trump administration has called for change in communist-run Cuba's system of government and the US president has mused about "taking" the island.

But the two sides have also held talks recently.

Releasing political prisoners has long been a core US demand in Cuba, but it was not immediately clear if any were among those pardoned as no list was published.

The US State Department said it was aware of reports of the prisoner release "though it is unclear how many, if any, political prisoners will be released."

"We continue to call for the immediate release of the hundreds of other brave Cuban patriots who remain unjustly detained," a State Department spokesperson told AFP.

Cuba is holding 775 political prisoners, according to rights group Justicia11J.

- 'Crimes against authority' -

Justicia11J said "any release represents immediate relief, especially for the families" but it warned that the gesture "does not constitute a change in the Cuban State's repressive policies."

The rights group, which arrests stemming from massive anti-government protests in July 2021, noted that the government had not published a list of those being released.

The Cuban government said the releases would be based on the nature of the crimes, good behavior, health reasons and time served.

It added those released would not include people who committed murder, sex assault, drug-related crimes, theft, illegal slaughter of livestock and "crimes against authority."

Justicia11J raised said the mention of the all-encompassing "crimes against authority" was "particularly concerning."

"These charges have instead served as instruments of political repression in Cuba," the NGO said.

- 'Great blessing' -

The Cuban government said the individuals being freed include young people, women and prisoners over 60 years old who are scheduled for early release within the next six months to a year.

The government previously announced on March 12 that it would free 51 prisoners as a sign of "good will" toward the Vatican, which has often acted as a mediator between Washington and Havana.

At least 20 political prisoners were released in the wake of the March announcement, according to rights group Cubalex.

Of half a dozen former prisoners interviewed by AFP outside La Lima, none were jailed for political reasons.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Brian Perez, 20, who was jailed for causing bodily injury. "We suffered enough and the mothers, too."

Damian Farinas, 20, was serving a nearly three-year sentence for robbery.

"It's a great blessing," he said. "This pardon comes at the right time for many inmates."

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(The Center Square) – A U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over southern Iran, as a search and rescue mission is underway, according to multiple reports.

Reports indicate the downed aircraft is an F-15 fighter jet with two crew members onboard. Multiple video reports from the region show low-flying aircraft, including helicopters, presumably engaged in a search-and-rescue operation for the crew members. However, neither the U.S. Central Command nor the Department of War has officially confirmed the incident.

President Donald Trump has reportedly been briefed on the matter and is monitoring the situation, as Iranian media is urging a manhunt for the downed pilots.

If true, the incident would mark the first jet to be shot down by enemy fire since the conflict with Iran began over a month ago. Since Operation Epic Fury began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed in relation to the military operations, with more than 500 wounded. A majority of the wounded have returned to active duty.

This is a developing story.

The US economy posted unexpectedly strong job gains in March, government data showed Friday, in a shift that could ease labor market concerns and boost President Donald Trump's economic agenda.

The world's largest economy gained 178,000 jobs in March, after losing 133,000 in February, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage-point to 4.3 percent, the Labor Department said.

Friday's data significantly beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expecting an increase of 59,000 jobs.

Much of the recovery was fueled by jobs in the health care sector, which has remained resilient even as labor demand has dropped across many sectors of the US economy.

Health care added 76,000 jobs in March, after having lost jobs the month before, in part due to strike actions.

Employment in construction also grew by 26,000 in March, although the Labor Department flagged that it had changed little over its level from a year ago.

Federal government employment continued to decline.

Trump has taken a hatchet to the sector in a drive aimed at cost-cutting and reducing the size of government. Employment in the sector was down 11.8 percent since October 2024, the data showed.

The new data reflected a revision in the figures for January and February, showing employment for those two months combined was 7,000 lower than previously reported.

The White House on Friday touted the numbers as a major success.

"Americans can rest assured that after the short-term disruptions of Operation Epic Fury are behind us, America's economic resurgence is set to only accelerate," said deputy press secretary Kush Desai, referring to the US-Israel war on Iran.

- Low-hire, low-fire -

The war has engulfed the Middle East, sent oil prices surging and snarled supply chains, leading to fears of economic slowdown around the world, including in the United States.

Analysts hailed the strong jobs figures, but signaled caution as the economic impact of the war begins to hit Americans.

Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic said the March report showed the US labor market was in "good standing," with "broad-based gains in the private sector."

"Looking ahead, we expect the spike in gasoline prices will dampen consumers' spending on discretionary items," which would slow second-quarter economic growth to below one percent (annualized), "and raise the cost of energy and some commodity inputs for businesses."

Higher production costs are expected to mean that businesses will continue the current "low-hire, low-fire" trend.

- Fed fallout -

Uncertainty about the duration and intensity of the war's economic shock has so far led policymakers at the Federal Reserve to adopt a wait-and-see approach on interest rate moves, as they balance managing stubbornly high inflation with managing unemployment.

Unemployment rates have remained relatively steady in the United States -- but the figure has hidden churn under the surface, analysts warn, as weak jobs growth has been matched by a drop in labor supply.

That drop in supply is largely attributed to Trump's crackdown on immigration and widespread deportation efforts.

For Fed policymakers, however, inflation currently appears to be a bigger risk than unemployment.

"The labor market is roughly in balance but susceptible to adverse shocks," said Fed Governor Philip Jefferson last week.

With labor supply decreasing, the break-even rate for jobs growth -- the rate at which the unemployment rate remains steady -- is roughly zero, a situation that policymakers have flagged as particularly unusual for the US economy.

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A US judge has dismissed sexual harassment claims brought by actor Blake Lively against co-star Justin Baldoni that were at the heart of explosive public row between the two, a court filing showed.

Manhattan federal judge Lewis Liman also dismissed Thursday defamation and conspiracy claims brought by Lively -- but her claims of retaliation and breach of contract against Baldoni still stand as their May 18 civil trial approaches.

Lively had filed a complaint against Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath for allegedly inappropriate behavior and comments during the shooting of the romantic drama "It Ends with Us."

The complaint said Baldoni -- who also directed the film -- had spoken inappropriately about his sex life and sought to alter the film to include sex scenes that were not in the script and had not been agreed to.

It also said Heath had watched Lively while she was topless, despite having been asked to turn away. It further said Baldoni waged a PR campaign to wreck Lively's reputation.

Baldoni and the studio Wayfarer countersued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds with claims of extortion and defamation -- but judge Liman dismissed those claims last year.

Wayfarer previously insisted that neither the studio, its executives, nor its PR team did anything to retaliate against Lively.

Based on a best-selling novel by the US writer Colleen Hoover, "It Ends with Us" that made more than $350 million at the box office in 2024, making it one of the biggest hits of the year.

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The White House sent a spending proposal to lawmakers Friday calling for a massive $1.5 trillion US defense budget next year as it faces increased costs due to the war in Iran.

The total year-on-year increase in Pentagon spending would be the largest since World War II, US media reported, although presidential budgets are wish lists that have to be approved by Congress, rather than binding orders.

The request would represent a 42 percent hike in the Pentagon topline for 2026.

It is part of a proposal that asks Congress to slash non-defense spending by some $73 billion, or 10 percent, by "reducing or eliminating woke, weaponized and wasteful programs, and by returning state and local responsibilities to their respective governments."

The Pentagon isn't expected to release a detailed breakdown of the budget request until later this month, but the plan could form a fiscal framework that adds trillions to the already growing federal debt over the next decade, assuming Congress adopts the president's proposals.

Trump called on lawmakers to approve the bulk of the increase through the standard annual government funding process, while passing the remaining $350 billion via the same party-line legislative maneuver that allowed Republicans to secure tax cuts without Democratic support last year. 

In the lead-up to releasing the proposal, the president and his advisors have emphasized the urgency of boosting defense spending, pointing to the need to replenish weapons stockpiles and other military resources during the ongoing conflict with Iran. 

At a private lunch, Trump stressed that defense funding should take precedence over other federal expenditures, even if it meant scaling back social safety-net programs and other assistance.

"It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things, they can do it on a state basis," he said, adding that the priority had to be "military protection."

The White House posted a video of Trump's remarks on its YouTube page and then deleted it.

Democrats and Republicans have recently voiced concern about increasing military spending to the levels Trump has proposed, noting that the administration has not provided sufficient updates on the five-week-long war with Iran.

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The new mayor of the French capital pledged Friday to stop sexual violence in schools and pre-schools, saying Paris had suspended more than 30 school monitors suspected of sexual abuse since January.

School monitors recruited and trained by the city help look after children outside the classroom, including in the evening before their parents can pick them up.

City hall is under intense scrutiny after allegations that abusers slipped through the net and were even looking after nursery school pupils.

Claims of sexual abuse in schools were a central issue in the campaign leading up to last month's Paris mayoral election.

"Since the beginning of 2026, 78 staff members have been suspended, including 31 on suspicion of sexual violence," mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told reporters.

"These figures must lead us to a profound, thorough reappraisal," he added.

"Everything has to be reviewed from the ground up with one objective: zero tolerance."

He said he wanted to establish an independent commission to carry out a full examination of recruitment, reporting and monitoring procedures.

"We will give it access to everything and its freedom of speech will be absolute," he said.

- 'Code of silence' -

Gregoire himself has spoken publicly about being a victim of sexual abuse in an after-school swimming programme for several months when he was in primary school.

The mayor on Friday promised to spend 20 million euros ($23 million) on his action plan.

Last year 30 monitors were suspended in the capital, including 16 on suspicion of sexual abuse, according to city hall.

Of those suspended this year for physical or sexual violence, nine were working at the same Paris nursery school.

Parents of pupils have accused school management of failing to inform them about their suspicions.

"If there was a collective mistake, it was treating these cases as isolated incidents when in fact they reflect a systemic risk, and perhaps even a systemic code of silence," Gregoire told newspaper Le Monde Friday.

Kindergarten pupils were especially vulnerable, and almost all alleged perpetrators were men, he said.

He said most cases of alleged sexual abuse were from 2024 and 2025.

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Gennaro Gattuso quit as Italy coach on Friday, as the Azzurri's failure to reach a third straight World Cup continued to send shockwaves through Italian football.

A World Cup winner in 2006, Gattuso leaves after less than a year in charge of Italy, a team which has fallen far behind historic rivals like France and Spain in the last two decades.

Defeat on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tuesday's qualification play-off final ended up costing Gattuso his job, as the man who hired him also stepped down as president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

"With a heavy heart, and having fallen short of the goal we set ourselves, I feel my time as head coach of the national team has come to an end," Gattuso said in a statement.

"The Azzurri shirt is the most precious thing in football, and for that reason it's only right to make way immediately for the federation's future decisions.

"It has been an honour to lead the national team, especially with a group of players who have shown such commitment and dedication."

Gabriele Gravina had asked Gattuso to stay on immediately after elimination in Zenica but his departure, and that of national team general manager Gianluigi Buffon, paved the way for the 48-year-old's exit after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Gattuso took charge of Italy in June last year following the sacking of Luciano Spalletti, himself a victim of a dismal title defence at Euro 2024 and a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Erling Haaland's Norway in their first World Cup qualifier.

His record is impressive on paper, with six wins, one defeat and one draw in eight matches with 22 goals scored and 10 conceded.

But that draw was the 1-1 with Bosnia which preceded a penalty shoot-out in which Italy missed twice, while the loss was another humiliating one to Norway, this time 4-1 at the San Siro.

- Strange choice -

Gattuso was considered by many a strange choice to replace Spalletti due to his spotty club coaching record, and he was heavily criticised after Tuesday's elimination.

Italy were second best nearly the whole game, and completely conceded the initiative when Alessandro Bastoni was sent off not long before half-time.

Bosnia could easily have won the game in normal time but once Italy managed to get to the shoot-out Gattuso selected inexperienced Pio Esposito to take the first penalty, which the 20-year-old smashed over the bar.

The upheaval caused by failing to qualify for this summer's finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico, means the national team will have an interim coach for a friendly with Greece on June 7.

Two former national team coaches in Roberto Mancini, who led Italy to victory at Euro 2020, and Antonio Conte are the names most frequently cited as Gattuso's replacement.

But no new coach will be announced until after the FIGC's board vote on a new president on June 22, Gravina falling on his sword a day after sports minister Andrea Abodi called on him to go.

Italy's failure to reach the first ever 48-team World Cup -- which will feature the likes of Cape Verde and Curacao -- led Abodi to release a statement saying: "It's clear that Italian football needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and that starts with changes at the top of the FIGC."

That came a day after Gravina had hit out at politicians "who have only pushed for resignations", while also admitting Italian football "is in a profound crisis".

Italy's footballing woes do not just relate to diminishing performances by the national team.

No Serie A club has won the Champions League since 2010.

The country is due to co-host Euro 2032 with Turkey but on Thursday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hit out at the state of Italy's stadiums, warning the country could be stripped of hosting rights.

"I just hope that the infrastructure (in Italy) will be ready. If that's not the case, the tournament will not be held in Italy," Ceferin said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport.

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