Pope Leo ends Africa visit with open-air mass in Equatorial Guinea

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport said Thursday it would offer airlines a 10-percent discount on airport charges due to the high price of jet fuel caused by the Iran war.

The discount is a temporary measure that applies to daytime flights only from April 27 through March 2027, announced the airport, Europe's fourth-busiest hub.

"The airport is taking this measure because airlines' costs have risen unexpectedly and sharply as a result of high kerosene prices," Schiphol said in a statement.

"Especially in the current geopolitical situation, it is important to keep the Netherlands connected to the rest of the world and to ensure that essential flights can continue to operate."

Dutch legacy carrier KLM announced last week it was scrapping nearly one percent of its short-haul flights that had become unprofitable due to high fuel charges.

The war pitting the US and Israel against Iran has choked trade through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil was shipped before the conflict.

Airlines have trimmed routes and costs as fuel bills explode and wary passengers think twice about travel plans, a situation that could persist even if a fragile truce holds in the Middle East.

Schiphol admitted there would be a "temporary negative effect" on its financial results, without disclosing an exact figure.

According to data from industry group ACI Europe, Schiphol was the fourth busiest European hub last year, with 68.77 million passengers.

London Heathrow, Istanbul and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports were the only busier hubs on the continent.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Trump's Hormuz order -

President Donald Trump vowed the United States would destroy any vessel laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as he ratchets up pressure on Iran to reopen the crucial sea passage.

"I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted.

- Israel accused of war crime -

Lebanon's leaders accused Israel of committing a war crime after an airstrike killed a Lebanese journalist in the country's south.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the incident.

- US forces board tanker -

The US Defense Department said its forces boarded a vessel in the Indian Ocean that was providing material support to Iran, the second time it had done so in three days.

"Overnight, U.S. forces carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X transporting oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean," it said on X. 

- Iran gets first Hormuz toll -

A senior Iranian parliament official said on Thursday that Tehran has received the first revenue from tolls it imposed on the strategic Strait of Hormuz in its war with the United States and Israel. 

"The first revenue received from the Strait of Hormuz tolls was deposited into the Central Bank account," said deputy speaker of parliament Hamidreza Hajibabaei, according to Tasnim news agency. 

- Pentagon denies Hormuz mine clearing report -

The Pentagon blasted as cherry picking and false a news report saying that the department assessed it could take six months to completely clear the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian-laid mines.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Pentagon shared the six-month estimate during a classified briefing for the members of the House Armed Services Committee, citing three unidentified officials familiar with the discussion.

Iran has all but blocked the vital waterway since the start of a war with the United States and Israel, sharply driving up oil and gas prices and disrupting the global economy.

- Hormuz standoff -

Iran vowed it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States continues to blockade its ports.

"A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade," said Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad.

"Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire."

- Iran execution -

Iran hanged a man after he was convicted of membership in a banned opposition group and alleged collaboration with Israel. 

"Sultan-Ali Shirzadi-Fakhr was hanged early this morning for membership in the terrorist group" of the People's Mujahedin Organisation (MEK) and "collaboration with the Israeli regime's spy service," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported.

- Lebanon-Israel meeting -

Israel and Lebanon are to hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday, during which Beirut plans to request a one-month extension of a ceasefire due to expire within days.

Israel stated ahead of the talks that it has no "serious disagreements" with Lebanon, calling on it to "work together" against the pro-Iran Hezbollah, which is notably absent from and opposed to the negotiations. 

- US turns back 31 vessels -

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said late Wednesday that it had "directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port" as part of its own "blockade against Iran".

It said on X "the majority of vessels have complied with US directions" adding that "most vessels turned around have been oil tankers".

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As 41-year-old Annie Tse visited her flat in Hong Kong for the first time since a massive fire last year, a blackened staircase brought back memories of her lucky escape. 

The world's deadliest residential building fire since 1980 killed 168 people when it ripped through seven of the eight apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court complex in November.

For the first time since then, around 6,000 residents are being given three-hour windows starting this week to enter their homes and get their belongings.

"The feeling was pretty intense, because the places where I had walked down that day are all black now," Tse, who escaped from her third-floor flat, told reporters after the visit. 

"I saw that the neighbours' flats were all severely burnt on the inside."

Residents wore hard hats, masks and gloves and were accompanied by social workers as they returned to their apartments on Thursday.

"I thought about that day," Tse said, breaking into tears.

"I thought I could go down to find out what was happening and go back up to warn the neighbours, but the fire was already so big."

"There were no fire alarms, a lot of people didn't know."

An independent committee investigating the blaze heard that fire alarms in seven of the estate's eight blocks had been turned off on the day of the fire.

Tse's husband Bowie Chan told AFP that his wife was diagnosed with depression after the fire, and still battles feelings of guilt that she was not able to warn her neighbours. 

Videos and photos sent to AFP by Chan from their flat, near where the fire was believed to have started, showed charred husks of appliances and black soot clinging to walls, ceilings and piles of neatly stacked clothes in the wardrobe.

The plastic shower door hung in melted ribbons from its frame, while the blades of a fan had curled up.

But a framed wedding photo of the couple holding their four cats remained on the living room wall with no apparent damage. 

"It was really hard for me to imagine what it was like for the neighbours to wait there," Tse said.

- 'Don't want to say goodbye' -

More than 920 homes were damaged and some completely destroyed by the blaze, according to the fire department.

Hong Kong officials have offered to buy the apartments back around the pre-fire market price, but said that rebuilding the complex on the same site was "not feasible".

Another resident, Jason Kong, criticised the three-hour time slot that residents were given to visit their homes and said he only managed to pack up a small amount of belongings.

He shared footage with reporters that showed his flat and personal items largely intact -- though a large shelf covering a wall in the living room had been damaged by the heat and was leaning precariously. 

"I have a connection to the whole flat," the 65-year-old told reporters.

"I don't want to say goodbye. It would be best if they could fix it for me."

The interior design company owner said his family managed to retrieve graduation certificates, family photos and birth certificates from inside.

But Kong is haunted by the fact he had been unable to return to his tower to save his dog, Bear Bear, on the day of the fire.

The poodle was picked up by firefighters but died of smoke inhalation hours later. 

"My son was most emotional when he saw the dog's food, his bowl," Kong said, adding that his son had collected some of Bear Bear's items as mementos. 

Meanwhile, Bowie Chan showed reporters two urns that he had found at the flat containing the ashes of cats, Billy and Charlie, who died of old age before the fire. 

"I really wanted to take them away, because we're a family," he said.

"My wife escaped with our two [other] cats, so that's already the best thing. Whatever we can save today is a bonus."

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Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the world's biggest luxury conglomerate LVMH, brushed off speculation of his retirement on Thursday, telling shareholders that "we'll talk about all this again in seven to eight years".

The 77-year-old founder of the French group whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's has set up a family dynasty where his five children all have key roles. 

Since founding the group in 1989, Arnault has spent billions acquiring fashion, watch and jewellery houses, but he has not publicly identified a successor.

"Last year you renewed your confidence in me with 99 percent of the vote for the next 10 years," he told investors gathered for the company's annual shareholder meeting. 

"So, if you don't mind, we'll talk about this again in seven or eight years," Arnault said, inviting all his five children to address the AGM for the first time.

"So, you have all seen my children. Do they seem very ambitious?" Arnault jokingly told the gathering. 

"I don't know. It's up to you to tell me," he said.

Arnault and his family recently increased their stakes in LVMH to 50.01 percent, with 65.94 percent of the voting rights, securing control over the company.

"I am very confident for our group's evolution over the next five years. That's why when the shares go down a bit, as has been the case recently, I buy them," he said.

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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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