World News

NAIROI, Kenya (AP) — France is pitching what it says is a new model of partnership with African countries at a summit that begins Monday in Kenya as it completes a military withdrawal from West African countries that has been widely seen as marking declining influence on the continent.

But Paris is expected to use the two-day Africa Forward Summit, which it is co-hosting, to push a new Africa policy that focuses more on English-speaking countries and offers what it calls a “partnership of equals.” Its new defense agreement with Kenya marks the direction it hopes to go.

France has long maintained a policy of economic, political and military sway over its former colonies dubbed Françafrique, which included keeping thousands of troops in the region. But after years of criticism from leaders and opposition parties in those countries over what they described as a demeaning and heavy-handed approach, France has been forced to withdraw most of those troops.

The summit — France’s first in an English-speaking African country — will be attended by more than 30 heads of state and government, including from Francophone countries. On his arrival Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France may disagree with West African governments but “never disagrees with the people.”

Kenya’s newly ratified defense agreement with France has been criticized by civil society groups for granting too much immunity local law to French troops, a sensitive issue in a country where a similar agreement with the United Kingdom has left a trail of hard-to-prosecute crimes against locals.

At a time when many African nations, particularly in the Sahel region, are reducing or expelling foreign military presences in what they say is a quest to reclaim their sovereignty, Kenya is hosting a growing international military presence.

The Kenya-France Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed on Oct. 29, 2025, by Kenya’s Defense Minister Soipan Tuya and French Ambassador to Kenya Arnaud Suquet and ratified by parliament on April 8. The same month, it also ratified defense agreements with countries including the Czech Republic, China and Italy.

While defending the defense agreements, parliament defense committee chair Nelson Koech said Kenya’s treaties with advanced militaries provide training and intelligence-sharing opportunities that will make its defense stronger.

Koech said the agreements were not a “surrender of sovereignty,” adding that newer agreements guarantee that foreign troops will be tried in Kenya in the event of serious crimes such as murder.

A month ahead of the summit, a contingent of around 800 French troops arrived in Kenya aboard a navy ship.

The agreement grants visiting French forces primary jurisdiction over their personnel for on-duty offenses, echoing broad legal protections in past UK pacts that shielded British soldiers from Kenyan courts amid scandals like the 2012 murder of a young woman named Agnes Wanjiru and the deadly 2021 Lolldaiga ranch fire.

A British soldier is due to be extradited after Kenyan courts found him answerable for the 2012 death of Wanjiru, who was last seen alive in his company near the British troops’ training grounds in Nanyuki, central Kenya.

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LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his job after devastating local election results for his Labour Party spurred dozens of lawmakers to call for his resignation.

Starmer plans to use a speech on Monday to argue that he can change tack and revive his government’s fortunes. But his position is fragile as rivals weigh their options. One lawmaker, Catherine West, said she will try to trigger a leadership contest if she doesn’t like what she hears in the speech.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, often seen as a potential challenger, said the party “needs to change,” though she did not explicitly call for Starmer to go.

She said “the prime minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.”

Starmer is trying to regain momentum after heavy losses for his center-left party in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. Last week’s elections were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.

His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both the anti-immigration Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. It reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.

Still, Starmer told The Observer newspaper on Sunday that he wants to remain in office for a decade. He’s pinning his hopes on Monday’s speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.

A key policy is closer ties with the European Union, which the United Kingdom left in 2020, four years after the “leave” side narrowly won a membership referendum. Starmer’s government has already moved to ease some of the trade restrictions that have burdened British businesses since Brexit, and he says he will secure a youth mobility deal so young people can spend a few years working across the continent.

“Brexit has held back our young people,” Starmer told The Observer, adding that “we have to be closer to Europe.”

Labour campaigned to stay in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. Starmer has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the EU’s customs union or single market, two things that would make a big difference to U.K. businesses.

None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer — including Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — has called for him to resign.

But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.

Josh Simons, a formerly loyal Labour lawmaker, wrote in the Times of London that Starmer “has lost the country” and “should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”

West, a former junior minister, is trying to hurry the process along, vowing to try to trigger a leadership contest unless Starmer delivers a barnstorming speech on Monday. West acknowledged she does not have the support of 81 colleagues, needed to force a contest, and her move appeared to be an attempt to force more high-profile contenders to make a move.

“Working people sent us a message,” West said. “We have to listen to that, and we have to change and we have to do it quickly.”

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By Trevor Hunnicutt and Nandita Bose

May 10 (Reuters) – A rare earths deal between the United States and China is still in effect and an extension will be announced at the appropriate time, a senior U.S. official told reporters on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump ‌and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in Beijing on May 14 and 15.

“It’s still in effect. It doesn’t expire yet,” the official told reporters, adding conversations are ongoing but it wasn’t clear yet if the deal will be extended. “I’m confident we’ll announce any potential extension at the appropriate time.”

Trump and Xi are expected to discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, trade, Taiwan and other flashpoints when their two-day summit begins Thursday.

Their last meeting was in October in South Korea, where they agreed to pause a bruising trade war that had seen the U.S. impose triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing threaten to restrict the global supply of rare earths.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Aurora Ellis)

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BEIRUT (AP) — Nobel Peace laureate and activist Narges Mohammadi has been transferred to a Tehran hospital more than a week after collapsing in prison, her foundation said Sunday.

Her transfer comes after days of pleading by her family and others who described her condition as critical. Her foundation said she has been granted a prison sentence suspension on bail. It was not clear for how long her sentence is suspended, the foundation said.

Mohammadi had been imprisoned since December in Zanjan prison. She lost consciousness twice and was transferred to a local hospital on May 1.

A statement from her foundation, shared with The Associated Press, said the suspended sentence is not enough and that Mohammadi needs “permanent, specialized care.”

The statement added that “we must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence. Now is the time to demand her unconditional freedom and the dismissal of all charges.”

Mohammadi’s Iran-based lawyer Mostafa Nili said on social media the transfer order was issued following the decision of the Legal Medicine Organization — government-appointed medical examiners — “which stated that, due to her multiple illnesses, she needs to continue treatment outside prison and under the supervision of her own medical team.”

There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.

Mohammadi’s brother Hamidreza Mohammadi, who is based in Oslo, Norway, had said medical examiners previously recommended her transfer to Tehran but the decision was blocked. He blamed Iran’s intelligence agency.

“I’m relieved now. I can breathe lightly,” her brother told the AP in a message.

The 53-year-old rights activist and champion of women’s rights was awarded the Nobel in 2023 while in prison and has been jailed repeatedly throughout her career. Her current imprisonment began when she was arrested in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.

Mohammadi’s family said her health had been deteriorating in prison, in part because she was heavily beaten during her arrest. She had a heart attack in March and has a blood clot in her lung since before her imprisonment that needs blood thinners and monitoring to manage it.

Since being taken to the Zanjan hospital’s cardiac care unit, Mohammadi’s blood pressure had been swinging between extremely low and extremely high, and she was receiving oxygen to breathe and can’t talk, according to her brother.

The Nobel committee had called on Iranian authorities to immediately transfer Mohammadi to her dedicated medical team in Tehran, saying that “without such treatment, her life remains at risk.”

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CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The remains of a U.S. soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco a week ago were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean, the army said Sunday. Military teams were still searching for a second missing soldier.

The remains were those of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., a 14A Air Defense Artillery officer who was one of two U.S. soldiers who fell off a cliff during a recreational hike in Morocco while off duty. He was 27 years old.

The two were reported missing May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco.

“A Moroccan military search team found the Soldier in the water along the shoreline at approximately 8:55 a.m. local time May 9, within roughly one mile of where both Soldiers reportedly entered the ocean,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a statement.

The two went missing around 9 p.m. near the Cap Draa Training Area outside Tan-Tan, a terrain characterized by mountains, desert and semidesert plains, according to the Moroccan military.

Their disappearance triggered a search-and-rescue operation involving more than 600 personnel from the United States, Morocco and other military partners. The operation deployed frigates, vessels, helicopters and drones.

Search efforts will continue for the missing second soldier, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak publicly on the issue.

The official said a U.S. contingent remained in Morocco after the war games ended Friday to provide command and control and to continue search and rescue operations.

Key was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, the army said. His decorations include the Army Achievement Medal and Army Service Ribbon.

He entered military service in 2023 as an officer candidate and earned his commission through Officer Candidate School in 2024 as an Air Defense Artillery officer. He later completed the Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to the statement.

African Lion 26, is a U.S.-led exercise launched in April across four countries – Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal – with more than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations. Since 2004, it has been the largest U.S. joint military exercise in Africa.

In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured during a helicopter crash in Morocco’s southern city of Agadir while taking part in the exercises.

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Why Is Palestine Action’s Map and Manual Still Online?  

A manual put out by Palestine Action, a group banned in the UK, which lists companies and private addresses, has drawn criticism that the material lowers the barrier between protest, vandalism, and operational targeting 

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Iran Requires Ships To Submit Forms for Strait of Hormuz Transit Through New IRGC-Linked Authority  

Iran is formalizing control over the Strait of Hormuz through a new body called the “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” (PGSA), requiring vessels to submit registration forms and obtain approval from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before transiting the strategic waterway.  

Shipping companies seeking passage must provide extensive operational information to the PGSA before entering the waterway. According to CNN, which obtained a copy of the registration form, the questionnaire includes more than 40 items, including a ship’s identification number, current and “previous name,” origin and destination, cargo details, and the nationalities of crew members, owners and operators.  

An email from the authority obtained by CNN stated that “complete and accurate information is essential” for transit approval and said that “further instructions will be communicated via email.”  

“Any incorrect or incomplete information provided will be the sole responsibility of the applicant, and any resulting consequences will be borne accordingly,” the message said.  

It remains unclear whether any shipping firms have applied through the system. Analysts warned that participation could expose companies to US sanctions. Iran had floated the possibility in April of charging transit fees to help cover infrastructure damage and other war-related costs, but it was unclear whether those requesting passage were required to pay.  

The move comes as the United States promotes Project Freedom, a maritime security initiative for ships traveling outbound through Omani waters on the southern side of the strait. The material describes the effort as a US-directed transit system operating without charge. Iran opposes the initiative and has attempted to disrupt it through attacks on merchant vessels and US Navy destroyers.  

About 20% of the world’s oil and gas supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The establishment of the PGSA appears to be an attempt to expand Iran’s authority over the passage as a result of the conflict with the United States and Israel and to communicate that Tehran views that control as a spoil of war.  

A Telegram account under the name of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week called for a “new regional and global order under the strategy of a strong Iran” and said there would be no place for foreigners “and their mischief.” The account also referred to “using the leverage of closing the strait” as part of that vision. 

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DUBAI, May 10 (Reuters) – A bulk carrier reported being struck by an unknown projectile while sailing 23 nautical miles northeast of Doha, Qatar, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said on Sunday.

The incident sparked a small fire that was extinguished, with the vessel’s master reporting no casualties or environmental impact, UKMTO said.

• Authorities are investigating the source of the projectile.

• Vessels in the area have been advised to transit with caution.

• Ships should report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by William Mallard)

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SYDNEY, May 10 (Reuters) – Australia’s right-wing populist One Nation party, which wants to emulate U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportations, vowed to focus on ending mass migration, after winning its first seat in the country’s lower house.

Saturday’s by-election win by farmer David Farley in the rural seat of Farrer, some 550 km (340 miles) south of Sydney, does not affect the majority of centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as the seat was previously held by a member of the Liberals, the biggest conservative group.

But it is a significant advance for One Nation, which has four Senate seats. The party is polling second this year to Albanese’s Labor Party in opinion surveys, ahead of the mainstream conservative coalition. One Nation’s leader, Senator Pauline Hanson, has higher approval ratings than Albanese or the Liberal leader.

“The people of Australia will not be forgotten. One Nation will fight for you on the floor of Parliament,” Hanson posted on X late on Saturday. “We will fight to lower cost of living, end net-zero and stop mass migration.”

Immigration is a growing issue in Australia, where half the country’s 27 million people were either born overseas or have a parent who was. Thousands attended anti-immigration marches in major Australian cities last year.

Liberal shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said One Nation’s victory “showed there’s a lot of work we’ve got to do”. In televised remarks on Sunday, he said: “We need to outline very clearly a bold and confident vision for the country about where we want to take it.”

Albanese’s Labor, which has never held the Farrer seat and did not run a candidate in the by-election, has said One Nation is damaging to Australia’s social fabric.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)

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TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — A hantavirus-stricken cruise ship with more than 140 people on board has arrived at Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, where the passengers and some of the crew are to disembark.

The World Health Organization, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions have said that nobody on board the MV Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus. Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.

The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor, with people ferried off in small boats. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms, and will only be taken off the ship once evacuation flights are ready to fly them to their destinations.

There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s health and interior ministers, were to be supervising the evacuation of the ship. Authorities have said the passengers and crew members who will disembark will have no contact with the local population.

Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday, the director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, Maria Van Kerkhove, said in a briefing Saturday.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.

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