World News

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON/GENEVA April 22 (Reuters) – The International Labour Organization on Wednesday appointed a U.S. official as its deputy head after months of delays.

Sheng Li, the current principal deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, will become the deputy director general.

• Li worked at the Labor Department during Trump’s first term, then at the New Civil Liberties Alliance.

• Former nominee Nels Nordquist withdrew due to lengthy delays, two diplomats told Reuters. Nordquist was traveling and unreachable for comment.

• The U.S. traditionally holds the deputy role as the biggest donor, paying 22% of the ILO budget.

• Washington owes the 257 million Swiss francs ($328 million) as of April 17, according to the organization’s website.

• The ILO faces 295 job cuts due to financial difficulties from U.S. arrears, Reuters reported in October.

• A draft State Department budget shows the U.S. proposing $50 million for the ILO in 2026, a fraction of total arrears. The State Department did not reply when asked if and when it expected to pay U.S. arrears.

($1 = 0.7844 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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April 22 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday criticised the former leadership of the International Olympic Committee as “shameful” and “cowardly” and said he hoped for a new approach from those now in charge of the Olympic movement.

Putin made the remarks during a Kremlin ceremony honouring Russian boxers, according to Russian news agencies. He did not name individuals but appeared to be referring to policies adopted under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach, who stepped down in 2025 and was succeeded by Zimbabwean former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry.

Under Bach’s leadership, the IOC banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the Olympics under their national flags following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, part of which was launched from Belarus.

Bach’s tenure as president also included the 2014 Sochi Games’ Russian state-backed doping scandal, which led to Russian athletes participating as neutrals in several editions of the Games.

“The shameful, I would say cowardly, politically motivated behaviour of the previous leadership of the International Olympic Committee has caused enormous damage to the Olympic movement and to the very principles of Olympism,” Putin was quoted as saying in the Kremlin ceremony.

“I hope that the new leadership of the International Olympic Committee and the international sports federations will overcome this difficult and, as I said, shameful legacy of their predecessors, as soon as possible.”

The IOC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

While a small number of Russian and Belarusian athletes were permitted to take part in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games as neutral participants, with no national flags or anthems, a contingent of athletes from the two countries was allowed to use both flags and anthems at the subsequent Paralympic Games.

Putin praised the Russian Paralympic team’s “triumph” in Italy, saying it finished third in the medal table despite having a smaller team than many competitors.

“These victories were achieved, so to speak, not by numbers, but by skill, talent, and the will to win,” he was quoted as saying.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Toby Davis)

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By Nandita Bose and Diana Novak Jones

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday without evidence that a Virginia vote to redraw the state’s congressional map in a way that favors Democrats had been “rigged,” as a county judge moved to block the measure.

On Tuesday, Virginia voters approved a redistricting referendum that could help Democrats flip as many as four Republican-held seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and boost Democrats’ chances of winning control of the chamber in November.

Trump, a Republican, wrote in a social media post that “A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA!” and blamed mail-in ballots for the outcome.

The post was the latest example of Trump casting doubt on election outcomes he dislikes by portraying ordinary vote counting, particularly the tabulation of mail ballots, as evidence of fraud without offering proof.

The referendum has already faced multiple legal challenges. The Supreme Court of Virginia allowed the referendum to proceed but may end up invalidating it, making the results moot.

And in a separate case that also looks likely to end back up at the Supreme Court, a Virginia county judge, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee, blocked the new map on Wednesday, ruling lawmakers had not followed the rules for the constitutional amendment that the map redrawing required.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, said he would ask the state’s Court of Appeals to overturn Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr.’s order, which called the ballot language “flagrantly misleading” and blocked the state from certifying Tuesday’s referendum results.

The referendum in Virginia is the latest twist in the nation’s redistricting arms race, which Trump and Texas Republicans began last year as they sought to defend the party’s slim House majority during the midterm elections in November.

Trump, who has not accepted that he lost the 2020 presidential election despite having failed in dozens of courts to challenge the results, has consistently sought to undermine faith in the voting process.

After his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, Trump falsely claimed widespread fraud and backed efforts to overturn the result, including pressuring his then vice president, Mike Pence, to not certify the election results.

Courts, state election officials and his own administration have since found no evidence of fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome.

In recent months, the Trump administration has stepped up its effort to revive claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The Justice Department is seeking a swath of state voter data, while the FBI has reopened old election-fraud allegations in battleground states including Georgia.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Diana Novak Jones; Editing by Ross Colvin and Chris Reese)

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BRUSSELS, April 22 (Reuters) – A 90 billion euro ($105 billion) EU loan for Ukraine, blocked by Hungary under outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, could be revived following Orban’s defeat in an election this month and a resumption of Russian oil deliveries to Hungary over Ukraine.

European Union leaders had decided last December to jointly borrow the money to lend to Ukraine to fund its defence against Russia for this year and next, using frozen Russian funds as a potential backstop to ensure that Moscow ultimately pays.

HOW WILL EUROPE LEND UKRAINE THE MONEY?

The EU will provide interest-free loans for the years 2026-2027 based on EU borrowing on capital markets backed by the EU budget headroom, which is the difference between the maximum amount the EU can ask EU members to contribute and the amount it needs to cover foreseen expenses.

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with governments seen as closer to Moscow, secured exemptions that mean they will not participate in the joint borrowing.

REPAYMENT

Ukraine is not expected to pay the money back from its own funds, with the capital only due for repayment once Russia pays war reparations after the conflict is over.

Russia has central bank assets that are frozen in the EU which are worth around 210 billion euros and which could be used for the repayment.

The scheme was designed to effectively make use of the frozen Russian funds to help Ukraine without confiscating the money, a step that had been rejected as legally risky.

WHAT WILL IT COVER?

The 90 billion euros is to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs for the next two years, estimated at 135 billion euros in total. Of the total, Ukraine will get 45 billion euros in 2026 and another 45 billion in 2027.

Each year, 28 billion euros will be for spending on military needs and 17 billion on general budget needs.

Brussels expects other developed countries sympathetic to Ukraine to provide the rest of the funding, which has already been promised for 2026.

WHAT WERE THE HURDLES?

The idea of joint EU borrowing against the EU budget seemed initially impossible as it required unanimity and faced opposition from Orban.

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic agreed to let the scheme go ahead after EU leaders agreed it would not impact them financially.

Hungary later blocked the loans after it stopped receiving Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline across Ukraine’s territory. Kyiv says the pipeline was shut as a result of damage from a Russian strike.

Prospects for unblocking the loan brightened when Orban lost an election on April 12 and the incoming prime minister Peter Magyar said he would not oppose the disbursements. Also, the Druzhba pipeline has been repaired by the Ukrainians and oil is about to start flowing.

(Writing by Jan StrupczewskiEditing by Peter Graff)

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union envoys gathered on Wednesday with the majority cautiously optimistic that a massive loan to help meet Ukraine’s military and financial needs for the next two years may soon be approved after months of deadlock.

At a meeting in Brussels, the envoys assessed whether Hungary might lift its veto on the 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) loan package, which Ukraine desperately needs to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay.

Hungary has insisted that it must start receiving supplies of Russian oil again via Ukraine before it will unblock the funds. Hungary and Slovakia rely on Russian oil to meet their energy needs.

They have both accused Ukraine of failing to repair a damaged pipeline that ships the oil. Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil, which have helped to fund President Vladimir Putin’s war, now in its fifth year.

In a post on social media, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine has now completed repairs on the Druzhba pipeline. He said it “was damaged by a Russian strike” but “the pipeline can resume operation.”

But outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has signaled that he would only approve the Ukraine loans once the oil starts flowing again, so the envoys are awaiting a clear signal from Budapest that his veto will be lifted. Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, lost an election on April 12 and is due to leave office next month, to be replaced by the pro-European opposition leader Péter Magyar.

Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, intends to launch a written procedure to approve the final piece of the puzzle in the loan package. That would require Hungary or any other objecting nation to state in writing why they oppose it.

Such procedures are often left open for 24 hours, sometimes more, and it was not immediately clear what time frame Cyprus would use. It ultimately means that final approval could come on Thursday, when EU leaders meet for a summit in Cyprus.

Given the many false dawns in recent months, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was reluctant to speculate on the outcome when quizzed by reporters on Tuesday. “We expect an agreement in 24 hours, so I don’t want to jinx it,” she said.

The 27-nation EU had originally intended to use Russian assets frozen in Europe as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.

In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

But Orbán angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of the election that he lost in a landslide.

In a Tuesday evening address, Zelenskyy said “there can be no grounds for blocking” the loans anymore. “The EU asked Ukraine to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been destroyed by Russia. We have repaired it.”

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told reporters that Ukraine has done its part. “We have completed everything — there is a date (set), and the infrastructure has been repaired.”

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia, which Hungary and Slovakia have been blocking. The measures could take longer than the loan to approve.

Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said Tuesday that his country would only agree once “Russian oil arrives in Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline. I can state that we do not have such information yet.”

Economy Minister Denisa Saková said Slovakia expects oil supplies to resume early on Thursday.

Saková said that according to information from Ukrtransnaft, a company that operates the pipeline on Ukrainian territory, oil began entering the Druzhba pipeline again on Wednesday.

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Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

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By Sam Tabahriti

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) – Britain should brace for a rise in cyberattacks linked to hostile states, the head of the country’s cybersecurity agency said on Wednesday, as the government urged tech firms to help build defences powered by artificial intelligence.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the agency continues to handle about four nationally significant cyber incidents a week on average and that the highest-impact attacks are increasingly tied to governments rather than criminal gangs alone. The NCSC is part of the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ.

Criminal threats such as ransomware remain the most common risk facing organisations, Horne told the government’s annual CYBERUK conference in Glasgow, according to a copy of his speech.

But he said the majority of the most serious incidents now originate “directly or indirectly” from nation states, including China, Iran and Russia. He said such activity was being directed at Britain and its European partners.

Horne also warned that the UK is living through “the most seismic geopolitical shift in modern history.” 

Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 said last year that authorities had disrupted more than 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022, some of which targeted individuals living in Britain.

“Were we to be in, or near, a conflict situation, the UK would likely face hacktivist attacks at scale,” Horne warned, adding that such campaigns could cause disruption comparable to major ransomware attacks, but without the option of paying to restore systems.

Mathieu Cousin, a cyber risk and threat intelligence strategist at insurers AXA XL, said last month that there was also likely to be a rise in cyberactivity linked to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. 

“When geopolitical tensions rise, cyber activity follows. In this conflict, Iranian state-aligned and affiliated groups are using cyber operations as another way to respond,” he said.

Horne said on Wednesday that advances in artificial intelligence were expected to accelerate cyberattacks by enabling faster identification of vulnerabilities, even as the technology offers opportunities to strengthen defences.

At the same conference, Security Minister Dan Jarvis called on leading AI companies to work with the government to build AI-powered cyber-defence capabilities to protect critical national infrastructure.

Jarvis also invited businesses to sign a voluntary Cyber Resilience Pledge and announced 90 million pounds ($122 million) of additional investment over three years to bolster cybersecurity, including support for small and medium-sized firms.

($1 = 0.7393 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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By Joshua McElwee

MONGOMO, Equatorial Guinea, April 22 (Reuters) – Pope Leo used the last full day of his four-nation Africa tour on Wednesday to speak out against wealth inequality, urging believers to work to bridge the gap between rich and poor as he traversed oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. 

The pope, who has attracted the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump after becoming more outspoken against war and despotism, was also due to visit a high-security prison that human rights groups say holds political prisoners in abusive conditions.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, started the day by flying about 325 km (202 miles) from Malabo, located on Bioko Island in the Gulf of Guinea, to Mongomo, on the eastern border with Gabon on the edge of the Congo Basin rainforest.

At a Mass in the largest religious structure in Central Africa, the pontiff urged Equatorial Guineans “to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.” 

The pope, who has debuted a forceful new speaking style during the Africa tour, also decried poor treatment of “prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions”.

The Vatican said roughly 100,000 people had gathered inside and outside the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to see Leo on Wednesday, pressing in around a colonnade modelled after St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

They danced and screamed as his white popemobile arrived. Organizers released gold, white, green and red smoke in the air, nodding to the colours of the Vatican and Equatorial Guinean flags.

Mairano Nve, 70, said he was excited to see Leo. “It is a huge joy to have the pope visiting us,” said Nve. “He just wants to see us and give us a blessing in the name of Jesus.”

Leo’s trip to Mongomo was the first of three flights to three cities on a day of whirlwind travel that will also take him to Bata, on the western coast.

POPE TO HEAR FROM PRISONERS 

Equatorial Guinea, run since 1979 by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving president, has been widely criticized as one of the most repressive countries in the region.

Obiang, who oversaw a now-declining oil boom that began in the 1990s, denies allegations of human rights abuses and corruption. He was present with Leo in Mongomo, appearing with the pope to greet crowds, as was his son, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.

More than 70% of Equatorial Guinea’s population of 1.8 million identify as Catholic. 

Leo, who is the first pope to visit since 1982, is at the end of one of the most complicated overseas tours ever arranged for a pontiff. He has traversed nearly 18,000 km (11,185 miles) across 18 flights to 11 cities in four countries.

Later on Wednesday, the pope was scheduled to visit a high-security detention centre in Bata. Amnesty International says it is one of three facilities in the country where detainees are regularly held for years without access to lawyers.

The government dismisses criticism of its justice system and says it has an open democracy. 

The pope is expected to hear testimonies from prisoners before offering remarks.  

Leo will also pray in Bata at the ​site of a series of explosions in 2021 at a military barracks that killed more than 100 people, which the government blamed on poor storage of ordnance.

Human rights activists have called for an independent investigation into the incident, so far in vain.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Gareth Jones)

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By Krisztina Than and Jan Lopatka

BUDAPEST/PRAGUE, April 22 (Reuters) – Hungary and Slovakia expect deliveries of Russian oil to resume through a pipeline via Ukraine after a halt lasting months, which could in turn unblock a 90 billion euro ($105.79 billion) EU loan urgently needed by Kyiv.

The Druzhba pipeline has become one of the most politically charged pieces of infrastructure in Europe since a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline in western Ukraine and stopped Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia.

Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Slovak government had accused Ukraine of delaying the repairs, which Kyiv denied.

When exactly the Ukraine loan could be released depends largely on Hungary and Slovakia and whether they will want the oil flows to first arrive in their countries.

READY TO RESUME TRANSIT

Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova said on Wednesday that crude oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline from Ukraine to Slovakia were expected to resume early on Thursday.

She said on Facebook that Ukraine had told Slovakia work had begun in Belarus to build up pressure in the pipeline, as required to allow oil, which has been halted since late January, to flow again.

Meanwhile, Hungarian oil group MOL said Ukraine has informed it that deliveries of Russian crude would resume through the Druzhba pipeline.

“According to the notification, JSC Ukrtransnafta is ready to resume crude oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia,” MOL said in a statement.

An industry ​source told Reuters on Tuesday that Ukraine would resume pumping oil through the Druzhba pipeline on Wednesday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said repairs were complete and urged the EU to allow the 90 billion euro loan.    

UKRAINE LOAN AT STAKE

With the prospect of oil flowing again, ambassadors of EU countries in Brussels will resume their discussions on the final approval for the loan that Budapest opposed pending the resumption of oil exports.

Hungary as a European Union member state has the power to block the loan even though it is not contributing to it. It will cover two thirds of Ukraine’s financing needs in 2026 and 2027 as it seeks to fend off Russia’s invasion.

The capacity of Druzhba, which in Russian means friendship, is 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels a day, with the possibility to increase up to 2 million barrels a day. However, flows fell to a small fraction of that as a result of Western sanctions as well as repeated disruptions from drone attacks.

Hungarian election winner Peter Magyar called on Zelenskiy on Monday to reopen the damaged pipeline as soon as it is functional, and for Russia to resume shipments.

“We have fulfilled all our confirmations and commitments. We have done everything … and the infrastructure has been repaired,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. “Now we need to move forward together so that Ukraine can receive the loan.”

Separately, Germany has been informed that no Kazakh crude oil would reach its PCK Schwedt refinery from May, the economy ministry said. Industry sources had said on Tuesday that Russia was set to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan via the Druzhba pipeline starting from May 1, which would directly hit PCK, one of Germany’s biggest refineries.

($1 = 0.8511 euros)

(Reporting by Krisztina Than, Jan Lopatka; Writing by Jan Strupczewski and Ingrid Melander;Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Barbara Lewis)

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By America Hernandez

PARIS, April 22 (Reuters) – The natural gas demand destruction currently resulting from the Iran war as governments implement measures to mitigate the crisis risks becoming structural if the conflict persists, the head of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum said on Wednesday.

Since the Middle East crisis began at the end of February, more than 500 million barrels of crude and condensate have been knocked out of the global market, according to Kpler data – the largest energy supply disruption in modern history.

Countries dependent upon Gulf supplies have reacted by switching to burning coal and accelerating the switch to renewables.

Speaking at the Invest in African Energy conference in Paris, Philip Mshelbila – secretary general of the body representing a dozen countries holding 70% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves – said such measures are currently a short-term response to the crisis.

“If the conflict ended today, the world would recover in six months to a year. But if it lasts six months, those knee-jerk changes we are seeing could become structural,” he said.

He said that 2026 had been meant to be a pivotal year for the sector, with a tight global gas market flipping into oversupply.

“Clearly this conflict has done something to that, and it’s not yet clear whether it’s just a delay, or whether in fact that glut will ever come,” Mshelbila said.

GULF CRISIS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR AFRICA

Addressing an audience including African energy ministers, Mshelbila said African gas producers were missing an opportunity to step in and fill the supply gap caused by Middle East outages and restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Sadly while some African countries have excess capacity in both LNG and pipeline gas, the majority of them if not all are not producing at full capacity,” he said.

“If you look at the export pipelines to Europe, from Algeria or from Libya, not one of them is full.”

As a result, North American producers are instead capturing the European and Asian gas markets, Mshelbila said. 

“Normally in a situation of crisis this is an opportunity: Fill it up! Seize the market! Unfortunately we are missing out, because we don’t have the upstream molecules to fill the infrastructure,” he said. “The reserves are there, but they are still in the ground.”

(Reporting by America Hernandez; Editing by Makini Brice, Sudip Kar-Gupta, and Joe Bavier)

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By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY, April 21 – Attacks on human rights defenders, journalists and activists searching for disappeared persons in Mexico continued in 2025 as disappearances climbed to 133,500 cases, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

KEY CONTEXT

• Disappearances rose 10.5% by December, while murders fell 27.4%, Amnesty’s annual report said.

• Mexico remains among countries with the highest torture rates, according to the Global Torture Index presented in 2025.

• Threats, attacks and killings of human rights defenders increased alongside reduced government protection mechanisms, the rights group said.

• Migrants crossing Mexico face extortion, kidnapping and difficulties accessing healthcare, education and employment, Amnesty said.

• A UN committee in early April called for the General Assembly to examine forced disappearances in Mexico as crimes against humanity.

• President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the UN call as politically motivated.

• Edith Olivares, head of Amnesty International in Mexico, told reporters the administration has an “opportunity to change the structures and practices” that allow for systematic rights violations by state agents.

• UN High Commissioner Volker Turk is on a four-day visit to Mexico and is expected to address human rights issues on Wednesday.

• “It is difficult to find the words to describe the exchanges I had today in Mexico with the families of disappeared persons,” Turk said on Tuesday. “Their unwavering courage, strength and resilience inspire me deeply; their search for truth and justice must be addressed.”

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Editing by Iñigo Alexander)

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