World News

April 18 (Reuters) – Since the United States imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and coastal areas, 23 ships have complied with U.S. forces orders to turn back toward Iran, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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BARCELONA, April 18 (Reuters) – The five permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council should agree to change their behaviour after failing to stop the war in Iran, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a progressive leaders’ summit in Barcelona on Saturday.

“We cannot wake up every morning and go to bed every night with a tweet from a president threatening the world and declaring wars,” Lula added in apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump without explicitly naming him.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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By Bo Erickson and Jessica Koscielniak

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – The Trump administration and Anthropic’s CEO on Friday discussed working together for the first time since a dispute earlier this year between the Pentagon and the AI firm over how that company’s models should be used.

The meeting between CEO Dario Amodei and White House staff, which took place amid growing fears the AI startup’s latest model will supercharge cyberattacks, suggests the two sides might be on a path to rebuilding trust.

The Trump administration, central bankers across the globe and industries are racing to get up to speed on Anthropic’s new model Mythos and its ability to make complex cyberattacks both easier and quicker to execute.

The banking industry, with its legacy technology systems, is particularly vulnerable. Government officials in at least three countries – the U.S., Canada and Britain – have met with top banking officials to discuss the threats posed by Mythos. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in the meeting with Amodei, Axios reported.

“We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology,” the White House said in a statement that described the meeting with Anthropic as “productive and constructive.”

The two sides also talked about balancing innovation and safety. “We look forward to continuing this dialogue and will host similar discussions with other leading AI companies,” the White House statement said.

Anthropic said the meeting was “productive” and discussed how the two “can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s lead in the AI race, and AI safety.” 

Announced on April 7, Mythos is first being deployed to a select group of companies as part of Anthropic’s “Project Glasswing,” a controlled initiative under which the organizations are permitted to use the unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model to search for cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

The model is the company’s “most capable yet for coding and agentic tasks,” the company said in a blog post, referring to the model’s ability to act autonomously.

But its capabilities to code at a high level have given it a potentially unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities and devise ways to exploit them, experts have said.

That’s a particular problem for banks and other financial institutions, which run technology stacks that integrate state-of-the-art tools with decades-old software, potentially opening a large number of vulnerabilities, according to TJ Marlin, the chief executive of enterprise AI security firm Guardrail Technologies.

DISPUTE WITH TRUMP AND PENTAGON

Long before the launch of Mythos, the U.S. government and the Silicon Valley firm disagreed on how Anthropic’s AI should be used. After months of contentious talks, the Pentagon slapped a formal supply-chain risk designation on Anthropic, sharply limiting use of its technology after the startup refused to remove guardrails against using its AI for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.

When ordering federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s AI tools, U.S. President Donald Trump blasted the company on Truth Social, saying “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War”.

Anthropic sued to block the Pentagon from placing it on a national security blacklist in March.

Asked in Phoenix by reporters about the Anthropic meeting on Friday, Trump said, “I have no idea.”

(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Jessica Koscielniak; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Phoenix; Writing by Chris Sanders and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Marco Aquino

LIMA, April 17 (Reuters) – Calls to remove the head of Peru’s electoral authority intensified on Friday as delays and alleged irregularities clouded the presidential vote count, with no clear challenger emerging to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff.

Pressure has mounted on Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) head, Piero Corvetto, as complaints over errors and logistical problems during the April 12 election have been compounded by a slow tally that has rattled investor confidence and heightened uncertainty.

According to the ONPE, leftist Roberto Sanchez and ultraconservative former Lima mayor, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, remain locked in a close battle for second place, separated by about 13,000 votes as of Friday.

With 93.3% of ballots counted, Sanchez held 12.0% of the vote and Lopez Aliaga 11.9%, while Fujimori remained firmly in first place with 17%, positioning her for the runoff. Final results could take up to two weeks, according to local election-monitoring group Transparencia. 

The vote counting has been further delayed by roughly 5% of ballots that were identified for review due to missing information or errors in polling station records, ONPE data showed. Those ballots will be reviewed by a special electoral jury before being included in the final count, officials said.

Business leaders and lawmakers from across the political spectrum have called on Corvetto to step down, arguing that a replacement should oversee the second round.

“Errors this serious have consequences,” Jorge Zapata, head of business chamber CONFIEP, told local radio station RPP.

Earlier this week Corvetto acknowledged there had been some logistical delays that forced voting to be extended by a day, mainly in Lima. Those delays triggered fraud allegations, ​notably from Lopez Aliaga, who has called for counting to be suspended. Corvetto has denied any irregularities took place.

Even so, Peru’s top electoral court, the National Jury of Elections, filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against Corvetto, citing alleged offenses including violations of voting rights. Representatives for Corvetto did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

A police investigation is also underway after materials from four polling stations were found on a public road in Lima on Thursday, the police said. ONPE said on X that the votes from those stations had already been recorded for counting.

European Union election observers said this week they found no evidence of fraud.

INVESTOR FEARS TEMPERED

Sanchez’s rise to second place had raised concerns among investors over his pledge to rewrite the constitution and calls for greater state control over natural resources.

Those fears have been partially tempered by projections and partial results showing that Peru’s next Congress, to be elected for the 2026–2031 term, is likely to tilt toward right-leaning parties, limiting the scope for radical economic changes.

The sol currency was little changed by midday on Friday, while Lima’s benchmark stock index rose 0.4%.

Peru has endured prolonged political volatility, cycling through eight presidents in the past decade, although its economy remains among the most stable in Latin America.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino. Writing by Lucinda Elliott. Editing by Daina Solomon and Rosalba O’Brien)

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Patients and colleagues are remembering Dr. Cerina Fairfax as a devoted mother, a caring dentist and the rock at the center of her family, after police say she was killed by her estranged husband, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.

Police found both dead in their home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale, Virginia, early Thursday. They believe Justin Fairfax fatally shot his wife and then killed himself. They were going through a divorce and Justin Fairfax had been ordered by a judge to move out of the house by the end of the month.

Cerina Fairfax, 49, ran a thriving family dentistry practice in the nearby city of Fairfax. A profile page on its website described her as an avid reader who liked to travel, practice yoga, go on trail runs with her Vizsla-breed dogs and “spend time with her wonderful family.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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Virginia Rep. Jennifer McClellan, who knew Fairfax through her husband’s campaign and the time he spent in office, said their two teenaged children were “the people she cherished most.”

“Cerina Fairfax was a loving and dedicated mother and the rock at the center of her large family,” McClellan wrote in a statement.

Terron Sims II, a friend and patient, remembered her as a quiet and caring friend, whose dentistry was more than a profession.

“It was an expression of love and compassion,” Sims told WUSA-TV. “It was her way of service to others.”

Fairfax was recognized in 2015 as the Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade by the Virginia Commonwealth School of Dentistry. Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, the interim dean of the dental school, wrote that her loss is deeply felt by many who knew her.

“As a clinician and alumna, Dr. Fairfax embodied the ideals of our profession — dedication to her patients, commitment to growth, and a deep sense of purpose in her work each day,” Johnson wrote. “I know she was a mentor, role model, and friend to many in our school.”

Leaders in the state’s dental community also praised her accomplishments and commitment to patients.

“In addition to being a beloved practitioner in her community, Dr. Fairfax loved giving back through volunteer work and contributions to local charities focused on helping those in need,” said Ryan Dunn, CEO of the Virginia Dental Association, in a statement. “As we remember Dr. Fairfax, we honor the impact she made and the connections she helped build within the VDA and her community.”

Cerina and Justin Fairfax met as undergraduates at Duke University and married in 2006.

Justin Fairfax unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013, then won the race for lieutenant governor in 2017. He was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party until two women came forward accusing him of sexually assaulting them years earlier, before he and Cerina were married. He denied the allegations and wasn’t charged. He left office at the end of his term in 2022, following an unsuccessful run for governor.

Cerina Fairfax said in court filings that they separated nearly two years ago. But they were still living in the same house with their children, who police said were both home at the time of their deaths.

The judge overseeing the divorce had told Justin Fairfax to move out by the end of April, writing “it is clear tensions in the Fairfax home have been extremely high for an extended period of time.” He also noted in a March 30 court order that Cerina “has been the undisputed primary caregiver to the children in all aspects of their lives,” and that she had been “a port in a storm for her children.”

“Their remarkable resilience and early success in life is down to what can best be described as Mother’s grit,” Judge Timothy McEvoy wrote.

Amy Spain, Cerina Fairfax’s attorney, said her client’s death “leaves an immeasurable void in the lives of all who knew and loved her.”

“Above all else, Cerina was a devoted mother to her beautiful children, who were the very center of her world,” Spain said. “She embodied the true meaning of motherhood through her unconditional and unwavering devotion to her children, providing a constant source of love, protection, and guidance.”

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Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on five companies and individuals it said were involved in recruiting former Colombian military personnel to fight on behalf of a paramilitary group in Sudan.

“This network has fueled the conflict, which has given rise to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and famines,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The United States urged the Sudanese government army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to accept a three-month humanitarian truce without conditions, Treasury said.

The brutal three-year war between the Sudanese army and the RSF has created what aid groups say is now the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Hundreds of former Colombia forces have gone to Sudan to support the RSF in both combat and technical roles, fighting in battles around the country, Treasury said.

Those targeted in Friday’s sanctions include Fenix Human Resources SAS, a Bogota, Colombia-based employment agency, and its manager, Jose Libardo Quijano Torres; former Colombian Army Colonel Jose Oscar Garcia Batt, the owner of a Bogota-based recruiting company, Global Qowa Al-Basheria SAS and that company’s manager, Omar Fernando Garcia Batte. 

The sanctions mean all properties and interests of the designated people and companies in the United States are blocked.

 An ​international conference to raise funding commitments for Sudan has produced pledges of more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.77 ‌billion) in humanitarian aid, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Wednesday.

With development ​spending by established donors increasingly squeezed, the conference, which followed earlier meetings in London and Paris, ⁠was intended to throw a spotlight back on Sudan. The global focus has recently been diverted towards the longer-running war in ​Ukraine and the conflict in Iran.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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DUBLIN, April 17 (Reuters) – Dubai police have arrested alleged Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan in relation to organised criminal activity, Irish media reported on Friday. 

Dubai police said in a statement they had “arrested an Irish fugitive for his alleged role in an organised criminal group involved in international crimes in his home country,” but did not name Kinahan. 

The arrest happened on Wednesday and followed the receipt of a judicial file from Irish authorities, the police said.

The Irish Times reported the charges against Kinahan were related to a gangland feud in Ireland. Several other Irish media, including state broadcaster RTE, also named the man as Kinahan.

Kinahan was named as one of three leaders of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group by the United States in 2022 when it offered a $5 million reward for their arrest.

The U.S. Treasury likened the Kinahan drug trafficking gang to some of the world’s most notorious crime networks and said the gang frequently uses Dubai as a hub for illicit activities.

A lawyer for Daniel Kinahan told the BBC in 2021 that he has no criminal record or convictions and allegations about being a crime boss are false. Reuters was unable to contact representatives for Kinahan.  

(Reporting by Graham Fahy; Editing by Conor Humphries and Rod Nickel)

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TAIPEI, April 17 (Reuters) – China’s regular military activities around Taiwan are “entirely justified and reasonable” and any tensions are the fault of the government in Taipei, the Chinese defence ministry said in a rare comment on Friday.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, sends its warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around the island on an almost daily basis, to the condemnation of the Taiwanese government.

China generally does not provide regular commentary on its daily activities near Taiwan.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told reporters that Taiwan was an “inalienable part of Chinese territory”.

“The People’s Liberation Army organises training and exercise activities in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan island to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is entirely justified, reasonable, and a matter of course,” he said.

It was Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party which “distorts” Chinese activities, “peddling war anxiety, intimidating the people on the island, and stoking confrontation and antagonism across the Taiwan Strait”, he added.

China refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a “separatist”. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Speaking at a military base in southern Taiwan earlier on Friday, Lai said while everyone hoped for peace, only through strength can true peace be achieved, and reiterated a call for the opposition-dominated parliament to pass his stalled $40 billion special defence budget.

“Only through continuous preparedness can we deter threats – by being ready to fight in order to avoid fighting, and by being capable of fighting in order to stop war,” Lai said.

The United States, Taiwan’s main source of arms, has backed Lai’s defence spending push.

China has repeatedly called on Washington to stop selling Taiwan weapons.

Zhang said Lai was using Taiwan’s people’s money to “pledge loyalty to and curry favour with the United States”.

“What they truly care about is whether they can make more money, and they are not above profiting from war,” he added, referring to the United States.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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BEIRUT (AP) — A fragile calm settled over parts of Lebanon on Friday as a 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States took hold between Israel and Hezbollah, prompting thousands of displaced families to begin the journey home — even as uncertainty, destruction and Israeli warnings against going back to parts of southern Lebanon clouded their return.

By early morning, cars were backed up for kilometers on the route leading south to the damaged Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River, a key crossing linking the southern coastal city of Tyre to the north. Vehicles piled high with mattresses, suitcases and salvaged belongings crept forward through a single reopened lane, hastily repaired after an Israeli airstrike just a day earlier.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war displaced more than a million people. Despite warnings from Lebanese officials that they should not immediately attempt to return to their homes, many began moving toward southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire was declared. The truce appeared to be largely holding overnight.

In southern villages like Jibsheet, a trickle of residents returned to flattened apartment blocks and streets littered with chunks of concrete, twisted aluminum shutters and dangling electrical wires.

“I feel free being back,” said Zainab Fahas, 23. “But look they destroyed everything — the square, the houses, the shops, everything.”

Many did not believe that their ordeal was really over.

“Israel doesn’t want peace,” said Ali Wahdan, 27, a medic walking on crutches over the rubble of the emergency services’ headquarters in Jibsheet. He was badly wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit the building without warning during the first week of the war.

“I wish it were different,” he said. “But this war will continue.”

In the neighborhood of Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburb, entire buildings had been reduced to rubble after weeks of intense Israeli strikes. Ahmad Lahham, 48, waved the yellow Hezbollah flag standing on a mountain of rubble that used to be his apartment building, which had also housed a branch of Hezbollah’s financial arm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

“We are at the service of the fighters,” said Lahham, pledging his loyalty to the group.

He praised Iran and said its pressure in its talks with the U.S. led to the truce, condemning Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel.

“Only the Iranians stood with us, no one else,” he said, calling Lebanon’s leaders “the leadership of shame.”

A local government official in Haret Hreik said Israel struck the neighborhood 62 times over the last six weeks.

“We’ve been able to clear up the rubble of the partially damaged buildings, but for those destroyed, we will need special equipment,” Sadek Slim, the neighborhood’s deputy mayor, told a press briefing.

The area was gridlocked with traffic, with people coming back to check on their homes and Hezbollah supporters zooming on scooters, waving the group’s flag.

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SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are heading to a new early election that could bring to power a left-leaning ex-president just days after Hungarian voters rejected the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement of Viktor Orbán.

Rumen Radev ‘s new coalition is seen as favored to win most of the votes in the April 19 poll, with some voters hoping that this could put an end to the country’s oligarchic corruption, while others are lining up behind Radev’s Eurosceptic and pro-Russian views.

Radev resigned from the mostly ceremonial presidency in January, a few months before the end of his second term in office, to launch a bid to lead the government as prime minister.

The 62-year-old former fighter pilot and air force commander is seen as Bulgaria’s most popular politician and has promised to give the nation a fresh start if his center-left Progressive Bulgaria coalition wins the upcoming election.

Sunday’s snap vote follows the resignation of a conservative-led government amid nationwide anti-corruption protests in December 2025 that drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets.

Bulgaria, a European Union and NATO member country with a population of 6.5 million, joined the eurozone on Jan. 1 this year shortly after entering the border-free Schengen travel area. But it has been plagued by political instability since 2021, when three-time conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov resigned following massive protests fueled by anger over widespread corruption and injustice.

Since then, no government has survived for more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament, resulting in seven inconclusive early elections in five years. That’s led to growing mistrust in the institutions, voter apathy and a shrinking turnout at the elections.

Last month, Bulgaria requested the assistance of the EU diplomatic service to counter Russian attempts to influence public opinion through social media networks and propaganda websites. The request was based on expert warnings about active networks of Russian influence accounts that seek to sow division.

Opinion polls predict Sunday’s turnout to jump from an average of 35% in the last few elections to over 50%, partly because a new player has joined the race, but also due to efforts by the interim government to boost confidence in the vote with nationwide police raids, arrests and pretrial proceedings for vote-buying.

Most polls predict that Radev’s coalition could get more than 30% of the vote, putting him nearly 10% ahead of his closest rival — Borissov, the veteran leader of the center-right GERB party whose most recent term as prime minister was ended by the December 2025 protests. Most polls report margins of error from 3 to 3.5%.

Radev has cast himself as an opponent of the country’s entrenched mafia and its ties to high-ranking politicians. At the latest preelection rally on Wednesday, he vowed to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”

Polls suggest that Radev is likely to come in first, but will need a partner to form a stable governing coalition. He’s ruled out an alliances with Borissov’s GERB or with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, whose leader Delyan Peevski has been sanctioned for corruption by both the United States and Britain.

A possible coalition partner for such reforms in domestic politics could be the pro-Western bloc “We Continue the Change,” which is predicted to come in third with 12%-14 % of the votes.

However, there are significant foreign policy issues that could prevent such cooperation, including the ongoing controversy surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine: while officially denouncing Moscow’s aggression, Radev has repeatedly opposed military aid to Kyiv and has favored reopening talks with Russia as a way out of the conflict.

Evelina Slavkova, from research center Trend, said Radev was unlikely to make a serious effort to reorient Bulgaria more toward Russia.

“Our country has succeeded, despite all the obstacles, despite disagreements among some politicians, in building a very important set of tools that keeps Bulgaria on the right track,” she said in an interview with the AP.

Slavkova said the country’s membership in NATO and the EU, as well as it place in the eurozone and the Schengen Area, are “tools that allow us to be much more at ease.”

She also noted that during the campaign Radev avoided giving definitive yes- or no-answers while seeking some balance between the two positions.

“This might be acceptable during a campaign, but when you’re running the country, you’ll certainly have to provide clear, definitive answers” Slavkova said.

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Valentina Petrova in Sofia, Bulgaria contributed to this report

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