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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Hundreds of workers, union members and opposition supporters marched in Senegal’s capital Dakar on Wednesday to protest what they say are broken government promises and a worsening cost-of-living, as the country is plagued by a severe debt crisis.

The protest was organized by the country’s main labor unions and the Front for the Defense of Democracy and the Republic, also known as FDR, opposition coalition.

Mody Guiro, secretary-general of the National Confederation of Senegalese Workers, the country’s largest labor union, said the government had betrayed a deal last year that had frozen strikes in exchange for promises of better wages and working conditions. Authorities say a record debt crisis inherited from the previous administration has left the government with little money to spend.

Protesters wearing red scarfs and union hats held signs demanding that the government rehires laid off public sector workers and lowers income taxes. Some chanted slogans calling for the ousting of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.

The West African country’s government, led by Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, came to power in April 2024, promising to carry out ambitious reforms, which included fighting corruption, creating jobs for young people and maximizing the country’s natural resource benefits.

But the ruling PASTEF party’s reform agenda has run into obstacles. A 2025 government audit revealed a larger-than-reported debt of $13 billion attributed to the previous administration. Talks with the International Monetary Fund over a new financial program have stalled as the nation’s fiscal outlook worsens.

Senegal’s debt-to-GDP ratio has surged to roughly 132%, one of the highest in Africa.

The country’s economic difficulties have deepened the daily struggles of many people, with young Senegalese among the hardest hit. About 75% of the country’s population is under 35.

Last February, protests at Senegal’s top public university over unpaid financial aid were met with a violent response by security forces, leading to the death of a student.

“The country is at a standstill. It is essential that the government finds solutions to revive Senegal’s economy instead of picking fights everywhere,” said Mohamed Fall, a youth activist at the protest on Wednesday.

Another protester, Pape Laobe Samb, is one of more than 700 employees of the port of Dakar that have been laid off since early 2025, as the Senegalese government moves to overhaul state institutions.

“This is not what they promised people. They said they were going to create jobs and develop the country but they did the complete opposite,” Samb, who worked more than 12 years at the port before being let go, told The Associated Press.

The port’s director, who was appointed shortly after President Faye came to power, has described the action as a purge of irregular contracts inherited from the previous administration. Unions disagree, arguing the workers targeted were largely those associated with the previous government, and that the firings were unlawful.

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TAIPEI, April 9 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s parliament should pass a stalled special defence budget to send a signal to China and the world that it is serious about peace through strength, U.S. Senator Jim Banks said during a meeting with President Lai Ching-te in Taipei.

Lai last year proposed $40 billion in extra defence spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory.

Parliament, where the opposition has a majority, is continuing to debate the government’s plan and competing, less expensive proposals.

According to a video of the meeting provided by Lai’s office, Banks, a Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told him on Wednesday that the Taiwanese president was providing leadership in expanding defence spending similar to that of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has proposed $1.5 trillion in defence spending.

“But your Legislative Yuan has to do its part and pass the special budget, and that’s one message that I want to send to your leadership,” he added, using the formal name for Taiwan’s parliament.

“When you pass the special budget in the legislature, that is a signal to China, and to the rest of the world, that Taiwan is serious about peace through strength,” Banks said. “I appreciate President Lai’s leadership in making that happen.”

A separate group of U.S. lawmakers gave a similar message during a visit to Taipei last week.

Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), is currently on a visit to China where she could meet President Xi Jinping.

The KMT says it supports defence spending but will not sign “bank cheques” and that dialogue with Beijing is equally important.

China refuses to speak to Lai, saying he is a “separatist”. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Banks was one of a group of 37 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers who in February wrote to senior Taiwanese politicians expressing concern about parliament stalling defence spending plans.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Syrian man accused of crimes against humanity denied dozens of charges of torture and sexual violence in the opening of his trial in the Netherlands on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old, identified only as Rafiq al Q. due to Dutch privacy regulations, claimed he was being conspired against and refuted accusations of being a supporter of former Syrian Presdient Bashar Assad. Prosecutors at the District Court of The Hague said he was a member of the pro-Assad National Defence Force and worked as the lead interrogator for the paramilitary group during Syria’s civil war.

The defendant accused the nine victims in the case, the witnesses and the Dutch police of lying. “All of them are conspiring against me,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

He told judges that he had worked as a civil servant in the central city of Salamiyah and denied involvement in torture.

During one exchange, the man attempted to submit evidence, waving a piece of paper at the presiding judge. His lawyer, André Seebregts, said it wasn’t clear what the evidence was, to which the defendant replied: “I don’t tell my lawyer everything.”

The trial is based on universal jurisdiction, a legal principle that allows suspects to be prosecuted for international offenses such as war crimes even if they are committed in another country.

The defendant claimed asylum in the Netherlands in 2021 and lived in the small town of Druten in the eastern part of the country when he was arrested in 2023.

The Netherlands has prosecuted several Syrians for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Syrian conflict. In 2024, a Dutch court convicted a former high-ranking member of a pro-Syrian government militia of illegal detention and complicity in torture. Another Syrian man was convicted in 2021 of war crimes for his role in the summary execution of a prisoner.

Syria’s conflict started with peaceful protests against Assad’s government in March 2011, but quickly morphed into a full-blown civil war, lasting nearly 14 years, after the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters.

In 2024, insurgents led by now-interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marched to Damascus and removed Assad from power. Since then, al-Sharaa, a former leader of al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, has improved relations with Western countries and last year became the first Syrian head of state to visit Washington since Syria’s independence in 1946.

The Netherlands and Canada have brought a separate case against Syria at the United Nations’ top court, accusing Damascus of a yearslong campaign of torturing its own citizens. In 2023, the International Court of Justice ordered the government to “take all measures within its powers” to prevent torture.

Hearings will continue for another two weeks and the court is expected to issue a verdict on June 9th.

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THE HAGUE, April 8 (Reuters) – A Syrian man accused of crimes against humanity for allegedly torturing and raping prisoners when he was a member of a militia that backed the government of former president Bashar al-Assad told Dutch judges on Wednesday he did not beat inmates.

The 57-year-old man, identified only as Rafik A., faces 25 charges including torture, sexual violence and rape as crimes against humanity against nine people more than a decade ago.

In court, A. spoke through an interpreter and denied the charges, saying victims and prosecutors were conspiring against him.

“The people who said I was hitting them (…) that is not correct,” he told the three-judge panel on the first day of the trial.

The case is the first in the Netherlands to deal with alleged atrocity crimes in Syria committed by pro-government forces. It is also the first time Dutch prosecutors have charged sexual violence as a crime against humanity. The trial is expected to last until the end of May with a verdict set for June 9. If convicted of crimes against humanity, A. could face a life sentence. 

According to Dutch prosecutors, A. was the head of the interrogation unit of the National Defence Forces (NDF) in Salamiyah, Syria, in 2013 and 2014. The NDF was a militia that fought on the side of the government of Assad, who was ousted in December 2024.

In December 2023, Dutch police arrested A., who had travelled to the country in 2021 as an asylum seeker. 

Under the concept of universal jurisdiction, Dutch law broadly allows cases to be brought against foreign nationals for crimes committed abroad if the perpetrators or some of the victims are present in the Netherlands.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

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By Humeyra Pamuk

BUDAPEST, April 8 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is “impatient” about making progress toward ending the Iran war and has instructed his negotiating team to engage the Iranians in good faith, Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event in Budapest during his trip to Hungary, Vance said a deal was possible if Iran negotiated sincerely, but cautioned that while some parts of the Iranian system were approaching the talks constructively, others were not. He described the situation as a “fragile truce.”

“The President of the United States has told me, and he’s told the entire negotiating team, secretary of state, the special envoy Steve Witkoff, he said, go and work in good faith to come to an agreement,” Vance said.

“He’s impatient. He’s impatient to make progress. He has told us to negotiate in good faith, and I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal. But that’s a big if, and ultimately, it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision,” Vance said.

The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, potentially halting a six-week-old war that has killed thousands, spread across the Middle East and caused ​unprecedented disruption to the world’s energy supplies.

Trump announced the agreement late on Tuesday, just two hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to open the blockaded Strait of ‌Hormuz or face the destruction of its “whole civilisation”.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Ros Russell)

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MUMBAI, India (AP) — Since it was first built in 1875, the Sassoon Dock in India’s financial capital of Mumbai has been many things: a gateway for trade with the Persian Gulf, a bustling hub for traders and laborers, as well as a center for commerce in textiles, spices, and opium.

More recently, it’s been a major spot for the city’s fish trade.

But rarely has the harbor felt so muted.

The boats sit crowded next to each other in the morning sun. Their colorful flags fluttering against the backdrop of Mumbai’s high-rise skyline.

Normally, the dock hums with life. Nets are unloaded. Diesel engines rumble. Ice is hauled. Fishmongers shout over the din.

Today, that chaos has been replaced by concern.

Shekhar Chogle, who owns a fishing boat and whose skin is tanned a deep, warm brown from years at sea, has been forced to keep his vessel idle since the war began. Income has fallen, labor costs persist, and rising diesel prices make fishing all but impossible.

The diesel pump at the harbor looks forlorn, a dry marigold garland hanging over it. One worker returned unsuccessfully from a gas station with six empty containers on his wood barrow. Bulk diesel prices have soared above $1.20 per liter ($4.54 per U.S. gallon), making it harder for the groups that help fishers get cheaper fuel, ice, and gear.

In other parts of India and across Asia, fishers face the same impossible choice. Stay ashore or risk going out at a loss, putting livelihoods — and entire coastal communities — on the brink.

That Iran, the U.S. and Israel said they reached a deal for a two-week ceasefire in the war brings some comfort. But analysts warn that fuel flows would take time to normalize.

Chogle is running out of time. “Our income has dropped significantly since we have not been able to take our boat out to sea,” he said.

Even with fuel prices soaring, a few boats still venture out. At the morning markets, the morning bustle continues, but the haul is smaller.

Women in colorful saris haggle over the limited supply. One mother, balancing her baby on her hip, inspects each fish carefully, weighing the cost against the day’s needs.

“If diesel prices don’t come down soon, I don’t know how we’ll survive,” Chogle said.

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 8 (Reuters) – Around 60 firefighters and 20 fire trucks were battling a fire at the Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Park early on Wednesday, the state’s military fire department wrote on X.

Fire crews were called to the scene at 4:17 a.m. local time, and no injuries have been reported, the authorities added.

The Velodrome was built for the 2016 Rio Olympics and is administered by the city government.

It is considered Brazil’s largest track cycling center of excellence, and serves as a training base for the Brazilian national weightlifting and cycling teams.

In 2017, its roof was struck by two fires, causing minor damage.

The complex also houses the Olympic Museum, which features immersive exhibits and historical artifacts from the Games, including the Olympic torch and medals.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Isabel Teles; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ed Osmond)

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MOSCOW, April 8(Reuters) – Ukraine has increased attacks on Russian energy facilities in recent weeks as peace talks have failed to make progress.

Following is a summary of the attacks and their impact:

NORSI

NORSI, Russia’s fourth-largest oil refinery, owned by Lukoil, suspended operations on April 5 following a Ukrainian drone attack, two industry sources said.

NORSI, which is also Russia’s second-largest producer of gasoline, can process 16 million metric tons of oil per year, or around 320,000 barrels per day.

KIRISHI

Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery may partially restart within a month, sources say, after halted processing at the end of March following Ukrainian drone attacks that caused fires. According to sources, three of the four primary units are expected to return to operations, adding up to around 60% of the refinery’s nominal primary capacity.

Last year, Kirishi produced 2 million tons of gasoline, 7.1 million tons of diesel, 6.1 million tons of fuel oil and 600,000 tons of bitumen.

UST-LUGA PROCESSING PLANT

Russian energy company Novatek <NVTK.MM> has suspended gas condensate processing and naphtha export loadings at its Ust-Luga complex after drone attacks causing a fire there, three market sources told Reuters. The Ust-Luga complex’s three processing units, each with a capacity of 3 million tons a year, refine stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, ship fuel oil and gasoil. In 2025, the complex processed 8.0 million tons of gas condensate, company data show.

UFA

Ukraine’s military said last week it had struck Russia’s Bashneft-Novoil oil refinery, over 1,400 km (870 miles) from the Ukrainian border. 

It can process more than 7 million tons of oil per year.

SARATOV REFINERY

The Saratov oil refinery, controlled by Rosneft, was hit by a drone on March 21 and its crude distillation unit has been shut down since the attack, according to sources.

In 2024, the refinery processed 5.8 million metric tons of oil, accounting for 2.2% of all Russia’s oil refining.

ILSKY REFINERY

A fire broke out at the Ilsky oil refinery in southern Russia on February 17 as a result of drone attacks. The blaze was fully extinguished by the next day, according to regional officials.

The Ilsky refinery, with an annual processing capacity of 6.6 million tons of oil, is export-oriented. 

VOLGOGRAD REFINERY

The Volgograd refinery, owned by Lukoil, was completely shut down on February 11 as a result of drone attacks, according to sources. The drones hit, among other facilities, the primary oil processing unit CDU-1 whose capacity of 18,600 tons per day accounts for around 40% of the refinery’s total. In 2024, the Volgograd refinery processed 13.7 million tons of oil.

UKHTA REFINERY 

A fire broke out on February 12 at the Ukhta refinery, owned by Lukoil, following a drone attack, according to regional officials. 

According to sources, the primary oil processing unit CDU-1 caught fire. The unit has a capacity of about 6,000 tons per day, or approximately one-third of the refinery’s total.

In 2025, the Ukhta refinery in northern Russia processed around 3 million tons of oil.

AFIPSKY REFINERY

A fire occurred at the Afipsky refinery in southern Russia on January 21 as a result of drone attacks, according to regional officials.

The refinery is mostly focused on exports. It processed 7.2 million metric tons of crude oil, or 144,000 barrels per day, in 2024.

PORTS AND TANKERS

Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had attacked facilities at the maritime transhipment complex in the port of Novorossiysk overnight, damaging a mooring point for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and causing four oil product reservoirs to catch fire.

Kazakhstan said CPC oil exports via the Black Sea were stable after Russia reported the attack. U.S. oil major Chevron said on Tuesday crude oil exports from the vast Tengiz field had been uninterrupted.

Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at Russia’s Sheskharis oil terminal on Monday.

A portion of an oil pipeline at Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Primorsk has been damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, local governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

Primorsk, one of Russia’s largest export gateways, which can handle 1 million barrels per day, lost at least 40% of its storage facilities in Ukrainian drone attacks last month.

(Reporting by Reuters;)

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By Nathan Layne and Tim Reid

April 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is using Christian rhetoric to rally core supporters behind the increasingly unpopular war with Iran, religious and political experts say – a message amplified from pulpits by evangelical leaders who cast it as a struggle between good and evil.

Trump, who announced a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, has struggled to persuade Americans to back the war, which has triggered a surge in energy prices, killed American servicemen and Iranians, and further eroded his standing among voters.

In recent days, he has repeatedly turned to Christian language, calling the rescue of a downed U.S. airman in Iran an “Easter miracle” and suggesting the U.S.-Israeli strikes have God’s blessing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gone further, citing scripture to justify the use of “overwhelming violence” against enemies he said “deserve no mercy.”

That message has been echoed by conservative Christian leaders – from those close to Trump like Robert Jeffress, an influential Texas pastor, to small-town preachers. They have emphasized the biblical significance of the modern state of Israel, which many evangelicals associate with a prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

EVANGELICALS SEE IRAN WAR AS GOOD VS EVIL

Jackson Lahmeyer, an evangelical pastor and Trump supporter who is running for the U.S. Congress, said in an interview he has told his Tulsa, Oklahoma, congregation in some Sunday sermons that wars are typically battles between good and evil and that Iran was no exception.

“Evil people exist, and if you don’t deal with them, they’ll deal with you,” he said. “Good and evil, that’s the story of the Bible. The good news is that at the end good always wins.”

White evangelicals are among Trump’s strongest supporters: more than 80% voted for him in 2024, according to exit polls, and surveys have shown they account for about one-third of his support.

This political reality is a major reason why Trump and members of his cabinet are increasingly leaning into religious framing of the conflict, several political and religious experts told Reuters.

“Look at Mr. Trump’s standing in the polls and recognize he only has a little more than a third of the public on his side. A big part of that constituency is made up of white evangelical Christians,” said Jim Guth, a political science professor at Furman University in South Carolina who studies religion in U.S. politics.

The White House did not respond to questions about Trump’s use of Christian rhetoric but spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that the president had taken bold action “to eliminate the threat of this terrorist regime, which will protect the American people for generations to come.”

To be sure, U.S. presidents have throughout history invoked the Christian faith in times of war. But the experts interviewed by Reuters said the Trump administration’s use of stark, unequivocal language to frame and justify violence in explicitly religious terms sets it apart.

“It’s the same language as the crusades of the Middle Ages. You know, we must stop the infidel, we must defeat the wicked,” said John Fea, a history professor at Messiah University who has written extensively about evangelicals and politics. “We’ve never seen anything like this in American history.”

The overt religious messaging has drawn criticism from some Democrats and left-leaning Christian leaders, who see it as a misguided use of faith to justify an unpopular five-week-old war that has left 13 U.S. service members and thousands of Iranians dead.

Addressing tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, which opens Holy Week ahead of Easter for 1.4 billion Catholics, Pope Leo called the conflict “atrocious” and said the name of Jesus should never be invoked to propagate a war.

Doug Pagitt, a progressive evangelical pastor, said he believes the administration was deploying a “very specific Christian narrative” to keep evangelicals onside and Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition intact.

“What they are saying is Trump is on God’s side. You can rest easy at night,” he said. “Because without the Christian coalition, the MAGA support base gets very fractured.”

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week, 60% of respondents opposed U.S. military strikes on Iran. The survey highlighted a deep partisan divide, with 74% of Republicans backing the war versus only 22% of Democrats.

TRUMP LIKENED TO JESUS IN WHITE HOUSE MEETING

The prominent evangelist Franklin Graham has praised the strikes on Iran in biblical terms and likened Trump to the biblical figure of Esther, a Jewish queen who, according to the Bible, was elevated by God to save her people from annihilation in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran.

Ken Peters, leader of the Patriot Church in Tennessee, delivered that message to his congregation this past Sunday, voicing hope that the war would yield a “pro-Israel, pro-America Iran” — a comment that drew applause, according to a video recording the pro-Trump pastor shared with Reuters.

“We see Trump as a man of the world that God is using to help us,” Peters said in an interview, adding that he was supportive of framing the war in religious terms.

Hegseth in particular has used overtly religious language to frame the war. On Sunday, he likened the rescue of the U.S. airman inside Iran to the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

“A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing,” he said. “God is good.”

In a statement to Reuters, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said wartime leaders have long invoked the Christian faith, pointing to the example of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt distributing Bibles to troops during World War Two.

“Secretary Hegseth, along with millions of Americans, is a proud Christian. Encouraging the American people to pray for our troops is not controversial.”

Similar religious rhetoric was used by evangelical pastors close to Trump at an Easter event with Trump at the White House last week. Televangelist Paula White-Cain, senior adviser to the White House Faith Office, likened Trump to Jesus, saying both were “betrayed and arrested and falsely accused.”

Jeffress, the First Baptist Church pastor in Texas who was among the faith leaders who laid hands on Trump during the meeting, told Reuters he did not believe the Iran war was against Islam or Muslims, but “a spiritual war between good and evil, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Additional reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin and Edmund Klamann)

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April 7 (Reuters) – ICE officers shot and wounded a man in California on Tuesday after the suspect tried to ram one of them with his vehicle, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The man was taken to a hospital and the FBI was on the scene, ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.

“As officers approached the car, the wanted gang member weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over. Following their training, our officers fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and the public,” Lyons said.

The suspected gang member from El Salvador was in the U.S. illegally and had been wanted for questioning in connection with a homicide, ICE said.

Reuters could not independently verify the ICE statement regarding the incident in Patterson, a farm town of 25,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley, about 90 miles (145 km) southeast of San Francisco. 

The Department of Homeland Security said in January that ICE officers experienced 66 vehicular attacks against them in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, up from two such incidents in the previous year.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Rod Nickel)

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