NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Calls for mutual respect dominated the Africa Forward Summit on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron announced new investments and said sovereignty will be key in the new partnership that France hopes to build with Africa.

Investments worth 23 billion euros ($27 billion) will fund various sectors in Africa including, energy, AI and agriculture, Macron said, adding that 14 billion euros ($16.4 billion) will come from French companies and 9 billion euros ($10.5 billion) from African entities.

Macron said the summit marks a financial shift in relationships between the European nation and African countries, including those that once were its colonies.

President William Ruto of Kenya, which is co-hosting the summit with France, referred to sovereignty eight times in his speech on the summit’s final day. He reiterated that the days of European dependency were over for Africa in favor of mutual respect between cooperating nations.

New partnerships between the African nations and France “must not be built on dependency but on sovereign equality, not on aid or charity but on mutually beneficial investment, and not on extraction or exploitation but on win-win engagements,” Ruto said.

The event, which is set to close Tuesday with a declaration that is expected to be signed by all 30 heads of state and government, comes at the height of a fallout between France and its former colonies, mostly in West Africa.

France has long maintained a colonial policy of economic, political and military sway dubbed Françafrique, which included keeping thousands of troops in the region it controlled.

After years of criticism from leaders and opposition parties in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso over what they described as a demeaning and heavy-handed approach, France has withdrawn most of those troops. It completed the withdrawal of troops from Senegal in July.

Macron said Paris will be respectful of each African country’s independence, adding that “sovereignty and autonomy is shared, and your success is our success.”

France’s new strategy, according to Macron, is based on a shared agenda and the “days of offering assistance are behind us.”

“I’d like to focus on co-investment,” he said.

Macron hailed a strong show of unity from the African heads of state and governments as “an image of a united continent with a shared agenda.”

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership is on the rocks after his Labour Party suffered heavy defeats in local elections last week.

It may be the final straw for a leader already tainted by his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington despite the veteran politician’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Dozens of Labour lawmakers have called for Starmer to step down and make way for a contest to pick a new leader, who would take over as prime minister.

Starmer has insisted he is staying put, and no formal leadership challenge has yet been launched.

While there is no clear frontrunner to replace Starmer, here are some of the leading contenders for the top job:

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, 43, is widely regarded as one of the government’s best communicators and has led on one of the government’s key pledges, improving the creaky National Health Service.

His ambitions for the top job were long rumored but entered the spotlight last year when Starmer’s allies allegedly told British media that the prime minister would fight attempts to challenge his leadership — and media speculation at the time centered on Streeting.

Streeting, who was elected a lawmaker in 2015, strongly denied he was plotting to replace Starmer and called the suggestions “nonsense.”

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has long set herself apart as a different kind of politician with a compelling personal story. She was brought up in social housing and left school at 16 as a teen mother.

Rayner, 46, was active in trade unions before she was elected a lawmaker in 2015 and is on the left of the party. She soon rose to Labour’s senior ranks when the party was in opposition and was elected deputy leader in 2020.

Rayner enjoys significant support within the party, but she was forced to resign from the government last year after admitting she did not pay enough tax on a house purchase. She is still awaiting the findings of an official review of that controversy.

After the fallout over the Epstein files’ revelations on Mandelson, Rayner led a lawmakers’ revolt to force the government to cede control to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to decide which documents should be released into the public domain.

Former Cabinet minister Andy Burnham, the popular, center-left Greater Manchester mayor, has long been seen as a potential rival for Starmer. But his leadership prospects were dented after Labour blocked him from standing as the party’s candidate for Parliament in a special election in February.

By longstanding convention, the prime minister must be a member of Parliament. Burnham’s supporters favor a delayed leadership contest that would give him time to return to the House of Commons through a special election.

Burnham, 56, served in senior roles in previous Labour governments, including as culture secretary and health secretary.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is a former Labour leader, but his five years at the top of the party when it was in opposition ended in the party’s 2015 election defeat. Miliband, 56, has publicly played down any desire to return to the job, but he is one of the most experienced members of the Cabinet.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 45, has one of the toughest jobs in government, overseeing immigration and law and order. She has become a favorite of many on the right of the Labour Party with her moves to tighten border controls and crack down on unauthorized immigration.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine senator who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for an alleged crime against humanity said Tuesday he will fight any attempt to send him to the global tribunal for prosecution, adding he never condoned extrajudicial killings when he led the country’s police force.

The ICC in The Hague unsealed Monday an arrest warrant for Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former national police chief who first enforced then- President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drugs crackdowns that left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead.

Originally issued in November, the warrant charges dela Rosa with the crime against humanity of murder of “no less than 32 persons” allegedly committed between July 2016 and the end of April 2018 in the Philippines.

“If I have something to answer for, I will face those in our local courts and not before foreigners,” dela Rosa told reporters in the Senate, which took him into “protective custody” Monday when he reappeared after months of absence.

“I will avail of all legal processes,” he said, and pleaded to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: “Don’t bring me to The Hague.”

After winning the presidency in 2016, Duterte designated dela Rosa, a loyal ally, as head of the national police force, which enforced the brutal campaign against illegal drugs.

Dela Rosa also once headed the police force in the southern city of Davao, where Duterte served as a longtime mayor and built a political name for his extra tough approach to crimes.

“My role was to lead the war on drugs, and that war on drugs was not meant to annihilate people,” dela Rosa said when he was asked about the huge death toll.

“When the lives of police officers came under threat, of course they needed to defend themselves,” dela Rosa said.

Duterte’s six-year term ended in mid-2022. He was arrested in March last year and detained by the ICC in the Netherlands, where he is now awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with several killings under his crackdowns.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the ICC, in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability. The court, however, said it retained jurisdiction over crimes committed when the Philippines was still a member.

Asked if the Philippines will enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant against dela Rosa, officials suggested they were ready and could surrender him to the global court’s jurisdiction like Duterte under a Philippine law enacted to address crimes against humanity like genocide.

“We have an obligation that all those who should be held to account should be held responsible,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a news briefing.

Dela Rosa cannot invoke a privilege of immunity from arrest while attending formal sessions or staying within the Senate because the crimes he allegedly committed were serious and punishable by a long prison term, Castro said.

Police have deployed nearly 350 law enforcers outside the Senate, sparking concerns from dela Rosa and allied senators, but officials said they were assigned to keep order and not to eventually help arrest the senator.

By Jasper Ward

May 12 (Reuters) – Bahamians headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to grant Prime Minister Philip Davis and his ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) a second consecutive term, a feat no leader has accomplished in nearly 30 years.

The vote pits the incumbent PLP against its primary rival, the Free National Movement (FNM), led by Michael Pintard. Polls open across the archipelago as voters weigh concerns about affordability and housing against the government’s record.

The election, which was not due until October, was called early by Davis. An official in his office stated the decision was made to hold the vote to get ahead of the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. The previous election in September 2021, which brought Davis to power, was also a snap election. 

At stake are 41 seats in the Bahamian House of Assembly. This represents an increase of two seats from the last election, following recommendations from the independent constituencies commission to add two new seats. The PLP, which held a strong majority with 32 of the 39 seats heading into Tuesday’s vote, is campaigning to build on its mandate, while the FNM seeks to return to power after its 2021 defeat.

Key issues dominating the campaign have been the rising cost of living, stagnant wages, and a persistent housing shortage. The International Monetary Fund noted these challenges in a 2025 report, acknowledging government efforts on housing while suggesting more public spending could be necessary.

Months ahead of the election, Davis took steps to remove value-added tax from food sold in grocery stores – a move that the opposition said would have little impact on Bahamians. 

Several high-profile races are expected to draw significant attention. In the Garden Hills constituency, incumbent Mario Bowleg faces a challenge from three-time NBA champion Rick Fox, who is running as a candidate for the FNM.

Former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who Davis defeated in 2021, is running as an independent candidate for a seat he has held for nearly two decades. His independent bid comes after the FNM, the party he once led, refused to ratify him as its candidate.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Stephen Coates)

TRIPOLI, May 12 (Reuters) – Authorities in eastern Libya say they have found and deported 120 migrants who were being held captive by people traffickers south of Benghazi, and have recovered the bodies of three other migrants from the Mediterranean shore.

A statement by the security directorate in the city of Ajdabiya said an Egyptian migrant who had escaped and was found lost and exhausted in the coastal town of Bishr had led security services to the locations where the other migrants were being held.

The Egyptian had been held with compatriots and migrants of other nationalities “inside a den used to torture migrants and blackmail their families”, according to the statement, which was released late on Monday.

Since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe via dangerous routes across the desert and over the Mediterranean.

The oil-dependent Libyan economy is also a draw for impoverished migrants seeking work, but security throughout the sprawling country is poor, leaving migrants vulnerable to abuse.

The operation to free the captive migrants lasted almost a fortnight, the Ajdabiya security directorate said.

In captivity, they had been “forced to plead for help under whippings and beatings, while their suffering is documented in videos sent to their families to extort money from them,” it said.

The bodies of two Bangladeshi migrants and one Egyptian were found on the shore in Bishr, which is located about 122 kilometers (76 miles) west of Ajdabiya, the directorate added. A boat was also found on the shore.

The directorate posted pictures appearing to show migrants sitting on the floor after they had been recovered from traffickers, and other pictures of passports, boat engines, blue plastic water containers and wooden boats, some fully assembled and others still under construction.

It said a small boat plant was also seized and that arrest warrants had been issued for “fugitive” human traffickers.

The migrants had been deported, it said, without providing details.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

NEW DELHI, May 12 (Reuters) – Dozens of members of the student wing of India’s opposition Congress party protested in New Delhi on Tuesday against the cancellation of a key undergraduate college entrance test after authorities discovered its questions had been leaked. 

Here are some details. 

• About 2.3 million students across India took the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on May 3 for admission to undergraduate medical programmes.

• The federal National Testing Agency scrapped the test on Tuesday, saying the process could not be allowed to stand and a new date would be set.

• Visuals from news agency ANI showed dozens of protesters from the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) chanting slogans, with some also trying to jump police barricades.

• NSUI President Vinod Jakhar demanded “strictest possible action” against those involved in leaking the questions, and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, saying protesters had no faith in the government.

• NEET questions had been similarly leaked in some parts of India in 2024, but the test was not re-run.

(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Kevin Liffey)

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, May 12 (Reuters) – The Eurovision Song Contest gets off to a tense start in Vienna on Tuesday with a protest due to be held hours before the first semi-final featuring Israel, whose attendance prompted five countries to boycott over the Gaza war.

The contest, traditionally a good-natured celebration of pop music and high camp now in its 70th year, has become mired in crisis over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.

The public broadcasters of five countries – Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia – are boycotting this year’s event, making it the smallest since 2003 with 35 entries. That will also most likely reduce viewership from last year’s estimated 166 million, more than the Super Bowl’s 128 million.

‘WE WILL NOT BE TERRORISED’

A first protest, expected to draw an estimated 500 people, was planned for Tuesday afternoon and the tension in the city was palpable ahead of the semi-final scheduled for 9 p.m. (1900 GMT).

“We won’t let ourselves be terrorised into silence,” Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig of the Social Democrats said on Friday in an angry response to a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters who blew whistles at a concert he was speaking at.

“Unfortunately we will need large security measures because of people like you, for example. That will incur great expense, but we will nevertheless hold a festival of togetherness, I can promise you that,” he said.

The joint head of Amnesty International Austria, Shoura Hashemi, said on X Ludwig should apologise for his “unbearable, false, divisive” remarks aimed at peaceful protesters.

Austrian officialdom is strongly supportive of Israel, and pro-Palestinian protests are small. A handful of protests are planned this week, with attendance estimated at up to 3,000.

IRELAND SAID ATTENDANCE WOULD BE ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’

Police also say there could be spontaneous protests, particularly on Saturday, the day of the final. A cold snap, with rain and temperatures not due to exceed 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) all week, could help keep numbers down.

Irish broadcaster RTE referred back to its statement in December that it would be “unconscionable” to take part.

Israel often alleges a global smear campaign against it.

At least 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack, most of them civilians. Israel responded by launching an assault on the enclave that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and left much of Gaza in ruins.

Israel’s contestant last year was Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the attack, who came second thanks to a massive public vote.

Its contestant this year, Noam Bettam, has no obvious political connotation but did receive a formal warning on Saturday for posting videos instructing the public to vote for him 10 times, the maximum allowed.

Contest Director Martin Green told Reuters he hoped those boycotting would return.

“They are members of our family, right? We miss them,” he said, adding: “We remain in dialogue to see if we can find pathways for them back.”

(Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival after a disastrous set of results in local elections for his Labour Party last week.

Dozens of Labour lawmakers are calling on Starmer to resign, though several ministers publicly spoke of their support for Starmer as they left a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The prime minister has insisted he has no intention of resigning. Starmer could be forced out if one-fifth of sitting Labour lawmakers, or at least 80 or them, agree to back a lawmaker to challenge him. So far, no formal leadership challenge has been triggered.

In a blow to Starmer, a junior minister became the first member of his government to quit on Tuesday.

Here’s the latest:

At least 80 out of Labour’s 403 lawmakers have now demanded the prime minister stand down, or at least set out a timetable for his departure, after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections last week.

However, so far no Labour lawmaker has announced they will challenge Starmer for the leadership.

While there is no clear frontrunner to replace Starmer, here are some of the leading contenders for the top job:

1. Wes Streeting – The health secretary is widely regarded as one of the government’s best communicators and has led on one of its key pledges, improving the creaky National Health Service.

2. Angela Rayner – the formerdeputy prime minister has long set herself apart as a different kind of politician with a compelling personal story. She was brought up in social housing and left school at 16 as a teen mother.

3. Andy Burnham – The former cabinet minister has long been seen as a potential rival for Starmer. But his leadership prospects were dented after Labour blocked him from standing as the party’s candidate for Parliament.

4. Ed Miliband – The energy secretaryis a former Labour leader, but his five years at the top of the party ended in the party’s 2015 election defeat.

5. Shabana Mahmood – The home secretary has become a favorite of many on the right of the Labour Party with her moves to tighten border controls and crack down on immigration.

A cabinet member in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government said there was no direct challenge to his leadership at Tuesday’s meeting.

Jenny Chapman, minister of international development, said she did not think Starmer’s authority had been destroyed by dozens of Labour Party members calling for him to step down.

“That’s not what I have just seen around the Cabinet table,” she told reporters outside 10 Downing St. “I saw a Cabinet united and focused on dealing with the issues that are confronting the British people.”

U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, long believed to be preparing for a leadership challenge against U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, didn’t comment as he left the Cabinet meeting at Downing Street.

“Wes Streeting, do you want the job, or not?” one person yelled from across the street. “Are you measuring the curtains?”

He was among senior ministers who dodged a barrage of shouted questions from a scrum of reporters gathered outside.

U.K. Business Secretary Peter Kyle has voiced support for embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer is showing “really steadfast leadership,” Kyle told reporters as he left the Cabinet meeting.

Kyle says the meeting discussed the economy and issues facing society. He said that he was on his way to Brussels to deepen the U.K. relationship with the European Union — one of the goals Starmer announced Monday as he delivered a speech aimed at winning back support.

A U.K. official says that nobody had yet made a challenge to the leadership of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“The prime minister talked about the challenges we faced as a country, the crisis in the Middle East and the impact on the cost of living here,” Liz Kendall, the secretary of science, innovation and technology, told reporters as she left a Cabinet meeting.

“This government will do what we were elected to do, which is serve the British people. The prime minister has my full support in this,” Kendall said.

“There is a process to challenge the leader. Nobody has made that challenge,” she said.

U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves won’t be taking part in a London risk summit that she was due to appear at after attending a Cabinet meeting.

Her place will be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is in turmoil as dozens of Labour Party lawmakers joined calls for him to quit, after poor local election results for the party last week.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed has urged Labour Party colleagues to support Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he faces calls to step down.

Reed posted a message on social media during a meeting of Starmer’s Cabinet.

“This is not a game,” Reed said on X. “This instability has consequences for people’s lives. The people who will be hurt most will be those that elected us less than two years ago. We must unite behind the Prime Minister.”

The Treasury confirmed that Rachel Reeves has pulled out of a London risk summit she was expected to take part in after attending a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Her place will be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is in turmoil as dozens of his Labour Party lawmakers joined calls for him to quit Tuesday.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer doubled down Tuesday on his resolve to stay in office, despite calls to step down.

Starmer told Cabinet ministers that he took responsibility for devastating losses that his center-left Labour Party suffered in last week’s local elections across the U.K., but he would fight on.

Starmer said there’s a process to oust a leader and that hadn’t been triggered.

“The country expects us to get on with governing,” he said. ”That is what I am doing and what we must do.”

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer lost the first member of his government Tuesday as he faced pressure to step down following losses in local elections.

Housing, communities and local government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh stepped down and urged Starmer “to do the right thing for the country” and set a timetable to step aside.

Fahnbulleh, a junior minister who is considered to be on the left of the party, said that she was proud of her service, but that the government hadn’t acted with the vision, pace and mandate for change it had been given by voters.

The next U.K. national election doesn’t have to be held until 2029, but British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a general election.

If it comes to it, the simplest option would be for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce his intention to resign, triggering an election for the Labour leadership. A resignation announcement could possibly come if members of his Cabinet tell Starmer in their regular meeting on Tuesday that he has lost too much support within the party.

If Starmer doesn’t resign, he could face a challenge from one or more Labour lawmakers.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities searched Tuesday for 14 missing Indonesians after a boat carrying over 30 people sank.

The maritime office in central Perak state said that 23 people were rescued Monday by a local fishing vessel after the boat capsized off the island of Pangkor in Perak, adding it was believed to be carrying “undocumented migrants.”

Perak maritime chief Capt. Mohamad Shukri Khotob said the fishing vessel called for help after finding the people floating at sea before dawn. The search and rescue operation, which began Monday, would continue until all missing individuals were located, the statement said. A total of 37 people were believed to be on board, he said.

Mohamad Shukri said the victims were believed to have departed from Kisaran, Indonesia, on May 9 and were headed to multiple territories in Malaysia, including Penang, Selangor, and Kuala Lumpur.

The 23 survivors were handed over to marine authorities for questioning.

Malaysia has long been a destination for Indonesian workers seeking better job opportunities. Many attempt to enter the country illegally via sea routes, often in overcrowded and unsafe vessels, risking accidents and loss of life. Indonesians make up the large bulk of foreign labor in Malaysia, predominantly in plantations and construction.

GENEVA, May 12 (Reuters) – Antigua and Barbuda has nominated Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa as candidate to be the next United Nations Secretary-General, a U.N. official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Espinosa, a former foreign affairs minister and defence minister in Ecuador, headed the U.N. General Assembly in New York from 2018-2019.

Five candidates are now competing to take over from outgoing U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, including three women seeking to become the first female head.

Elections are due later this year and the new Secretary-General’s five-year term will begin on January 1, 2027.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Kirsti Knolle)