World

BERLIN — German lawmakers will gather in early May to elect Friedrich Merz as chancellor after his conservative bloc sealed a coalition agreement with the main centre-left party, the Bundestag said Monday.

The president of the assembly, Julia Kloeckner was "preparing to convene the German Bundestag for the election of the federal chancellor... on Tuesday, May 6", the parliament said in a statement.

The date was "subject to the parties' approval of the coalition agreement" and Merz's nomination by the German federal president, the parliament said.

Both steps were expected to be a formality after Merz'sconservative bloc, the CDU/CSU, and his future governing partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), settled on a coalition agreement last week.

Merz's confirmation as chancellor will mark the realisation of a long-held dream for the conservative leader, who suffered multiple setbacks on his way to the top of German politics.

The future chancellor quit politics in the early 2000s after losing a power struggle to former chancellor Angela Merkel, embarking on a lucrative career in the business world.

But with the sun slowly setting on Merkel's time in office, Merzlaunched his comeback in 2018. He lost an initial tilt at the CDU party chairmanship and was passed over as the CDU/CSU's candidate for chancellor in 2021 before getting his chance this year.

The conservatives topped the polls in national elections at the end of February with 28.5 percent of the vote -- a result that was nonetheless below expectations.

The modest score and the historically high share of the vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) left Merz with the Social Democrats (SPD) of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the only path to securing a majority.

The two parties needed just over six weeks to seal a deal that will mark a right-ward shift from the coalition led by Scholz, who will step back from frontline politics with Merz's election as chancellor.

The formation of a new government comes at a difficult moment for Germany, with the economy sputtering and its relationship with its key US ally rattled by President Donald Trump's return to office.

Trump's turbulent tariff policy and overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine have thrown into doubt Germany's export-focused economic model and its historic reliance on US security guarantees.

Merz has wasted no time in addressing those issues. After the election but before the coalition was agreed, Merz forced through changes to Germany's strict debt brake to make way for a defence and infrastructure spending boost worth hundreds of billions of euros.

LIMA — Peruvian writer and Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa died on Sunday at the age of 89, his family announced, ending the era of Latin America's literary golden generation.

"It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family," his eldest son Alvaro wrote in a message on X also signed by his siblings Gonzalo and Morgana Vargas Llosa.

Born into a middle-class Peruvian family, Vargas Llosa was one of the greats of the Latin American literary "boom" of the 1960s and 1970s, along with Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Argentina's Julio Cortazar.

Rumors of the writer's deteriorating health had spread in recent months, during which he had been living out of the public eye.

In October, his son Alvaro said he was "on the verge of turning 90, an age when you have to reduce the intensity of your activities a little."

The writer's "passing will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world," the family statement read.

"But we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him."

Peru declared a day of mourning for the author on Monday, with flags flying at half-mast on government premises.

'Enduring legacy' 

The family said that "no public ceremony will take place," in accordance with instructions left by Vargas Llosa himself.

"Our mother, our children and ourselves trust that we will have the space and privacy to bid him farewell in the company of family members and close friends," the siblings added.

Vargas Llosa's body will be cremated, in accordance with his wishes, they said.

Gustavo Ruiz, a reader of Vargas Llosa's works, was among a small group of young people gathered around the writer's home to pay tribute.

"I didn't believe it and I wanted to come close to his house since they are not going to give him a wake," Ruiz told national radio station RPP.

David Marreros, a 30-year-old visual artist, told AFP that Vargas Llosa proved "one can live doing what one is most passionate about."

The writer's "intellectual genius and enormous body of work will remain an enduring legacy for future generations," Peru's President Dina Boluarte posted on X.

"We express our sincerest condolences to the family, to his friends and to the whole world. Rest in peace, illustrious Peruvian for the ages."

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called Vargas Llosa a "Master of Masters."

"He leaves us a path for the future," Uribe said on X.

Fellow Peruvian writer Alfredo Bryce Echenique hailed Vargas Llosa's "enormity," telling RPP his friend's death was "a sorrow for Peru."

US Deputy State Secretary State Christopher Landau said that "to label him as just Peruvian would be a disservice because his themes and interests were timeless and universal."

"He will live on in my bookshelves and many others in Latin America and around the world," Landau wrote on X.

Mario Vargas Llosa moved to Lima last year and celebrated his 89th birthday on March 28.

A few days before, his son Alvaro posted on X three photos of him showing the writer in spots around Lima where he wrote his last two novels, "Cinco Esquinas" ("Five Corners", 2016) and "Le Dedico Mi Silencio" ("I Dedicate My Silence To You," 2023).

Vargas Llosa was hailed for his close description of social reality in works like "La ciudad y los perros" ("The City and the Dogs", 1963) and "Conversacion en la catedral" ("Conversation in the Cathedral", 1969).

But he was criticized by some South American intellectuals for his conservative stances.

Vargas Llosa's works were translated into around 30 languages.

A Francophile, he lived in Paris for several years, becoming in 2016 the first foreign author added to the prestigious Pleiadeliterary collection during his lifetime.

He was named to France's Academy of prominent intellectuals in 2021.

SUMY, Ukraine — A Russian strike on Ukraine's northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months.

Ukraine said Russia launched ballistic missiles on Sumy's city centre on Palm Sunday.

The attack came two days after US envoy Steve Witkofftravelled to Russia to meet its leader Vladimir Putin and despite US President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end the war.

Sumy lies close to the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.

Rescuers said the strike hit the city centre "right when there were many people on the street."

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched a ballistic missile on Sumy and called on the world to put pressure on Russia to end the three-year war and called for a "strong response" from Europe and the US.

Palm Sunday 

Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the floor.

An AFP reporter saw bodies strewn near a trolleybus and on the street.

Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, even as Trump calls on it to "get moving" on ending the more than three-year-long war..

Russia had refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire and has been accused by Ukraine and its European allies of dragging out the war and seeking to stall efforts for peace negotiations.

Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back much of Ukraine's troops from its Kursk region across the border.

The eastern city so far has been spared from the kind of fighting seen further south in the Donetsk region but Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.

Russia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.

Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.

Moscow has not yet commented on the strike.

OSAKA, Japan — World Expo opened on Sunday with 160 countries and regions showcasing their technology, culture and food, with host Japan hoping to provide the world with some much-needed hope.

Highlights at the show in Osaka until mid-October include a Mars meteorite, a beating artificial heart grown from stem cells and Hello Kitty figures in algae form.

Surrounding most of the pavilions -- a chance for architects' fancies to run wild -- is the world's largest wooden structure, the "Grand Ring".

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the event would help bring a sense of unity in a "divided society".

But with conflicts raging and US President Donald Trump's tariffs causing economic turmoil, that may be optimistic.

"Not for sale" states a yellow and blue sign over Ukraine's booth, which contains objects used in the restoration of power facilities damaged by the Russian invasion.

Russia was absent from the Expo.

"We are the ones who create, not the ones who destroy," Tatiana Berezhna, deputy minister of economy of Ukraine, told AFP.

Yahel Vilan, head of Israel's pavilion -- there is also a Palestinian one -- featuring a stone from the Western Wall in occupied east Jerusalem, told AFP that "we came with a message of peace".

The US building has the theme "America the Beautiful", focusing not on politics but landscapes, AI and space.

The nearby Chinese pavilion, evoking a calligraphy scroll, focuses on green technology and features lunar samples brought by the country's Moon probes.

France's pavilion is enveloped in immense white drapes and is inspired by the Japanese legend of "Akai Ito", an invisible red thread representing shared values.

Human washing machine 

After enjoying the view atop the Grand Ring's "skywalk", hungry visitors can stop by the world's longest sushi conveyor belt or meet many-eyed Expo 2025 mascot Myaku-Myaku.

Among the more bizarre displays are 32 sculptures of Hello Kitty dressed as different types of algae -- to symbolise the plant's many uses -- and a "human washing machine".

Elsewhere are demonstrations of drone-like flying vehicles, and the tiny artificial heart made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) shown in public for the first time.

"It has an actual pulse," Byron Russel of Pasona Group, which runs the exhibit, told AFP.

Themes of sustainability run through the Expo, including at the bauble-like Swiss pavilion, which aims to have the smallest ecological footprint.

But Expos have been criticised for their temporary nature, and after October Osaka's man-made island will be cleared to make way for a casino resort.

According to Japanese media, only 12.5 per cent of the Grand Ring will be reused.

Slow ticket sales 

Expo is also known as a World's Fair, and the phenomenon, which brought the Eiffel Tower to Paris, began with London's 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition and is held every five years.

Osaka last hosted the Expo in 1970 when Japan was booming and its technology the envy of the world. It attracted 64 million people, a record until Shanghai in 2010.

But 55 years on, Japan is less of a trendsetter and opinion polls show low levels of enthusiasm among the public for the Expo, particularly after it went 27 percent over budget.

So far 8.7 million advance tickets have been shifted, below the pre-sales target of 14 million.

Japan is also experiencing a record tourism boom, meaning accommodation in Osaka -- near hotspot Kyoto -- is often fully booked with prices sky-high.

But early visitors at the venue voiced their excitement despite persistent rain on day one.

Local resident Emiko Sakamoto, who also visited the Expo in 1970, was determined to return to the site repeatedly to see all the pavilions.

"I think the Expo is meaningful" in this chaotic time, she told AFP. "People will think about peace after visiting the venue."

GOMA — Doctors Without Borders [MSF] on Friday denounced a deadly incursion on a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which the medical charity blamed on the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group.

An MSF statement said around 20 armed men from the group had entered the grounds of Kyeshero hospital in the eastern city of Goma, on the night of April 4 to 5, looking for people who had taken refuge there.

The M23 force captured Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, at the beginning of the year.

"During this operation, the MSF teams... witnessed these armed men shooting outside the hospital wards," said the MSF statement.

"One person was killed and three others were wounded. Two members of hospital staff were severely beaten. Although the gunmen did not enter the wards, bullets landed inside some of them," it said.

Margot Grelet, MSF's emergency coordinator for Goma and North Kivu, said in the statement: "Such events are unacceptable and must never be repeated."

MSF teams have had to deal with around 15 violent incidents since the beginning of the year in which local hospitals had been directly affected, the statement added.

The M23 has taken control of large swathes of the DRC's eastern provinces of North and South Kivu since 2021 and captured their capitals Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive earlier this year.

The DRC's enormous mineral reserves are critical to global supplies of lithium and cobalt, used in cell batteries and electric vehicles, tantalum, tin and gold used in electronic devices, and copper for power lines and uranium.

But they have also fuelled and financed the multiple rebellions that have gripped the vast African country.

KABUL — Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Programme, which warned it can support just half the people in need , and only with half rations.

In an interview with AFP, WFP's acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis.

A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.

"With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that's only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors," Chimuka said.

The agency already has been "giving a half rations to stretch the resources that we have", she added.

In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people "to prevent famine, so that's already a huge number that we're really worried about", Chimuka said.

Already grappling with a 40 per cent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration, designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.

"It's a basic package, but it's really life-saving," said Chimuka. "And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that."

WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.

Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to "a death sentence for millions of people" if implemented.

Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan, run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades, was not one of them. 

If additional funding doesn't come through, "Then there's the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we're not able to support them. And how do they survive?"

She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the worlds poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to.

 'Vicious cycle' 

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year.

"If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement. 

The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region.

The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid. 

But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United Sates was traditionally the world's largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan, $280 million, going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures.

But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration also ended two programs, one in Afghanistan, with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, the agency said Monday. 

And other organisations working on agriculture on which some 80 per cent  of Afghans depend to survive,  and malnutrition are impacted. 

"We all need to work together," said Chimuka. "And if all of us are cut at the knees... it doesn't work."

BRUSSELS, Belgium — European defence ministers held fresh talks Thursday on the potential deployment of troops to secure any Ukraine ceasefire, but there were more questions than answers as US peace efforts with Russia stall.

Britain and France are spearheading discussions among a "coalition of the willing" of 30 countries looking to shore up any deal US President Donald Trump might strike.

"Our planning is real and substantial. Our plans are well developed," UK defence minister John Healey told the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"Our reassurance force for Ukraine would be a committed and credible security arrangement to ensure that any negotiated peace does bring what President Trump has pledged, a lasting peace for Ukraine."

Healey said he did not envisage "a peacekeeping force that will separate the currently warring sides down the line of contact". Bolstering Ukraine's battered forces would be a key part of the plans, he added.

France's Sebastian Lecornu echoed his British counterpart, saying "the first guarantee of security is obviously support for the Ukrainian army, which means refusing to demilitarise Ukraine, as Russia is demanding".

‘What is the mandate?' 

London and Paris insist progress has been made at repeated rounds of talks -- and military planners will now step up work on how to secure any peace in the skies, at sea and on land.

But ministers from other countries said there was still uncertainty over the aims of any possible deployment -- and whether it would be backed up by US military might.

"What is the potential mission, what is going to be the goal?" asked Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans.

"What is the mandate? What would do we do in the different scenarios, for example, if there would be any escalation regarding Russia?" he added. 

"It's very important to have the United States on board, but then it also needs to be clear what type of mission it is and what we ask from the United States."

European officials say so far some six countries -- including Britain, France, and the Baltic states -- have said they could contribute troops.

Swedish minister Pal Jonson said Stockholm had "a number of questions that we need to get clarified" before making any commitments. 

"It's helpful if there's a clarity of what that mission would entail, and what do we do -- if we are peacekeeping, deterrence or reassurance," he said.

A major problem for European allies as they scramble to come up with any plan is that they are largely in the dark about US efforts with Russia to halt the fighting.

Trump's administration has held several rounds of talks with both Ukrainian and Russian officials hoping to secure a halt in fighting, without seeing any tangible results.

The two sides in principle agreed to stop targeting energy infrastructure but they never cemented the conditions and strikes have continued.

Russia so far has said it would not accept troops any NATO countries be stationed on Ukrainian soil as part of a peace deal.