STOCKHOLM — Sweden’s government will cut fuel taxes and hike electricity subsidies in its spring mini-budget, it said on Monday, as it strives to ease the pain for households of higher energy bills driven by the war in Iran.

The extra spending, coming ahead of a parliamentary election in September, will total 7.7 billion crowns ($825 million) and comes on top of a bumper 80 billion in new spending already announced in September last year in the full-year budget bill for 2026.

“It is a signal that we will do whatever it takes to … dampen the blow to households of what is happening now,” Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson told reporters.

Oil prices have soared since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran and there are concerns a long-lasting conflict could push up inflation, hit growth and lead to higher interest rates.

The temporary boost to electricity subsidies for households in the spring budget will cost 2.4 billion crowns and the cut to fuel taxes 1.6 billion. The government has asked the EU to approve a further cut in fuel taxes worth around 8 billion crowns.

Other measures include more money for Sweden’s space program, healthcare, and job creation.

ELECTION BOOST
Swedes go to the polls in September and the ruling coalition currently trails the left bloc in the polls despite promises of tax cuts and more money for schools, healthcare and defense this year.

Households are still feeling the effects of the period of high inflation sparked by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, alongside US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, with the Iran war now convincing many to hold on to their savings.

While the government can afford to be generous — Sweden’s public finances are rock-solid — Ms. Svantesson said the next administration would need to be careful not to push debt too high.

A right-of-center government — which could include the populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats for the first time — would continue to focus on supporting households and on policies to boost jobs and businesses while keeping a lid on new spending. The left plans major tax hikes, she said.

“I hope that Swedes see that what we need is calm, not a four-year experiment by a left bloc with doesn’t agree on anything,” Svantesson said.

“Higher taxes … are not the way to get more growth.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON/ROME — US President Donald Trump forcefully criticized Pope Leo late on Sunday in an unusual, direct attack on the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church that drew immediate rebuke from believers.

The president, in an apparent response to the pope’s growing criticisms of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies, said Leo was “terrible”.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Catholics on social media quickly lambasted Mr. Trump for attacking the leader of their Church, who they believe is the successor of St. Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles.

“There is no ambiguity about the situation now,” Massimo Faggioli, an expert on the papacy, told Reuters.

He compared the comments to efforts by the leaders of Germany and Italy during World War Two to draw the late Pope Pius XII to support their causes.

“Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly,” said Mr. Faggioli.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was disheartened by Mr. Trump’s comments.

“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls,” he said in a statement.

POPE LEO VOCAL ON WAR AND IMMIGRATION ISSUES
Leo, originally from Chicago, is the first US pope. Known for choosing his words carefully, he has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war in recent weeks and decried the “madness of war” on in a peace appeal on Saturday.

Last year, he questioned whether the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies were in line with the Church’s pro-life teachings.

“Someone who says, ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States’, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” the pontiff said in September.

Mr. Trump wrote in his post Sunday that “Leo should get his act together as Pope”, later telling reporters he was “not a big fan” of the pontiff.

Mr. Trump’s broadside against Leo also accused him of being “weak on nuclear weapons,” several days after the pope said the US president’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization was “truly unacceptable.”

In a speech on Palm Sunday last month in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, the pope said God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have their “hands full of blood,” calling the conflict in Iran “atrocious.”

Leo has also called on Mr. Trump to find an “off-ramp” to end the conflict and “decrease the amount of violence.”

In his post, Mr. Trump suggested that Leo was only elected to lead the Catholic Church last year “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pope is due to leave on Monday for an ambitious, 10-day tour of four countries in Africa.

Leo has called for “deep reflection” about the way migrants are being treated in the US.

The pope’s call for a more compassionate approach to immigration – a sentiment expressed by several of Leo’s predecessors – stands in contrast to the stance of Mr. Trump, who has argued that the US must curtail immigration from developing countries to reduce crime.

“He’s a very liberal person and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in stopping crime,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday night.

Mr. Trump also had a rocky relationship with Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who criticized Mr. Trump’s immigration policy proposals when he first ran for president and suggested Mr. Trump was “not a Christian.”

Mr. Trump had called Francis “disgraceful” in early 2016. — Reuters

BUDAPEST — Hungary’s veteran nationalist leader Viktor Orban lost power to the upstart center-right Tisza party in Sunday’s national election after 16 years in office, marking a setback for his allies in Russia and US President Donald Trump’s White House.

Mr. Orban, 62, was celebrated by conservatives across Europe and the United States as the mastermind of the “illiberal” model of democracy, but lost favor at home with voters who grew weary of economic stagnation, international isolation, and oligarchs amassing wealth.

His landslide defeat handed Tisza’s Peter Magyar, 45, a comfortable majority in Hungary’s 199-seat legislature, opening the door for meaningful reforms of a system critics in the European Union said subverted democratic norms.

With nearly all ballots counted, Tisza was set to win 138 seats, more than the two-thirds majority Mr. Magyar would need to undo Mr. Orban’s constitutional overhaul and combat corruption.

Record turnout on Sunday underscored how many Hungarians saw the election as a watershed moment for their country.

“We have done it. Tisza and Hungary have won this election,” Mr. Magyar told tens of thousands of supporters who danced and cheered alongside the elegant Danube River embankment in central Budapest.

Many held candles while loudspeakers blasted Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as Mr. Magyar walked towards the stage. “Together, we have replaced Orban’s system and together we liberated Hungary, we have reclaimed our country,” he said.

Mr. Magyar had cast the election as a choice between “East and West”, warning voters that Mr. Orban and his confrontational stance towards Brussels would take the country further away from the European mainstream. Mr. Orban countered that Tisza would drag Hungary into an unwanted war with Russia, a charge Mr. Magyar denied.

“The election result is painful for us, but clear,” Mr. Orban said at the Fidesz campaign offices. Some of his supporters who had gathered outside cried while watching his speech on TV screens.

SHOCKWAVES FOR THE EU AND BEYOND
The end of Mr. Orban’s 16-year rule will have significant implications not only for Hungary, but for the European Union, Ukraine and beyond.

Many European leaders are hoping for an end to Hungary’s adversarial role inside the EU, possibly opening the way for a 90 billion euro ($105 billion) loan to war-battered Ukraine that was blocked by Mr. Orban.

Mujtaba Rahman, a managing director at Eurasia Group, said Mr. Magyar will be able to deliver on his promises to clean out corruption and remove Fidesz loyalists from key positions.

“Regarding Ukraine, Magyar will agree to pave the way for 90 billion euros to flow to Ukraine. He was extremely cautious pre-election, but without the need now to try to appease Fidesz voters, we think Hungary will cautiously move more into the European mainstream on most subjects.”

Some diplomats in Brussels cautioned issues such as migration may remain thorny. “Hungary will continue to be a challenging partner, but a partner with whom the other member states can work,” one said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy congratulated Mr. Magyar on Sunday and pledged to work with him to strengthen Europe and uphold peace and security. “It is important when a constructive approach is victorious,” Mr. Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.

Defeat for Mr. Orban could also mean the eventual release of EU funds to Hungary suspended over reforms that Brussels said undermined democratic standards, something closely watched by financial markets.

“Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the top EU executive, said after partial results were released.

Mr. Orban’s exit would also deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of his main ally in the EU and send shockwaves through the West’s right-wing circles, including the White House.

Mr. Orban had won public endorsements from the Trump administration, culminating in a visit to Budapest by Vice President JD Vance last week, as well as from the Kremlin and far-right leaders in Europe.

But his campaign was shaken by media reports alleging his government colluded with Moscow on diplomatic and political matters.

Mr.Orban, who denied any wrongdoing, said his goal was to protect Hungary’s national identity and traditional Christian values within the EU and its security in a dangerous world.

“It’s incredibly exciting,” said 24-year-old Dorina Nyul, who attended the Tisza election night event. “It feels like this is our first and last chance in a really long time to actually change the system. And it’s, I can’t even describe the feeling.” — Reuters

MIAMI/ISLAMABAD — President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.

The US Central Command said US forces would begin implementing the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) on Monday.

It would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” a CENTCOM statement on X said.

US forces would not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports, and additional information would be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade, it said.

Mr. Trump said in a post on social media the US would take action against every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran, and begin destroying mines that he said the Iranians had dropped in the Strait, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies that Iran has blocked.

“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Mr. Trump wrote, adding: “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded to Mr. Trump by warning that military vessels approaching the Strait will be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.

Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led his country’s delegation to the talks along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said Mr. Trump’s new threats would have no effect on Iran.

“If you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” he said in comments carried by state media.

The weekend talks in Islamabad, which followed the announcement of a ceasefire on Tuesday, were the first direct US-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

IRAN BEMOANS ‘MAXIMALISM, SHIFTING GOALPOSTS, AND BLOCKADE’
Mr. Araghchi said Iran had engaged in good faith but had “encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade” when just inches away from an “Islamabad MoU.”

“Zero lessons earned,” he added. “Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity.”

Speaking after the talks, Vice President JD Vance, who headed the US delegation, said: “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”

Six weeks of fighting has killed thousands, roiled the global economy and sent oil prices soaring as Iran prevented traffic through the Strait. Oil prices jumped above $100 per barrel early on Monday.

Mr. Trump said on Sunday the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November’s midterm elections, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from the war.

A few hours after Mr. Trump’s comments, Mr. Qalibaf took to social media to post a map of Washington-area gasoline prices and the comment: “Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called ‘blockade’, Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.”

The dollar jumped against other major currencies on Sunday, as investors sought the relative safety of the currency after the talks failed to yield a deal, plunging markets into a seventh week of uncertainty.

MORE NEGOTIATIONS?
In an interview with Fox News after his post about the Strait, Mr. Trump nevertheless said he believed Iran would continue to negotiate and called the discussions “very friendly.”

“I do believe they’re going to come to the table on this, because nobody can be so stupid as to say, ‘We want nuclear weapons,’ and they have no cards,” Mr. Trump told Fox News from his golf course near Miami, Florida.

Mr. Trump also said NATO allies he has criticized for failing to back the war he launched along with Israel on February 28 wanted to help with the operation in the Strait.

There was no immediate comment from Washington’s allies.

A US official said Iran had rejected Washington’s call for an end to all uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium.

The two sides also failed to reach agreement on the US demand that Iran cease funding for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis as well as fully open the Strait, the official added.

Mr. Qalibaf blamed the US for not winning Tehran’s trust, despite his team offering “forward-looking initiatives.” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who discussed the talks in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tehran wanted “a balanced and fair agreement.”

“If the United States returns to the framework of international law, reaching an agreement is not far off,” he told Mr. Putin, Iranian state media reported.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “excessive” US demands had hindered reaching a deal. Other Iranian media said there was agreement on a number of issues, but the Strait and Iran’s nuclear program were the main sticking points.

Despite the stalemate, three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed. They appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal. — Reuters

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo begins an ambitious 10-day tour of four countries in Africa on Monday urging global leaders to address needs on the continent where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live.

The first US pope heads to Algeria for two days before continuing to Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea in a whirlwind tour to 11 cities and towns, traversing nearly 18,000 km (11,185 miles) over 18 flights.

The pope is making the visit with a mission “to help turn the world’s attention to Africa”, Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official and close adviser to Leo, told Reuters.

The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, has made only one big overseas trip since being elected last May, visiting Turkey and Lebanon in November and December. He visited Monaco in March.

Leo, aged 70, relatively young and in good health for a pope, is undertaking one of the most complicated tours arranged for a pontiff in decades.

More than 20% of the world’s Catholics live in Africa, according to Vatican statistics. The three sub-Saharan nations the pope is visiting have populations where more than half identify as Catholic.

Algeria, though, is an overwhelmingly Muslim country with under 10,000 Catholics among its population of some 48 million people. This is the first time it will host a Catholic pope.

POPE TO GIVE 25 SPEECHES ON MULTITUDE OF TOPICS
Leo’s tour is the 24th by a pope to Africa since the late 1960s.

He is expected to touch on many topics in 25 planned speeches over 10 days, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told journalists on Friday, given that the four nations face diverse issues.

Likely topics include exploitation of natural resources, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, and dangers of political corruption, said Mr. Bruni.

Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have presidents who have been in power for decades and have been accused of human rights abuses, which they deny.

The biggest event of the itinerary will likely come in Cameroon on Friday, when the Vatican said some 600,000 are expected for a Mass in the coastal city of Douala.

Comfortable in several languages, Leo is expected to speak Italian, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish during the trip.

Landing in Algeria in mid-morning on Monday, Leo will address the country’s political leaders before visiting the Great Mosque of Algiers in only his second visit to a mosque as pope.

He will travel on Tuesday to Annaba on Algeria’s northeast coast, for a visit to the ruins of the ancient town of Hippo.

The site has special meaning to Leo, who is a member of the Augustinian religious order. The order is inspired by the teachings of fourth-century St. Augustine of Hippo, a major figure in the early Church. — Reuters