👋 こんにちは*
Welcome to Friday, where activists say a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship was attacked by drones off the coast of Malta, Nigel Farage’s party surged to victory in local elections across the UK and the quiz question shines a light on press freedom, country by country. Meanwhile, Iman Adel in Beirut-based Daraj looks at how a fatwa issued by a legal scholar is causing a stir at Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University.
[*Kon’nichiwa – Japanese]
✅ SIGN UP
This is our daily newsletter Worldcrunch Today, a rapid tour of the news of the day from the world’s best journalism sources, regardless of language or geography.It’s easy (and free!) to sign up to receive it each day in your inbox: 👉 Sign up here
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Rio de Janeiro-based daily O Globo features musicals highs and lows and its front page today: mourning the passing of one of Brazil’s most popular singers, Nana Caymmi, who died in Rio at age 84, while also featuring Lady Gaga’s Brazilian fans getting hyped for Gaga’s free mega-concert at Copacabana Beach on Saturday.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Gaza activist ship attacked off coast of Malta. Activists who were planning to sail an aid ship to Gaza say it was struck by drones in international waters off the coast of Malta. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said its ship The Conscience was targeted on Friday and issued an SOS signal right after the attack. The group said it had planned to sail to Gaza and “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and blockade” there. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the Middle East here.
• Trump ousts Waltz as national security adviser and nominates him for UN post. U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Mike Waltz from his post as national security adviser, and will nominate him as ambassador to the United Nations. In a post on social media, Trump thanked Waltz for his work and said he would be temporarily replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will continue as America’s top diplomat. Meanwhile, media rights group RSF (reporters without borders) on Friday warned about “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” in the United States under President Donald Trump as well as “unprecedented” difficulties for independent journalists around the world.
• Farage’s far-right party wins mayoral and parliamentary post in surge of support. Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party won a fifth parliamentary seat, its first post as mayor and multiple positions on local councils in early election results on Friday. The populist Reform, led by the Brexit campaigner Farage, hopes Thursday’s English local elections will mark the start of the breakdown of a century of domination of British politics by the governing Labour Party and opposition Conservatives.
• China considering U.S. offer to negotiate tariffs. Beijing is “evaluating” an offer from Washington to hold talks over U.S. President Donald Trump’s crippling tariffs, China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday, signaling a potential de-escalation in the trade war that has derailed global markets. The United States has approached China to seek talks over Trump’s 145% tariffs and Beijing’s door was open for discussions, the commerce ministry said. Stocks surged after the statement, on both Asian and European markets.
• Israel strikes near Syria’s presidential palace. Israel’s military has launched air strikes near Syria’s presidential palace in Damascus after accusing the Syrian authorities of failing to protect the country’s Druze minority from sectarian violence. The attack early on Friday was the second of its kind by Israel this week and is seen as sending a strong message to Syria’s transitional government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Read more about how the Druze populations are being targeted in Syria in this piece by French analyst Pierre Haski.
• AfD classified as extreme-right by German intelligence. Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution on Friday designated the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a right-wing extremist organization that poses a threat to democracy and the constitutional order. The AfD came second in federal elections in February, winning a record 152 seats in the 630-seat parliament with 20.8% of the vote. Read about how the AfD has used the social media platform TikTok to strengthen its discourse in this piece translated from German into English by Worldcrunch.
• News Quiz! According to the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, for the first time conditions for journalists are bad in 50% of the world’s countries. Which trio of countries feature at the bottom of this year’s ranking?
A. China, North Korea, Eritrea
B. Sudan, Colombia, Turkey
C. Colombia, Haiti, Syria
D. Honduras, Afghanistan, Iran
[Answer below]
💬 LEXICON
Fantapapa
An estimated 60,000 users have started playing Fantapapa, an Italian online fantasy-football-like game that allows players to predict the next pope by selecting a team of 11 papal candidates. Created by AI architect Pietro Pace and video game developer Mauro Vanetti, the game awards points based on media mentions and the accuracy of predictions, including the chosen papal name. The papal conclave to elect the successor to Pope Francis is set to begin Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City: read more about it here.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇺🇦 For Kyiv, the race to accelerate arms production capacity is especially crucial as it strives to replace the Western arms it once depended on.
— LE FIGARO
☪️ Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University’s rooting of the idea of unfairness in inheritance division, based on the logic that men deserve twice as much as women, leaves women without full entitlement. One legal scholar is challenging this longstanding edict, and with it the very authority of the venerated Islamic institution.
— AL-MANASSA
🍼 In Zimbabwe, the quiet return of maternity fees and the black-market sale of essential documents put extra burdens on mothers as they struggle to navigate a broken system.
— GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL
📣 VERBATIM
“It’s not going to end any time soon.”
— U.S. Vice President JD Vance expressed a bleak outlook on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during an interview Thursday. He stated that the war is unlikely to end soon, emphasizing that both Russia and Ukraine are aware of each other’s terms for peace but have yet to reach an agreement. Vance described the situation as a “brutal, brutal conflict” and highlighted that its resolution ultimately depends on the two nations involved.
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright, Rein Arnauts & Bertrand Hauger
Quiz Answer: A. Press freedom is worse than ever worldwide, according to the latest global ranking issued on Friday by Reporters Without Borders, as its World Press Freedom Index shows that conditions for journalists are bad in 50% of the world’s countries. While Norway, Estonia and the Netherlands emerge on top of countries with a free, independent press, China, North Korea and Eritrea feature respectively as 178th, 179th and 180th in the rankings.
