👋 Om Swastiastu!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where Germany’s Friedrich Merz fails to be elected chancellor in first vote, Sudan’s paramilitary forces target Port Sudan, and today’s quiz question involves papal conclave secrecy. Meanwhile, for French daily Le Figaro, Jeanne Sénéchal writes that age 60 may be the right time to sort through your friends.
[*Balinese]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Bogotá-based daily El Espectador lends its frontpage to the election of Colombian Laura Gil as the next Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), becoming the first woman to hold the position. All three candidates for the post were women, nominated by Colombia, Guatemala and Peru. This is “marking a milestone on the path toward fuller, more equal and more representative participation at the highest levels of leadership in the hemisphere,” said Mexico’s OAS Representative Luz Elena Baños Rivas.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Germany’s Merz falls short of votes needed to be elected chancellor. Leader of the conservative CDU party Friedrich Merz has unexpectedly failed to get the necessary majority in parliament to become the country’s new chancellor, falling six votes short in the first round of voting in the Bundestag on Tuesday. This comes as a surprise, as Merz’s conservatives had topped the polls in the national elections in February, and on Monday had reached a coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). A second round of voting is set to be held on Friday.
• Explosions, huge fire rock Sudan’s main port. Multiple explosions have been heard and a huge fire has erupted in Port Sudan, as the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rocks the city for a third day. Smoke could be seen on Tuesday emerging from the vicinity of the country’s main maritime port following the attacks on the city, a major hub for the army and the place where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge during the two-year conflict.
• Hamas says “no point” to truce talks as Israel plans to capture all of Gaza. A senior Hamas official has said there is “no point” in further talks on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, after Israel approved an expanded offensive that may include seizing all of the Palestinian territory indefinitely. On Monday, the Israeli military said the aim of the “wide-scale” operation was the return of hostages held by Hamas and its “decisive defeat.” Read more about Israel’s plans in the Middle East in this piece by French analyst Pierre Haski.
• Romanian PM resigns after nationalist vote win. Marcel Ciolacu resigned as Romanian prime minister on Monday, a day after the hard-right candidate, George Simion, easily won the first round of the country’s presidential election, and the candidate for Ciolacu’s center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD), Crin Antonescu, failed to secure a spot in the runoff. Simion, a eurosceptic who has promised to put Romania first, is expected to win the runoff on May 18.
• Russia attacks the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. This comes after Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow caused the temporary closure of the Russian capital’s airports overnight. It is the second night in a row that Ukraine has attacked Moscow and comes three days before a major parade in the city, marking victory in Europe in World War II. A three-day ceasefire in Ukraine, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is due to start on Thursday. Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes on the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Odessa have killed four people. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the war in Ukraine here.
• Macron to host al-Sharaa in Syrian leader’s first European trip. Syria’s new interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa will make his first European visit in a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, in an effort to bolster ties between the two countries despite increasing sectarian violence in Syria. Macron will “reiterate France’s support for the construction of a new Syria, a free, stable, sovereign Syria that respects all components of Syrian society,” the French presidency said.
• News Quiz! What step is the Vatican taking to make sure the conclave that starts tomorrow stays secret? Is it going to…
A. Install signal jammers
B. Black out all the Vatican’s windows
C. Soundproof the Sistine Chapel
D. Create a no-fly zone for drones over Vatican City
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$567 million
The European Union will spend 500 million euros ($567 million) over the next three years “to make Europe a magnet for researchers,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the “Choose Europe for Science” event on Monday in Paris. The EU initiative comes after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ordered major cuts to research funding and changes to science policy. “In the face of threats, Europe must become a refuge,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced that this country would commit another 100 million euros to woo researchers.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
✊ The citizens of Gaza have borne the consequences of not only the Israeli occupation but the authoritarian rule of Hamas for nearly 20 years. Is it finally reaching a breaking point?
— DARAJ
🇺🇦 Ukraine’s tragic geography has long made it the target of imperial ambitions, epitomized by the prize of Crimea. As the war drags on, the battle for Ukrainian sovereignty exposes not just Russia’s hunger for power, but also the West’s uneasy past and present complicity.
— DIE ZEIT
🧓 At the age of 60, you might think that friendships have weathered all storms. And yet, this period often marks a turning point. Some ties hold, others fray. Should we hold on, or let go?
— LE FIGARO
📣 VERBATIM
Netanyahu is directly meddling within the U.S. government to drag it into another disaster in our region.
— Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of interfering in U.S. policy in the Middle East. Araghchi wrote on X on Monday that “any mistake against Iran” would be costly. He also criticized U.S. backing of Israel’s Gaza offensive and urged a swift return to mutually respectful negotiations. This comes after Netanyahu called, on April 27, for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, and on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would accept only a ”total dismantlement.” Washington and Tehran have held three rounds of nuclear talks in recent weeks. The latest discussion, initially scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed “for logistical reasons,” according to mediator country Oman.
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Cecilia Laurent Monpetit
Quiz Answer: A. The Vatican plans to use signal jammers around the Sistine Chapel and deactivate all nearby mobile signals on Wednesday ahead of the conclave to elect a new Pope to prevent spying on the secretive selection process. The 133 cardinals who are eligible to vote will also give up their phones and electronic devices today, and will be cut off from the outside world until after a new pontiff is chosen.
