Activists say ship aiming to sail to Gaza was attacked by drones

Barbara Tasch, Alice Cuddy

BBC News

Activists who were planning to sail a ship to Gaza say it was struck by drones in international waters off the coast of Malta - appearing to accuse Israel of being behind the attack.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said its ship The Conscience was targeted at 00:23 local time on Friday and issued an SOS signal right after the attack.

The BBC was sent a recording of the distress call from the flotilla ship, recorded by a crew member on a nearby oil tanker. The captain of the flotilla ship can clearly be heard reporting drone strikes and a fire onboard.

The Maltese government said everyone aboard the ship was "confirmed safe" and that a fire onboard the ship was "brought under control overnight".

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said it had planned to sail to Gaza with people including climate activist Greta Thunberg on board and "challenge Israel's illegal siege and blockade".

The NGO called for Israeli ambassadors to be summoned to answer for "violation of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel".

Israeli military strikes near Syria’s presidential palace after warning over sectarian attacks

By GHAITH ALSAYED and SAM MEDNICK

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.

The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded.

Syria’s presidency condemned the Israeli airstrike, calling it a “dangerous escalation against state institutions and the soveignty of the state.” It called on the international community to stand by Syria, saying that such attacks “target Syria national security and the unity of the Syrian people.”

Friday’s strike was Israel’s second on Syria this week, and attacking an area close to the presidential palace appears to send a strong warning to Syria’s new leadership that is mostly made up of Islamist groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

AfD classified as extreme-right by German intelligence

Paul Kirby

Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been designated as right-wing extremist by the country's federal office for the protection of the constitution.

"The ethnicity- and ancestry-based understanding of the people prevailing within the party is incompatible with the free democratic order," the domestic intelligence agency said in a statement.

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.

The parliament, or Bundestag, will hold a vote next week to confirm conservative leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor, heading a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats.

AfD joint leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said the decision was "clearly politically motivated" and a "severe blow to German democracy". They argued their party was being "discredited and criminalised" shortly before the change of government.

The far-right AfD had already been placed under observation for suspected extremism in Germany, and the intelligence agency had also classed it as right-wing extremist in three states in the east, where its popularity is highest.

With five days before the conclave, all but four cardinal electors are in Rome

Cindy Wooden - Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—All but four of the 135 cardinals who are eligible to enter the conclave May 7 to vote for a new pope had arrived in Rome by May 2, according to the Vatican press office.

Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 79, retired archbishop of Valencia, and Kenyan Cardinal John Njue, retired archbishop of Nairobi, who also is 79, have announced they are too ill to take part in the conclave and would not be traveling to Rome.

As the cardinals were meeting May 2, Vatican firefighters were installing the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. The chimney connects to the stove, installed in a corner of the chapel, where the cardinals’ ballots will be burned. With a chemical additive, black smoke out of the chimney signals that no one was elected while white smoke means the church has a new pope.

Any ‘military misadventure’ by India will be met with ‘swift, resolute response’: Pak Army chief

His remark comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack and Islamabad's apprehension of retaliatory action by New Delhi

PTI

Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir on Thursday warned that any "military misadventure" by India will be met with a "swift, resolute and notch-up response" as he visited a firing range to witness a high-intensity field training exercise conducted by the armed forces.

His remark comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack and Islamabad's apprehension of retaliatory action by New Delhi.

"Let there be no ambiguity: any military misadventure by India will be met with a swift, resolute and notch-up response,” the army chief was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan.

Japan prepared to use its role as America’s largest creditor as leverage in Trump trade talks

Story by Christiaan Hetzner

No country holds more provable Treasury debt than Japan with roughly $1.1 trillion, equivalent to a quarter of its entire economy. Since dumping U.S. sovereign bonds would severely hurt both Japan and the United States, investors view the threat as a psychological tactic to exert pressure as the clock ticks down on Trump's 90-day tariff pause.

Call it the nuclear option—a last resort that could unleash mutually assured financial destruction for two allies joined at the hip. Japan is prepared to use its role as America’s single largest creditor as a bargaining chip in ongoing trade negotiations with the Trump administration.

On Friday, a senior member of the government said the stockpile, primarily maintained to periodically intervene in foreign exchange markets, would also serve as an emergency deterrent to protect against maximal demands from the White House.

“We obviously need to put all cards on the table in negotiations. It could be among such cards,” finance ministers Katsunobu Kato was quoted as saying. “Whether we actually use that card, however, is a different question.”