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The UN and partners on Sunday issued a stark warning over the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as Israeli authorities maintain a near-total blockade on the delivery of aid for a ninth consecutive week.
Read the full story, “UN warns of growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”, on globalissues.org →
BRATISLAVA, May 02 (IPS) - Global press freedom across the world is at a “critical moment,” campaigners have warned, as a major index mapping the state of global press freedom hits an unprecedented low.
SAN FRANCISCO, USA, May 02 (IPS) - Eight years before the U.S.-backed regime in South Vietnam collapsed, I stood with high school friends at Manhattan’s Penn Station on the night of April 15, 1967, waiting for a train back to Washington after attending the era’s largest antiwar protest so far.
WASHINGTON DC, May 02 (IPS) - The most powerful court in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is preparing to clarify the obligations of States in relation to climate change. In its upcoming Advisory Opinion, the Court must articulate ambitious standards for respecting and protecting the human rights of environmental defenders in the context of the climate crisis.
Read the full story, “To Save Our Planet, We Must Protect Its Defenders”, on globalissues.org →
UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (IPS) - After over two years of extended warfare in Sudan, humanitarian organizations have expressed fears of an imminent collapse as widespread hunger, displacement, and insecurity ravages the population. With tensions between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) having reached a new peak in 2025, it is imperative that Sudanese communities in the most crisis-affected areas have unfettered access to life-saving aid.
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French police say they rescued the father of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur, the second ransom case linked to the crypto world this year.
(Image credit: Ahn Young-joon)
Israel said it would retaliate after four people were injured and flights temporarily suspended.
(Image credit: Ohad Zwigenberg)
An 18-year-old from Russian-occupied Luhansk tells NPR how and why he escaped to Kyiv.
(Image credit: Anton Shtuka for NPR)
Police say they arrested two people involved. The target was a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, which drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana Beach on Saturday night.
(Image credit: Buda Mendes)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump proposed sending American troops into Mexico to help her administration fight drug trafficking but she rejected it.
(Image credit: Marco Ugarte)
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President Donald Trump said he could extend the deadline for a deal to spin off TikTok's U.S. assets because he has a "warm spot" in his heart for the social media platform.
"I have a little sweet spot in my heart because, as you know, I won young people by 36 points," Trump claimed after NBC host Kristen Welker asked him about TikTok. "No Republican ever won young people, and I won it by 36 points."
Also read: 'This is our shot': Dems believe MTG's new job gives 'golden opportunity' to destroy GOP
"So perhaps I shouldn't say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for tic tac," he added. "TikTok is very interesting, but it'll be protected."
CNN has called Trump's claim that he won the youth vote by 36 points "clearly false."
Watch the video below from NBC or at the link.
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to extend a recent pause in rate cuts this week as it waits to see how President Donald Trump's stop-start tariff rollout affects the health of the world's largest economy.
Trump has imposed steep levies on China, and lower "baseline" levies of 10 percent on goods from most other countries, along with 25 percent duties on specific items like steel, automobiles and aluminum.
The president has also paused higher duties on dozens of other trading partners until July to give them time to renegotiate existing arrangements with the United States.
Most economists expect the tariffs introduced since January to push up prices and cool economic growth -- at least in the short run -- potentially keeping the Fed on hold for longer.
"The Fed has to be very focused on maintaining inflation so that it doesn't start moving back up in a more persistent way," said Loretta Mester, who recently stepped down after a decade as president of the Cleveland Fed.
"That would undermine all the work that was done over the last three years of getting inflation down," she told AFP.
The Fed has held its key interest rate at between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent since December, as it continues its plan to bring inflation to the bank's long-term target of two percent, with another eye firmly fixed on keeping unemployment under control.
Recent data points to inflation hitting that target ahead of the introduction of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, while unemployment has remained relatively stable, hugging close to historic lows.
At the same time, various "softer" data points such as consumer confidence surveys have pointed to a sharp decline in optimism about the health of the US economy -- and growing concerns about inflation.
"Whether the economy enters a recession or not, it's hard to say at this point," said Mester, now an adjunct professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
"I think the committee remains in good condition here, and most likely they'll remain on hold at this meeting," said Jim Bullard, the long-serving former president of the St. Louis Fed.
"I think it's a good place for them to be while there's a lot of turbulence in the trade war," added Bullard, now dean of the Daniels School of Business at Purdue University.
Financial markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to announce another rate cut pause on Wednesday, according to data from CME Group.
US hiring data for April published last week came in better than expected, lowering anxiety about the health of the labor market -- and reducing pressure on the Fed's rate-setting committee to reach for rate cuts.
Economists at several large banks including Goldman Sachs and Barclays subsequently delayed their expectations for rate cuts from June to July.
"Cutting in late July allows the committee to see more data on the evolution of the labor market, and should benefit from resolving uncertainty about tariffs and fiscal policy," economists at Barclays wrote in a note to clients published Friday.
Other analysts see rate cuts happening even later, depending on the effects of the tariffs.
The rise in longer-run inflation expectations in the survey data points to growing concerns that tariff-related price pressures could become embedded in the US economy, even as the market-based measures have remained close to the two percent target.
"I would be sort of in the camp (saying) prove to me that they're (tariffs are) not going to be inflationary," Mester said, adding it would be "unwise" to assume that inflation expectations were stable given the recent survey data.
But Bullard from Purdue took a different view, stressing the stability of the market-based measures.
"I haven't liked the survey-based measures of inflation expectations, because they seem to be partly about inflation, but partly about many other issues, maybe, including politics," he said.
"This is a moment where you might want to look through the survey-based measures that are talking about very extreme levels of inflation that don't seem likely to develop near-term," he added.
China is getting fed up with Donald Trump putting out "confusing information" about the two nations having trade talks, MSNBC reported Saturday.
The network's Alex Witt over the weekend asked their reporter in the field about how China is responding to Trump's tough talk and action when it comes to tariff rates.
The reporter actually laughed as she explained a recent statement from the Asian country.
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"China's ministry has said that if the U.S. wants to start negotiations, that they need to do away with these unilateral tariffs," the reporter said. "And they also said that the U.S. has expressed interest in wanting to start negotiations."
She then added, "They've also said, because there's been a lot of statements out of China, they've said at one point that the U.S. needs to stop putting out confusing information and really misleading people into thinking that these negotiations are happening."
"Of course, President Trump has been saying, 'Well, yeah, there are talks happening. I have talked to President Xi.' What's clear is that he hasn't talked to him since these tariffs went into effect," the reporter added.
At the top of CNN's "The Lead," host Jake Tapper smacked down President Donald Trump's new jobs claim.
The host reported that the financial markets have finally returned from the hefty losses they experienced after Trump announced the trade war. On his Truth Social platform, however, Trump wrote that gas prices were down "as billions of dollars pour in from tariffs."
Tapper conceded that mortgage rates have dropped and the jobs report was better than expected. But the post still didn't pass muster for Tapper.
"The gas thing — completely not true," said Tapper. "Gas is not even close to $1.98 a gallon," as Trump claimed.
ALSO READ: 'Lasting damage': Anti-Trump senators assess 'staggering' impact of Trump 2.0
He cited data from AAA, which reported the average price today at $3.18 for regular unleaded. Only E-85 is below $3 at $2.61.
"The idea, also, that there's no inflation, I mean," Tapper continued with a shrug. "False. And since Trump brought up the subject of tariffs here's the potential bad news for the U.S. economy that is part of this mixed bag: Americans are about to just start feeling the impacts of the massive 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, economists say."
The ships coming to the United States from this day forward will also carry the hefty tariffs along with the items. While there was a loophole for shipping items under $800, Tapper said that "has now expired."
"So, now, economists say, we should expect higher prices for all kinds of everyday items," said Tapper. It will include low commerce sites like Temu and Amazon Haul.
See his take below or at the link here.
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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson took to X on Friday to defend actor Russell Brand who was arrested on rape and assault charges in London.
Brand was granted "conditional bail," The Associated Press reported Friday. Last month, Brand was charged with two counts each of rape and sexual assault, as well as a count of indecent assault. He hasn't entered a plea but has previously denied the allegations.
ALSO READ: Trump supporters are pretending like they were duped. Don't believe it.
Carlson claimed, "None of the charges are backed by hard evidence. All of them supposedly took place more than 20 years ago, one of them in the 1990s. The entire case is transparently political and absurd, a near-identical replay of the fake rape charges authorities brought against Julian Assange 15 years ago."
Carlson said that Brand "was once a famous leftwing actor, celebrated by the British establishment" before he began criticizing "the government for using Covid to turn the UK into a totalitarian state. The accolades abruptly stopped. A government TV station accused Brand of committing sex crimes against anonymous women they refused to name. Government officials called for his opinions to be scrubbed from the internet. Last month, British prosecutors charged Brand with rape and sexual assault. None of the charges are backed by hard evidence."
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By Colette Davidson
When Ukrainian war correspondent Andriy Dubchak heard the anti-aircraft explosion overhead, one recent night in Kharkiv, he ran into the bedroom where his wife and 4-month old baby were sleeping to lie with them.
“I thought in that moment, it was better to die together,” says Mr. Dubchak, the founder of Frontliner, an independent media outlet.
Mr. Dubchak is one of a dwindling number of independent Ukrainian journalists who have remained in the country and continued to report from the frontlines, while under constant threat of drones, shelling and explosions. Over 300 media have been forced to close since the Russian occupation in 2022, and few male journalists remain – most have had to join the army.
For independent journalists still reporting from inside Ukraine, the rules are changing. More women journalists are joining the profession, and security is a constant challenge. Reporters must operate differently to stay safe and media outlets are offering new content as the needs of residents change with the rules of war.
But independent journalists in Ukraine have remained fearless and committed to the task of bringing the news to those who either can’t or don’t want to leave the country.
“The situation on the frontline is worse than in 2022, with more drones and shells attacking Ukraine,” says Mr. Dubchak. “At the same time, only Ukraine can fight for ourselves.”
Local media non-profits have been an essential support system for Ukrainian journalists as the media landscape transforms. Newsrooms have had to relocate – often multiple times – and journalists with no hostile environment training have been thrust into life-threatening situations.
Media outlets have also lost significant revenue streams or have had to switch to digital-only models. Some publications have gone from offering pure news to information on how residents can rebuild their communities left destroyed by the war.
The Association of Independent Press Publishers of Ukraine (AIRPPU) regularly offers trainings and workshops to help journalists increase their audience and learn how to use artificial intelligence or video tools. They’re also providing mental health and financial support to media professionals, and practical information on how to stay safe.
“The main challenge is security,” says Oksana Brovko, the CEO of AIRPPU, who will accept the 2025 Golden Pen award on behalf of independent Ukrainian media. “We help them relocate from places that are occupied and how to delete information from their phones or computers for their own protection.”
As the war drags on, local and regional media in Ukraine have become an important resource, not just for updates on the latest attacks or death counts, but on practical information for residents. Local journalists are using their publications to help locals find green corridors to escape, how to renew administrative documents, or information on internal displacement.
“Local journalists are close to the evidence, and they have the biggest level of trust of local people,” says Oleksii Pogorelov, president of the Ukrainian Media Business Association. “Before the war, they were just news distributors. But when they saw that people needed help, they started transforming.”
In the town of Koltelva in the Poltava region, the local newspaper published information about a bridge that had been destroyed in the war. Lacking any public infrastructure at the time, the paper called on residents to repair the bridge themselves. Thanks to that call, residents repaired not only that bridge, but four others as well.
“We’re trying to explain to local media that they can’t just spread information anymore,” says Mr. Pogorelov. “They also need to be helpful.”
Among the many challenges for independent Ukrainian media is finding financing to keep publications afloat. Most local and regional publications are operating with zero income, and rely heavily on donations or help from non-profits.
But the desire to do more, with less, continues. And independent Ukrainian journalists remain an inspiration.
“This award is a chance to highlight every single journalist working in Ukraine, but also those outside the country,” says Ms. Brovko, from AIRPPU. “Ukrainian journalists can feel very alone in what they’re doing. But this award is a reminder that they’re making really valued journalism.”
The post The Independent Press of Ukraine wins WAN-IFRA’s 2025 Golden Pen of Freedom award appeared first on WAN-IFRA.
Thank you. Today I stand here – with a tremble in my voice and a deep sense of responsibility in my heart. Because this award is not about me. It is about all those who keep writing, filming, and telling the truth – even when missiles are falling nearby.
It was 1957. My great-grandmother Stepanida Brovko sent a letter to the Kremlin, to Moscow. She was searching for her husband, who was arrested for anti-Soviet activities 20 years before, in 1937. She did not know that a week after the arrest, Soviet executioners shot him to death. She did not know that no one would tell her the truth. She simply did not lose hope.
My great-grandfather was a worker at the railway station in a small village in the Zaporizhzhia region. For generations, our family had lived there since 18th Century. Today, that village is occupied by Russia.
These days, other wives of other arrested, captured, or missing Ukrainians write the same letters searching for their husbands. They look for their names or faces in photos in Russian Telegram channels, staring at lists of bodies returned from Russia.
Almost 90 years later, same tragedy happens with my colleague – Ukrainian journalist Victoriya Roshchyna. Who went to the occupied territories to document life under Russian control. In 2023 she was illegally attested, tortured with electric shocks, stabbed, her weight dropped to just 30 kg. Then she disappeared. Only this February, her family received her dead body from Russia.
Nothing has changed. Nothing will change as long as Russia exists in its current form.
I come to you from a country where journalism is not just a profession – it’s a way to survive.
I stand here because I survived. But that doesn’t mean I’m safe.
In Ukraine, even silence is temporary. And it’s the silence we fear the most.
Because journalism in wartime is no longer about headlines – it’s about holding on to life itself.
Let me show you what our “news” looks like:
“Without him, we would have burned” – a schoolboy saves people during shelling in Sumy.
Children in Kherson region taken to Russian camps for forced re-education.
Black-and-white body bags: a volunteer shares the darkest moments of her work.
These are real headlines, printed in Ukrainian newspapers last month. Behind each of them is not just a story – but a shattered life, a broken home.
We are not just fighting for territory. We are fighting for the right to call things by their names.
This is war.
These are Russian crimes.
This is independent Ukraine.
We are Ukrainians.
I do not stand here alone. I stand with hundreds of Ukrainian journalists. Some still reporting, some imprisoned, some killed, some never found.
You often ask: How do you endure this? My answer is simple: we don’t write because we are brave. We write because silence is not an option. We preserve the memory of who we are – for ourselves and for the world.
I’m not just the head of a media association. I’m a mother of four children who are growing up in war. A woman who checks the path of enemy drones before sending her kids to school. And every morning, I ask myself: What if tonight I don’t come home?
When the full-scale invasion began, editors messaged not “Hello,” but: “A missile hit my house. Where do I run?”, “We escaped occupation. What now?”
With my colleagues, we evacuated newsrooms. We found bulletproof vests – not for soldiers, but for journalists. Starlink – not for the army, but for the press. We found housing, equipment, funds. We sourced paper and deliver it across the border – so frontline media could print.
Each newsroom we saved was a point of resistance. Because when journalists fall silent – the occupiers speak instead. And we pay for this right to speak, every day.
In the past three years in Ukraine: 332 media outlets have been closed, 97 journalists have been killed – 12 during reporting, over 30 media workers remain imprisoned.
While a journalist in London reports on a new museum – a reporter in Sumy runs toward a missile strike. While a broadcaster in Oslo covers election debates – an editor in Kramatorsk, without power or internet, fights to print tomorrow’s newspaper.
These are different realities. But we share one responsibility.
In a world where disinformation spreads faster than truth – where machines can mimic human voices and faces – real journalism is our last line of defence.
Today the war is in Ukraine. Tomorrow it could be in your country. And journalists will once again be the first to speak. And the first to be targeted. That’s why journalism must be prepared – everywhere. And protected – everywhere.
Recently, we spoke with Lyuba, a 20-year-old war reporter from the Sumy region. She said: “FPV drones fly over us constantly. My helmet draws attention. So I have taken it off – to stay alive.”
That is what journalism looks like in Ukraine.
And that’s why this award is not a celebration. It is a responsibility.
Last night I have thought about various quotes of Ukrainian freedom leaders what I could use during the speech, but chose to use the quote from the soul of Ukraine – its’ hymn:
Душу й тіло ми положим
За нашу свободу
We will lay down our body and soul
for our freedom.
And this is exactly what we fight for as media organizations. We support hundreds of local independent newsrooms so that we Ukrainians survive not as individuals, but as a nation.
We do not provide food to eat, we provide food for the brain. We do not fight with soldiers, we fight with propaganda and disinformation. Our job is to publish independent news. And this is the thing that forms the mindset of a nation of freedom.
Freedom is not something you have from birth. It does not fall from the sky. It must be fought for – every day. With every word. Every choice. Sometimes, with your life.
Ukraine is proving that.
Now more than ever, we need strong, clear, united voices – your voices.
Thank you for standing with us.
[Speech in Ukrainian]
The post Oksana Brovko, CEO of the Association of Independent Press Publishers of Ukraine, 2025 Golden Pen of Freedom speech appeared first on WAN-IFRA.
