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Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. In US news, we are covering the Mike Waltz ousting, and we have a special report on the intimidation campaign directed at federal judges who stand in Trump's way.

Elsewhere, an activist aid ship is hit by drones on its way to Gaza, a look at Trump’s high stakes nuclear gamble with Iran, and Germany's spy agency classifies the far-right Alternative for Germany as an extremist entity.

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Today's Top News

Mike Waltz checks his mobile phone while attending a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

United States

In the first major shakeup in Trump’s inner circle, Mike Waltz is out and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the interim national security adviser. Steve Holland shares what’s next for Waltz, on today’s Reuters World News podcast.
Lawyers, teachers and politicians marched among thousands of demonstrators to join May Day protests of Trump's policies on immigration, the targeting of lawyers and judges, and the power of wealthy decision-makers.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reprised various misleading claims about vaccines this week, including that the measles vaccine contains cells from aborted fetuses and the mumps vaccination does not work.

Europe

Germany's domestic intelligence agency classified the far-right Alternative for Germany as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, a move enabling it to better monitor the party that came second in February's federal election.
Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK won a fifth parliamentary seat, its first post as mayor and many positions on local councils in early election results which underscored the threat it poses to Britain's main two political parties.

In other news

Trump blindsided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his decision to immediately open negotiations with Iran last month. Now, the talks hinge on winning key concessions that would prevent the Islamic Republic ever developing a nuclear bomb, eight sources said.
A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists for Gaza was bombed by drones in international waters off Malta, its organisers said, alleging that Israel was to blame.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese campaigned in his conservative opponent Peter Dutton's constituency on the final day before Saturday's election, with polls favouring the incumbent in a campaign overshadowed by Donald Trump's volatile diplomacy.

Business & Markets

As the US ends a tariff exemption for small parcels, some retailers have stopped selling to US customers while others are seeking temporary workarounds in the hope the tariff rate may be reduced. What is De Minimis and why did Trump end it as part of China tariffs?
TikTok was fined $600 million by its lead EU privacy regulator over concerns on how it protects user information and was ordered to suspend data transfers to China if its processing is not brought into compliance within six months.
A Reuters review of almost 100 Chinese and Hong Kong companies added to the US entity list in 2023 and 2024 found more than a quarter, or 26 entries, contained erroneous details. The entity list is a trade blacklist that bars specific companies and addresses from receiving restricted US goods.
London department store Harrods said hackers had attempted to break into its systems, the third high-profile cyber attack on a UK retailer in two weeks, following incidents at Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group.
Kohl's said it had fired CEO Ashley Buchanan after an investigation found he had pushed for deals with a vendor with whom he had a personal relationship, after little more than 100 days in the CEO job.

The Week Ahead

Voters in Australia, Romania and Singapore head to the polls.
The conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Francis begins on May 7.
The Federal Reserve will lead a pack of central banks meeting to set interest rates after weak US GDP data and President Donald Trump's outspoken criticism of Fed leadership rattled markets.
China trade data and Asian inflation numbers are expected to show the first evidence of the impact of Trump-led tariffs.
Here's a look at next week in the markets.

These judges ruled against Trump. Then their families came under attack

Readers of Gateway Pundit, a far-right news site, have posted threatening and harassing comments about the relatives of federal judges.

Federal judges who have stood in the way of Trump’s moves to dramatically expand presidential authority and slash the federal bureaucracy are facing an intimidation campaign. As Trump and his allies call for judges to be impeached or attack them as “radical left” political foes, the families of judges are being singled out for harassment.

Read our special report