The Supreme Court of Israel has unanimously struck down petitions seeking to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on corruption charges, from forming a coalition government with his former rival Benny Gantz.
Why it matters: The decision paves the way for the new government to be sworn in on May 13, bringing an end to more than a year of political deadlock in which Israel was forced to hold three consecutive elections.
Andela, a tech staffing platform focused on training and connecting African developers with U.S. companies, today confirmed to TechCrunch that it has laid off more than 11% of its staff, or 135 employees. Among its investors are Google Ventures and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Why it matters: Tech has been among the world's most resistant sectors to coronavirus-related troubles, with the Nasdaq nearly flat for the year, but it still isn't immune.
World Health Organization legal counsel Steven Solomon said on May 4 that two WHO member nations have proposed the organization grant observer status to Taiwan.
Why it matters: China opposes the WHO granting recognition to Taiwan. The decision will likely be seen as a reflection of Beijing's influence within the organization.
In the past week or so, Americans have been inundated with intelligence reports and other information relating to the origins of the coronavirus. Yet these leaks seem at times to present conflicting information.
The big picture: The U.S. is bullish on the possibility that the coronavirus outbreak started with a lab accident in China. But U.S. allies say that's unlikely.
A growing number of reportsindicate Chinese officials pushed their counterparts in Europe to make positive statements about China in order to receive shipments of medical supplies to fight the novel coronavirus.
Why it matters: The revelations further taint Beijing's attempts to portray itself as a responsible and trustworthy leader in global public health.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning to travel to Israel next week for a 24-hour visit, Israeli officials tell me.
Why it matters: This will be the first visit of a senior foreign official to Israel since coronavirus travel restrictions came into place. This will also be Pompeo’s first trip abroad since the crisis became a global pandemic.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season began late Monday night, and with ESPN set to air six live games each week, it's time we get to know what this league, which began in 1982, is all about.
The state of play: In the world baseball hierarchy, talent evaluators rank the KBO beneath MLB, NPB (Japan) and AAA (MiLB), but above AA, High A, CPBL (Taiwan) and Low A.
Neil Ferguson, one of the U.K.'s most prominent epidemiologists working on coronavirus response, resigned Tuesday after breaking lockdown rules to have a woman visit him at home, the Telegraph first reported.
The big picture: Models produced by Ferguson and his team at Imperial College London warned that 250,000 people could die from the coronavirus in the U.K. unless the government took drastic action to stem the spread. The projections ultimately contributed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to lock down the country after initially ruling against it.
The Philippines' telecommunications commission shut down the country's largest TV network on Tuesday, in a surprise move that follows other steps by President Rodrigo Duterte's government to put pressure on major media outlets.
Why it matters: The cease-and-desist order for broadcaster ABS-CBN follows legal threats on the Philippines' largest newspaper, which was sold under pressure to a Duterte ally, and legal cases against leading news site Rappler. It also removes a leading source of news from the airwaves during the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.K. surpassed Italy on Tuesday to report the most coronavirus deaths in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins data and its own tracker.
Driving the news: The country, which prolonged its lockdown last month until at least the second week of May, has reported more than 196,000 cases compared to Italy's roughly 213,000. Imperial College London is undertaking the randomized testing of 100,000 people in England this week to gain data on when the lockdown might be able to lift, per The Guardian.
Governments in Western democracies are being pressured by the news industry to come up with relief plans to support local media companies upended by the coronavirus pandemic — and some have already begun implementing small aid programs.
Why it matters: Most experts agree these efforts are not sustainable in supporting the local media ecosystem long-term.
The world now appears to be moving beyond peak lockdown, with at least 12 countries loosening restrictions today.
Why it matters: While regions and countries will likely be forced to reimpose lockdowns as the pandemic develops, we may not again see half of humanity constrained at the same time.
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