Our daily cruise around the world

🇮🇱 Israel had an eventful past few days. 1) On Thursday, Israel’s Supreme Court froze funding to ultra-Orthodox seminaries unless their students forgo a religious exemption from mandatory service in Israel’s military; 2) Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest against PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government (☝️), marking the largest protest since the Israel-Hamas war began; 3) Syria and Iran accused Israel of launching a missile attack yesterday on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, which killed several top officers overseeing Iran’s covert operations in the Middle East.

🌍 Eastern Europe experienced a record two-and-a-half-day GPS jam. The attacks, which began on March 22, disrupted satellite navigation systems for 1,600 aircraft across Sweden, Germany, and Poland. The interference blocked all GPS service for the flights, forcing pilots and air traffic controllers to use less-effective navigational methods and increasing the risk of an accident. Experts say Russia is likely behind the unprecedented GPS jamming, given its recent history of similar, shorter attacks.

🇹🇷 Turkey's main opposition party won local elections across the country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party earned 36% of the popular vote in municipal elections held on Sunday, compared to a record-high 38% for the opposition Republican People’s Party. It marks the first time Erdogan's party didn’t win the popular vote since it started participating in elections in 2002. Analysts attribute the party’s decline in popularity to a cost-of-living crisis driven by 60+% annual inflation.