Situation Reports

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a press release on May 2 that the State Department officially designated the Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs, and specially designated global terrorist groups, or SDGTs.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, officially designated the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as an extremist group following a comprehensive three-year investigation, citing its ethnic-based definition of national identity as a threat to democratic values, Reuters reported on May 2. 

Taiwanese President William Lai plans to give a speech (likely on May 8) commemorating the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, in which he is expected to laud the cooperation of democracies in the face of authoritarian aggressors and may reference China as a modern-day parallel threat, Reuters reported on May 1.

In a May Day speech on May 1, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto pledged to "take back state assets" controlled by private business, citing the power to do so under Article 33 of Indonesia's 1945 Constitution, The Jakarta Post reported the next day.

Japan's trade envoy to the United States, Ryosei Akazawa, met with his counterparts in Washington on May 1, where the U.S. team proposed easing reciprocal tariffs (but maintaining automobile, steel and aluminum tariffs) on Japanese goods in return for Japanese concessions on nontariff barriers for automobiles and agriculture, a plan the Japanese team "strongly opposed," Nikkei reported on May 2.

Israel conducted an airstrike near Syria's presidential palace in Damascus, Bloomberg reported on May 2.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro sent Congress a 12-question referendum proposal, including questions aimed at overhauling the country's labor laws, AP reported on May 1.

British right-wing opposition party Reform UK won its fifth parliamentary seat in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election -- narrowly defeating the Labour Party of Prime Minister Keir Starmer by six votes, the BBC reported on May 2.

Senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump Massad Boulos said the United States is pushing the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda to sign a formal peace deal in two months, Reuters reported on May 1.

Participants in a national political conference organized by Mali's military regime recommended appointing junta leader Col. Assimi Goita as president of the republic for a renewable five-year term, without going through elections, RFI reported on April 30.