The 2026 World Press Freedom Index, published this morning by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), records the worst deterioration in global media freedom in 25 years. More than half of the world's countries rank the situation as "challenging" or "very challenging," and the average index level has never been lower. A key trend is increasing legal pressure on the media: of the five indicators used to assess press freedom worldwide (economy, law, security, politics, culture, and society), the "law" indicator showed the most significant decline.

Elman Abdullaev, a veteran of the Ukrainian conflict and a native of North Ossetia, failed to obtain a review of his sentence in a fraud case. Following a ruling by a court in Vladikavkaz, the Southern District Military Court upheld his two-year prison sentence on charges of bribery.

Georgia and Armenia will host the 2029 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The national football associations of both countries confirmed this information, which was received at the FIFA Council in Vancouver on April 28.

The Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Ali Karimli expressed strong protest on the occasion of the 61st birthday of the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), which the politician is celebrating in the pretrial detention facility of the State Security Service. The human rights activists accused the authorities of exerting pressure on Karimli for years, including the revocation of his passport and periodic arrests.