Friedrich Merz had a rough day after losing the first round of what is usually a ceremonial vote to pick a new chancellor before clenching the vote in the second round. Israel is choosing to block aid from getting into Gaza and upend humanitarian organizations in the process. And the Romanian elections, which are happening for a second time after the first ones were cancelled, saw the leader of the far right take the biggest slice, but a second round is on its way.

Then, in Have You Heard Headlines, Erin & Jake break down the rest of the week's headlines to keep you in the know about what is happening in the rest of the world.

This podcast turns into an article summary at each week's episode over on Substack. We'd love for you to subscribe! You can also follow us on Instagram (@staywithmeherepod), Facebook, or Bluesky (@swmhpod.bsky.social).

Stay With Me Here is an independent project, and all views and opinions expressed in this show, and in this writeup, represent our personal views and not that of any organization we’re affiliated with.

Erin Flanagan is a former U.S. Coast Guard intelligence officer and Agence France-Presse digital investigations journalist.

Jacob Shropshire is an editorial intern at Worldcrunch and the managing editor of Peacock Media at the American University of Paris. He spent two years working for Democratic political campaigns in the U.S.

Liam Kuhns provided editing assistance for the podcast.