PRESS REVIEW – Friday, 18 April: Papers in Italy discuss Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's visit to the White House. Next, US President Donald Trump escalates his battle with Harvard University and academia in the United States. Also, rising chocolate and egg prices put a dampener on Easter. Finally, the winner of the World Press Photo competition is a haunting photo of a young Palestinian boy.

Giorgia Meloni's visit to the White House is on most of Italy's front pages. La Stampa reclaims the British "special relationship" on its front page. The right-leaning paper Libero praises the Italian leader for having successfully invited Trump to discussions with European leaders on the EU-US trade conflict. The left-leaning daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, meanwhile, is slightly more critical of the visit. The article talks about a slightly tense moment in the meeting where Trump and Meloni did not see eye-to-eye on Ukraine. In the US, The New York Times looks at the similarities between the two leaders and why they might get along. The Guardian is also focusing on the relationship between Meloni and Trump, suggesting that they speak the same language. It says Meloni has been labelled the Trump whisperer, "deemed capable of awakening the concealed angels of his nature".

In the US, the arm wrestling between Harvard and the Trump administration continues. The Associated Press brings us news that Trump has now threatened to block the university from enrolling international students, and has called to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Newsweek had an opinion piece arguing that Trump's financial assault on Harvard demonstrates a fundamental disregard for constitutional law. Back in France, the US president's offensive on Harvard and universities is the front page of Libération, which says that more than six universities could be the target of sanctions if they do not comply with reforms. The Guardian says that amid the crackdown on research and academia in the US, the French University of Aix-Marseille has come up with a programme called "Safe Place for Science".

With Easter round the corner, many are already looking forward to their chocolate binging, but the mood this year is slightly dampened. Le Figaro looks at why chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs are so much more expensive today than they were last year. It puts it down to bad cocoa harvests, poor working conditions for cocoa farmers and increasing speculation. The Independent says that nearly half of Americans will skip Easter traditions because of high prices, which have become increasingly so because of inflation and Trump's trade war. Despite the high prices, it seems that demand for chocolate is still strong this Easter. Swissinfo tells us that 23 million chocolate rabbits have been produced in Switzerland so far.

Finally, the winner of the World Press Photo Competition was announced on Thursday, and it is a haunting picture. As the BBC reports, the winning photograph is a portrait of nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour recovering from war injuries. The young Palestinian boy lost both his arms in an Israeli air strike on Gaza. The photo was taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times.

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.