International
DR Congo announces new government after months of delay
The Democratic Republic of Congo announced a new government on Wednesday, ending more than five months of political uncertainty since the reelection of President Felix Tshisekedi.
The new Cabinet is composed of 54 ministers versus 57 in the last government, including Prime Minister Judith Sumonwa Tuluka, Congo’s first female prime minister who was appointed in early April.
At the Interior Ministry, the president appointed Jacquemain Shabani, his strongman former electoral campaign director who was already his main adviser on political and electoral matters.
Constant Mutamba, leader of the Congo Dynamic Progressive Revolutionary Opposition platform, was appointed justice minister, while Jean-Piere Bemba was replaced at the Defense Ministry by Guy Kabombo.
At the Foreign Ministry, Tshisekedi appointed a woman, Therese Kayiwamba, who replaced Christophe Lutundula.
Kizito Kapinga was appointed to the Mines Ministry, in charge of the Central African country’s globally significant reserves of coltan, copper, and other minerals.
The new government that has 16 women ministers came after more than five months of negotiations between new allies of the president, who control the parliament with 95% of National Assembly seats since the last election in December 2023.
The army claimed last week to have foiled a coup attempt in the capital Kinshasa, arresting several people involved in the plot.
The government’s immediate tasks include ending the M23 rebellion in the volatile east and improving the living conditions of ordinary citizens who live on less than $2 a day.
International
India’s Gen Z protesters force out education minister
The latest education protests erupted in May after NEET, India’s biggest medical entrance exam, was cancelled following a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million students to retake the test. More than 20 students died by suicide, with their families blaming the scandal.
Indian’s Gen Z protesters have forced out the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on Saturday, after more than a week of intense street protests.
In the words of 22-year-old Sakhi, a student activist in Delhi, “for the first time, it felt like we can make things happen through protests”.Soon after Pradhan quit, social media seized on an old video of a senior Modi minister boasting that “resignations do not happen in our government”, reflecting the confidence of the nationwide youth movement that had demanded his exit.
The latest education protests erupted in May after NEET, India’s biggest medical entrance exam, was cancelled following a question paper leak, forcing nearly two million students to retake the test. More than 20 students died by suicide, with their families blaming the scandal.
The outrage was channelled by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online campaign launched after India’s chief justice likened unemployed people with “fake and bogus degrees” to cockroaches.
Its founders staged a sit-in in Delhi, demanding Pradhan’s resignation, education reforms and compensation for the bereaved families.
International
Spain and France wildfires force more than 300,000 to flee as Macron calls crisis meeting
The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history.
•Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) and Castilla-y-Leon unit’s firefighters battle a fire in a forest next to La Atalaya residential area in El Tiemblo, 80 kms west of Madrid, on July 25, 2026. (Photo by Cesar MANSO / AFP via Getty Images)Cesar Manso | Afp | Getty Images
Wildfires are ravaging southern France and spreading into Spain, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee ahead of further expected heatwaves during the week.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday, while Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit areas hit by fires in Valencia, in the East of Spain.
The fire, which began in the Southwest of France in Gironde on Wednesday, has burned 42,000 hectares and has forced one of the largest evacuations in France’s history, according to French broadcaster France 24 and local news outlets.
The wildfires have also affected 77,000 hectares of the Avila and Toledo areas in Western Madrid.
The situation remains highly unfavorable,” France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X on Saturday, according to a Google translation.
“At the start of the night, in Gironde, the fire became extremely virulent and unpredictable again, generating its own wind and spreading erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. By the end of the night, it had calmed down somewhat.”
Source: CNBC
International
UK List Items Visitors Can And Cannot Bring
The updated guidance warned that failure to comply with customs regulations could lead to confiscation of goods, fines or even prosecution.
[File photo] UK PM, Andy Burnham
The United Kingdom has released updated lists of items travellers can and cannot bring into the country.
The updated guidance warned that failure to comply with customs regulations could lead to confiscation of goods, fines or even prosecution.
In the new listings while visitors are allowed to bring a range of personal belongings into the UK without paying customs duty or tax, strict limits apply to alcohol, tobacco and the value of other goods.
Certain items are also completely banned, while others require permits or licences before they can be imported.
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