#political-instability

#political-instability

Highways have been blocked for weeks, and now the situation is growing ever more tense in the city of La Paz, where Bolivia's government is based. Local journalists reported that demonstrators have begun detonating small charges of dynamite to express their discontent. Protesters have stormed public buildings and set up dozens of blockades, leading to fuel and food shortages and causing hospitals to run out of oxygen cylinders. Banks have closed as a precaution.

Former foreign minister Peter Shanel Agovaka, who quit cabinet in March and is the frontrunner to become the next prime minister, said Manele had shown weak leadership as ministers conferred favours to business cronies. Here we have a group of people who are feeding themselves to the coffers, he told parliament.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Budget negotiations have consumed the French political class for nearly two years, after President Emmanuel Macron's 2024 snap election delivered a hung parliament just as a massive hole in public finances made belt-tightening more urgent. The budget talks have cost two prime ministers their jobs, unsettled debt markets and alarmed France's European partners. However, Lecornu whose chaotic two-stage nomination in October drew derision around the world managed to secure the support of Socialist lawmakers through costly but targeted concessions.

About 300,000 people have fled South Sudan so far in 2025 as armed conflict between rival leaders threatens civil war, the United Nations warns. The mass displacement was reported on Monday by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. The report cautioned that the conflict between President Salva Kiir and suspended First Vice President Riek Machar risks a return to full-scale war. The commission's report called for an urgent regional intervention to prevent the country from sliding towards such a tragic event.

The dollar index rose on Wednesday, as weakness in the euro and yen overshadowed concerns about the US government shutdown. The prolonged impasse continues to delay key data releases and cloud the policy outlook, but investors appear more focused on political turmoil in France and uncertainty in Japan. In Tokyo, Sanae Takaichi's unexpected leadership win raised expectations of stimulus-friendly policies that could weigh further on the yen.

We are very concerned about the sentencing of [Joseph Kabila] by the military court,

Ghimire added that more than 12,500 prisoners who escaped from multiple jails countrywide remain on the run. About 13,500 prisoners had escaped some have been recaptured, 12,533 are still at large. The dead included prisoners killed during or after their escape in clashes with Nepalese security forces. Some of the fugitives have reportedly tried to cross into India, where scores have been apprehended by Indian border forces.

On Sunday, Nepal's then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli mocked youth protesters, who were planning a major agitation the following day in the capital, Kathmandu, against corruption and nepotism. By calling themselves the Gen Z, the protesters seemed to believe they could demand whatever they wanted, he said. list of 4 itemsend of list Less than 48 hours later, Oli was an ex-PM, and the Gen Z protest movement he had spoken dismissively of was discussing who should lead Nepal.

Lecornu, 39, who said humility was the key approach, now faces the difficult task of gaining enough support from France's divided parliament to pass a budget if he is to avoid being swiftly ousted in the same way as Bayrou, and before him, the rightwing Michel Barnier, who only lasted three months. We will get there no path is impossible, Lecornu said.