Latest news for 25 May 2026

DR CONGO

Ebola update.

With DR Congo’s suspected Ebola cases now surpassing 900 (likely under-counting), aid cuts and distrust in government are complicating the medical response in rural mining towns — at least two health clinics have faced community violence. Meanwhile, Oxford scientists say they could have a vaccine within months. (NPR)

UNITED STATES

Gabbard out.

Trump 2.0 spymaster Tulsi Gabbard has announced she’ll depart end of June, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Her deputy, former CIA operative and analyst Aaron Lukas, will step in as an interim replacement. (Reuters)

Comment: The rumour-mill is suggesting her non-interventionist vibes either a) got her pushed out by an interventionist White House, or b) just motivated her to leave.

PAKISTAN

Train attack.

The separatist ‘Baloch Liberation Army’ has claimed responsibility for the bombing of a train carrying security personnel, leaving at least 23 dead. (Guardian)

Comment: We explored this long-simmering conflict here.

KAZAKHSTAN

Nuclear delay incoming.

Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear agency has asked for at least another full year’s delay on Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant at Lake Balkhash, blaming financing headaches from Western sanctions. (EurasiaNet)

Comment: The fact President Tokayev just hosted Tokyo’s governor (Koike) for energy and tech talks suggests the Kazakhs aren’t leaving all their eggs in one Russian basket.

CHINA

Easy does it.

China’s State Council has issued guidelines that remove key hukou (household registration) barriers for roughly 300 million rural migrant workers! It means they can now enrol in social insurance — and get easier access to schooling, housing, healthcare — where they work rather than at their registered birthplace. (SCMP)

Comment: Framed as “people-centred urbanisation”, this historic move aims to boost domestic consumption and labour mobility amid slowing growth. But the question is how enthusiastically city governments will implement it without extra funding. Meanwhile, authorities have launched an investigation into Friday’s coal mine explosion, which left over 80 dead in Shanxi amid familiar alleged safety lapses.

SOUTH AFRICA

Regional huddle.

Foreign ministers from the 16-country SADC regional bloc (South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, DRC and others) just wrapped a rare three-day closed-door retreat in Kruger National Park, focused on how southern Africa should respond to East-West competition, economic fragmentation, and fast-moving tech. (DevDiscourse)

Comment: As our world goes wild, middle players are trying to avoid ending up mere spectators. SADC hasn’t yet gone beyond the usual statements about unity and self-reliance, but it’s a start.

RUSSIA

Putin lashes out again.

Putin has again hit Kyiv with one of the war’s largest combined missile + drone barrages, this time featuring his vaunted Oreshnik hypersonics. He’s hit multiple apartment buildings, with the death toll at four and climbing. (EuroNews)

Comment: Putin threatened this kind of attack if Ukraine didn’t agree a ceasefire during his annual victory day parade in Moscow. The Ukrainians agreed and now Putin has done it anyway (instead citing hits on a student dorm in Russian-occupied Ukraine). As his troops now lose ground, he’s trying to warn the world he’s far from exhausted, while showing hardliners at home he can still hit hard.