 "This Week in Explainers: What changes will Musk and Ramaswamy-led DOGE bring to the US")
It’s been a hectic past week. Donald Trump trounced Kamala Harris in the US presidential polls, marking his comeback to the White House. In the week since winning the polls, the US president-elect has been busy forming his team, which will implement his vision.
Trump, so far, has made some important picks in his Cabinet, including his defence chief, his health secretary, his secretary of state and even his attorney general. Some of his choices, however, have elicited anger and shock even from his own party members, the Republicans.
This week also saw the matter of dipping birthrates back in the news. In an attempt to counter Russia’s low birth rates, it’s been reported that President Vladimir Putin is considering a ‘ministry of sex’.
Speaking of children, Iraq is closer to passing a law that will allow men to marry girls as low as the age of nine. This law, unsurprisingly, has sparked significant backlash both domestically and internationally.
Ukraine, which has been warring against Russia for over two years, also made big headlines this week when reports emerged that it was ‘months away’ from building a nuclear bomb.
As one unwinds this weekend, here’s all this and more in our wrap of explainers from around the world.
1) Susie Wiles, Tom Homan, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Matt Gaetz and Marco Rubio… What do all these names have in common? They have been picked by US President Donald Trump to be part of his administration. Experts note that there’s one recurring theme in Trump’s choices, and that’s loyalty. Trump 2.0 is all about his loyalists and those who stuck by his side during the US presidential campaign.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRead our explainer on how Trump chose these candidates to be a part of his team and how loyalty has played the biggest factor in their selection.
2) This week also saw Trump putting the biggest question to bed — would he find a place for his ‘buddy’ Elon Musk in the Cabinet? The US president-elect on Tuesday appointed the billionaire and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)” in his second administration.
On the appointment, Trump said that the “two wonderful Americans” would “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies” through the newly formed department, which would not be a government agency.
However, what is DOGE? How would it operate and what would it do? Here’s the answer .
3) Donald Trump’s win has not only shaken up America, but also the world. Many wonder what a Trump presidency would mean for world diplomacy. One of the countries worried about Trump’s ascension is Ukraine — the US president-elect is not a big fan of the huge amounts of money being given to Kyiv as aid.
Amid this concern, reports have come in that Ukraine has the “material, the knowledge” to build a nuclear bomb within a “few weeks”. However, this assertion was refuted by the country’s foreign ministry.
What’s the truth? We decode here .
4) Amid the Ukraine war, Russia has another problem on hand — the declining birth rate. Data shows that 599,600 children were born in the first half of this year — 16,000 less than the same period last year and the lowest since 1999.
In an attempt to solve this crisis, the Vladimir Putin-led country is considering setting up a ‘ ministry of sex ’ that would make proposals and carry out and carry out a “special demographic operation” to boost its birth rate”.
5) The region of West Asia is seeing turbulent times — Israel continues its war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This has led to many airlines opting for different air routes, in an effort to avoid the bombing. But there’s one airline that continues to fly over troubled skies — Lebanon’s national air carrier — Middle East Airlines.
Despite the constant bombing, the airline continues to ferry passengers, making it the pride of the country and also earning it the title of ‘most badass airline on the planet’. Read our report on how it manages to fly high.
6) The country of Iraq is one step closer to passing a law that allows men to marry girls below the age of nine. This proposed law slashes the marriageable age from the existing age of 18, which, in turn, legalises child marriage. This has also shone the light on countries with the lowest marriage age. Can you guess which they are? Here’s our explainer on it.
With this, we are done and you are caught up with all the big stories from across the world.
PS: Are you in the mood for some light reading? Read this kooky story on how a Swedish minister’s phobia of bananas became national headlines.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
