#United States

DR Congo has a stake in Tuesday's US midterm elections, Actualite.cd reported in an analysis published before the vote. For Kinshasa, the key issues are funding for health cooperation and oversight of the Trump administration's economic commitments. The outlet said the vote alone will not decide whether the agreements survive or collapse. Americans voted for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 Senate seats. Governors, state lawmakers and local officials were also on the ballot. The president leads foreign policy, but Congress approves federal funds. Its committees can hold hearings, review spending and question programme officials. According to Actualite.cd, a new majority could change how commitments to Kinshasa are funded and monitored. The outlet stressed that this is an institutional possibility, not a given. Health cooperation shows what is at stake. A five-year memorandum signed on February 26, 2026, has an announced value of $1.2 billion. It provides up to $900 million in US support and a $300 million increase in Congolese national health spending. The programmes cover HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and disease surveillance. Actualite.cd noted that this money has not yet been paid out. The State Department plans to mobilise the aid together with Congress, so budget votes will matter. The strategic partnership signed on December…

Democrats won a sweeping victory in the US midterm elections. According to Semafor, the result could weaken President Donald Trump's leverage over allies who have previously gone along with his demands. A European diplomat told Semafor that "everybody is now obliged to look toward the post-Trump era." Max Bergmann of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Europeans did "a lot of bending the knee" in the first two years of Trump's presidency. He predicted that this deference could fade. Allies, he said, feel they no longer need to accept such treatment. Trade deals could also be at risk, said Richard Fontaine,…

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said he slipped back into Kenya quietly after nearly two months in the United States. He told a vernacular television station that he feared for his life. The Star and Nairobi Wire both reported the interview. Gachagua landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on October 20 at about 9pm. He did not spend the night at his Karen home in Nairobi. Instead, he got into a Probox and headed for Wamunyoro, Nyeri, arriving by midnight. "I returned silently. I made sure there were no photos," he said. The Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader said he left his usual convoy behind on purpose. He claimed security agencies and his political rivals would have spotted it and tracked him. He said he told no one about his travel plans, not even his drivers and security guards. He feared the details would leak. The quiet arrival was a sharp contrast…

US District Judge Leo Sorokin on Wednesday granted prosecutors' request to dismiss all charges against Kseniia Petrova. He did not hold a hearing, The Guardian reported. Petrova, 31, is a Russian scientist who brought frog embryos into the US for cancer research at Harvard Medical School. Petrova was arrested in March 2025 at Boston's Logan International Airport. She was returning from a holiday in France, where she had visited a laboratory that cuts extremely thin sections of frog embryos. There she picked up a package of samples for her research in the US. Customs officials questioned her about the samples. She was later charged with smuggling, concealing facts and making false statements to government officials. The case began to unravel when a federal judge ruled that a customs officer had improperly cancelled her visa. Petrova had feared deportation to Russia, where she could face prison. She had fled Russia after being arrested for protesting against the invasion of Ukraine. A judge ordered her release in May 2025. On Tuesday night, US Attorney Leah Foley filed a motion to drop the case. She cited "developments in this case and an assessment of the office's…

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned those who continue to support the Iranian government, BBC Swahili reported. The warning came after Washington announced new sanctions on what it called a large criminal network. The US says the network helps run Iran's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers, which trade in secret. Bessent said the sanctions are part of an economic operation…