The last week has been eventful. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the US presidential elections, marking his return to the White House. In the week following his victory at the polls, the American president-elect has been busy training his team who will implement his vision.

So far, Trump has made some important choices in his cabinet, including his defense chief, his health secretary, his secretary of state and even his attorney general. Some of his choices, however, have sparked anger and shock even among members of his own party, the Republicans.

This week, the issue of falling birth rates also came back into the news. In an attempt to counter Russia’s low birth rate, it has been reported that President Vladimir Putin is considering creating a “sex ministry.”

Speaking of children, Iraq is set to pass a law that will allow men to marry girls as young as nine years old. Unsurprisingly, this law has generated significant negative reactions both domestically and internationally.

Ukraine, at war with Russia for more than two years, also made headlines this week when reports emerged that it was “months away” from building a nuclear bomb.

As we relax this weekend, here’s all that and more in our list 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 were chosen by US President Donald Trump to serve in his administration. Experts note that there is a recurring theme in Trump’s choices: loyalty. Trump 2.0 is above all his loyalists and those who remained by his side during the American presidential campaign.

Read our
explainer about how Trump chose these candidates to be on his team and how loyalty played the most important role in their selection.

2) This week, Trump also put aside the biggest question: Would he find a place for his “buddy” Elon Musk in the Cabinet? The US president-elect on Tuesday named billionaire and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new “Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE)” in his second administration.

Of the nomination, Trump said the “two wonderful Americans” would “dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excessive regulations, cut wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies” through the newly formed department, which would not be a government agency.

But what is DOGE? How would it work and what would it do? Here is the
answer.

3) Donald Trump’s victory shocked not only America, but also the entire world. Many are wondering what a Trump presidency would mean for global diplomacy. Ukraine is one of the countries worried about Trump’s rise: the US president-elect is not very supportive of the huge sums of money flowing to kyiv in aid.

Amid this concern, reports have emerged that Ukraine has the “material, knowledge” needed to build a nuclear bomb in “a few weeks.” However, this claim was refuted by the country’s foreign ministry.

What is the truth? We decode
here.

4) Amid the war in Ukraine, Russia faces another problem: the declining birth rate. Data shows 599,600 children were born in the first half of this year, 16,000 fewer than the same period last year and the lowest level since 1999.

To try to resolve this crisis, the country led by Vladimir Putin plans to set up a “
ministry of sex“who would make proposals and carry out a “special demographic operation” to increase its birth rate.”

5) The West Asian region is going through a period of turbulence: Israel continues its war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This led many airlines to opt for different flight routes, in an attempt to avoid bombings. But there is one airline that continues to fly through troubled skies: Lebanon’s national airline, Middle East Airlines.

Despite the incessant bombings, the airline continues to carry passengers, making it the pride of the country and also earning it the title of “the most badass airline on the planet.” Read our
report about how he manages to fly high.

6) Iraq is set to pass a law allowing men to marry girls under the age of nine. This bill lowers the age of marriage, which is currently 18, legalizing child marriage. It also shed light on countries with the lowest marriageable ages. Can you guess which ones? Here is our
explainer above.

With that, we are done and you are up to date with all the big stories from around the world.

PS: Do you want some light reading? Read this wacky story about how a
The Swedish minister’s banana phobia became national headlines.