Labour victory shakes up British politics, Starmer to lead new government

This happened while you were sleeping. Here’s what global agencies reported overnight from Thursday to Friday.

• The Labour Party, which has been in opposition for 14 years, decisively won Thursday’s elections in the British House of Commons, meaning its leader, Keir Starmer, will receive the task of forming a government from King Charles III on Friday. According to exit polls, Labour secured 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. “I take responsibility for the loss. I’m sorry,” said British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak, commenting on the defeat. Although he managed to retain his seat, Sunak will step down on Friday as prime minister and likely the party leader.

• Authorities in the Central African Republic found the burned, decapitated body of a 19-year-old miner in the town of Koki, in the Ouham prefecture. The authorities accuse Russian mercenaries from the African Corps, the successor to the Wagner Group, of his murder. Russian mercenaries have killed over 900 civilians in the Central African Republic since December 2020, making them the deadliest armed group operating in the country, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. This organization analyzes and maps armed conflicts.

• Brazil's federal police have formally charged former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with embezzling and selling valuables he received as gifts from the Saudi government. The charges include conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering, and embezzlement. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing.

• Abigail Disney, Walt Disney's granddaughter, said on Thursday in an interview with CNBC that she will suspend donations to the Democratic Party until President Joe Biden withdraws from the race for the 2024 U.S. presidential elections.

• A military tribunal in the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced 25 soldiers to death for fleeing from fights with rebels from the March 23 Movement (M23) and for theft, army spokesperson Reagan Mbuyi Kalonji said on Thursday. For over two years, the Congolese army has been fighting rebels from M23 in North Kivu province in the eastern part of the country, with the DR Congo authorities claiming that neighboring Rwanda supports the rebels. At the end of last week, two strategic towns, Kirumba and Kanyabayonga, fell into the hands of the insurgents.