Tuesday 3rd November 2026. Belgium PM resigns. Bulgaria new president. Italy cuts teachers. Western Sahara mission...

0:00 Good morning, this is Send7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Juliet Martin and today is Tuesday the 3rd of November 2026. Starting in Europe today. Belgium's Prime Minister Bart de Wever resigned yesterday during a meeting with King Philippe after the coalition parties failed to reach an agreement about next year's budget. The King will consider the offer of resignation, according to the palace. In a statement, the palace said, In light of the large geopolitical uncertainty, and severe economic challenges, the country can't afford a long political crisis. Bulgaria has elected its first female president, Ilyana Yotova. Yotova won 57.6% of the votes in the runoff vote on Sunday. She was backed by Prime Minister Rumin Radov. Italy will reduce

1:27 the number of teachers and janitors as the birth rate continues to decline. In the draft 2027 budget, staffing levels would fall by 4,925 units for teachers and a 75% hiring cap will be placed on replacing retiring staff. The number of school students in Italy has fallen from 8.4 million in 2017 to 7.7 million in 2025. Africa The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara will end after 35 years. The Security Council did not renew its mandate in the region. Morocco has welcomed the decision. Morocco claims the Western Sahara as its own territory. Members of the opposition Polisario Front group have expressed concern. Uganda has said it has begun withdrawing troops from Somalia after nearly

2:45 20 years of deployment. There are about 4,500 Ugandan troops deployed in Somalia, according to state media. They were posted to help the government fight al-Shabaab insurgents. In Cameroon, at least four people have been killed and 16 have been severely burned in an explosion at an iron smelting plant.

3:16 According to reports, the incident was caused by an external factor that is yet to be determined. Asia In Bangladesh, garment factories reopened then shut down again yesterday during conflict between workers and police. Bangladeshi factories supply brands including H & M, Zara, Walmart and Primark. Workers are demanding a monthly wage of $ 243 in protests including road blockades and vandalism and 679 factories have halted production. In Myanmar, 15 people including a newborn baby were killed in strikes over the weekend, according to reports. The attack locations included a maternity clinic and a school. Myanmar's military government has increased efforts to take back territory claimed by resistance groups. According

4:31 to South Korean media, President Li Zhiming's passport details were leaked online in June, along with 167 other peoples. The government is looking into the matter, according to reports. The Americas United States President Donald Trump has said there is a concept of a new trade deal with Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said they had a good conversation on the future of trade. Last week, Trump said a trade deal would include the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to the US. In the United States, a crew of four astronauts has emerged from a simulated mission to Mars.

5:34 The crew spent 378 days in isolation at NASA's Space Center in conditions that simulated Mars. Science officer Matthew Montgomery spoke about the next era of spaceflight.

5:51 I'm excited by the new era of human spaceflight before us. I look forward to the return of people to the moon, the establishment of the moon base, and further exploration of Mars. Humans on Mars are not a dream. It's an inevitable reality, as long as we all keep working towards it.

6:08 And a British man has completed a 28-year, 31,000-mile journey walking around the world. Carl Bushby is now 57 years old. In 1998, he began his journey in Chile, walked north through the Americas, crossed from Alaska to Russia, Mongolia and China, and came back through Europe. Delays to his journey were caused by the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, and being imprisoned in Panama and detained in Russia. That's your world news in seven minutes. If you enjoy this podcast, please tell your friends about us. You can get in touch with us in a voice message at send7. org or by sending an email to podcast at send7. org. I'm Juliet Martin.

7:09 Tomorrow you will be with Stephen Devincenzi. Have a great day.