Nepal, Somalia, Ivory Coast

Today's three stories you should know

Nepal

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah has swept to power in Nepal after a landslide election win in the first vote since youth-led protests toppled the government in September. Shah’s Rastriya ⁠Swatantra Party (RSP) secured 182 seats in the 275-member parliament, the largest majority of any party for more than six decades. As RSP candidate, Shah will now be confirmed as prime minister, making the 35-year-old the youngest leader in the country’s history. The demonstrations, dubbed the Gen Z protests, initially erupted over a social media ban but evolved into calls for the government to step down as young people expressed anger over corruption and unemployment. Shah, a former mayor of Kathmandu, emerged as a figurehead, with his songs becoming protest anthems.

More from Reuters here.

Somalia

Somalia has warned it will not tolerate Israel establishing a military base in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which Tel Aviv became the first country in the world to recognize as an independent nation last year. “Somalia does not want to see its territory pulled into external confrontations or used in ways that could further destabilize an already sensitive region,” Ali Omar, Somalia’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Al Jazeera. Omar’s comments came after Bloomberg and Sweden’s public radio Ekot reported that Israel plans to build a military installation near the strategic port city of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden. Somaliland, a northeastern part of Somalia, declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has since enjoyed effective autonomy over its affairs.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Ivory Coast

Traditional chiefs and political leaders assembled at Ivory Coast’s main airport to welcome the return of a sacred “speaking” drum, which was taken to Paris in 1930, in the first such repatriation from former colonial power France. The Djidji Ayôkwé, whose name means “panther-lion,” measures about 11.5 feet (138 inches) long and weighs roughly 950 pounds. It was used to communicate between villages and historians say it played a key role in warning communities about forced labor recruitment from colonial authorities. French President Emmanuel Macron announced in 2018 that his government planned to repatriate looted items to African nations. Ivory Coast is seeking the return of 140 artifacts.

More from AP here.