PHOTO: REUTERS
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 21, 2026
· The Straits TimesBritain’s new PM Andy Burnham stamps authority with Cabinet shakeup
New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham took power on July 20, purging the Cabinet of his predecessor’s loyalists as he promised a 10-year plan to ease cost-of-living pressures and signalled a tilt to the left.
He immediately got to work after replacing Keir Starmer in Downing Street, holding separate calls with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky before appointing his ministerial team.
Burnham, 56, pledged to re-industrialise Britain and decentralise power as well as end sleeping rough on the streets after he met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to become the head of government following Starmer’s departure.
The monarch’s fourth prime minister since he acceded to the throne in 2022, and Britain’s seventh in just over a decade, Burnham said the country needed to show the world it could “regain stability”.
India’s ‘cockroach’ protest turns violent as police stop frustrated youth marching to Parliament
Several thousand students and other youngsters converged in central New Delhi on July 20 in an attempt to march to the Indian Parliament and press for the resignation of the country’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
It marked a dramatic escalation in the weeks-long ongoing protest mounted by the viral Indian youth-led social movement, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been demanding Pradhan’s resignation. They are accusing him of failing to prevent a spate of competition exam paper leaks that have led to exams being cancelled, leaving youth frustrated and distressed.
What began as a peaceful campaign in the morning turned violent in the afternoon, as the police cracked down on the Jantar Mantar protest site, beating protesters with sticks and batons in their attempt to clear the venue. They also fired tear gas shells in the vicinity where thousands had thronged.
China suspends aviation firm linked to Beijing light aircraft crash
China’s civil aviation authority on July 20 ordered an operator linked to a light aircraft which crashed into Beijing’s tallest building in June to suspend operations, ground all aircraft and eliminate “major safety hazards”.
The rare crash in Beijing’s busy central business district during the evening rush hour killed the pilot of the small single-engine, two-seat light sport aircraft.
Another 13 people who were not on board were injured, local government has said.
In south Lebanon, Israel flag and checkpoint mark start of occupation
On the road to south Lebanon’s coastal town of Naqura, an Israeli flag hung over the deep blue sea, a stone’s throw away from a metallic grid marking the Israeli-announced “security zone”.
“Turn around, you don’t have permission to pass,” an Israeli soldier said through a loudspeaker to a convoy of journalists, including AFP, who joined a Christian NGO on an organised tour of still-inhabited villages in the occupied area.
The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages on July 20, the US said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
Spain stars lap up adulation of estimated two million on World Cup parade
New World Cup champions Spain enjoyed a vibrant celebration parade on an open-top bus through the streets of Madrid on the evening of July 20, with a jubilant crowd of an estimated two million people out to celebrate, according to local authorities.
The players, some shirtless, others holding drinks, set off on their procession under a blazing sun, along the main arteries in the city centre where a sea of fans in red and yellow were waiting, before arriving at Cibeles square where they will take to the stage.
After flying back from the United States to Madrid, the players were received by King Felipe VI and the royal family, and then Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, before kicking off the parade.