Yaounde — Cameroon expects its 2026 budget deficit to more than double due to a sharp rise in spending aimed at supporting economic activity amid continued global instability, according to a draft finance bill presented to parliament late on Wednesday.
Cameroon is highly exposed to external shocks, including price volatility, due to its heavy reliance on imports of fuel, wheat and automobiles.
The overall deficit is projected to be 631-billion CFA francs ($1.11bn), up from 309.9bn in 2025, raising the government’s total financing needs to 3,104.2-billion CFA francs in 2026, compared with 2,326.5-billion this year.
The government has proposed a 2026 state budget of 8,816.4-billion CFA francs, up 14% from 2025. Reuters
Tunisia frees rights lawyer Dahmani after 18 months
Tunis — Tunisia released on Thursday prominent lawyer and human rights advocate Sonia Dahmani, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, after she spent a year-and-a-half in prison over comments in which she criticised Saied’s policies.
Dahmani is widely seen as one of the leading voices defending freedom in Tunisia, and her arrest brought a wave of solidarity from lawyers and civil society activists, who said the case carried a political dimension. TAP, the state news agency, quoted a judicial source as saying that Dahmani was freed under a conditional release order issued by the justice minister. Reuters
Sumatra flooding death toll hits 61
Jakarta — The latest death toll from floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has risen to 61, local authorities said on Thursday.
Flood rescue teams in Thailand readied drones to deliver aid and helicopters dropped supplies to people marooned on rooftops on Thursday. Reuters
Venezuela revokes permits for airlines
Caracas — Venezuela has revoked operating rights for six major international airlines after they suspended flights to the country following a warning from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Venezuela’s civil aviation authority revoked permits for Iberia, TAP, Avianca, Latam Colombia, Turkish Airlines and Gol, with Caracas saying in a statement that the carriers had “joined actions of state terrorism promoted by the US” by “unilaterally” halting commercial flights.
The FAA last week warned major airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over Venezuela due to the “worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around” the country. Reuters
Chinese firms train AI models to bypass H20 ban
Beijing — Top Chinese firms are training their AI models abroad to access Nvidia’s chips and avoid US measures aimed at curbing their progress in advanced technology, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Alibaba and ByteDance are among the tech firms training their newest large language models in Southeast Asian data centres, the report said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. According to the report, there has been a steady increase in training in offshore locations after the US moved to restrict sales of the H20 in April.
Chinese companies rely on lease agreements for overseas data centres owned and operated by non-Chinese entities, the newspaper said, noting that DeepSeek, which gathered a large stock of Nvidia chips before the US export bans, was an exception with its model being trained domestically. Reuters
Interpol elects French official as new president
Rabat — Global police agency Interpol elected French police official Lucas Philippe for a four-year term as its president on Thursday.
Interpol’s general assembly in Marrakech brought together 886 participants from 179 Interpol member countries and 34 international organisations to discuss issues including cybercrime, scam centres, organised crime and data protection, according to organisers. Reuters
Net migration plunges as Britain tightens controls
London — Long-term net migration to Britain fell to 204,000 in the year to June, about two-thirds lower than a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, extending a downward trend driven by tougher government policies.
Immigration, both legal and illegal, has dominated political discourse in Britain for over a decade, with successive governments seeking to curb arrivals through stricter visa rules and higher salary thresholds.
The Labour government is tightening policies further to counter Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, which campaigns on an anti-migration platform and holds a double-digit lead in opinion polls.
Revised data from the Office for National Statistics last week showed that net immigration peaked earlier and at a higher level than previously thought at 944,000 in the 12 months to March 2023. Reuters
