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Olivia Acland reflects on why the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo may have to wait a little longer than expected to celebrate what might be the country’s first ever democratic transfer of power.

Pascale Harter introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world:

The Saudi teenager Rahaf al-Qunun was spared deportation after details of her plight were spread on social media while she barricaded herself in a hotel room in Thailand. She feared being killed by her family if she was forced to return to Kuwait. She was saved not by her passport but by her phone, observes Jonathan Head.

As Nicolas Maduro starts his second term as president, Guillermo Olmo measures Venezuela’s economic and social freefall through the experiences of ordinary people. He hears stories of deadly power cuts in hospitals, violent muggings, and learns how even getting water out of a tap has become a daily lottery.

And Jane Wakefield has a glimpse of what may turn out to be the future – drones delivering much-needed medicines and other supplies to remote African villages.

(Image: Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, who was named provisional winner of Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election. Credit: JOHN WESSELS/AFP/Getty Images)