Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Things have become messier in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

after a backroom power-sharing deal appears to have fizzled.

We ask whether the political shift will help or hinder the much-needed reforms that the current president had promised.

And it used to be that rappers the world over got their linguistic cues from the American scene.

But in recent years, it's London's multi-ethnic melting pot that's contributing the slang and perhaps even the worldview that MCs look to.

First up, though,

this week's hearings in the Senate for President Joe Biden's cabinet picks will help to shape how he governs.

Yesterday, senators heard from Merrick Garland.

I am honored to appear before you today as the president's nominee to be the Attorney General.

Mr. Biden has been praised for the diversity of those he's nominated, some of whom have already been confirmed.

Among them are Janet Yellen, the first woman to become Treasury Secretary, and General Lloyd Austin,

the first black person

to lead the Pentagon. But the president's picks aren't guaranteed. Each has to be confirmed

by a Senate that's evenly split along party lines, with the Vice President Kamala Harris

holding a tie-breaking vote. Given that not all the nominees are popular with all Democratic senators, some are

on decidedly shaky ground. Joe Biden's cabinet is an interesting mixture. John Pridot is our

United States editor and presenter of Checks and Balance, our show on U.S. politics.

It's highly diverse racially and broadly going by the people he's picked, not that

diverse ideologically. It's mainly made up of center-left Democrats. The Bernie Sanders wing of the

...