More than 200 killed in coltan mine collapse in eastern DRC, officials say

Rubaya mine produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, used in mobile phones
More than 200 people were killed this week in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told Reuters on Friday.
Rubaya produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum – a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines. The site, where local people dig manually for a few dollars a day, has been under the control of the M23 rebel group since 2024.
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Islamic State claims attack on international airport and airbase in Niger

Motorcycle-riding militants launch strikes using heavy weaponry and drones, damaging planes belonging to Ivorian carrier and Togolese airline
Islamic State in the Sahel has claimed responsibility for an audacious assault at the international airport and adjacent air force base in Niamey, the capital of Niger, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist activity and communications worldwide.
The attack, which began shortly after midnight on Thursday, reportedly involved motorcycle-riding militants who launched a “surprise and coordinated” strike using heavy weaponry and drones, according to statements released via IS in the Sahel’s propaganda arm, Amaq news agency.
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South Africa expels top Israeli diplomat over ‘insulting attacks’ on president

Ariel Seidman declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave country after remarks on social media
South Africa and Israel have engaged in a tit-for-tat expulsion of senior diplomats, after South Africa ordered Israel’s chargé d’affaires to leave within 72 hours, citing “insulting attacks” on South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on social media.
Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires at Israel’s embassy in Pretoria, was declared persona non grata by South Africa’s department for international relations and cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement on its website on Friday afternoon.
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Niger’s military ruler vows retaliation after gunfire and explosions heard in capital

General Tchiani accuses France, Benin and the Ivory Coast of links to attack near Niamey’s airport and thanks Russian troops for defence efforts

Heavy security has been deployed around the main airport in Niger’s capital, Niamey, after overnight gunfire and explosions that the country’s military ruler blamed without evidence on France, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire.
The shooting and detonations began shortly after midnight on Wednesday, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the airport, which is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by US and then Russian troops.
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Hundreds feared dead in attempt to cross Mediterranean during cyclone

Fifty killed in one incident as Italian authorities estimate 380 people may have drowned last week
Up to 380 people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week as Cyclone Harry battered southern Italy and Malta, the Italian coastguard has said, as a shipwreck with the loss of 50 lives was confirmed by Maltese authorities.
Just one person, who was hospitalised in Malta, survived the shipwreck, which happened on Friday.
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Mexico president says Trump tariffs on Cuba’s oil suppliers could trigger humanitarian crisis

Island country only has oil enough to last 15-20 days, and 12-hour blackouts have become commonplace
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has warned that Donald Trump’s move to slap new tariffs on countries sending oil to Cuba could trigger a humanitarian crisis on the island, which is already suffering from chronic fuel shortages and regular blackouts.
The US president signed an executive order on Thursday declaring a national emergency and laying the groundwork for such tariffs, ratcheting up the pressure to topple the communist government in Havana.
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Panama supreme court cancels Hong Kong company’s canal contracts

Panama’s president says strategic waterway will operate as normal after ruling that advances US policy aims
Panama’s president said ports at each end of the Panama canal would operate as usual after the country’s supreme court ruled the concession held by a subsidiary of a Chinese company was unconstitutional.
The court’s decision on Thursday, which helps US attempts to block any Chinese influence over the strategic waterway, immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
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Venezuela approves bill to open oil sector to foreign investment after US pressure

Law will give private companies more control but experts unsure whether changes go far enough for US
Venezuela’s acting president has signed into law a bill making significant changes to the country’s oil sector after pressure from the US to open it up to foreign private investment.
The new hydrocarbons law promises to give private companies control over oil production and sales, ease taxes and allow for independent arbitration of disputes, while largely maintaining state control over oil production.
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Weather tracker: Winter storms cause death and outages across eastern north America

Millions told to stay home in US and more than a million are left without power, while Australia faces record heatwave
Cold weather across a vast swathe of the eastern US has been the likely cause of at least 49 deaths in the past week.
At one point, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warnings, affecting areas from New Mexico to New England – a spread of about 2,000 miles (3,200km). Millions were told to stay at home, and at one point there were more than a million people without power. As of Wednesday night, there were still 312,000 outages, mostly across Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
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Trump threatens tariffs on goods from countries that sell oil to Cuba

White House cites Cuba’s ties to hostile powers as order ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple its government
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday laying the groundwork to slap tariffs on goods from countries that provide oil to Cuba, the White House said.
The order, which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil.
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UK politics: Starmer shrugs off Trump’s criticism of ‘very dangerous’ deal with China – as it happened

Prime minister suggests US president was ‘talking more about Canada’ when asked for reaction to Beijing visit
Prominent Hong Kong and Uyghur activists living in exile in the UK have accused Starmer of seeking China’s desperate approval, after the prime minister visited Beijing for the first time in eight years this week.
Pro-democracy campaigner and prominent critic of the Communist Party, Finn Lau said the Hong Kong community is disappointed by Starmer’s visit, but unsurprised by the government’s “short sightedness”.
“While British citizen Jimmy Lai remains imprisoned and Uyghurs continue to suffer atrocity crimes, we take no comfort in this decision and will not be silenced.
We look forward to receiving urgent assurances from the government regarding those who were placed under sanction together with us, and take this opportunity to express our ongoing solidarity with the Uyghur people, whose cause we will not drop.
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China has lifted sanctions from six serving British MPs and peers, Starmer says

Starmer confirms immediate removal, but it is unclear if sanctions remain on former MP, academic and barrister

China has lifted the sanctions it imposed on serving British MPs and peers in a significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer travelled to Beijing for landmark talks with Xi Jinping.
Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community.
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Trump says ‘very dangerous’ for UK to do business with China, after Starmer hails progress in Beijing

US president warns against closer ties with China during British PM’s trip to secure lower tariffs and better market access
Donald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing.
The US president said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister’s three-hour talks with Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations.
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Palau lawmakers vote to block controversial Trump deal to resettle migrants from US

A plan to resettle third-country nationals from the US to the Pacific nation faces an uncertain future amid unease over the deal
A controversial Trump administration deal to relocate deportees from the US to the small Pacific nation of Palau faces an uncertain future, after the senate voted to block the deal as concern about the agreement grows.
The deal, which allows up to 75 third-country migrants facing removal from the US to live and work in Palau, was signed by president Surangel Whipps Jr in December. Palau’s lower house now has to consider the deal, and the final decision rests with Whipps Jr.
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Keir Starmer opens door to UK visit by Xi Jinping after bilateral talks

PM says trip to China has put relationship in stronger place, but possible return visit angers British critics
Keir Starmer has taken a big step towards rapprochement with China, opening the door to a UK visit from Xi Jinping in a move that drew immediate anger from British critics of Beijing.
During the first visit by a UK prime minister to China in eight years – a period which Starmer has described as an “ice age” – he said talks with the Chinese president had left the bilateral relationship in a stronger position.
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Queensland police scrap specialist unit providing support for domestic and family violence cases

Change comes after 100-day review that found domestic violence case management was not ‘core’ police business

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The Queensland police service plans to disband a specialist unit that provided statewide support for domestic and family violence cases, prompting concern from frontline workers that the loss of an “important resource” would place women at greater risk.
The QPS confirmed to Guardian Australia on Friday it would scrap the DFV and vulnerable persons command “operational support unit” and redeploy its officers to local districts.
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Day and night, there’s no relief: five ways this heatwave is one of Australia’s worst on record

Soaring temperatures, heat at altitude and hot summer nights combine to create one of south-eastern Australia’s ‘most significant’ heatwaves

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Heatwaves and hot days during an Australian summer may seem unremarkable. Days spent at the beach, sunburn and mosquitoes are part of the national psyche, along with outback pubs serving crisp lager as relief from searing afternoon heat.
But when the opal mining town of Andamooka (population 262) in the far north of South Australia reached 50 degrees on Thursday, it was only the eighth time in recorded history anywhere in Australia.
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Australia’s grid now relies on renewable energy as much as coal. Those who doubted it look foolish

Solar met the majority of electricity demand between 9am and 6pm in the past week as much of the country cranked air conditioners

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Australia’s power grid is changing rapidly – so rapidly that it can feel difficult to keep up.
This week, as an oppressive heatwave in the country’s south-east rewrote temperature records, there was also plenty of evidence demonstrating just how fast long-held assumptions about the electricity system are being overturned.
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Four people, including two children, found dead in Perth in suspected murder-suicide

WA police say both Mosman Park children had ‘significant health challenges’ and had been in contact with care services

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Two parents and their teenage children have been found dead in the affluent Perth suburb of Mosman Park in a suspected murder-suicide, Western Australian police say.
At 8.15am on Friday, emergency services received a distressed call from a person known to the family who had gone to the home on Mott Close, in the city’s south-west.
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After feverish speculation, Andrew Hastie failed to mount a Liberal leadership challenge. So what now?

Hastie’s allies are cautioning against assuming his supporters would automatically shift their allegiances to Angus Taylor

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What was the point of that then?
That is the question some Liberals MPs – and no doubt some bemused voters – are asking after Andrew Hastie abandoned plans to challenge Sussan Ley for the party leadership after a week of feverish speculation.
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Hungary doubles down on opposition to Ukraine’s EU accession as Zelenskyy aims for 2027 – as it happened

Viktor Orbán reiterates stance on EU membership as spokesperson claims Brussels wants to give Ukraine access to next budget
But just as Volodymyr Zelenskyy doubles down on his 2027 accession target, so is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in opposing the move.
In clips published by Hungary’s international spokesperson Zoltán Kovács, Orbán has claimed that during the last EU summit the leaders were given a document describing Brussels plans to admit Ukraine in 2027.
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Zelenskyy cautious on Russian bombing pause during extreme cold weather

Ukraine president says he will wait to see if Putin complies with Trump request to halt strikes on energy infrastructure
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he was waiting to see whether Russia would observe a proposed pause in strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure, as Kyiv endures a spell of bitter winter cold.
Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for a week after he issued a personal appeal to the Russian leader due to the extreme weather in Ukraine.
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Trump claims Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine energy sites amid extreme cold

US president says he made appeal to Russian leader, but no ceasefire has been confirmed by Moscow or Kyiv
Donald Trump has claimed that Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for one week after he issued a personal appeal to the Russian leader due to the extreme cold in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did not immediately confirm the ceasefire was in place, but said that Trump had made an “important statement … about the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period”.
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Greenland threats no laughing matter, says mayor after comic’s flag stunt

Avaaraq Olsen tells content creators to think before making jokes after German tried to raise Stars and Stripes in Nuuk
The mayor of Greenland’s capital has called on media professionals and content creators to act responsibly after a German comedian’s failed attempt to hoist the US flag.
Maxi Schafroth, 41, a Bavarian comic, tried to run up the Stars and Stripes on a flagpole near the cultural centre in Nuuk but was confronted by angry passersby.
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EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation

‘Any organisation that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,’ says Kaja Kallas
The EU has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, ending years of division over the issue in response to the regime’s brutal repression of protesters.
“Repression cannot go unanswered,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on Thursday. The paramilitary organisation has played a significant role in suppressing demonstrations in Iran. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she wrote on X.
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Trump says he believes Iran wants to make deal as he extols size of US ‘armada’

US president declines to say whether he plans Venezuela-like operation, after Tehran signalled it was ready for talks

Killing Khamenei? Hitting military sites? It is unclear what a US attack on Iran would achieve

Donald Trump has said he believes Tehran wants to make a deal to head off a regional conflict, as he claimed the US “armada” near Iran was bigger than the task force deployed to topple Venezuela’s leader.
“We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now, even larger than what we had in Venezuela,” the US president told reporters on Friday.
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Israel accepts health authorities’ Gaza death toll is broadly accurate, saying 70,000 have died

Israeli military’s U-turn in accepting official figures comes after years of attacking data as ‘Hamas propaganda’
Israel’s military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data.
A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing.
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‘Deeply ideological’: the rationale behind Iran’s insistence on uranium enrichment

Tehran’s nuclear ambitions date back to the shah and the 1970s and remains undimmed despite the damage caused by sanctions
A desperate effort to avert war between the US and Iran is once again under way, but trying to locate common ground between the two countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme has been made more difficult by escalating US demands, and by Iran’s ideological, deeply nationalist attachment to the right to enrich uranium.
Iran’s ambitions to run its own nuclear programme pre-date the arrival of the theocratic state in 1979, and can be traced back to the mid-1970s when the shah announced plans to build 20 civil nuclear power stations. This prompted an undignified scramble among western nations to be part of the action, with the UK energy secretary at the time, Tony Benn, having more than a walk-on part.
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Syrian government and Kurdish forces reach deal on permanent truce

Milestone appears to resolve escalating tensions over the question of Kurdish autonomy in north-east Syria
The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces have reached an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire into a permanent truce, laying a framework for integrating Kurdish forces into the state and ending nearly a month of fighting.
The agreement on Friday appeared to resolve escalating tensions between the two sides over the question of Kurdish autonomy in north-east Syria and paved a way for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to join Syria’s new army through negotiations, rather than battle.
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Killing Khamenei? Hitting military sites? It is unclear what a US attack on Iran would achieve | Dan Sabbagh

Donald Trump now has the firepower in place, but using it might not end well
A fortnight ago, when Donald Trump first threatened Iran’s regime, telling protesters in the country that “help is coming”, there were not enough US military assets in the Middle East to back up the rhetoric. That has now changed, although plenty of questions remain about what an attack on Iran could achieve.
An aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, has arrived in the Indian Ocean, dispatched from the South China Sea alongside three destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Its eight-squadron air wing includes F-35C and F/A-18 jets and, critically, EA-18G Growlers to suppress anything that is left of Iran’s air defences after last year’s war with Israel.
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