Global World News Digest

Multi-Source Editorial Roundup • Monday, 2 February 2026

Global Briefing #1

International law meant to limit effects of war at breaking point, study finds

Report covering 23 conflicts over last 18 months concludes more than 100,000 civilians have been killed as war crimes rage out of control
An authoritative survey of 23 armed conflicts over the last 18 months has concluded that international law seeking to limit the effects of war is at breaking point, with more than 100,000 civilians killed, while torture and rape are committed with near impunity.
The extensive study by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights describes the deaths of 18,592 children in Gaza, growing civilian casualties in Ukraine and an “epidemic” of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Global Briefing #2

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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Global Briefing #3

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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Global Briefing #4

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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Global Briefing #5

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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Global Briefing #6

‘Pure apocalypse’: a photographer’s journey through the Pantanal wildfires

Ahead of a major exhibition in London documenting the South American wetland as it faces unprecedented threat, Lalo de Almeida recounts the stories behind his award-winning images

Lalo de Almeida is a documentary photographer based in São Paulo, Brazil. In 2021 his photo essay Pantanal Ablaze was awarded first place in the environment stories category at the World Press Photo contest. In 2022, he won the Eugene Smith grant in humanistic photography and World Press Photo’s long-term project award for his work Amazonian Dystopia, which documents the exploitation of the world’s largest tropical forest.
I have been photographing socio-environmental issues for more than 30 years, especially in the Amazon. 2020 was no different. News of the uncontrolled fires devastating the Pantanal began to catch my attention. So, together with a fellow journalist, I decided to go and see what was happening for myself.
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Global Briefing #7

Mexico moves to combat pollution following Guardian investigations

After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tactics
The Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.
Those stories revealed high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey’s role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market.
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Global Briefing #8

Cuba on the brink as Trump turns up the pressure: ‘There is going to be a real blockade’

Country is already suffering acute fuel shortage; experts say complete cutoff will be ‘catastrophic’ to its infrastructure
It’s just gone midday on Linea, one of the main roads through Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood, and Javier Peña and Ysil Ribas have been waiting since 6am outside a petrol station. They’re passing the time fixing a leak on Ribas’s 1955 gold and white Mercury.
A tanker has pulled up on the forecourt in front of them, and so the queue behind is growing fast. Although this station only takes US dollars, at a cost far out of reach of most Cubans, Peña says it’s their only choice. “There is no gas in the national pesos,” he says, shrugging.
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Global Briefing #9

Costa Rica heads to polls amid fears of authoritarian turn

Voters to choose president and 57 members of congress, with current president’s hardline pick Laura Fernández expected to win first round
Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region.
Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism.
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Global Briefing #10

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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Global Briefing #11

US, UK, EU, Australia and more to meet to discuss critical minerals alliance

About 20 countries including G7 states in talks on rare earths including calls for US to guarantee minimum price
Ministers from the US, EU, UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand will meet in Washington this week to discuss a strategic alliance over critical minerals.
The summit is being seen as a step to repair transatlantic ties fractured by a year of conflict with Donald Trump and pave the way for other alliances to help countries de-risk from China, including one centred on steel.
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Global Briefing #12

Living hell of North Korea’s ‘paradise on Earth’ scheme back in spotlight in Japan

Plaintiffs in case say they were lured from Japan, exploited for labour and cut off from families for generations
It has been more than six decades since Eiko Kawasaki left Japan to begin a new life in North Korea. Then 17, she was among tens of thousands of people with Korean heritage who had been lured to the communist state by the promise of a “paradise on Earth”.
Instead, they encountered something closer to a living hell. They were denied basic human rights and forced to endure extreme hardship. Official promises of free education and healthcare plus guaranteed jobs and housing had been a cruel mirage. And to their horror, they were prevented from travelling to Japan to visit the families they had left behind.
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Global Briefing #13

Starmer hopes his China trip will begin the thaw after recent ice age

PM flies out after courting world’s second biggest economy aware of difficult balance of risks and potential rewards
The last British prime minister to visit China was Theresa May in 2018. Before the visit, she and her team were advised to get dressed under the covers because of the risk of hidden cameras having been placed in their hotel rooms to record compromising material.
Keir Starmer, in Beijing this week, was more sanguine about his privacy, even though the security risks have, if anything, increased since the former Tory prime minister was in town.
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Global Briefing #14

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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Global Briefing #15

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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Global Briefing #16

Liberals and Nationals to sit apart in parliament after David Littleproud and Sussan Ley fail to make amends

Nationals leader met with Liberal counterpart less than two weeks after spectacularly blowing up the Coalition

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