1,000: The maximum amount of gold, in kilograms, that Venezuela’s state-owned mining firm Minerven will send to US markets, in a deal reportedly reached between Washington and Caracas on Monday. It is the latest sign of growing commercial ties between the Trump administration and interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez, only two months on from the seizure of Nicolás Maduro.
200: The number of people who have died in a rebel-controlled part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after heavy rains prompted a landslide at a major mine. Seventy children are among the dead.
⅔: The proportion of Cuba that was plunged into darkness on Wednesday, the latest blackout to hit the fuel-bereft country. Almost all of Havana was without power. The authorities blamed it on a fuel leak at the country’s largest thermoelectric power plant. With the US implementing a de facto oil blockage against Cuba, fuel supplies are running low there – and it’s taking a toll.
7%: The amount that China’s military budget is set to grow in 2026, marking another year in which funding for armed forces will increase at a faster rate than the economy. The buildup comes as Beijing enters a spat with Japan about the future of Taiwan.
