Hard numbers: US strikes gold with Venezuela, DRC landslide kills hundreds, Parts of Cuba plunged into darkness again, China’s military budget to grow again

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.