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Three dead, seven missing after New Year's Eve attack in Peru on informal miners
A?local?mayor announced on Thursday that at least three people had been killed and seven more missing following a New Years Eve attack on informal gold miners. This was the latest in a series attacks against small-scale miners of the Andean nation. Aldo Marino, the mayor of Pataz, told local TV that the attack occurred in a city in northern La Libertad. In 'May of last year, police reported that 13 miners were killed in the same area as criminal gangs tried to gain control. Marino, who spoke to Canal N on the subject, said that he had received information from police indicating three people died in a mine entry, and seven others are still missing. He added that reports from other people living nearby suggested a higher death toll. The attack was not confirmed by the police and no government officials could be reached for comment. Pataz is now the main gold producing area in Peru, thanks to small-scale informal or artisan mines that operate under temporary government permits called REINFO. Illegal miners, who are said to be stealing the output of other miners in collaboration with criminal gangs according to sources from police and industry, exploit thousands of permits. The Peruvian government extended REINFO permits by one year in December, marking the fifth extension in the last decade. In July, it kicked out over 50,000 small scale miners, or more than half of them, and kept just over 30,000 to go through a formalization procedure. In 2024, Peru exported gold worth $15.5 billion. This is a dramatic increase from the $11 billion recorded in 2018. According to local industry estimates and the country's financial regulator, about 40% of gold in Peru is illegal. Reporting by Marco Aquino, Editing by Ros Russel and Nick Zieminski
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Two people are killed in fireworks accidents in the Netherlands. A historic Amsterdam church is destroyed by fire.
In the Netherlands, two people were killed by fireworks and there was a "scattered" outbreak of violence during the New Year celebrations. A historic church in Amsterdam also caught fire. In the Netherlands, people set off fireworks to celebrate New Year's Eve. This causes thousands of injuries every year and damages of millions of Euros. Police said that this year 250 people were arrested on New Year's Eve, and riot police in various towns were deployed. The impact of the heavy fireworks and arson on New Year's Eve was devastating in some areas. "The targeted violence against the?emergency service and?police were intense again," said police in a Thursday statement. Police reported that fireworks accidents had killed a man aged 38 in Aalsmeer (near Amsterdam) and a boy in Nijmegen in the east. A fire in Amsterdam's Vondelpark destroyed the neogothic Vondelkerk. The fire started shortly after midnight. Amsterdam's police and fire departments said that they were investigating the cause of the fire in the 1872-built?church and have not yet made any comments. The ban on fireworks sales to consumers nationwide will be in effect by 2025. Years ago, emergency room doctors, local and national politicians, and police and firefighters have been campaigning for the ban. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg Editing by Frances Kerry)
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Petroperu, the state-owned company in Peru, is now open to private investors after a reorganization
Late Wednesday, Peru issued an urgent decree approving the restructuring of?state owned oil firm Petroperu and allowing private investments in key company assets. According to the decree signed by?Peruvian President Jose Jeri, the company may be divided into one or several asset blocks. This includes the Talara refinery which the company has spent $6.5 billion upgrading. Petroperu also operates or has concessions on six crude oil blocks that have limited production. It has a fuel marketing and distribution chain. The Peruvian ministry of energy and mines stated that the decree is intended to "?ensure compliance with financial obligations through the technical management of their assets, laying a foundation for Petroperu's self-sustainability." The ministry stated that the company's "situation is particularly sensitive" with losses accumulating to $479 million between January and 2025 and debts to vendors of $764 millions through December. This is in addition to the $774 million reported losses last year. The company's financial problems are partly due to the debt from the Talara refinery upgrade, which cost more than double the original estimate. This led to the company losing its investment grade rating in 2022. Petroperu has received government financing totaling $5.3 billion from 2022 to 2024. (Reporter Marco Aquino, Editing by Alexander Villegas & Nick Zieminski).
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Ukraine condemns Russian New Year drone attack on power Infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the President of Ukraine, said that a Russian drone had damaged power infrastructure overnight in several Ukrainian regions. Meanwhile, Moscow accused Ukraine of a "deadly" new year's attack on a part of Ukraine under Russian control. "Russia deliberately starts war on the New Year. Zelenskiy posted on Telegram that "over 200 drones attacked Ukraine during the night." Zelenskiy stated that energy infrastructure in seven different regions of Ukraine was targeted. Russia has accused Ukraine of killing 24 people in a drone attack on a cafe and hotel where civilians were celebrating the New Year. The strike took place in an area of southern Kherson controlled by Russia. The Ukrainian military did not respond immediately to a question about Moscow's accusations. Zelenskiy stated that Russia's "holiday season" attacks demonstrated Ukraine could not afford delays in its air defence supply. "(Our) Allies have names of equipment that we lack. "We expect everything that was agreed upon with the United States for our defense at the end December will arrive on schedule," he stated, without elaborating. Zelenskiy has met with President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to negotiate a peace framework that will end the nearly four-year war. Donald Trump met with Zelenskiy in Florida, on Sunday, to discuss a framework for peace to end the almost four-year conflict. Both leaders have said that they are close in reaching an agreement. However, there remain thorny questions regarding the post-war control of territories. Ukrainian energy minister said that a "significant" number of households in Volyn, Odesa, and Chernihiv regions, located in western and southwest Ukraine respectively, were cut off from electricity by the overnight strikes. Volant's governor said that more than 103,000 households had lost electricity as a direct result of the attack. The Volyn region lies several hundred kilometers from the frontline and borders NATO-member Poland. (Reporting and editing by Gareth Jones, Ros Russell and Max Hunder)
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Police: Dozens of people are feared dead following explosion at Swiss ski resort bar
Swiss police said that dozens of people were feared to be 'killed' and 100 others injured after an explosion tore into a packed bar during a party on New Year’s Eve in the upscale resort of Crans-Montana, located in southwest Switzerland. The police had previously said that many people were being treated for injuries. A police spokesperson confirmed that more than 100 people were in the bar when the explosion occurred. Fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in Crans-Montana at "Le Constellation", where police, fire brigade, and rescue services had been deployed to help victims. Police said in a statement that the area was completely?closed and a no fly zone had been declared over Crans-Montana. They added that the cause of the explosion remained unknown.
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Israel: Forces open fire on West Bank Stone-Throwers, One Dead
Israeli military claimed that its forces shot and killed a Palestinian in the early hours of Thursday morning as they opened fire on people throwing stones at soldiers. The military statement added that two other people were also hit by gunfire on a major road near the village of Luban al-Sharqiya, in Nablus. The statement described the individuals as militants and said that the stone-throwing attack was part of a planned ambush. Palestinian authorities in the West Bank reported that a 26-year old man named Khattab Al-Sarhan had been killed, and another victim was also injured. The official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, WAFA, reported that Israeli forces closed the main entry to Luban al-Sharqiya village in Nablus and blocked many secondary roads. The U.N. reported that more than 1,000 Palestinians were killed between October 2023 - 'October 2025 in the West Bank, mostly as a result of 'operations carried out by security forces, and in some cases by settler violence. In the same time period, 57 Israelis died in Palestinian attacks. (Reporting and writing by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Andrew Heavens).
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Berkshire, which fell on Buffett's final day as CEO and gained 6,100,000.0% over 60 years,
The price of Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares fell by $600, or 0.1%, to $754,800 on Wednesday. Greg Abel will take over as CEO on Thursday. On Wednesday, the price of Berkshire class A shares fell by $600 or 0.1% to $754,800, and that of Class B shares dropped $1.06 or 0.2% to $502.65 Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 0.7%. Berkshire investors who have owned the company since 1965 when Buffett became CEO, saw a return that was 6,100,000.00%. This is far higher than the S&P's 46,000%. In 2025, the index was outperforming, and it has been doing so for over a decade. Berkshire, however, never had a down year as Buffett tried to acquire his $1.08 trillion company. Berkshire's subsidiaries include the insurer 'Geico', the BNSF railway, dozens manufacturing and energy companies, and retail brands like Brooks, Dairy Queen and Fruit 'of the Loom. The company ended September with cash and?equivalents of $381.7 billion. Abel, age 63, was hired by Berkshire in 2000, when the company acquired MidAmerican Energy (now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy). Since 2018, he has served as vice chairman of Berkshire, managing the non-insurance business. Buffett will continue to be chairman. He plans to go every day to the Berkshire office in Omaha Nebraska, which is about 2 miles (3 km) from his home. Ajit Jain, vice chairman, will oversee the insurance business of Berkshire, while Abel continues to monitor the BNSF manufacturing, energy and manufacturing businesses. Adam Johnson, the chief executive officer of NetJets' luxury plane unit, will oversee Berkshire’s consumer products, services and retail businesses. Abel was doing this. Berkshire Investments has not announced who will be in charge of its equity portfolio. Apple and American Express were among the 283.2 billion dollars of stocks that Berkshire held as of September 30. Todd Combs, Ted Weschler and other people who worked on the?portfolio were thought to be in line for the position, but Combs has left JPMorgan Chase this month and Buffett stated that Abel can handle it. Berkshire didn't immediately respond to our request for comment. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, New York; Editing and proofreading by David Gregorio & Alistair Bell
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EIA reports that U.S. crude imports dropped last week, reaching their lowest level since February 2021.
The Energy Information Administration reported that the U.S. imported its lowest amount of crude oil in five years last week, as companies sought to avoid a heavy tax at the end of the year on oil stored in storage. According to EIA, U.S. crude imports fell last week to 4,95 million barrels a day. This is the lowest level since February 2021. John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital, explained that the?ad value tax was a burden on crude oil imports. Kilduff stated that "companies" will delay taking inventory of crude oil and refined products when they reach this point, especially in December. EIA data revealed that the U.S. crude inventory has increased due to lower imports, and robust refining activities. EIA data shows that oil imports from Mexico dropped to 71,000 bpd during the week ending December 26, the lowest ever recorded. This was lower than the previous all-time high for U.S. crude imports from Mexico, which reached 131,000 bpd during the week ending Nov. 28th 2025. The Mexican state oil company, Pemex, must maintain its production at 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate. This is a sharp drop from the 3.4 millions bpd that it produced 20 years ago. Reporting by Arathy S. Somasekhar in Houston and Georgina M. McCartney; editing by Chizu N. Nomiyama
Could a union halt production at the world's most significant copper mine?
An effective workers union behind a strike at BHP's big Escondida mine, which produced almost 5% of the world's copper in 2023, is looking to snarl production at the website as it pushes for a larger share of earnings.
The union, which introduced a strike on Tuesday, has paralyzed the world's largest copper mine before and increased global copper costs. This time, much depends on how rapidly negotiations can unlock the standoff.
( Escondida's union) has a history of difficult settlements, with no worry of striking to attain their objectives, said Andres Gonzalez, head of Plusmining consultancy in Santiago.
When the union held a 44-day strike in 2017, international copper prices surged as BHP stated force majeure two days into the strike, meaning it might not satisfy its contracts.
The company likewise needed to declare force majeure in 2006 after a 26-day strike, and in 2011 the union stopped operations for 14 days. The union went on an appetite strike in 2015. A strike was simply prevented in 2021 despite a labor conflict.
3 elements make the union specifically strong, Gonzalez said. The union has about 2,400 members, about 61% of Escondida's workforce. It has strong monetary reserves to take care of workers throughout a strike. And last but not least, Chilean legislation does not let the company change striking workers.
The company will be forced to stop a fundamental part of their operations, which evidently gives (the union) enormous bargaining power, Gonzalez included.
Aside from consisting of a bulk of the overall labor force, the Sindicato Nro. 1 (Union No. 1) comprises 98% of Escondida's. frontline workers that consist of maker operators, motorists,. technicians and upkeep workers - all crucial to keeping up. production.
Patricio Tapia, president of the Escondida union since 2016. and part of the union management because 2008, informed Reuters. formerly that the union has four times more funds than in 2017. as well as credit to fulfill employee requirements throughout the strike.
The 2017 strike ended when the union used local legislation. to freeze the ended contract and then worked out for another. 18 months.
COPPER MARKET CALM FOR NOW
BHP on Tuesday night said the union had declined its. latest invite to reboot talks, although the labor group has. asserted it is willing to resume dialogue.
The company stated its contingency plan requires enabling. non-unionized employees to continue working, which operations. were continuing, although it did not define to what degree.
The (Escondida) union may be little compared to others,. but they're more than 2,000 people that manage the largest. copper mine worldwide, said Gustavo Lagos, an analyst from. Chile's Catholic University mining center.
A smaller strike ongoing at Lundin's Caserones. mine, likewise in Chile, is less most likely to affect production given that. only 30% of employees there remain in the mine's union.
Copper prices have yet to see a huge effect for the present. strike, with experts citing weak need from leading copper. customer China and hopes for a quick resolution. Nevertheless, that. could alter if the strike action hardens.
A key sticking point is a union ask for 1% of the. investor dividends at the mine to be distributed to employees,. which would be around $35,000, according to expert estimates. The union likewise required this in 2021 but was able to reach an. agreement that consisted of a perk of about $23,000 and nearly. $ 4,000 in overtime perks.
BHP has provided workers a perk of $28,900 this time.
(source: Reuters)