Deadly Airstrikes Expose Growing Battle Over Sudan’s Gold

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict

Air strikes on October 10 killed at least 72 artisanal gold miners at Shamal al-Wadi, in the far north of Sudan’s Red Sea state, along a border Egypt is policing to control a gold trade it now dominates. Survivors put the toll above 200. Miners and Sudanese rights groups blame Egyptian aircraft, and no government has claimed the strikes. Egypt treats the disputed area as its own territory and says its operations against illegal prospecting stayed inside its borders. It is the second deadly raid on the same area since June, when more than 50 were reported killed, and Egypt’s border force seized 86 tonnes of gold ore. Sudan mined about 70 tonnes of gold in 2025 and formally exported less than 15, so most of the output was smuggled out or refined informally. Egypt became the second largest buyer of Sudan’s official exports that year, taking 4.9 tonnes worth $517 million, nearly 20 times its 2024 volume.

France’s high school revolt is handing Marine Le Pen the 2027 race. The blockades began in mid-September at one high school in Créteil over teacher shortages and decaying buildings. At their peak, they disrupted more than 1,000 of France’s 3,700 high schools. Police have taken more than 6,800 people into custody, most of them minors, and a 15-year-old lost a hand. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has offered about 3,000 substitute teachers for the 114 worst-hit schools and promised proposals on the school day and building repairs…

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