Two prominent U.S. Catholic clergymen have issued public statements of remorse following a 22 October closed-door gathering at the White House that spiraled into a viral partisan controversy after unapproved footage and photographs of the group praying alongside former and current U.S. President Donald Trump were circulated on social media. The clips and stills, captured around the iconic Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, were shared publicly by Margo Martin, a senior special assistant to the president and trusted communications aide who regularly posts exclusive behind-the-scenes content of Trump on the X social platform. The two bishops at the center of the fallout — Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob and Des Moines, Iowa Bishop William Joensen — both emphasized that they entered the meeting under the explicit impression that all proceedings would remain private, with no public media component planned. The gathering had been coordinated by staff from the White House Faith Office to discuss substantive policy priorities aligned with Catholic social teaching, including reform of immigration frameworks, streamlined visa pathways for international clergy serving in U.S. parishes, and targeted interventions to end systemic exploitation of low-income and vulnerable marginalized communities. Neither cleric had granted consent for any visual documentation of the event to be distributed publicly, they confirmed in separate public remarks. Both leaders stated that they had no intention of issuing any formal or implicit endorsement of a political party or individual electoral candidate through their participation, particularly with the 3 November congressional midterm elections less than two weeks away. Joensen went a step further in his public statement, noting he regretted not anticipating the event would be weaponized for partisan gain: “I wish I had been more shrewd and less simple, like those who exploited our meeting for partisan political purposes.” Grob shared that he had received a flood of concerned messages from parishioners in his Milwaukee diocese in the days after the footage spread, including accounts from congregants who felt personally wounded by policies implemented under the Trump administration that have negatively impacted them or their immediate family members. Long-simmering tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. Catholic leadership have been well documented for months, rooted in widespread episcopal criticism of the administration’s hardline mass deportation policies that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has repeatedly condemned for sowing widespread community fear, fracturing family units, stripping due process protections for migrant populations, and demonizing immigrant neighbors. Additional points of friction include the administration’s initially announced — and later abandoned — plan to livestream a federal military execution, which the national bishops’ conference had formally denounced as incompatible with Catholic teachings on the dignity of all human life. Trump’s relationship with Pope Leo XIV has remained openly contentious throughout his second term, even as top Catholic administration figures including Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have made official diplomatic visits to the Vatican, and high-profile U.S. Catholic leaders such as Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron and former New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan accepted appointments to the president’s Religious Liberty Commission last year. A September 2025 survey from nonpartisan religious research body Pew Research Center reveals that approval ratings for Trump among U.S. Catholic voters have dropped sharply, falling to just 30% this month from a 47% favorable mark recorded when he took office for his second term at the start of 2025. The polling gap, which shows 42% of Catholic voters now supporting Democratic House candidates compared to 39% backing their Republican rivals, signals a potential shift in electoral dynamics that could shape partisan control of the U.S. Congress in the upcoming November contests. When approached for comment by BBC reporters, White House officials declined to directly address questions about the unsanctioned release of meeting footage or the bishops’ public statements of regret, instead issuing a blanket defensive remark from press secretary Taylor Rogers that claimed “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it.”
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Police arrest teenager after shooting that injured 12, including children, in Florida
Tallahassee law enforcement officials have taken a 15-year-old suspect into custody in connection with a late-Saturday shooting that left 12 people wounded in the vicinity of Florida A&M University’s Bragg Memorial Stadium, shortly after a collegiate American football match wrapped up at the venue. The violent incident unfolded at 8:00 p.m. local time, equivalent to 1:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, in a crowded area packed with attendees departing from the earlier sporting event. According to official statements from the Tallahassee Police Department, 11 individuals sustained direct gunshot wounds, while a 12th person suffered a broken ankle while scrambling to escape the active threat. Six of the total injured victims are confirmed to be minors. The arrested teenager, identified as Anthony Rivers III, now faces 11 separate counts of attempted second-degree murder, alongside a charge of illegal firearm possession by a juvenile delinquent. Investigators noted that the shooting stemmed from a pre-existing altercation between parties who were acquainted with one another, and they have not ruled out the possibility of additional arrests linked to the case. Crucially, police confirmed that none of the people struck by gunfire were the premeditated targets of the attack, making all 11 shooting victims unintended bystanders. Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell addressed the tragedy during a Sunday press briefing, emphasizing that what was meant to be a joyful post-game community celebration devolved into a terrifying scene of chaos and harm for everyone in the surrounding area. Revell also revealed that responding officers had to physically carry injured victims through the dense, post-game crowds to reach waiting emergency medical teams, as the throng of attendees slowed access for first responders. As of the latest public update on Sunday, six victims remained admitted to local hospitals, with one patient listed in critical condition, while five others had already been treated and discharged. Revell reaffirmed the department’s full commitment to tracking down every individual involved in the violence, securing full accountability for the harm caused, and delivering clear answers to every family affected by the unforeseen tragedy.
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How ‘Lula’s Army’ WhatsApp chat helped turn Brazil election around
Against a backdrop of widespread polling forecasts that predicted a defeat for incumbent left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his re-election bid, a grassroots digital campaign anchored on a single WhatsApp channel has emerged as a central figure in one of the most stunning political turnarounds in Brazil’s modern electoral history. For weeks leading up to the second round of voting, Lula had trailed far behind his right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, whose conservative movement had held a decade-long unchallenged dominance over Brazilian political mobilization on encrypted platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. That long-standing digital imbalance shifted dramatically when Congressman André Janones launched the informal campaign channel dubbed “Lula’s Army”, which swelled to a staggering 10.8 million followers in the narrow three-week window between the first and second rounds of voting. The channel operated with a highly structured, task-driven playbook: administrators distributed pre-written shareable content templates to every follower, issued urgent real-time calls to action to boost campaign videos and push new hashtags to viral status, and even issued playful, high-stakes rallying cries such as “No food before the mission!” and “Don’t go to sleep yet” to keep supporters engaged around the clock. On the final eve of the election, Janones hosted a nonstop 24-hour “turnaround livestream” to rally last-minute voters, even as nearly all major public opinion surveys continued to project a comfortable win for Flávio Bolsonaro. The unorthodox strategy drew internal pushback from moderate factions of Lula’s Workers’ Party, who worried Janones’ famously confrontational online tone would erode the centrist, unifying public image the campaign had sought to project. But the effort paid off: in his post-victory address, Lula publicly hailed Janones as “our General” and credited him with lifting the morale of the entire supporter base. Leading Brazilian political analysts, however, caution against overstating the singular impact of the WhatsApp operation, noting that quantifying direct vote gains from digital mobilization remains notoriously difficult. Political scientist Denilde Holzhacker explained the comeback rested on a carefully calibrated two-pronged shift in campaign strategy, where the viral digital momentum was paired with a sweeping expansion of on-the-ground grassroots organizing that tied a potential Bolsonaro victory to concrete voter concerns over cuts to social welfare programs and eroded civil rights. She noted Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign, by contrast, entered the run-off period overconfident after favorable polling and failed to run a coordinated outreach operation to match Lula’s combined digital and ground game. University of Rio de Janeiro sociology professor Mayra Goulart further emphasized that the campaign’s greatest strength was its ability to translate online enthusiasm into tangible real-world action: supporters organized neighborhood meetings, transported undecided voters to polling stations, and ran targeted outreach to reduce election abstention rates, a combination that delivered both higher turnout and a decisive edge with undecided demographics. Beyond the election results, the unprecedented mobilization has laid a foundation for Lula’s upcoming governing agenda: the president-elect has explicitly pledged to integrate the participatory, digital-first model into his administration, promising to expand public input in federal decision-making and leverage digital communication tools to keep supporters engaged in the policy process long after the campaign season ends.
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Anthropic warns of ‘catastrophic risk’ to humankind ahead of blockbuster share listing
Leading artificial intelligence developer Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot, has formally laid out its highly anticipated public listing plans in U.S. regulatory filings, issuing a stark public warning that ungoverned advanced AI systems could trigger catastrophic or even existential threats to the entire human race. The five-year-old firm, co-founded in 2019 by CEO Dario Amodei, his sister Daniela Amodei and five additional industry veterans, is on track to become the first pure-play AI enterprise to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT, with a projected valuation set to surpass SpaceX’s historic $1.8 trillion summer 2024 initial listing valuation, making it one of the largest public debuts in tech sector history. While the firm has not yet released specific details including share volume, price range or exact listing date, its Monday regulatory filing disclosed financial figures for the first half of the year: total losses topping $80.7 billion, paired with $16.3 billion in generated revenue and a robust $112.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand. The disclosure follows rival OpenAI’s public announcement of its own planned public offering, which industry insiders now expect to take place in early 2025, after both firms revealed their IPO intentions back in June. In the 90-page risk disclosure document, Anthropic echoed widespread concerns shared by policymakers, regulators, independent researchers and even its own internal staff, noting that advanced AI systems could cause irreversible global harm if deployed without rigorous safeguards, independent oversight and robust security protocols — particularly if such systems are misused, mass replicated, weaponized or granted excessive levels of unmonitored operational autonomy. The filing also comes amid a wave of recent high-profile incidents: multiple cybersecurity breaches targeting autonomous AI agent systems operated by major AI developers, public warnings from current and former employees at both Anthropic and OpenAI that current development pathways lack sufficient guardrails to protect humanity from long-term AI risks, and a new intellectual property lawsuit filed by the rights holders of Elvis Presley’s music catalog, who accuse Anthropic of training its Claude model on hundreds of the late rock legend’s copyrighted tracks without authorization. Anthropic emphasized in its filing that it will continue to pursue aggressive, large-scale forward investments in AI infrastructure that may appear disproportionately costly at first glance, noting that its long-term strategy prioritizes being “bold but sane” to build public and investor trust through a track record of successful, responsible bets. The firm also laid out a lengthy list of operational and regulatory risks, including its heavy reliance on third-party cloud computing providers, strained supply chains for Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers facing unprecedented global demand, the concentration of its data center assets within the U.S. market, potential regulatory crackdowns tied to AI-related harms ranging from child safety risks to mental health crises, and widespread legal uncertainty over liability for harmful actions carried out by its autonomous AI systems. Industry analysts note that the global tech sector has poured more than $1 trillion into AI infrastructure, data center construction and foundational model development over the past 12 months alone. Matt Orton, chief market strategist at Raymond James Investment, told reporters that the market has long anticipated the combination of rapid top-line growth and steep near-term losses laid out in Anthropic’s filing, so the disclosures will not shock most institutional investors, but will provide much-needed transparency into the company’s revenue trajectory. Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management, framed Anthropic’s upcoming listing as a defining milestone for the global AI industry, noting that its post-debut stock performance will serve as a critical barometer for broader investor willingness to continue funneling capital into high-risk, high-reward AI research and development efforts for years to come.
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Owners of Elvis music rights sue Anthropic for copyright violations
In a high-stakes copyright lawsuit filed Friday, Authentic Brands Group, the entity holding full intellectual property rights to Elvis Presley’s legendary music catalog, has taken legal action against prominent artificial intelligence developer Anthropic, alleging the tech firm exploited 274 of the rock and roll icon’s most celebrated compositions without securing any licensing agreements to train its widely used Claude AI system. The complaint, reviewed by BBC News, singles out globally beloved Presley hits including *All Shook Up*, *Can’t Help Falling in Love*, *Don’t Be Cruel*, *Return To Sender*, and *A Little Less Conversation* as part of the unauthorised dataset used to build the generative AI model. Authentic Brands’ legal team emphasized in the filing that the Presley catalog represents some of the most culturally transformative, genre-defining musical works ever created, and the company has a longstanding policy of rigorously protecting these iconic pieces from unapproved exploitation. The lawsuit further accuses Anthropic of constructing its entire commercial business model on unprecedented, mass-scale copyright infringement, alleging that Claude not only ingests the original copyrighted tracks during training but also generates unlicensed derivative works that closely mimic the structure, hooks, and core creative framework of the original songs, even when reworded slightly. The filing cites test interactions with the latest iteration of Claude, in which the AI openly acknowledged that its outputs for “modern audience” reimaginings of Presley tracks land extremely close to the original compositions, crossing well beyond the bounds of permissible creative inspiration into unauthorised reproduction. Authentic Brands is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed track, amounting to a total claimed sum of $41 million. This new legal action adds to a growing list of ongoing copyright disputes facing Anthropic: just one week prior, music industry firm Reservoir filed a separate suit accusing the AI developer of stealing copyrighted lyrics, while Universal Music Group launched its own legal challenge against the company back in January. The lawsuit also references Anthropic’s 2023 $1.5 billion settlement of a class action suit brought by a coalition of authors, which at the time was the largest publicly documented copyright recovery in U.S. legal history for creators whose work was used to train generative AI systems without consent. A spokesperson for Anthropic pushed back against the new allegations in a statement to BBC News, noting that the firm rejects all claims laid out in the Presley rights suit and intends to mount a full, vigorous defence in court.
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US Marine indicted for murder and robbery of woman in Japan
A 20-year-old United States Marine assigned to the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa has been formally indicted on counts of murder and robbery, in a high-profile case that has reignited long-simmering public frustration over criminal incidents linked to US military personnel stationed in the Japanese prefecture. The suspect, Devin Jacob Ballard, is accused of killing 39-year-old Anna Yagi at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, on 3 October. According to publicly shared indictment documents cited by leading Japanese outlets including Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News, Ballard is alleged to have strangled Yagi using a telephone cord before fleeing the scene with her backpack and wallet. While initial accounts noted Ballard had previously denied all allegations against him, investigators confirmed he has since made partial statements that implicate his involvement in the fatal incident. Corroborating evidence includes security camera footage that captures a man matching Ballard’s description entering the Naha hotel alongside Yagi, then exiting the property alone while carrying personal items belonging to the victim. The brutal killing has sparked widespread public condemnation across Japan, drawing official rebukes from the highest levels of the national and prefectural government. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly characterized the crime as unforgivably brutal and heinous, noting that her administration has submitted a formal, strongly worded protest to US diplomatic and military representatives, and demanded that US authorities implement strict disciplinary measures for service members and roll out comprehensive preventive safeguards to stop such tragedies from recurring. Okinawa Governor Genta Koja emphasized that local prefectural authorities have repeatedly submitted formal requests to US military leadership for stricter oversight of personnel for decades, and described the latest alleged murder as a clear indicator of systemic discipline failures within the US forces stationed on the island. The US Marine Corps previously released a statement confirming it is fully cooperating with Japanese law enforcement and judicial authorities throughout the investigation and legal process, and extended official condolences to the grieving family of Anna Yagi. This incident is far from an isolated case in Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of the roughly 55,000 US military personnel deployed across Japan, making it the region with the highest concentration of US troops in the country. High-profile past crimes involving US service members have repeatedly triggered mass public protests, most notably the 1995 demonstration that drew tens of thousands of Okinawa residents onto the streets after a 12-year-old local girl was abducted, beaten and raped by three US servicemen. Recent years have seen no let-up in such incidents: four separate sexual assault cases tied to US military personnel were recorded in Okinawa in 2024 alone, including the case of US Air Force member Brennon Washington, who was handed a five-year prison sentence for the rape and kidnapping of an underage local girl. In 2025, US Marine Lance Cpl Jamel Clayton was also convicted of sexual assault against a local woman and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. In the wake of Yagi’s murder, small but vocal demonstrations were held earlier this month that drew roughly 100 protesters in both Naha and Tokyo, while thousands more Japanese residents took to social media to share their outrage, with many users repeating the slogan “Enough is enough” to demand systemic changes to longstanding US military presence rules on the island.
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Man released without charge after Waterford attack
The ongoing investigation into a devastating suspected arson incident that claimed the lives of four members of the same family in Waterford, Republic of Ireland, has seen a series of recent developments from Irish national police, known locally as gardaí. The tragic incident unfolded earlier this month at a residential property on Birch Avenue, a suburban neighborhood on the outer edges of Waterford city, where the English family’s home was deliberately set ablaze. The four victims have been identified as parents Philip and Kim English, alongside their two young sons: 9-year-old Jayden and 12-year-old Callum, all of whom perished in the blaze. In the immediate aftermath of the fatal attack, law enforcement officials took two individuals into custody and formally pressed charges in connection with the case: a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s. In a public update released by gardaí on Saturday, authorities confirmed that a separate group of three people, who had been apprehended and detained for questioning the prior Tuesday, had been released from custody with no charges filed against them. This group included two women both in their 30s, and a man in his 50s. Separately, a second man in his 20s who had been arrested as part of the sweeping probe into the fatal arson has also been released without facing any formal accusations. Law enforcement spokespersons emphasized that the full, wide-ranging investigation into the circumstances leading up to the fire, the motive behind the targeted attack, and all parties potentially linked to the quadruple fatality remains fully active and open, with no timeline provided for when the case will be closed.
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Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate pauses midterms campaigning after car crash
Alaska’s prominent Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Mary Peltola has temporarily suspended all campaign activities in the lead-up to the 3 November U.S. midterm elections, following a road collision that left her and her family with minor injuries, her official campaign team confirmed this week. The 53-year-old sitting member of Congress and her relatives were en route to a scheduled public campaign event on Saturday when their vehicle was struck by another motorist, according to an official statement released by her campaign management team. Cheryl Bruce, Peltola’s campaign manager, noted that all upcoming public appearances and on-the-ground campaign events have been rescheduled on the explicit advice of attending medical professionals, to allow the congressional representative sufficient time to rest and recuperate. “Mary and every member of her family involved in the incident walked away with only minor injuries, and all are in remarkably good spirits given the circumstances,” Bruce added in her public remarks. The incident unfolds against the backdrop of one of the most closely contested Senate races in the entire 2026 U.S. midterm cycle, a contest that national analysts widely agree could play a decisive role in determining which party controls the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress for the coming legislative term. Peltola, who made history as the first Alaska Native woman to serve in Congress, is mounting a direct challenge to two-term incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. Nonpartisan election watchdog the Cook Political Report has categorized the Alaska Senate contest as a full “toss-up”, confirming that neither major party currently holds a measurable, decisive advantage over the other in voter support. Adding to the race’s national profile, former U.S. President Donald Trump last week directed the U.S. Department of Justice to prepare a federal lawsuit that would block official certification of the Alaska Senate results in the event that incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, citing the presence of a second candidate with the identical name “Dan Sullivan” on the general election ballot. The proposed legal filing argues that the presence of the namesake candidate, a retired local teacher, will confuse a significant share of Alaska voters and lead to widespread accidental mis-casting of ballots. Multiple prior legal attempts to remove the retired teacher Dan Sullivan from the election ballot were previously reviewed and unanimously rejected by the Alaska Supreme Court, leaving the dual-name candidate listing in place for the November vote.
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Lula defeats Bolsonaro in Brazil elections
In a landmark late Sunday runoff vote outcome confirmed by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on October 26, 2026, leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has claimed his fourth non-consecutive presidential mandate, edging out right-wing challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro with 51.78% of all valid ballots against Bolsonaro’s 48.22%.
The tightly contested second round faced widespread operational disruptions across the South American nation, as torrential downpours and scattered technical glitches at polling sites blocked thousands of voters from accessing stations on schedule. In response, electoral authorities extended voting hours by two full hours past the original 7pm local time (10pm GMT) close, a adjustment that had been formally requested by both competing campaigns to accommodate disenfranchised constituents, per official electoral records.
Hours after the final vote tally was released, Bolsonaro issued a public statement vowing to petition for the full annulment of the election results, framing the extended polling window as an arbitrary rule change orchestrated by Lula’s allies on the Federal Supreme Court. This announcement runs directly counter to pre-election agreements, which saw both campaigns jointly endorse the two-hour extension to mitigate the impact of storm-related transit failures that left large swathes of rural and suburban areas cut off from transportation to voting sites.
Lula’s 2026 victory carves a unique place in modern Brazilian political history: he becomes the first presidential candidate to ever lose the first round of general elections before rallying to secure a majority in the second round runoff. The result also represents a notable pushback against the broader regional tide of conservative political gains that has swept multiple Latin American nations in recent years, marking a critical divergence from the continent’s recent rightward electoral trend.
When his new term is sworn in on January 5, 2027, Lula is poised to advance a long-stated policy agenda centered on aggressive poverty alleviation, expanded public social spending, strengthened Amazon rainforest environmental protections, and deeper collaborative ties with emerging global economies, alongside a firm commitment to upholding Brazil’s national sovereignty. A longstanding vocal critic of Israeli state policy and unbalanced U.S. intervention in Latin American affairs, Lula has repeatedly advocated for formal international recognition of Palestinian statehood, and has publicly prioritized deepening diplomatic and economic partnerships with both Iran and China during his upcoming term.
Addressing throngs of jubilant supporters following his win, Lula struck a resolute, unifying tone: “I make a solemn commitment to every Brazilian citizen today, and I will deliver the most diligent, inclusive presidential term this nation has ever seen. I will dedicate 24 hours of every single day to building the fair, prosperous Brazil that every one of us has dreamed of for generations.” He went on to emphasize the electoral mandate’s rebuke of foreign interference in national affairs, stating firmly, “We defeated all outside attempts to meddle in our democratic process at the ballot box. Brazil will never be anyone’s political back yard.”
Global and regional leaders have moved swiftly to formally recognize and congratulate Lula on his historic win, with public endorsements issued by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, U.S. progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and a cohort of other heads of state across Latin America and the Global South. -
Algeria to send troops to Niger in first foreign deployment since 1973
In a landmark shift away from its decades-long non-intervention military policy, Algeria has formally approved the deployment of its armed forces to Niger, marking the country’s first foreign troop dispatch since it committed personnel to Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The historic decision was greenlit after consecutive emergency sessions of Algeria’s two parliamentary chambers: the upper house voted 148 out of 174 senators in favour of the measure on Sunday, with the lower house subsequently ratifying the proposal. The deployment also represents the first time a 2020 constitutional clause permitting overseas military missions has been activated in the North African nation.
The deployment framework was laid following a recent official visit by Niger’s defence minister to Algiers, as the Sahel state grapples with a persistent wave of violent extremist activity, including insurgent factions affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State operating across remote border zones. Algerian legislator Belkacem Boulghiti clarified to reporters in the aftermath of the parliamentary vote that the operation is not an offensive combat mission, but a targeted assignment to safeguard high-priority economic assets across northern Niger, in territories adjacent to the Libyan border. No official timeline for the troop rollout, nor the total number of personnel to be deployed, has been publicly disclosed by either government to date.
The move is underpinned by deepening economic and strategic ties between the two neighbouring nations, which only recently emerged from a major diplomatic falling out in 2025. That rift erupted after Algeria shot down a Malian drone that violated its airspace, prompting Niger to withdraw its ambassador to Algiers in a show of solidarity with its military-ruled Malian ally. The two states’ relationship had already been strained earlier in the decade, when Algeria publicly condemned the 2023 coup that ousted Niger’s democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum and installed the military junta led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
Bilateral relations have undergone a rapid thaw in 2026, however: Tchiani made an official state visit to Algiers in February, and as recently as late August, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune deployed fighter jets to Niger to help quash an attempted counter-coup, followed by a donation of four military helicopters to Niger’s armed forces. The security collaboration is closely tied to Algeria’s multi-billion-dollar energy interests in its southern neighbour, most notably a planned trans-Sahel gas pipeline that would transport Nigerian natural gas through Niger’s territory to Algerian export terminals on the Mediterranean coast. State-owned Algerian energy giant Sonatrach has also recently signed a formal exploration partnership with Niger’s petroleum ministry to drill for crude oil in the remote Kafra region, where preliminary geological surveys by Reuters indicate two identified wells hold estimated reserves of 168 million and 100 million barrels respectively.