200 Killed at Congolese Mine

Good morning!

That made-in-China smartphone you’re using comes with hidden costs.

[BRIEF]

One of them is the dangers to the estimated 40,000 children—as young as 6 years old—who dig, haul, wash and sort ore for less than $2 a day in the cobalt and coltan mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Their plight was highlighted last Wednesday and Thursday in the Rubaya region of the drc when at least 200 people in coltan mines, including women and children, were buried alive under landslides.

This area produces over 15 percent of the world’s tantalum, a key byproduct of coltan used in smartphones, computers and aircraft engines.

Since May 2024, this area has been controlled by the M23 rebel group. These mining operations generate $10 million or more annually for the rebels. Groups like M23 exploit mining revenues to maintain power and sustain violence. As you can imagine, they’re not sticklers for workers’ safety.

Laborers scavenge in unstable pits prone to environmental risks. Children experience a lack of education, malnutrition and physical hazards. Women wash minerals in polluted streams that expose them to chemicals that cause reproductive health issues, including impacts on breast milk and future generations. They face risks of sexual assault and beatings.

Meanwhile, foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms dominating the supply chain, overlook these ethical and moral issues as they pursue the cheapest-possible materials for their electronics.

There is a direct link between our addiction to these technologies and the impoverishment of these Congolese people. Incidents like this fatal landslide expose the human cost hidden in our global markets.

It’s a reminder of the need for a new world economy based on eliminating exploitation and greed, and keeping the perfect laws of God.

Trump’s Secret Weapon Against Iran: Witkoff

After Iran’s government reportedly massacred some 36,500 of its own people, United States President Donald Trump promised, “Help is on the way.” We now get a glimpse of what “vengeance” looks like: Send Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to sign a piece of paper.

Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are to meet in Istanbul on Friday, Axios reported. This would be the first meeting between the two nations since the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities last June.

• President Trump has stated that the main goal of the negotiations is to reach a final agreement for a nuclear deal.
• While the U.S. strikes significantly damaged Iran’s nuclear program, Iran has rebuilt much of its enrichment capacity and reportedly has officially decided to build a warhead.

Dealing with the devil: Iran already had a nuclear deal: President Barack Obama’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The only reason Iran signed that deal was because of the loopholes it provided to continue enrichment while removing sanctions.

The Iranian regime’s massacre of tens of thousands of its people shows it will do anything to remain in power and achieve its goals. Yet President Trump thinks reaching a deal as unenforceable as the last one will solve all problems.

“President Trump has done a lot of great things for America,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in the April 2025 Trumpet. “But he has a serious blind spot when it comes to peace negotiations and international diplomacy. This is a deadly weakness—one that, if he does not turn it around, will destroy the United States.”

“[L]eaders like Steve Witkoff are sick in their reasoning and are faint of heart (Isaiah 1:5),” Stephen Flurry wrote in our May-June issue. “When they see something fearsome, they are afraid to face it! They would rather hear ‘smooth things’ and ‘deceits’ than take a hard look at the dangers facing America.”

The current administration is seriously misguided about how to bring about lasting peace. Unless this problem is dramatically rectified, as Gerald Flurry said, it “will destroy the United States.” Learn more in “Does Donald Trump Know the Way to Peace?”

European Gridlock Budges, but Just Barely

After four months of negotiations, France finally has a budget for 2026. And after three months of haggling, the Netherlands finally has a government.

• Both months-long deadlocks reminded the world that the Europeans still suffer from political chaos. And both countries have merely papered over their problems, not solved them.

France: Article 49.3 of the French Constitution is very controversial. It allows a government to pass a budget without a majority in Parliament. Legislators can stop it only if they take the drastic step of passing a vote of no confidence, which forces the government to resign.

• Successive legislatures have fought bitterly over the budget, and governments have repeatedly resorted to Article 49.3 to steamroll budgets through. In autumn, the Parliament had had enough. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu took office promising not to use it. He said he would do everything possible to pass a budget through Parliament, not in spite of it.
• Last night, he used Article 49.3. And he survived the inevitable no-confidence vote: 260 voted to remove him, short of the 289 needed.

“Only four months ago, this would have been a declaration of war between Parliament and the government,” wrote EuroIntelligence. “But today, everyone is exhausted from a budget debate where no one can win. They are ready to move on, even if the future is not looking any brighter.”

• Lecornu has shown that the French Parliament is so divided that no budget could gain a majority.

The Netherlands has similar struggles. After an inconclusive election in 2017, it took a record 225 days to form a government. Since then it has been governed by increasingly unstable four-party coalitions. The last one fell apart after less than a year, prompting fresh elections in October.

• After 93 days of talks, the Dutch are trying something different: a three-party coalition that has only 66 out of 150 seats in the lower chamber, and just 22 of the 75 seats in the upper chamber. It’s hard to see them getting anything significant done.

A troubled continent: Many European Union countries suffered leadership crises after 2008 and have never fully emerged from them. With no real leadership or firm action, their economies have slid into dysfunction, major issues like the migrant crisis are not addressed, and voters are angry.

• Nearly two decades on, most remain stuck. Budget deals, coalition negotiations and fresh elections haven’t solved the mess. And the world around them becomes more dangerous.

Europeans are becoming more open to increasingly radical political solutions. Watch for them to give up on coalitions and even on democracy itself.

This is what the Trumpet and Plain Truth have forecast for years, based on Bible prophecy. Europe will shift from an association of democracies to an empire of “10 kings” led by a strong German leader. Europe’s government crises will continue until a “king of fierce countenance” takes power.

Germany, Israel Hold First Joint Cyberattack Exercises

Germany and Israel recently conducted their first-ever joint cybermilitary exercises, the German Interior Ministry said on January 30. The “Blue Horizon” drills were designed to help experts from both sides learn to work together, including by developing a common operational language.

This shows Israel’s willingness to share critical insight into its defense capabilities with a country that sought to exterminate all Jews just 80 years ago.

• Germany is planning a “Cyber Dome” system that will semiautomatically detect, analyze and respond to cyberattacks.
• German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt watched a demonstration of Israel’s prestigious cybercapabilities in Tel Aviv.

These exercises implement agreements made between the two nations over the past few months to further increase security cooperation. Dobrindt said:

This cooperation creates genuine crisis competence. Germany and Israel stand side by side for strong, secure defense systems and the establishment of a German Cyber Dome.

Cybersecurity is extremely sensitive since a nation’s most advanced weapons systems and platforms can potentially be not just defeated but completely disabled by cyberattacks. The Jews are placing extreme trust in the very nation that once tried to exterminate them.

God’s warning: “Blue Horizon” is part of the fulfillment of a Bible prophecy that Israel would put its trust in Germany. The Bible warns that this alliance will end terribly for Israel. To learn more, read “The Outcome of the Israeli-German Relationship.”

IN OTHER NEWS

U.S.-India trade deal: United States President Donald Trump announced after a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday that a U.S.-India trade deal had been reached. He claimed the deal would slash tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent, stop Indian purchases of Russian oil, end India’s non-tariff barriers on American goods, and multiply Indian purchases of American energy, technology and agricultural goods from $50 billion to a stunning $500 billion. Though Modi did not confirm many details, he posted on X: “Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18 percent. Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement.” If enacted, the deal would mark a major boost to U.S.–India relations. Even so, the Trumpet expects India to break from the U.S., isolate it from world trade by working with China and Europe, and ultimately fully align with Russia.

India boosts defense spending: India will ramp up its defense spending by 15 percent to hit a record $85 billion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced to legislators on Sunday. She explained that the “unprecedented” increase will provide more ships, submarines, fighter jets, drones and other military hardware for India’s armed forces. Prime Minister Modi said the new budget “presents an ambitious roadmap to give new momentum” to India’s domestic manufacturing and its strategic autonomy. Biblical prophecy shows that an alliance of Asian nations, including India, will soon form that will be larger than any military power the world has ever seen. This is why the Trumpet closely watches India expanding its firepower and relations with other Asian powers.

Germany arrests smugglers of semiconductors to Russia: Five men were arrested in northern Germany yesterday on charges of exporting materials, including semiconductors, to at least 24 Russian weapons makers in violation of European Union embargoes. According to German federal prosecutors, the men organized roughly 16,000 deliveries to Russia worth over $35 million. These arrests come less than two weeks after a report claimed German components had been found in Russian drones. Law enforcement is searching across the country in pursuit of another five suspects, but there are indications that, on the broader level, Germany is actually working with Russia.

Russia upgrades military base on Finnish border: On Sunday, Yle reported on satellite images that indicate Russia is modernizing a Soviet-era military garrison in Petrozavodsk, about 100 miles from its border with Finland. The base will likely house the 44th Army Corps, which was established in 2024. During World War ii, Finland collaborated with Nazi Germany to reclaim territory lost to a previous Russian invasion, ultimately pushing Russia back beyond its original borders. Russian military activity under Vladimir Putin is once again pushing Finland toward Germany.

U.S. government in partial shutdown: A partial U.S. federal government shutdown entered its fourth day without resolution as Democrats continued to demand immigration reform as part of any funding deal. Democrats want U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to wear body cameras and not to wear masks so they can be prosecuted more easily for mishandling arrests. The House of Representatives is now working on a modified bill that would fund the departments of Defense, State, Treasury and others, while granting lawmakers a two-week extension to figure out how to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The situation reminds Americans that ongoing unsolved crises and self-sabotage of law enforcement and the rule of law are the new normal in American governance.

Psychotic disorders rising in young Canadians: Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders rose 60 percent in 14-to-20-year-olds between 1997 and 2023, according to a study published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study analyzed more than 12 million people and also found that those born between 2000 and 2004 were 104 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder at age 20 than those born between 1975 and 1979. Nearly 1 out of every 100 Canadians has been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. There is a cause for every effect, and the underlying cause of these dangerous states of mind is not limited to Canada.