Oil giant hails ‘banner quarter’ as earnings reach $8.46bn, prompting anger from climate campaigners

BP’s profits have hit their highest level in almost two decades as the war in the Middle East drove up oil and gas prices and led to “significantly higher” trading.

The energy company hailed a “banner quarter” on Friday, with its underlying ​replacement ⁠cost profit – a key measure of its income – almost quadrupling to $8.46bn (£6.3bn), from $2.2bn ​a year ​ago.

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© Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters

© Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters

© Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra lifted its farmgate milk price forecast midpoint by 25 cents, citing firmer global demand for milk powder.

Washington has sanctioned Rwanda's defence ministry, accusing Kigali of continuing to back the M23 rebel group fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

There is no end in sight for the drivers of illegal mining, while police action appears ineffective

Cora Bailey has been encountering illegal miners ever since she first started treating injured animals in the townships around Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in 1991. But as the price of gold has soared, so too has activity in the abandoned mine shafts that mark the area.

In late September, dozens of zama zamas – the name given to illegal miners in South Africa, meaning roughly “to take a chance” in Zulu – arrived to dig for gold across the dirt road from her charity, Claw (Community Led Animal Welfare).

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© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian

© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian

© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian