Could Mali become the next Afghanistan?

More than 850,000 Afghan girls are not allowed to attend class past 6th grade, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are excluded from secondary education. DW's Sandra Petersmann reports from Kabul.

Northern Mali fell into the hands of armed jihadists in 2012. This resulted in the launch of the French-led "Operation Serval," designed to liberate the occupied territory. But the crisis only worsened.

A fight between two Mali basketball players at the Women's World Cup broke out after the team lost their game against Serbia and was eliminated from the tournament.

The German government says some people it wanted to evacuate after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan have since died. Some deaths were violent, but none seemed linked to any cooperation with Germany, it said.

In Afghanistan, girls are at increasing risk of child marriage. As hunger and poverty surge, families are offering their underage girls, some very young, to older men in exchange for money. Volunteers from Too Young to Wed are helping girls reunite with their parents.

France warns that the UN mission in Mali is "in danger", a day after four peacekeepers were killed in an IED attack. Also, a powerful union in Tunisia throws its weight behind families demanding justice for relatives who died at sea.

Mali has said it reserves the right to defend itself as it accused France of undermining its sovereignty by violating its airspace and delivering arms to militants. France has denied the accusations.

Since October 23, pro-Russian and pro-Wagner accounts on social media have been sharing a video that claims to prove France is arming jihadists in Mali. The narrative that France supports terrorism in Mali is common among users spreading anti-Western misinformation online. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Afghanistan's ultra-conservative authorities have ordered that women should no longer be allowed to enter amusement parks. The decree comes after a wider announcement restricting access to public spaces.

Germany is deciding whether to completely pull out of the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali. This comes after Britain and Ivory Coast said they would withdraw their troops.

Disputes with Mali's ruling military junta and the arrival of Russian mercenaries have cast doubt over the future of the German mission to the West African country.

Mali's military junta acted unconcerned by the announced withdrawal of German troops from the country. But civil society is worried about yet another ally abandoning military aid for crisis-beset Mali.