DR Congo: At least 20 killed in raid on village

In Iraq's vast western desert, some 200 families live in a hamlet largely cut off from the rest of the world, their only neighbour one of the country's biggest military bases. Lost in rocky ochre hills and surrounded by humble palm groves, Al-Sahl’s only education facility is a primary school, and residents rely on livestock and farming to survive.

Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos, a top leader of the military wing of the Philippines' rebel communist party, has been killed during a gun battle with the army in a mountainous area of the island of Mindanao.

Six months ago, DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi placed North Kivu and Ituri – two provinces in the east of the country – under "a state of siege", effectively imposing martial law in a region that has been rocked by conflict for decades. Today, although the government claims that hundreds of armed militiamen have surrendered, massacres continue and security forces face mounting criticism. In the city of Beni, the justice system has ground to a halt and crime has soared. Our correspondents report.

At least 22 people, including children, were killed and another eight were wounded after a passenger coach plunged into a ravine in the Pakistani zone of Kashmir on Wednesday (November 3) local police said. Among the dead were two children aged nine and four years, a prayer leader and a Pakistan army soldier, said Rashid Naeem Khan, a senior police official in divisional headquarters Poonch. He said the coach was on its way to the garrison city of Rawalpindi when the crash happened.

Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum visited Banibangou on Saturday (November 6), an area where gunmen killed 69 people including a mayor earlier in the week, part of a wave of violence against civilians that has swept the country this year. A delegation led by the mayor of Banibangou was ambushed on Tuesday (November 2) about 50 km (30 miles) from the town, near the border with Mali. The area is overrun by militants associated with a local affiliate of Islamic State that has killed hundreds of civilians in rural communities this year. Fifteen people survived and a search operation was underway, Interior Minister Alkache Alhada said on state television. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Photos on social media claim to show the skeleton of one of the murdered DR Congo human rights activist, Fidèle Bazana. The posts also claim that the skeleton was found in the property of a high-ranked police officer. False! These skeletons actually belong to archeological findings from last year.Also, fake photos of the Day of the Dead in Mexico emerge online. Find out more on this edition of Truth or Fake.

Photos on social media claim to show the skeleton of a slain DR Congo human rights activist, Fidèle Bazana, who was assassinated in 2010. The posts also claim the remains were found at the property of a high-ranking police officer. But most of these skeletons are actually archaeological findings from 2019. Also, a fake photo of a Day of the Dead light show in Mexico emerges online. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

At least 18 people were killed on Sunday in an artisanal gold mine collapse in southern Niger, the local mayor said on Monday. The disaster took place in the southern Maradi region, near the border with Nigeria. The death toll is likely to rise, said the mayor of the commune of Dan Issa, Adamou Guero, . The Governor of the Maradi region, Aboubacar Chaibou, visited the site on Monday and promised better working conditions for people at the sire.

New air quality guidelines from the WHO could have saved the lives of almost 180,000 people in 2019, the European Environment Agency has revealed.

At least one person was killed and six people including children injured in an explosion in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday, according to an official statement. Local media says the gas cylinder blast happened in a multi-story building in Lyari area the city. The police said the building was partially damaged.

Russia is monitoring a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but tensions over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region have risen this week.

At least 45 people, including 12 children, died as a bus carrying mostly North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria on Tuesday, officials said.