NEWS OF THE DAY

1 Mine collapse: More than 50 people died after landslides caused the collapse of three artisanal gold mines near the city of Kamituga in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, officials said. Heavy rains for days led to the disaster Friday. “The diggers and the transporters of the stones were swallowed up by the waters,” said Kamituga Mayor Alexandre Bundya. Most of the dead were young people, according to a statement from the office of the governor of South Kivu, Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, who offered condolences to families. Artisanal mining quarries are often unsafe in eastern Congo and the Kasai region. Deadly collapses occurred earlier this year in Maniema and in Katanga, killing at least 18 people.

2 Refugee crisis: Thousands of asylumseekers spent a fourth night sleeping in the open on the Greek island of Lesbos, after fires destroyed a notoriously overcrowded migrant and refugee camp during a coronavirus lockdown. Officials have said the Tuesday and Wednesday night blazes were deliberately set by some camp residents angered at quarantine and isolation orders imposed after 35 people in the Moria camp tested positive for COVID19. The camp was built to house around 2,750 people but was so overcrowded that this week’s fires left more than 12,000 in need of emergency shelter on Lesbos. The camp had long been held up by critics as a symbol of Europe’s failings in migration policy.

3 Activists detained: Relatives of 12 Hong Kong activists detained at sea by Chinese authorities called Saturday for their family members to be returned to the territory, saying their legal rights were being violated. The 12 were reportedly seeking to make it to the selfgoverning island of Taiwan by speedboat when they were caught by the Chinese coast guard and detained in Shenzhen on Aug. 23. They have been held incommunicado since then. The detention of the 12, who include a 16yearold boy, follows China’s imposition of a sweeping new national security law on the former British colony, which was wracked by months of antigovernment protests last year.

4 Iran execution: State TV reported Saturday that a wrestler was executed for allegedly killing a man. The death sentence was imposed after President Trump asked for the 27yearold condemned man’s life to be spared. “The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz,” state TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying. Afkari’s case led to a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran’s Shiite theocracy in 2018. Authorities accused Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in Shiraz amid the unrest.

5 France protests: Activists sought to revive France’s “yellow vest” movement Saturday after the disruptive demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron’s presidency and perceived elitism tapered off during the coronavirus pandemic. Paris police said more than 200 people were stopped and over 25 were detained in the French capital. Paris authorities designated areas such as the ChampsElysees Avenue offlimits. The yellow vest movement began in fall 2018 to protest a fuel tax hike that was said to punish the poorest French. Named for the florescent vests motorists are required to carry in France, it grew into more than a year of weekly protests that caused multiple deaths and hundreds of injuries.

6 Custody death: The death toll in protests in Colombia after the death of a man in police custody has risen to 13, with more than 400 others injured, authorities said. The violence rocking Bogota erupted after the death of Javier Ordonez. Dozens of city buses were vandalized, including 13 set ablaze. Sixty police precincts were also damaged during the unrest. Defense Minister Carlos Trujillo Holmes offered an apology for any illegal acts committed during the Ordonez’s detention Wednesday. He said a disciplinary hearing has been ordered to determine whether officers committed homicide.